Stop Lying About Prop 1A: It’s Not Long
Criticize Prop 1A if you like, but opponents of the measures (and heck, even some supporters) should stop saying that it’s long. It’s not.
By comparison to other California ballot measures, 1A is short and compact. And the legislative and gubernatorial staffers (not to mention the interest group folks) who drafted 1A have done a much better job of being concise than sponsors of ballot initiatives.
Prop 1A is a little less than 3,000 words. If that seems like a lot, consider this: between 2000 and 2006, 15 of the 46 voter-sponsored initiatives on the ballot were over 5,000 words long, according to a 2008 report from the Center for Governmental Studies. Eight of those 46 initiatives were longer than 10,000 words.
Green Shoots, or Wishful Thinking?
The latest job loss figures have been greeted by many in the Media as a good sign – only 540,000 (almost) jobs lost! It could have been worse, say the pundits. And look at those bank profits, and the Dow is back up to the mid- 8000’s – why, this thing is blowing over and pretty soon all will be right with America’s and the world’s economies again! Whew, that was pretty dreadful, no?
Not so fast. The Newspeak term for we are seeing is “Green Shoots,” everywhere, signs of Spring, or plants growing back after a devastating fire, like the one ravaging Santa Barbara last week and over this past weekend – their third major firestorm in some 9 months. But, in an economy that needs to add hundreds of thousands of jobs every month just to stay even with population growth, should we really be popping champagne corks over only 540,000 jobs lost in April? 5.7 million Americans without jobs likely did not go shopping last weekend.
CALA Celebrates Jury Appreciation Week
Every year, during the second full week of May, the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) and the Superior Courts in California team up to recognize the millions of Californians who answer the call and the serve on juries in our great state. California Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse (CALA) would like to also applaud these great Californians who take the time to serve their state.
This is not sometimes a perfect system, but it does work and it is truly a system of the people, by the people and for the people. As Chief Justice Ronald George has stated, "trial by a jury of one’s peers is among the fundamental democratic ideals of our nation. Serving as jurors reminds us that these ideals exist only as long as individual citizens are willing to uphold them."
Our jury system has come a long way. Some statistics compiled by the AOC show directly what an impressive system we have in California.
Chula Vista Election Great News
On May 5th, a clear message was sent that voters will no longer obediently approve the politicians’ tax increases. And that’s great news!
Chula Vista city politicians held a special mail ballot election to raise the city sales tax an additional full 1% to 9.75%. In a dramatic turnaround from similar previous sales tax elections around San Diego County, the city politicos and public employee labor unions got their collective keisters kicked, losing the vote by a lopsided two-to-one margin.
This defeat in the county’s second largest city is all the more impressive because the other side had the public employee manpower and money to win easily – in normal times. But these are no longer normal times.