| Aftermath commentary | ||
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At least I won't manipulate you.
Just kidding. Of course I will. Everyone does that, it's the American Way.
Here goes:
President - Leonard Peltier, Peace and Freedom
Because in a just world, George Bush and Leonard Peltier would trade living quarters.
George may, in fact, be the AntiChrist. A murderous, lying, thieving, sociopath. Installed through voter fraud, maybe planned, certainly knew about 9/11 in advance, let it happen, lied to the world to start pre-determined war in Afghanistan and Iraq, thousands of innocents dead for no reason, the US Treasury looted, corruption, fraud, toxic waste, arsenic in the drinking water, decimated forests, torture, injustice, death, destruction, surveillance, censorship, secrecy, surplus turned to deficit, the world's sympathy turned to disgust, a hopeless totalitarian future, endless wars until the global oil tap runs dry. When that happens, we'll be in a pickle without a plan. This list goes on and on. There are really only three possible reasons to vote for George and Dick: ignorance, greed, or insanity. Far too much of that around, evidently.
John Kerry seems nice, perhaps even trainable. The best thing: He's Not George Bush. If he wins, I'll surely sigh a sigh of relief even though I didn't vote for him. That's because his idea to send more troops to Iraq is really, really stupid, and (forget the military record) draft dodgers are the real war heroes. Final celebration, though, will await the conclusion of the George Bush/Dick Cheney/Donald Rumsfield/Condolezza Rice/Colin Powell/etc. war crimes trial at the Hague. Yes, I do live a rich fantasy life.
U.S. out of Iraq. U.S. out of North America. Free Leonard Peltier!
Senator - Marsha Feinland, Peace and Freedom
Elect a teacher. Raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour. This is good, even if I don't get the whole socialist thing.
Whatever. Barbara Boxer will win this one, and historically has been one of the better people around. Even though, she needs to get past this 9/11 fear thing. No doubt the U.S. Capitol is a scary place to work now that the whole world hates us, but pushing for airline pilots to carry guns? Gimme a break! Leadership requires courage, and passion. She used to be that way...
Proposition 1A - Protection of Local Government Revenues - Yes, Whatever
A little history: back in 1978, two now-dead curmudgeons named Jarvis and Gann snowjobbed Californians to go along with Proposition 13. It cut two-thirds from local government's property tax revenue sources. Its major scam was shifting the tax burden so commercial real estate interests (for which Jarvis was a lobbyist) would pay an ever-decreasing share of these taxes compared to residential owners. Prop 13 cuts would have devastated local governments, and firing all the police and firemen was politically unfeasible. The state bailed them out - with strings, however, attached.
When I was in high school (1968-72, ahem), California schools were ranked fifth in the nation. Now they're 41st, with a focus on training ("do you want fries with that?") and test taking, at the expense of true education. We've built twenty new prisons, though. Roads have potholes. Police won't even respond to burglaries, much less to burglar alarms, in their shiny new $100k cars. Proposition 1A is yet another compromised deal ("please don't beat us any more") after the Gropinator scraped as much as he could from local government to pass this year's budget. Of course the prison guards kept their raises...
I voted yes, just because I like filling potholes better than I like filling prisons. But the whole deal stinks.
Proposition 59 - Open Meetings - YES
Kind of a no brainer, this one. If only we could get this to apply to Dick Cheney's energy task force, or Mary Cheney's sex life.
Proposition 60 - Election Rights of Political Parties - YES
Keeps minor party candidates on the ballot, which is a good thing. We need more parties.
Proposition 60A - Surplus Property - No, Whatever
This year the state patched together a budget by selling bonds to make up some of the shortfall. This proposition has some logic, keeping property sales on the balance sheet. It applies the money to paying off debt as soon as possible, generally a good thing. Problem is, the amount this raises is so small, it's just background noise in the system. And it could encourage the state to sell things it should really keep, like open space. If it made them sell San Quentin, I'd be all for it. But it doesn't. And in a $75 billion budget, $30 million of annual surplus property sales is peanuts. Think $3 towards your $7500 car expense, and giving up your front yard in exchange. Not worth it.
Proposition 61 - Children's Hospital Projects - Yes, I guess
Talk about tugging on the heartstrings. Of course childrens' hospitals need funding. The problem is so much of what we raise and spend in current accounts over the course of a fiscal year goes to really, really stupid priorities, not to mention graft and corruption. The idea of going deeper into debt to fund desperately needed services is truly appalling. We need universal health care. We're already paying for it, we're just not getting it. Let's start by firing all the paper pushers. I don't like this proposition, particularly, but I'm voting yes. For the kids.
Proposition 62 - Elections, Primaries - NO
Keeps minor party candidates off the ballot, which is a bad thing. We need more parties
Proposition 63 - Mental Health Services - YES
Another crazy deal. Massive failure to put people first gives rise to measures like this. It's elbow jabbing maneuvers, survival level scheming. As was true with Prop 61, these services are vitally important, and the prison guards already have already stolen all the General Fund dollars. Tax the rich, help the crazy. Every program's on its own. Vote yes.
Proposition 64 - Limits Enforcement of Unfair Business Competiton - NO, don't be duped!
Everyone hates lawyers, at least until they need one. No doubt, extortionist lawsuits exist, and often small businesses are victims. Here's an idea: we need a justice system in America. It shouldn't cost thousands of dollars to fend off shysters. That's a real problem - however, this proposition does nothing about it. Instead it protects the crooked businesses who sponsored it: polluters, predatory lenders, insurance companies denying claims unjustly, those slimeballs. Until fraud enforcement resources are adequate and focused, private lawsuits are an excellent and necessary tool against the crooks. Vote no!
Proposition 65 - Local Government Funds - No, whatever
This one got on the ballot as a bargaining chip, before local governments struck the stinky Prop 1A deal.
Proposition 66 - Limitations on "Three Strikes" Law - YES
One small step chipping away at Police State America. The badly written, vengeful Three Strikes was a cure much worse than the disease, doing little to stop serious crime while locking up thousands of petty criminals and hapless drugsters. The real crime here was how Three Strikes covered for the prison industry's raid on the California Treasury. Petty criminals need cost-effective interventions - counseling, social services, help to evict their inner demons. Drugsters need good public transportation, a soft place to fall down, and substances of choice, as much as they want, available cheaply enough to keep them away from our TV sets. Let the drugsters go through what they need to go through, and perhaps move on to something else, like a fulfilling and enriching life. Or not. What's important is, my TV stays put. This proposition is a mild and modest start at reversing one of the stupidest, most mean-spirited and downright nonfunctional ideas ever to come through the oftentimes lame initiative process. Truly a no-brainer. Yes, yes, yes!
Proposition 67 - Emergency Medical Services - No, whatever
Emergency medical services are a good thing. And despite my misgivings, I held my nose and voted yes on Props 1A, 61 and 63. This one, however, seems less about funding for services and more about a giveaway to hugely profitable health care organizations. So I'm voting no, but damnit, I'll say it again: we need universal health care!
Proposition 68 - Non-Tribal Commercial Gambling - NO
I vaguely remember voting in favor of Indian gaming a few years back. One of America's biggest shames is the Native American holocaust. I thought allowing gambling might be a little help, the least of gestures. The problem, as it turned out, is that it's not really an Indian thing. It's Las Vegas money, and complete disregard for rational urban planning. I'm fine with gambling being an available choice, just not personally stupid enough to choose it. Believing in the chance of winning is profoundly delusional, illustrating a complete lack of basic high school math skills. And as for recreation, I'll take a mountain stream over a smoke-filled playground for attention deficit disorder sufferers any day. Who needs this crap? I'm voting no.
Proposition 69 - DNA Samples - NO
This is certainly the Innocent Saps Full Incarceration Act. Applied not just to felons actually convicted of a crime, but to any of us, really. No safeguards, massive expense, another Really Stupid Idea. Soon there will be technology to watch everyone, everywhere, all the time. Today it's DNA samples, tomorrow microchip implants (no, wait, it's now, the FDA just approved those!). I like my TV, but I like freedom much, much more (for people, not to be confused with freedom to let corporations steal whatever they want whenever they want). I can see some value to keeping DNA records of actual, convicted criminals if that was cost effective. But it's not, and this is another boondoggle - making lab owners rich, draining the treasury once again while doing little to protect the public - especially those members of the public who will be serving years behind bars due to mishandled chemicals. Just say no to Orwell!
Proposition 70 - Tribal Gaming Compacts - No
Enough, already! See discussion of Prop 68 above.
Proposition 71- Stem Cell Research - Yes, whatever
I don't have ethical issues with this research, curing disease is a good thing. The giveaways to private corporations here are bad things. On the face of it, the decision is a tossup. So I'll admit - the fundamentalist Christians influenced me. I'm voting yes because they're voting no. Research away, folks, just don't clone George Bush, okay?
Proposition 72 - Health Care Coverage Requirements - YES
This is a referendum on a law requiring employers to provide health care for their workers. Nothing wrong with that. Sure, efficiently provided national health care would be a better solution. At some point we have to take stock of our priorities, and decide it's simply unacceptable for huge numbers of people in one of the richest countries in the world to go without basic needs. Yet another no-brainer. Vote Yes!
Other people who sometimes agree with me: