Tuesday, November 08, 2005
Ah-noldI hate Ah-nold. Arnold Schwarzenegger, that is, our Governor of California. Not because the state is in a mess -- I don't know that things would have been better had we not recalled his predecessor, Gray Davis. But I am upset with Ah-nold because my phone has been ringing non-stop for the last two weeks, and it's all his fault.
You see, we usually have elections every other year, national, state or local, or a combination of them. Two years ago, we had an unprecedented special referendum on Gray Davis, and that was when he was voted out of office and Arnold was voted in. The Terminator must have liked that, so this year, normally a non-election year, he decided to call special elections so we can vote on a bunch of trivial propositions that most certainly could have waited until next year. It's costing the state $70 million, probably a lot more by some other estimates, to have us decide a few earthshaking issues like teacher tenure, senior citizen prescriptiona and regulation of utilities. Yes, yawn. Really. For instance, for the proposition on prescriptions, I am not sure what we are supposed to decide, but the various groups for and against it are named "Californians for Available Prescriptions," "Health Access California" and "Californians against the Wrong Prescription." How are we supposed to vote against any of these groups that have such well-meaning names, except that they are on opposite sides of the issue? Same thing for "The Utility Reform Network" on one side and "Californians for Reliable Electricity" on the other side. It's like having to choose between the Pope and Mother Teresa. How do we?
For the last several weeks, there have been all kinds of groups and people who wanted to let us know exactly how. Every other television commercial features Arnold or John McCain (who looks like he could use a prescription himself), or some teacher, parent, firefighter or policeman telling us Yes on this and No on that. It was awfully confusing. And the phone has been ringing morning, afternoon and evening with pre-recorded messages, often with some guy with a thick Austrian accent who sounds so very much like our Gov'nor. Apparently because it's for political purposes, they are exempt from the do-not-call rule, and they sure know how to take full advantage of this freedom. Yesterday I finally got tired of the interruptions and unplugged the phone for good. At least until the elections are over.
I went to vote today, and I voted No on all the measures he's been pushing, not because of what they stood for, but because I was sick and tired of special elections, and sick and tired of all the silliness. And they'd better read my chad right. Hasta la vista Arnold.
- posted by Woofwoof @ 9:02 PM
Comments:
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John,
I heard you don't have a bridge to build anymore. But you still have the money. An even better deal.
Connecticut,
Yes, Arnold was oh-for-everything. A total disaster. I was surprised by the magnitude of the defeat.
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I heard you don't have a bridge to build anymore. But you still have the money. An even better deal.
Connecticut,
Yes, Arnold was oh-for-everything. A total disaster. I was surprised by the magnitude of the defeat.
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