Okay, having already figured out the candidates, I've finally gone through all the propositions, and I think I've mostly decided. I still need to Google some of the judges to make sure none of them is batshit crazy (assuming I can find anything about them online).
Anywho, this isn't meant as recommendations—just the decisions I've come to and my reasoning behind it. If you disagree, you have until around 18:00 PST to change my mind.
Prop# |
|
|
|
1A |
Transportation Funding Protection |
YES |
I'm leaning YES on this one. Too often politicians get voters to approve
money for fixing things we want fixed only to have that money diverted
and then them hit us up for money again. Only concern: will this prevent
using gas taxes for the exploration of alternative fuels? |
1B |
Hwy Safety, Traffic, Air Quality |
YES |
Our freeways are in dire need up upgrades. |
1C |
Housing / Emergency Shelter |
NO |
Torn on this one, but leaning towards NO, only because housing prices
are out of control for everybody. I think there's a better solution. This
feels like a stop gap for certain classes. I could change my mind by tomorrow, but probably not. |
1D |
Public Education Facilities |
NO |
I'm only leaning towards NO because I feel as if we just approved
money for the same exact thing. |
1E |
Disaster Preparedness |
YES |
Paying for maintenance is cheaper than footing the bill after the fact
(as we saw after what happened to New Orleans). We also know we can't rely
on the federal government for shit. |
83 |
Sex Offenders |
NO |
GPS for monitoring sex offenders? Problem here is the term sex offender is
applied so haphazardly that I can't even consider this. You could probably
be labeled a sex offender for getting caught skinny dipping. |
84 |
Water Quality, Safety, Supply |
NO |
It sounds as if 1E covers a number of these, so I'm going NO. |
85 |
Waiting period-abortions for minors |
NO |
Absofuckingly not. NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO. I'm so sick of the
fundies trying to roll back Roe v. Wade and acting like a zygote is an
effing human being. It's not. NO, NO, NO, NO. NO! |
86 |
$2.60 per pack Cigarette tax |
YES |
86 & 87 have some of the most disingenuous ads opposing them. They have
done more to sway me in favor of these props than anything. Sorry, to my
smoker friends, but I don't care if they use the funds to skin baby seals to make
panties for Celine Dion with the money. If it means being downwind from cigarette
smoke one less time, or one less cigarette butt ending up on the beach, or one
less cigarette butt thrown out a car window causing a brush fire, then it was worth it.
Besides, I don't
like New York besting us for most expensive tobacco products. We need to
reclaim our title! It's on! |
87 |
Alternative Energy/Oil Drilling tax |
YES |
I've gone back and forth on this one. I was initially leaning towards NO,
but then the No on 87 ads just got ridiculous. The one that says we should
vote NO because Prop 87 "contains 12,000 legally binding words." ZOMG NOT
WERDZ!!11!1 The ads are insulting to the voters' intelligence. For that
reason alone, I'd vote YES. I do feel better about my vote after Clinton
decided to support the bill. |
88 |
Education Funding, Parcel tax |
NO |
Housing in this state is ridiculously out of control. I'm not adding
to it. |
89 |
Political campaigns, public funding |
NO |
Although I'm generally in favor of publicly funded elections, if done I think it should be mandatory and all 3rd party funds eliminated. I'm not sure this goes far enough. Also, not sure raising corporate taxes is a good idea considering how high they are now. |
90 |
Govt Acquisition / Private Property |
NO |
If CalTrans needs to buy your property to expand the freeways, then let 'em do it. Needs of the many, yadda yadda yadda. Plus, I hate traffic. |
Supreme Court Justices
I'm voting YES for both of the Supreme Court Justices based upon this neocon website. The bigots on that site clearly can't stand these two judges (just read the site; they're batshit crazy). So vote YES for both Supreme Court Justices! I'm glad they posted that. They made my decision so easy.
Important Links you might need/want
L.A. County Polling Locations
SmartVoter.org - Nonpartisan info put out by the League of Women Voters. Summarizes the propositions; gives links to candidates' sites, etc., etc.