Politics as usual

Holy cow. Holy Toledo. Holy CRAP! It looks like our beloved state of California has lost its collective mind. Again. As of 10:15 p.m. tonight, it looks very likely that we will have another term of the Governator in office. I am really quite astonished and embarrassed by this. Do we have no pride? He is winning by a whopping 60% to 35% of the votes so far, and even with only 31% of all votes counted, I don't think Angelides is going to be able to pull off a late-night turnaround. Argh. The ONLY county in CA to vote for Angelides at all was San Francisco. Oh my stars. And Colusa county REALLY likes having Conan the Barbarian for governor--77.7% of those people there voted for him! I'm not sure where Colusa is, but I'm pretty pleased that I don't live there. I'm disheartened by our gubernatorial race, but the fact that the Republicans have decisively lost their throttle on the House makes me feel that maybe our federal government has a chance to do some good for a change. I remain hopeful. I have to. Things have to get better, don't they?

This just in: Proposition 85 is losing. This is a very good thing. This proposition, if passed and ok'd by the legislature, would force young pregnant teens to notify their parents before being allowed to have an abortion. You might think, "Well, isn't it better for her if she has parental guidance through such a tough time?" Of course it is! IF she is lucky enough to have been born into a family with nurturing, caring, and involved parents. But I am not ignorant enough to believe that this is the case for all young pregnant girls. The last thing a troubled, abused, pregnant teenager needs is to be forced to tell people who may harm her that she needs and abortion. That could send her straight toward some friend with a coat hanger, or worse. I really just can't imagine. Things could go very, very badly for many young women if that Prop. passes. Let us hope and pray that it doesn't! Right now it is losing, but by a narrow margin. Please think good thoughts!

I just happened to be wearing my "We Will Not Be Silent" shirt to the voting booths tonight (it has Arabic script on it in big letters). Nobody kicked me out or tried to take my vote from me. I guess it's acceptable to speak Arabic, or wear Arabic in public, as long as you don't actually look Arabic. I feel very guilty at times for having had the dumb luck to be born with white skin. We get off the hook very easily sometimes, don't we? And after reading the harrowing adventures of a good friend of mine in Egypt (while in the company of a Jordanian young man) I am very very glad that I do live in a country where, at least for now, I can wear a shirt with Arabic on it and not be beaten up, or arrested, or maligned in any way. That's why I speak out so vociferously about the current regime's trends--the abridgement of our rights, the criminal deception, the flagrant disregard for the environment, the squelching of union voices and fair worker treatment, denial of universal access to medical care...damn, this is a long list. At any rate, my point is this: I DO love this country. I DO feel very very fortunate, damn lucky, and privileged to have been born here, because even though things are getting nasty, they are still about a zillion times better than living in 85% of the rest of the world. And that's precisely why I fight so hard against the people trying to f*** it up. That's why I sound like an "America hater' to the uninformed. If you love your country, too, don't just sit there getting angry. Write to your congress people, make your friends care, make phone calls, protest, DO SOMETHING! Nothing changes unless you do.