Pardon all the animal talk. Your blogger doesn't keep pets and has a fear of most animals as a result of growing up on the streets of Hong Kong (wild dogs) and Southern California (coyotes). But direct democracy is all about animals these days. Three political consultants -- who live in three separate time zones -- told me last week that they expect a measure on confinement of farm animals to be the biggest initiative campaign in California this fall. The agriculture industry -- particularly the chicken folks -- see this initiative as a mortal threat.

I came across the following video in my attempts to learn more about the aerial wolf hunting initiative scheduled for the August ballot in Alaska. It's by Defenders of Wildlife, so take it with a grain of salt. But it gave me at least a mental picture of what Alaskans will be debating this summer.