Avoiding Church With the Parents OR Religion at "Home"

I hope the decision isn't reversed!

One half of GOP is out of Los Angeles at the moment, and that half is me. Our most regular contributor. I'm in Iowa right now, feeling especially sad about the liberal Supreme Court justices getting booted out of a job. I just flipped through the local paper and saw a cute engagement photo for two men... I hope they still get to marry in the next year.

And speaking of weddings, that's why I was back in Iowa. One of my cousins was getting married! It was my kind of ceremony. One of their best friends became an officiant through the Universal Life Church (you can be atheist and register with them) and there was ZERO mention of a god or religion. It was short, sweet, and very personal. They had a focus on a eco-friendly reception, which was very cool.

The wedding was far enough away from where my parents live that they had a motel reserved for that evening. The next morning was Sunday. They were, of course, going to church. With my EXTREMELY religious grandmother. What was I going to do?

Relief came in the form of my cousin. Most of the younger crowd from the wedding planned to go out that evening for drinks, and I wanted to join in. My cousin offered to let me stay at her place and my parents agreed to pick me up from her apartment the following afternoon. THANK YOU! Win win. I got to hang out with my cousins a bit more and was saved from the awkwardness of Catholic mass.

My parents know that I am a non-believer. I don't think the word "atheist" has ever been uttered, but they know that I don't go to church and don't believe in many of its tenets. If I'm at home, they let me sleep in and don't harp about mass. Even at Christmas, and they've taken it considerably well. But if I were at a hotel that needed to be checked out of.... I would have been forced to go out of necessity unless I was stubborn enough to insist at being dropped off at a Starbucks. But that would have led to really uncomfortable discussions with my grandmother whose heart would be broken that I refuse to attend church.

Does this make me an atheistic coward or just a considerate person who doesn't want to crush the expectations of an 87 year old lady?

On another note: businesses close REALLY early on Sundays in Iowa. This is annoying. However, the cafe I tried to eat at gave me a free cup of coffee to go. That was nice. More on businesses and Sundays another day.

Last Chance before you vote!

Alright, get it all out now! I've been reading some of the comments from the judges post and while some are from conservatives thanking me for showing them how to vote opposite from me (which is fine, although there are way more conservative websites out there telling you how to vote), some are from people with very good points.

That's why I view this website as a forum, it's really tough to dig into every corner of every person on the ballot, and I value what others have to say.

One Anonymous commentator mentioned two judges that I gave a "NO" vote to that do have liberal endorsements. Mainly, Randy Hammock and Alan Schneider. After looking around, I can see that this reader probably subscribes to the L.A. Times. Both were endorsed by the paper.

After reading a little more, it looks like Schneider is significantly more qualified than Tom Griego.  He's endorsed by both Democrats and Republicans and will likely be a good judge.

The Times states that both Randy Hammock and Mark Ameli are highly qualified, which they both seem to be. Hammock is endorsed by both Republicans and Democrats, while Mark Ameli is only endorsed by Democrats. But as the Times said, "In Office No. 28, voters are in luck because they have two good choices. Randy Hammock is a seemingly tireless lawyer who left his practice to serve the Los Angeles Juvenile Dependency Court as a referee. Mark K. Ameli is an experienced and accomplished civil litigator." If both are qualified, I'll stick with my original pick. But it's good to know that either one would do a good job if elected.

The other issue brought up is about John Noguez for County Assessor.  Anonymous stated that he is corrupt and has ties to the Bell city officials who awarded themselves giant salaries and were generally shady politicians. I found an article about it here. And even the Washington Times reported on it just a few days ago. Even though John Noguez has more endorsements, the L.A. Times has backed John Y. Wong... which is pretty much the only endorsement he has. I previously had a NO vote for Mr. Wong, but if the LA Times thinks he's qualified and the accusations against John Noguez are at all true, perhaps the Times is right that we need someone less political in the office of Assessor. This shouldn't even be an elected position!


So, to re-cap:
SCHNEIDER: Yes
GRIEGO: No

HAMMOCK: No
AMELI: YES

NOGUEZ: No
WONG: Yes

Again, I really appreciate the input from people, even if they choose to be anonymous or some choose to be rude or obnoxious. I just think it's important that people try to EDUCATE themselves and actually get out there and VOTE! It's hard to wade through the sea of misinformation and lack of information, so we all need to help each other.

Electing Judges

This is one of the most time consuming tasks and confusing tasks for me as a voter. How do I figure out whether to vote "Yes" or "No" for all of these judges? To be honest, this year, I'm voting straight Democrat for all of the elected officials. I'm sure there are some independent candidates who are worthwhile, and I'm sure not ALL Republicans are complete social conservatives. If we weren't living in a political era of staunch partisanship,  I would at least consider other candidates. But right now, I'm voting Democrat 100%.

But judges don't have a political affiliation. So where do you start?  I begin with the American Bar Association. They are an independent association of lawyers and law students that provide accreditation to law schools and seek to help their profession and increase diversity and reduce bias in the courts. They tend to lean to the liberal side and back Roe v. Wade 100%. This year they also put out an official statement urging every state in the union to permit same-sex unions. Go ABA! The ABA also rates judges on levels of qualification.

I also refer to the League of Women Voters, which is basically non-partisan, but it gives a lot of good information on all of the judges on the ballot, including endorsements, which I find rather telling.

Finally, I use a crazy conservative site, Judge Voter Guide to let me know who to vote against. They are soooooo conservative that they disapprove of even the most moderate Republican judges. Basically, they hate all judges, but really do their research (however misguided it may be)!

Supreme Court Justice
Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye: Yes. Although she is a Republican, nominated by Gov. Schwarzenagger, and is religious, she has been rated as "exceptionally well qualified." The perception is that she's fairly moderate, and socially liberal. She comes from an immigrant family and grew up extremely poor. I'm a sucker for American Dream stories. I tend to find these types to be empathetic individuals. I think she'll be fine.

Ming W. Chin: Yes. This is a tough one because he was a part of the minority decision to vote against Same-Sex marriage, but he has also voted against parental consent for abortions. Again, voted "well qualified."

Carlos R. Moreno: YES! This is an easy one. Voted for Same-Sex Marriage, against parental consent... very liberal.

Court of Appeal 
Robert M. Mallano: YES
Victoria G. Chaney:  NO
Jeffrey W. Johnson:YES
Judith M. Ashmann: YES
Walter Croskey: YES
Steven Suzukawa: NO
Orville "Jack" Armstrong: NO

Paul H. Coffee: NO
Steven Z. Perren: YES
Laurie D. Zelon: YES

Frank Y. Jackson: NO
Tricia A Bigelow: NO
Elizabeth Annette Grimes: NO


Office No. 28
Mark K. Ameli: YES
Randy Hammock: NO


Office No. 117
Tom Griego: YES A user comment made me look more closely at this race, and it appears that
Alan Schneider: NO  Schneider is actually more qualified and is endorsed by both sides. See recent  post for more info!

Office No. 136
Amy D. Hogue: YES

Superintendent of Public Instruction
Larry Aceves: YES (Both seem to be decent choices, but I like Aceves emphasis on peer training for teachers and his endorsement from the LA TIMES)
Tom Torlakson: NO

County Assessor
John Y. Wong: NO Actually, after a comment from a reader, I looked into this race more closely.
John R. Noguez: YES (endorsed by Democrats)   Please see my more recent post for more info!

Whew. This was really difficult and time consuming. With most of the judges, I simply decided to vote against those who were endorsed by right wing conservatives. Personally, I don't think the electorate has any business voting for judges. I think they should be appointed and reviewed. They shouldn't have to think about getting re-elected, only about making sound and fair decisions. Leave politics to politicians.

P.S. The spacing throughout this post is kind of wonky... sorry about that. Blogger is funny sometimes.