I recieved a request to chime in on the other ballot props. So, here we go.

Bond Measure Proposition 1A– Safe, Reliable High-Speed Passenger Train Bond Act.
Weak No.I was convinced by a friend who knows more about these things than I that this ballot measure would do little more than subsidize business travel for a largely white, affluent class. It would serve my interests nicely. However, the structural issues in our statewide public transit systems mean that the people who really need good public transit wouldn’t benefit from this. I voted no, but came close to voting the other way.

Initiative Statute Proposition 2– Standards for Confining Farm Animals. Initiative Statute.

Yes. Factory farm conditions are deplorable. This statute would introduce a bare minimum standard for how the animals we consume would live their lives. The people opposing this are large, factory farms.

Initiative Statute Proposition 3–Children’s Hospital Bond Act. Grant Program. Initiative Statute.
I don’t have a strong opinion on this one, but voted yes based on the research that I did. There are some problems with the proposition, though. The most worrisome is that there appears to be a bit of a grey area as to what constitutes a “children’s hospital”. This could potentially be a giant bit of corporate welfare for a few heath care companies. Still, my first instinct is to want to see public money going for health care, especially children’s health care.

Initiative Constitutional Amendment Proposition 4–Waiting Period and Parental Notification Before Termination of Minor’s Pregnancy. Initiative Constitutional Amendment.
Strong No. This is a favorite tactic of the anti-choice bible thumpers. Parents like to think that they should be involved in these decisions. They don’t think about the cases where a teenager may be the victim of rape, incest or both. They don’t think about the abusive homes where revealing a pregnancy may get you a beating. They don’t respect the idea of “my body, my choice”.

Initiative Statute Proposition 5–Nonviolent Drug Offenses. Sentencing, Parole and Rehabilitation. Initiative Statute.
As I wrote two posts back, this one’s a definite yes.

Initiative Statute Proposition 6–Police and Law Enforcement Funding. Criminal Penalties and Laws. Initiative Statute.
Strong No. This is an awful, awful bill. It pushes us further toward being a police state in all sorts of ways. It builds the harassment of poor people that this and other states already do into the law. It diverts funding from schools and health care into building prisons. It’s just awful.

Initiative Statute Proposition 7–Renewable Energy Generation. Initiative Statute.
Weak No. This was another hard one for me. I like the goals of the bill, but the implementation was wrong. It mandates some things that help large scale generators of “green” power at the expense of small scale producers. It puts some seriously difficult requirements on municipal power plants.

Initiative Constitutional Amendment Proposition 8–Eliminates Right of Same-Sex Couples to Marry.
Strongest possible No. I think most folks know this one by now, especially if you’ve been reading my blog. This writes anti-gay discrimination into the California constitution.

Initiative Constitutional Amendment and Statute Proposition 9–Criminal Justice System. Victims’ Rights. Parole. .
No. More police state stuff, more attacking the poor.

Initiative Statute Proposition 10 Alternative Fuel Vehicles and Renewable Energy. Bonds. Initiative Statute.
Weak No. Again, I like the goals, but not this implementation. I think the government has a strong role to play in incentivizing the move away from traditional oil/gas fueled vehicles, etc. I don’t think that role has to include giant giveaways to the people funding the intitiative. In this case, that would be T. Boone Pickens and other corporate supporters of “The Pickens Plan”.

Initiative Constitutional Amendment and Statute Proposition 11–Redistricting. Initiative Constitutional Amendment and Statute.
Strong Yes. This would take re-districting out of the hands of the legislature and put it into the hands of a citizen’s board. That board would consist of Democrats, Republicans, and independents. One of the worst things in our political system is the process whereby legislators draw their own districts.

Bond Measure Proposition 12–Veterans’ Bond Act of 2008.
Strong Yes. This would provide a fund from which veterans can borrow money to purchase farms, homes, or mobile homes. California has done this exact same thing more than 25 times over the last 85 or so years. The fund is generated by selling bonds. The repayment of the loans pays for the bonds.

I have been a little surprised to find out the extent to which the statewide Democratic politicians in California seem to be completely in the pocket of the prison guards union. It helps to explain why a state with so many progressive ideas floating around seems to be so insanely regressive on crime and criminals. If the supposed liberals in your state aren’t going to provide leadership, no one else will. You can generally expect the Republicans to call for public stoning and witch burning and little else on the topic of crime. Prior to last weekend when I filled out my ballot, I knew damn little about Prop 5. I had only seen negative ads where Dianne Feinstein and Jerry Brown call it a “drug dealer’s bill of rights” and otherwise bash it.

Based on what was in the ballot, I couldn’t see why they were treating it that way. It seemed like good policy to me. Sometimes these ballot initiatives have some fatal flaw that makes an otherwise good bit of public policy into an absolute terrible implementation of it. When I did my research, I couldn’t find a fatal flaw. This bill would greatly increase the number of non-violent drug offenders who get a shot at treatment instead of going to jail. This would mean spending less money on building new prisons and reversing the ugly trend in this state toward putting huge chunks of our population behind bars. This is a good idea. It’s a damn shame that the prison guards’ union can’t see past their own immediate pocketbook interest on this one. This is the equivalent of corporate CEOs who only look at this quarter. Ultimately, the prison guards themselves will be better off if we can reduce the number of people going into prison for non-violent drug crimes. We might someday be able to afford to restore the programs that actually rehabilitate other offenders. That would make the day to day job of prison guards a safer, better job and it would make the communities where they live safer, better communities.

If you’re in California and haven’t voted yet, I urge you to vote yes on 5.

It doesn’t seem to be getting anywhere near the coverage that the horrific response to Katrina got, but it seems like FEMA isn’t doing much better in their response to Ike. I had heard some of this from a couple of people I know in Houston. One is a co-worker and the other is a former co-worker. The devastation, especially on the islands, is a lot worse than what you’d think based on the national coverage.

The general counsel of the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs says “they don’t seem to care much if we lose these communities down there.”. I’ve heard many a smug, holier than thou conservative type say that we shouldn’t provide government aid to people who live in hurricane country (or earthquake country, or fire country or anything other than the snow and tornado country where they seem to live). You’ve got to wonder after a while: is it incompetence driving FEMA’s behavior or is policy? Maybe they really don’t care if we lose those communities.

I was reading a Reuters article today* that asks the question what’s next for conservatives if McCain loses. The nice thing about the article is that you get a slight sense that the conservative activists have already written 2008 off. They’re actively talking amongst themselves about 2010 and 2012. I was heartened to read two things in the article that make me very happy if the conservatives really go down this road. One is that they’re talking about Sarah Palin as the conservative standard bearer for 2012. Given some of the things that have been coming out in the last week about tensions between the McCain and Palin camps, this isn’t a real surprise. But the other is that they’re talking about the culture wars as a path back to victory. Racist, fascist asshole William Donohue who is head of the Catholic League has this to say: “I’ve been on the phone the last couple of days with some of my friends … and we’re getting ready for the biggest culture war battles ever,” Donohue said.

If they think that’s their path to beating Obama in 2012, they’re dead wrong. It’s not the way back to majorities in the house or senate either. I agree with the log cabin Republican guy in the article who says in the long run that’s the path to to being a party that holds onto 160 or so house seats in the south and midwest.

*I lost the original link when my first attempt to post this blew up. I’ve found the same article at the Canada post site.

I feel even more confident about what I said a week and a half ago. The Obama campaign raised $150 million in the month of September alone. Obama had set the record for monthly fundraising the previous month when he raised $66 million. That certainly helps to explain some of the turns in the campaign over the last couple of weeks. The McCain camp really had no choice but to pull out of some states and really focus their efforts to have any chance of being in this. They just don’t have the money to compete.

“Nobody being in charge is the thing you’re going for in your neighborhood anarchist collective. But if you’re a conservative major political party confronting a massive financial crisis, two wars, and a fast approaching presidential election, that’s not supposed to be what you’re going for.”

Muahaha.

I read a blog post today by a Washington reporter that referenced the original publication date of George W. Bush’s A Charge to Keep: My Journey to the White House as being 1999. All I could find online at a couple of booksellers were the paperback copy of the book, which came out in 2001. I’m assuming the 1999 date has to be a typo or other mistake. Because it’s just too presumptuous, even for a guy whose father was head of the CIA and president of the U.S. and whose brother was governor of Florida at the time.

Keith Olbermann did a five minute segment on the economy in tonight’s show where he specifically pinned our current woes on the GOP’s 30 year assault on the regulations put in place by FDR as part of the New Deal. He was explicit on that, mentioning both FDR and the New Deal by name a couple of times each and quite simply explaining the link. Hi, Connor.

The right wing has an effort in place to vote “yes” that Sarah Palin is qualified to be vice president in poll. You can vote no. The “yes” vote is winning pretty handily right now. Thanks, Autumn, for the link.

What I saw of the McCain video was brilliantly done. It really wasn’t until the very end where you had the darkened hall and Fred Thompson’s blathering about “when you’ve lived in a box” where it went a little too over the top. Up until that point, it was tone perfect, brilliant political theater/propaganda.

Am I too cynically rooted in pop culture? Fred Thompson’s bit at the end made me start humming this:

Woke up this morning
Closed in on all sides
Nothing doing
I feel resistance
As I open my eyes
Someone’s fooling
I’ve found a way to break
Through this cellophane line
Cause I know what’s going on
In my own mind

Am I living in a box
Am I living in a cardboard box
Am I living in a box
Am I living in a cardboard box
Am I living in a box

Life goes in circles
Around and around circulation
I sometimes wonder
What’s moving underground
I’m escaping
I’ve found a way …
I’ve found a way …
Am I living in a cardboard box
Am I living in a box (living)
Am I living in a cardboard box
Am I living in a box (living)
Am I living in a cardboard box
Am I living in a box (living)
Am I living in a cardboard box
Am I living am I living am I living
Am I living am I living am I living
(In a box)

Am I living am I living
Am I living in cardboard box
Am I living in a box
Am I living am I living
Am I living in a cardboard box
Am I living in a box

I’ve seen several instances in recent weeks where people I didn’t know who were commenting in my friends blogs and livejournals mocked the job of community organizer. I immediately suspected that these people were right wing morons. That has certainly been proven tonight. Nearly every Republican speaker mocked the idea of community organizing and the job of community organizer. So now I’m quite sure that the people who have done that in recent weeks were just working from the GOP talking points.