Here are my recommendations about how to vote in the election:
President/Vice Pres
Barack Obama
Joe Biden
California State Propositions
1A Yes
2 Yes
3 Yes
4 No
5 Yes
6 No
7 No
8 No
9 No
10 No
11 No
12 Yes
City of San Diego Propositions
A Yes
B No
C No
D Yes
Feel free to post a comment if you want more info about how any of these decisions were reached.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Saturday, October 18, 2008
DO SOMETHING! REGISTER AND VOTE
Hi Folks,
As you may know the upcoming presidential election is now about only 20 daysaway. In order to be able to vote in the election one must register in California no later than October 20, 2008, so time is running out. I urge you to register now and vote in the November 4th election. You may go to the website of the San Diego Registrar of Voters for information on the various ways of registering. Their main office is at the intersection of Ruffin Rd. and Clairemont Mesa Blvd. in the Clairemont Mesa section of San Diego. Here is the link to go to their website:http://www.sdcounty.ca.gov/voters/Eng/Ereg.shtml
This is a very important presidential election, and some pundits have said it may be the most significant election of our lifetimes. The country is facing serious economic problems, we are at war in two nations, energy prices go between too expensive and unbelievably high, and many working folks like us are facing hard times related to mortgage loans, and wages that don't go up fast enough to keep up with rising costs. Health care and health insurance are out of reach for many, and there are several other pressing problems that must be addressed in the next few years--the environment and the need for alternative energy sources, poverty, schools, mass transit and crumbling infrastructure, and of course, protecting retirement income for working Americans. Your vote is one of the most powerful tools you have to make your voice heard in the running of our country. Whether Candidate A or Candidate Bgets elected president has a profound affect on the direction of our country, how it is seen in the world, whether or not we will go to war, who gets appointed to the Supreme Court, and a thousand other things. The most important thing is to make your voice heard by casting the ballot. Also, there are several key propositions on the ballot (in California) for this election that have to do with civil rights, mass transit, abortion, and other issues. People get emotional about these issues, and I understand why. The decisions made by the voters about these laws may very well have an affect on your friends, family, coworkers, or people in your social circle. Make your voice heard on these issues by registering now and voting in the election.Finally, people are running for state offices such as seats in the State Assembly and State Senate. These are the people who decide on the state¹sbudget, and who make the decisions about how much funding various services will get. They actually make decisions that influence whether or not you will be able to continue in your job. Don't you want to cast a vote to decide who will be your state senator or assembly member? Don't you want to pick the person who will represent your interests, your priorities, and the positions on issues that are important to you? Again, I'm not telling you to vote for this candidate or that one. I'm just trying to persuade you to register and vote.
This election is your chance to do something reallyimportant, really significant, really meaningful. Do it. Register andvote.
As you may know the upcoming presidential election is now about only 20 daysaway. In order to be able to vote in the election one must register in California no later than October 20, 2008, so time is running out. I urge you to register now and vote in the November 4th election. You may go to the website of the San Diego Registrar of Voters for information on the various ways of registering. Their main office is at the intersection of Ruffin Rd. and Clairemont Mesa Blvd. in the Clairemont Mesa section of San Diego. Here is the link to go to their website:http://www.sdcounty.ca.gov/voters/Eng/Ereg.shtml
This is a very important presidential election, and some pundits have said it may be the most significant election of our lifetimes. The country is facing serious economic problems, we are at war in two nations, energy prices go between too expensive and unbelievably high, and many working folks like us are facing hard times related to mortgage loans, and wages that don't go up fast enough to keep up with rising costs. Health care and health insurance are out of reach for many, and there are several other pressing problems that must be addressed in the next few years--the environment and the need for alternative energy sources, poverty, schools, mass transit and crumbling infrastructure, and of course, protecting retirement income for working Americans. Your vote is one of the most powerful tools you have to make your voice heard in the running of our country. Whether Candidate A or Candidate Bgets elected president has a profound affect on the direction of our country, how it is seen in the world, whether or not we will go to war, who gets appointed to the Supreme Court, and a thousand other things. The most important thing is to make your voice heard by casting the ballot. Also, there are several key propositions on the ballot (in California) for this election that have to do with civil rights, mass transit, abortion, and other issues. People get emotional about these issues, and I understand why. The decisions made by the voters about these laws may very well have an affect on your friends, family, coworkers, or people in your social circle. Make your voice heard on these issues by registering now and voting in the election.Finally, people are running for state offices such as seats in the State Assembly and State Senate. These are the people who decide on the state¹sbudget, and who make the decisions about how much funding various services will get. They actually make decisions that influence whether or not you will be able to continue in your job. Don't you want to cast a vote to decide who will be your state senator or assembly member? Don't you want to pick the person who will represent your interests, your priorities, and the positions on issues that are important to you? Again, I'm not telling you to vote for this candidate or that one. I'm just trying to persuade you to register and vote.
This election is your chance to do something reallyimportant, really significant, really meaningful. Do it. Register andvote.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
The Problem With the Right's "Small Government" Myth
For many years now the Republican machine, including those in power, and the army of right wing radio hosts, TV verbal assassins (i.e. O'Reilly and his ilk), and Fox News have been spouting the call for smaller government. They have also been trying to tie together the notion that government intervention and "big government" are the same, and that together they mean higher taxes for everyday people.
Well, folks, one doesn't have to look very far to see today's example of such Republicans with campaign bullhorns shouting the same old story. Just listen to any current McCain or Palin stump speech. We're the mavericks, and we're going to put an end to big government, they say. Setting the maverick issue aside here for a moment, let's look at where all of this talk about smaller government has led us.
I am in my 50's and so remember the America of the past. That American country, one of Democratic and Republican presidents and periods of movement to the right and the left was a nation to be cherished. We had our problems, and I could name many, but our food supply was safe, our banking and economic system were solid and an example for the entire world, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) tried to get dangerous products off the market, and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) used real science to guide its decisions. That America is gone, Scarlet, "gone with the wind", and the wind was the call for "smaller government".
The magic word I am about to use is that right wing boogeyman: REGULATION. Let me tell you something, if regulation will keep our food safe, keep our economic and banking system dependable and reliable, and result in good drugs that work being on the market, then I am all for it. We don't need melamine in our pet food or baby formula, we don't need meat with unkillable mad cow prions in it, we don't need chicken with salmonella, and we don't need an economic system based on the bundling of bad-risk loans into A-rated securities that turn out to be worth little more than the paper they are printed on. There is a single, proven solution to these types of problems, and that is regulation, government regulation.
We don't need smaller government. Just listen to the news or read the paper and you can see that our country is rife with problems caused by the absence of government regulation. We need wiser government. Government has a job, and when it fails to do its job, the result is a more dangerous society for all of us.
Well, folks, one doesn't have to look very far to see today's example of such Republicans with campaign bullhorns shouting the same old story. Just listen to any current McCain or Palin stump speech. We're the mavericks, and we're going to put an end to big government, they say. Setting the maverick issue aside here for a moment, let's look at where all of this talk about smaller government has led us.
I am in my 50's and so remember the America of the past. That American country, one of Democratic and Republican presidents and periods of movement to the right and the left was a nation to be cherished. We had our problems, and I could name many, but our food supply was safe, our banking and economic system were solid and an example for the entire world, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) tried to get dangerous products off the market, and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) used real science to guide its decisions. That America is gone, Scarlet, "gone with the wind", and the wind was the call for "smaller government".
The magic word I am about to use is that right wing boogeyman: REGULATION. Let me tell you something, if regulation will keep our food safe, keep our economic and banking system dependable and reliable, and result in good drugs that work being on the market, then I am all for it. We don't need melamine in our pet food or baby formula, we don't need meat with unkillable mad cow prions in it, we don't need chicken with salmonella, and we don't need an economic system based on the bundling of bad-risk loans into A-rated securities that turn out to be worth little more than the paper they are printed on. There is a single, proven solution to these types of problems, and that is regulation, government regulation.
We don't need smaller government. Just listen to the news or read the paper and you can see that our country is rife with problems caused by the absence of government regulation. We need wiser government. Government has a job, and when it fails to do its job, the result is a more dangerous society for all of us.
Saturday, October 4, 2008
MOOSE DRESSER MIRES HERSELF IN THE MUD
The latest salvo from the McCain-Palin camp just demonstrates how desperate they are. Palin accuses Barack Obama of palling around with terrorists. Can the political scene in America get any more absurd? Obama responds that he was 8-years old when the fellow he served on a board with (as an adult) was a radical Weatherman. I'm sure the Dems, as clever as they are, won't be looking into what dirty deeds Sarah Palin or John McCain were into when they were 8.
I am almost embarrassed to say today that there was a time when I actually had some respect for John McCain. Whatever once existed is now gone forever. There are many, many women involved in politics for whom I have great respect, but the selection of Sarah Palin was ill-conceived political theater. I am not the least bit surprised that it is now backfiring on them. As the pundits have said, expectations were so LOW for her in the debate that if she didn't crumble into giggles and tears it would have been judged a "success". But she just kept repeating sections of her stump speech, and as one Republican said, answering the questions she asked herself.
But McCain-Palin has an essential problem. They keep acting like they have something to say, but in fact all they are doing is PRETENDING they do. They promise change, but their platform is more of the same. They claim to be mavericks, while reciting the same of Republican saws against regulation and big government that have been used to persuade the voting public in the past that Republicans have something to offer them.
In fact, Republicans, for many years now, have only had the interests of their super-rich donors and mega-corporations in their sites, and the rest of us could have stagnating income, high taxes, and environmental degradation and as part of the leftovers of what they were doing. Not to mention a ridiculous and immensely expensive war against a country that never threatened us, had no WMD's, and was NOT a supporter of Al Queda. Oh yes, and the current economic crisis that was completely the result of an ABSENCE of regulation.
It's high time that we had a Democratic president get in there and start to clean up this mess. And the more Democrats we send to Congress to support him the better.
I am almost embarrassed to say today that there was a time when I actually had some respect for John McCain. Whatever once existed is now gone forever. There are many, many women involved in politics for whom I have great respect, but the selection of Sarah Palin was ill-conceived political theater. I am not the least bit surprised that it is now backfiring on them. As the pundits have said, expectations were so LOW for her in the debate that if she didn't crumble into giggles and tears it would have been judged a "success". But she just kept repeating sections of her stump speech, and as one Republican said, answering the questions she asked herself.
But McCain-Palin has an essential problem. They keep acting like they have something to say, but in fact all they are doing is PRETENDING they do. They promise change, but their platform is more of the same. They claim to be mavericks, while reciting the same of Republican saws against regulation and big government that have been used to persuade the voting public in the past that Republicans have something to offer them.
In fact, Republicans, for many years now, have only had the interests of their super-rich donors and mega-corporations in their sites, and the rest of us could have stagnating income, high taxes, and environmental degradation and as part of the leftovers of what they were doing. Not to mention a ridiculous and immensely expensive war against a country that never threatened us, had no WMD's, and was NOT a supporter of Al Queda. Oh yes, and the current economic crisis that was completely the result of an ABSENCE of regulation.
It's high time that we had a Democratic president get in there and start to clean up this mess. And the more Democrats we send to Congress to support him the better.
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