Prop 8- The people's will

Today we learned that the California supreme court voted 6-1 to uphold the recent voter passed constitutional amendment to define marriage as between a woman and a man. I felt 2 things when I heard this.

1. Surprise. This court was the same court that despite a previous voter ban on same sex marriage, disregarded and removed it. When pro marriage groups got enough signatures to place prop 8 on the ballot and asked the court to delay removing the ban so that voters could say their voice (again) on the matter. They said no and let 18000 same sex unions proceed before the people had a chance to vote. So this court has been very supportive of same sex marriage. I expected them to slap the people in the face again and strike down prop 8. But they upheld it. That surprised me.

2. Gratitude. I have always felt that the ultimate power should always reside with the people. Even if the people make a poor choice or chose to not make a choice(like only voting in general elections and missing primaries.) Ultimate power should still reside with the people. The people of California had spoken in 2004 and again in 2008 that they wanted marriage between one woman and one man. Even though the 2008 election was won overwhelming by liberal or left leaning candidates. This conservative prop still passed. I think the court saw this and President Obama has also seen this as the will of the people and both have finally fallen on the side of the people on this issue. The fact that it was a close vote does not change the fact that the majority have spoken. People can no longer blame specific organizations or individuals (like Miss California) for this. The people have spoken and that should be accepted. If the election remained close but those for same sex marriage would have won. They would then have accepted the will of the people. This could happen in the future and so if people are for same sex marriage, they should uphold the court's ruling. Or they cannot rely on the people's will when it falls on their side.

I think that the California supreme court is still a friend to same sex unions as they ruled that the previous 18000 same sex marriages are still legal, even though the people voted twice to outlaw it. This issue will return very soon. We may need a federal constitution amendment to address it permanently. But proponents of gay marriage know they would lose that fight and so will keep their fight on the state level.

Editorials I found to be funny

Lots of news about Obama & Pelosi recently. I found some editorials humorist and thought I would share them.

There's Klingons off the starboard bow

Today I got to see the new Star Trek movie on an IMAX screen and have been happy the whole day because of it. Many people have asked me about the movie and this is what I've shared with them.

Back in 1980, if you saw "Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back" in theaters during the first week it was out. You learned that Dark Vader was Luke's father from the movie. But if you saw it after the 1st week it was out. You learned that from someone who already saw the movie and was talking about it. The movie was that good that people were talking about it for a whole week after seeing it.

That is how Star Trek is going to be. The movie is so good that people will be talking about it after they see it. I think that it will be this year's "Iron Man" or "The Dark Knight." It should make around 100 million this weekend and I will be helping it get to that number as I already want to see it again. So unless you want to learn about the movie from other's descriptions, you should see it as soon as you can.

I was also impressed with another thing. This is the 11th movie and there have been 5 TV shows in the Star Trek universe. Which would make it hard to create an original movie in the series since it has done many different shows already. Plus you don't want to conflict with previous shows. This movie was able to tie itself into the past movies and shows. But it was also able to find a way to free itself from those past movies and start something that they can take into any direction they want. That was the most impressive thing to me. They can make as many sequels as they want and not worry about conflicting with previous movies.

So if you have planned on seeing the movie at any time, I recommend doing it soon. Let the movie creators be the one to show you the new story rather than learning about it from someone else. Everyone will be talking about it, trekkies and non-trekkies. So get your tickets now.

Free movies yea!!!!

One of the good and bad things about my job is that I get solicited by salesmen left and right. I normally do not care for the sales phone calls I get frequently. But some companies have taken a new approach to getting the word out on their products. They invite IT guys like me to a movie theater, give a sales presentation about a product and then provide free movie tickets with drinks and snacks. They wait until the summer movie season when good movies are available to view and then start their selling campaign.

I have received may invites to these sales presentations and they work on me. At least at getting me to come to their sales presentation. Last year I saw Iron Man, The Dark Knight & Wall-E for free. This week I already have been invited to see the new X-Men movie and Star Trek. I am looking forward to the Star Trek movie as Jen was able to get a baby sitter and we will enjoy the movie together.

I feel somewhat guilty as I have not purchased anything from these companies who do these promotions and our current economy does not make it look likely for me to do so anytime soon. But I certainly do learn a lot about the new products and new technological options that are available. That should result in future purchases. Until then, I will enjoy some good movies for free.

A Busy Disney Weekend

We had a busy and fun weekend that I just have to talk about it. As you may know, we recent moved from West Valley to our current home in Herriman. We learned that our old stake was putting on the play "Beauty and the Beast." So we decided to take the kids and check it out last Friday night. As we were driving there, I suddenly felt like we should not have done it as it would result in a late night and we had to get up early the next day to help clean the church and help my brother move. But I did not regret going after the play was over.

Thanks to a friend we had second row seats, which gave the kids a close up view of the play. Many of our old ward members were in the cast. Karen was mesmerised and Michael was actually entertained enough to watch. He loved all the props and wonderful costumes. When the lights went out and they began setting up for the next scenes, he would get excited and wonder what color lights they would use next and what props they would use. He loved clapping after every song. Both kids watched the entire first act and most of the second. Michael finally became to squirmy to watch the rest of the play so I took him into a children area that had a video of the play showing and watched the rest from there. The play was fantastic and we all enjoyed it.

We also enjoyed seeing and visiting with members of our old ward. Many of them did not know where we had ended up. So we had to share with them our moving experience and how we finally ended up in our new home in Herriman. We loved seeing everyone again and it made us a little home sick for all our old friends.

The next day was Saturday and we were up early helping to clean the church. Then it was off to Monte's place to help him load up and move to his new home in Riverton, which is only a few miles away from us. Monte and Cat were very prepared and had everything boxed up and most of the boxes already moved to the new place. We just needed to load up the big stuff into the van and move it. It was one of the better moves that I have helped with, despite being rained on most of the day. I've always disliked showing up to help someone move and they did not have anything packed.

So we had a busy weekend, but was happy to enjoy time with family and at the play. As well as helping a brother move closer to us.

Pictures from Starfest

The shirt Brent Spiner liked

Brent Spiner

They had an actual Delorian there!! So cool!

Lucius Malfoy and Luna Lovegood

Awesome actual size Doctor Who Tardis

Freaks, geeks and actors...oh my

After wading through a major snow storm, Jen and I finally reach Denver Colorado for this year's Starfest Science Fiction Convention. We love going to these things and always have fun. We played Texas Holdem poker, bought Jen a new dagger, hung out with Carl & Erica, listened to Brent Spiner who played Data and took lots of pictures of peoples in strange costumes and made a point not to take pictures of people dressed in costumes they should not have been wearing. (Many girls dress up in the sexy costumes but should not.)

I went to a panel that was going to discuss the Star Trek Movies. They guy running the panel showed up but reported that he had to move his car and so would be back. He took 20 minutes to park and I got sick of waiting. So I jumped up and ran an impromptu panel with the people who were there. It was fun and enjoyable to all. When the guy got back, I let him take over, but he was not very exciting. After the panel was done, many people walked up to me and said they enjoyed me more than the other guy and that I should run these things. I did enjoy it and thought it was a good idea. So the next time we go to this, I will try to get on a panel. Carl thought we could redo a panel I did for Mountain Con about space history.

Brent Spiner was very entertaining. One day we boarded the elevator and found Brent on it. He loved my Weird Al shirt and told me how his girl friend is friends with Al's wife and so Brent went to his wedding. Brent has been to many conventions and so knew how to entertain. We laughed the whole time. The guy who played Nelix on Voyager was also there and gave the best line. A guy got up and started telling him about how he loved watching the show with his Mom and that they named their cats after the shows characters. Nelix responded "I think you have me confused with someone who cares." He was kidding but I thought that was a very funny response.

We saw a lot of trailers to upcoming movies and it got me excited for the summer movie season. Star Trek, Angels and Demons, Harry Potter, Night at the Museum and Transformers look very good.

I will add some pictures we took soon.