Rights and Doing What’s Right: The Unpopular Side of Prop 8
by G. Kath Messner
It’s not okay to pick your nose in traffic, but it is okay to have a traditional opinion on the topic of homosexual marriage. There has been ample coverage in the media about the injustices of Proposition 8, so I want to consider the other side of the argument. The unpopular difference between “rights” and doing the right thing.
To explain, Proposition 8 is a measure to amend the California State constitution to clarify legal marriage as being between male and female partners only. A YES vote means that you support traditional marriage between husband and wife, and a NO vote means that you are in favor of homosexual marriage. This Proposition already passed back in the year 2000, but 4 State Supreme Court activist judges reversed the people’s decision and removed the ban on gay marriage without regard to the peoples vote. This type of non-democratic court control is exactly what our country’s founding fathers feared and tried to prevent when creating the Constitution.
You may be infuriated that the people in the state of California passed a proposition that you do not agree with. Take a deep breath. Everything is going to be okay…
And before you choose a certain religious denomination to blame, keep in mind the facts of this proposition and the 5.5 million voters who voted in favor of it despite the deceptive and extremist television ads created by the No On 8 campaign.
I witnessed a lot of enraged people waving banners that tout words like “hate” and “love.” The truth is that this issue has nothing to do with either. Incidentally, many of the gay protesters who are upset by the passing of Prop 8 have vowed to use violence to let people know how unfair they’re being treated. Does that sort of duplicity concern anyone besides me? Read this article for an idea of how much hatred is being bred within portions of the pro-homosexual-marriage population: http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/6081
Many people are comparing this battle with the racial-based civil rights movements of the mid-century, but there is one key difference: marriage is NOT an inalienable civil right (such as riding a public bus or drinking from a public fountain, which are natural and immutable rights.) Is barring a same-sex couple from being married discriminatory? If the actual definition of word marriage (the union of man and women) isn’t compelling enough, read on. Discrimination exists when rights and civil liberties are actually taken away from an individual or group. In the case of Proposition 8, no rights whatsoever have ever been removed from the homosexual community. The State of California provides Section 297-297.5 and 299 to ensure that homosexual couples receive all of the same “rights” as heterosexual couples. Unfortunately for confused voters, the language included on the ballot for Proposition 8 was somewhat misleading, as marriage is not a “right”, but is a concessional institution. It is a privilege that not…
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Quicksilver recently hosted an all 80’s skate comp with a street and bowl jam. Tom Geilfuss was just short of placing but received “Honorable Mention”. From the email he sent us, looks like Tom was pretty stoked either way.
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Check out a photo of Darryl Tocco rocking the icon tee and the rest of the Kink team from their recent Random Route Tour. For photos from all the stops check out the Kink site.
Read the full post by Murakami
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Last week we had a NJ promo tour with Shea Lopez, Matt Keenan, Luke Ditella and Tupat. Here are some photos to check out. Enjoy!
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Last week we had a NJ promo tour with Shea Lopez, Matt Keenan, Luke Ditella and Tupat. Here are some photos to check out. Enjoy!
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Click above to see all the mystery hoods that have been released to date.
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Click above to see all the mystery hoods that have been released to date.
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Gary Smith got 12th place overall at Red Bull Manny Mania NYC in a pretty stacked contest. Keep it up homie!
Here is a photo of Gary preparing for the contest a week earlier in Puerto Rico.
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There comes a time, when the tide is just not right, and there is an incredible itch for radicalness that just MUST be scratched, that you simply need to kick the fins off your favorite Murder Machine and head for the hills for a little bit of ShrubShreddin’!! Luckily, we happened to run into one of the planets premier Freestyle Foliage experts Brendan “BushBaron” Buckley, and witness what we can only describe as an indescribable session of his shrub shredding prowess. Believe me ladies and gentlemen, this kid knows a lot about bush….
(notice the bush photographer)
He took us on a 16 mile hike, barefoot mind you, to one of his top secret spots….
To illustrate the level of gnar possessed by the BushBaron, this is how he warms up, by charging down this monstrous and potentially deadly BEAST of a dirt wave. This is like the Waimea of this discipline folks…
Being the absolute, hands down BEST at what you do does not come free; the current consensus is that there are already a total of 665 gallons of the BushBaron’s blood in these hills. Here, he is adding the last drips to gallon 666….
The BB don’t mess around with weak ass chop hops in the water. He sure as hell won’t be bustin’ no jive ass crop hops in the bush….
Being a world class Hedge Hunter, an accomplished Slave Raver, an orthopedic surgeon, and regular volunteer at the O’Reily Institute for Diarrhea Research doesn’t take away from what the Bush Baron is at the core,……a Patriot.
The man has one simple dream, to jump off the edge of the world, into the universe’s biggest and baddest bush, wherever that may be. Maybe it is where the horizon lies, maybe it can only be found within. Whichever path he decides to take, the Baron of Bush will remain a legend, and myth amongst men….Viva el Pinche Baron
(notice the bush photographer)
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Jon Steele chimes in to give us an update from the Art as Therapy Show:
Better late than never as we have finally gotten a string of waves and I have been back to work shootin and enjoying the California Lifestyle! I just wanted to say a HUGE Thanks for all the support with the last showing of “Art As Therapy” consisting of myself and Mr. Wade Koniakowsky. With a beautiful night came the beautiful people out to the Ocean Art Studio in Solana Beach Friday. With Wahoo’s to fill the belly and Karl Strauss letting us sample some of their wonderful beverages, the eye candy and art purchasing was just , well, as smooth and enjoyable as the beer and wine.
Attendees were overheard with comments being thrown around like “fresh”, “exciting” and “amazing”, as the show was a great success and thrilled everyone who attended.
A huge thanks to Infinity board shop for the donated boards and glassing. These are some of the finest art pieces Mr. Steele has done to date. (see attatched imagery) As well as Sector 9 for the board donations and help!
All press photos availble.
Photographer Todd Myers!!
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BLENDS and Oakley are throwing an event together called ‘Retrospectacle’ which will be going down on July 10th from 7 to 10 P.M. at BLENDS in Los Angeles.
Oakley will be displaying a bunch of new pieces from a new lineup of a newly developed artist series program. But the main event of the night will come when they present a very unique Oakley Frogskins limited edition piece (pictured above) which was designed by the crew at BLENDS. The colorway was inspired by the original gradient coloring on the Oakley iridium lens. Only 20 of these babies will be born so if you get one, go sell it on ebay in a year or so and I am sure you will come up with some nice cash.
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Surfing’s great ambassador Kelly Slater stopped for a few shots with a couple of stoked local groms down at Lower Trestles the other day. Could this guy get any better for the sport of surfing? Honestly, what Kelly has done has been out of this world and it’s sad to think that he is getting older and won’t be the “same Kelly” for too much longer. Regardless, Slater is the man and if you think he is whack, you really have issues to deal with.
Here are some shots from Kelly’s seshn:
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Our homeys at Factor 54 are throwing a party at Rudy’s in Newport Beach, CA. The party is called ‘FREAKS OF THE NIGHT’ and is sure to bring out the freak in you. If you live in Cali, this will be the place to be the night of the 26th. There will be product giveaways, loud music, and all kinds of babes to get freaky with.
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Skateboarding OG Christian Hosoi just designed a new skateboard Hammerhead deck for the rad new lifestyle brand and shop Barracuda. The deck will be released tomorrow at the Barracuda shop on Melrose in L.A.. Get sum!
src juxtapoz
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Recently, I’ve been watching a lot of skate videos and i couldn’t seem to find one worthy of posting, until my good friend Wes told me about a video he is filming for. The video’s name is just amazing as the video itself. The title of the video is Wheels of Misfortune and it is going to be a hit. The video is being filmed by a San Diego local Eric Bennette. Here’s the promo and be on the look out for when it is completed.
[kml_flashembed movie="http://youtube.com/v/Y-hLXh0m_ww" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]
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When a friend of mine asked if I was interested in a road trip to out to California for a week, “hell yeah.” The plan was to leave friday morning and stop at Aspen’s big air event they hold at 3:00pm on fridays. Mark (Hoyt) and Colin (Spencer) were going to try to take the event and some extra cash for the trip. Turned out the locals made it to finals. We stopped at a bridge on the way out of town to see if it would be possible to hit real quick. We all agreed that after they both got a nose press we would roll out. They both landed the press after a few tries and started the switch press attempts. Colin came off the rail and caught his chin on his way down to the icy water. “we can go and get you stitches or get some glue and fix it right here, your choice.” Next Mark is on a quick trip to the kiwk-e-mart for some superglue and hydrogen-peroxide and soon enough we had the bleeding stopped and chin back together. On to Grand Junction.
We stayed the night in Grand Junction, picked up Bret a filmer for Cuff Productions. On the way we stopped at a random little town which was full of snow. Turned out there was a sweet little kink at the local Chiropractor’s office. Colin Landed a front board and we were off to stay the night in Reno. As we pulled into town we were in the middle of a 48hour storm, I have never seen snow flakes so big.
The next day we found a truck buried near a local mountain and gave it a good slashing with the help of our truck, it was still snowing into the night. We woke up to a perfect day, sprint to the backcountry…I wish. We got up there late but found some amazing cliffs and a few spots that would fill the next few days. The guys we were staying with had built a quarter-pipe, using the roof of the house as a drop in. Pretty fun to be able to sesh all night and work with the light and riders without worrying about getting booted.
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