I want to thank you all for reading — be sure to check out the other Register blogs (especially Total Buzz and Gluttonista) to get your fix of local Liberal, Atheist and Vegetarian news.

Post from: Liberal Atheist Vegetarian

The newest location, the third for the company, is opening according to schedule. Ground was broken in August on the storefront near the Carousal Court and Barnes and Noble store, with a November launch date “in time for the holiday season”. The company had also said in August that they hoped to have seven locations by the end of 2009, but so far no specific announcements have been made.

The Spectrum location joins the original Irvine spot, which opened at the University Center in November 2006, and the second location in El Sugundo that opened last year.

Post from: Liberal Atheist Vegetarian

Proposition 2: Treatment of farm animals — Passed. I’m a bit surprised by this one — honestly, I thought the usual “Oh, it’s just animals” crowd would run away with it, but it looks like the opposite happened. With almost all precincts reporting, it’s up 60% to 40%. I guess threats of mystery Mexican salmonella weren’t enough to scare the masses.

Proposition 8: Define Marriage as between one man and one woman — Passed. Another surprise, though I’ve learned to never underestimate the power of churches with money. Heavily supported by the Mormon Church and California evangelicals, even Hollywood money couldn’t fight back the hate. The silver lining here is that lawsuits have already started, and this thing could stay in the courts a long time, during which gay marriages will likely continue. In a disappointing trend, however, similar measures in Florida and Arizona also passed.

46th House District: Cook (D) vs. Rohrabacher (R) — Winner Rohrabacher. This went down pretty much how I expected, though it’s a shame, as I believe Cook would have made a fine member of Congress. This would have been a Sanchez-Dornon level upset, and put a strong environmental and church-state separatist into Congress. Dana had to fight, though, so 2010 might yield a different result.

North Carolina Senate: Hagan (D) vs. Dole (R) — Winner Hagan. Atheists nationwide started paying attention to North Carolina’s Senate race last week when incumbant Elizabeth Dole strongly implied her opponant, Kay Hagan, was an atheist. The Sunday School-teaching Hagan immediately filed suit for defamation and libel, and the attack backfired for Dole, who dropped in the polls and lost handily. This marks the first time since 1960 that there is neither a Bush or Dole is in a national office.

Post from: Liberal Atheist Vegetarian

The fate of a nation hangs in the balance as millions of voters decide who to send to the White House.

In California, the definition of marriage, the treatment of animals, the political turf of future legislators all will be decided — and everything you need to know to make your decision and follow the results will be offered at OCRegister.com/election.

Right now you’ll find a full voter guide with every county, city and school district race, every candidate, every agency, from the smallest school board to Orange County’s largest municipality.

Read our lead-up coverage on the issues. Peruse our blogs, such as Total Buzz. You can also click on Follow The Money, a database of all the presidential contributions by state and in Orange County.  Don’t know where to vote? You can find your polling place on our easy-to-use searchable database. Crave more debate? Read our special links to opinions Left, Right and Libertarian. And if you feel like engaging your fellow readers, hop onto our user forums.

Beginning at 6:30 election morning, Precinct Watch will kick into gear on our Watchdog and Total Buzz blogs. OCRegister.com/election will monitor and get to the bottom of any problem affecting the polling places, from long lines to equipment failure to lack of paper ballots.

At 9 a.m., Chapman University students will begin blogging on elections in the city of Orange. As the national races take shape, the Register will carry the best of the wire dispatches.

Around 5 p.m., the first results will start coming from the East Coast — and you will find them here at OCRegister.com/election. We’ll also feature an interactive map showing the national results, state by state. Look here for the latest results in presidential, congressional and initiative races. Special attention will be given the battleground states.

At 8 p.m.,  the Register’s election coverage goes into full swing, with local results expected to come in. We will carry city by city results on the local races as well as an interactive map on how Orange County cities voted in the presidential race. Results will be updated as fast as we get them. And don’t forget that each city also has a homepage that will give you up to the minute information on where you live.

The Register’s election crew looks forward to spending election day with you.

You’ll hear this a lot, but this really is an important election for a lot of reasons. Hopefully the news and political junkies (like me) out there can get their fill. To make sure it doesn’t get lost in the parade of links up there, we’ve created a great list of liberal blogs with latest posts, all in one place. Check it out, and happy electioning!

Post from: Liberal Atheist Vegetarian

Enter the voter guide.

Everyone seems to be putting one out. Political action groups, neighborhood associations, political parties, groups pretending to be political parties, and even religious groups. They’re fairly helpful on our propositions (The Courage Campaign’s guide lists their choices as well as other progressive group’s picks, for example), but in terms of local races, it’s hard to know who to vote for.

Until now.

The most useful voter guide I’ve found this year isn’t put out by a liberal group, or a coalition of atheists. The generically named electionforum.org has a “Christian Voter Guide” for every Southern California county, including Orange, with a list of recommendations for the Propositions, judges, Congress, State Senate and Assembly and local offices.

While you probably shouldn’t vote 100% against the guide, they do a very good job of “recommending” school board and local officials in terms of “values voting” - and that’s someone you can vote against if you don’t want a Christian perspective on things, especially your school board. It’d be great if atheists put out a guide, but until they do, this will do fine.

Post from: Liberal Atheist Vegetarian

The already-contentious North Carolina Senate race took a brutal turn Wednesday after incumbent Sen. Elizabeth Dole released a television ad suggesting challenger Kay Hagan is “Godless.”

“A leader of the Godless Americans PAC recently held a secret fundraiser for Kay Hagan,” the 30-second ad says before showing clips from members of the group declaring God and Jesus do not exist.

“Godless Americans and Kay Hagan. She hid from cameras. Took godless money,” the ad’s narrator also says. “What did Kay Hagan promise in return?”

I’m laughing about the whole thing, but I don’t have a stake in that election. For atheists, though, there’s a lot to be mad about. First, that calling someone “godless” is an insult — the term is used repeatedly in the ad. Second, instead of saying “No, but it’d be OK if I was”, the purportedly godless Kay Hagan instead felt it necessary to list her Christian “credentials”. I doubt she’s one of the 20 non-theists either way, but really folks — atheists aren’t that scary.

If you’re the type that enjoys political ads, you can watch the video here.

Post from: Liberal Atheist Vegetarian

To be fair, the store hasn’t had it’s “Grand Opening” yet — that’s scheduled for November 8. And while you can certainly do a full shopping (and spend quite a bit of money), it’s obvious that there’s still a lot to be done.

Most noticeably, the “kitchen”, or restaurant, area is walled off and inaccessible. Some “fresh” items are available, but most won’t be until the store is completed. On my trip I also noticed that some foods are in multiple locations, with no rhyme or reason — there are two distinct cheese sections, with some products in one location, and some in both. The same is true for certain “snack” and pasta items. There were also quite a few bare shelves. Forgivable, sure, but still strange.

In terms of a shopping experience, if you like Whole Foods, you’ll probably like Mother’s. Both are large, well-lit stores with a huge variety of natural, organic, and vegetarian foods. Mother’s has a bit more of a “grocery store” feel to it, at least for now — there are fewer specialty offerings, especially compared to the massive Tustin Legacy Whole Foods. This isn’t entirely a bad thing, though — my comparisons showed 10-15% lower prices on many items at Mother’s. There’s also a lot of non-overlapping products at Mother’s compared to similar stores, so on your way home from Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods, but before you hit Sprouts, you’ll need to make a stop here. Variety is a good thing.

For a more detailed overview, check out the Fast Food Maven’s preview of the store, or the store’s website. Even unfinished, I’ll be heading back soon.

Post from: Liberal Atheist Vegetarian

Lori Lipman Brown, Director of the Secular Coalition for America and the country’s first lobbyist for atheists will be speaking at the Crystal Cove Auditorium at UC Irvine on Tuesday, October 28 at 6 p.m. The event, sponsored and organized by Orange County Atheists and UCI’s Atheists, Agnostics & Rationalists will feature a discussion entitled “A Place at the Table: How the Nation’s First Lobbyist for Nontheists is Being Received on Capitol Hill.” In addition to the presentation, Lori will answer questions and be available afterward to talk with.

Bruce Gleason of Backyard Skeptics wrote to let me know that on Wednesday the 29th at 7:p.m. at Villa Park city hall, atheist activist Eddie Tabash and Atheists United president Stuart Beckman will be speaking at Villa Park’s town hall meeting to debate and discuss Measue AA, the measure that will allow the citizens of Villa park to vote on a “In God We Trust” plaque on the wall of the city council chambers. In case you miss it, the event will be videotaped and on youtube before the election.

Post from: Liberal Atheist Vegetarian

The chat on some local message boards has me wondering: how would a campaign like this go over in “conservative” Orange County? Following the folks in London means there likely wouldn’t be as much attention, but we are home to Saddleback Church, the Crystal Cathedral, the Trinity Broadcasting Network and Calvary Chapel, so some feathers could be ruffled.

Then again, it’s possible everyone could see it, and no one would notice. When Atheist Alliance International put up a billboard off the I-5 in just north of Orange County in September, I would never have known if I didn’t pass it myself. The billboard, saying “Don’t Believe in God? You are not alone” was part of the advertising for the group’s annual convention in Long Beach, but neither the billboard nor the convention received any noticeable media attention.

No local groups I spoke to have hard plans to start any advertising campaigns, though several are discussion possible funding options and what sort of message should be conveyed . Would something passive like “you are not alone” or “there’s probably no god” be the best approach? Or would a harder edge (”God is just make-believe” or “you’re wrong, get over it”) be a better technique? I’m interested in hearing your thoughts.

Post from: Liberal Atheist Vegetarian

Sponsored by the Humane Society of the United States, the initiative requires that pregnant pigs, calves raised for veal and egg-laying hens in California be kept in cages or pens large enough to allow them to turn around, lie down, stand up and extend their limbs.

In the words of Wayne Pacelle, president of the Humane Society, “This is just about basic decency.” He and other Prop. 2 supporters argue that animals with limbs should be allowed to use them. Anything less is animal cruelty, they say, and the Yes campaign has publicized unsettling video of the animals’ cramped conditions to drive home their point.

Opponents, however, deem the measure extreme and unnecessary, and contend that implementing these new regulations will drive up the cost of eggs.

I’ve always hated arguments that that rely on and highlight increased costs for non-essential items, or lost jobs in very specific industries. Just about all regulation costs money, especially in the food industry. Without the laws and standards, however, there’s no way to know what you’re eating, how safe it is, or where it came from. Prop 2 just adds to those existing laws, and allows for better treated animals. Just like there’s no reason to get rid of downer cow laws, sanitation standards, or other animal treatment rules currently in effect, there’s no good reason to vote down Prop 2.

On the issue of lost jobs, has there ever been a major law that’s driven an industry out of California? Or did producers adapt to new regulations and continue on? I’m betting the latter is almost always the case, but I’m interested in any examples.

Post from: Liberal Atheist Vegetarian