[Cross-posted from
The Left Coaster]
Nope, I won't read the rules.
In the sick knifing of public servants that Arnie describes as a "special election" there was at least one initiative with some merit: the plan to strip the legislature of its ability to set election districts and give it to a three judge panel. Not trusting the judiciary I'd planned to vote No, but elimination of cowardly gerrymandering by sickeningly cautious Democrats was a tantalizing prospect.
Problem is Arnie's AA-ball team submitted one version of the initiative to the Attorney General and another to voters in the qualifying process. Of course the judge tossed this outrage without a qualm. Are these guys bums from Arnie's movie sets who couldn't get a job and squatted in Sacramento with him?
Only the week before Arnie was humiliated and personally faced the cameras to say he was no longer an editor of a semi-obsessive muscle magazine, but left it to his office to say he wasn't giving any of the money back. Another very, very bad day for the bumbling Republican leadership of California is upon us.
In the cauldron of hell they find themselves--hearings on Arnie's magazine deal are coming before the election--there is one option still open to escape: cancel the election. This year is still a total disaster but some solace can be found in the shamefully short attention span of the average California citizen.
It will be a real shame if the neanderthals on Arnie's team come to their senses and try to keep their hulking corrupt sack of steroid Governor out of the news so Californians might forget who he really is. The nurses, teachers, cops, firefighters and other civil servants have not and never will, so ready for a fight even the Democrats are feisty.
I'm dying for a fight too. The one great thing about this special election is that my wife, weary unto death hearing about how Al Gore won and looking at this furtive political addiction in the screens, often with cool concern, suddenly finds herself in Arnie's sights. An supremely dedicated teacher who only pays attention to politics the week before elections and votes suddenly is mad as hell and viewing my political obsessions with new eyes.
I get to skip church and spend every Sunday morning at Safeway tabling for voter registration. I'm buying all my gear tomorrow (table, awning, pens, clipboards) and getting the forms at the county registrar today. Ah, to be in the shade, have Steely Dan tunes in the background quietly heralding the humiliation of Republicans as new voters sign up to smash this sleazy knifing of our public servants and education community.
When it's slow I'll read a knotty book from Billmon's site and watch the shoppers, think about which Steely Dan disc to play next, then smile as new voters, in their small and quiet way, take their State back. It's going to be one of the best things I do all year, just a tiny thing a huge fight led by cops, firefighters, nurses, teachers and little guys like me. At least one can count on Arnie's attack dogs to be consistently stupid, they won't come to their senses and call the election off. Good.