On The Internets 08.05.2010

• A federal judge in California has ruled that the state's prohibition against gay marriage (Prop 8) is unconstitutional. In his very well thought out and soundly reasoned opinion, Judge Vaughn Walker based his decision on findings of fact which will make the ruling harder to overturn by the US Supreme Court. "California’s law, he wrote, demanded discrimination on the basis of sex and sexual orientation. 'Proposition 8 places the force of law behind stigmas against gays and lesbians,' he wrote, including the notion that 'gays and lesbians are not as good as heterosexuals' and 'gay and lesbian relationships do not deserve the full recognition of society.'" Naturally, conservative opponents of marriage equality are upset, and their friends in the media have taken to trashing the judge with homophobic slurs. The judge, appointed to the bench in 1989 by George H.W. Bush (he was first nominated by Reagan, but was considered too conservative at the time), is gay and the right was alerted to this by a link on Drudge Report to an article in the SF Gate. Talking Points Memo has assembled a list of some of the smears against the judge with the worst one coming from the American Family Association who compared the judge to a pornographer. Classy. Personally, I find the decision a victory for civil rights in America but am unsure what will happen in the Supreme Court. The current Roberts-led Court has shown that its right wing ideology trumps everything when it comes to decisions.

• Elena Kagan is the newest Justice on the US Supreme Court. She was confirmed by the Senate today with a vote of 63-37.
  

• Republican Gubernatorial candidate from South Carolina, Nikki Haley, appears to have an issue paying her taxes on time. Every year since 2004, the Haley's have filed late, and have been fined over $4500. Haley was an accountant before running for elected office.

• Alternative rockers Weezer have announced they are departing from Geffen Records after 16 years. The band's next album, Hurley, will be released on indie label, Epitaph, on September 14.

• Speaking of Hurley, the DVDs for the final season of LOST are about to be released, and the producers have promised lots of previously unseen footage for die hard fans. There will also be some segments showing life on the island after Jack died and Hurley and Ben ran the island. Here is the first clip to be leaked:

• Lastly, I am giving a strong recommendation to the new show on AMC called "Rubicon." The story is still developing, but the theme of show involves government conspiracies and a mysterious fourth branch of government that very few people actually know about. The main character, Will Travers, lost his entire family on 9/11. Since then, he has been working as some type of secretive policy analyst whose company is routinely hired by the Pentagon and the US intelligence agencies. When Will discovers what he thinks is a pattern inside of the crossword puzzles in a number of major newspapers, he brings it to his boss. This starts a deadly chain of events. The first two episodes are available at AMCTV.com.