So we're supposed to know better, right?. Particularly about something as obvious and relatively, uh, straightforward as gay marriage, exactly the kind of issue about which the world expects California not merely to have our godless, revolutionary shiz together, but to know how to follow through.

But Cali failed. Choked. Dropped the ball. Botched it completely. Gay marriage, that is. Prop 8. The whole gay equality thing. What a shame and how embarrassing.

No one is quite sure what happened. Somewhere between not having a good television campaign (where were all the Hollywood celebrities, influential politicians, well-adjusted gay families?), to being all cocky thinking it was a slam dunk, the gay 'leadership' dropped the ball. Hell, they didn't even come to the game.

But who did come to the game all prepared? The Catholic Church, back from the brink trying it's best to do spin-control after being hit over and over by clergy sexual abuse cases; the Mormon Church, trying to put a smiley face on a religion mirred in polygamy, prearranged underage marriage, and reports of sexual abuse of minors; and the black population, who has never accepted that some of its own brotha's and sistah's could possibly be gay.

Cali not only lost with proposition 8 but it lost its soul, its identity. But then again it's a big state. Massive. You can drive for a solid day from places in NorCal aiming southward, and feel like you just drove through eight separate countries and 10 major climates and six distinct socioeconomic systems, four time zones and 15 languages and a dozen religious denominations. It's that big.

This video sums it all up; apparently this beezy and her vocabulary-challenged husband believe gay people are the reason for all the countries ills and will bring us the wrath of God and the end of the world. Because you know, God won't tolerate His own children sinning even though that's exactly the reason God sent His only son Jesus, to save man from sin. Hmmmm, seems as though someone's not reading their Bibles.

The coastline alone is nearly 850 miles long. We have volcanoes. We have geysers. Caverns. Mount Whitney. Death Valley. Epic fog and floods and fires, Tahoe and Disneyland and Hollywood and Porn Valley, avocados and raisins and water parks. We have towering redwoods and scorching deserts and a coast to melt the heart of every surfer in the world, not to mention one of the strangest, most surreal seas you have ever smelled in your lifetime.

One-eighth of all U.S. residents live in California.

We have more Nobel laureates, writers, poets, chefs, yoga teachers, PhDs, artists, mad scientists, healers and world-class academics per capita than any other state, with every attendant freak and exploiter and nutjob criminal jackass circus sideshow to match. The iPod was born here. The Internet. And our governor starred in "Kindergarten Cop." So you understand if we're just a little bit insane.

We're also home to some of the most unfortunately inbred, socially conservative, spiritually malformed, sexually stunted religious leaders and megachurches in the nation. Guys like Rick Warren and his Saddleback Church are here, and we are ashamed. But wasn't it just yesterday some of these so-called leaders were admitting secret gay liasons and asking for forgiveness? Oh the hypocrisy...