A couple quick thoughts on the election results. Obviously not what I was hoping for, but it’s really not that impressive of a win for the Democrats for a couple reasons. The losses in both the house and senate were on par for a president in the 6th year of his presidency. Considering that the war is so unpopular, you would really expect the gains by Democrats to be more substantial than they were. I think another reason it’s not an extremely impressive victory is the reason people were voting. People were voting against the war, not for liberal principals, just as they weren’t voting against conservative principals.

Ultimately I think the general public, who can’t sit through a 30-second commercial, can’t sit through a war. The talking heads on TV can’t even explain WHY it’s going "wrong," but people see a body count and assume it’s true. Best line of the night was from Howard Dean: "Clearly the people want a change in Iraq, and I think you’re going to see that." He couldn’t tell you what the heck "that" is, but there will be one!

I’m an optimistic fellow, and I see the next two years as an opportunity. Republicans should wake up and get back to small government basics. The Republicans in office have been pretty poor when it comes to core conservative values, and hopefully they can move back to what a majority of people want: less government. Already Democrats are talking about rasing the minimum wage, and President Bush is excited to have a congress controlled by Democrats because he thinks it will help his amnesty goals. Keep it up President Bush, and none of us will be sorry to see you leave.

Rush Limbaugh has an excellent article at his site.

I’ve completed my review of all the propositions on the ballot. If you look closely, it also makes a very neat pattern. We’ll see what I get to in regards to candidates.

Congressional Positions
State Positions
Judicial Positions
Prop 1A – YES
Prop 1B – NO
Prop 1C – NO
Prop 1D – NO
Prop 1E – NO
Prop 83 – YES
Prop 84 – NO
Prop 85 – YES
Prop 86 – NO
Prop 87 – NO
Prop 88 – NO
Prop 89 – NO
Prop 90 – YES

Resources

LA Times Proposition Summaries
State Voter Guide
Tom McClintock’s Positions
California Taxpayer Protection Committee
John and Ken’s Voter Guide
Eagle Forum of Sacramento
Robyn Nordell
California Republican Assembly
California Pro-Life Council

I don’t know who will win tonight. Polls show Democrats with an edge…but the same thing happened back in 2004. Exit polls showed Democrats doing better, but when all was said and done, the conservatives came out and voted. I want to believe that will happen again, but you never know. Whatever happens I will continue to analyze and make intelligent arguments regardless of who is in office. Since I’ve been of voting age, and blogging, the Democrats haven’t really been in charge.

Whatever happens, it will be exciting! I’ll be at Kurtii’s eating pizza and watching the returns. I hope you voted!

I made this for my own purposes, so I figured I might as well post it. This is a one page document with my positions on everything in my ballot. It’s also a PDF, because that makes it super official sounding! I hope you’ve enjoyed these election posts and discussions as much as I have!

The 2006 Blarg Voter Guide

Don’t forget to visit the Blarg voting page where you can find lots of other voting resources. Everything here is only my opinion, make sure you develop your own! Most important I would say is to visit Robyn Nordell’s site to find information on the judicial nominations.

2006 California Election Page

I ran out of time to research all 24 people up for judicial appointments, but luckily Robyn Nordell did it for me! A little bit about her from her website: "She values those candidates and legislators who operate from a pro-life, traditional values, and limited government perspective." I’ll be using her recommendations for judicial confirmations, and take a look for yourself if you want more info. Straight out of my sample ballot with a Yes or No according to Robyn:

Judicial – Supreme Court Justice
NO – JOYCE KENNARD
NO – CAROL CORRIGAN

Judicial – Court of Appeal Justice
YES – ROGER W. BOREN
YES – VICTORIA CHAVEZ
YES – PATTI KITCHING
YES – RICHARD DENNIS ALDRICH
YES – NORMAN EPSTEIN
YES – THOMAS WILLHITE, JR
YES – STEVEN C. SUZUKAWA
YES – SANDY R. KRIEGLER
YES – FRED WOODS

NO – ROBERT M. MALLANO
NO – FRANCES ROTHSCHILD
NO – NORA MANELLA
NO – RICHARD M. MOSK
NO – ARTHUR GILBERT
NO – DENNIS M. PERLUSS
NO – LAURIE D. ZELON
NO – CANDACE D. COOPER
NO – MADELINE FLIER

The Superior Court positions are not up or down votes, so these are probably more important than the others.

Judge of the Superior Court
Office No. 8 – Deborah Sanchez
Office No. 18 – Daviann Mitchell
Office No. 102 – Hayden Zacky
Office No. 104 – Bobbi Tillmon
Office No. 144 – David Stuart

United States Senator – Richard "Dick" Mountjoy
He doesn’t stand a chance against Feinstein, but what else can I do?

State Assembly 50th District – Gladys O. Miller

I’m voting a straight Republican ticket on the state positions, so this is pretty straightforward.

Governor: Arnold Schwarzenegger
Not my favorite, but I’ll take a liberal Arnold over crazy Phil anyday. Art Olivier intrigues me, but a vote for him only helps Angelides.

Lieutenant Governor: Tom McClintock
I’d rather he was governor right now than Arnold, but I’ll take him for Lt. Governor.

Secretary of State: Bruce McPherson

Controller: Tony Strickland

Treasurer: Claude Parish

Attorney General: Chuck Poochigian
Not only does he have a cool name, but everything I hear about Jerry Brown I can’t stand. I heard a Jerry Brown ad this afternoon about how "radical" Poochigian is…but it was funny because I agreed with everything he said about Poochigian. Thanks Jerry!

Insurance Commissioner: Steve Poizner
Anyone but Bustamante would make me happy.

Member of State Board of Equalization 4th District: Glen Forsch

Sorry..the light-hearted posts didn’t last very long.

In light of the government believing they should be able to tax certain products more than others (ie cigarettes and gas), I thought I would list a few things that should also be heavily taxed to deter bad behavior. After all, if the government can tax cigarettes because they’re bad for you, and gas so a bunch of guys can sit around and dream about alternative fuels, I think it follows logically to tax the following items:

1) Body Piercings – Piercing organs is dangerous, it should be discouraged.
2) Tattoos – It defaces God’s temple!
3) Motorcycles – You can die way easier than a car.
4) Fatty Foods/Obesity – Unhealthy lifestlyes should be discouraged.
5) Plastic Surgery – People should love themselves for who God made them.
6) Skis – You could die! (That one’s for Mike)
7) Videogames – They rott your brain.
(Insert the behavior you dislike here).

To all the people supporting the cigarette and gas taxes…if at any point in our country’s future a majority of the citizens support a tax on one of the above items, I don’t want to hear you complain. You did the same thing.

Just because a majority of people dislike a "bad behavior," it doesn’t mean the government should deter them.