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Coloradans have no commonsense. Within one year we reelected a financially incompetent, liberal Ken Salazar, then raised our own taxes and legalized marijuana. What is wrong with my neighbors? Well, they want to smoke pot and pay more taxes. One problem explains the other. Drug abuse is a large cause of liberal thinking. This is proven historically as we look at the ‘60s and ‘70s. Drug abuse and modern liberalism are synonymous. Person becomes rebel. Rebel smokes pot. Pot affects mind, causing liberal thinking. Liberals raise taxes. Its simple! Fortunately state and federal law will ensure that nothing in Denver...

Unlike Prop 63, which increased taxes on the wealthy to pay for mental health or Rob “Meathead” Reiner's initiative that would increase taxes on high income earners to pay for universal preschool; this proposed initiative is labeled exactly what it is …A Wealth Tax! Read More... Craig DeLuz Visit The Home of Uncommon Sense... www.craigdeluz.com

I keep reading that stories that support for the ballot propositions backed by California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is very weak. Even the Washington Times claims two are failing ("in the polls"), as if that finding represented a concensus of polls (Oct. 17, "For Arnold stakes are high"). I had thought I had seen them doing well, so I looked it up on the internet. The most recent poll I could find was done by Survey USA, released October 2nd. Its results: Proposition 73: Physicials must notify a parent of a pregnant minor 48 hours before performing the abortion. Yes, 59%....

BURBANK - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and several state lawmakers kicked off a signature drive Thursday to place an initiative on next year's ballot for what would be the nation's most comprehensive sex-offender punishment and control reform. "We will send a very clear message to all the sexual predators out here, the cowards who want to victimize innocent Californians, that we will stop you, we will catch you and we will punish you," Schwarzenegger said. The measure - called Jessica's Law after a package of similar laws being pursued around the nation following a case in Florida - would require all...

If you want people to vote against a political reform measure, do you really want your campaign represented by a man who went to prison on political corruption charges? That's just what happened in Bakersfield earlier this week when The Californian's editorial board hosted an informal debate on Proposition 77, the redistricting reform measure on the Nov. 8 ballot. If passed, it would take the drawing of legislative and congressional district lines out of the hands of politicians, who can manipulate the lines to ensure their re-elections. It would turn the job over to a non-partisan panel of retired judges....

Gov. ARNOLD is coming to Orange County, tommorrow, Monday September 26. We can join a rally in front of the Hyatt Regency, at 17900 Jamboree Road, Irvine 92614 at 11:15 AM. The purpose of the rally is to counter-balance the paid Union members who are protesting Props. 74, 75, 76 and 77. This is a great time to bring your kids to look for Arnold and to show them American democracy. Be positive for the Media. Bring pro signs for your favorite proposition and don't forget the American flag - it says it all.

Bill Clinton is building on Jimmy Carter's example and creating a new paradigm for ex-presidents. They're ba-aack. Bill Clinton and George H. W. Bush, America's political odd couple, are teaming up for another big roadshow, this time to raise money for victims of Hurricane Katrina. Last week, they stood shoulder to shoulder with President George W. Bush in the Oval Office, the 59-year-old Clinton now completely gray and looking a bit fragile, and the 81-year-old Bush looking stooped and a bit weary. Later the pair appeared together in Houston, chatting with evacuees at the Astrodome and the Reliant Center Arena....

NEW YORK (AFP) - Former US president Bill Clinton gathered world leaders at his alternative to the UN summit, with the same goals of reducing poverty and conflict and highlighting Gaza on opening night. British Prime Minister Tony Blair, King Abdullah II of Jordan and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice were the stars at the first session of the Clinton Global Initiative on Thursday night. While the UN summit struggles to answer the main problems facing the planet: nuclear proliferation, terrorism and the fight against poverty and disease, Clinton hopes to secure concrete commitments to counter the different scourges...

WASHINGTON - The Federal Election Commission voted Thursday to let members of Congress raise unlimited "soft money" donations to fight Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's redistricting initiative. The 6-0 decision by the commission came in response to a request from U.S. Reps. Howard Berman, D-North Hollywood, and John Doolittle, R-Rocklin, both of whom oppose the redistricting plan. The decision will allow federal officeholders to raise unlimited sums from unions, corporations and other donors to support or oppose any measure on the Nov. 8 special election ballot. In general, federal campaign finance law limits federal officeholders to raising $5,000 each from donors for...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Secretary of State Bruce McPherson on Monday proposed changing the state's election process so state officials and initiative sponsors would have more time to review petitions before seeking voter signatures. The change is designed to prevent problems that arose earlier this year when proponents of Proposition 77 discovered they had used two different versions - the one they circulated to voters differed in 17 places from the one they had submitted to the attorney general for review. The disclosure prompted a court fight that ended Friday when the state Supreme Court allowed the measure on the Nov....

PARIS (AFP) - Should it be named after a Greek or Roman god? A great scientist or artist? How about calling it after a character in the "Star Wars" film series? Or your best friend? The British magazine New Scientist has called on readers to help suggest a name for the solar system's 10th planet, whose discovery was announced last week by a team led by US astronomer Mike Brown of the California Institute of Technology. The new world has been given the provisional designation of 2003 UB313. But Brown has 10 years in which to think of a catchier...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed the 2005-06 budget yesterday amid an orgy of self-congratulation among California's leaders, who were proud to miss the constitutional deadline of June 15 by a few weeks instead of the usual few months. Unfortunately, while the relatively quick agreement on the budget is welcome, the $117.5 billion spending plan is anything but. If the stakes weren't so high, the Sacramento types' celebration of their new comity would seem like, well, comedy. Consider the points raised by Sen. Tom McClintock, as ever the skunk at the Capitol picnic: The 2004-05 budget had a gap of only $2...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - The Legislature's Democratic leaders are seeking to join a lawsuit aimed at removing the redistricting initiative from the special election ballot, a direct challenge to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The measure is one of three the governor placed on the Nov. 8 ballot as part of his "year of reform" package and seeks to change how boundaries are drawn for members of the state Legislature, Congress and the state Board of Equalization. Attorney General Bill Lockyer filed a lawsuit last week claiming supporters of Proposition 77 violated the state Constitution by significantly changing the wording of the initiative...

The last thing California needs is another sideshow. That's why the looming battle between Attorney General Bill Lockyer and Secretary of State Bruce McPherson over Proposition 77 is so dismaying. The measure would take redistricting power away from the Legislature and give it to a panel of judges. Unfortunately, sponsors submitted an initiative with slightly different wording than the petition signed by 951,000 Californians. As a result, Lockyer yesterday sued to keep the measure off the fall ballot. But McPherson says it is his call – and he sees the wording differences as trivial. On balance, McPherson has the better...

Just Reported! I-912 has turned in a total of approx. 420,000 signatures to the Sec. of State. That's more then 12,000 signatures a day since it got started with NO paied signature gatherers!

SACRAMENTO -- A proposed initiative ending Proposition 13 protection for commercial property would cost Los Angeles County taxpayers more than $26 million annually to implement, according to an analysis by the California Assessors' Association. The Tax Fairness Act has received almost $2.4 million from a group of influential public employee unions to circulate petitions placing the measure on the June 2006 ballot. Proponents say it would generate $2.8 billion per year in additional property tax revenues statewide. A CAA review of the proposal found it would be difficult and costly for counties to implement, with counties probably having to spend...

With Gov. Schwarzenegger's announcement last night that California will have a special election this fall on several high-profile initiatives, we can expect his controversial proposals on redistricting and changing teacher tenure to continue to get more attention than his fiscal reform plan. This is unfortunate. For while his "Live Within Our Means Act" is a well-intentioned effort to minimize the severity of the next budgetary shortfall, it fails to place effective curbs on spending necessary for long-term fiscal solvency. After his November 2003 inauguration, Schwarzenegger considered promoting a constitutional expenditure limit to reduce the $38 billion in debt his predecessor,...

On 11 occasions over the past nine months, the U.S. and allies cooperating in the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) have successfully prevented the spread of nuclear, chemical or biological weapons or related items. At least two of those incidents involved Iran, two involved North Korea and another involved an unidentified third country, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher confirmed. Tuesday marked the second anniversary of the PSI, a project launched by President Bush during a 2003 visit to Krakow, Poland. With a focus on stopping and searching ships, planes, trains or trucks, the PSI aims to prevent terrorists and rogue states...

The phone rang the other evening just as my wife and I were sitting down to dinner. My wife answered. "It's for you," she said. "It's Arnold." She wasn't kidding. It was indeed the governor, on tape, of course. The governor was requesting my help to wage war against the special interests whose wrecking ball is demolishing our state fiscal house. He said a petition would arrive soon by mail and by becoming a signatory, and encouraging others to do the same, I would be doing my part to "reform the budget process and bring state spending under control." Sure...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday turned in thousands of petition signatures supporting ballot measures he wants to put before voters in a November special election. But Schwarzenegger said he is still interested in reaching compromise solutions with Democratic leaders before a mid-June deadline for calling the election. "Our doors are open for negotiation," he said. The move comes as Schwarzenegger's popularity has hit new lows and Democratic opposition to his proposals have grown in strength. The governor and his supporters are pushing three constitutional amendments that would put new limits on state spending, lengthen the time...

* In 2002, we voted NO on R51 and its 9¢ gas tax hike. * In 2003, the politicians imposed a 5¢ gas tax increase anyway without a vote of the people. * Now, the Legislature voted another 9.5¢ gas tax hike. That's 14.5¢ in two years!!!

Sacramento -- Leaders of a newly formed coalition of faith-based and conservative political organizations said Wednesday they will work to place a constitutional amendment before voters to define marriage as an institution between a man and a woman. The announcement by the group, ProtectMarriage.com, came a day after AB19, a bill to make the state's definition of marriage gender-neutral, cleared the first of two committees it must pass to reach a floor vote in the state Assembly.

Initiative: Preschool for all kids in the state ROB REINER TO LAUNCH PUSH FOR '06 BALLOT By Luis Zaragoza Mercury News Motivated by studies that suggest prepping children for kindergarten is key to their future academic and personal success, film director Rob Reiner planned to announce today that he is launching a campaign to make free, half-day preschool programs available to every 4-year-old in California. ``We've spent a year discussing this -- in a sense, doing what any legislature would do,'' said Reiner of the committee of labor, business and education experts that helped shape an initiative he hopes to...

Gerrymander and the Need for Redistricting Reform by Michael D. Robbins December 5, 2000 Revised March 31, 2005 This self-contained comprehensive article on reapportionment, redistricting, and gerrymander is suitable for both individual and classroom use. Abstract: The U.S. Constitution requires that every ten years a national census be taken and the results of that census be used to reapportion representatives in Congress among the states according to population. After reapportionment, each state must perform redistricting, the process of re-drawing the election district boundary lines for each type of state or federal office (e.g., state senator, state assemblyman, congress representative, etc.)...

Maybe Californians should start calling "the Governator" the "Road Warrior." In the last few weeks, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, frustrated by a Democratic legislative majority that declines to act on his priorities, has taken to the streets in a Humvee, christened Reform 1, to qualify his initiative reform package, possibly for a November special election. It's tempting for conservatives to dismiss his penchant to govern by initiative as typical of a celebrity governor. But such cynicism is shortsighted. Schwarzenegger's circumvention of the Legislature allows him to avoid the frequently unproductive dickering that makes up a big part of the legislative process....

SACRAMENTO – A labor-backed coalition announced a signature-gathering drive yesterday for an initiative that would increase business property taxes by an estimated $2.8 billion a year to aid schools, transportation, local public safety and senior citizen tax relief. The drive, funded by the California Teachers Association and the California Correctional Peace Officers Association, is part of a scramble to ready measures for a possible special election this fall. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, calling this the "year of reform," has business backing for four proposals that would control state spending, create new legislative and congressional districts, change public employee pensions and switch...

Right now, just one tax-cut activist is fronting the effort to check the political clout of the state's public employee unions. Lurking in the background, however, are the nation's biggest drug companies and their $7.7 million stash of campaign funds, not to mention Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and a political campaign committee for which he has pledged to raise millions more.

Most of those 80-some voter initiatives that are either pending at the attorney general's office or already cleared for signature collection will never make it to the ballot. There's not enough money. Some are near-duplicate versions of the same measure; others are just gleams in the eye of wannabes with the $200 needed to file - initiative versions of the 135 people who ran for governor in the 2003 recall. But some are chess pieces in what may be the biggest and most complicated game of political chicken in California history. If Hiram Johnson and the California Progressives who wrote...

WASHINGTON - President Bush (news - web sites) on Tuesday dismissed criticism that his plan to steer public money to religious charities might discriminate against people who did not share their beliefs, saying those groups should have an "all drunks are welcome" policy. Speaking to more than 250 religious leaders invited by the White House, Bush vented his frustration that Congress has not approved the idea he first offered soon after he took office to let religious charities spend taxpayer money. In a speech at a Washington hotel, Bush took on what he described as a government culture "unfriendly" to...

When Mexico’s Foreign Secretary, Luis Ernesto Derbez made his threats against Arizona on behalf of the illegal aliens invading that state, it was no coincidence that his first plan of attack would involve America’s courts. Derbez thoroughly understands that Arizona’s new law resulted from a ballot initiative, Proposition 200, roundly supported by the voters. Thus it would be difficult to motivate the Arizona Legislature to act in a manner so blatantly in opposition to the will of the people. So Derbez is focusing on the latest and greatest method of thwarting that popular will, and if successful he will have...

The Kyoto Protocol, which came into effect on February 16, 2005 in a blaze of celebrations, proves the power and might of obscure Canadian, Maurice Strong. As one of its prime architects, Strong helped lay the groundwork for Kyoto at the United Nations 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. Under the Kyoto Protocol to that year’s UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), industrialized nations are to reduce their combined emissions of six major greenhouse gases during the five-year period from 2008 to 2012 to below 1990 levels. Never mind that Kyoto mandates reductions in carbon dioxide emissions to...

Volunteers Tell How They Do ItThe Parents' Right to Know initiative is sprinting its way to the next statewide election ballot. By Monday, January 24 the count reached more than 415,000 signatures gathered. Readers can see a twice-weekly updated "Signature Count-Down," download other information, and order more petitions on the website: a href="www.parentsright2know.org">www.parentsright2know.org. The initiative requires that a physician notify a parent or guardian of a minor daughter at least 48 hours before performing an abortion upon her. If the initiative is approved by California voters (polls show that around 75 to 80 percent support parental notification), the California Supreme...

In December, the Alaska Libertarian Party filed a lawsuit against the state, claiming a campaign finance reform initiative to be included on the ballot in 2006 is too sweeping -- and thus not in keeping with the state's "single-subject" law, which requires that proposed legislation address only one topic. On Dec. 29, Anchorage Superior Court Judge John Suddock ruled that the initiative does not violate the law and will be allowed to appear on the August, 2006 primary ballot. Among other changes, the initiative seeks to lower the amount candidates can receive from individuals (from $1,000 to $500), from political...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Complaints are mounting that a newly created California stem cell agency has failed to keep the public informed of its actions as it begins doling out $3 billion in taxpayer-provided grants. Still others complain the agency hasn't developed rules to prevent its managers from unjustly enriching themselves and their employers. Many of the 29 board members, appointed by the governor and other elected officials to run the agency, represent research universities and the biotechnology industry, both of which are expected to win millions of dollars worth of grants. The criticism picked up this week as the...

Two years ago last weekend, a determined state legislator met with a group of scientists to talk about an idea eavesdroppers might have thought was far-fetched. Over dinner at the trendy Esquire Grill in Sacramento, the group discussed putting together a coalition of patient advocates and scientists to sponsor a state bond initiative that would provide money for stem cell research. President Bush had signed a bill a year earlier limiting the embryonic stem cell work scientists could pursue with federal dollars, and some conservatives in Congress wanted to criminalize the research. The group at the dinner in Sacramento wanted...

The purpose of FreeRepublic.com's multiple message boards is to limit the topics for each board to particular topics. Posting the same message on all the boards defeats the purpose of multiple-boards for special topics. It is very annoying to see the same message on every bulletin board. PLEASE! DO THE READERS A FAVOR. STOP CROSS-POSTING YOUR MESSAGES!

SACRAMENTO – If Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who wants to close a growing state budget gap without a tax increase, cannot persuade the Legislature to make spending cuts, he may have some outside leverage. A group plans to place an initiative on the ballot that would limit spending to the growth in inflation and population, similar to one passed after the Proposition 13 property-tax cut and then loosened by later measures. The threat of ballot measures helped the popular Republican governor get the Democratic-controlled Legislature to give him two early victories – workers' compensation reform and repeal of driver licenses for...

The REAL Story Behind Thanksgiving Did you know that the first [Plymouth Colony Pilgrim's] Thanksgiving was a celebration of the triumph of private property and individual initiative? William Bradford was the governor of the original Pilgrim colony, founded at Plymouth in 1621. The colony was first organized on a communal basis, as their financiers required. Land was owned in common. The Pilgrims farmed communally, too, following the "from each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs" precept. The results were disastrous. Communism didn't work any better 400 years ago than it does today. By 1623, the colony...

Did you know that the first Thanksgiving was a celebration of the triumph of private property and individual initiative? William Bradford was the governor of the original Pilgrim colony, founded at Plymouth in 1621. The colony was first organized on a communal basis, as their financiers required. Land was owned in common. The Pilgrims farmed communally, too, following the "from each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs" precept. The results were disastrous. Communism didn't work any better 400 years ago than it does today. By 1623, the colony had suffered serious losses. Starvation was imminent. Bradford...

Did you know that the first Thanksgiving was a celebration of the triumph of private property and individual initiative? William Bradford was the governor of the original Pilgrim colony, founded at Plymouth in 1621. The colony was first organized on a communal basis, as their financiers required. Land was owned in common. The Pilgrims farmed communally, too, following the "from each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs" precept. The results were disastrous. Communism didn't work any better 400 years ago than it does today. By 1623, the colony had suffered serious losses. Starvation was imminent. Bradford...

In a stunning election development that the national media has yet to report, a near-majority of Latino voters in Arizona backed a statewide initiative to deny benefits to illegal immigrants. Politicians and their advisors have widely assumed that any crackdown on illegal immigration would be wildly unpopular with America's burgeoning Hispanic population. Some even call those who want stricter immigration enforcement "racist." But with Arizona's Proposition 200 - which would deny some government benefits to illegal aliens and require proof of citizenship to vote - none of those assumptions proved true. Rather than alienating the state's Hispanic population, a full...

I seldom use the words, “moral imperative,” and, when I do, they carry behind them an urgent necessity for rational individuals to respond to an imminent threat to the inalienable rights of man. In this Presidential election, however, I see a clear moral imperative to defeat the power grab of a man who would endanger the sacred liberties of every man dwelling in America, but especially of the most autonomous and industrious among us. I shall enumerate, in brief, a horrid threefold menace that a would-be Kerry administration poses to our freedoms across the board. - Kerry’s national health insurance...

...Voters will consider 163 initiatives and referendums in 34 states.... Gay Marriage: This is the social issue du jour, and measures to ban it will appear on ballots in 11 states, including the battlegrounds of Michigan and Ohio. Proponents have their work cut out; ballot measures defending traditional marriage have never lost and tend to be approved by wide margins.... [W]hat's important is that the decision is left to the electorate and their representatives, not dictated from the bench by activist judges.... Tort Reform: The medical liability reform initiatives on the ballot in no fewer that four states -- Wyoming,...

Sacramento, CA (LifeNews.com) -- Despite supporting destructive embryonic stem cell research, California's largest nurses association this week announced it opposes Proposition 71, the ballot measure that would spend billions of taxpayer dollars to fund the unproven research. The 58,000-member California Nurses Association says it will oppose the measure because of substantial concerns about adequate safeguards and the likely use of public funds it says will enrich pharmaceutical and biotech corporations. Deborah Burger, RN, the group's president, says Prop. 71 "is fraught with substantial loopholes that could aggravate those disparities, fails to guarantee protections for women who participate in the research,...

With Election Day less than seven weeks away, ballots are finally shaping up around the country. The ballot measures database is nearly complete-data is lacking or incomplete from just three states (Maine, Texas and Vermont). Here are the totals so far: 2004 Ballot Measures Measure Type Number Citizen Initiative 59Legislative Referendum 101Popular Referendum 2Other 1TOTAL 163

PHOENIX (AP) - An initiative to dismantle Arizona's system for publicly funding state campaigns was knocked off the November ballot by the state Supreme Court. In a brief order Thursday, the justices upheld a lower court ruling that Proposition 106, the so-called "No Taxpayer Money for Politicians" initiative, violated the state constitution's ban on including more than one subject in a proposed constitutional amendment. In a July 1 lawsuit, opponents of the initiative had argued it violated the single-subject ban by both prohibiting public funding of candidates and by depriving the state agency overseeing the system of funding for its...

VIENNA, VIRGINIA -- As a part of a week-long gathering of New Thought leaders coming from around the world beginning July 18, 2004, the 89th International New Thought Alliance (INTA) leadership will be honoring Bishop William E. Swing for his groundbreaking work to stop religiously motivated violence. The Congress will be held at the Sheraton Premiere Tysons Corner, Vienna, Virginia from July 18 -23. Rev. Swing has gained national attention due to his innovative leadership of the drive to establish a United Religions body to promote religious harmony throughout the world through small circle dialogues among diverse populations. Bishop Swing...

SAN FRANCISCO - San Francisco voters will have a chance to express their views on the U.S.-led war in Iraq (news - web sites) in November with a ballot initiative calling on the federal government to end the conflict. The toughly worded statement, which will appear on the city's November ballot, says the war has cost more than 850 American lives and bled the nation of billions of dollars.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is opposing a November ballot proposition that would reform the state's tough "three-strikes" sentencing law. It could be a formidable obstacle for supporters of Proposition 66, which has fared well in early polling but will face a battering challenge from tough-on-crime opponents who warn thousands of violent felons would return to the streets. It's not yet clear, however, just how fixed the popular governor will be on the issue in a presidential election year and a November ballot freighted with 13 other initiatives. Indeed, Schwarzenegger used an adviser to publicly announce his position...

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — The battle over gay marriage in Oregon shifted to the ballot Wednesday, when opponents of same-sex marriages triumphantly turned in the highest number of signatures ever submitted for an initiative measure in the state's history. The 244,587 signatures amassed by the Defense of Marriage Coalition — more than twice the necessary amount — are the latest salvo in the state's ongoing fight over the contentious social issue. In March, commissioners in Multnomah County, Oregon's largest and most liberal enclave, directed employees to issue marriage licenses to gay couples. More than 3,000 marriage licenses were issued before...