The Wisdom of Sohmer

Ryan Sohmer says it best in his blog post today (quoted without permission... I hope he forgives...):

With all the interesting things in the news of late, I've been having a hard time picking what to talk about today.

Initially, I had intended to write about the utter uselessness that is the United Nations, in response to their (in)actions to the North Korean situation. The league of nations failed to prevent world war II, so I suppose it seemed a good idea at the time to rename it The United Nations and hope for the best.

The next topic I was considering was Obama's nomination of Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme court. I don't know enough about her to make a call either way, but what is bothering me here is that every politician, every news anchor, every analyst and commentator is focusing on her ethnicity, rather than her qualifications.

This doesn't help ease racial issues and tensions, it only highlights them.

Over at CNN, Ruben Navarrette talks about what a step forward this is. For me, a step forward would have been had Sotomayor been nominated, and no one even remarked on the fact that she was Hispanic. That she got nominated because the President thought she was the best candidate for the job.

In the end, though, the thing that's predominantly on my mind is yesterday's decision in California to uphold proposition 8, which bans gay marriage in the state. This measure, passed by a close vote during the November elections, overturned a May 2008 ruling by the California Supreme court that had made it constitutional for same-sex couples to get hitched in the state.

I am a proponent for gay rights, but more importantly, I make no distinction between gay and civil rights.

A gay individual in California pays their state and federal taxes like anyone else, so why are they denied certain rights? The bible may define marriage as a union between a man and a woman, but isn't the bible based on a system of religious beliefs? Isn't there supposed to be a clean line that separates church and state?

What gives someone the right to impose their beliefs on someone else?

I may not agree with your beliefs, whether you're Christian, Muslim or Jewish, but I won't spend millions of dollars and countless hours to deny you a civil right that I enjoy.

That environment, California, is not where I would choose to live, or raise children, gay or not.

The year is 2009, and the fact that we're even having this conversation is absurd to me.

Right there, Sohmer manages to perfectly state exactly what is profoundly WRONG with the latest things that have managed to hit headlines in the news.

Seriously.

Why are people making any kind of deal about Sonia Sotomayor being Hispanic? What the hell is this, the 19th century? The President believes her qualified. End of story.

And Prop 8... sweet bejebus.

I wish Sohmer had written the counter-arguments for Prop 8 back when it was a ballot issue. Maybe it would have convinced a few more California voters to get their heads on straight.

My home state still irritates me right now.