Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI

I’d wager that puts you in the top 30-40% of voters.

And then you go so far as to make your thoughts public, and even seek input…

We need more people like you!

Please do the world a favor, and reproduce.

I’ve long supported Republicans the presidency and vice presidency. That’s what I’m doing this years. But recently the politics of it all got murkier as we down the governmental organization charts. Thus, for local land use, transportation, and comprehensive planning efforts, my suppord has focued on Progressive Dane, whose views on these topices coincide with my own. I suppose those of them who know my well have determined they will just not bother me about national politics.

About the various Califirnia bond issues.

The time to make the big investments for rail transit, both intercity and regional, is now, while there still are stocks of fossil fuels, and while there still is a natioanal economy in this contry to sustain the big changeover that is coming.

Most of the remaining portable wealth of the US economy is being poured out, not just on trivial amusements which will disappear in what may be an economic superstorm, but on the fuel we all use to power the vehicles and transportation modes on which life her presently depends.

From my own recent and up-to-date research on peak oil, the real peak will occur some time between 2012 and 2018. That is the time when all the world’s remaining large and exploitable oil fields shall have entered into terminal depletion.

But the annual world demand for petroleum and its myriad of outproducts grows incessantly at a rate that will never again be enough to catch up with the shirinking supply, after some time in 2012-2018.

It is exactly that consideration that has motivated real oilmen such as T Boone Pickens and real petroleum industry financiers such as Matthew Simmons, and a large number of experienced oilfield geologists to offer that same warnings, some of them all at once, and some of them incessantly.

Supply and demand, Eric. It has made or broken every economy in history. And if we cannot remake ours around thsese cataclysmic events, then we are going down for the long count. Because there are other societies organized around the concept of little reliance on personal autos, aircraft or even diesel buses for moving people.

Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI  

1.  In general, the bias should be to vote No.
2.  Bond measures and other spending items should be done by the Legislature.  Of course, that assumes they don’t suck and are actually doing their elected duty, instead of trying to appease the various interest groups so they can move to the next level.  So, I rarely approve these.

I’m still undecided on 1A as we’ll probably need something like it and this sort of thing is difficult for private sector entrepreneurs to do (lots of eminent domain issues, etc), but it’s darn expensive and will doubtless enrich the usual suspects.

I’m voting No on all the rest, except 11, which has a chance to address the Legislature’s suckitude.

foobarista’s last blog post..The pronunciation of “Beijing”

My concern on Prop 4 is that minors are all too likely to make knee-jerk decisions that they’ll regret later. That’s why minors don’t have full rights on a wide range of issues. With a parental notification requirement, they’ll need to at least talk it over with their parents. Maybe that’ll result in not getting an abortion (either giving the child up for adoption or raising it with the assistance of its grandparents), or maybe it’ll result in the minor going ahead with the abortion with more confidence in her decision and fewer regrets down the road.
Also, bear in mind that while I’d prefer a parental consent requirement, Prop 4 is merely a notification requirement, so parents cannot legally prevent their daughters from getting abortions even if Prop 4 passes.

Prop 1A- This is where my idealism overrides my wallet. I, too, hate bond measures as I just got a list of how each one affected my most recent property tax bill. I support the idea that only property owners should be able to vote on bonds that affect property taxes. Be that as it may, I’m voting for this as I think that in the long run, it will prove necessary. We should get started.

Prop 2 — Undecided, likely no. While I like the ideas, I agree that people should vote with their pocketbooks if they want ethical treatment of animals.

Prop 3 — No. See my earlier rant on bonds

Prop 4 – No. If a parent isn’t paying enough attention to educate their child about the risks of getting pregnant, then they get no say in what the child does with the results. Ruining a child’s life by having a child too soon is not a choice that parents should be able to make. The pregnant girl denied an abortion by overzealous parents is far too likely to try risky illegal methods than to simply sit back and have the baby. There are all kinds of arguments against this, but most of them have to do with getting the parents to pay more attention and educate their children in the first place. This bill only deals with the aftermath.
The only good that could come of this passing is that an eager couple might put on the condom because they know they’ll have to tell their parents if things go badly.

Prop 5 – No. complete agreement re: theft

Prop 6 — Where does the money come from?

Prop 7 – No. If it doesn’t include nuclear, then it’s just putting it’s head in the sand. If we’re going to go all solar (or something else happily "green"), let science and manufacturing catch up and get the 30-40% efficiency cells out of the lab and to market. Then we can see the energy producing companies fight for the cheapest way to make energy rather than the most tax subsidies they can get.

Prop 8 — No way in hell. Get married if you want to.  At least now, if a gay couple is in a committed life-partnership, they can say "husband" or "wife" instead of "partner"

Prop 9 – I’ll have to read up on it.

Prop 10 – No. Re: bonds

Prop 11 – I’ll have to read up on it.

Prop 12 — No. Re: bonds

7/12 (58%) direct agreement with possibly more as research warrants. I usually let the sides make their case in the voter info packet and read more if necessary. I haven’t seen my packet yet.
That’s more than we usually agree on since we come from such different viewpoints.