There are reasons that the Supreme Court of California has the right to overturn popular votes, namely to strike down unjust laws. Now, I know some people are freaked out by the idea (honestly it's not something that should happen regularly) but this power has been used in the past to strike down other laws that were voted for by the majority of the state such as banning white/non-white marriages (struck down by the courts when no proof could be provided which showed any harm to society) as well as a ban on letting women work as bartenders (also struck down for similar reasons). The fact is, though people may stomp and scream about "activist judges" what really is going on is that people who are well versed in California law and the constitution of our state, people who understand the ramifications and results of such laws SHOULD have the final say when it comes to disputes over laws. That's what there for. Not everyone shares that opinion, I get it, but I think it has proven itself as a useful system in the past to protect other minority groups.( Read more... and some videos... )

-Vote on November 4th, whatever your positions may be.

-Cailin

Thanks to Hemant at Friendly Atheist.com for pointing out these vids.

Ah, finally I'm done combing through the pages of text explaining all the different propositions on the upcoming November ballot. There are quite a few more than usual, 12 plus a few county-related initiatives. Everyone seems to want money (oh and also no more gay marriage) so it's vitally important to make an informed decision and not just read the little blurb that accompanies each proposition. I actually read every argument and rebuttal provided on http://www.voterguide.sos.ca.gov/ as well as a few analysis of the more complicated measures.

Even though it will take a half hour of your time or more, please consider at least browsing the information provided at the Voter Guide before you make your decision. An informed voter is a more effective voter!

Good luck!

-Cailin

Yesterday John Edwards announced his decision to back presidential nominee Barack Obama at a rally in Grand Rapids, MI. Even though this nomination has been pretty much wrapped up, Edwards' support has really made my day. The question is, will he direct his delegates towards Obama?

Either way, a great day for Barack. :D

-Cailin

I voted, have you?

Google is doing some really interesting things to help people keep track of all the election information, I suggest you check it out!

On their page you can get live Twitter assisted updates on the Google Map, browse a compiled list of news stories from all over the nation, and even put up your own live updating ticker that tracks all the states participating in today's election for both Democrats and Republicans.

Go Obama!

-Cailin

Oh no it's Shelley the Republican!

For those of you who are still worried this site might be real, I just thought I should point out the archived webpage from May 13, 2006. Using the archive system at Internet Archive.org I was able to look up a page which once existed on STR but has since been removed. Isn't the internet grand? :)

-Cailin

Well I have to say that I was very pleased with the mid-term election results. Though I'm not a registered Democrat anymore I do feel that having a Democratically controlled house and senate will provide some real balance to the government and force the president to work with the opposing party. If they keep arguing and thumbing their noses at each-other neither will be able to get anything done. Overall, I think this change is good for America and I hope that the Democrats stay true to their promise to work with Republicans, though I am wary of any victory bluster regardless of what side of the isle it comes from. I'm optimistic though, and it's been a while since I've been optimistic with politics.

At any rate, we seriously need to de-polarize this nation.

-Cailin

For those of you who are registered and able to vote in this upcoming election, I would like to encourage you to take the time to really study the propositions, as this year I've found some have quite a bit of "pork" that should be examined. Please check out this site, which has all the current election information as well as arguments for, against, analysis, and the full text of every law proposed. My motto is vote however you like, but be informed when you do it. :)

-Cailin

It was just something I had to do.

( Regarding your nomination of Harriet Miers as Supreme Court Justice: )

For those of you unawares, California will be holding a Special Election on November 8th. I highly encourage those of you in California to check out the propositions and the arguments for and against all of them. Consider this your friendly reminder. :)

Also, if any of you recall the Evangelist Dentist I talked to a while back (showing here), here's an update: he still hasn't emailed me back. I think I scared him away. I must admit, I'm dissapointed. :(

-Cailin

I love the weekends. This weekend I am supposed to interview a Tibetan for my Cultural Anthro class AND my Music of South Asia class, but I might end up doing that next weekend instead. I do, however, have to come up with a topic to write about for my MUS 351 class, something modern pertaining to issues in Tibet. Maybe I'll talk about the supression of Buddhism or something. I have to write a 2 page declaration by Thursday, which should be no problem.

Things, in general, have been very peaceful lately - and though it's certainly not exciting, it is nice to feel calm, even though I've got lots of things (mostly school work) on my mind. I'm going to try to watch Advent Children today, I watched the first five minutes but then had to go somewhere. :( It looked very beautiful. I'm playing FFX right now, and that is a very, very pretty game indeed. I've never played Final Fantasy before, so it took some getting used to, but I'm enjoying it quite a bit.

There's not really that much more to report, I suppose I could state my suprise at the California court ruling that the words "under God" in the pledge made it unconstitional. This only applies to a few districts, though. It's up to the higher courts to determine if it will apply to anything beyond that. I personally don't care one way or the other - I think it's nice to restore the pledge back to it's intended meaning. I find the current verbage offensive, but I don't think it will ever change because I'm a minority voice. In the end, It doesn't offend me enough to raise a hissy about it. It seems like people get whipped up into a patriotic fervor whenever anyone mentions this issue, though. Which I think is kind of silly. Ah well, that's just me.

-Cailin

I am sooo fatigued after working out today. I did some serious weight lifting and just plain hard exersises, and now all I can do is sit in front of my computer (freshly showered, of course), and chill out. Still, it's good to be active again. Today is going to be lonely after Greg leaves for game night. You see, my Roommate Sandra is in Europe on vacation for a month, so when Greg leaves I'll be all alone. And the house is mostly clean anyway so I'm not sure what I'll do. Perhaps I'll watch my 'The God Who Wasn't There' DvD, and then tell you how it was. I'm sure you're all interested in my movie reviews. ;)

Then, perhaps, just perhaps... I'll level up my Female Dwarf Warrior (henceforth known as the FDW) to level 52, or if I'm feeling extra insane... 53. 60 is the highest level in World of Warcraft, so as you can tell from the number crunching I'm pretty far along in my progress. But remember folks, it's more about having fun - not mindless leveling for me.

And on a patriotic note (I guess):
( A Meme for You: How American am I? )

Thank you and good day.
-Cailin

I was poking around on some live journals today, I'll forsake the names since it's not particularly important.

Anyhow, I found couple which were rather amusing. One was rather keen on quoting a book which basically bashed liberals. Now, as a liberal myself I could only naturally be taken aback. The book "Deliver Us from Evil: Defeating Terrorism, Despotism, and Liberalism, by Sean Hannity" described its take on liberalism as such:

"It's difficult for liberals to see such moral questions clearly, because most of them are moral relativists. They reject absolute standards of right and wrong. Int their worldview, man is perfectible, human nature is on a linear path toward enlightenment, and the concept of sin is primitively biblical. In their view, society's unfairness compels people to break the law. To them people like Saddam and Osama bin Laden are not morally depraved murderers, but men driven to their bad acts by the injustices of Western society."

I found a couple things wrong with this, mostly in that it lumped ALL liberals together as fringe liberals (maybe that's what he meant from the beginning), but I found it insulting that Mr. Hannity refused to aknowledge that there are degrees of liberalism just as there are degrees of conservatism. I also resented being called evil.

The problem as I see it is that many conservatives (such as the book's author) perceive liberals as some sort of America-hating communistic virus, when in reality it's simply a point of view. These people are not out to blame America for everything (at least, the greater majority isn't), and it's saddening to me that people still choose to make it a 'us vs. those evil hippies' scenario. No wonder we don't get anything done in this country, we've made eachother the enemy. (That goes for you too, liberal folks who talk about the conservatives the same way). Generalizations will be the death of great nations.

-Cailin

Happy 4th of July!