.. "we therefore conclude that although the provisions of the current domestic partnership legislation afford same-sex couples most of the substantive elements embodied in the constitutional right to marry, the current California statues nonethelesss must be view as potentially impinging upon a same sex couples right to marry under the California Constitution."

The Court applies a strict scrutiny standard for the case and concludes that California does not have a compelling state interest in preserving the traditional definition of marrage not a necessary interest. "Accordingly we conclude that to the extent the current California statutory provisions limit marrage to opposite-sex couples, these statutes are unconstitutional."

Oh, what a happy birthday - my native state sees all people as equal.

I just received the following email from a friend. Treat them as you will - but remember to go vote and keep encouraging your friends, neighbors, and fellow citizens to vote (or caucus)

Last night, my wife and I got into a discussion of who to vote for in this primary. She loves Hillary, much of that due to a sense of loyalty to her, both as a woman and because of the hard work Senator Clinton did for upstate New York. My wife is inspired by Obama, but is unwilling to pull the lever to vote for him.

My strategy in attempting to persuade her was to point out that Clinton does not represent her policy positions, notably Clinton's vote to authorize war in Iraq, and my belief that she conceives of the inherent power of the presidency much like President Bush. I also reminded her of her previous statements of concern about the tacts Clinton has used over the past few weeks. In any event, my attempts to persuade her had seemingly no effect. She accused me of buying into Obama's belief that judgment matters hook, line, and sinker. She then suggested that Clinton's vote on Iraq was not a mistake, but justified because Clinton needed to look strong on national defense to the public because women candidate running for office face a skeptical public about women holding the position of commander in chief.

Can anyone explain these results from Orange County, Florida?

Orange updated 13 minutes ago
91% reporting

Clinton   32,156   32%
Obama     31,943   32%
Edwards    6,228    6%
Kucinich   2,251    2%

Over the past week, I have come to realize more and more that the media, including MSNBC offer absolutely nothing in terms of actual analysis about politics. Especially Chris Matthews. Tom Brokaw still remains my favorite and tonight gave Matthews an important smack-down. However, although Hillary eked out a victory in NH, there are some important dynamics in the results that should receive scrutiny.

The largest takeaway is that there will not be a coronation for this Democratic nomination. While I thought (and hoped) that Obama would have a decisive victory in NH, it was not the case. Each candidate is going to need to work to get out the vote in a variety of local circumstances. This effort on the part of each of the Democratic candidates will pay dividends in November, when the voters of America will elect a Democrat to the White House.

Over at Open Left, and here there has been vigorous criticisms of Obama's campaign, especially in light of his decision to keep McClurkin on-stage. This has led to many doubts about Obama's ability to run a campaign or that he is responsible for running a superficial, personality-driven campaign. The first, and most significant criticism (specifically by Chris Bowers) is a misunderstanding the power of the netroots to shape the primary campaign. The second is a misunderstanding the constraints Obama placed upon himself as he began articulating his campaign. In any event, why Obama is floundering now, for many critics, is due to both outside events and the frames the netroots and the traditional media painted Obama's campaign.

5-4 decision. I guess Kennedy (majority author of the decision) let us down. I will get the link to the decision as soon as it available. (The decision is available here - pdf file: http://www.scotusblog.com/... I am guessing that our new justices - Alito and Roberts joined the opinion.                         Check out http://www.scotusblog.com for more and breaking info.