Does this mean these couples get to register twice...

The California Supreme Court has just issued its decision in the case challenging the validity of nearly 4,000 marriages performed in San Francisco earlier this year. The court invalidated the marriages, but its ruling isn't exactly what the anti-gay right is undoubtedly going to pretend it is.

When San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom began granting marriage licenses to gay couples in February, he did so because he felt the California constitution's prohibition against discrimination was more important than a state law banning gay marriage. The Supreme Court didn't say whether that contention was true. It just said that he isn't entitled to make that judgment for himself. Interpreting laws and deciding whether laws violate a constitution is a job for the courts, not the mayor, the Supreme Court said.

Now the Bush campaign is going to spin this as a victory for their hateful anti-gay cause. But it undercuts their assertion that they aren't against gays, they are just against courts deciding issues instead of the legislature. As if the Bush administration ever cared about maintaining power for a governmental branch that wasn't their own. "Activist judges" have been the problem all along, apparently. Always trying to hand out civil rights to people just because they are discriminated against. Sheesh! People, not judges, should get to decide the issue for themselves, they say. But in the San Francisco case, the California Supreme Court says that judges -- and not the people's elected representative -- should make the determination about the law on gay marriage.

California courts will soon get their chance to weigh in on the question that wasn't answered today. Lambda Legal and a number of other groups have filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of California's law against gay marriage.

And in a statement released just after the California Supreme Court ruled this morning, People for the American Way President Ralph Neas made it clear that the fight will continue nationwide as well. "While today's ruling is heartbreaking for thousands of committed gay and lesbian couples and for their friends and families, it is far from the final word on the struggle toward full equality," Neas said. "Our nation's history is a story of steady progress achieved by people working together to eradicate discrimination from our laws and institutions. Every battle against discrimination has encountered resistance. Every fight for equality has faced setbacks. But the deeply rooted American values of freedom, fairness, and equality under the law will be victorious in the end." Sing it, sister! It's just a matter of time.

Sing out, Louise...

I saw the 1954 version of A Star Is Born starring Miss Judy Garland last night for the first time. I had heard of the behind-the-scenes drama this movie caused at the time and felt it was high time that I'm let me in on the commotion. Like you have to twist my arm to see a Judy Garland movie anyway.

The story is one of Hollywood's most enduring legends. Judy, a very old 28, is tossed aside as a Hollywood has-been due to her emotional and chemical ups and downs. After signle-handedly creating the one-woman show as we know it today, she was ready (after 4 years) to make her big Hollywood comeback. The vehicle was the George Cukor directed musical re-make of A Star Is Born.

After a overly long production schedule and a budget that I don't think anyone ever considered adhering to, one of Hollywood's greatest movies was created. Critical and popular praise were heaped upon the movie and it was sure to deliver Judy her comeback, not to mention a long-awaited Oscar.

But a greedy studio-system that chopped the movie in half to fit in more showings a day, and the rising star of Grace Kelly who beat Judy for looking pretty without make-up on screen, robbed Judy of her recognition and her chance at success once again.

In 1983 a group of film buffs tried to restore the film to its original vision as best as possible, finding as many deletaed scences and audio tracks as possible. AS the legend goes, this restoration finally brought the film back to its glory and served as the standard for future restorations to come.

Well flashforward to 2004 when I received my Dvd in the mail of this ultimate edition in the mail from Mr. Netflix. Here I'm thinking a little Techni-Color and a couple of audio filters would have put the film back together faster than you can say Humpty-Dumpty.

Twenty minutes into the movie, I get sepia-colored still photographs of what should have been on the cutting room floor and terrible audio tracks of rehersal tapes. Think The Kid Stays In The Pictures without any warning or talent or regard for the medium of film. It's an incredibly jarring and frustrating technique and I can't figure out whose fault it was, the studio who originally destroyed the materials and chopped up the film to begin with or the restoration crew who were so interested in their own supposed brilliance and wanted to prove their months of digging were not for naught. Either way the first half of the movie was filled with strange laughable pictures that served more to mock the movie than recreate it.

But despite these odd inclusions, there were a few added scenes that make the restoration worth it and the picture as a whole succeed. I can see why this is hailed as Judy's greatest role. Think Gone With The Wind goes to Hollywood. My Fair Lady without the unhappy ending. Funny Girl but with more scotch! Love it!

But still this doesn't mean any of you can vote for Nader...

There have been rumors lately that New Jersey, my beloved homestate might be in play in this election. The Garden State has traditionally been as Democratic-leaning as New York in many instances, and the numbers from certain polls showing only a 6 point gap between Kerry and Bush had me left me as angry and helpless as members of the Black Caucus. But just as the nation as a whole begins to wake from the nightmare of a Bush presidency, so too have the New Jersey pollsters.

A Newark Star-Ledger/Eagleton-Rutgers poll released Sunday shows Democratic nominee Sen. John Kerry has the state effectively wrapped up, beating Bush by 20 points, complete with a whopping 25 point gender gap lead among women. And this is with the terror alert that used such specifics as "Newark," "Prudential," "4-5 years old," and "snowball's chance in Hell." Despite claims from The Man-Child Who Called Boogeyman, New Jersey is officially in the Blue-state column, where it rightfully belongs.

Some Republicans had been holding out slight hope for the Garden State, spurred on by an earlier Star-Ledger/Eagleton poll released from May that showed Kerry leading by just 6 points. That, along with New Jersey's proximity to New York City, had some Republicans hoping perhaps Bush had earned a permanent 9/11 bounce.

No such luck. Bush managed support from just 32 percent of New Jersey voters, compared to Kerry's 52. At the same time, Bush's "very unfavorable" rating went up statewide, from 31 percent in May, to 37 percent in August. Those are the Jerseyians I know and love.