California Cuts $17 Billion From Public Education

California is hurting financially and so its muscular governor and legislature have cut $17 billion over the past two years. College students are outraged and are demonstrating and taking over school buildings. Classes are overcrowded. Libraries are disappearing. People are angry and wonder why corporations are getting tax breaks while public education suffers.  I would point out that I watched one of our state’s public universities stage several large football games in a colossal stadium this winter.  That does seem odd if they are in financial straights. But in general such massive cuts in public education are a very bad thing for a state like California that depends heavily on knowledge for the health of its economy and for its future.

Stand Up For Schools

California Supreme Court Legalizes Bigotry

The California Supreme Court has upheld a recent statewide vote that amended the state constitution to define marriage as only between a man and a woman.  This is the same court that only months ago ruled that any ban on gay marriage was a violation of rights.  Their recent ruling, however, focuses on the legality of the vote to amend the constitution to rule out the possibility of same sex marriage.  If it is legal for voters to take away the right for gay people to marry by passing a constitutional amendment, then it would be just as legal for those voters to amend the constitution to say that marriage is only between a white man and a white woman.  That’s what California’s Supreme Court has ruled in all its wisdom.  They have legalized rampant bigotry.

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