katayla: (Default)
President-elect Barack Obama!!!!!!!!!!!!
katayla: (Default)
Snagged from [livejournal.com profile] wings4music, [livejournal.com profile] soleta_nf, and [livejournal.com profile] famouslyso. You all get a credit because that's how important I think this is.

As evidenced by Katie Couric, Sarah Palin is unable to name any Supreme Court Case other than Roe v. Wade.

The Rules: Post info about ONE Supreme Court decision, modern or historical your lj. (Any decision, as long as it’s not Roe v. Wade.)


Dred Scott v. Sandford,[1] 60 U.S. (19 How.) 393 (1857), was a decision by the United States Supreme Court that ruled that people of African descent imported into the United States and held as slaves, or their descendants[2]—whether or not they were slaves—could never be citizens of the United States, and that the United States Congress had no authority to prohibit slavery in federal territories. The Court also ruled that slaves could not sue in court, and that slaves—as chattel or private property—could not be taken away from their owners without due process. The Court in the Dred Scott decision sided with border ruffians in the Bleeding Kansas dispute who were afraid a free Kansas would be a haven for runaway slaves from Missouri. The Supreme Court's decision was written by Chief Justice Roger B. Taney. (Thanks, Wikipedia)


To be fair, my understanding is she wasn't able to name another one she disagreed with, it wasn't that she couldn't name more than one. Look, I know we're not all on the same side on this. (Or all American, for that matter, though certainly whoever is elected will have a huge impact on the world.) I have close friends and family members who vote opposite of me. But I'm incredibly uncomfortable with the idea of Sarah Palin becoming vice president. I'm not even talking about her politics here, just her level of preparation.

And now, something I think we can all agree on . . . doesn't that case just make you shiver and be glad you live in the 21st century when, regardless of whether you're going to vote for him, a black man can run for president?
katayla: (Default)
1. [livejournal.com profile] wings4music wrote an re-mix of my recent HIMYM fic and you should all go read it here because it's awesome.

2. And I finished my character meme answers, which makes me awesome, too. (But feel free to request more!)

3. About crossword puzzles and presidential candidates. (It made me laugh!)

4. School starts on Monday (so late! I know!). Mostly I'm excited, but I'm not entirely sure I'm ready to get back in the mindset of class, homework, having things to do other than watch TV and surf the internet . . .

5. I thought I wasn't excited for The Office, but two hours before it began, I started running around my apartment, cleaning and organizing, because I was too impatient to sit still!

The Office!!!!! )

Grey's Anatomy )

In my unofficial and just made up The Office vs. Grey's Anatomy competition, The Office wins!

Also, my mom didn't send me any of her thoughts on Grey's Anatomy. This makes me sad.

ETA: You all suck because not nearly enough of you are talking about The Office. I HATE YOU! (Okay, no, I love each and everyone of you. But WATCH THE OFFICE!)
katayla: (Default)
My mom has been watching the Democratic convention coverage all week and nagging me for not watching it, which I find odd, since she wasn't an originally an Obama supporter. (Though I know she'll vote for him. For all my family's conservative values, they're staunch Democrats.)

But I did watch Obama tonight. He just . . . he opens his mouth and I want him to be president.
katayla: (Default)
I went to the Democratic Caucus today. It was the first time I'd ever been to one. See, here in wacky Washington (at least this year), we're having a primary and caucuses, but only the caucuses count for the Democrats. So even though I received a ballot with the Democratic candidates on it, it doesn't actually mean anything. (It does, however, mean something for the Republicans, who also had caucuses today.)

I went with my parents. They hadn't originally planned to go and I don't know what it says about my and my sister's respective relationships with our parents that she can convince them to go to Disneyland and I can convince them to go to a caucus. Ours was held in a church that I'd actually tutored at for a year in high school and it was crowded. I knew there were huge turnouts expected, but there were far more people than I thought there would be! There were four precincts meeting there and ours alone had over 100 people.

We got there at about 12:45 and the line was out the door, but moving fairly quickly. There were people handing out Obama stickers and Hillary buttons before you even got in the building, so it felt like the process started right away! Once you got inside, you had to find your precinct, and then sign in, which means putting down your name, address, and candidate preference. There were also optional boxes for ethnicity and LBGT status.

After we signed in, we all piled into the sanctuary. Even though the caucus starts at one, they can't actually begin the voting process until 1:30, so they answered some questions and read the rules, and then we all went into different rooms, based on our precinct. Once we were down to just our precinct, it still took a while to really get started. There were some people who still needed to sign in and they had to read the rules again. Then they counted up all the initial candidate preferences. Obama had around 90, Hillary around 20, and there were 6 or so uncommitted.

After that was probably my favorite part. Everyone got a chance to speak on behalf on their candidate. My parents and I, being shy, just listened, but a fair amount of people spoke. It was awesome to hear so many well-informed people. They didn't exactly say anything earthshattering, but it was great to hear that so many people really do care about this whole process.

Then we got an opportunity to change our votes. About 10 people, including my dad, did so, which put the final tally at 99 for Obama, 22 for Hillary, and one uncommitted, which worked out to 13 Obama delegates and 3 Hillary delegates. Then we broke into candidate groups to choose delegates, which is when we left. My mom was uncomfortable with everyone knowing her choice so publicly, and none of us wanted to be delegates.

I'm glad I went. I like taking advantage of the fact that I can vote and I do have a say in what happens to this country. And, since I don't believe I've ever said, Obama's my candidate. One of the statements that came up a couple of times during the discussion was that there isn't a huge amount of differences between the two candidates, when it came to their platforms, but it also comes down to who can win in the general election. And I believe Obama's got a better shot. Which isn't to say Hillary can't win (and she's got my vote if Obama doesn't get the nomination), but I think more non-Democrats are willing to vote for Obama. But, more than that, one woman said, "Obama makes people happy." And I think that's so true. He's so passionate and he makes me believe that he believes in everything he says. I'd love to have a president like that.

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