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| so i decided to watch the channel that shows the los angeles city council meeting that has public hearing. one of the funniest things i have seen in a long time. frakking hilarious...no joke.
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| congratulations to the lakers are in order. i'll send my boys in purple and gold a little gift soon. how do we keep this group together? sold the two draft picks this year, so that gives us a few bucks. lamar odom is willing to take less money, but how much less? trevor ariza deserves a pay raise, so we'll probably end up paying the man. since everyone wants to stay, if management can't work out something with the money they have available, kobe may need to opt out of his current contract and rework his deal to earn less money in order to keep the team together and get more rings. phil jackson and kurt rambis combo coaching? i'm okay with that, considering kobe and fish give plenty of input during games anyway. it'll be interesting to see what comes about. enjoy this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCH-owsrC-A&feature=fvst
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| what a day it is to revive this xanga.
more or less, i try to approach political issues from a very moderate stance. i make a concentrated effort to get the facts straight, with some bias from my personal values, before making decisions about candidates and issues. usually, i also try to keep my choices to myself unless i happen to feel very passionate about swaying the vote one way or the other.
this time around, the candidates and issues seem to be hitting closer to home and are a lot more sensitive to many of those around me. so, i'm going to voice my opinion. my thoughts will drag on as this is all still resonating in my head and this is merely a rant. feel free to comment with your own views because, contrary to popular belief, i'm very open to listening.
barack hussein obama is our next president. america has spoken, and hear we stand with our nation's first black president. being an evangelical christian, i figure that there will be many mccain supporters in the church. personally, in this election, i voted for the other way. only time will tell if we, as a nation, went the right way. i promise you [conservative christian mccain supporters], this is not the end of the world.
for those of you who decided to stand firm in your conservative ways and voted mccain, kudos to you. obviously, the abortion issue is very important to you. and believe me, it's important to me too, and i know clearly where i stand on it. (quick sidebar to some individuals who are misinformed on this: the issue of same sex marriage is irrelevant in respect to swaying the vote to either side, since both of them are supporters of same sex civil unions but disagree with same sex marriage, and believes that it should be decided by individual states.)
here's what i have discovered in some conversations i've had in the past few weeks. for many evangelical christians, the presidential candidates' stance on abortion has become the most important issue of this election. many of my christian friends who are very avid mccain supporters have chosen to ignore the other issues that the nation is dealing with. i'm posed with the question "who do you think God wants in office?" and i feel anger and frustration. who is to say God didn't intend to place obama in the oval office? i've put in my time to pray about the presidential election as well as the other issues at stake here. if i felt God swaying me to vote mccain, i would've. truth be told, many of the christian individuals i have had political discussions with have not done adequate research on many/any of the other important issues surrounding the presidency. this irks me. do we, as christian americans, not have a duty to vote responsibly? friends have said, "i cannot believe you are voting for a baby killer." guess what, there are other issues at hand here and there are plenty of reasons for even the conservative christians to vote for obama. the real question is, why are you not being a responsible american and taking measures to understand the policies and really figure out where you stand rather than just voting blindly for the candidate that is pro-life? i do believe that there are many mccain supporters out there who have put in plenty of time doing their homework on the candidates, so please don't take offense to my generalization there; it's more intended for those that have admitted to me they know very little about other aspects of the election. i'm sure there's a lot more i could rant about here, but we'll keep it at that for now.
remember that time when you told one of your very close friends that he/she shouldn't go out with that one guy/girl, but they didn't listen? and then, you had to support him/her in his/her decision anyway because he/she is your good friend? and even though you didn't agree with their relationship, you respected their freedom to make their own decisions? yeah, it's kind of like that. so, i implore you to (pray for and) support your president. welcome to the era of obama.
in regards to the california propositions, the ones that i'm mostly concerned with are 1a, 4, and 8. the results are still being counted, so i don't know where the state stands on these measures. we'll start with the easy one. (1a) - yes, let's connect norcal and socal with this high-speed train. great idea to lessen dependence on motor vehicles to some extent by providing alternative modes of transportation. yes, this $10 billion bond measure is a lot, but in the long run, it will benefit the state. honestly, i think we can find enough private investors to get this project off the ground, but this seems more like a marketing scheme (by these rich investors) to figure out whether there is demand for the rail. i say, get me from los angeles to san francisco in 2 hours, 38 minutes. (4) - yes. first off, i am pro-life. this measure requires physicians to notify parents/guardians/adult family member of a minor's abortion intentions 48 hours prior to the procedure. ladies and gentlemen, they are minors. we have to have field trip slips signed by our parents/guardians to go to the zoo or whale watching. why shouldn't they be notified of the procedure? even with this in place, the physician does not require consent from the party they notify. i don't see how this issue should even be a problem for minors who obviously can't make good decisions in the first place. (8) - yes. most touchy and sensitive subject to deal with. i do not agree with same sex marriage. yes, much of this is due to my ties to the christian church. i cannot support this measure as it clearly defies God's authority. i know i have non-christian readers, so i cannot convince you that my vote was the right choice. though i agree with the separation of church and state, i'm also convinced that this nation was built on christian principles and it'd be a slap in the face of our nation's forefathers to allow such moral decay of our society, even if they did leave it up to the states to decide on such matters. i'm sure i'll find many opponents to this last statement. civil unions should be as far as it goes. same sex couples can enjoy the same benefits as married couples. we're merely fighting over the word "marriage." i don't know the complete history of the subject, but my research indicates that the institution of marriage was established by the church and later adapted by governments/states/blah. as i see it, it belongs to the church anyway, so let them decide how it should be defined. please understand that i am not intolerant. i think every church must be more accepting of gays/lesbians/bisexuals/aliens/robots. Jesus loves all, and christians are not taught to choose who to love. if the Bible says that homosexuality is a sin, then it is just as much a sin as murder, as lying, as lust, as any other sin. it's no different than any sin we each struggle with.
in sum, everyone is entitled to their personal opinion. i'm sure i'll get some heat and some praise for this post. what it came down to, with respect to the presidential vote, was a matter of choosing the lesser of two evils. what sucks is that either way, you're voting for evil. yes, i know i could not vote or possibly vote for another candidate, but let's not kid ourselves here. what a waste that would be. there is no way i could understand every political issue and where each candidate stood on each to it's full capacity, but i do feel that i've done considerable and adequate research to make a fundamentally sound, responsible decision. in a victory speech in chicago, obama declared, "there are many who won't agree with every decision or policy i make as president. and we know the government can't solve every problem. but i will always be honest with you about the challenges we face. i will listen to you, especially when we disagree." i believe the man will keep it real. and again, only time will tell if the man will follow through on his campaign promises. can we, as a nation, figure this thing out? yes we can. corny, but so catchy. especially, those of you readers who are believers, please have faith that God will deliver us, even if i have done my part in putting a heathen, the "anti-christ" in office (note: sarcasm. captain obvious says, "ricky does not believe obama is the anti-christ"). and to the conservative evangelical christians who are giving crap to those that have supported and voted for obama, please stop because we all have the right to vote as we see fit (i just hope we all did our due diligence).
by no means am i an expert on any of these matters, so there's probably some statements or claims i have made in the preceding paragraphs that are incorrect and flawed. please don't waste your time correcting me in hopes of changing my stance (this is not to say that i am not willing to hear opinions). i doubt any in disparity from what i have presented is significant enough to change my views.
final thought for the christian community. what saddens me most about this period in time is the church divided. whether it be on certain propositions or specific candidates, either case has caused us to question our moral values and argue so vehemently that some of our brothers and sisters have felt it necessary to take a break from church. the next step is to reconcile these differences and continue to serve the Lord our God in unity. if we did indeed fail to pass the measures that we strongly believe blatantly defies God, or we chose the president who will ultimately lead to the complete depravation of america, then maybe it's a wake up call for all of us to stop sitting around and waiting for things to happen. maybe it's our laziness or indifference that has allowed these circumstances to consummate. maybe it's God calling you to action. i can promise you one thing though...God's perfect plan is still in effect.
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| much, much, much has happened since the last post. unfortunately, i'm in no mood to blog about it. who came up with the word "blog" anyway? it just sounds so barbaric.
anyway, here's something for your viewing pleasure...
http://alittleslo.wordpress.com/
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| few days here in brighton now. you'll probably notice that i'm on the computer a lot. xanga'ing, facebook'ing, gmail'ing, aim'ing. there's plenty of down time to play. or to think. or to read. or to explore.
- had my first taste of authentic fish and chips last night. i know it was authentic because the fried fish still had it's tail on. just like in the chinese restaurants. a little bit of vinegar and tartar sauce and delicious.
- went to a club the other night. got hit on by a gay british man. i was just telling my friend, "every club/bar/pub has a creepy old man, preying on the meek." i step out of the bathroom and this guy approaches me and says, "smile, you're in brighton" and i respond with, "i always smile." and as i start to walk away, my friend, justin, decides to take a picture. creepy old man wraps his arms around and the expression on my face could only say "wth?!?!" san francisco is like the gay capital of the california, but brighton is apparently the gay capital of the world. i'm not intolerant. i just like my hetero-ness and my space.
- brighton pier was fun yesterday. probably a lot nicer than santa monica. although, it does lack those money-eating carnival games of the states. erica says i'm supposed to jump off the pier somewhere. but seeing as i'm not that great a swimmer, i'd probably be falling to my death. and i mean, if i wanted to die, let's make it a jump off of something more glorious, like half dome.
- missed my first day of class tonight. this is what happens when one stays up into the wee hours of the night to get some reading did. anyway, we're all heading over to the professor's house today for dinner. his wife will be cooking for us every wednesday, i believe. nice. this is a cm professor from cal poly, if anyone was wondering.
- 400 international students going on a pub crawl tonight. the sussex hosts are taking us around town after dinner, so i guess that's where i'll be, engaging myself into their culture.
heading on out. cheers, mate.
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