Abortion

I had an argument with my sister today who is strongly pro life. I posed her a hypothetical: if she were President, would she allow abortions in the case of rape? She said no. I love my sister and all, but not allowing abortions in the case of rape is just about one of the most inhumane things I have ever heard. Let's boil this down to the nitty gritty.

A woman is a victim of rape, one of the most brutal crimes a person can have happen to them, and her attacker inpregnates her. But according to law, she is forced to have the baby of this man even though she didn't do anything wrong? What is the sense in that? You are essentially punishing the victim for being raped. Contrary to what some may believe, pregnancy is a difficult thing.That woman is going to have to put her life on hold for the next nine months, deal with all the aches and pains, and most importantly wake up every morning knowing that she is carrying her rapist's child. All this and she did nothing wrong! If that was me, I would suffer irreversible pyschological damage!

Now there are some rape victims who keep the baby and then put it up for adoption. I commend them for that. But the decison to keep the baby is the victim's and no one else. She should be able to make that decision freely and without fear of retribution.

Westminster

I am attending a Leadership seminar in Westminster for two days this week. The first day I decided to head over to the Bella Terra shopping center after the seminar so I can wait out the traffic. This place did not exist when I was living in Long Beach 7 years ago, so I was sorta excited to check it out. I was pleasantly surprised. I have been looking for the perfect bookstore in Los Angeles, and I think it may be the Barnes and Noble at Bella Terra. It's gigantic! The selection is incomparable and there is always a chair to sit in. If it wasn't so far from my house, I would definitely go there all the time. The shopping center also has an REI. Being a former Boy Scout, I love REI. I never really buy anything, but I like to go in there and look at all the merchandise. I actually had to go in there because I had to get a bag for my sleeping bag. For those who don't know, you shouldn't keep your down sleeping bag in its stuff sac because it loses its shape. I also at at Daphne's Greek Cafe. It's rather pricey and it's not as good as hole in the wall places, but it's still better than eating at McDonald's and whatnot.

Daygo!

So the thing for this past weekend was to go to San Diego to watch the Padres game. I made a bucket list at work one day when I had nothing to do, and one of the things on there was to see a baseball game in every MLB stadium. I had done 7 so far and this one would be the eighth. Almost 1/3 there! So Saturday afternoon, Raymund, Chris, Kevin, and I drove down there. The game was at 7 pm but we left a tad bit early so that we can eat at a place called South Beach Bar and Grille. This restaurant was featured on a Food Network special as one of the top three places for tacos in America, so I knew I had to try it. The problem was that there were 13 different kinds of tacos, and since I wanted to try them all, Chris and I decided to order all 13 and split them. Some were better than others, but overall it was delicious. My body didn't feel so good after, but it was delicious. It deserves it's place as one of the best taco places in America.

In spite of being in a massive food coma, we headed over to the game. Petco Park is beautiful, and it has a great location close to the Gaslamp Quarter. The only thing about the place is that the Padres fans are garbage. The Giants fans in attendance were significantly louder than the Padres fans. That's embarrassing. You can't let the rival team's fans do that to you. The low part of the game though was that the Guest Relations guy came over and confiscated the booze we sneaked in. What a mark!

After the game, we hopped into some of the bars in the Gaslamp. I must say that San Diego's scene is one of the best I have encountered. The girls are fine, the vibe is chill, and there is action everywhere. I would move there in a heartbeat.

Hollywood Bowl

If everything works out as I hope, I will be leaving the LA area by late this year/early next year. I'm not the biggest fan of Los Angeles. It's incredibly smoggy, there is traffic 24/7, and everything is spread apart way too much. On the plus side, no other city save NYC can match LA in things to do. So I decided to make a list of things to do before I leave LA. One of those things was the Hollywood Bowl.

Last Wednesday, I worked out of the Downtown office, and since traffic going east is horrendous after work, I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to cross the Hollywood Bowl off my list. So after work, I walked over to Union Station and took the red line to Hollywood/Highland. Although it is a pretty leisurely walk to the Bowl, there is also a shuttle service that takes you there. I got one of the 8 dollar seats in the back. Normally, I am all about the cheap seats, but these were a wee bit too far. Next time I go I will probably pay the extra five dollars to move up one section. On the plus side, I had a whole row to myself, and I could stretch out in comfort.

The performance of the night was Mahler's Symphony of a Thousand performed by the LA Philharmonic, LA Master Chorale, and the LA Children's Chorus. Although it wasn't the best symphony I've heard, it was still beautiful. The piece was extremely complicated but somehow the multiple components seemed to fuse together perfectly.

All in all, I would highly recommend the Hollywood Bowl to anyone. The acoustics aren't the best but that could be because I sat about seven thousand yards away. This would be nice place to take a date. They let you bring your own food in, so it would be nice to have a little picnic, relax, and listen to some classical music. Too bad I don't know any girls and too bad I'm too chicken shit to do anything about it.

Yikes

Well that was quick. I started this thing and a couple of days later, I stopped doing it. I'm pretty damn embarrassed. Although I haven't done things that fit either of my two criteria everday, I have kept myself busy over the last two weeks. Actually, its kinda been eventful. I'll try and keep all my fans out there updated, so here goes. So for Labor Day weekend, I went back home to the Bay. Normally I wouldn't be very excited to go home, but my sister and my brand new niece Anelalani had gone back to the Bay for a couple of months from Hawaii while my brother in law is away (He is in the Navy and is currently stationed in Iraq).

So apart from seeing my niece, who is bar none the cutest kid on the whole planet, the highlight (if you can call it that) was going up to Chico to party. Now for all of you out there who don't know what Chico is, it is the home of the biggest party school in California. To keep things brief, the whole experience was sorta underwhelming. I have been up there before and it has always been a blast, but we made a big mistake by going up there on a Sunday. We assumed that since it was a three day weekend that everyone and their mom would be out. Boy were we sorely mistaken. The streets were practically empty.

After coming back from Chico, I began to ponder if I might be getting too old for the so called "college life." I have a job, bills, salary, and I've been out of school for almost four years now. Maybe it's time I learned how to go to a bar and not drink until I black out. Maybe it's time that I stop trying to hit on drunk 18 somethings so I can get them in the sack and start looking for a girl I could have a relationship with. Most importantly, maybe I should cut back on making crude jokes involving any of the following: homosexuality, mothers, penis sizes.

Frustration

I am sure you have heard about it, but for those of you who haven’t, Sarah Palin’s 17 year old daughter is pregnant. I am not a Sarah Palin fan by any stretch of the imagination. I disagree with her on about 95% of her positions, but frankly, I am embarrassed that her daughter being pregnant is a part of our political discussion. There are way more important issues affecting Americans: the economy, education, and the threat of a nuclear armed Iran. When it comes down to it, Sarah Palin’s ability to be a good Vice President has very little to do with her pregnant daughter. That said, who are we to blame that this is part of the political discussion in the first place? Those on the right have berated Democrats for bringing it up, but that is incorrect. The real culprits are themselves. For years, conservatives have been citing the rise in teenage pregnancy as another example of the decline of family values in America. Yet when their Vice Presidential candidate’s daughter becomes pregnant, there is no discussion of family values. Rather they conveniently pivot to the abortion issue and say that in spite of her mistake at a young age, she is going to keep the baby and marry the father. If this were Obama’s daughter, there would be a full throated denunciation of him as an “irresponsible parent.” How do I know this? Let’s look at the comments of two of the most popular conservative commentators about Jamie Lynn Spears, who is also 17 years old.

Bill O’ Reilly said:

“On the pinhead front, 16-year-old Jamie Lynn Spears is pregnant. The sister of Britney says she is shocked. I bet. Now most teens are pinheads in some ways. But here the blame falls primarily on the parents of the girl, who obviously have little control over her or even over Britney Spears. Look at the way she behaves.”

On the other hand, Glenn Beck said:

“Plus, Britney Spears` 16-year-old kid sister is having a baby. Now more than ever, family values in this nation are under fire.”

I won’t try to defend the fact that both parties are filled with their share of hypocrites but this example is so blatant, that it makes me laugh.

I can’t believe I am going to defend Palin some more, but some people have been blasting her for being an “irresponsible” parent because she has five young kids at home to take care of. Give me a damn break people! If Sarah Palin were Scott Palin, no one would be calling her irresponsible. For comparison’s sake, Obama has two daughters who are not exactly grown up. Yet there has been absolutely no discussion about him being irresponsible. Looks like a double standard to me! As much as some of us out there would like to believe that we still live in the early 1900’s and that the rearing of the kids is primarily the job of the mother, the truth is that it isn’t. Raising of the kids is a responsibility that should be shared equally between both parents.

In spite of the fact that I have spent considerable time defending Palin, I urge you to vote against her and McCain come November 4th. But don’t vote against her because her daughter is pregnant or because you believe her to be an irresponsible parent. Vote against her because of her inexperience in both national and foreign issues. Vote against her because she shares the Republican gift of turning surpluses into deficits. Vote against her because she doesn’t respect a women’s right to choose and wants more guns on her streets. Vote against her because she speaks out against pork barrel spending but lobbies for 27 million dollars in earmarks for her little town of 5,000 people. Vote against her because she used the power of her office to oust her ex brother in law. Vote based on the things that matter!