Gym update

My shoulder joint is about 75% recovered. The joint capsule was damaged by an extra-stupid heavy lift sometime in March, and I've been on light weights and more reps for certain lifts (military press, incline bench, dumbbell lateral raise and front raise) ever since. Nothing was improving for months, and I was starting to get discouraged, but finally in August it started to get better, and I am almost back to my usual weights without suffering unduly afterward. And I'm feeling better -- I even ran some yesterday, with a bit of that "harder, faster" feeling I've been missing.

Caterer Mike is back. I ran into him first on Friday, and then again yesterday; excessor mentions him in this post. He's been too busy to get to the gym, and he took the treadmill next to me yesterday so we could chat. He nearly fell off once and had to quit jogging after about ten minutes. Would it be wrong to flirt with him to encourage him to come more often? It's for his health.

Governor announces veto

Quiet club night at ECR, three squares, Rich Reel calling. Rich is obviously happy to be named instructor for the upcoming year, and he tried out some odd moves on us. Nothing like a call from an illegal position to confuse things!

Lou C had the news that the governor had announced he would veto the same-sex marriage bill. I had to wait until I got home to hear the reasoning (and you won't get any kind of information about it from most news reports): he says he believes the bill is unconstitutional because it is inconsistent with Prop 22 of previous years, and laws passed by proposition cannot be amended by the Legislature. The Legislature is claiming Prop 22 only spoke to recognition of same-sex marriages from out of state, not entirely without reason, but the actual legalities are arguable: here's a good explication followed by many legal points of view in the comments. From the LA Times story:

A recent poll by the Public Policy Institute of California showed the potential risks and gains for the governor. Likely voters split 46% to 46% over same-sex marriage. But 56% of both Democrats and independents favored it, while 68% of Republicans were opposed.

...

The background: 61% of voters in 2000 passed an initiative (Proposition 22) to recognize only heterosexual marriages. That measure, say sponsors of the current bill, affected just people married out of state. The bill, by Assemblyman Mark Leno (D-San Francisco), would allow same-sex couples to be married inside California.

In a case that resulted from San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom's allowing same-sex couples to marry, a Superior Court judge ruled that Prop. 22 is unconstitutional. The ruling is being appealed.

Schwarzenegger's veto announcement, by his press office, said the governor believes there's no more noble cause than civil rights, and "gay couples are entitled to full protection under the law."

But: "The people voted and the issue is now before the courts. The governor believes the matter should be determined not by legislative action (which would be unconstitutional) but by court decision or another vote of the people of our state. We cannot have a system where the people vote and the Legislature derails that vote."

The other problem is the two groups currently trying hard to bring to a vote a constitutional amendment not only outlawing same-sex marriage but removing domestic partnership rights. It's no victory if it will be immediately overturned by older voters in a form even more difficult to overturn. It would have taken a leadership effort by Schwarzenegger to move the people against that possibility, and while he has suggested he's fine with same-sex marriage if the people or courts create it, it's not something he'll work toward. Too bad, but no surprise.