I recently decided that I will vote for Barack Obama on Super Tuesday in CA.  I like both Obama and Hillary Clinton and will vote for either in the general election.  However, I have been reflecting on March 2003 and my exasperation at that time at the amount of support for the war in Iraq among our political leaders and most Americans.  Only one of these two candidates had the courage and wisdom to oppose the American invasion from the start, and now I feel honored to be able to vote for him to be the Democratic nominee for President.

That brings me to the topic of the diary.  Tonight Maria Shriver endorsed Barack Obama in a heartfelt speech before a roaring crowd at Pauly Pavilion, UCLA.  Toward the end of her speech, Maria urged the crowd to do whatever they could to effectuate change, and to help elect Obama.  With the polls looking extremely close in CA, Maria urged Obama supporters to talk to "5 undecided voters."  And so I did...

Anyone's guess.

Fear not.  Some people are hysterically declaring that John McCain is now the Republican party's "inevitable" nominee based upon his victory, by a margin of a whopping 3%, in tonight's South Carolina primary.  Irrespective of the panic, the Republican party remains fractured as ever and there are few reliable signs that Republican voters will coalesce around a single candidate before the party's convention.  

More, under the fold.

My dad forwarded the Obama email to me this afternoon.  You know, the email that makes wild claims about Obama's background (claiming his mother was ATHEIST--god forbid), his religion (MUSLIM! allegedly), his lack of patriotism (he supposedly refuses to say the Pledge of Allegiance!) and his wicked intentions should he win the presidency.

Of course, my dad knew that the email was bull, he'd heard me talk about it and sent it to me after receiving it from one of the leaders of an organization to which he belongs "Families of Italian Lineage" (or, FIL), in Orange County, CA.  As I read down the email string, I realized that the leader sent it to the organization's secretary with the following instruction "Please send this to all FIL members.  Thank you."  Creepy, to say the least.

I decided to reply to the FIL leader, and to the people who had passed it along down the email string.  My response, under the fold:  

In 2004, I voted for Al Sharpton in the California Democratic primary.  At that point, it was a foregone conclusion that John Kerry would be the party's nominee but nothing excited me about him.  This may not sound like much, but when Sharpton faced a question in the debates about gay rights, he said something similar to "I don't care who you sleep with, I don't care about what you do in your bedroom, now let's stop messing around and get to the issues that matter to those two men or women when they go about their daily lives!"  

He was not sidestepping the question.  To the contrary, his remark (which I am sure I butchered) was meant to convey the notion that gay marriage was simply a wedge issue used by the Republicans to distract the voters from the majority of issues that the Democrats dominate.  I liked Sharpton's direct approach, his ability to rise above the noise, and I answered his call to "provide me with delegates at the convention" so that the other Democrats HAD to listen to his views.

But I digress . . .

It has been contended that the issue of gay marriage cost the Democrats the presidential election in 2004.  I've personally witnessed sentiment on this very liberal website that, accordingly, the Democrats should downplay this issue in 2008, out of fear of the electoral repurcussions.

Equal rights to marriage in our society are so much more important than that!  Watching last nights debates solidified my position that it doesn't really matter to me whether Edwards, Obama, or Clinton get the nomination.  They all represent my views, for the most part, and would make excellent presidents.   I just wish one of these leaders would be true to their "progressive" characters, and stand behind the last minority to be denied the right to marry.

Why gay marriage matters...

Okay so I just checked out cnn.com (morning ritual) and scrolled down to the "Quick Poll"

In honor of Mother's day, the poll asks:

"With Mom taking the day off for Mother's Day, how will the chores get done?"  I am not kidding!

The options are:

1.  We'll do them Sunday, and

2.  She can do them Monday

Link to the poll:

http://www.cnn.com

I seriously laughed out loud when I saw this, not because I think it's particularly funny itself, but I was totally surprised to see this on CNN's site.  Is it just me or this the 1950s roaring its ugly head?  Interestingly, "She can do them Monday is currently in the lead with 58% of the vote!

Coming out.

I recently came out to a bunch of my friends, none were terribly surprised and all have been extremely supportive.  I'm really fortunate to know so many educated, progressive, and caring people.  This has been a much easier, more freeing, and cleansing (really) experience than I ever expected.

The next group on my agenda is my family, which is going to be a little bit more complicated but not bad either, my parents and siblings are pretty cool people.

But where do I go from there?  How does a gay person get along in society, at work, in the community, etc. without having to let every new person they meet aware of their sexuality.  Not that I want to hide who I am anymore, not at all.  I've just been trained to not wear it on my sleeve like so many people do, that I'm not sure how to communicate who I am to others without an overt, obvious statement.

Over 58 million Americans in 33 states voted in the Senatorial elections in 2006.  Depending on how you count Bernie Sanders and Joe Leiberman's voters, the Democrats won either 55.7% or 56.3% and Republicans either won 44.3% or 43.7%.

If you put Sanders and Leiberman's voters in the Democratic column, our candidates won 32.7 million of the 58.1 million cast and the Republican candidates won 25.4 million.

If you count them separately, Independents took less than 1 million votes, Dems took 31.99 million votes and Repubs took 25.4 million.

Either way, talk about your mandates.  

I'm planning on buying a car in the next few days and need some advice.  I'm 90% sold on a 2006 Volvo S60, but not completely.  The 2006 is $2,000+ cheaper than a similar 2007, and they are both new.  The car is at the high end of my price range but I test drove it today and like it a lot.

The dealer (Culver City) is offering the the car at $28,000, which is a good deal when I price it on Volvo's website.  It's an automatic, has leather and a sunroof, 5 cylander turbo engine, 208 horsepower.  I got a very good vibe from the salesmen.  Should I check out another dealer and compare prices before I buy it?  Is there a website that lets you compare prices?  This is my first car purchase, any advice is appreciated.  

Lieberman needs to get out of this race, ASAP.  I don't think I stand alone when I say that, as an American patriot, the last 6 years have been unbelievably devastating.  When Bush was elected in 2000, I didn't agree with the result, but I did  not see a reason for alarm.  After all, he supposedly belonged to a new brand of "compassionate conservatives."  How much harm could be done in 4 (fuck, 8) years, after all? And Lieberman has done nothing to stand up to Bush's transgressions, hence his loss.

Then 9/11 happened and Bush rode that wave to re-election in the most obscene fashion in 2004.  Watching the Republican convention that year was like a Halloween scarefest.   Not to mention the "heightened alerts" every 5 minutes on the news. Whatever happened to those?  But I digress.

CNN's Candy Crawly just reported that Lieberman campaign insiders have leaked that he will announce an independent bid, most likely tonight--in place of a concession speech.

I was hoping he'd drop out with dignity so that we all could avoid 4 more  months of DK Nedmentum, but alas, it will not be.  

Hopefully his support will fizzle out as the Sore Loserman effect takes hold...

SUSA's 6/13 Bush approval ratings showed that Nevada gives Bush a net approval of -30%.  I'll say it again, -30%.  Nevada's Bush approval rating is the lowest of any red state, and 14th lowest overall, with 34% approving of Bush and 64% dissapproving.

SUSA's 7/18 poll shows Bush with a net approval of -22% in Nevada, with 38% approving and 60% disapproving.  Considering that the state barely voted for Bush in 2004 (by 22,000 votes), I think enough voters have changed their minds and want change.  Carter represents that change.

If Carter's campaign makes Nevada voters aware of the fact that John Ensign has voted for the Bush agenda 96% of the time, they will realize that the Republican incumbent has been nothing more than a rubber stamp for the Bush administration since taking office in 2000.

A few months ago, I was convinced that Ned Lamont stood no chance to win the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senator from Connecticut.  In fact, I believed that his biggest supporters on this website--namely Markos and Armando--were wasting all of our time and dollars on a pointless excercise in what it "means to be a Democrat."  Needless to say, I stand corrected.

Just a few minutes ago, I sent Ned Lamont postcards to two of my relatives in Connecticut through Ned's website, urging them to support him in the primary.  You can do this here:

http://nedlamont.com/

But what more can/should I do?

I'm sitting here watching this episode of Cops--literally nothing is on--and I can't help but wonder what makes people consent to warrantless searches of their cars, when they know they have drugs, a gun, etc. under the seat.

The fourth amendment protects the public against unreasonable searches and seizures conducted by the government.  To enforce this amendment, the police are required to have a warrant, supported by probable cause, validating their search.

There are exceptions to the warrant requirement.  

Among them are the automobile exception and consent.

Don't get me wrong.  As a Californian, I wish we had a serious challenger to Feinstein.  I did not vote for her in the primary, and will probably go third party in the general (it's supposed to be a landslide in her favor, anyway).

But from the polls I've seen, there is a very strong chance that Ned Lamont will be the Democratic nominee for Connecticut's Senate Seat.  And I think that's a great thing.

What I'm concerned about is Lieberman's chances in the general if he does run as an independent.

Rasmussen shows him winning as an independent by around 20%.  Not great news.

My top 10 (based on LA Times)

1)  Pearls before swine

2)  Bizzaro

3)  Doonesbury

4)  Non Sequitur

5)  Get Fuzzy

6)  Candorville

7)  Ballard Street

8)  Brewster Rockit:  Space Guy!

9)  Bliss

10) Mr. Boffo

Is there anything that normal people do to help bring peace to the world?  I want honest answers, because if we truly have no power to change things, I might just stop caring.

It has been emotionally exhausting for me to watch the news lately and see the world tear itself apart.  

It doesn't matter to me who's "side" you are on, or which side is "right".  Global violence has to stop, because the bombs are only growing in strength and number.  And a death is a death is a death.  

Are the Israelis justified in retaliating against Hezbollah for acts of terrorism against their nation?  Is Hezbollah justified in attacking Israeli troops in retaliation for the oppression of the Palestinian people?  Hell if I know, but I doubt that the 120+ dead Lenanese and Israelis would answer in the affirmative.  I'm sure they'd rather be alive.

It seems that Israel is escalating things to an absurd level.  Why the hell should civilians be paying the price--WITH THEIR LIVES--for the actions of Hezbollah, to which they most likely have no connection?

Wikipedia is proving information on the current "conflict" here, and according to them, 47 Lebanese civilians have been KILLED in the past few days:

http://en.wikipedia.org/...

I completely agree that Israel has a right to defend itself, but what is the point of bombing out the road to Syria, the bridges in the Beirut Suburbs, the only major airport in the country, and recklessly causing 45 civilian deaths?