Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Susan Boyle and Sonia Sotomayor Are Moving On And Prop 8 Is Staying

Susan Boyle is not your average Diva.


Big news day today. The California Supreme Court upheld Prop 8 by a vote of 6-1, and they upheld the legality of the 18,000 marriages which were performed before Prop 8 went into effect. In a sense this is a mixed message, but not from the point of the view of the California Supreme Court. They upheld the marriages exactly as they had in their original decision to allow them in the first place and then judged the merits of Prop 8 on the constitutionality of the entire proposition process. According the California Supreme Court, California voters do have the ability to curtail the rights of fellow Californians through the proposition process. This is an interesting decision which could have all kinds of ramifications when the majority decides they don't like something else about another minority. That's not supposed to be a Catholic thing.

The other big news was the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor as Justice Souter's replacement on the Supreme court. Americans United For Life have already dissed this nomination on the grounds she's an activist. Sotomayor would be the first Hispanic and third woman to serve on the court and would add one more Catholic to the Court bringing the total number of Catholics to six.

Sotomayor has already been through two senate confirmation hearings and was a Bush nominee to the Second District Court Of Appeals. The Republicans who choose to fight this nomination are probably just choosing to fight because they can, since she's already made it through their vetting twice. In the process they may upset the Hispanic community even more than they already have, so maybe wiser heads in the party will prevail. Not Governor Mike Huckabee however. Somehow he's decided she comes from the extreme left and will set the tone for the Extreme Court. Maybe it's her Catholic thing.

In good news though, Internet sensation Susan Boyle has advanced to the finals in Britain's Got Talent. The great thing about Susan is she is so not what one expects when she walks out on stage. There is almost a mental disconnect between the lack of audience expectation and the talent of her voice. She makes no apologies for who she is or how she comes across, she is there to sing--and she does it well. No false pride, no pretensions, just some good old fashioned joy in the moment. Maybe it's her Catholic thing.

Click here for video of her semi finals performance of 'Memories' from the Broadway musical 'Cats'. I'd have uploaded it, but Blogger was having issues.

4 comments:

  1. I'm honestly not that surprised about Prop 8. When I first began hearing the arguments before the judges and the justices continuting to insist the power that is vested in the "hands of the PEOPLE" when determining the State's constitution, I kind of lost hope. We must remember that Prop 8 has not been a vain effort. I still believe that that was the fuel for the fire that motivated Iowa, Maine, and Connecticut to legalize marriage equality. To way things are going, I think it will just become even more blatant now. Who knows? My state could be next! (like that will happen...but we're close! Governor O'Malley has endorsed civil unions!) The "6 by 12" campaign in my mind will be achieved, perhaps even with more states than previously thought. Prop 8 is food for thought, it shows us how many bigots there are left in this country, let's show them how many compassionate and loving Americans there are to show our Christianity by our LOVE.

    Concerning Susan Boyle, she truly is an inspirational joy in this troubling and harrowing times! I hope that she has the chance to sing before both Her Majest and His Holiness! =D

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  2. Susan Boyle has a tremendous gift of a voice. I am so glad that she entered this contest.

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  3. Phillip, I never thought the court would overturn prop 8 either. I think their real opinion was in the minority decision, but they didn't feel they had the legal authority to actually overturn the proposition.

    Cali has a major freaking loophole now. One that can definitely rebound on the Churches which were so desperate to get it passed.

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