Other than our own initiatives in Washington state, I'm wondering how other state initiatives and propositions are going to turn out.
For example, Colorado is going to vote on whether to have the winner of the state's popular vote take all of the electoral college votes (as it is now) or have the electoral votes divided among the candidates based on their percentage of the popular vote they obtained.
I'm not sure how I feel about this. One the one hand, it seems to be closer to what I'd like - where it would seem that every vote would truly matter. But on the other hand, it seems like it would cause more trouble - especially in this election.
Then there's 11 states that are going to be voting on same-sex marriages. I still don't understand why so many people have a problem with gay people getting married. I just don't see how it hurts them.
California has 16 ballot measures this Novemer, including Proposition 71 which deals with the issue of stem cell research. If it passes, it would create an organization to regulate stem cell research and it would make the ability to conduct such research a state constitutional right. I'm all for stem cell research, but I'm not sure if California, with all their money problems, can afford this. But then again, if funding this research helps in finding cures or treatments for certain diseases, that would be great and could help save money in health costs down the road.
There are also two propositions in California concerning their primary voting system... one is Proposition 60 (which would allow the top vote-getter from each party to be in the general election - which is what they have now) or Proposition 62 (which would allow the top 2 vote-getters regardless of party to be in the general election - which is like the initiative that Washington has on the ballot this year - I-872).
I'd rather have what Washington and California have now - I'd rather see all the parties in the general election than the possibility of only have 2 republicans or 2 democrats or even 1 democrat and 1 republican. If there is a green candidate or a libertarian candidate, I'd like to see them represented in the general election so as to give everyone more choices on who to elect into office.
Alaska voters are deciding on whether to legalize marijuana. I'm in favor of legalizing marijuana...it just seems there are more urgent problems out there.... Montana voters are deciding on whether to allow marijuana for medical purposes, while Oregon voters are deciding on whether to expand the use of the medical marijuana use with Measure 33.
Arizona has Proposition 200 which would require proof of U.S. citizenship when an individual registers to vote and that ID be presented at the polling place. The proposition also asks the government to verify identity/citizenship for individuals to receive public benefits. I've wondered why so many polling places don't check for ID, so that part seems like a good idea. However, what exactly is meant by public benefits? Without having read too much about it, it just seems mean-spirited and it doesn't seem like it would solve any illegal immigration issues that Arizona has.
As for Washington initiatives, I plan to vote...
No on I-872 (as explained above).
Undecided on I-884. I'm not sure this will help and so I don't think that paying a little bit more on my sales tax is something I want to do on something I'm not sure will work, but I still don't know. I'll most likely vote no.
No on I-892. though paying less property taxes would be great, I really don't think that these slot machines are really going to provide the revenue that the supporters of this initiative think it will.
Most likely yes on Referendum 55. Charter schools seem o.k. to me.
I-297 - I still have no idea on this one.
that I found interesting...
1) At a hospital in Queens, New York (and apparently one in Redmond too, according to a coworker), there's a McDonald's in it. Does anyone else find that wrong? Shouldn't a hospital have healthy food served in it?
2) Bush's campaign website blocked to those overseas, including those in our military. Apparently, it's due to security concerns. Are there really that many people that look at the campaign websites anyway? I think I've looked at either Bush or Kerry's maybe once or twice.
3) Allegedly, a high school principal threatened students with expulsion if they wore Kerry shirts while Bush was in town. Who knows if it's really true.
4) So in order to gain entrance into some Bush/Cheney events, you have to sign a loyalty oath because you wouldn't want someone who disagrees with you to ask you a serious question or an undecided voter to maybe get some more information about you to decide if he/she wants to vote for you. But what I found funny is something I read on Slate earlier today...there's apparently a Bush Pledge: "I care about freedom and liberty. I care about my family. I care about my country. Because I care, I promise to work hard to re-elect, re-elect George W. Bush as president of the United States." Huh, so if you wanted to vote for Kerry, you don't care about those things?
5) Eminem has an anti-Bush song - here's the video and the lyrics.
6) Department of Homeland Security interested in a Rubik's cube rip-off... Is that really a Homeland Security issue?
7) In Scotland, if you want to use a plastic bag, you'll have to pay...
8) A 9/11 Miniseries based on the 9/11 Commission Report? This doesn't seem right to me. Are they going to give any revenue they receive to a 9/11 charity? Speaking of the 9/11 Commission Report, it's up for a National Book Award.
9) Complaints were made by parents against a teacher assigning books that had gay characters in them - but the school board decided not to ban the books. I'm glad that she is able to assign these books.
10) Move over Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, here comes Queer Eye for the Straight Girl.
The other day I read a statement George W. Bush made in response to Kerry criticizing Bush on the missing explosives: "A political candidate who jumps to conclusions without knowing the facts is not a person you want as commander in chief..."
So, wouldn't that mean George W. Bush shouldn't be commander in chief? After all, it seems he jumped to conclusions with Iraq.
Then yesterday morning before I went off the torture chamber, I mean the dentist, I was watching The Today Show and Rudy Guiliani happened to be on.
He said when asked about the missing explosives in Iraq, Guiliani said: "The president was cautious. The president was prudent.... No matter how you try to blame it on the president, the actual responsibility for it really would be for the troops that were there. Did they search carefully enough? Didn't they search carefully enough?"
So that's interesting to me. Bush, Cheney and other Republicans say Kerry doesn't support the troops because he doesn't agree with the war in Iraq - or at least, the handling of the war in Iraq, but when explosives go missing and Bush is getting some heat on this issue, then it's o.k. for them to blame the troops and, what seems to me, not support the troops. They just can't admit that this looks bad for them - that a mistake may have been made while Bush was in charge - yet another sign of incompetence.
It just wasn't a good statement for Giuliani to make. Here's what General Clark had to say.
goes to George W. Bush for his role in Fahrenheit 9/11. That's kinda funny.
The search, as I commented on here, for a good pair of khaki pants is over. Last weekend, I finally found a pair of khaki pants to replace the ones I ruined. Though these new khaki pants are not perfect like the last ones, they are close. Both pairs were from Old Navy.
Apparently, there's this Bush ad out there that features wolves.The wolves are supposed to represent terrorists. Some, like the link above, think the ad is great. Others, think the ad is deceptive or misleading - like Slate and factcheck.org.
The funny thing about this ad is this website that popped up called wolfpacks for truth.
It also came out on the last day of National Wolf Awareness Week when organizations such as Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund are trying "to help educate the public that the myths about wolves being threats to humans, are just that, myths. But the Bush campaign is using that fictitious stereotype in a manner that instills false fear. "
Last night, I went to my first book club meeting. It was o.k. It was interesting to see what others thought of the book (Middlesex). Everyone seemed to like it - though some thought it was just a bit too long in places and other places, the story wasn't long enough.
I will probably continue going to this book club. For this month, we are reading "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole.
And if you ever wanted to obtain spoilers to a book, this is the place to go. There's also a movie spoiler website.
This is just too funny - on this blog, a cat is "writing" a letter to its owner explaining why another cat in the house would be really good...
So funny... that poor kitty with the rubber band issue...
I was just walking out to the lobby, and I saw this HUGE stuffed brown bear in the "sample closet". It's the size of a stuffed animal I would expect to see at FAO Schwarz - about 4 feet tall and 3 feet wide. I wonder if we're going to start selling these in our stores. :-D
I think this bear should be in my collection...
Please note: hand raised(!) - I do like collecting bears, but this one is a bit too big for me - and would probably cost more than I'd be willing to pay for a stuffed animal.
Last night, I finally set up an RSS reader at bloglines.com. I have so many feeds on there right now,and I keep adding more. It's addicting to me. Sometime, I'll have to stop, right?
I currently have feeds coming from blogs:
1) my friends write;
2) from different authors (just Dave Barry - soon Jennifer Weiner, if I can get it to work) (see previous entry for links);
3) from musicians (just Barenaked Ladies at the moment);
4) from actors (just Zach Braff at the moment);
5) from politicians (just Kerry for now); and
6) on various subjects - including politics, movies, books, legal, and other random blogs.
I also have feeds coming from news sources like BBC News, Yahoo News, New York Times, Salon, and Slate. I'll probably add more as I find them.
Of course, with all of this, I have a lot of stuff to read through.
Non-US citizens can have their say in the 2004 election here. The results will be revealed 2 days before the US election.
Play the presidental election simulation game called Power Politics III. The site not only lets you simulate the election between Kerry and Bush, but between Hillary Clinton and Ronald Reagan, plus many others.
While there's the Drudge Report, there's also the Drudge Retort...
Both the Bush and Kerry campaigns have official campaign blogs... Kerry's is a bit more updated than Bush's.
Jennifer Weiner, the author of Good in Bed (good book); In Her Shoes; and Little Earthquakes, has her own blog as well. As does Dave Barry...
Wal-Mart won't be selling The Daily Show book, America, because of the page that shows the 9 Supreme Court justices naked. They're afraid that will offend some customers - though they're still selling the book online.
Mo Rocca, a former Daily Show reporter, has a book out called All the President's Pets.
On Tuesday night, Jon and I went to a viola recital at Meany Hall. Melia Watraswas the main performer. The first and last piece she played with Craig Sheppard on piano.
The first was Bach and the last one was by Henri Vieuxtemps. I liked both of the pieces - though my mind was wandering a bit at the end of the last one.
The one I liked the most though was the one she performed with her husband, Michael Jinsoo Lim, who was playing the violin. They were performing a piece by Mozart. I liked the way that the two instruments played with each other and against each other. I also noticed that they both really got into the music by moving their bodies all around as they played.
The one I liked the least was the one she performed with a computer. At first it sounded cool, but I quickly lost interest in it. It sounded like a song made just for Halloween or for some old scary movie.
The whole night was fun - I enjoy watching people play these instruments - it amazes me that they can move their fingers that fast. It's also very beautiful music to listen to (except for the Halloween piece).
Yay Boston! They beat those damn Yankees 10-3 tonight to go to the World Series. The Red Sox were down 3 games to none and came back and won the next 4 to win the ALCS. Not only did they beat the Yankees after being down 3-0, they beat them in Yankee Stadium! Perhaps the 'curse' is history... Of course, there's still the World Series.
Hmm, apparently, there's a musical called The Curse of the Bambino.
Go Boston!
On another note, I heard the Jerry Rice is going to be playing for the Seahawks with Steve Largent's number. Hopefully, he's a good addition to the team. I didn't even realize that Rice was still playing.
According to a Nickelodeon poll, the kids have chosen Kerry to win with 57 percent and Bush has 43 percent.
Video of show & transcript of show.
Apparently, some people are offended by what Jon Stewart said and did on Crossfire on October 15, or they think he went too far. I don't think he needed to call Tucker Carlson a d***, (which apparently, he regrets saying) but then again Tucker called him Kerry's "butt boy" because Stewart didn't ask Kerry tough questions.
Anyway, I think the points Jon Stewart was trying to make were valid. Most of the media, it seems, is too afraid to ask really tough questions or they "debate" about things that don't make any difference or they talk over each other without a real civilized discussion where everyone can be heard.
For example, why did one of the guys have ask what Jon Stewart thought about Bill O'Reilly and a vibrator? Perhaps it was because Jon Stewart is a comedian, but it seems like these are the type of issues that some shows would rather "debate" about. However, to be honest, I had never seen Crossfire before this clip so I don't know how they are other than what I've seen on The Daily Show. I, however, have watched The O'Reilly Factor and Hardball though.
And to be fair, perhaps because The Daily Show has more of an audience than Crossfire does, then perhaps they too should be asking the tough questions of its guests. And through a study done by the Annenburg Center, those who watch The Daily Show actually know more about how candidates feel on certain issues than those who do not watch any late night comedy or even those who watch other late night comedy shows. So, I can see how some may think that Jon Stewart should ask tougher questions (and sometimes he does and sometimes he doesn't), but like one blogger said (see under comment section), the real journalists are the ones that should be asking the tough questions but they don't half the time (though I did see an NBC guy ask a really good question to Bush the other day, and Bush looked all flustered and just said, "No." - I wish I could remember the question. And one time during another press conference, one guy asked Bush twice to answer why Cheney and Bush must go into the 9/11 commission together, and both times Bush didn't give a real answer as to why. I liked how this reporter pressed the issue even if Bush wasn't going to answer the question (just like most politicians)). But I guess I just don't feel The Daily Show has a duty to ask the tough questions since it is a comedy show, not a real news show - the real journalists should be asking these questions - journalists such as Tucker Carlson and the other Crossfire hosts.
And I agree with Stewart that it seems like a lot of these type of shows are all about spinning the story - hosts of different shows saying the same exact thing - rather than actually telling the viewer their own story and telling the facts and questioning what they're told by the politicians (though some reporters and shows are getting better). Perhaps this is just because of what I see on The Daily Show...
But what I think I'm trying to say here is what Jon Stewart says here...
"My show is a parody of cable news. A PARODY. Yet we are seen, by far too many people, as a MORE CREDIBLE SOURCE OF NEWS. Doesn't that worry you? For Christ's sake, I'm a comedian. I'm making fun of cable news, not running a news desk. What the hell is the matter with you guys?". Shouldn't shows on CNN be a more credible source of news, than a show on Comedy Central? Plus, like he says, his show is led in by a show about puppets making crank calls!
And despite what Tucker Carlson said, I thought Jon was being funny at times. And Novak just can't admit he's funny because Jon Stewart, on The Daily Show, gave Novak the Congressional Medal of Douchebag for leaking the name of a CIA agent. Hahahaha!
Anyway, that's all for now.
I finally finished this book last night. I thought it was a good book, but I took way too long to finish it. Spoilers ahead - read at your own risk...
I thought it was an interesting story - it's all about a hermaphrodite's life story (and I'll use he here since the writer is writing as an older male). He talks about when he was born and everyone thought he was a girl, then at 14 (due to an accident) found out he was genetically a boy and well, physically too (she always thought she was different, but didn't know how). He talks about going from living as a girl to living as a boy. How a hermaphrodite was even a possibility in this family with her grandparents being brother and sister, and his parents also distantly related (his mother's mom was a cousin to his grandparents).
The funny thing is the whole time I was writing the description above, I kept wanting to write she. The writer writes a lot about the time he was a girl though he is writing this and an older male (in his 40s). It just felt, to me, that a girl or woman was writing this. I'm not sure why.
Anyway, it was a good book. I enjoyed the story and learning about the life of this family, and this person, in particular. Monday night is the book club meeting to discuss this book. It should be interesting to hear what other people have to say.
Now, I'm going to start reading Naked by David Sedaris (one of my birthday gifts) or The Dogs of Babel by Carolyn Parkhurst. I haven't decided which one yet.
1) I never know what to title my entries if I want to write about numerous things. I used to be more creative than this. I think that part of my brain has become lazy.
2) Lately, for some reason, I have been hating my job. I think part of it might be because I am doing this research that an outside attorney would do but I'm not getting paid as that outside attorney would be getting paid nor do I have the title of attorney. Though, apparently, on one project I just completed, they did have an outside attorney (in that state) look into the same exact issue that I did - apparently, they don't trust my research - which I resent. Another part is that some of the stuff I work on is something that a person without a legal degree could do, which makes me feel like my J.D. is useless and a complete waste of money.
The other day I started to look to see what jobs are out there. There are a couple that sound like they could be interesting and would be something that I would be qualified to do. I hope to get some things together this weekend to try to apply for these positions.
I would like to continue to work for this company because, for the most part, it is a good company to work for. Although my boss tells me I'm valuable because I do so much around here, it really doesn't feel like anyone else here believes that.
3) Water Leak - so it looks like we have a leak somewhere between our water meter and our house. Seattle Public Utilities is supposed to come out and check to see if it's on their part of the pipe or our part. I hope it's on their part. It really came as a shock when we got a $256 bill when our bill is usually $40-50 for 2 months.
4) Movies - so apparently, there are quite a few people who think Team America is a great movie. It was funny at parts, though I don't think it was great. The South Park movie was better. However, the songs in Team America are quite funny - at least the couple that I can think of. I'm still looking for the lyrics to "America, F*** Yeah!" Hahaha!!!
5) So like the Indecisive Rambler says, "being sick is no fun". I started feeling sick back on Friday of last week when I got a sore throat. Now, I have a stuffy nose that won't go away. Luckily, the body aches and the headache went away due to some Tylenol I took a while ago. I'm still exhausted though.
6) Dawg Dash - So I think I've been talked into the running the Dawg Dash, though I haven't really exercised in several months - not because I don't want to or need to, it just hasn't happened lately for reasons I can't quite express. I'll probably end up walking the whole thing. We'll see - a few of us are getting together this weekend to train for it.
7) Yesterday afternoon, I went to a CLE talking about 25 tips for internet legal research. A lot of it was stuff I already knew about - like google, findlaw.com, the state, county, and city websites, the SEC website, and others (so I was able to check my e-mail while in class). However, some sites I didn't know about like vivisimo.com and some blog websites, like a blog on the U.S. Supreme Court. That site looks like it could be interesting and helpful, as does this blog directory for legal blogs called blawg.org. I'll need to set up a RSS Reader to keep track of new things on these websites.
8) The Election - For Governor - I agree with Gregoire more - though Rossi isn't a bad choice. I like how "he's voting against all five ballot measures as a protest against initiatives substituting for leadership in Olympia." For me, I think we vote for these individuals for a reason - to provide leadership and to make tough decisions for us. I often wonder if states that do not have initiatives are better off than states that do or do intiatives not make that much of a difference - the people in this state are crazy because they vote for initiatives that take away money from the state to do certain things, then complain about things not being done.
Another thing I wonder, and totally off the topic above, how much has the internet, if any, increased voter turnout and people getting more involved in politics and their community? I wrote a paper about this once, and more people did get involved in various ways. I'll have to see what it's like after this election.
Attorney General - I'm not really sure how to vote here - I really don't know much about the Republican candidate and there's just something about Deborah Senn that I just don't like. I liked Mark Sidran more.
President - Though they both irritate me, Kerry is going to get my vote. He actually seems more human to me after these 3 debates, and seems like a stronger, smarter individual than Bush ever will be...at least, he admitted that himself (at least the smarter part) in the last debate when he said his wife has a better command of the English language than he does (an example). I also agree with Kerry on a lot more things - one thing that comes to mind that I don't agree with him on is gay marriage - but I suppose, I can't have everything. Someday, I hope, people will see the light. There's more to say on the Presidential election and the debates, but I'll have to write about it some other time.
I went over to Spokane this weekend to celebrate Kendall's 9th birthday with her. Driving over there started out VERY crappy - it was raining way too hard. I considered going back home because I did not want to drive through rain coming down this hard. Luckily, the rain completely stopped a little before I got to Snoqualmie Pass. I went straight to my parent's house and watched the presidential debates. I think that they both did o.k., though Bush was stronger (well, at least, more sure of himself) in talking about Iraq than any other topic. It was almost painful to watch him answer questions on stem cell research and other topics that I can't remember at the moment.
Afterwards, I watched Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I loved this movie. I thought it was a really good movie, and Jim Carrey did a really good job in this movie.
On Saturday, we went to Rocky Rococo's for Kendall's birthday. We just ate pizza and Kendall opened her presents. My parents and I got Kendall a bike because her other bike was stolen. Afterwards, a few of us went over to Riverfront Park to ride on the carousel. Morgan wanted to ride on it, so I went on it with her. She just seemed to love it!
After the carousel, we were hanging out in the park, and Trina let me know that she just found out our grandmother (dad's mom) had a heart attack when she was in her 30s. I had no idea! And apparently, Morgan has heart murmurs again, so she has to go back to a cardiologist for that.
Anyway, later that day, Chad, Ryan and I went to go see a sneak preview of Team America: World Police. I really had no intention in seeing this, but my brothers wanted to go, so I went with them. It was a BAD movie - however, the songs were kinda entertaining and there some funny bits. One song was not too kind to the movie Pearl Harbor and to Ben Affleck, and another song that kept running through my head was "America, F*** Yeah!" I wish I could find the lyrics. Every time they played that, I cracked up.
And today - the drive back was long, but at least, it wasn't raining. I really appreciate that, especially because it seems all the incredibly crazy drivers were out today.
A long time ago, I said that I was going to go through certain statements Michael Moore made in Fahrenheit 9/11 - and I still intend to do so - sometime.
But speaking of Fahrenheit 9/11, while I was at Costco today, I came across 2 books that Michael Moore wrote/compiled. One is The Official Fahrenheit 9/11 Reader and the other is called Will They Ever Trust Us Again?.
The first one has the transcript of the movie in it, his sources for the statements made in the movie, and articles about what was said in the movie and other stuff. I am kinda curious what his sources were - though I'm not sure if it's $8 something curious. I may have to borrow this book from the library.
The second one is letters Moore received from those in Iraq, veterans, families of military individuals. I'd like to read the letters, so I'll probably borrow this one too.
Snarky Kat was right, it doesn't hurt to ask. I asked my boss if my employer would pay for a CLE on 10/13, and they said yes! It is a CLE about internet research, but at least, it's something. Now, if only they would pay for my bar dues too.
So since there seems to be a few stories about those who remember the May 18, 1980 eruption, I thought I'd write about what I remember - which isn't much since I was 6 at the time.
I lived in Spokane and I barely remember the sky being dark. What I do remember is walking to the fire station with towels covering our mouths (my mom, sister, and I - I don't remember where my dad was at the time) to pick up the paper masks that they were handing out. I remember looking down at my footprints in the ash. I had told my mom that it was her birthday present - just 1 day late.
Several years later, when we lived in Texas, I remember being in my 4th or 5th grade class when the subject of volcanoes came up - and of course, the teacher mentioned Mt. St. Helens. I rose my hand to tell everyone I had been in Washington when the 1980 eruption happened and that I could bring in a jar of the ash to show everyone. I remember being just so proud I went through something no one else had that I could share with everyone. The next day, I brought in the ash. Several of the kids wanted to open it, but I told them that they couldn't because it wouldn't be good for us to breath it.
That's about all I remember about the whole thing. I wish I remembered more.