Modesto, California

Just a quick note

Debra Bowen is restoring honest elections to California. Thank you.

Prescient and correct

I like Barack Obama, and I wish he would agree with his colleagues Hillary Clinton and John Edwards that the federal raids on California medical marijuana providers, dispensaries and patients must end.

Hat-tip Corpus Juris @ Watching Those We Chose for the video.

Update: Obama To End Federal Medical Marijuana Raids; Democratic Candidates Now Unanimous

Live in Berkeley, California, USA

Across the river and I have the touch.

• Lay your hands on me and shock the monkey.
• Here comes the flood.

It’s not who votes, it’s who counts the votes that counts

WaPo:

A California judge is likely to order a Berkeley city initiative back on the ballot because of local officials’ mishandling of electronic voting machine data, a public-interest lawyer arguing the case said Friday.

In a preliminary ruling Thursday, Judge Winifred Smith of the Alameda County Superior Court indicated she would nullify the defeat of a medical marijuana proposal in Berkeley in 2004 and order the measure put back on the ballot in a later election. A hearing on Friday morning in advance of a final ruling brought out nothing that indicated Smith would deviate from her preliminary decision, said attorney Gregory Luke, who is representing Americans for Safe Access. The medical-marijuana advocacy group is suing the county, assisted by the technology rights group Electronic Frontier Foundation.

The case points to the dangers of electronic voting systems, which make it harder to ensure fair elections, Luke said. Electronic voting machines have been widely adopted in the U.S. since the disputed presidential election of 2000. Laws in California and some other states now require paper records of all votes, but the California law wasn’t in place for the Berkeley election.

“Shall the City of Santa Barbara adopt an ordinance mandating that the Santa Barbara Police give marijuana laws the lowest law enforcement priority possible?”

A California judge upholding this citizen-supported and voter approved initiative wrote:

“Santa Barbara is free to decline to enforce federal criminal statutes. It is up to the federal government to enforce its laws. Indeed, the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits the federal government from impressing ‘into its service — and at no cost to itself — the police officers of the 50 States.'”

Hat-tip Pete Guither @ Drug WarRant.