I fully agree that CA has some interesting (read "really screwed up") views on how it passes laws about various topics. I personally like the smoking ban, but not because I was worried about my health. I just always found it annoying to go anywhere in public and come back smelling horribly 'till I took a shower. I think it has to do with all the chemicals the semiconductor fabs leaked into the water in the bay area back in the early days of silicon valley.....

It's amazing how much more active (or possibly only on the outside and it's all a farce) young people are out here. I went to see Jason Mraz on Sunday at Berkeley and I'd say 20+% of the people there had a shirt/button/sticker/something with a political agenda on. I never remember people being that involved back when I grew up, but I was in a relatively small town.