Posted on 11/01/2004 6:59:39 PM PST by Zechariah11
A so-called Republican mailer I received ("Continuing the Republican Revolution") recommends a "Yes" on Propsition 71, the embryonic stem cell research initiative, so I'm a bit dubious at what they recommend. Another mailer from McClintock has been misplaced. Please help.
This does the trick. Thanks to all.
Nooooo
The proponents of 66 want you think that it just correct an "obviously" unjust law that sends non-violent felons to the hoosgow for 25-to-life for minor third strikes. Nothing could be further from the truth. First off, those crazy stories (like the pizza thief) leave out the "rest of the story" (like a 250 pound prison physique terrorizing a 9 year old girl unless she gives up her slice of pizza....). Fact is, 66 will, in fact, gut 3-strikes, release thousands of violent felons early, and tries to fix something that just ain't broke.
Well I definitely have to disagree with support for 1A. How about they quit stealing our funds NOW! Proposition 1A is like making a deal with the devil. It says you can steal our county's monies but only if you follow the rules! What a bunch of baloney.
With you on that.
That's OK
We have trolls that lurk here and I'm sure it took three readings before the meaning started to penetrate their stupid little brains.
Prop 1A reflects the agreement that the local governments made with Arnold.
Via "Google" New search with "Mel Gibson stem cell" as the search term gets you this:
http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=us&q=Mel+Gibson+stem+cell&btnG=Search+News
It's very simple. Some good hearted people have joined with high-profile
folks with long-term diseases and have been hijacked by a group who see a nice way
to tap the California state taxpayers for $3 BILLION DOLLARS and another
$3 BILLION DOLLARS in interest to pay for research that has yet to produce a therapeutic
cure...in stark contrast to the work on Adult Stem Cells.
If this research was such a good investment, Tereza Heinz-Kerry, Bill Gates,
and other venture capitalists would be pouring $$$ into it.
And they are NOT.
NO on all of them.
I got this mailer too. Look at the fine print. It says "Guide for Republicans" on the front... but on the back, at the bottom, who paid for the thing? NOT the GOP! It is some group called "Get the Vote Out" or something.
Don't be fooled by this thing - chuck it NOW!
I know that. Doesn't mean I have to agree with them. When the league of counties started this thing they wanted it stopped now too. They caved.
And for anyone in the LA area:
Prop A: NO (want to increase sales tax by 1/2 cent!)
Prop O: NO (bond)
NONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONO
Under what possible definition of the Responsibilities of State Government is a State that is $36Billion in the red screwing around doing something that clearly and solidly belongs in the Private Sector?
WE AIN'T GOT THE DAMN MONEY! PERIOD!!!
No on 71, it's a scam, it will add $6 billion(including interest) to our hugh debt.""
There has been a rumor going around some radio stations that this Prop will also displace blood banks. I don't get that part, if it does.
My objections are that this is "fantasy" research, which the Davis Med school professors are touting- they will be set for life with "research" jobs, as it is a 30 year deal.
WWAAAAAYYYYY TOOO expensive for "Pie in the sky" money spending.
If stem cell research was so promising, the major drug companies would be beating each other up trying to be the first to get it done, as the patents would reside with them for a number of years. If the state funds this, who owns the patents? Do the taxpayers get paybacks on drug royalties?????
This benefits too small a percentage of the population for the money 100% of the population has to spend.
The cig smokers got snookered with paying 50 cents a pack to fund cancer, and other things, and it never has been spent there. They have spent it by the barrelfull in ads featuring the Hollyweirds like Rob Reiner, who promoted this deal. You all got lied to there, and it is $$ out of YOUR pocket. Why do you not realize you probably are being lied to now, and ALL of us have to pay into it?
The wildly high expectations attached to this Prop are way out of whack. It is way too expensive. We are too much in debt in Calif now to sign up for this. It goes too far into the future. It is RESTRICTED to just stem cell research for 30 years. WHAT IF: they find a breakthrough in 4 years? What happens then? Do the "researchers" sit on the news because they would be out of a job? Why continue to fund something that has the answer? If they don't find what they think they can find in 30 years, do they then tell us all: "You have to extend this all because you have already spent XXX$$$ on it so far, ETC ETC.
This is a great big money hole, paid by the many for the benefit of the few. VOTE NO!!
Along with a NO vote on Prop 72.
Fyi, McClintock disagrees on only two of the GOP recommendations you've posted.
65. Real Local Government Protection. YES. A lost cause - the proponents have abandoned this measure in favor of Prop. 1A - but if you believe in protecting local government funds from continued raids by the state, this is the measure that will do so.
70. De-politicize Tribal Gaming. YES. Provides a standard gaming compact for any legitimate Indian tribe that asks for it, assessing the corporate tax rate while restoring a free market to operations on Indian land. It would remove gaming from the tortured political environment that now has pitted tribe against tribe in winning monopoly franchises. A standardized system is the best protection against the unjust political favoritism that we're seeing today.
Done!
I'll be using recommenations of GOP + McClintock posted above.
As far as I've heard, 66 merely prevents the "Stole a candy bar 3 times" people from being locked away for 25-life. It shouldn't effect violent criminals if the judges are competent (and if that's the issue, we shouldn't have bad law to get around it, we should replace the judges). ""
Not true- The PROSECUTORS have the option of deciding whether to charge with a felony or a misdemeanor, especially the third one. The judges have some leeway as to where they spend their time.
This Prop-66- is the result of a rich kid getting into a bad accident- speeding-drunk-high and he crashed and killed 2 girls that were in his car and was hit with 3 felonies- 2 for the girls deaths, and the third for gross endangerment in his behavior, I think.
Anyway, Daddy Warbucks has spent over a million of his own $$$ trying to get his kid out of jail with this Prop. If he can do the crime, he can do the time. God only knows how many scrapes this kid was in prior which Daddy got him out of.
The proponents are putting alot of spin on this like"putting away a guy who stole a bottle of aspirin", but there is another side:
If you have 2 felony strikes against you in Calif and you are out on parole, DON'T STEAL a bottle of aspirin or whatever!! Lots of 2 srike cons have left Calif because they just cannot keep out of trouble, and they KNOW they will spend the rest of their life behind bars if they get caught again.
What never gets discussed is this: HOW MANY offenses did these little darlings do in their past that got plead down to something smaller? How many did stuff that they NEVER got caught for? Lots of unsolved crimes out there. How many of these creeps need to stay behind bars or under the dirt forever?
Here's a good example: Guy carjacked a nurse getting off her shift in late evening a couple of days ago in Sacto area. He raped her, beat her, cut her throat, set her on fire,left her for dead, naked, in a water canal where she was spotted by the CHP. She is in critical condition with many surgeries expected. They caught the perp because he was driving her car. He crashed it in the pursuit.
Here's the best part: He had been out of prison for similar violent offenses for THREE DAYS....., yes, I said 3 DAYS.
There are over 26,000 more like him who would be let loose if 66 passes. All would have to go to court and have the judges review their cases. Clogging the courts for at least 3 years forward. Takes forever now to get these creeps into jail. All of this in a state where they want all our guns and want out ammo micro-enscribed, with tracking of how much we purchase. Everyday, we have more and more reasons why we need to have the guns unfettered with ammo problems.
Vote no on Prop 66, please.
McClintock on the propositions
I've been getting a lot of calls about the various ballot propositions.
Here's how I see them:
1A. Watered Down Protection for Local Governments. YES, I suppose. Extends limited protection to local governments against future raids by the state AFTER the state finishes ripping off another $2.6 billion over the next two years. I support it because the protections are a slight improvement over
existing law, but if you really want to protect local governments, Prop. 65
is the ticket.
59. Public Records, Open Meetings. YES. Louis Brandeis said it best:
"Sunlight is the best of disinfectants." Public business should
be public.Period.
60. The Right to the Party of Your Choice. YES. This measure guarantees
all parties access to the general election ballot, and was written to knock
out Prop. 62.
60A. Selling Long-term Assets for Short-term Spending. NO. Sounds good on
the surface - sell surplus state property to pay for general fund spending.
Here's my problem: when surplus assets are sold - and they should be - the
funds should be used for the purpose for which they were raised. For
example, Caltrans land was paid for by highway taxes. When it's sold, it
should be used to build highways, not pay for this year's welfare increase.
61. Children's Hospitals Bond. NO. Our borrowing is out of control -
general fund supported debt is up 54 percent in 14 months. No matter how
appealing the purpose, California needs to stop borrowing until it has
brought its credit card binge under control.
62. Election Primaries. NO. They call it an "Open Primary," but what this
really does is to trade California's primary election system for a two-step
general election. The result: the power to determine the official party
nominee is taken away from the voters in the primary and returned to
backroom political bosses. A giant step backward from clean and open
elections.
63. Soak the Rich - And Then Us. NO. An extra tax on those making over $1
million might sound good to the rest of us - but beware. California's taxes
are already so disproportionate that the top 1Ú4 of 1 percent of income
taxpayers pays nearly one third of all income taxes. It doesn't take many
of them re-arranging their affairs to claim residency in Nevada (where there
is NO income tax), before there's a dramatic reduction in tax revenues. And
guess who they'll tax then?
64. Honest Work for Lawyers. YES. Puts an end to predatory law firms
that extort money by filing huge lawsuits against employers for technical
violations of law. About time.
65. Real Local Government Protection. YES. A lost cause - the proponents
have abandoned this measure in favor of Prop. 1A - but if you believe in
protecting local government funds from continued raids by the state, this is
the measure that will do so.
66. Weakens Three Strikes Law. NO. Under current law, in order to qualify
for a third strike, you have to be convicted TWICE before for VIOLENT
felonies. This bill requires the THIRD strike also be a violent felony.
Call me prudish, but after a thug has been twice convicted of raping,
assaulting and murdered his fellow citizens, I'm out of patience.
California's Three Strikes Law works. Don't weaken it.
67. Phone Tax. NO. A half-billion tax increase - about $60 a year for an
average family in both direct taxes and tax-driven price increases. Who
says talk is cheap?
68. Casino Grande. NO. I don't believe it's any of government's business
how grown-ups chose to spend their time and money as long as they're not
hurting anyone. But I object to the extortionate provisions of the measure
that would force Indian tribes to accept outlandish conditions or face
financial ruin.
69. DNA Samples. YES. Requires DNA samples to be taken from all felons and criminal suspects. It means that violent crimes will become much easier to solve - and with far greater certainty than ever before. It will give "Cold
Case Files" lots of new material.
70. De-politicize Tribal Gaming. YES. Provides a standard gaming compact
for any legitimate Indian tribe that asks for it, assessing the corporate
tax rate while restoring a free market to operations on Indian land. It
would remove gaming from the tortured political environment that now has
pitted tribe against tribe in winning monopoly franchises. A standardized
system is the best protection against the unjust political favoritism that
we're seeing today.
71. Stem Cell Research. NO. Stem cell research is a promising field, but
why are California taxpayers suddenly responsible for funding research for
the rest of the world? Worse, any discussion of research data when making
research grants is exempt from the Open Meetings Act and the Open Records Act. Want to know what your $3 billion has bought? Sorry, that's
confidential.
72. Health Care Coverage. NO. Here's a great idea. Require every
business with more than 20 employees to provide health insurance.
My guess:
a lot of businesses with between 20 and 40 employees will suddenly
have 19 -and an awful lot of folks will be without health care OR jobs. We're from the government and we're here to help.
I got an email from McClintock and he recommended NO on 1A - and yes on 65 - saying that 65 is better legislation than 1A.
NO on 66 - the candy bar-and-pizza crowd are already protected by prosecutorial and judicial discretion.
66 is a horrible bill!
Re Prop 66: I heard on Barbara Simpson's show that parolees are leaving CA in droves. Apparently the three strikes law has made it inhospitable for repeat offenders. Shame. /sarcasm
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