Free Republic

The 2007 Texas Constitutional Amendment Election is scheduled for November 6, 2007. Sixteen proposed amendments (propositions) appear on the ballot -- from $4 billion for establishing a cancer research center in Texas (proposition 15) to getting rid of the obsolete office of county animals and hides inspector (proposition 10).

My ultra-liberal friend sent a big email list of people and me this missive from Robert Redford, urging people in California to vote against Prop 90 based on concerns for how the law might impact the government's ability to protect the environment. Here is what was sent to me: "We had no idea." You're going to hear that a lot if Proposition 90 passes next month. Millions of people are going to wake up the morning after Election Day and wish they'd read the fine print. Please don't be one of them. Prop 90 is the single most dangerous threat...

His friends, the folks at his church in San Jose -- they know what "Alan" did in 1999 to that 11-year-old boy. The boy had a troubled home life. Alan, then in his 40s, became a father figure. Then came the oral sex, a confession and five years at a men's colony. That they know doesn't bother him, he said. It shields him. "That's my best defense. I'm being held accountable. Where am I going to go without anybody knowing about it?" said Alan, who insisted on anonymity. "Let's say I've got to move to Morgan Hill. My social circle...

In the wake of Governor Schwarzenegger’s efforts to do exactly what the populace of the Golden State theoretically elected him to do when they voted him into Sacramento to replace Gov. Gray Davis a while back—that is, to initiate practical reform in California—I’d like to suggest that the power-hungry, Democratic Party-controlled unions in this state use whatever money they have left in their war chests and call attention to the need for just one more special election. This time around, let’s see if they (the unions) might be successful in passing a proposition that officially lists the state motto as...

KALIFORNIA I found this article to be interesting: “Schwartzenegger Takes Blame in Vote.” http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051110/ap_on_re_us/schwarzenegger;_ylt=Aoa2l8UqhNfIz6Kdr0w_UT.s0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3OXIzMDMzBHNlYwM3MDM- Well, obviously, that’s the only thing he can say at this juncture. But, quite frankly, there’s another side of that story. As alluded to yesterday, here are the turnout percentages from several of the largest conservative-Republican strongholds in the Golden State: Orange County = 38%. San Diego = 46%. San Bernardino = 36%. Ventura - 47%. Riverside = 37%. Kern = 41%. San Joaquin = 39%. For Pete’s sake in Iraq they got 60-plus percent turnout. Under direct threat of being killed or maimed. Yet a...

The special election in California Tuesday was a battle between a governor tyring to turn a state around and the unions who rule Sacramento. Unfortunately Arnold and his propositions lost and now it is going to be very difficult for him to do anything in a state run by liberal Democrats. Arnold put his bigger than life image up against the powerful unions, and he got rolled. When Arnie was running for election against then governor Gray-out Davis, he promised the world-a complete accounting of state funds, cost cutting measures at every state office and removing barriers for businesses to...

The battle of the Hollywood titans will take to the airwaves tomorrow with the airing of a Warren Beatty attack ad aimed at celebrity governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, according to sponsors. The brief radio spot features Beatty urging people to turn out at the polls en masse next week to defeat propositions on which Schwarzenegger has staked his political future, a sample clip revealed. The ad will be aired in San Francisco and Southern California areas from tomorrow, said Charles Idelson of the California Nurses Association, which is paying for the ads. "Schwarzenegger and his big money backers are counting on...

I've been getting calls about the various ballot propositions for the Special Election. Here's how I see them: Proposition 73: Parental Notification for Abortion. If parental consent is required for a child to use a tanning booth or get her ears pierced, shouldn’t parents at least be notified if she’s getting an abortion? YES. Whether you’re pro-life or pro-choice, this should be the all-time no-brainer. Proposition 74: Teacher Tenure. Do parents have a right to expect a higher level of competence before a teacher is granted life-time tenure? YES. This modest measure simply increases the teacher probation period from two...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Supporters of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's redistricting initiative asked the state Supreme Court on Wednesday to overturn two lower court rulings and put the measure on the November special election ballot. Attorneys for political activist Ted Costa and other official sponsors of the initiative said a Sacramento Superior Court judge and an appeals court majority erred in ruling that the initiative failed to make the ballot because supporters used two versions in the qualifying process. One version went on petitions signed by voters. The other went to the attorney general to prepare a title and summary of...

SACRAMENTO -- A proposed initiative ending Proposition 13 protection for commercial property would cost Los Angeles County taxpayers more than $26 million annually to implement, according to an analysis by the California Assessors' Association. The Tax Fairness Act has received almost $2.4 million from a group of influential public employee unions to circulate petitions placing the measure on the June 2006 ballot. Proponents say it would generate $2.8 billion per year in additional property tax revenues statewide. A CAA review of the proposal found it would be difficult and costly for counties to implement, with counties probably having to spend...

When Arnold Schwarzenegger overwhelming won the race for governor last year, he vowed to break the hold that special interests and fringe groups have in Sacramento. But Schwarzenegger found that promise hard to keep, in large part due to something he has no control over - the Legislature. The system under which California elects its legislators is engineered to elevate candidates who hold extremist views on the left and the right. Moderate, centrist candidates stand little chance because Democrats and Republicans conspired together to gerrymander legislative districts. The gerrymandering is so bad that one party or the other is virtually...

Another campaign of stem cell disinformation and misdirection is in full swing in California. The sponsors of Proposition 71, the "California Stem Cell Research and Cures Act," are promoting a measure that would allow researchers a constitutional right to experiment on embryonic stem cells, and equip them with almost $3 billion in public funds. The drafters of this initiative have cunningly phrased their proposition to purposely avoid using the words "embryo" or "embryonic." Hoping to obfuscate the real biological issues at hand, supporters of Proposition 71 are deliberately trying to circumvent an honest debate on the issues and legalize research...

MESSAGE FROM HOWARD KALOOGIAN...and... State Controller Fails to Account for HUNDREDS of MILLIONS of Dollars Dear Friends, We’ve fought a number of battles together to make California and this nation a better place. I am writing to you today about a politician who seems to have forgotten that he works for us – and no, I am not talking about Gray Davis this time. Just like we forced Davis ally, Secretary of State Kevin Shelley, to call the special recall election when he was trying to weasel out of it, we now have to compel another state official to...

<p>Like doughnuts or deodorant, politics is about selling. And what sells a product isn't so much what the product does, but what the buyer thinks it does. Take Proposition 56. It doesn't really matter if it actually reforms the budget, because as long as people think they are getting budget reform, they will vote for it.</p>

<p>Propositions 57 and 58 are a package. Either both pass, or both fail. If only one wins with voters, both still fail.</p> <p>The package is advertised as a way to deal with the immense general-fund debt in the California state budget that was run up under the administration of recalled Gov. Gray Davis (Prop. 57) while making sure that overspending and going into debt will be prevented in the future (Prop. 58).</p>

<p>It would be a shame, just as California was starting to take the right path to restore a semblance of fiscal sanity, if California voters were misled into supporting an initiative that took them backwards.</p> <p>We don't use the term "misled" lightly, believing the average voter to be perfectly capable of making informed judgments. But the campaign to promote Proposition 56 on the March 2 ballot, just like the initiative itself, is terribly dishonest.</p>

<p>SACRAMENTO - The state's largest teachers union today endorsed Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's effort to pass a $15 billion bond in March, boosting his effort to woo skeptical voters.</p> <p>The 800-member California Teachers Association's State Council of Education gave its backing to the bond, Proposition 57, and a companion measure, Proposition 58, to limit state spending.</p>

Kaloogian & Prop 187 Author Oppose Bush Amnesty PlanKaloogian Endorsed By Prop 187 AuthorFor Immediate Release -- January 12, 2003(SAN DIEGO) ; Proposition 187 author, Ron Prince, today endorsed Republican U.S. Senate candidate, Howard Kaloogian (website: www.HowardForSenate.com). Prince joined Kaloogian at a news conference today where they announced their opposition to the proposal by President George W. Bush to grant illegal aliens a three-year or longer amnesty."I am honored to have the support of the man who authored Proposition 187, Ron Prince. I stand with him today in opposition to this new amnesty plan for illegal immigrants.;While President Bush...

Officiating elections in Texas City usually affords a volunteer enough time to read a book. But that wasn’t the case Saturday. The election judge and her staff opened the doors to the Nessler Center at 7 a.m. An hour later, every election booth was full. They stayed that way throughout the day, said Pat Newlin, who was the alternate election judge at the Nessler Center. “We have three, four, maybe even five times more than usual,” said she said. “We usually read a book, knit or crochet. But not today.” About one hour before the polls closed, a steady steam...

Texas voters passed all 22 proposed constitutional amendments Saturday, giving homeowners more flexibility on loans, disabled homeowners a break on their school taxes and the state more options for funding highway construction. Among those winning wide margins of voter approval was Proposition 16, allowing homeowners to take out home equity lines of credit, a measure that proponents say will make lending more flexible. Passing much more narrowly was Proposition 9, which modifies the investment strategy of the Permanent School Fund. Proponents say the measure will boost payments to public schools by $125 million to $130 million. Measures helping firefighters and...