To Hell with the Weekly...Here's My Voter Recommendations!

This article is very direct:

Obama: l'Espoir d'un Retour à l'Amérique Tocquevillienne
http://www.letemps.ch/template/opinions.asp?page=6&article=242668
Translation:
Obama: The Hope of a Return to Tocquevillian America
http://www.truthout.org/102908E
After the choice of Sarah Palin, John McCain has made it clear...this is a cultural war. Time to vote in the most important election in a generation. If you are local to LA, here are my suggestions:

For President, Senate, Congress, and state partisan seats, the straight Democratic ticket. This is not a year to waste time with the Greens or the Peace and Freedom Party, who offer nothing, or with the lazy posturing of a voter boycott. We need a powerful mandate to destroy the Republicans utterly, not a squeaker.

Judges of the Superior Court - I vote for whoever was NOT a prosecutor. We need a little fairness in our judges, not nooses.

Propositions - State

1A - YES - My pet project for twenty years, a bullet train from San Diego to San Francisco means thousands of jobs, no more humiliating pat-downs at the airport, and finally some hope for the depressed cities of the Central Valley. California united - at last. LA to SF in 2.5 hours; LA to SD in 1.5; SF to Gilroy in less than an hour, LA to Bakersfield in an hour, etc., etc., etc. The Europeans/Japanese figured this out in the 1940s.

2 - YES - My sister's cause this year: a life with dignity for the animals we eat and use for milk and eggs. Very little to ask. I noticed that the "anti" argument in the voter guide was signed by three UC professors...now THAT was a disappointment.

3 - YES - This is a very small bond for a good cause...improving specifically the children's hospitals in Cali.

4 - NO - Do we have to vote on this same anti-abortion initiative EVERY fucking year? When do we get an initiative that says, "move to the Dakotas, you antediluvian Bible-thumping assholes"?

5 - YES - This measure takes money AWAY from the prison "industry" and turns it over to the drug treatment programs we asked for 8 years ago when we passed Prop. 36. This would begin the badly-needed transformation of the prison system in California.

6 - NO - The opposite of the previous initiative, this would spend millions on new prisons and new cops to target gang members. No more money to target kids...let's help them.

7 - NO - I was not surprised to see the electric utilities pull out all the stops on this one, but the opposition of the California Solar Industries Association gave me pause. I tend to believe in the decentralization of electrical power, and this would put renewable in the hands of the big utilities, so for that reason alone, I'm agin' it.

8 - NO - A huge NO. THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT ISSUE WE HAVE EVER VOTED UPON. We are about to establish that California is a progressive state again, and that we are all about civil rights. This is not some haven for kook Christians and Mormons, who want to make a mockery of our state Constitution, one of the best in the world. Go back to your five underage wives in Utah, you hypocritical bastards.

9 - NO - Prisoners get early release because the jails are overcrowded. So instead of finding some way to divert prisoners (like Prop. 5 above), let's make a LAW that bans early release. Then we'll have prisons like they do in Brasil. Get real.

10 - NO - This bond gives us a rebate for buying natural gas cars. Oh yeah, T. Boone Pickens will get even richer because of it. Who cares? Anything that gets a single evil SUV off the road and away from my bicycle should get my vote, but I've seen the error of my ways on this one. We need to wait for something better, and a law that includes a hybrid solution rather than a petrochemical one.

11 - YES - For far too many years, politicians in California have been able to redraw their own districts, meaning once somebody gets voted in, they practically have to commit murder to get thrown out. Look at Richard Pombo, for example...the guy is a fucking MONSTER, and the Democratic Party had to spend millions to get rid of him. This has got to end. This law would create a citizen's commission to draw the boundaries, and puts some restrictions on them, so they can't wind all over the place. Sure, some minorities and Democrats would lose seats, which is why the unions are coming out against it. But what we have now is wrong, and means that instead of geographic regions being represented in the state legislature and the Congress, we get party blocs and minority rule. NOT DEMOCRACY!

12 - YES - A bond to help veterans in Cali get home and farm loans, and we're about to get a shitload of new vets on our streets.

Los Angeles County

R - YES - Renews the 0.5% sales tax devoted to freeway/subway/light rail construction...this is a no-brainer. We can't count on the Feds to return our tax money any more.

J - YES - The LA Community College District educates thousands for very, very cheap. They deserve better facilities. This bond would also restore the Southwest Museum, a Highland Park treasure.

Q - Flip a coin - It's another 7 billion for the LAUSD. They ask for money every year, tear down historic buildings, use eminent domain like a drunk with a tab...if you don't have a kid in an LA public school, you might vote NO like me.

Los Angeles City

A - NO - The City of LA wants to raise the property taxes to establish gang prevention programs. In the past these programs have pretty much funnelled money directly to the gangs themselves. The most corrupt part of city government, directly funded by property owners? That's a recipe for disaster. Take it from a disgruntled former employee of the City...NO WAY will this work.

B - YES - This is a simple "fix-it" measure to increase the amount of low income housing alloted to each council district in LA, so the City can apply for Fed and State funding. Yeah, it's crowded here, but I'd rather have this than a bunch of assholes in million-dollar lofts.

Read more at:

California State Voter Guide

Los Angeles County Measure Information

City of Los Angeles Voter Guide

VOTE EARLY AND VOTE OFTEN!