Ok, i'm going to do a bullet pointed list thing about the election. Check out
Smart Voter for the results... I linked to Alameda county, because that's where I, a proud Oaklandite live.
- ) All the local measures in Alameda County passed, this is good. Some were kind of a soft "ok." instead of a "hell yeah", but nothing really odious on there this time. Measure A seemed a little fishy, but that's about it, after I did the reserach it was fine. The big one in my mind was measure Q, if that didn't pass the libraries would be in bad, bad shape. I'm glad that it did. Jerry Brown is still the "strong mayor" and can probably give himself a pay raise, that's about the only difference. Oh yeah and the bay bridge is going to cost $3 instead of $2, but hey, public transit needs the money... they are talking about cutting the only bus line that goes to civilization from my house AGAIN. And even though I will soon be vehicularly enabled, that's seriously weak. Also it might make late night BART a moot point if the late night busses get up and running in the right way.
- ) State Propositions, 55 squeaked by with a yes, which is a big thing because that's probably the most important one on there. 56 got defeated, which means that yet again the Republican minority can hold the assembly and Senate hostage... what else is new? 57 and 58 passed with flying colors, which is no surprise as this was Arnold's baby from the get go, he had the money behind it and the opposition was weak. Wherever the money is, so goes the votes, at least in a situation like those props, where nobody really knows too much about it, or how to fix it.
For instance, if the opposition framed the argument that the reason we even need to talk about borrowing billions is because of the
Energy bailout. The same blackmail that brought the term "rolling blackout" into the popular lexicon. I think people might have a different take, in fact they might be thirsting for blood. They sure wouldn't be thinking about borrowing 9 billion dollars extra, they'd want the money back. I guess that's why it was never brought up, conflict of interest.
but nope, too ineffectual, too lame.
58 is actually kinda ok, it restricts future borrowing, and tightens up budget balancing, of course with 56 defeated that basically has given way more control to the Republicans to hold the state hostage. So things are twice as bad now... ha ha... at least until the 55% rule finally makes it through. Oh well, that one at least has the possibility to be good.
The suckiest thing is that this gives Arnold a big win, bigger then even his recall governor win, because this was his baby, and now he's got the clout, him and his Twins style Danny Devito friend controller Steve "I know who's the winning team, even if they are a Republican" Westley. When they were getting reactions from state lawmakers about what this means, the translation was basically: "We have to do what Arnold tells us, we're going to roll over."
Which I don't mind telling you made me hopping mad... that isn't what it means it all, it means money buys elections (duh!), and that people wanted a quick fix to a problem they didn't understand (also duh!!), I swear, these prigs are going to make me come down there and do it myself.
*) the next results that I give a damn about is City Council, Melanie Shelby was defeated which means that the incumbent Henry "Uh, what does he do again" Chang is still in power. Weak. Shelby was a good work in progress, somebody who was a little better at organizing could win that seat with ease. I do have to say that Hector Reno Reyna got a pretty pathetic showing, which makes me happy. Hector is the kind of fruitcake that would get taken seriously in Texas, big cowboy hat, etc. etc. My favorite quote of his is: "When I go to Washington, I don't have to pass no laws to accomplish what I want to do." Tell 'em Hector, you gonna go rope that guv'ment and give it yer brand!!!
I wish I could find a picture, but the guy doesn't even have a website
I swear the real show is in all the small elections nobody gives a damn about.
Yeah, i'm permenent absentee until there are voter verifiable paper records. In a way it's nice because I was able to sit down and research everything on the computer first.
* ) lots of stuff nobody cares about. Barbara Lee picked up the nomination (of course), and will certainly win the general, which is a good thing, seeing as how she's one of the only Dems out there with a spine and ideals. Don Perata didn't have anybody opposing him in the State Senate, which is too bad as a good progressive challenger would be good for all involved.
*) Bill Jones won against "Real Latinos are Republicans" Rosario Marin in the Republican primary. A sensible choice, and although I don't like Jones or anything that he represents, he withdrew support for Bush to support McCain in 2000, which is good. We'll see what comes of that, really the republican primary is just usually to see who will lose against Boxer anyway. And I like that just fine.
*) Which brings us to the CEO of the United States, the presidential nominee. Now first off I just want to rant a little ok? Thanks. I find it obnoxious beyond belief that they are calling election results and nominees (like Edwards) are conceding, BEFORE THE POLLS CLOSE. So in case any of you east coasters don't realize this, we comprise about 10% of the voting bloc, and the idea was we were actually going to have a voice this time. Obviously that didn't happen this time, but you can at least pretend that the 3rd largest state in size, a state with over 30 million people, the most populated state in the country, a state with the 5th largest economy in the WORLD, Largest state economy in the U.S. 13% of GDP, that state, you can at least pretend like we matter in the primaries and wait to call elections until our damn polls close!
If we ceded from the Union we'd be fine, but the rest of you would be screwed ok? And don't forget it.
Anyway, John Kerry has now been decided for us to be our new CEO, and i'm going to fight to get him into power. There's a lot of stuff I don't like about Kerry and i've said a lot of it in the past, but I love that he's got a great enviornmental record, that he's a vet (and therefore knows that War isn't something you should be flippant baout), and I think if he can stay away from Gray Davis-style pollswaying, he'll be a great president. It'd be nice if just once, the canidate I liked could be allowed a real shot, but hey, it's a work in progress, things move at the pace of a glacier, and we still did great against all odds. Heck Howard even won his homestate, which is more then Sharpton, Kucinich, Mosely-Braun, Graham, Gephardt or Lieberman can say!
I voted absentee for Dean and I don't regret it.
John Kerry, I don't think you are very likeable and I don't like the way you play power games and sabotage against people I do like, but you're not running to be my drinking buddy, so it's on you brother. And hey, maybe that bag of tricks (like pushpolling) you've got will work against Bush too, we'll see, I hope so.
So Kerry, it's got to be Kerry, very well... let's put the pressure on him to know that we really want him to "Bring it on", and walk the walk, and bust our ass to make this happen.
Interestingly enough I guess Bush gave Kerry a call after he had won. I wonder what that conversation between two skull and bonesmen was like:
"Greetings brother." "Greetings." "It shall be a good race." "indeed."
-C.