The Silly Party wins

Via Exurban League:

 

I laugh while I cry.

 

Technorati tags: Monty Python, elections, Silly Party

Congratulations, President-elect Obama. Thank you, Senator McCain and Governor Palin

Mr. Obama, I didn’t vote for you, I oppose all your stated policies, I will likely oppose them in the future, but I wish you well in your term of office. I hope the next four years are peaceful ones for you and prosperous for all of us.

Senator McCain, I admire you greatly, and, if character were the sole measure of a man’s worthiness for office, there’s no doubt you would win in a landslide. I’m sorry to see your dreams dashed tonight; please believe that the nation will forever regard you as a hero. Your concession speech this evening did honor to you, the Republican Party, and the United States of America.

Governor Palin, you are the future. In you I see the true soul of Main Street America, that mixture of Ronald Reagan and Harry Truman, that voice that speaks for all of us. Tonight wasn’t your night, but I’ve no doubt that future election nights will be. If you choose to run in 2012, you have my vote. Until then, lead the way.

Meanwhile, ladies and gentlemen, the battle for the 2010 midterm elections begins now.

 

LINKS: Sister Toldjah, Mary Katherine Ham.

 

Technorati tags: Barack Obama, Sarah Palin, John McCain

Looking ugly

I for one welcome our new Socialist Overlords.

 

Technorati tags: Elections

So, like… I voted and stuff…

I did my democratic duty this morning, casting my vote for the Grumpy Old Guy and Sarah Barracuda. Living in California, I doubt it will make much difference (except….), but it still lets "them" know that there’s at least one Californian who hasn’t fallen on his knees to worship the Obamessiah.

The congressional race was, as usual, boring. Jane Harman vs. some Republican sacrificial victim. I voted for him, anyway, even though he has no chance, because he’s a physicist.

Hey. Given his chances, that reason is as good as any other.

Outside of the presidential contest, the state ballot initiatives were the most important issues in this election. Now, mind you, I hate our initiative process. It’s regularly exploited by narrow special interests to shove before the public self-serving and/or badly designed measures, which they then try to ram down our throats with misleading (or flat-out false) commercials. And those are matched by the lying commercials put out by the opponents.

The initiative process also exists to give our legislature (aka, the Sacramento oligarchy) a way to dodge responsibility for issues too controversial for them to want to deal with. Faced with a proposed law that might be unpopular with the voters back home? No problem! Just shove it onto the ballot and let harried, "not enough time in the day" voters do the job you were elected to do.

Yes, I’m cynical.

Anyway, I voted "NO" on propositions 1A, 3, 6, and 12. All these required the issuance of bonds (aka "more debt") to finance them. With California already in the hole for $17,000,000,000, I couldn’t justify still more. Even for worthy causes.

I also voted "NO" on: Measure 2 (dictated standards for the confinement of farm animals); Measure 5 (Created rehabilitation programs for drug users, but provided no penalties should they fail to attend the program); and Measures 7 and 10 (Renewable energy generation and Alternative fuel vehicles. Both looked poorly designed, and seven was just a welfare program for T. Boone Pickens.); School measures J and Q (more bond issuance); and City Measures A and B (more debt).

I wasn’t completely negative, voting "YES" on Measure 9 (notification of victims when a violent offender is to be paroled); Measure 11 (taking legislative redistricting out of the hands of the legislature — down with the oligarchy!!); County Measure R, the one bond measure I voted for, because it’s aimed to alleviate traffic congestion here in Los Angeles. A half-cent sales tax increase seems worth it.

Finally, there was State Measure 8, the marriage to amend the state constitution to define marriage as heterosexual only. This was a very difficult one for me for several reasons:

• I do not believe the ability to marry is an inalienable, natural right, unlike free speech or freedom of religion, hence I did not "buy" those arguments from the "NO" forces.
• I do believe that marriage, as far as the state is concerned, is a form of contract law, and I have no problem with two legal adults making a contract within certain broad boundaries. (You can’t contract yourself into slavery, for example.) I also strongly believe that, if two adults love each other and want to make a marriage contract, that isn’t any of my business. They should be able to.
• However, I’m also a proponent of judicial restraint and strict constructionism. I think the California Supreme Court grossly overstepped the bounds of judicial modesty when it overturned Proposition 22 (PDF), passed by voters in 2000, which limited marriage to heterosexual unions, only. (And which I voted against.) As this represents a matter of social policy and not constitutional rights, I believe this was a matter for the legislature or the people to decide, not our supreme court. As a consequence, I was strongly tempted to vote "YES" as a rebuke to the arrogant court majority.

So, since I couldn’t decide which principle was more important, judicial restraint or the freedom to contract, I did my best imitation of Barack Obama and voted "PRESENT." (That is, I skipped to the next measure.) Call me chicken, but I truly couldn’t make up my mind.

The voting experience itself was interesting: I got there at 7:15AM, soon after opening, and it still took me over an hour to vote. I hate to see what the lines will be like, tonight. One amusing moment involved what I took to be  a new citizen from Europe voting for the first time: her friend was taking pictures of her posing by the flag and with her "I voted" sticker. Good for her.

Now all that’s left to do is watch the returns.

 

Technorati tags: Elections, ballot measures, California, propositions

But it’s the Republicans who are fascists

The Black Panthers are engaging in voter intimidation in Philadelphia. Click for a video report.

Jackasses.

UPDATE: Video of the thugs themselves at Hot Air.

Election Day

A final message before you head off to vote, from the King of Rohan:

 

The greatest cavalry charge in movies, ever.

Fear no exit polls.

 

Technorati tags: elections, Lord of the Rings, Battle of Pelennor Field, Theoden, Ride of the Rohirrim

And I thought Obama had no sense of humor

Maybe not, but his Las Vegas office does.

(hat tip: Sister Toldjah)

 

Technorati tags: Barack Obama, Las Vegas, funny pictures