Separation of church and state is the larger issue

No on Prop 8 just sent me this bulls*&t:

“We achieve nothing if we isolate the people who did not stand with us in this fight. We only further divide our state if we attempt to blame people of faith, African American voters, rural communities and others for this loss. We know people of all faiths, races and backgrounds stand with us in our fight to end discrimination, and will continue to do so. Now more than ever it is critical that we work together and respect our differences that make us a diverse and unique society. Only with that understanding will we achieve justice and equality for all.”

I don't think anybody is BLAMING African-Americans for Prop 8. We're just upset that their community ironically doesn't seem to see the value of equal rights, and going after the Mormon and other faiths is a 100% correct strategy since, once again, it's their money that pushed their agenda through. The Yes on 8 side had to lie to convince people that a ban on gay marriage is what GOD wants.
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Gimme That Old Time Religion!

I dunno, it just seems like a relevant clip. Is this one reason why they came up with that whole separation of church & state concept?



On a side note, I ran into a friend this morning at a local cafe who, in a very brilliant Libertarian moment, said,

" The No on Prop 8 people are fighting the wrong battle. Instead of fighting for the rights of the gay & lesbian community to marry, they should be fighting to have every union between anyone, including a man & a woman, simply function as a legal civil union. Get the government out of the wedding business completely! If the couple wants to take the extra step of labeling their civil union a marriage, then they can go to the church of their choosing and make it so according to the beliefs and traditions of that particular religion. What's so hard about that?"

It seemed like a good idea to me, but I was only on my first cup of coffee, so what do I know?

City Bans Church's Fundraising Effort

Last week the North Valley Area Planning commission in a surprising turn, unanimously upheld an appeal against the approval of the installation of a T-Mobile cellphone tower in North Hills.

The tower was to be erected on the property of Valley Park Church and was contracted between the church and T-Mobile.

However, the same property is also leased by Our Community School, a small North Hills elementary charter school.

Though the appeal was filed by neighbors concerned about the tower in what is essentially a residential neighborhood, and under the flightpath of the Van Nuys airport, 60 or more parents and children from the charter school showed up to the meeting to speak and support the appeal, citing safety concerns regarding stored chemicals, radiation, and earthquake safety.

Though the official recommendation from staff was for the commission to deny the appeal, all five commissioners voted to block the installation.

The commissioners expressed concern about siting on a school playground, the setback bringing it close to residential homes, lack of prior community input and notification, and incongruity with the "master plan" for neighborhood development.

This decision may be in violation of "The Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act," a federal law signed by President Clinton to give religious institutions freedom from discriminatory acts by local or state government.