The California wedding industry is about to see a major influx of dollars.  Starting June 17, “Party A” and “Party B” will fill out the new forms from the state Office of Vital Records.  This is of course leads to another party, a wedding reception.  Companies are already starting to gear up their advertising, hoping to get a healthy share of all of that cash.  Macy’s put a huge ad in the LAT.  WashBlade has the image:

The Los Angeles Times ran a Macy’s ad today showing two mingling wedding rings with the following message: “First comes love. Then comes marriage. And now it’s a milestone every couple in California can celebrate.”

I imagine the wingnuts are firing up their boycott machine.

Thanks to the new governor in New York, we are likely to see a decent amount of wedding tourism.  NYT:

Gov. David A. Paterson has directed all state agencies to begin to revise their policies and regulations to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other jurisdictions, like Massachusetts, California and Canada.

In a directive issued on May 14, the governor’s legal counsel, David Nocenti, instructed the agencies that gay couples married elsewhere “should be afforded the same recognition as any other legally performed union.”

The directive was issued prior to the court ruling and it is interesting that it took so long for this to be made public.  Nevertheless, this does mean that many a gay New Yorker will make a trip to California to fill out their Party A and Party B forms and then return home to get the 1,300 rights that the Republican controlled NY State Senate refuses to give them.  Sure they could drive over to Massachusetts, but I have to say there are many prettier places to get married out here than in MA.  No offense to the Bay Staters.

The blogosphere has been talking a lot today, due to the release of Scott McClellan’s book, about the media whitewashes and their failures to properly inform the country in the run-up to war, due to corporate dictates or budget constraints or sheer laziness.  That has a residual effect everywhere.  The same problems we see with the media at the national level are magnified at the local level, where money is even tighter and cluelessness abounds.  I had to do a double-take when I read the LA Times’ paean “GOP maverick” Sen. Abel Maldonado, supposedly in the context of his re-election “campaign” for State Senate.

SANTA MARIA– — Sen. Abel Maldonado crouched to desk level and, with a mischievous smile, enlisted the help of sixth-grader Michelle Grahame to sweat the governor over the state’s looming budget cuts.

The 12-year-old was immersed in her computer animation project, an Earth-like blue sphere hovering behind a curiously grown-up message: “Please don’t cut Education.”

Maldonado, on a tour of Ralph Dunlap Elementary, persuaded her to tweak it to read: “Please don’t cut Education Arnold.” He left with a printout he promised to deliver to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who is hashing over ways to close the state’s estimated $2-billion budget gap.

“We’re in some challenging times, but I’ve made a commitment not to cut education,” Maldonado, a Republican, told school officials and PTA members after the tour. “We’re going to have to get creative.”

It was a gentle jab at Schwarzenegger, but Maldonado has crossed the governor and his party leadership before, earning the scorn of conservatives and Republican loyalists. One party official writing on a conservative blog declared that the senator, one of the few Latino Republicans in Sacramento, “is not one of us.”

Those same maverick traits, however, have intrigued party moderates who are struggling to make the GOP more appealing to the fastest-growing segments of the California electorate: Latinos and independents.

I’m flummoxed at why you would publish this glowing profile, which reads like it came right out of Maldonado’s press office, without revealing some information that people might find helpful.  To wit:

• There is a fleeting reference to a “write-in campaign organized by Democrats,” but absolutely no mention of Dennis Morris and his quest to offer the voters in the district an actual choice to the as-of-now unopposed Senator.  Mark Buchman of the SLO County Dems is quoted blaming Don Perata for the lack of an opponent to begin with, but even though Buchman is Morris’ acting campaign chair, the story never allows him the opportunity to mention the write-in hopeful.

• There is NO MENTION AT ALL of the fact that Maldonado has crossfiled to run as a write-in candidate on the Democratic ballot in an effort to short-circuit that campaign organized by those scheming Democrats, no mention of the effort to run on both sides of the ballot.

• There is no mention of Maldonado’s actual record on anything but the 2007 budget, like his vote against the Global Warming Solutions Act, for example.

• There is a mention of Maldonado’s signing on to a plan even more far-reaching than the Governor’s, to SELL the California Lottery, a shortsighted and ridiculously stupid idea that amounts to borrowing against the future yet again, but there is no independent analysis of that proposal; it’s just stuck in there as the midpoint between two supposed extremes and therefore teh awesome.

This is just an abandonment of actual reporting in exchange for a gauzy personal profile.  And considering there’s an election coming up in less than a week, it’s an abdication of responsibility.

Now, the LA Times doesn’t have much of a presence in the 15th Senate District, they don’t have many full-time reporters covering California politics, so they stumble into these half-hearted attempts to inform before election time, and this is what they come up with – a hagiography of a guy who’s running as a Democrat and a Republican to shut down any efforts to challenge him.

This is the media we have in 2008.

XPosted on MyDesert.com

Victor Manuel Perez, his campaign for 80th Assembly District, and his employer cannot seem to agree on his job title.  Wondering here why the major discrepancies.

Perez and his campaign sent out fact sheets and fliers to the voters of the Coachella Valley and Imperial County stating that Perez was ‘Director of Community Health & Advocacy’ at his place of employment, the Borrego Community Health Foundation.  Perez also ‘sold’ the idea that he was a ‘healthcare worker’ to the California Nurses Association in seeking and obtaining their endorsement for the 80th AD.

However, when I placed calls to the Borrego Centro Medico Mobile Unit where Perez works, employees informed me that Perez was in fact ‘Facilities and Maintenance Manager.’  Seems a far step from Director of Community Health & Advocacy and healthcare worker.

More below the flip…

Check out the Borrego Community Health Foundation website to see a picture of the Centro Medico Mobile Unit where Perez is either ‘Facilities Maintenance Manager’ or Director of Community Health & Advocacy,’ depending on whether you believe the campaign literature or the employees of Borrego.

Now, Borrego recently changed Perez’ job title at the Centro Medico Mobile Unit to ‘Director of Community Health and Advocacy/Site Manager.’  What a success this candidate is, he just keeps climbing that corporate ladder.

Just what does Perez really do for a living?  What are his responsibilities at Borrego, really?

It seems more and more likely that Perez, his campaign, and his employer have colluded to seriously embellished his resume.

Centro Medico Mobile Unit

“Health Care to You” Outreach Program

Base:

55557 Campus Road

Thermal, CA  92274

Phone: (760) 399-4526

Fax: (760) 399-4421

As a major part of the Borrego Community Health Foundation’s outreach program, the mobile unit improves access to health services by transporting medical care to the homes and workplaces of Coachella Valley residents.  The Mobile Clinic “Health Care to You” program travels throughout the Coachella Valley and visits Thermal, Mecca, Oasis, east Indio, Desert Hot Springs, and other areas.  The Mobile Unit focuses on primary care, well children, youth and preventive health and education services.  Se Habla Español.

Centro Medico Mobile Unit promotes environmental and community health by extending health services to local residents through health fairs, community sites, churches, schools, farm worker sites and residences.  The Centro Medico Mobile Unit operates on weekdays, weekends, early morning hours, and evening hours.

The Community We Serve

Although we provide medical care to people from all walks of life, our programs are specifically tailored to low-income, underserved, and hard-to-reach communities as well as migrant farm-worker sites.  The “Healthcare to You” program also serves local school districts and indigent populations with quality medical services at low or no cost.

Clinic Hours of Operation

Clinic hours and schedule vary depending on season (BluePalmSpringsBoyz note: and depending on Perez’ campaign schedule)…

…Director of Community Health and Advocacy/Site Manager

Manuel Perez, ED. M. has over 15 years experience in farm worker health issues and 5 years in community health and advocacy in a community clinic setting.  He was born and raised in the Coachella area and is currently a Coachella Valley Unified School Board Trustee.

Interesting that Perez is 35 years old according to his biography and yet he has over 15 years of experience in farm worker health issues as well as 5 years in community health and advocacy in a community clinic setting.   Seems that he has been working in the healthcare field since he was 15 years old.  (Seems that Perez went to the Hillary Clinton resume building school for success.)  Wondering how he was able to fit in his Bachelor’s degree as well as the Ed.M., another 5 years to account for.

Add to this the fact that Perez touts his background as including being raised in Imperial County.  This is news to the Rick Gonzales and Richard Gutierrez campaigns. Gonzales and Gutierrez were born and raised, for real, in Imperial County.  Locals, in a small town society, know that Perez was not raised in Imperial County.

Will check out his website and do some more fact checking.  More to follow.