Unopposed; Hope vs. Expectation. I was just waking up today when a recorded election message from Joe Piscopo came in on my answering machine. The bastard says, 'I'm a Democrat, but I'm voting for Tom Kean' (the odious Republican blueblood who has slandered not just his opponent but also Democrats generally in one of the nastiest campaigns New Jersey has ever seen). I hung up. I never particularly cared for Piscopo — tho he did have a great body, last I saw, and showed pride in being from New Jersey. Still, he is now officially on my sh*tlist for advocating that this very Blue State go Red.
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I have mentioned that some 64 seats in Congress are unopposed each election cycle. When I received my sample ballot last week, I discovered that my Congressman, Donald Payne, holds one of them. That's disgraceful. There is almost no chance that I would vote for a Republican for Congress, but I and other voters in the three counties that comprise the 10th Congressional District should have a choice.
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The sample ballot shows that we have three public-policy issues to decide, so I still need to vote, especially in that the race for U.S. Senate is very close. It's important that we vote for Robert Menendez today, and defeat the beast Kean. (An astounding typo appears in a TV spot in which Newark's popular young mayor, Cory Booker, and various other officeholders urge us to vote a straight Line A slate (Democratic). At the very top of the closing screen that lists the Democrats on that line appears "Mendendez". MenDendez. How could that happen? Some people just don't see typos.)
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The first ballot question asks if we should shift some of the state sales tax revenues for "property-tax relief". The effect of this would be to move money from the poor, who don't own real estate, to the middle class and rich who do. While I own property and that measure would benefit me, I already get a property-tax rebate, so I am voting against it. Sales-tax revenues should support programs for all the people. The poor should not be compelled to subsidize the middle class and rich.
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The second measure would amend the state constitution to allow the shifting of some money from hazardous waste cleanup and water-quality programs on open lands to recreational facilities on those lands. I don't think New Jersey, as the most densely populated state in the Nation, with one of the highest concentrations (if not very highest) of Superfund hazardous-waste sites, should be taking money away from cleaning up that mess, so no, I won't vote for that either. We are a rich state. If we want to create baseball fields or tennis courts on public lands, we can afford to do that without taking away from water-quality programs.
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The third measure proposes to amend the state constitution to increase the proportion of the gasoline tax that goes to public transportation. I really don't think trivia like this belongs in a state CONSTITUTION, but since it is, and we need to encourage and improve public transportation, I'll vote yes on that one.
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Now, what do I foresee happening today, nationally? I don't predict. I don't pretend that I can see into the future. I do have hopes, but today I also have contrary expectations. I hope the Democrats will rout the Republicans, repudiate the Bush Administration, and force an early withdrawal from Iraq and reversal of the domestic war against the poor and middle class that the Republican Plutocratic Revolution has waged since Reagan's 1986 tax 'reform' (revolution). I'm not sanguine* about that, however. I don't think there is enuf play in the system for there to be a massive change. Too many "safe seats" have been created by gerrymandering in essentially all states for there to be massive swings. Tho I would dearly love to see a Democratic sweep, I don't see how it can happen.
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Frankly, since the Democrats have refused to address the key bread-and-butter issues (like personal debt and usury, despite my repeated urgings), I am very afraid they will fail to take either house, and we will be stuck with the present politics of greed and division for another two years.
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Almost all of the media pundits I have heard seem to think the Republicans will lose the House, tho not necessarily by much, and feel certain the Dems have little chance to take the Senate. I'm afraid the Democrats will lose both, and the same evil that controlled the Nation yesterday will control the Nation tomorrow. I sure hope I'm wrong.
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* Jon Stewart on the Daily Show last nite mispronounced "sanguine", saang.gwéen and was reproached for it by his guest, Jerry Seinfeld, who remarked, 'This is the most intelligent show on television. You can't mispronounce words!' I agree. That's why I'm a spelling reformer, because even intelligent people can be easily misled into embarrassing errors by our present, nonphonetic orthography. I'm using "sanguine" as my Simpler Spelling Word of the Day today.
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(The current U.S. military death toll in Iraq, according to the website "Iraq Coalition Casualties", is 2,837 — for Israel.)




- posted by L. Craig Schoonmaker @ 2:58 PM