With comments like: “I haven’t looked at the language and I’m not saying I’m against it or I’m for it or anything.”" I cannot help but wonder just how it is that we continue to elect people into our government who rule by their own feelings and DO NOT allow the VOICE OF THE PEOPLE they represent to ride against personal judgements.

and it's a shame because I really have looked up to Arnie as a body builder and liked him as an actor, the honeymoon always seems to end when they get into politics.

I have a problem with the fact that anyone could consider Ahnold an actor. It's a disgrace to the profession. Why do people like wooden stiffs so much? John Wayne, Regan, Thomson, Schwarzenegger all talentless bums who can't act and have built their careers as one dimensional, wooden, emotionless tough guys. Interesting that they are all heroes to right wingers. It's also telling that, when confronted with real life heroes like John Kerry, Max Cleland or Valerie Plame, the right hates and envies them to such extremes that they must smear them and tear them down. Draw your own conclusions but I have to think that it indicates something deeper about the profound sense of inadequacy and insecurity which right wingers feel deep down inside that is overcome by exaggerated machismo.

The power of the blogosphere is amazing. I don’t know if this was done via email but emails are so cool. I never hesitate to fire off a dozen emails to somebody. To make sure they get them a dozen seems to be the magic number.
In fact you can email me at captainkangaroo112 at yahoo dot com

I live in California and I like the initiative. It would be nice to have California mean something in a presidential election again. Right now, it is like the black vote... it is taken for granted by the democrats, and forgotten by the republicans.

dirty tricks and republicans...nawwwww......say it ain't so.....nawwwwwww...No one can run Calif....all you can do is hang on...But....the dirty tricks have got to stop...

rollotomasi @ 13:

robomace @ 10:

I live in California and I like the initiative. It would be nice to have California mean something in a presidential election again. Right now, it is like the black vote... it is taken for granted by the democrats, and forgotten by the republicans.

Your vote would mean much less. Instead of California having 55 electoral delegates, they would effectively have the margin between the winning and losing districts plus two, which would give California a greatly diminished say in choosing the next president versus the other 49 winner-take-all states. All states should choose the president in the same manner, or you are just stacking the deck for current electoral advantage.

I live in a state that has about one-fifth of California's electoral votes and generally (but not always) elects Republicans. Why are they not trying to change the electoral process in my state as well?

This initiative is not about making your vote count, it's about making your vote count for Republicans.

You are exactly right, the sad thing is that Republicans are depending on the kind of shallow knee-jerk thinking displayed by many voters like rollotomasi to push this through. They may well be successful.

mudshark, I'm guessing snowball ID'd the wrong "ro..." guy at the end of his comment; it sounded like he agreed that the "making your vote count" argument was a sham.

I would really like to help with this cause, but until someone can show me how the initiative process is not bogus for such an action (see www.bluehampshire.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=1621), I cannot.

As I regularly do, I would like to point out that Schwartztika was NOT legally elected in 2003, and there was NO legal recall of the elected governor. NO tabulation computer in the state of California had legal software.

• With SecState Bowen's review, it is clear that the election in 2006 was ALSO NOT LEGAL.

So he's not a legal governor, just as Bush/Cheney are not a legal executive.

The governator ran on a pledge to take NO special interest money ("I don't need it! I'm rich!!)

Special Interest Contributions... through 8/30/07 (Not including his personal money given to his committees):

$121,423,303

On top of that, we now know that Arnold came to America on a tourist visa (which bars working), illegally worked, making tens of thousands of dollars hawking protein powder, Weider magazines, and bodybuilding contests, and paid no taxes on his income.

He is, in other words, AN ILLEGAL ALIEN WORKER. Funny how he immediately wanted to pull up the ladder, having come in through the bathroom window with a bodybuilder's mask on.

• He failed to get a motorcycle licence for thirty years of riding.

• He bragged on the Tonight Show to ripping off Northridge quake victims.

• He met with felon Michael Milken and (felon) Ken Lay during the ENRON/Reliant ripoffs of 2001. How much money did he make from that act of larceny?

There's more to the list, but the main point here is while Arnie is some kind of media idol, he is a criminal and NOT in legal possession of his office, nor is he qualified, nor is he being investigated for his special interest ties and PAY FOR PLAY cronyism.

• He and his (former) SecState greenlighted the 2004/2006 vote-fraud in California, the primary reason he was put into the governor's office.

As a special note, his thug bodyguards reportedly pointed their machine guns at protesters in 2004 out of the window of his limosine, along with other acts of bullying. He is a thug, a cheat, a conspirator, and a vile Rapepublican in cahoots with criminals nationwide.

Looks to me like it is changing a winner-takes-all electoral votes method; for that to be fair, is should be applied to all 50 states. Naturally, the Republicans would only like it applied to states that Democrats are likely to take. Apparently, the Repugs feel that their constituencies, the bigots, the fundamentalists, and those people who derive their income on the labor of others won't carry California.

We shouldn't be handing the gun lobby to the Repugs - in order to change that, we need to educate this constituency that the Unitary Executive theory that the President can nullify the Bill of Rights is the greatest threat to the 2nd amendment, (along with the other amendments).

rollotomasi @ 16:

mudshark, I'm guessing snowball ID'd the wrong "ro..." guy at the end of his comment; it sounded like he agreed that the "making your vote count" argument was a sham.

Thanks for setting the record straight. I'm enjoying a few gin and tonics as I don't have to work tomorrow. Not that I don't need to.

the most important media component of any GOP dirty trick is talk radio. for progressives to ignore it because it gives them headaches to listen to it is exactly what makes it so effective- their uncontested repetition to millions of californians is uncontested, even ignored. defeating this initiative would be a lot easier if that uncontested repetition was contested- by waving signs at the local talk radio stations who will be reading the GOP talking points every day, and by boycotting their often unwitting sponsors.

This Governor has lied to the California Workers. The SB899 which he bragged so much about is a reform to enrich the industry at the expense of the workers that the workers comp system is suppose to insure when an injury occurs and to protect the employer from expensive liabilities. Many California Workers are NOT aware the ramification of his reform until it is too late and they find themselves injured at work. Furthermore unless an injured worker settles on a compromise & release the injured will most likely be offered a significant discount to this type of settlement.

Another type of settlement is stipulation & award. This is for injured workers who will have further anticipated future medical care. In this type of settlement, the injured will get a weekly benefit until the full settlement is paid in full. However, what they (insurance) don't tell the injured and the family, is that if the injured person dies before the full settlement is paid, the balance is not left to the injured person's surviving spouse or family. That is a loss to the injured and the balance is a gain for the insurance company. The family of the dead injured worker is not considered. For example, if an injured person is entitled to collect his or her benefit for 10 years, but die in one month after his or her case is settled, that is all that injured person will get the rest stays with the insurance company, tough luck to the widow or widower or the children. This can be devastating to a family especially when they depend on this small income from the injured family member.

Another issue is that in California, if you are a professional who typically earn over 70,000 dollars or more a year before injury, the injured worker based on the existing laws will not get the 66% of the gross income of 70,000 or more if the maximum weekly benefit is below the 66% or pre-injury wage.

The workers comp system was suppose to be an insurance for the injured specially if the injury is so catastrophic. The system is so flawed for the injured workers that most worker is caught by surprise once they find themselves is this situation. Particularly for the middle class and white collar workers, it is very devastating. For the poor and less educated, they are typically easilly bullied and mistreated.

The Governor has done a great job for the iNSURANCE COMPANY and lowering the premium for the employer (but not yet low enough). For the workers, the firefighters, the police workers, labor workers, california workers who unfortunately becomes injured, they have been betrayed. He promised not to tamper with the already below standard benefits for the injured, but that promise was broken after he won reelection.

California injured workers will NOT forget this.

Furthermore he continues to bilk the system through fund raisings eventhough election ended long time ago. HE is a REPUBLICAN...........he serves NOT the Californians but rather the CORPORATE California and lobbyist. It is all about MONEY, POWER and GREED.

He will do just enough to quiet down the busy Californians from protesting but not enough to protect them. But its been observed that he is quick to make deals with Corporate America for the right price.

This is one ACTION plot that the governator will not win a "peoples choice award". This is an EASY Act to follow for he can no longer fool Californians.

David Hawes @ 25:

Ummmm...excuse Me,but You elected This guy to office and NOW You complain? Sounds vaugely familiar.

1st I didn't vote for this guy and 2nd....it's not like we had much of a choice...remember the scam they pulled to get Davis out.

mudshark @ 23:

...but the coast is still blue except in So Cal.....we still have the emerald triangle

Most of S. California DOES vote blue, but they have been stealing our elections.

We actually won, for instance, the seat in San Diego (Busby/Bilbray, where Bilbray is in the seat as a result of being rushed to DC to be sworn in illegally, blocking the election challenge with undeniable FRAUD. The RoV of San Diego has since resigned.)

SecState Bowen has blown the vote-fraud system to bits. She is our hero, and if only AG Jerry Brown had ANYTHING he wanted to do for us in this regard, that would be a wonderful day. He seems to be sleeping the sleep of the sinecure.

California residents should write the new AG and demand he get to work earning his pay.

When Californians were all gaga at the thought of putting Ahhnolt in office, I knew this was the kind of thing that they would be trying. what's that old saying about letting a camel get its nose in the tent?

Republicans are never to be trusted.

The Rethugs will never learn to read, stop cheating or give up the lowlife criminality in their slug party. That's just the way they live, don't care and are brainwashed to be.

DaveInRhodeIsland @ 35:

I really think too many flakes and freaks live there; your state's voting record bears this out. Reagan, Brown, Arnold...who's next?

Brown never had an acting career, and has ZERO association with Los Angeles.

Reagan's success resulted from his popular radio talk show, and the backlash to the Sixties. As if either of those phenomena were California's unique fault.

The current criminal in the gov' office was NOT legally elected either time -- certainly not in 2003. Not one tabulation computer in the state had legal software. Diebold installed the software a few days before the election, and pulled the software a few days after -- both of which actions are felonies. It has taken us three years to replace the crooked SecState the governator selected, after the one who oversaw 2003 was driven out with secret threats and a petty scandal.

I love your bigotry. I just wish you would stop wearing your underwear on the outside of your pants.

robomace @ 39:

rollotomasi @ 13:

robomace @ 10:

I live in California and I like the initiative. It would be nice to have California mean something in a presidential election again. Right now, it is like the black vote... it is taken for granted by the democrats, and forgotten by the republicans.

Your vote would mean much less.

My vote means nothing now. California is so rubber stamped for the Dems that neither side even thinks about the state unless they are fund raising. I know that Dems don't like this, and I understand that from a purely partisan political standpoint. I also know that it would be much more fair if the rest of the country split things up on the basis of congressional district, and not just one state. However, I just want a president that gives a damn about California. Right now, Ohio is far more important than California. So, unless we can import just enough Republicans, and have them live in Baker, to make the election in CA close enough for the candidates to campaign here, I am for the initiative.

A little simple math for you. Lets say the Democrats win 30 of 53 districts in Calfifornia. That means Democrats would receive 32 electoral votes (the 30 districts won plus two for winning the overall vote) and the Republicans 23. That means California is worth the difference, or nine electoral votes, which is now the same differential as winner-take-all Alabama. California now has the electoral clout of Alabama and would receive about the same amount of attention from the candidates, Democrat or Republican. So a Democrat wins California and a Republican wins Alabama and they wind up with an equal amount of electoral votes. That's ridiculous!

The "your vote doesn't count" is a bogus argument and also smacks of whining. They count your vote just like they do mine - and if your candidate loses, like mine do much more often than yours, that's life in a democracy. Furthermore, Republicans and Democrats have each carried California's three times in the six most recent presidential elections, so rubber stamp my ass, California has been more of a presidential tossup than Ohio. But by all means move there if you think you'll get more electoral bang for the buck.

Your statement basically says, "Anything's OK as long as it helps my guy," which only bolsters my original statement that Republicans place welfare of their party above that of their country or state. This initiative, just like Frist's threat to do away with the senatorial filibuster, shows that Republicans don't have much use for democracy and fairness when it gets in the way of the their pursuit of power.