Election 2012
Tomorrow is the election. We've gotten alot of political postcards this year. Now a good percentage of them were bulk mail targeted at our house's previous owners. A very large percentage of them lead me to believe that our states children will die after the election. Because of that unlikelihood, I really don't place much stock in any of them.
As you can see the only person who really enjoyed this type of political coverage was our cat.
Instead of the ads, I looked up information on the Proposals on Ballotpedia and found my actual ballot at the State of Michigan Voter Information Center Site
Here are my thoughts on the proposals and positions and candidates:
Proposal 1 - Michigan Emergency Manager Referendum
This is a complicated issue, but it seems to me that State government should not completely take over and displace elected local governments, even if those local governments are incompetent. It seems in this case, giving States more power to eliminate local government is a bad thing to me, even if well meaning. States should govern state things, local should govern local things. If local government is incompetent, elect a new one.
I plan to vote NO on this.
Proposal 2 - Michigan "Protect Our Jobs" Amendment
So this is a right to unionize amendment to the Michigan State Constitution.
I'm generally pro-union. My Dad and most of my uncle's were UAW workers. The union and the automobile industry allowed my family have to have a great middle class life growing up. While there's probably a company size that's likely small enough that a union isn't warranted, for many national and international corporations, unions seem fair to me. There was a nice point-out by Jon Stewart in his Rumble with O'Reilly: Our declaration of independence starts with the line: "We the people in order to form a more perfect union".
A union with leadership elected by it's members can be a very democratic institution. (I realize that some are as large and unweildy as the corporations they try to balance against though.)
While I'm generally opposed to elevating things to a constitutional amendment, this seems like a topic worthy of that elevation.
I will likely vote YES on this.
Proposal 3 - Michigan Renewable Energy Amendment
This amendment to the state constitution would require 25% of the states electricity to come from renewable resources.
I have no idea if that's a good thing or not. It sounds like a good thing, but it's not a "constitutional" thing. It's the sort of mundane law that legislators should vote on, and that should be wrapped into a state constitution.
I plan to vote NO on this on the basis it should not be a constitutional amendment even though it may make a fine law.
Proposal 4 - Michigan Home Health Care Amendment
This is a constitutional amendment that would specifically grant rights to Home Health Care workers to collective bargaining. Why should such a narrowly targeted group have it's own constitutional amendment relating to unionization? And wouldn't Proposal 2 more or less include these people anyway?
I plan to vote NO on this as it doesn't seem like it rises to the level of a constitutional amendment (and it even seems like awkward law.)
Proposal 5 - Michigan Taxation Amendment
This law says that to raise taxes you need a 2/3 majority in the legislature or public vote. Nobody likes taxes to be raised, but requiring 2/3 of the legislature for any tax increase seems unnecessarily difficult. How often can 2/3 of the Legislature agree on anything? Besides, this sort of crappy worded law is just going to force the Legislature to call tax increases that they can't get a 2/3 majority for: "fees" or something and they'll find a way to raise the revenue anyway.
A majority of the legislature should be sufficient to raise taxes. If the people don't like the taxes they can vote for people in the next election to lower them again.
I plan to vote NO on this amendment.
Proposal 6 - Michigan International Bridge Initiative
"Let the people decide". this is the ridiculous constitutional amendment that says people have to vote on any new international bridges. This is bullshit, this isn't a constitutional amendment level issue. it's not like we're building international bridges every year all willy nilly. We elect representatives to decide infrastructure type stuff like this. We don't need a constitutional amendment taking bridge building out of the hands of our legislatures. Building a bridge like this takes a long time anyway, if you don't like that a bridge is being built, vote for a representative to oppose it, but the general citizenry doesn't need to weigh in on this. That's why we have a republic so we can elect people that have time to study this sort of thing.
This is the stupidest of these "constitutional amendments" regardless of whether you want a bridge or not, this does not rise to being an "amendment" and because of that, I plan to vote NO.
President
Barack Obama (D)
He's not a communist. He's not a secret Muslim. In actuality he's a pretty center right Democrat that turned out to be more hawkish than anyone thought as well. As far as politicians go though, he seems pretty straightforward. He's practical for the most part, and while I don't think Mitt himself would be a terribly right leaning executive despite some of what he spoke about in his primaries. I would worry about what a Republican held executive branch and House would put forth. I don't see a centrist wing of the Republican Party anymore. If anything, the Democratic party is the new centrist wing of the Republican party now.
Senate
Debbie Stabenow (D)
Representative in Congress 2nd District
Willy German Jr. (D)
I know nothing about this guy, there seems to be very little about him online, he seems to only have 96 likes on Facebook. but I can't see voting for more Republicans in the House. If there's a reason I shouldn't vote for this guy, let me know.
Representative State Legislature
Scott Barton (D)
Again, it's hard to tell much about these really local candidates. This guy seems like a regular enough Joe as a CNC operator and a Union Rep.
Our increasingly Republican state legislature is getting nutty, anything that slows down their agenda is probably a good thing.
The State Board stuff
I'm not a fan of all these boards and regents and stuff. These seem like they should be appointed positions or something. I imagine I'll just be lazy and vote all democratic, as republicans don't seem to care much for departments of education and I can't see them wanting to administrate it for any purpose other than to dismantle or privatize it.
County
Prosecuting Attorney
Noone is even running against the Republican incumbent William A Forsyth (R)... He wins!
Sheriff
This is almost like the board stuff, who knows much about the Sheriffs? I suppose this is at least something that you can research, as sheriffs are likely to have served in other law enforcement positions and given quotes in news stories etc.
Lawrence A Stelma (R)
James L. Farris (D)
John Glen Stedman (None)
No idea really on who I should vote for here. Party doesn't seem like it would come to much into play in this position.
Clerk and Register of Deeds
Seriously who knows anything about this position? Why is this even political? I suppose if I was living in a small village where everyone knew everyone, this would be a nice thing to elect, but in a county this large? Sigh.
County Treasurer
What exactly does a County Treasurer do? And how political is this position?
Drain Commissioner
Another Seriously. Who knows anything about who would make the best drain commissioner? The drains in my area seem to drain, do I vote for the incumbent?
County Commissioner
This person seems to oversee alot of basic government functions, so I'm leaning Dem on this, since Repubs generally don't like government. This seems like the sort of position that you'd want someone who believes in positive government running.
Judges
None of these have little Rs or Ds after them so I'm actually looking up their positions/affiliations. But I'm totally voting for the candidate that pulled the West Wing commericial together, McCormack, that was fantastic.
As you can see, I'm leaning Democratic in most everything. I generally lean more liberal anyway. The last 4 to 8 years of Fox News has soured me on even what passes for a centrist Republican these days. I don't begrudge anyone else their vote though, and I generally look forward to hearing from people with opposing views as long as they're based on something other than Fox News or MSNBC.
If you really hate any of the above of my choices, get to the election booth tomorrow and cancel my vote out :)
Interesting small space usage.
After an afternoon nap, I went back out solo to hit a few more stores and crossed a little more errand shopping off the list. When I came home Jenn and I pulled out decorations from the tree and such, but one box was missing. We probably spent two hours searching over every inch of the house, garage, every drawer and closet, to no avail.
Extra strand of lights in hand, we finished decorating the tree and then put the living room back together.
Didn't do a whole lot, but nice day all the same.
Here's a cool picture of the cat I snapped today. He has this little carpeted scratching post-ring with a hanging ball/bell in the middle. He had climbed up on top of it and was pawing at the ball underneath. There's a neat play of light that comes through the front door, which is always good for an interesting shot in the afternoon.
Here's a neat picture I shot inside JCPenny Sunday night. Right at the entrance way they had in interesting set of mannequins with outfits that I can only imagine are for discerning Doctor's of the Galifrey variety I think.
Saturday I went to Meijer to pick up some groceries. As you can see below, there was quite a run on Hostess products.
At dusk Jennifer grilled us up some steaks and while they cooked we watched the light fade from the sky. It was warm enough to just be out in a T-Shirt, but the wind has been kicking up something fierce since the sun set.
Also did a little shopping this morning. Took the chance to play with the Looxcie while out as well. It's a little bit big to wear on your ear to a store. But there is some efficiency in being able to pull it out of your pocket and while holding in your hand with a single button push you can start recording. Sure you could use your smartphone camera, but that would take two or three taps most likely.
Spent several hours raking today. Good dry day for it. Chill in the air, but not too bad at all, once we got working.
I'd say 80% of the leaves in the back have already fallen, so unlike this spring where there was a tremendous amount of leaves blown up under the deck, I think we'll be in alot better shape next spring.
The Looxcie is a Camcorder that works like a DVR. You press the button and it starts recording. Depending on the recording resolution you set the device at you have a variable amount of video you can save. At the medium resolution it seems you get an hour of recording or so.
I played around with the Looxcie at work today. People didn't pay it too much mind, but then again, people are used to seeing me with various gadgets on my person and don't tend to ask. Like the previous devices of this type, once people realize it's a camcorder, the hands go up to their faces etc. Generally as I've played with different types of video cameras over the years I've found people rarely want to be recorded.
