Prop. 19

Make no mistake. Proposition 19 is not about marijuana. It's not about driving stoned or doctors operating while high. Prop. 19 is about the right of the individual states to overturn federal law.
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There are a lot of libertarians out there who would argue that that is a good thing. But, I would caution people to be careful what they ask for. While it is very unlikely that the courts will uphold 19, one can never be too sure. The conservative coupsters on the Supreme Court have ignored 200 years of case law to state that the second amendment is not about the rights of states to maintain militias but about the right of individuals to pack heat. They've ruled that corporations are de facto people with free speech rights, in other words, they have the right to spend as much money as they can to buy elections. If the same right wing five were to say, "Hey why shouldn't states be able to overturn federal law." Well let's see, there are law makers in Utah who have called for state seizure of federal lands. Bye bye Zion National Park. It wouldn't surprise me if Alabama would start putting certain people in the back of the bus. Texas isn't too fond of off shore drilling regs. And Arizona would happily ignore the Colorado River agreement and stop water from reaching California. That's no way to run a country!
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Another reminder that has little to do with my central argument against Prop. 19. I've had some discussions with friends who support 19, and when I make my point about states overturning federal law, the counter argument that I get is that the feds aren't in a position to enforce federal drug laws on a local level. Perhaps, but they can withhold highway funds, aide to education, and stimulus funds. Government by proposition is unworkable.

California State Parks Seized!

Our own Governor Action Hero, Arnold Schwarzenegger, has been warned by the federal government that some of our state parks could be seized should he follow through on his plan to shut all the nonprofitable units of our parks system.

It seems that Angel Island, Mount Diablo, Point Sur, Fort Ord Dunes, Point Magu, and Border Fields were all once federal properties, and when they were deeded to California for use as parks, part of the deal was that they be kept up and running in perpetuity. That's got to hurt. Action Hero has positioned himself as the tough, fiscal conservative willing to do anything to bring fiscal responsibility to the golden state. Every time he turns around, he finds out that some pesky law is tying his hands.

Of course, his biggest problem isn't with the state legislature, unions (a favorite whipping boy for Action hero), or the feds. His big problem is us, and while I think the Gov is, to put it mildly, in way over his head, I kind of feel sorry for him.

The people of California have used the initiative process to cut taxes, make it almost impossible to re-raise taxes, while passing all sorts of social programs, and expensive bond issues, all with no way to pay for them. We've even gone so far as to use the ballot box to dictate to the state government how to allocate funds. And let's not forget, we didn't like all those evil professional politicians, so we passed term limits to guarantee that our state will be run by amateurs, the worst of the lot, governor Action Hero himself. It's time to put the gov out of his misery. The amateurs in the Sacramento legislature should impeach the amateur in the governor's mansion.