Skeptickle » News or Politics

What happened California?

2008-11-05T22:41:14Z

Today is a joyous day for America and a sad day for California. I cannot express the all feelings I am having right now. I guess bittersweet might come close. I have lived in this state for almost all of my life and have never faltered in my loyalty and love of it. I remembered at the beginning of our relationship Rob hinted that he might like to move back to Seattle after a few years. I balked at this idea- what if we were still together? Would he expect me to move with him? I don't want to leave California. This is my home.

Yesterday, my view of my beloved state changed. Something fundamentally unique about California was silenced- our tolerance for diversity, our impassioned fight for equality, or perhaps our sense of common humanity. Yesterday, a little more than half of the people in my state decided that they deserve more rights than the other guy, even though giving the other guy more rights doesn't take away theirs. Now, more than ever, I believe strongly in the separation of church and state. I have confidence that Obama will do well with that. He has his own personal religious beliefs but he knows better than to force them upon everyone else. I especially blame the Mormons for their unhealthy obsession with the Yes on 8 campaign by donating millions and making their members volunteer. I volunteered for No on 8 out of my own free will. I wonder if free will is a concept entirely lost to them.

Fortunately, I'm not so bitter that I don't appreciate the sweet parts. There is no reason to believe that same-sex marriage can't be legalized at the federal level. There are currently appeals in the works for it. I think that in the long run it will get legalized and if that's too much for some folks to stomach then they'll get over it in time. I hope that just as the goal of one civil rights movement became fully realized last night, we will continue to make progress on this other one.

Hope Floats

2008-11-05T04:07:40Z

OMG Obama won!!! HELL YEAH!! Seriously folks, I'm dancing around like a crazy person in our apartment. I'm so happy I can cry! Rob looks pleasantly alarmed at my making a spectacle of myself...

Update: Prop 8 seems like it's going to pass. I'm so sorry to everyone that are directly affected by this. Perhaps we can still change this at the Federal level. Like Obama said "yes, we can!".

Election Eve

2008-11-03T21:14:08Z

I think that this whole country is holding it's breath for what's about to happen tomorrow. I certainly am. This feeling of anxiety and restlessness extends beyond how Americans will vote for their president and lies in the close battle between those who wish to maintain their recently acquired civil rights and those who wish to take it away. I am alarmed by the religious fervor that is engulfing this country and blotting out the lines between church and state. For a long time, I had maintained a healthy dose of respect for the church, even though I am considered what they call a "fallen" Christian. I am finding that respect considerably eroded by now, especially for the people who are blindly following...whatever they are following. Because I don't consider what's going down part of anyone's plan, let alone God's. I finally found a conservative Christian who had an ounce of sense in his skull and I enjoyed reading his article (even though I don't 100% agree with his views on abortion and marriage): http://opinionstreams.com/blog/?p=65

Lately, I've been working on the No on 8 campaign, which is fighting to maintain the California Supreme Court's decision to legalize same-sex marriages in our state. I have to admit that phone banking was extremely taxing last week for this cause. I couldn't believe what I was hearing with my own ears for why people were voting Yes on 8. Some laud that they want to protect "traditional marriage" which is only between a man and a woman. I agree that that seems to be the case; however, can we all admit that there's really nothing else "traditional" about marriage anymore? Did we forget that the institution of marriage, for most of human history, has been arranged between one's parents and is due to convenience? Comparatively, marriage for love is a rather recent occurrence as is the idea of nuclear families and divorce. If you ask pretty much anyone conservatively Christian today if it's okay to marry for love, I bet there'd be unanimous agreement. I also bet that there wouldn't be a ballot measure banning divorce anytime soon nor one legalizing the "traditional" unequal treatment of women. So why pick on the gays?

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The Neglectful

2008-10-03T22:13:16Z

That will be my new moniker. I have determined that I'm the most inconsistent blogger in the web-o-sphere. I think it's mainly because I take an abnormally long time to create each post. I tend to edit each sentence three times while I'm writing it and then edit some more once the whole thing's finished. Believe me, when you're anal about blogging then it becomes a lot of work. But of course procrastination is not the answer since now I have an enormous backlog of posts that are all currently in my head. Although, I'm a huge fan of blogging about events chronologically, I think I'm going to do something different this time while the news is still fresh. I'm going to work my way backwards from yesterday until the Hawaii trip so that I don't lose momentum on recent events.

Yesterday was the day that Mrs. Bee on Weddingbee announced that the site was sold to...eHarmony. Although many readers didn't, I had previously known about eHarmony's stance on LGBTQ matching and their connections with religiously conservative agendas. You can read more about it here. I had no problem with them doing their own thing and being intolerant within their own screwed up match-making site. However, it was news to me that they have become so profitable that they are now reaching their tentacles towards acquiring smaller websites that are bound to be hugely successful in the near future. These websites are not match-making websites either, thus keeping themselves within their own realm. They are wedding websites such as Project Wedding and as of yesterday, Weddingbee. Over 200 comments were made about the announcement as of last night and most of them were dissenters to this acquisition. It's reassuring to know that so many people feel so strongly about LGBTQ rights that they are willing to boycott their favorite website in order to make a statement. Some of the bees have dropped out entirely. I hope the same fervor is represented in November to make same-sex marriages legal in California once and for all (if you agree please vote NO on Prop 8!). Also check out the ex-Mrs. Lovebug's blogpost. She was my favorite bee and has a great writing voice.

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What Rings True

2008-05-22T23:37:14Z

He has been one of my heroes for awhile now. He is able to gather a huge crowd whenever he's at an event. People line up and camp out for days just to spend five seconds of their time in his presence. He moves people and governments with his inspirational speeches and common-sense wisdom. I appreciate that he is able to be goofy and crack jokes that are actually funny instead of being serious all the time. He was able to set the country towards better a direction after a long period where people lost faith in our government. Much of what he says ring true to me:

"The new rage is to say that the government is the cause of all our problems, and if only we had no government, we'd have no problems. I can tell you that contradicts evidence, history, and common sense."
"Politics is not religion and we should govern on the basis of evidence, not theology."
"Sometimes when people are under stress, they hate to think, and it's the time when they most need to think."
"Mental illness is nothing to be ashamed of, but stigma and bias shame us all."
"We need not just a new generation of leadership, but a new gender of leadership."
"It's one thing to have good intentions; it's another thing entirely to change people's lives."
"Sometimes I feel like a fire hydrant looking at a pack of dogs."

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Victory!

2008-05-15T18:09:18Z

Before I write a post about our engagement weekend, I thought this is much more important to share right now: Gay marriages have just been legalized in the state of California today!! The California Supreme Court ruled 4-3 that domestic partnerships are not a good substitution for marriage and "...our state now recognizes that an individual's capacity to establish a loving and long-term committed relationship with another person and responsibly to care for and raise children does not depend upon the individual's sexual orientation." Well said. Congratulations to all the couples and potential couples for this awesome achievement towards equality. Hats off also to all their supporters and those that struggled with them to get this law passed. I can not describe the joy I'm feeling now but I will say one thing: I my state!

Super Tuesday

2008-02-05T04:09:34Z

...is upon us. Tomorrow I will be voting in one of the most significant presidential primaries this nation has ever seen. For the first time since 1928, there will be no incumbent president or vice president on the ballot. Also for the first time, either an an African American man or a White woman will be nearly guaranteed the Democratic bid. My generation is predicted to swing the vote for the Democratic nominee and perhaps even the entire election this year. I have friends that are actually excited to vote. It is a momentous occasion for the process that many of us take for granted in our adult years thus far.

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No One Is Perfect, Not Even Gods

2007-12-16T12:46:28Z

This was a topic of discussion at a recent event and I would like to share it because it's been on my mind ever since I took my citizenship class:
I have recently come to the conclusion that our society has become way too harsh on our civil servants. What it boils down to is witch-hunt on a massive scale. I think that this results in fear from harsh public judgement, which is what is driving people away from being involved in politics in the first place. I would hate to always wonder if the decisions I made ten years ago are going to come back and bite me in the ass someday, but to have the entire nation know about it would make it infinitely worse.

We judge politicians so severely as if they were not humans beings but gods. I can tell you right now from all my knowledge of government and the way it works, that someone who has both pure intentions and is using only pure means of getting there won't get much good done. They'd get booed out of office before their term is even up. I am not asserting that politicians should not be held accountable to a higher standard than us mere mortals who are free to make mistakes and have weaknesses, but it should not be so high that it's nearly impossible to accomplish.

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Crazy Awesome Weekend!

2007-11-06T06:51:03Z

Chapin came to visit me this weekend from San Diego. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to dedicate the entire weekend to her due to my midterm today but we had a blast nonetheless. I studied and cleaned my apartment all day Friday. I met Chapin on campus on Saturday and we got to catch up over lunch. I had my Panda Express and she had Rubios. The Empower Change summit was happening on campus that day and that's why we were there. Unfortunately. we both weren't able to make it to any of the workshops but we were able to attend the keynote speech at Royce Hall given by none other than Bill Clinton.

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Credit Card Debt

2007-08-31T18:55:20Z

" My wife has tons of credit cards. She has so many magnetic strips in her wallet, her purse points north." -Peter Sasso, Comedian (Reader's Digest, Sept. '07)

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"The Best and Worst Credit Cards"

2007-08-31T18:53:12Z

This is an interesting article on credit cards. I wish I had read it sooner.

No End In Sight

2007-08-13T06:55:34Z

Today Rob and I did some packing and then headed to Berkeley to see the documentary No End In Sight by Charles Ferguson, the founder of the company that made Frontpage. The movie is about the United States occupation in Iraq and had a variety of views from people who were part of the process to try to rebuild the country after Saddam fell from power. Rob showed me the trailer and we had the urge to see it but it's only playing in select cities right now. The 4:30 showing in Berkeley had a Q&A session with the filmmaker himself after the show so we went to that one. The movie helped us connect the dots to what we already knew to be facts. It's chock full of interviews with high ranking officials who knew that the U.S. policy with Iraq was going down the wrong path but were powerless to stop disastrous decisions from being made. Those decisions eventually led to the insurgency and now there's no easy way to fix the mistakes and no morally right way to leave. It's nothing like a Michael Moore movie. I don't consider it to be partisan or nastily poking fun at the Bush administration. I highly recommend it to anyone who want to understand the decisions that were made during the war and consequences of them. Rob and I managed to shake Ferguson's hand before he left and thank him for stepping up and making such a great documentary.

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For Those that Pass Beauty By...

2007-04-10T00:25:38Z

Rob brought this article to my attention the other night. The idea for the experiment is ingenious, but more importantly it revealed just how truly robotic people go about in their daily lives. I am surrounded with these types of people, the ones who are totally immersed in politics and business that they don't have time to acknowledge beauty at its finest. I may even become one of those people someday. That would be a sad thing. I hope I continue to retain a sense of awe and wonder. Like noticing that the strawberry plants outside this apartment and at Apple are starting to produce little strawberries, for example. I miss being able to act and think like a kid again.

Alexis de Tocqueville

2007-01-31T22:56:55Z

Yesterday I had my first midterm in Political Sociology. We had to read both volumes of Toqueville's Democracy in America to prepare for it. The reading was a bit dry, like many writings on Political Theory, but I agree with some of the things he was saying. BTW, I love political theory so don't get me wrong.

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OMG. I want one!

2007-01-09T21:16:48Z

Check out Apple's new iPhone.

Drools...

Can a Multi-Tasking Man Exist?

2006-11-29T09:32:00Z

After an extensive discussion about how I'd ideally like to see myself in ten years, I researched on what would make it possible to "have it all". In other words, to juggle a career, raise a great family, maintain romance with my husband, and still have time to sit back and enjoy the journey. There are so many women out there that can do it and I wonder how they are able to without much help from their husbands. Turns out many are not as likely to succeed without equal help from the partner and that might be why the divorce rates are so high. I found the following pdf article by Rachel Lehmann-Haupt and I think the she made several important points. I think that society has put too much emphasis on the woman's ability to multi-task better so the mindset is to just let her do it all. I would like to request that if women are required to pull their weight in the workplace then men need to learn to pull their weight at home. It would be a tough sell if women had to excell in all domains and their men continue to choose career over family and household responsibilities. And yes guys, we make note of that on our mental checklist of mating requirements.

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Comment on the UCLA Police Tasering Incident

2006-11-18T07:04:29Z

I'm sure most of you have heard about this incident that happened a couple of nights ago in UCLA's Powell Library. I've heard both sides of the story and seen the video of it and here are my conclusions based on what I know.

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Move over Cons, let the Pros handle this country.

2006-11-08T16:29:09Z

I am estatic that the Dems took over the House and are close to taking the majority of the Senate. I'm still optimistic that they might, but even if they don't, the message is clear that America wants a change. Furthermore, I am stoked that Nancy Pelosi (from San Francisco no less!) is the first woman speaker of the House. This picture was taken over a year ago and I know I look terrible in it cuz I was at work, but I was truly honored to shake her hand.

"A woman's place is in the House and Senate" -Bumper Sticker

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Remember, remember, the 7th of November

2006-11-07T05:12:13Z

Tomorrow is our midterm elections and I strongly encourage all of you to go out and vote. I know that most of you apply rational ignorance to the reason why you won't vote- to rationalize that the cost of making informed decisions on the ballot is much higher than the return of knowing that your vote actually counts. To me, this is not a good excuse. We live in a representative democracy and representation is only half of the equation. To balance the other part of the equation requires that we vote for our representatives and we make sensable decisions on major issues that we don't trust our representatives to decide in our favor. Note that most of these propositions are funded with borrowed money so choose wisely. I'm voting Yes on 87 and No on 85 because these are the measures that I'm most informed of and strike a cord in me personally.

If you do not know where your nearest polling place is, this website will find it for you.

Godspeed Democrats, godspeed.

Lessons on Diplomacy.

2006-11-03T20:34:07Z

There's so much drama involved in foreign relations that it's not unlike a network soap opera. So much of how a country may conduct itself on the world stage can be compared to how a person may conduct him/herself in interpersonal relations. Of course the stakes, interests, and values are different but you can easily draw parallels when studying events, behaviors, and motives.

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