Pacific Gas & Electric Co. sole contributor to-- & main beneficiary of-- Prop. 16

By GottaLaff

This is one example of how an uninformed electorate can make (potentially) an uninformed decision that would negatively impact my own very state of California:

Under Prop. 16, a one-third minority of voters could thwart the vast majority of disgruntled consumers who want to switch electricity providers and get a rate cut.

And because public entities are barred from spending money to advocate their side but a private utility can fork out unlimited millions, the two-thirds hurdle would be nearly insurmountable.

"The more competition in the electricity industry the better," says Jack Stewart, president of the California Manufacturers and Technology Assn., which opposes Prop. 16. "There's no reason to make it harder for local utility districts to get started if they can provide electricity at a lower cost than investor-run utilities."

PG&E's two allies in its brazen move are the California Chamber of Commerce and the California Taxpayers' Assn. The utility sits on the board of each group.

The two-thirds vote, they note, is what's required for local special tax increases and bond issues. (School bonds need only 55%.) But that's irrelevant. Taxes aren't an issue in electricity service.

And city or school bonds generally are repaid by all residents through sales or property taxes. Utility borrowing is financed by revenue bonds tied to electricity rates.

PG&E's clever campaign consultants are trying to exploit the public's current mistrust of government and anger about budget deficits.

Unlimited funding, misleading talking points: Yep, all the ingredients for a lopsided campaign. This will, and has, become all too commonplace.

As a people, we better learn to read, educate others, and fight back. Stat.

Georgia centenarian voter lauded by Obama dies

I'm sure she felt lucky to live long enough to vote for the first AA president.

ATLANTA (AP) — Ann Nixon Cooper, the Atlanta centenarian lauded by President Barack Obama in his election night speech last year, has died. She was 107.

Obama in his 2008 speech called Cooper an example of "the heartbreak and the hope" of the past century. He noted she'd been born at a time when women and blacks couldn't vote and lived to cast her ballot for the country's first black president.

(snip)

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that she died in the home she'd lived in since 1938. She was hospitalized recently for circulatory trouble.

Cooper would have turned 108 on Jan. 9.

Kentucky Clinton backers inch toward Obama

By GottaLaff

Little by little, voters are seeing McCain/Palin for what they are, and for what they aren't:

Perhaps the most influential voting bloc in Kentucky this fall will be the supporters of a candidate who's not even in the presidential race.

That would be the throngs of Hillary Rodham Clinton supporters, many of whom are women — specifically white, baby boomer-types. They are known online as Hillarinas or Clintonistas.[...]

And many of those who spoke to the Herald-Leader and were contacted by the newspaper's pollster at the time said they'd struggle to support Obama in the fall if Clinton didn't win their party's nomination.[...]

[Clinton supporter] Reed, who said in the spring that she admired McCain's record of military service and positions on national defense, said her change of heart has come after studying the two candidates' positions on domestic issues — particularly health care and the economy.

"If my decision was about preventing terrorism, I would vote for John McCain," she said. "But I am placing my emphasis on the economy, health and welfare and I want to get that national debt paid down." [...]

Casual Democrats might be persuaded by Palin's presence, said [Clinton supporter] Tarpey. But not most Clinton supporters, she said.

"She doesn't have the same positions as Hillary," Tarpey said, pointing to Palin's rigid opposition to abortion rights and strong support for drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. "The whole thing about Hillary Clinton supporters voting for McCain, that's just something that the Republicans ginned up," said Susan Carson Lambert, 60, a farmer and renewable energy consultant from Lawrenceburg. Lambert was a rare Democrat who was still undecided in the days leading up to the May 20 primary.

She said last week she ended up voting for Clinton. And she said she expects many of the voters who stood up for their woman last spring to now stand by their party's man in November.

"Most people I know who I've had conversations with say, 'This is my party's candidate and I'm standing behind him,' " she said.

Kentucky. Sweet.

Poll-itics: Good news for Obama

By GottaLaff

Per Commenter Eve, this will help to explain why polls are not yet predictive of November and why they will be predictive in October. And it's good news for Obama.

(Click on chart to enlarge)

If engagement and interest is what makes a voter a likely voter, and if younger voters have reached saturation ahead of older voters reflected in their superior grasp of information, then any likely voter screen that doesn't currently skew Democratic is probably an incorrect likely voter screen.

Oh, okay, if they insist.

Naked beer cans

By GottaLaff

I just got back from the store where I did a double take when I saw this (I snapped the pic with my handy dandy little cell phone):

(click on any image to enlarge)

"Beverage wear"? Are they serious? This is what it's come down to, consumers dressing up their water bottles. Okay, okay, I have to admit, I've often shielded my eyes in the Naked Juice aisle:

And don't get me started on Oscar Mayer Jumbo Weiners, let alone Wonder buns. At least one of those should come with an overcoat.

Come to think of it, now we know how to track the McCain voters: See who has naked beer cans vs. who feels the need to cover them up.

Now back to our regularly scheduled blogging.