Marriage
Marriage called matrimony or wedlock, is a or ritually recognised union between spouses that establishes rights and obligations between those spouses, as well as between them and any resulting biological or adopted children and affinity. The definition of marriage varies around the world not only between cultures and between religions, but throughout the history of any given culture and religion, evolving to both expand and constrict in who and what is encompassed, but it is principally an institution in which interpersonal relationships sexual, are acknowledged or sanctioned. In some cultures, marriage is recommended or considered to be compulsory before pursuing any sexual activity; when defined broadly, marriage is considered a cultural universal. A marriage ceremony is known as a wedding. Individuals may marry for several reasons, including legal, libidinal, financial and religious purposes. Whom they marry may be influenced by gender determined rules of incest, prescriptive marriage rules, parental choice and individual desire.
In some areas of the world, arranged marriage, child marriage and sometimes forced marriage, may be practiced as a cultural tradition. Conversely, such practices may be outlawed and penalized in parts of the world out of concerns of the infringement of women's rights, or the infringement of children's rights, because of international law. Around the world in developed democracies, there has been a general trend towards ensuring equal rights within marriage for women and recognizing the marriages of interfaith and same-sex couples; these trends coincide with the broader human rights movement. Marriage can be recognized by a state, an organization, a religious authority, a tribal group, a local community, or peers, it is viewed as a contract. When a marriage is performed and carried out by a government institution in accordance with the marriage laws of the jurisdiction, without religious content, it is a civil marriage. Civil marriage recognizes and creates the rights and obligations intrinsic to matrimony before the state.
When a marriage is performed with religious content under the auspices of a religious institution it is a religious marriage. Religious marriage recognizes and creates the rights and obligations intrinsic to matrimony before that religion. Religious marriage is known variously as sacramental marriage in Catholicism, nikah in Islam, nissuin in Judaism, various other names in other faith traditions, each with their own constraints as to what constitutes, who can enter into, a valid religious marriage; some countries do not recognize locally performed religious marriage on its own, require a separate civil marriage for official purposes. Conversely, civil marriage does not exist in some countries governed by a religious legal system, such as Saudi Arabia, where marriages contracted abroad might not be recognized if they were contracted contrary to Saudi interpretations of Islamic religious law. In countries governed by a mixed secular-religious legal system, such as in Lebanon and Israel, locally performed civil marriage does not exist within the country, preventing interfaith and various other marriages contradicting religious laws from being entered into in the country, civil marriages performed abroad are recognized by the state if they conflict with religious laws.
The act of marriage creates normative or legal obligations between the individuals involved, any offspring they may produce or adopt. In terms of legal recognition, most sovereign states and other jurisdictions limit marriage to opposite-sex couples and a diminishing number of these permit polygyny, child marriages, forced marriages. In modern times, a growing number of countries developed democracies, have lifted bans on and have established legal recognition for the marriages of interfaith and same-sex couples; some cultures allow the dissolution of marriage through annulment. In some areas, child marriages and polygamy may occur in spite of national laws against the practice. Since the late twentieth century, major social changes in Western countries have led to changes in the demographics of marriage, with the age of first marriage increasing, fewer people marrying, more couples choosing to cohabit rather than marry. For example, the number of marriages in Europe decreased by 30% from 1975 to 2005.
In most cultures, married women had few rights of their own, being considered, along with the family's children, the property of the husband. In Europe, the United States, other places in the developed world, beginning in the late 19th century and lasting through the 21st century, marriage has undergone gradual legal changes, aimed at improving the rights of the wife; these changes included giving wives legal identities of their own, abolishing the right of husbands to physically discipline their wives, giving wives property rights, liberalizing divorce laws, providing wives with reproductive rights of their own, requiring a wife's consent when sexual relations occur. These changes have occurred in Western countries. In the 21st century, there continue to be controversies regarding the legal status of married women, legal acceptance of or leniency towards violence within marriage, traditional marriage customs such as dowry and bride price, for
Imperial Valley
The Imperial Valley lies in the California counties of Imperial and Riverside. It is located in southeastern Southern California, is the site of an urban area centered on the city of El Centro; the Valley is bordered by the Colorado River to the east and, in part, the Salton Sea to the west. Farther west lies the San Imperial County border. To the north is the Coachella Valley region of Riverside County, which together with Imperial Valley form the Salton Trough, or the Cahuilla Basin the county line of Imperial and Riverside counties, to the south the international boundary with the U. S. state of California and Baja California. The culture of the area blends those of the United States and Mexico, due to its regional history and geographic location along the international border; the Imperial Valley economy is based on agriculture. Imperial Valley was so named in hopes of attracting settlers. Having done that it is now the home of the El Centro metropolitan area and an economic center of California's government defined "South Border".
Locally, the terms "Imperial Valley" and "Imperial County" are used synonymously. The Imperial Valley extends southward for 50 miles from the southern end of the Salton Sea into Mexico. Part of a trough stretching from the Coachella Valley to the Gulf of California, it is entirely below sea level—235 feet below at the edge of the Salton Sea, its hot desert climate is characterized by daily temperature extremes. It was once part of the Gulf of California, from which it was cut off by the dam-like deposits of the Colorado River Delta Fan as it carved out the Grand Canyon. Bordered by sand dunes and barren mountains, it was uninhabited until 1901, when the Imperial Canal was opened and diverted Colorado River water into the valley through Mexico. Flood-waters in 1905–07 destroyed the irrigation channels and created the Salton Sea now filled by the New River and irrigation run-off; the rivers in the southern part of the Salton Sea river basin flow south to north. The valley is bordered by the Colorado River to the east and, in part, the Salton Sea to the west.
Farther west lies the border with San Diego County and to the south the international boundary between the US state of California and Baja California, Mexico. To the north is the boundary with Riverside County and the Coachella Valley, which with the Imperial Valley form the "Cahuilla Basin" or the "Salton Trough"; the Imperial Valley has summer temperatures well over 100 °F, but from late October until mid-April the temperature is mild and can sometimes reach low temperatures not expected in a desert. During winter months the Valley averages more than eight hours of sunshine a day, receiving the most sunlight of any place in the United States; the lowest minimum temperature recorded in the Imperial Valley was 16 °F on January 22, 1937. The highest maximum temperature recorded was 121 °F on July 28, 1995; the lowest maximum temperature was 42 °F, recorded on January 24, 1949, the highest minimum temperature was 92 °F on June 30, 1946. The highest monthly mean temperature was 95.9 °F, recorded in August 1969 and the lowest mean temperature was 42.3 °F in February 1939.
The 85-year average annual rainfall is 2.93 inches with June being the driest month. The only recorded snowfall in the Valley occurred on December 12, 1932. Snow began falling by 5 a.m. the next day 2.5 inches had been recorded. In the southwest portion of Imperial Valley, 4 inches of snow was reported that day; this was the only snowfall of record to cover the entire valley. The El Centro Metropolitan Area is home to 182,972 residents, according to a 2017 US Census estimate, encompasses the whole Imperial County; the area is in the far southeast region of the State of California. Major population centers are Brawley, El Centro, the county seat. Imperial County had the largest percentage increase in population in California between 2008 and 2009 in the state, according to the California Department of Finance; the county had a population growth rate of 2.2 percent between July 1, 2008, July 1, 2009. The county's growth rate has been one of the top 10 out of 58 counties in California for the past six years.
Last year's growth rate was 2.43 percent. El Centro is the largest industrial center of the Imperial Valley, being the center of shipping exports as well as being home to retail, transportation and agricultural industries. There are two international border crossings nearby for commercial and noncommercial vehicles; the city's population was 37,835 at the 2000 census. The 2006 population is 40,563; the city is 50 feet below the largest city in the United States below sea level. Fifty percent of the jobs in El Centro come from the service and retail sector. Imperial Valley can loosely categorize its cities and communities into three regions: the Salton Beach Towns, Desert Cities, the El Centro area; the Salton Sea Beach Towns have the smallest cities but were resorts in their heyday and have since shrunk in population and size due to the current state of the Salton Sea. The cities and communities of the desert region are outliers in that they are away from urbanized Imperial and tend to be smaller in population than the cities surrounding El Centro.
Cities of the El Centro area tend to be larger than those of the desert and Salton regions. And the southeastern end of California is the state's poorest region with lower-income residents make up over half of the year-round population. Brawley Calexico El Centro Imperial Calipatria Holtville Westmor
Ben Hueso
Benjamin "Ben" Hueso is an American politician serving in the California State Senate. A Democrat, he represents the 40th Senate District, which encompasses Imperial County and the border regions of San Diego County. Hueso is serving as Chair of the California Latino Legislative Caucus, he served as Vice-Chair from 2015 to 2016. Hueso was elected to the State Senate in a 2013 special election to replace then-Senator Juan Vargas, elected to the U. S. House of Representatives in November 2012. Before being elected to the State Senate, he served in the California State Assembly, representing the 80th Assembly District from 2012 to 2013 and the 79th Assembly District from 2010 to 2012. Prior to that, he served including two years as Council President. Hueso grew up in Logan Heights, his parents were immigrants from Mexico and community activists, running an informal community medical clinic out of their home. He graduated from Point Loma High School and from the University of California, Los Angeles with a degree in Sociology/Urban Studies and Planning.
He studied at the University of Odessa and completed post-graduate work in Community and Economic Development at San Diego State University. He worked for the city as a redevelopment agency staffer and owned his own business. Hueso was elected in a special 2005 election and reelected in the regular 2006 election to represent San Diego City Council District 8, he was the only Latino on the council at the time. He was chosen by his colleagues to serve as City Council President 2009-2010, the second person to serve in that post, he was a member of the California Coastal Commission for two years while serving on the City Council. He was elected in November 2010 to represent the 79th District in the California State Assembly of the California State Legislature. In 2012 he was elected to the 80th district due to redistricting. In January 2013 he declared his candidacy for the State Senate 40th district, which became vacant when State Senator Juan Vargas was elected to Congress, he won the election on March 12, 2013, avoiding a runoff by garnering 52.3% of the vote against three other candidates.
He took office on March 21, 2013. In March 2017 Hueso was the lead author of the controversial California Senate Bill 649 which would remove a city's ability to control where the technology is placed and transfer that power to the state Hueso is a lifelong resident of Logan Heights in San Diego's District 8, he has 4 sons. At 2:49 a.m. on Aug 22, 2014, Sen. Hueso was arrested in downtown Sacramento on suspicion of DUI. Official website
Salton Sea
The Salton Sea is a shallow, endorheic rift lake located directly on the San Andreas Fault, predominantly in the U. S. state of California's Imperial and Coachella valleys. The lake occupies the lowest elevations of the Salton Sink in the Colorado Desert of Imperial and Riverside counties in Southern California, its surface is 236.0 ft below sea level as of January 2018. The deepest point of the sea is 5 ft higher than the lowest point of Death Valley; the sea is fed by the New and Alamo Rivers, as well as agricultural runoff, drainage systems, creeks. Over millions of years, the Colorado River has flowed into the Imperial Valley and deposited soil, building up the terrain and changing the course of the river. For thousands of years, the river has alternately flowed into and out of the valley, alternately creating a freshwater lake, an saline lake, a dry desert basin, depending on river flows and the balance between inflow and evaporative loss; the cycle of filling has repeated many times. The latest natural cycle occurred around 1600–1700 as remembered by Native Americans who talked with the first European settlers.
Fish traps still exist at many locations, the Native Americans evidently moved the traps depending upon the cycle. The most recent inflow of water from the now controlled Colorado River was accidentally created by the engineers of the California Development Company in 1905. In an effort to increase water flow into the area for farming, irrigation canals were dug from the Colorado River into the valley; the canals suffered silt buildup, so a cut was made in the bank of the Colorado River to further increase the water flow. The resulting outflow overwhelmed the engineered canal near Yuma and the river flowed into the Salton Basin for two years, filling the historic dry lake bed and creating the modern sea, before repairs were completed. While it varies in dimensions and area with fluctuations in agricultural runoff and rainfall, the Salton Sea is about 15 by 35 miles. With an estimated surface area of 343 square miles or 350 square miles, the Salton Sea is the largest lake in California; the average annual inflow is less than 1.2 million acre⋅ft, enough to maintain a maximum depth of 43 feet and a total volume of about 6 million acre⋅ft.
However, due to changes in water apportionments agreed upon for the Colorado River under the Quantification Settlement Agreement of 2003, the overall water level of the sea is expected to decrease between 2013 and 2021. The lake's salinity, about 56 grams per litre, is greater than that of the Pacific Ocean, but less than that of the Great Salt Lake; the concentration has been increasing at a rate of about 3% per year. About 4 million short tons of salt are deposited in the valley each year; the area was once part of a vast inland sea. Geologists estimate that for three million years, at least through all the years of the Pleistocene glacial age, a large delta was deposited by the Colorado River in the southern region of the Imperial Valley; the delta reached the western shore of the Gulf of California, creating a barrier that separated the area of the Salton Sea from the northern reaches of the Gulf. Were it not for this barrier, the entire Salton Sink along with the Imperial Valley would be submerged as the Gulf would extend as far north as Indio.
Since the exclusion of the ocean, the Salton Basin has over the ages been alternately a freshwater lake, an saline endorheic lake, a dry desert basin, depending on river flows and the balance between inflow and evaporative loss. A lake exists only during times it is replenished by the rivers and rainfall, a cycle that has repeated many times over hundreds of thousands of years cycling every 400 to 500 years. Evidence that the basin was occupied periodically by multiple lakes includes wave-cut shorelines at various elevations preserved on the hillsides of the east and west margins of the present lake, the Salton Sea; these indicate that the basin was occupied intermittently as as a few hundred years ago. The last of the Pleistocene lakes to occupy the basin was Lake Cahuilla periodically identified on older maps as Lake LeConte or the Blake Sea, after American professor and geologist William Phipps Blake. Throughout the Spanish period of California's history, the area was referred to as the "Colorado Desert" after the Colorado River.
In a railroad survey completed in 1855, it was called "the Valley of the Ancient Lake". On several old maps from the Library of Congress, it has been found labeled "Cahuilla Valley" and "Cabazon Valley". "Salt Creek" first appeared on a map in 1867 and "Salton Station" is on a railroad map from 1900, although this place had been there as a rail stop since the late 1870s. Until the advent of the modern sea, the Salton Sink was the site of a major salt-mining operation. In 1900, the California Development Company began construction of irrigation canals to divert water from the Colorado River into the Salton Sink, a dry lake bed. After construction of these irrigation canals, the Salton Sink became fertile for a time, allowing farmers to plant crops. Within two years, the Imperial Canal became filled with silt from the Colorado River. Engineers tried to alleviate the blockages to no avail. In 1905, heavy rainfall and snowmelt caused the Colorado River to swell, overrunning a set of headgates for the Alamo Canal.
The resulting
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, defined by the federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most identify, indicate whether or not they are of Hispanic or Latino origin. The racial categories represent a social-political construct for the race or races that respondents consider themselves to be and, "generally reflect a social definition of race recognized in this country." OMB defines the concept of race as outlined for the US Census as not "scientific or anthropological" and takes into account "social and cultural characteristics as well as ancestry", using "appropriate scientific methodologies" that are not "primarily biological or genetic in reference." The race categories include both national-origin groups. Race and ethnicity are considered separate and distinct identities, with Hispanic or Latino origin asked as a separate question. Thus, in addition to their race or races, all respondents are categorized by membership in one of two ethnic categories, which are "Hispanic or Latino" and "Not Hispanic or Latino".
However, the practice of separating "race" and "ethnicity" as different categories has been criticized both by the American Anthropological Association and members of US Commission on Civil Rights. In 1997, OMB issued a Federal Register notice regarding revisions to the standards for the classification of federal data on race and ethnicity. OMB developed race and ethnic standards in order to provide "consistent data on race and ethnicity throughout the Federal Government; the development of the data standards stem in large measure from new responsibilities to enforce civil rights laws." Among the changes, OMB issued the instruction to "mark one or more races" after noting evidence of increasing numbers of interracial children and wanting to capture the diversity in a measurable way and having received requests by people who wanted to be able to acknowledge their or their children's full ancestry rather than identifying with only one group. Prior to this decision, the Census and other government data collections asked people to report only one race.
The OMB states, "many federal programs are put into effect based on the race data obtained from the decennial census. Race data are critical for the basic research behind many policy decisions. States require these data to meet legislative redistricting requirements; the data are needed to monitor compliance with the Voting Rights Act by local jurisdictions". "Data on ethnic groups are important for putting into effect a number of federal statutes. Data on Ethnic Groups are needed by local governments to run programs and meet legislative requirements." The 1790 United States Census was the first census in the history of the United States. The population of the United States was recorded as 3,929,214 as of Census Day, August 2, 1790, as mandated by Article I, Section 2 of the United States Constitution and applicable laws."The law required that every household be visited, that completed census schedules be posted in'two of the most public places within, there to remain for the inspection of all concerned...' and that'the aggregate amount of each description of persons' for every district be transmitted to the president."
This law along with U. S. marshals were responsible for governing the census. One third of the original census data has been lost or destroyed since documentation; the data was lost in 1790–1830 time period and included data from: Connecticut, Maryland, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Delaware, New Jersey, Virginia. Census data included the name of the head of the family and categorized inhabitants as follows: free white males at least 16 years of age, free white males under 16 years of age, free white females, all other free persons, slaves. Thomas Jefferson the Secretary of State, directed marshals to collect data from all thirteen states, from the Southwest Territory; the census was not conducted in Vermont until 1791, after that state's admission to the Union as the 14th state on March 4 of that year. There was some doubt surrounding the numbers, President George Washington and Thomas Jefferson maintained the population was undercounted; the potential reasons Washington and Jefferson may have thought this could be refusal to participate, poor public transportation and roads, spread out population, restraints of current technology.
No microdata from the 1790 population census is available, but aggregate data for small areas and their compatible cartographic boundary files, can be downloaded from the National Historical Geographic Information System. In 1800 and 1810, the age question regarding free white males was more detailed; the 1820
2010 United States Census
The 2010 United States Census is the twenty-third and most recent United States national census. National Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2010; the census was taken via mail-in citizen self-reporting, with enumerators serving to spot-check randomly selected neighborhoods and communities. As part of a drive to increase the count's accuracy, 635,000 temporary enumerators were hired; the population of the United States was counted as 308,745,538, a 9.7% increase from the 2000 Census. This was the first census in which all states recorded a population of over half a million, as well as the first in which all 100 largest cities recorded populations of over 200,000; as required by the United States Constitution, the U. S. census has been conducted every 10 years since 1790. The 2000 U. S. Census was the previous census completed. Participation in the U. S. Census is required by law in Title 13 of the United States Code. On January 25, 2010, Census Bureau Director Robert Groves inaugurated the 2010 Census enumeration by counting World War II veteran Clifton Jackson, a resident of Noorvik, Alaska.
More than 120 million census forms were delivered by the U. S. Post Office beginning March 15, 2010; the number of forms mailed out or hand-delivered by the Census Bureau was 134 million on April 1, 2010. Although the questionnaire used April 1, 2010 as the reference date as to where a person was living, an insert dated March 15, 2010 included the following printed in bold type: "Please complete and mail back the enclosed census form today." The 2010 Census national mail participation rate was 74%. From April through July 2010, census takers visited households that did not return a form, an operation called "non-response follow-up". In December 2010, the U. S. Census Bureau delivered population information to the U. S. President for apportionment, in March 2011, complete redistricting data was delivered to states. Identifiable information will be available in 2082; the Census Bureau did not use a long form for the 2010 Census. In several previous censuses, one in six households received this long form, which asked for detailed social and economic information.
The 2010 Census used only a short form asking ten basic questions: How many people were living or staying in this house, apartment, or mobile home on April 1, 2010? Were there any additional people staying here on April 1, 2010 that you did not include in Question 1? Mark all that apply: Is this house, apartment, or mobile home – What is your telephone number? What is Person 1's name? What is Person 1's sex? What is Person 1's age and Person 1's date of birth? Is Person 1 of Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin? What is Person 1's race? Does Person 1 sometimes live or stay somewhere else? The form included space to repeat all of these questions for up to twelve residents total. In contrast to the 2000 census, an Internet response option was not offered, nor was the form available for download. Detailed socioeconomic information collected during past censuses will continue to be collected through the American Community Survey; the survey provides data about communities in the United States on a 1-year or 3-year cycle, depending on the size of the community, rather than once every 10 years.
A small percentage of the population on a rotating basis will receive the survey each year, no household will receive it more than once every five years. In June 2009, the U. S. Census Bureau announced. However, the final form did not contain a separate "same-sex married couple" option; when noting the relationship between household members, same-sex couples who are married could mark their spouses as being "Husband or wife", the same response given by opposite-sex married couples. An "unmarried partner" option was available for couples; the 2010 census cost $13 billion $42 per capita. Operational costs were $5.4 billion under the $7 billion budget. In December 2010 the Government Accountability Office noted that the cost of conducting the census has doubled each decade since 1970. In a detailed 2004 report to Congress, the GAO called on the Census Bureau to address cost and design issues, at that time, had estimated the 2010 Census cost to be $11 billion. In August 2010, Commerce Secretary Gary Locke announced that the census operational costs came in under budget.
Locke credited the management practices of Census Bureau director Robert Groves, citing in particular the decision to buy additional advertising in locations where responses lagged, which improved the overall response rate. The agency has begun to rely more on questioning neighbors or other reliable third parties when a person could not be reached at home, which reduced the cost of follow-up visits. Census data for about 22% of U. S. househol
California's 51st congressional district
California's 51st congressional district is a congressional district in the U. S. state of California. The district is represented by Democrat Juan Vargas; the district includes all of Imperial County and the extreme southern portions of San Diego County that run across the U. S.–Mexico border. Cities in the district include Chula Vista, Imperial Beach and El Centro. District created January 3, 1993; as of January 2019, two former members of the U. S. House of Representatives from California's 51st congressional district were still living. In the 1980s, California's 44th Congressional District was one of four; the district had been held for eight years by Democrat Jim Bates, was considered the most Democratic district in the San Diego area. Randy "Duke" Cunningham won the Republican nomination and won the general election by just a point, meaning that the San Diego area was represented by Republicans for only the second time since the city was split into three districts after the 1960 U. S. Census.
After the 1990 U. S. Census, the district was renumbered the 51st Congressional District and much of its share of San Diego was moved to the new 50th Congressional District. List of United States congressional districts District information at GovTrack.us
United States
California
