I am glad to see that the full 9th circuit agreed with me that the California recall election had to go forward. (this is a pdf file, so don't click unless you have acrobat reader or equivalent). Here's some quotes: "A federal court can not lightly interfere with or enjoin a state election." and "Interference with impending elections is extroadinary, and interference after voting has begun is unprecedented."

And then this quote says it all:

If the recall election scheduled for October 7, 2003, is enjoined, it is certain that the state of California and its citizens will suffer material hardship by virtue of the enormous resources already invested in reliance on the election’s proceeding on the announced date. Time and money have been spent to prepare voter information pamphlets and sample ballots, mail absentee ballots, and hire and train poll workers. Public officials have been forced to divert their attention from their official duties in order to campaign. Candidates have crafted their message to the voters in light of the originally-announced schedule and calibrated their message to the political and social environment of the time. They have raised funds under current campaign contribution laws and expended them in reliance on the election’s taking place on October 7. Potential voters have given their attention to the candidates’ messages and prepared themselves to vote. Hundreds of thousands of absentee voters have already cast their votes in similar reliance upon the election going forward on the timetable announced by the state. These investments of time,money, and the exercise of citizenship rights cannot be returned. If the election is postponed, citizens who have already cast a vote will effectively be told that the vote does not count and that they must vote again. In short, the status quo that existed at the time the election was set cannot be restored because this election has already begun.

And in other news, Bush made a fool of himself in front of the U.N. General assembly, informing the assembly that the U.S. was justified in invading because of the threat of weapons of mass destruction (which he has not found) and because Hussein posed a terrorist threat (After publicly acknowledging that there is no link between Hussein and Al Qaeda or any other known terrorist group), then asking the same U.N. Assembly (whose wishes he ignored in the first place) to help pay for costs of his unilateral action while insisting that the U.S. continue to dictate without compromise the path for reconstruction.

Swift move George. I really thought that this administration would be very strong in the foreign policy arena with people like Colin Powell and Dick Cheney running the show. And initially there were some good steps taken, like the decision to unilaterally reduce our nuclear warheads by more than one half, and the immediate response in the wake of the World Trade Center bombing. But I have to wonder what is going through the minds of the people in the administration when Bush makes a speech like the one he made yesterday as an appeal to the U.N. for money. The statements about weapons of mass destruction and Saddam as a threat were blatantly untrue. And then he tries to make what amounts to a demand for money with no strings attached. What on earth is the Bush administration thinking?