assingear
Well, this is the first time in a long while that I've woken up on a post-election Wednesday, and not wanted to punch a gaping hole in the drywall as soon as I turned on my computer monitor.
It looks like the majority of Californians agreed with me that this election was a colossal waste of time, money, and effort (but mostly money).
Thankfully, they still got their collective asses up off the couch and down to the polling place, which surprised me more than a little. Could people finally be wising up the fact that if you don't vote, you get stuck with a crappy B-movie actor for a governor? (not to mention an even less-talented President) I still haven't seen any totals on what this year's voter turnout was like, but it warmed my heart a little to see some of the people who I knew blew off the previous election sporting fashionable "I voted" stickers when they came in to work yesterday morning.
Bit of a shame about Proposition 79 and 80, though.
I know 79 looked confusingly similar to Prop 78 (and that was a deliberate tactic on the part of the pharmaceutical companies), but I would have thought the "cheaper medicine for low income families without insurance" bill would have been a shoe-in, especially since I don't know anybody (insured or otherwise) who hasn't felt royally fucked over every time they have to fill a prescription. Sadly, it lost by over 60%.
As for Prop 80... We already know deregulating California's energy industry was a massive failure (for everyone who wasn't an executive at Enron) but hey... No big deal. Next time we have rolling blackouts in the middle of a summer heatwave, while energy companies rake in billions in illegal profits, just think of it as a golden opportunity to step outside and look up at the stars.
Still, I'd always rather see a couple of good (or at least benign) propositions voted down, than a bunch of downright crappy ones passed.
Hmm.... I think my 3-day head cold is finally lifting as well. Now if I can only find a decent apartment for Al and myself, the trifecta of "much improved"ness will be complete.
It looks like the majority of Californians agreed with me that this election was a colossal waste of time, money, and effort (but mostly money).
Thankfully, they still got their collective asses up off the couch and down to the polling place, which surprised me more than a little. Could people finally be wising up the fact that if you don't vote, you get stuck with a crappy B-movie actor for a governor? (not to mention an even less-talented President) I still haven't seen any totals on what this year's voter turnout was like, but it warmed my heart a little to see some of the people who I knew blew off the previous election sporting fashionable "I voted" stickers when they came in to work yesterday morning.
Bit of a shame about Proposition 79 and 80, though.
I know 79 looked confusingly similar to Prop 78 (and that was a deliberate tactic on the part of the pharmaceutical companies), but I would have thought the "cheaper medicine for low income families without insurance" bill would have been a shoe-in, especially since I don't know anybody (insured or otherwise) who hasn't felt royally fucked over every time they have to fill a prescription. Sadly, it lost by over 60%.
As for Prop 80... We already know deregulating California's energy industry was a massive failure (for everyone who wasn't an executive at Enron) but hey... No big deal. Next time we have rolling blackouts in the middle of a summer heatwave, while energy companies rake in billions in illegal profits, just think of it as a golden opportunity to step outside and look up at the stars.
Still, I'd always rather see a couple of good (or at least benign) propositions voted down, than a bunch of downright crappy ones passed.
Hmm.... I think my 3-day head cold is finally lifting as well. Now if I can only find a decent apartment for Al and myself, the trifecta of "much improved"ness will be complete.