California Über Alles
Life imitates art as Jerry Brown moves to dump uncool ballot measure. LA Times:
In a surprise move, state Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown asked the California Supreme Court on Friday to invalidate Proposition 8. He said the November ballot measure that banned gay marriage “deprives people of the right to marry, an aspect of liberty that the Supreme Court has concluded is guaranteed by the California Constitution.”
It is the attorney general’s duty to defend the state’s laws, and after gay rights activists filed legal challenges to Proposition 8, which amended the Constitution to ban same-sex marriage, Brown said he planned to defend the proposition as enacted by the people of California.
But after studying the matter, Brown concluded that “Proposition 8 must be invalidated because the amendment process cannot be used to extinguish fundamental constitutional rights without compelling justification.”
Backers of Proposition 8 expressed anger at Brown’s decision not to honor the will of voters, who approved the measure in November. “It’s outrageous,”said Frank Schubert, campaign manager for Proposition 8.
Proposition 8 foes, however, were elated. “Atty. Gen. Brown’s position that Proposition 8 should be invalidated demonstrates that he is a leader of courage and conviction,” said Geoff Kors, executive director of Equality California.
In his brief to the high court, Brown noted that the California Constitution says that “all people are by nature free and independent and have inalienable rights,” which include a right to “privacy.”
That sounds like a loophole you could drive all kinds of big rigs through. Anyway, back to the irony. Jello Biafra of The Dead Kennedys, who as a young punk while heavily into the absurd also displayed some clear vision in songs such as “Holiday in Cambodia,” scribbled another anthem denouncing the nascent PCism of the day in California, 1979, under Gov. Jerry Brown. Wikipedia sums up “California Über Alles” pretty well:
The song focuses on Jerry Brown, the Governor of California between 1975 to 1983, and is sung from his perspective. An imaginary Brown outlines a hippie-fascist vision for America, in which his “suede denim secret police” kill un-cool people with “organic poison gas” chambers. The song illustrates lead singer Jello Biafra’s concern with left-wing politicians mandating liberal ideas to the point of authoritarianism or fascism. Other lines, such as “Serpent’s egg already hatched” (a reference to a line from William Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar), comment on the corrosive nature of power. The line “Now it is 1984″ references the totalitarian regime of George Orwell’s novel Nineteen Eighty-Four.
As you can see, a highly literary effort. Jello’s big thing these days seems to be jihadi rights, though he may have other issues. I dunno. I couldn’t bring myself to read the whole windy screed the other day.
Lyrics here. YouTube has The DKs performing this fine and prophetic musical Cassandra act at the Mabuhay in SF back in the day. Note Jello’s signature weird, kind of goofy hand and face gestures. He still has his clothes on by the end of this one, though he would often end up naked by the end of a set, removing articles of clothing himself and with an audience assist upon diving into the crowd. I usually saw them at the Temple Beautiful, a former synagogue on Geary Boulevard that had been taken over by punks. Not to be confused with Jim Jones’ Peoples Temple next door.
Patterico on Brown’s picking on choosing of what kind of inalienable rights he likes better.
Malkin: Moonbeam flip flops.
Surber: a (Kenneth) Starr is reborn as battle to relegislate newly created rights from the bench goes back to court.
Topics: husbands and wives, law & order
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 9:30 am on Saturday, December 20, 2008
3 Responses to “California Über Alles”
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December 20th, 2008 at 3:37 pm
I never cared about gay marriage one way or the other, but what this says is that the people’s votes don’t count at all.
December 20th, 2008 at 7:59 pm
RebeccaH:
What this actually says is that the underpinnings of our concept of rule of law are very nearly completely eroded away.
It is the uncommon person in this day and age that has any real trust in or respect for our legislators, state or federal. Same for judges.
And that cuts all the way across the political spectrum.
December 21st, 2008 at 2:45 pm
Jerry B. is proof positive that politics in The Peoples Republic of California is beyond caricature.