Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Gay Marriage Began as California Ruling takes Effect (LA Times) June 17, 2008

BS Ranch Perspective:
I know that our country was set up on the Freedom of others, The reason that I open up with that Sentence is that the other evening we were discussing this move by the Supreme Court that they had said that, The Definition of Marriage that was proposed by the previous Bill was considered to be Unconstitutional by the way that it was written! My Wife and I were of the same tune that it was against the Writings of the Bible that Neither Sex should lie down with Either Sex, for the reason of Sexual Pleasure, Now I am not a Religious scholar and I am not sure what the Bible Verse exactly says, why it might just say at man should not lay down with another man! and not mention a Woman, but then it goes without saying that a Woman is to lay down with her husband and not her Maid, or best Friend for Sexual Pleasure!
My Daughter said that the Constitution says that Each man is Guaranteed each with their own Inaliable Rights of Freedom, Not to forget that they are all created equal and what they do on their time is their business, according to the Constitution! It isn't a Christian thing to be nosing into a person's Business either for that matter, each one of us are responsible for our own sins, and requests for Salvation behind those Said Sins, but we also have to have sure signs that we are wanting to have sure and clear cut signs that we want to be clean of our sins, and not repeat sinful behavior! Again that is not between our Clergy and the Church, it is between our self and God!
So, what we do with this Gay marriage ties up to each individuals person, and my Daughter is pretty smart! I don't support it and i will fight to reverse it again, but that is because of what I believe that the laws should be! not by what everyone should have what they want!! I also need to have some accounting for the souls that are on this planet and how they are sent to heaven!!
BS Ranch

Gay marriages begin as California ruling takes effect



Luis Sinco, Los Angeles Times
Robin Tyler, left, and Diane Olson rejoice after marrying in a Jewish ceremony on the steps of the Beverly Hills courthouse.
At 5:01 p.m., same-sex couples across the state raced to partake in a legal ritual long denied to them. The first couple in L.A. County to marry are Robin Tyler and Diane Olson.
By Carla Hall, John M. Glionna and Rich Connell, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers
June 17, 2008
» Discuss Article (86 Comments)

In Beverly Hills, the wedding couple wore matching ivory suits as a rabbi officiated on a courthouse plaza. In San Francisco, the brides exchanged vows as Mayor Gavin Newsom presided. And across the state Monday, at 5:01 p.m., the moment that same-sex marriage became legal by order of the California Supreme Court, exultant gay couples raced to be first to partake in a legal ritual long denied them.

County registrars and clerks in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Alameda, Sonoma and Yolo counties kept offices open to allow at least two dozen same-sex couples the distinction of being among the first to wed.

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Before the ceremonies began, L.A. Cardinal Roger Mahony and seven other Southern California Roman Catholic bishops reaffirmed their opposition to same-sex marriage. In a statement, the clerics said marriage "has a unique place in God's creation, joining a man and a woman in a committed relationship in order to nurture and support the new life for which marriage is intended."

In Los Angeles County, longtime partners Diane Olson and Robin Tyler were the first and only same-sex couple to obtain a license Monday. Together 15 years, Olson and Tyler were the original plaintiffs in the 2004 California lawsuit challenging the ban on gay marriage as unconstitutional. The couple were chosen to receive the county's first license "in recognition of their unique role in the court's decision," said acting L.A. County Registrar-Recorder Dean Logan.

For eight years the couple trekked to the Beverly Hills courthouse on Valentine's Day, only to be denied a marriage license each time. They returned Monday as conquering heroines -- with friends, their high-profile lawyer, Gloria Allred, and a mass of media in tow.

Olson and Tyler were swarmed by news cameras as they entered the courthouse. "We just love each other," gushed Tyler as Olson gently placed her hand on the small of her back.

Around them were dozens of family and friends and a smattering of protesters quietly holding banners offering varying slogans, including "Homo Sex Is Sin!," but all suggesting that gay marriage invokes God's wrath.

At the county clerk's window, as Olson and Tyler's marriage license was prepared, the full measure of the moment hit. "We've never gotten this far before," Tyler said.

"Well, you have today," the clerk said.

As they walked out the glass doors, arm in arm, each taking turns brandishing the long-sought-after paper document high, the crowd cheered and a burst of the "Wedding March" sounded -- as if the wedding was already completed.

They stood before Reform Rabbi Denise Eger, and their ceremony was both crazed and intimate. Tyler was tearful as she slipped a ring on Olson's finger. A wedding singer -- real estate agent Michael Libow -- crooned "Someone to Watch Over Me." Family and friends were forced to strain for a mere glimpse of Olson and Tyler as reporters and photographers surrounded them, a microphone boom intruding under the huppah, the canopy that arches over the couple in a Jewish wedding. Beverly Hills police officers solemnly scanned the grounds as protesters held signs aloft.

From the sidelines, a protester screamed, "Jesus Loves You!"

"Shh! It's a wedding," a guest scolded him.

Their friends seemed prepared for the fact that they were at a media event. "This is not only a wedding, it's witnessing history," said psychotherapist Arlene Drake, a longtime friend of the couple.

The rabbi also acknowledged the long road to the moment, saying they had finally found "justice that reigns not just on you but all of California."

The rabbi had barely intoned the words that Olson and Tyler had waited so long to hear -- "By the power vested in me by the state of California . . ." -- when the crowd roared its approval, momentarily drowning out Eger, who continued: ". . . I now pronounce you spouses for life!"

At the reception, the couple cut a cake with matching bride figures on top.

"My name is Robin Tyler and I'd like to introduce you to my wife!" she declared.

The brides will retain their own names.

"This is the last frontier," said gay Los Angeles Councilman Bill Rosendahl, who attended the wedding. "Women got the right to vote, black people got the right to vote, now gay people can get married."

If only it had come earlier, Tyler lamented Monday.

"I'm 66," she said. "If they had let me get married 10 years ago, I would have been 20 pounds lighter and I wouldn't have needed airbrushing."

The couple rode in a white limousine -- friends chipped in to buy them the ride -- from their North Hills home to the county clerk's office in the Beverly Hills courthouse. Tyler, a comic who also owns a travel business with her partner, and Olson, 54, who has a separate business in Beverly Hills, chose the plaza outside the courthouse for their wedding because of its historic significance in their battle.

"This is a civil rights movement," said Tyler, who has long been active in gay rights issues. "The courthouse is the place where we were turned down."

In San Francisco, protesters arrived early on the steps of City Hall, as did a throng of more than 100 reporters. One protester held up a sign reading "Hello, Gay People. God Is Upset."

Inside, Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin's private ceremony in Newsom's office marked a triumph of love, endurance and a pioneering commitment to gay rights spanning five decades.

Now in their 80s, the couple had their initial kiss when Dwight D. Eisenhower was president. They first said "I love you" in an era when most Americans couldn't fathom two women as a committed, sexually active couple.

About 5:10 p.m., moments after the ceremony, a crowd outside the mayor's office erupted in applause and parted as Lyon, dressed in a blue pantsuit, slowly pushed her partner in a wheelchair toward a wedding cake.

"These are two extraordinary people who have lived extraordinary lives," Newsom said. "They have spent a half-century fighting for equality."

Outside City Hall, about 1,000 people waited for the couple to emerge. Some cheered, others booed. One man waved a sign that said "Homo Sex Is a Threat to National Security."

For many years, Lyon, 83, and Martin, 87, couldn't hold hands or embrace on the street. They lived in fear of being outed, labeled as "dirty" or "queer."

But Monday, as they took their vows as wife and wife, the public scrutiny had turned from bitter to oh-so-sweet.

They were more than retiring octogenarians turned social trailblazers Monday. Greeting the press after taking their vows, they were beaming newlyweds.

A same-sex wedding celebration would have been as unthinkable as flying to Mars when the couple met.

Lyon and Martin met through work and became inseparable, but at first only as friends. Soon, Martin revealed a secret. The pair were having drinks with a friend when talk turned to homosexuality. Martin knew details that surprised the other two women. They asked how she knew so much.

"Because I am one," Martin said.

One night, as the pair sat on the sofa in Lyon's apartment, Martin said she was upset that her friend was planning to leave on a cross-country trip. "She put her arm around me and sort of made half a pass," Lyon recalled. "Then I made the other half back."

At the time, both women kept their intimacy a secret. Lyon said she feared being exposed as a lesbian.

After they bought their home, they were invited to form a club with other lesbians in their neighborhood. "We formed a secret social club for lesbians," Martin said. "We just thought that was the greatest."

The club became the Daughters of Bilitis, considered one of the first lesbian organizations in the U.S.

As the years passed, the women became more active in gay and lesbian affairs.

Martin said coming out strengthened their union.

After so many years of keeping secrets, they said, public acknowledgment of their love is the best wedding gift possible. "It's really amazing and exciting," Lyon said.

Added Martin: "And exhausting."

carla.hall@latimes.com

john.glionna@latimes.com

Hall reported from Beverly Hills and Glionna from San Francisco. Times staff writer Duke Helfand contributed to this report.

Monday, June 16, 2008

Rialto Looking to Upgrade Its Down-Home Downtown (Inland Empire Daily Bulletin) June 13, 2008

BS Ranch Perspective:
Looks like Rialto now has the right idea with downtown's Improvements! The way that I see it is that they are looking to a slow build up of the downtown area with a 10 year build up. There is an old time Dance Club that will be opening soon, however with the Current DUI Laws that are on the book, it is difficult for type of Dance Clubs, which rely on the drinking of the patrons to sustain their business, and keep them in bread and butter!! But many of the Dance Clubs that have come before have fallen down, especially with the current DUI Laws that are on the books. Which has forced people into Alcohol Classes that are designed to make the person that is picked up on the DUI Charged convinced that they are an alcoholic!
It seems that the more DUI's that get arrested from a Certain Club also gets the word out that the law enforcement works it pretty steady and it doesn't matter if you have nude girls and boys in that club working for you, they will not come in with that kind of enforcement outside!!
So, they are forced to close or move to another location! For the sake of this new place I hope that they do well!
I also cannot wait for the new Lowe's to open up, it will be nice to have it down in the southern end of the city. I am just sorry that they are so far away from me!! Once again with these Gas Prices I am forced to shop closer and use Aces on Highland Ave in Muscoy! just because of the $4.40 a gallon that I just paid for gas!
BSR

Rialto looking to upgrade its down-home downtown

Jason Pesick, Staff Writer

RIALTO - Downtown has a small-town charm and businesses that have been there for decades.

But it also has a fair bit of turnover, a number of vacant buildings and no real draw to attract pedestrians.

Bringing some life to downtown once again seems to be a priority at City Hall. A new plan to guide the way has been completed and a number of modest or sizable projects are in the works.

"But the bottom line is there is a change coming through," said Joe Flores Jr., president of the Downtown Business Improvement District Association and owner of J & J Auto Fabrics.

In July, the City Council will decide whether to adopt a vision plan developed for downtown. The plan has a wish list that would take tens of millions of dollars to complete.

The recommendations include adding housing downtown, taking advantage of the Metrolink station for development, and building a new civic center with connections to Riverside Avenue.

Also recommended is cleaning up Trickleside Alley west of Riverside Avenue by putting the power lines underground, improving building facades and opening businesses to the alley.

In addition, the city wants to put together a deal with Newport Beach-based KDF Communities to build a 117-unit affordable senior housing project with 5,000 square feet of retail on the first floor.

"We've been going back and forth and negotiating a lot," said city Housing Manager John Dutrey.

The city is also

planning to expand its Metrolink parking lot and has been aggressively making facade upgrades to improve the look of buildings downtown.

"We're going back to how downtowns used to be - a destination where people can park the car and be able to walk around," Dutrey said.

The Mexican restaurant Cuca's was recently remodeled, and new businesses like an art gallery and clothing boutique are on the way.

Brian Powell, whose sister, Tanya Powell, opened Todie's Apparel on Riverside Avenue about 1<MD+,%30,%55,%70>1/<MD-,%0,%55,%70>2 months ago, said business has been good.

"People are starting to respond pretty well," he said.

A new, midpriced, American restaurant should be coming to the downtown by the middle of next year, said developer Scott Beard, who is behind the restaurant - kind of like City Hall's own Old Ebbitt Grill, which is near the White House.

"I think there's no sit-down dinner place in Rialto that's any good in my opinion," he said, referring to places that serve American food.

The Alley Kat Jazz Lounge, which will feature live music at night, should be opening by next month.

Dangers do loom for downtown. The weak economy isn't helping revitalization efforts, and a Wal-Mart Supercenter and Lowe's store are on their way two miles south of downtown.

The vision plan isn't the first time the city has tried to bring more life downtown.

"We've had a multitude of these visioning programs that have been done over the years," Beard said. "Obviously, we're hopeful that this one takes hold and the city has the patience and the fortitude."

Dutrey said fulfilling the vision will take time, but it will happen.

"So it's not going to happen in the next five to 10 years."

jason.pesick@

inlandnewspapers.com

(909) 386-3861

Rialto City Looking for Spark in Renaissance Rialto Plan (Inland Valley Daily Bulletin) June 10, 2008

BS Ranch Perspective:
I am still one that is against this plan, since the airport has been here for so long, and is something that is unique to the city, that San Bernardino is only now getting, and Rialto is giving that up to them, just to have what every other city has!! A Shopping Center, and more housing!
I Agree that housing and business brings in more Tax money that the city can use to pay towards more jobs and higher pay to the existing jobs that are currently in the city, which is something that is good, but Rialto has not had such a great history with a speedy plan for expansion!!
I believe that in the Current Housing Market, that if and when the Airport is closed, and then the City of Rialto has to Pay for the Moving of The Current Businesses at the Airport to Move to San Bernardino, that also Includes the San Bernardino Sheriffs Aviation, and Mercy Air, Both of which have been housed at Rialto Airport since they started, because of the central Location to the South/West County Area, or Inland Empire!
It is only right to keep them in the central area, so that they don't' have to ruin their response time to calls that they currently have to Ontario, Chino and the High Desert. However it is noted that the High Desert Calls to Victorville and Apple Valley will not increase or decrease that much since San Bernardino Airport is just two to three miles to the South of Rialto Airports current location!!, therefore it would only add a couple of minutes to the call for service. But the Far West end of Ontario can make a bit of difference from San Bernardino Airport, since they would take off and then have to fly back over the Airport in which they took off to begin with to get to Ontario. I completely forgot the Copter that takes off for the city of Fontana Police Department and is currently housed at Rialto Airport. They will suffer a great deal of call for service loss of time since they would either have to find a place in their city to have a helicopters-pad in order to gas and keep the copter during their shift for quicker response time! However other then that, I believe out of all the people that have a heliport at Rialto Airport the one that would be the most angry about the move would be Fontana Police Agency!! It would be awful for them the most, for the calls for service that they would have to wait for their copter that was usually a four minute wait is now a seven to ten minute wait!!
San Bernardino Sheriff's Departments Central Patrol will be effected a little by the move, but the move will cost the Sheriff Department a whole bunch, by having to move their whole equipment hangers to the new facilities that will have to be built, provided that the Sheriff's Department Built the current Hanger that they are currently houses there several fixed wing aircrafts, along with their Helicopters.
The City of Rialto will not see a great deal of moving on the build up, since they didn't take any opportunity to allow businesses to build on the Newly Made Easton Ave. (I-210 Business Route). This so called Business Route is not so much of a business route since there has not been any, None of the Businesses that have build opened or started to sell anything to anyone. Even when the Freeway was under construction! Now Rialto if they were a Smart City they would have done like that of their Counter Part, Fontana, and sold Business Construction Permits to businesses that wanted to build on Easton Ave, at the Intersections like Ayala, Alder, Cactus, or even any of the stretches between that could have had some Car lots like that of Fontana.
Maybe Rialto could have had some Hotels or Restaurants built! But they didn't' they want to close a land mark like the Airport, and put it all in one small area of the city and call it a huge expansion with housing business, and well a little of everything!! Everything but, an Airport!!
BS Ranch

City looking for spark in Renaissance Rialto plan


RIALTO - Work to close the city's airport to make way for an ambitious development project could be months away, unless the City Council wants to rethink the plan.

In recent weeks, city officials have completed negotiations with a number of government agencies so the city can turn the Rialto Municipal Airport into the Renaissance Rialto development project.

The next step is to complete the plans and send them to the City Council - something that probably won't happen until the fall or end of the year.

But now there are murmurs that the plans need an extra spark.

"I'm convinced that the smart thing to do is to make Rialto a destination spot," said City Councilman Ed Scott. He mentioned the California Speedway in Fontana and the new stadium in Ontario as examples of regional draws.

The airport sits in the heart of what city officials and a development partnership between the Upland-based Lewis Group and Ross Perot Jr.'s Hillwood want to turn into Renaissance Rialto.

The latest plans for the project include shopping, about 2,000 homes, a school, parks and industrial and office space. A SuperTarget would anchor the retail center.

"We're going to need at some point to be very clear on what we're trying to accomplish," said City Councilwoman Deborah Robertson.

She said she is a fan of transit-oriented development and might want to bring an educational institution specializing in local concerns like

transportation and logistics, environmental issues or language to the city.

"I think we all are looking for the ideal draw," she said.

A regional draw could be a good idea as long as it complements other landmarks, like the Speedway, said City Councilwoman Winnie Hanson.

"I'm interested. I think it's a great thing to explore," she said.

Hanson said she doubted altering the project would delay it.

Approving the plan is important so the developers can start purchasing the airport property from Rialto and fronting money to relocate the tenants. Many tenants also won't sign on to fill the shopping area until a project has been passed.

The airport probably won't be closed for two more years because new facilities have to be built for the tenants before they can leave Rialto. Money to do that will initially come from the developers once a project is approved.

In the past few weeks, the city and the Federal Aviation Administration formally agreed on the value of the airport land and Caltrans officials agreed to give Rialto access to property the city needs to build Renaissance.

Federal legislation passed in 2005 allowed the city to close the airport with the condition that it had to pay 45percent of the value of the airport property to San Bernardino International Airport, which will receive many of Rialto's tenants.

Rialto has also submitted an airport closure plan to the FAA.

"I don't think we have any issues with this plan," said FAA spokesman Ian Gregor.

Saturday, June 14, 2008

McCain: Obama Will Kill Economy & Jobs (Stephen Franks CA. Political News & Views) June 10, 2008

McCain: Obama Will Kill Economy and Jobs

Tuesday 10 June 2008, by admin

We are now in the midst of the general Election. Clearly Obama supports raising consumer prices and taxes, supports the largest tax increase in American history and wants to close down the American energy industry. Those are just part of the economic disaster of Barack Obama.

McCain is correct, Obama would be the second term of Jimmie Carter. Both support and apologize for dictatorships in the Middle East. Both want to talk to terrorist instead of taking action (remember the 400 day hostage crisis that ended the Carter administration).

Obama supports the special interest, unions, that can killed millions of U.S. jobs and open the borders to illegal aliens. McCain wants to deal with the illegal alien problem, Obama just wants to open the borders.

If we have disagreements with John McCain they are nothing compared to the disaster that we would have if Obama is elected. Pass this article to your friends, let them know their is a choice in November—they must vote and must not throw away their vote.

What do you think? Is McCain or Obama better for the economy?

McCain paints Obama as job-killing liberal

by Jitendra JoshiT, Agence France Presse, 6/10/08

Republican John McCain said Tuesday his White House opponent Barack Obama's economic platform would kill jobs and growth, vowing instead to keep big government out of entrepreneurship.

The Arizona senator spelled out the difference in governing philosophy that he said would be a critical choice in November's election, as he sparred with Obama for a second day over the economic crisis engulfing many US families.

"No matter which of us wins in November, there will be change in Washington. The question is what kind of change?" McCain told the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) here in a well-received speech.

"Under Senator Obama's tax plan, Americans of every background would see their taxes rise — seniors, parents, small business owners, and just about everyone who has even a modest investment in the market," he said.

The Democrat would enact "the single largest tax increase since the Second World War" and index the federal minimum wage to inflation, "which is a sure way to add to your costs and to slow the creation of new jobs."

McCain's accusation rests on Obama's commitment to rolling back multi-billion-dollar tax cuts enacted under President George W. Bush, and applying higher taxes on those earning more than 250,000 dollars a year.

In riposte, Obama said McCain was guilty of fuzzy mathematics and again mocked the Republican's self-confessed weakness in economic expertise.

"I've said that John McCain is running to serve out a third Bush term. But the truth is when it comes to taxes, that's not being fair to George Bush," the Democrat told reporters in St Louis, Missouri.

"Senator McCain wants to add 300 billion dollars more in tax breaks and loopholes for big corporations and the wealthiest Americans, and he hasn't even explained how to pay for it," he said.

The 250,000-dollar threshold for annual income would mean that 98 percent of workers would pay no more taxes, Obama said, and middle-class families would get tax relief starting at 1,000 dollars to offset surging costs of living.

The Illinois senator also took aim at McCain's incremental approach to reform of healthcare, whose rocketing costs are one of the biggest headaches for small businesses, along with gasoline prices topping four dollars a gallon.

Touting his own plan to dramatically increase healthcare, Obama earlier went on ward rounds with a hospital nurse in St Louis, on the second day of a two-week campaign tour that is taking him deep into Republican territory.

Obama, 46, is capitalizing on profound disquiet about rising unemployment and home foreclosures, plus opposition to the Iraq war, to accuse McCain of offering "four more years" for the hugely unpopular Bush.

McCain, 71, has a new line of retort, saying Obama would represent a second term for 1970s president Jimmy Carter, a throwback to an era of runaway spending by the government and economic stagnation.

The economy has dominated the two contenders' hard-hitting exchanges since Obama's opponent in the Democratic nomination battle, Hillary Clinton, quit the race at the weekend.

In Washington, top Democrats put on a show of unity after the bruising primary season, detailing how the national party will merge its activities into the Obama campaign's to pursue an election strategy across all 50 states.

Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean said the race between the African-American Obama and Clinton had seen "some ugly moments" of racism and sexism.

But he stressed: "Today, we stand united as a Democratic Party, focused on putting an end to the idea of a third Bush term, which we would get with John McCain."

House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi had a message for the angry Clinton supporters who are now threatening to vote for McCain in protest at Obama's primary triumph.

"Women and blue-collar workers, whatever their race, have the most to gain by the election of Barack Obama as president of the United States and the most to lose by the election of John McCain," she said.


BS Ranch Perspective:

It is true that McCain paints Obama as somebody that will take any or all raises or money that you might have, to pay for the National Debt. However what McCain forgets is that Obama has said on his web site and during the debates that he is going to open up Negotiations with Countries where Communications have been closed for a good reason, that reason is that they Communicate but that country doesn't do so in good faith, and they have proven themselves to be untrustworthy, by lying to us every-time we have been to the table to discuss the closing of their Nuclear testing and plans to gain a Nuclear bomb. Obama is hoping that he will go to Russia and they will just turn off all their Nuclear Bombs and destroy them forever. Obama has also said through Talk that Northern Korea will follow suit, it is his behalf that we have not talked enough with N. Korea and the talking that he does and also the dismantling of the United States Nuclear Defensive arms that are just waiting to be used in defence of our safety if any of these countries Gains the Nuclear Bomb, and decides to use it.

Star Wars Defense System has been shut down even though there has been successful tests that were done with that system, but it was expensive, & the President didn't see the payment of the system with the large amount of Debt that the country has. Obama wants to withdraw from Iraq and decrease the size of our Military Branches by a Considerable Amount, Not to mention Shutting down our Defensive Facilities that look out for our Countries Safety right now, We will not need it any more with all our Nuclear Weapons Dismantled and discarded. To show those Countries that Obama negotiates with that he is a man of his word, and he is willing to take the extra step, and hopefully those countries that he is negotiating with such as North Korea or Russia and I for one am hoping that if Obama wins that he is right in his plans, because I for one feel very uncomfortable trying to learn another language at my age.

BS Ranch

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Dems' Want to borrow from the lottery to help close budget deficit (Sac Bee June 6, 2008)

BS Ranch Perspective
We here at the BS Ranch have a Suggestion and that is to advise all those dim witted, Very Short Sighted, elected officials who are worried about making their name stick on the Books of California's History, Weather it be on a Bridge, Building, or a very large piece of land that is set aside that for animals or people in the name of a historical landmark. But It has to be named after them and their Do Nothing But leave the state in a more broke, Over spent Position that it was left in before!!
BS Ranch

Dems want to borrow from lottery to help close budget deficit

By Judy Lin - jlin@sacbee.com
Published 12:00 am PDT Friday, June 6, 2008

Democratic lawmakers made an opening pitch Thursday for closing the state's $15.2 billion deficit, using lottery borrowing as well as unspecified proposals to close tax loopholes.

Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, D-Los Angeles, said during an appearance Thursday at the Sacramento Press Club that she wants $6.4 billion in new revenue because her party intends to protect education and maintain the state's safety net for the poor.

"At the end of the day, from our point of view, we need to balance the budget with revenue," Bass said. "We said from the beginning we were not going to agree to balance the budget with cuts only."

She set a goal to complete the budget by the start of the new fiscal year – July 1, though she admitted it was unlikely.

With no plans to meet the June 15 constitutional deadline for passing a balanced budget, lawmakers will begin next week reconciling similar spending plans crafted by Democrats in each house before starting serious negotiations with Republicans.

Bass said she wanted to suspend tax breaks approved when the state's revenue was rosier. But GOP members immediately criticized the proposal, saying Californians should not pay for the Legislature's overspending.

"At a time when the price of gas and food is up and home values are down, it is pretty clear that people cannot afford to pay higher taxes," said Assembly Republican leader Mike Villines of Clovis.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed a $144.4 billion budget for the new fiscal year that would cover the state's deficit by using a combination of cuts and a plan to sell bonds against the lottery's future profits. He wanted to use $5.1 billion from lottery proceeds next year to help close the gap in the $101.8 billion general fund.

Assembly Democrats have supported the governor's plan to borrow from the lottery but rejected his proposal to put the money into a so-called "rainy day" account. Instead, they would like to use the money to pay down debt.

Democratic leaders in both houses proposed giving schools more than the governor recommended. They include cost-of-living increases for teachers.

"Everybody is very pleased the ante keeps getting raised by factions in the Capitol," said Kevin Gordon, a school funding expert and consultant.

Democrats have rejected what they considered to be the worst of the governor's proposed cuts on health care and social services.

"This is what the debate is going to be about: Are we going to deny thousands of people coverage or raise revenues to prevent those cuts?" said Anthony Wright, executive director of Health Access California, a consumer advocacy coalition.


Tuesday, June 03, 2008

AP tally: Obama clinches Democratic Nomination (Associated Press via The Press Enterprise June 3, 2008)

BS Ranch Perspective:
It appears that the Clinton Dynasty has pulled out and they are going to wait until she is much older and wiser, when she can do much more for New York as a U.S. Senator. While Obama, a "Christian" whom has a minister and friend of some 20 years who is very bias and 'Racist' to his flock, and when questioned about it, "we don't under stand!"
All because we were never slaves bought or sold as property, and so how could any other race but black understand what he is talking about!! Well, there has not been any Races bought or purchased for some 100 years!! So, I don't believe that any of the current Blacks in our society have any understanding of what it is like to be purchased as property!
Obama, carries a Muslim name, the name given to him by his father, a Muslim, whom is probably an enemy of the United States of America, and is a Good Explanation why Obama never covers his heart with his right hand in respect when the National Anthem is being played at the beginning of any function. It looks rather strange when all the Senators are standing at the beginning of the Senate Opening and Obama is he only one that is standing with his Right hand not covering his heart!
Obama never wore a heart pin on his lapel when every other Senator was wearing them via Memo request by other Senator's in respect to those that lost their lives in the WTC (World Trade Center).
How can we trust a man that is willing to meet with terrorists that we have cut off ties with for years because of the loss of trust that they have demonstrated time after time with talks that were done with them in the past! But Obama wants to lift the silent treatment, and start trading with them in a normal fashioned, and see what will come of it. These talks are a mistake, since the pipeline of communication was closed in the past for a good reason, and there is no reason that I see that the pipeline of communication should be reopened again!! Our Enemies like North Korea, and Iran, and even Cuba will take advantage to go against us in some way. They will use any new technologies to promote & bolster their knowledge of bombs ways to kill more Americans, and Obama will be the one that makes this all happen!!
BS Ranch

AP tally: Obama clinches Democratic nomination



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WASHINGTON (AP) -- Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois sealed the Democratic presidential nomination Tuesday, a historic step toward his once-improbable goal of becoming the nation's first black president. A defeated Hillary Rodham Clinton maneuvered for the vice presidential spot on his fall ticket.

Obama's victory set up a five-month campaign with Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona, a race between a 46-year-old opponent of the Iraq War and a 71-year-old former Vietnam prisoner of war and staunch supporter of the current U.S. military mission.

McCain was plainly eager for the race to begin, and accused his younger rival of voting "to deny funds to the soldiers who have done a brilliant and brave job" in Iraq.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois sealed the Democratic presidential nomination Tuesday, a historic step toward his once-improbable goal of becoming the nation's first black president. A defeated Hillary Rodham Clinton maneuvered for the vice presidential spot on his fall ticket.

Obama's victory set up a five-month campaign with Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona, a race between a 46-year-old opponent of the Iraq War and a 71-year-old former Vietnam prisoner of war and staunch supporter of the current U.S. military mission.

Obama, a first-term Illinois senator who was virtually unknown on the national stage four years ago, defeated Clinton, the former first lady and one-time campaign front-runner, in a 17-month marathon for the Democratic nomination.

His victory had been widely assumed for weeks. But Clinton's declaration of interest in becoming his ticketmate was wholly unexpected.

She expressed it in a conference call with her state's congressional delegation after Rep. Nydia Velazquez, predicted Obama would have great difficulty winning the support of Hispanics and other voting blocs unless the former first lady was on the ticket.

"I am open to it" if it would help the party's prospects in November, Clinton replied, according to a participant who spoke on condition of anonymity because the call was private.

Obama's campaign had no reaction to Clinton's comments, which raised anew the prospect of what many Democrats have called a "Dream Ticket" that would put a black man and a woman on the same ballot.

The fast-paced developments unfolded as the long Democratic nominating struggle ended with primaries in Montana and South Dakota.

Only 31 delegates were at stake, the final few among the thousands that once drew Obama, Clinton and six other Democratic candidates into the campaign to replace President Bush and become the nation's 44th president.

Obama arranged an evening appearance in St. Paul, Minn., sending McCain an unmistakable message by claiming his victory in the very hall where the Arizonan will accept his party's nomination in early September.

Clinton was in New York for an appearance before home-state supporters. Officials said she would concede Obama had the delegates to secure the Democratic nomination, effectively ending her bid to be the nation's first female president.

McCain, who wrapped up the Republican nomination months ago, campaigned in Memphis.

Obama sealed his nomination based on primary elections, state Democratic caucuses and delegates' public declarations as well as support from 22 delegates and "superdelegates" who privately confirmed their intentions to The Associated Press. It takes 2,118 delegates to clinch the nomination at the convention in Denver this summer.

The young senator's success amounted to a victory of hope over experience, earned across an enervating 56 primaries and caucuses that tested the political skills and human endurance of all involved.

Obama stood for hope, and change. Clinton was the candidate of experience, ready, she said, to serve in the Oval Office from Day One.

Together, they drew record turnouts in primary after primary - more than 34 million voters in all, independents and Republicans as well as Democrats.

Yet the race between a black man and a woman exposed deep racial and gender divisions within the party.

Obama drew strength from blacks, and from the younger, more liberal and wealthier voters in many states. Clinton was preferred by older, more downscale voters, and women, of course.

Obama's triumph was fashioned on prodigious fundraising, meticulous organizing and his theme of change aimed at an electorate opposed to the Iraq war and worried about the economy - all harnessed to his own gifts as an inspirational speaker.

With her husband's two White House terms as a backdrop, Clinton campaigned for months as the candidate of experience, a former first lady and second-term senator ready to be commander in chief.

But after a year on the campaign trail, Obama won the kickoff Iowa caucuses on Jan. 3, and the freshman senator became a political phenomenon.

"We came together as Democrats, as Republicans and independents, to stand up and say we are one nation, we are one people and our time for change has come," he said that night of victory in Des Moines.

As the strongest female presidential candidate in history, Clinton drew large, enthusiastic audiences. Yet Obama's were bigger. One audience, in Dallas, famously cheered when he blew his nose on stage; a crowd of 75,000 turned out in Portland, Ore., the weekend before the state's May 20 primary.

The former first lady countered Obama's Iowa victory with an upset five days later in New Hampshire that set the stage for a campaign marathon as competitive as any in the past generation.

"Over the last week I listened to you, and in the process I found my own voice," she told supporters who had saved her candidacy from an early demise.

In defeat, Obama's aides concluded they had committed a cardinal sin of New Hampshire politics, forsaking small, intimate events in favor of speeches to large audiences inviting them to ratify Iowa's choice.

It was not a mistake they made again - which helped explain Obama's later outings to bowling alleys, backyard basketball courts and American Legion halls in the heartland.

Clinton conceded nothing, memorably knocking back a shot of Crown Royal whiskey at a bar in Indiana, recalling that her grandfather had taught her to use a shotgun, and driving in a pickup to a gas station in South Bend, Ind., to emphasize her support for a summertime suspension of the federal gasoline tax.

As other rivals fell away in winter, Obama and Clinton traded victories on Super Tuesday, the Feb. 5 series of primaries and caucuses across 21 states and American Samoa that once seemed likely to settle the nomination.

But Clinton had a problem that Obama exploited, and he scored a coup she could not answer.

Pressed for cash, the former first lady ran noncompetitive campaigns in several Super Tuesday caucus states, allowing her rival to run up his delegate totals.

At the same time, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., endorsed the young senator in terms that summoned memories of his slain brothers while seeking to turn the page on the Clinton era.

Merely by surviving Super Tuesday, Obama exceeded expectations. But he did more than survive, emerging with a lead in delegates that he never relinquished, and he proceeded to run off a string of 11 straight victories.

Clinton saved her candidacy once more with primary victories in Ohio and Texas on March 4, beginning a stretch in which she won in six of the next nine states on the calendar, as well as in Puerto Rico.

It was a strong run, providing glimpses of what might have been for the one-time front-runner.

Personality issues rose and receded through the campaign:

Clinton's husband, the former president, campaigned tirelessly for her but sometimes became an issue himself, to her detriment.

And Obama struggled to minimize the damage caused by the incendiary rhetoric of his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, an issue likely to be raised anew by Republicans in the fall campaign.

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Associated Press Writers Nedra Pickler, Beth Fouhy and Devlin Barrett in Washington, Stephen Majors in Columbus, Ohio, Jim Davenport in Columbia, S.C., and Libby Quaid in Memphis, Tenn. contributed to this story

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