Okay, okay, I know that I miss the voting age minimum by eight months. And I know that means I can’t vote. But I still took one of those California General Election booklets (which is where I will cite all my evidence) and read it with my Dad. I believe that is what every voter should do, instead of just voting no on every proposition and missing out on something good. Those of you who can vote, take advantage of it. I’m pretty bummed that I can’t.
Proposition 1A: The Safe, Reliable High-Speed Passenger Train Bond
I heard about this one on my country radio station. Vote yes, because building a high speed train creates jobs and eliminates traffic! Sounds cool, right? I love jobs and I hate traffic. But it’s going to cost taxpayers 20 billion dollars, which I don’t like, because I don’t want to pay for something I won’t use. My Dad also advised me to look at who is supporting what. Tom McClintock, a state senator, is against it; I’ve met him and I generally agree with him on the issues.
So … NO on Proposition 1A.
Proposition 2: Standards For Confining Farm Animals
This one requires that calves raised for veal, egg-laying hens and pigs have a space to lie down, stand up, fully extend their limbs, and turn around freely. Not doing this would result in a penalty (fee or jail). Okay, protecting animals’ rights, I like that. But arguments against the prop call it “unnecessary, risky, and extreme.” We’d have to get eggs from Mexico and there would be an increase in risk of diseases like bird flu. Plus, the Association of California Veterinarians is against the prop and wouldn’t they want to stop the animal cruelty?
So, I’m, again, a NO on Prop 2.
Proposition 3: Children’s Hospital Act. Grant Program
This one authorizes $980,000,000 in bonds to help construct, expand, remodel, renovate children’s hospitals. All of these props sound so darn appealing at first glance! My Dad told me bonds are bad, because I am just going to have to pay them back with interest in the future.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - El Bicho
How exactly are you able to see into the future and know with complete certainty the train will be something you won't use?
2 - Dr Dreadful
Because Americans, and especially Californians, just love their cars, El B.
I hope this one passes, not least because from a selfish point of view I could do without the six-hour drive from Fresno to San Diego (especially now we've lost our direct flight).
But unfortunately, when Californians think trains they think of the abysmal Amtrak services in the state - and not so much of shiny, fast, clean European-style high-speed bullet trains.
And no-one wants to pay for it.
Sick as it makes me to admit it, 1A is going down in flames.
3 - El Bicho
I think anything that seeks money this year is likely to be on the losing end
4 - Clavos
Sick as it makes me to admit it, 1A is going down in flames.
We've shot down a similar TGV-type proposal, linking MIA, TPA, and MCO, a couple of times here in FL, Doc.
My German mother-in-law, who died never having learned to drive, despite having lived in the US for nearly fifty years, never could understand the American car love affair.
It is something quintessentially American; incomprehensible to furriners (except the Japanese, of course, who understand it well enough to cash in on it - big time).
I travel a lot between those points showing boats, but would never use it if it were built, I need the wheels on the other end.
Besides, the price tag was astronomical, even BEFORE the inevitable cost overruns.
5 - Clavos
I think anything that seeks money this year is likely to be on the losing end
And rightly so. Whomever takes office in January I hope will do so machete in hand, to begin slashing the fed into a much smaller entity.
I doubt, however, that either of these guys will.
And even if the chosen one does, the bureaucrats will resist tooth and nail, and they're better at protecting their jobs than they are at doing them.
6 - Dr Dreadful
I travel a lot between those points showing boats, but would never use it if it were built, I need the wheels on the other end.
That's sad, but you touch on a good point, Clav. It's not simply a question of getting the tracks built and the trains running on them, but of integrating the system with existing transportation networks - which in the US are often laughable.
Nevertheless, what's wrong with doing what we used to do before ExpressJet went bust - and renting a vehicle at the other end?
7 - El Bicho
"Whomever takes office in January"
The Governator isn't up for re-election, lucky for him
8 - Clavos
You're right, Doc, one CAN rent.
And sometimes, I even do so, but in those instances, the client and I have flown to TPA, SRQ or wherever.
A guy contemplating spending a large sum of money will usually expect more plush transportation than a train. And he's usually not swayed by the argument of fuel savings when the object of his desires will likely burn upwards of 150 GPH.
9 - Lisa Solod Warren
Ok. So no money for trains, renewable energy vehicles or children's hospitals, but money for gang prevention. Not sure I get it.
And as for gay marriage. Would you even KNOW if gay people got married? Or had the same civil rights you did? Would it affect your life? Why not just leave the law as it is, leave them alone, and let them be? They don't have to "approve" of you and vice versa.
As for bond issues, it is okay to listen to your dad, but at some point you will have to make up your own mind which bonds are ones you support and which ones are those you don't.
Nonetheless, certainly ever citizen should be informed about every proposition they vote on. So we agree on reading before you go into the voting booth, for sure.
10 - Lisa Solod Warren
Clav, truth is the train doesn't need you and your yacht buyers to ride it. Those aren't the people who ride it in France.... There would be plenty of other riders, believe me. America NEEDS trains. And we need to start somewhere besides the few we have on the east coast.
11 - Cindy D
Maddy,
Tom McClintock supports Proposition 12: Veterans’ Bond Act of 2009
He coauthored it and explains how it doesn't cost tax payers anything. It is a self-liquidating bond. Ditto opinion from an article in Mother Jones. I recommend you look at this one again.
There is dissenting opinion on Prop 2 from some scientific organizations and some other vets.
Housing animals without enough space and ignoring other methods like free-ranging, is unethical in my opinion. I would rather not eat as many eggs or veal.
You didn't ask for my advice, but you did discuss your methodology. So, I think it's within bounds for me to give my opinion.
The best advice I ever got when researching a thing is to look at both sides. So, while looking at what people you respect is useful. You're not done until you know what your opposition says.
It will also make you an excellent debater. You will base more of your opinions on facts. You may also win more debates as very few people actually do this.
Good article.
12 - Clavos
I wasn't the only one to vote against it, Lisa.
It's come up twice (possibly thrice) in this state, and each time, the people (millions of them), who must provide the taxes to pay for it, have shot it down. So since millions of people have said no repeatedly, I doubt that it would be well ridden if it were built, and I'm not the only doubter, obviously.
I can't speak for other areas, but we don't need that train, it's a boondoggle by those who would operate it, and the prospective riders have roundly declared, by referendum, that they don't want it or need it.
Democracy at work...
BTW, FL is on the east coast; the flooding from AGW hasn't floated us away yet.*
*Another good reason not to build a train that costs billions down here: we're going to be flooded over in a few years.
13 - Cindy D
Clav,
About that "western" Broward land...
14 - Cindy D
RE my # 11
Make that I would rather not eat ANY eggs or veal, if doing so would be unethical (as my opinion is that housing arrangement they have at those animal factories in CA. goes against minimum human decency).
15 - Spokker
At least you got 7 and 10 right.
16 - Stu
Sure she got 7 and 10 right Spokker, but for the completely wrong reasons.
17 - RON PAUL
Hey Maddy, the Pittsburgh Steelers endorsed Obama, that Liberal. You should stop liking the Steelers.
18 - RON PAUL
"Okay, okay, I know that I miss the voting age minimum by eight months"
PRAISE BE TO ALLAH THAT THIS IS SO
19 - Donald Gibson
Prop 5: ...opponents say it will put 45,000 criminals on the street.
Those "opponents" equate substance users/abusers -- who haven't committed any violent offense -- as criminals. What these individuals are, however, are addicts.
Substance abuse, in and of itself, is a health issue, not a criminal one. Labeling someone a criminal for substance possession comes out of some arbitrary moral standard that people simply apply to an activity they don't approve of.
Here's why it's in your best interest to have tax dollars fund rehab facilities for nonviolent substance abusers:
1) Prisons are overcrowded with inmates who pose no danger to anyone but themselves, who are incarcerated purely because they have a psychotropic substance addiction, nothing more.
2) Millions of tax dollars are currently being spent trying to enforce existing laws against substance possession, which obviously aren't working very well.
3) If substance abusers are not properly treated for their addictions, they then become a financial burden on health insurance companies and hospitals (who will treat them for chronic illnesses that will cost more to treat than a rehab stint), which will consequently fall to the taxpayers to compensate.
20 - Baritone
That this country abandoned the rail system is criminal. Of course the cost and effort it would take to rebuild it would be astronomical. Several RR right of ways are gone.
In Germany, their public transit system is wholly integrated. One can purchase a day or week-end ticket allowing them passage on a train, say to Berlin, then access to all public transit in the city - buses, subways, etc., and then the return train trip - all for one money. It is nearly seamless.
In the U.S., excepting those cities which maintain subways, commuter trains, buses and even mono-rails, most places have little or no meaningful public transit available. Indy has only intermittent train service to and from Chicago, and I believe Cincinnati which arrive and leave something like 4AM. Really handy! There are a couple of bus lines serving various cities in the mid-west. In the city, Indy has no mass transit other than a very limited bus system. Efforts to build a commuter line to our northern suburbs has had moderate support, but even if it becomes a reality, it will take 10 to 12 years to complete.
Indy is one of the many communities which fell head over heals in love with the automobile. We have interstates out the kazoo.
I should also note that in Germany, and I believe in Austria as well, the trains do run on time. Actually, that ain't a bad thing.
B
21 - whalleywhat
You should consider remaining to young to vote for as long as possible. Ask Peter Pan. It's possible.
22 - Stu
BUT BARITONE, GERMANY IS A SOCIALIST WONDERLAND! We can't have that in America, no sir.
23 - Baritone
Stu,
My son has lived in Germany for more than 5 years. We have visited a couple of times. Yes, it has its socialist leanings. It has national health care! Fie, fie!
While there are things my son misses about the U.S., overall he prefers it there. He likes it that the trains run on time.
B
24 - Hussein McCain
Do you have any opinion that isn't a parrot of your father?
25 - Clavos
How rude...