John McCain in front of Walter Reed Middle School.  Oops.  Republicans aren’t so good with the details.

So glad the lying and fear-mongering convention is over.  The first 5 minutes of Sarah Palin’s speech was pretty good, and had me worried.  But she deviated into being a dickhead for the last 25 minutes.  Rudy Giuliani is a cocksucker.  That little “performance” he put on making fun of liberals was ridiculous, but it was the only time he sounded mildly intelligent.  Maybe he should act like a liberal more often.

Please don’t let these people in again.  Please.

I have a lot of catching up to do. I know I keep promising posts, but I haven’t had the urge to sit inside, much less in front of a computer. The last few weeks have been some of the best of my entire life, and definitely the best of recent memory.

After I left China, I flew to London and had a couple of days there. I have been to London a million times so I didn’t have to try to run around sightseeing. I kind of just walked. I went to the Tate. I went to the flat in Battersea I used to stay in, and the pub (The Settle Inn) down the street. I took someone to Buckingham Palace, Westminster, Big Ben etc.. And we had Fish & Chips every single day. And then we went to Stonehenge. It was exciting to be at both The Great Wall and Stonehenge in the same week, but Stonehenge was kinda weird. It’s much, much smaller than you imagine. It’d right off of a road, actually in a fork. I also thought you could walk inside of it, but apparently you have to book in advance for that. I am happy I went, but not quite as exhilarating as The Great Wall. However, we spent a few hours in the nearest town of Salisbury, which is a great little town. It boasts England’s tallest spire and the church was nice. Smashing little town.

After London, we flew to Barcelona and I was taken to my hostel that I booked on the internet. It was probably 7′x5′ with a very uncomfortable bunk bed and no fucking windows or AC. We slept there one miserable night and vowed to find a better place for our next four nights. The problem was that Barcelona’s largest festival (St. Joan’s) happened that weekend. After hearing “no vacancy” 15 times we were beginning to lose faith. But all that changed when a gentlemen asked me if I wanted “an indoor room or an outdoor room”. I didn’t understand the question and just asked for whatever was nicer. He gave me the key to the outdoor room and said if I didn’t like it I could switch. We made our way up to the top floor and saw signs for “La Torreta” (The Terrace). Opening the door, we realized that the entire rooftop was ours and we had a two story building to ourselves. I, honestly, could have had 800 people over and had room on MY rooftop. The room was incredible; giant bed, two showers, a lounge upstairs with 12′ ceilings and windows that opened in all directions offering views of the whole of Barcelona. Needless to say, we entertained every night and had a great time. The final night was the festival and it was fun, but I was tired from my week and went home around 1AM.

And now I am in San Sebastian (Donostia) which is one of my favorite places in the world (if not my favorite). I am here with SN, DM and their girls and was kinda concerned about what they would think, but they are Cloud Nine-ing just as much as I am. It’s an incredibly wonderful place, smashing-er than Salisbury. We walked the Playa Concha today and went to Chilida’s Wind Combs. It is kinda rainy so I didn’t take any photos today, but I will. Our favorite thing has been the Pintxos; the Basque version of Tapas, only better. There are Pintxos bars everywhere you look in Old Town (where I am staying) and today we went from bar to bar sampling all we could. DM decided we should make a “Dirty Map” (think the published work of Diller+Scofidio or that gray room of objects project that I did a year or so ago) of the Pintxos bars in Old Town and we are gonna decide on a format and do that on Wednesday. Tomorrow, we are renting a car and driving to Gernika and Bilbao.

Aside from the touristing, pintxo-ing, and drinking, I am also here for academic reasons, which works very well being that I am the 5th Wheel. My interest in pursuing architecture began in the Basque Country in 2001. I also then began what became a 4 or 5 year study of Basque History, with a focus on the destruction of Gernika, and current Basque independence “problems”. I have decided to direct my thesis toward these topics, but so far I haven’t developed it much beyond that. That is my goal while I am here, and I am here at the right time. The last I knew the road to independence was looking good for the Basques and ETA had called for a ceasefire. The ceasefire has ended after 2 years, and ETA has declared an attack “imminent”. You would think there would be tension, but the Basques are an amazing, happy people. The only evidence I have seen is some pro and anti ETA graffiti. For every “Gora ETA” sprayed, there is one X’ed out. I am trying to concentrate this into an idea that could be made architectural and I have an idea or two, but I need to put more thought into them before I out them out here. The only thing I am sure of is that I support Basque Independence 100%, but I can’t justify killing even one innocent person. But I am thinking about taking a very controversial stance for my thesis. More later…

So. I haven’t stopped smiling in 3 weeks. The moment I got to Beijing I was rejuvenated and I haven’t stopped enjoying life since then. I have that insane motivation that one gets from traveling and my friends and I have developed ideas for at least 2 LLC’s when we graduate next year. I have been in 4 countries in the last month, did an architectural project in China, had an insane affair, been drunk inter-continentally with an amazing group of people, swam naked in the Mediterranean, walked the Great Wall, said “whatevs” to Stonehenge, ____________ on a rooftop overlooking Barcelona, and today felt the morning Basque wind on my face on a sculpted peninsula after having three Mimosa’s.

Life is incredibly fucking good. (Pictures soon.)

The results are in and they are good. Aside from the fact that a proposition to tax the oil companies and use said tax money to fund clean energy initiatives didn’t pass in California, I am pleased with the results. I didn’t vote for Arnold, but I can’t say that I am totally mad at the way he governs. Hmm, it feels weird to even think the phrase, “I don’t think Arnold Schwarzenegger is a bad governor of California.”

But on to the real good news, the Republicans lost control of the House and Senate AND Rumsfeld is gone. Finally I feel like I am a part of my country, and that everyone else hasn’t lost their fucking minds. The Republicans have fucked up badly this year (and so on) and should be sent a message. Hopefully the Democrats don’t screw anything up, because the scrutiny will be on them…blah, blah, I will still vote Green in the next presidential election anyhow.

But for now, I suppose, I am happy. Except that I have had a headache all bloody day and I have a really hard exam in the morning and I had like two sips of coffee so now I will be up all god damn night. 5000.

PROP 1A- NO

PROP 1B- NO

PROP 1C-YES

PROP 1D-YES

PROP 1E- YES

PROP J- YES

PROP 83- NO

PROP 84- YES

PROP 85- NO

PROP 86- NO

PROP 87-YES

PROP 88-NO

PROP 89- YES

PROP 90-NO

 

 

California Supreme Court Justice
Joyce L. Kennard: Yes
Carol A. Corrigan: No

 

CALIFORNIA COURT OF APPEAL JUSTICE

Robert Mallano. Yes.

Frances Rothschild. Yes.

Roger W. Boren. NO

Victoria M. Chavez. No.

Patti S. Kitching. No.

Richard D. Aldrich. No.

Norman L. Epstein. NO.

Thomas Willhite. No.

Nora M. Manella. Yes.

Steven Suzukawa. No.

Richard M. Mosk. Yes.

Sandy R. Kriegler. No.

Arthur Gilbert. Yes.

Dennis Perluss. Yes.

Fred Woods.  NO

Laurie D. Zelon. Yes.

Candace Cooper. YeS

Madeleine Flier. Yes

 

Los Angeles Superior Court (LA County)
* Office 8: Deborah L. Sanchez
* Office 18: Daviann L. Mitchell
* Office 102: UNDECIDED
* Office 104: Bobbi Tillmon
* Office 114: Janis Levart Barquist

 

Governor: Phil Angelides

Lieutenant Governor: DONNA J. WARREN

Secretary of State: FORREST HILL

Controller: John Chiang

Treasurer: Bill Lockyer

Attorney General: Jerry Brown

Insurance Commissioner: JAY EARL BURDEN

Member of State Board of Equalization, 4th district: Judy Chu

US Senator: Todd Chretien

US REP 33RD DIST.  DIANE WATSON

STATE SENTAOR 26TH DIST, MARK RIDLEY-THOMAS

STATE ASSEMBLY 46TH DIST. KEVIN DE LEON

Read the quote below to see how stupid Katherine Harris is. (Emphasis mine.)

U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris told a religious journal that separation of church and state is “a lie” and God and the nation’s founding fathers did not intend the country be “a nation of secular laws.”

TheRepublican candidate for U.S. Senate also said that if Christians are not elected, politicians will “legislate sin,” including abortion and gay marriage.

First of all, scroll down a few posts to read quotes from the founding fathers about how they really felt about the separation of church and state. Furthermore, some of the most brilliant and reasonable people I know are atheists and jews (I’m trying to think if I know any Muslims personally and I don’t think I do. Weird.) I dont think that religion has anything to do with your ability to write laws. I’m totally comfortable voting for a christian, but it is nowhere near the top of my list when I am sizing up a candidate.

Unfortunately for Katherine Harris, I am not one of those reasonable atheists I mentioned above, therefore I have to say, “Keep your fucking mouth shut you ugly dumb cunt.”

Peace.

The President of Iran has a blog. I started to read it and realized there was no mention of Lindsay Lohan in any of the posts, so, obviously I got bored and stopped reading. There is a mention of the wedding bells looming for Nick (peace be upon him) and Vanessa though, so he does get points for that.

I wonder if he is into link trading? I could get some serious traffic and Google Ad Revenue with a link from a world leader who is so hot right now.