Posted on 09/05/2006 11:39:09 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
He's really done it this time.
It's no secret that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's conservative base has grown increasingly disenchanted with his job performance in recent months.
But his signing last week of SB 1441 -- a bill that will penalize state-funded businesses and organizations that fail to endorse homosexuality, bisexuality and transsexuality -- has scores of conservatives swearing off the governor for good.
Conservative Republicans up and down the state are seething over the bill, which they correctly see as an all-out assault on religious freedom in California. Local radio host Inga Barks, who recently announced on her show she will no longer support Schwarzenegger's run for re-election, called the bill "a death knell on top of a death knell."
"I was talking about ditching him before 1441 was signed, but at this point my mission is to vote for Tom (McClintock) and Chuck (Poochigian) and go home," Barks said of the Republican candidates for lieutenant governor and attorney general. "If Arnold is behind in the polls on Election Day, I may be persuaded to hold my nose and vote for him."
The bill, authored by state Sen. Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica, would ostensibly prohibit discrimination in state-funded programs, but in reality will require any business or organization that "receives financial assistance from the state" to condone lifestyles they may view as immoral -- or lose their state funding.
The measure offers no exemptions for faith-based organizations, including schools, which means faith-based private schools, colleges and universities that accept students on state scholarships and grants could lose that funding if they refuse to comply with a government-mandated moral code.
As if the tenants of faith beliefs are something that people can change, Barks said.
Because they can't, and because "discrimination" can be a relative term, it's easy to imagine what California's liberal courts and judges will do under this law in the years to come. The bill's impact, according to a Senate committee report on the measure, is expected to be "wide-raging and deep."
There are several other sexual orientation-related bills winding their way through the Legislature, including a second by Kuehl: the recently watered-down SB 1437, which would prohibit teachers and textbooks from portraying lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people in a negative light. Supporters amended an earlier version of the bill after Schwarzenegger promised to veto it.
It's anyone's guess on what he plans to do with the new version.
Conservative Republicans are angry, but not especially surprised by Schwarzenegger's actions of late, though many had harbored the slim hope the governor would stay true to his conservative base.
Not going to happen, said Stephen Frank, a political consultant and conservative activist who believes Schwarzenegger's support of SB 1441 and other bills is "the cold shower that social conservatives have been fearing."
"Now they have to make a choice, which is why I believe we're going to have a 40 percent turnout come November," Frank said.
Still, as unhappy as conservatives are with Schwarzenegger, they're even less excited at the thought of opponent Phil Angelides in the governor's chair.
If current polls are any indication, the governor has the November elections locked up. Clearly the governor believes it, though in passing bills that stomp on the rights of individuals to express their views against lifestyles they find immoral, he may be overplaying his hand.
We'll see. With two months to go before the November elections, anything can happen.
Are colleges allowed to refuse admission to students receiving state financial aid? If so, there's one way of countering this obnoxious legislation.
As for other faith-bases institutions receiving state aid, I would suggest now is a good time to ween yourself off of it and fund yourself strictly off private donations.
So if it turned out Bin Laden is gay, and I've said all along he seems like a closet case with his Michael Jackson way of speaking, then text books will not be able to portray him negatively? What if it turns out Hitler and Stalin were gay? Text books will only be able to portray them as sweet and lovable lacking any guile?
This should come as no surprise to anyone considering who he's married to!!!
Arnuld is an empty-suit for Warren Buffett.
All that mattered was the (R) after his name.
FairOpinion, Schwarzenegger signed this:
But his signing last week of SB 1441 -- a bill that will penalize state-funded businesses and organizations that fail to endorse homosexuality, bisexuality and transsexuality -- has scores of conservatives swearing off the governor for good.
Signing that piece of garbage does not just spit in the eye of conservatives. It spits in the eye of most Republicans of all stripes. I am not tilted quite as far to the Right as many conservatives of the variety who post regularly on FR. Nevertheless, I am a life-long Republican. As such, I simply cannot back a governor who signs such radical legislation that will cause havoc in this state for years to come if it isn't shot down by the courts. (Not much chance of that.)
This is a betrayal of everything I believe in politically.
I understand that he can't hope to win California by governing as a down the line conservative, but he can't hope to win my vote by governing as a down the line liberal either. Arnold's idea of triangulation isn't an isocles (sp?) triangle. It's a 90 degree triangle leading down to the left.
All those old steroid injections have finally atrophied "The Terminators" brain and testicles.
so shocking
I thought I read he had vetoed this already. I guess not. So what is the difference between Schwarzenegger and Angelides? Not much, it sounds like. I would shed no tears if Arnold loses but it looks like he is ahead in every poll. That's almost too bad. If he wins again it will be rewarding "RINO" behavior at its worst.
The cure for this isn't not to vote for Schwarzenegger. If you don't like this measure, start a referendum. That's how we got rid of the illegal alien driver license bill, by the threat of it going to the ballot.
He vetoed (or will veto) the illegal alien driver license, universal health care, and gay marriage bills. The last one I didn't particularly care about, but a lot of people had a problem with it. Point is, a Democrat would have signed all of them, and about anything else the Bolsheviks in the legislature could dream up.
Exactly. However, for a dozen yrs I have been saying that this "Two-Party Cartel" is a corrupt, inept group who will sell out conservatives because they are bought & paid for by the elites that want to destroy conservatism. You loyal pubbies go cast your vote for this man but DON"T ever call yourselves conservatives if you do & don't ever talk bad about a RINO again because you have created & supported them.
LOL, shall we put you down as a malcontent, or an unappeasable?
Seriously, there are times when being GOP just isn't enough to merit a vote on election day.
But reading from the legislative analyst's page on leginfo.gov we find that:
Some of the programs that would be affected by this bill are: Medi-Cal, ...blah blah blah..., workers' compensation, ...blah blah blah..., licensing of businesses, government contracting and procurement activities, ..."
So, the way this is written, any person, entity or institution that has employees, or is licensed by the state, (like say, is incorporated), or sells anything to the state, whether it accepts public funding or not is covered by this law.
Sorry, that's it for Arnold as far as I'm concerned. Stick a fork in him, he's done.
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