California Election Clusterfuck - June 2010

[JONJONAUG]

First let's go down the Props for this election.

Prop 13 - Something to do with property taxes and earthquake protection. Mostly a good thing I guess. Definitely getting passed

Prop 14 - Makes it so that the top two vote gatherers in any primary will be the only ones in the general election regardless of party, essentially killing third parties in a lot of the most important elections. Will definitely pass unless a miracle occurs (it won't, the only parts of California that haven't been counted yet are the stupidest parts).

Prop 15 - The "fuck lobbyists and private campaign fundraisers" bill. Isn't getting passed.

Prop 16 - The biggest piece of bullshit on the ballot (although admittedly "fuck third parties" is also some pretty big bullshit). Bill sponsored by electric companies to maintain their monopoly under the guise of "taxpayer's choice". Currently the "no" votes outvote the "yes" votes but the still unreported districts are mostly ones who have not been repeatedly fucked in the ass by the major electric companies so we'll see.

Prop 17 - Auto insurance pricing. Benefits people who have maintained ownership of cars over a long period of time and completely fucks over people who are either starting to drive or couldn't previously afford to keep auto insurance. Doesn't look like it's going to get passed.

Now for some other stuff

Thankfully, crazy Birther Orly was soundly defeated for the Republican Secretary of State primary

 

[Krisken]

Taitz. Dear god, what did we do to deserve that.

 

[SpecialKO]

Taitz. Dear god, what did we do to deserve that.

I blame our immigration policy.

/rimshot

 

[sixpackshaker]

Carly Fiorina, really? She drove HP into the dirt. They went from a leader in technology to peddlers of crap under her guidance.

 

[Matt²]

Carly Fiorina, really? She drove HP into the dirt. They went from a leader in technology to peddlers of crap under her guidance.

HA! you have that TOTALLY backwards.

They went from a leader in crap to peddlers of technology

however, that argument belongs more in the Tech section, not political.

 

[sixpackshaker]

Carly Fiorina, really? She drove HP into the dirt. They went from a leader in technology to peddlers of crap under her guidance.

HA! you have that TOTALLY backwards.

They went from a leader in crap to peddlers of technology

however, that argument belongs more in the Tech section, not political.[/QUOTE]

She runs for office under the guise that she is a talented Business Person. But all that she touched turned to crap, AT&T/Lucent then HP/Compaq. I guess having California split into 3 non-working states would be a good move.

I used to live in a Compaq town and saw the upheaval she caused by her pet merger. Both brands were much worse off under her guidance.

 

[Troll]

First let's go down the Props for this election.

Prop 13 - Something to do with property taxes and earthquake protection. Mostly a good thing I guess. Definitely getting passed

Currently, any attempt to retrofit a building with better protection against earthquakes automatically triggered a property evaluation, which means it automatically increased property taxes. So, people and companies were essentially penalized for retrofitting buildings to prepare for disasters. Prop 13 removes all this, meaning there is no automatic property eval. It passed overwhelmingly.

Prop 14 - Makes it so that the top two vote gatherers in any primary will be the only ones in the general election regardless of party, essentially killing third parties in a lot of the most important elections. Will definitely pass unless a miracle occurs (it won't, the only parts of California that haven't been counted yet are the stupidest parts).

Pretty much. This essentially robbed entire parties, groups, and voters from being able to have someone represent them. What can I say, sometimes people around here vote for stupid shit.

Prop 15 - The "fuck lobbyists and private campaign fundraisers" bill. Isn't getting passed.

Wrong. Prop 15 would establish public funds for some state elections, but did not limit private funds at all. It would mean taxpayers would partially subsidize elections while rich candidates still spent money like drunken sailors.

Prop 16 - The biggest piece of bullshit on the ballot (although admittedly "fuck third parties" is also some pretty big bullshit). Bill sponsored by electric companies to maintain their monopoly under the guise of "taxpayer's choice". Currently the "no" votes outvote the "yes" votes but the still unreported districts are mostly ones who have not been repeatedly fucked in the ass by the major electric companies so we'll see.

So glad this was shot down. PG&E spent over 40 million in an attempt to make it illegal for companies/local government to compete with them unless approved by a 2/3 majority. I'm happy to see people saw through the bullshit.

Prop 17 - Auto insurance pricing. Benefits people who have maintained ownership of cars over a long period of time and completely fucks over people who are either starting to drive or couldn't previously afford to keep auto insurance. Doesn't look like it's going to get passed.

This actually looks like it will pass last I heard, which is bad. It allows companies to give discounts to anyone who has had coverage continuously, but it clears the way for them to jack prices up across the board. So any benefit will be minimal.

Now for some other stuff

Thankfully, crazy Birther Orly was soundly defeated for the Republican Secretary of State primary

Unfortunately Meg Witman won the GOP primary, proving that you can be an opportunistic twit with no ideas, and all you need to win an election is millions of dollars. She spent more than 3x the previous amount of any candidate so far, and that was just for the primary. I wish these candidates would at least pretend they aren't trying to buy the election rather than win people over.

 

[JONJONAUG]

This actually looks like it will pass last I heard, which is bad. It allows companies to give discounts to anyone who has had coverage continuously, but it clears the way for them to jack prices up across the board. So any benefit will be minimal.

http://vote.sos.ca.gov/maps/prop17.htm - It didn't pass.

California has a great way of showing Primary results. Wish my state (New Jersey) did that. Right now it's pretty much a clusterfuck of going to various counties and trying to tie them together into Congressional districts. At the very least I'm happy that the crazy "a nationwide regressive tax replacing a progressive income tax is a great idea guys" Tea Party guy didn't win in my district (although he ended up with nearly a third of the Republican vote).

 

[Troll]

This actually looks like it will pass last I heard, which is bad. It allows companies to give discounts to anyone who has had coverage continuously, but it clears the way for them to jack prices up across the board. So any benefit will be minimal.

http://vote.sos.ca.gov/maps/prop17.htm - It didn't pass.[/QUOTE]

That's what I get for believing the local news on my way out the door this morning.

 

[JONJONAUG]

It's pretty hilarious that PG&E and other supporters of Prop 16 spent more than 500 times as much as opponents to the bill and still got beat.