Here are the rules for voting in Washington State. Everyone is encouraged to vote and it is your right. You do need to register to vote, however, and you do need to be a resident of Washington State.
To register to vote, you must be:
At this time I’m against Initiative Measure No. 1240. Our schools are constantly needing more money now and obviously can’t manage what we have in place so I can’t imagine them digging any deeper into a hole with charter schools. I do support the idea of the charter school system and perhaps would support it in the future. At this time, however, better management, reviews, and oversight is needed in our current public schools to see where the over spending is happening and how improvements can be made. Our public schools today are constantly complaining about lack of funding (I blame it on spending), however, with the money they are getting now through enrollment – it would be passed to the charter schools making it even more difficult. It’s a very messy situation and the main reason I can’t support it at this time is because our current system (financial for schools) needs to be examined and repaired first.
Initiative Measure No. 1240.
“This measure would authorize up to forty publicly-funded charter schools open to all students, operated through approved, nonreligious, nonprofit organizations, with government oversight; and modify certain laws applicable to them as public schools. “
As I do support the idea of charter schools and would most likely support it down the road, due to to the current situation of public school system I can’t support this initiative at this time. We need to root out the problems with our current system first.
I’m tired of the constant and steady (and sneaky) raises in my taxes. It’s always the same story each time and it goes a little like this “we’re broke” or “the recession is hurting us” or perhaps “they keep cutting our funding”. It’s troubling especially with all the revenue being generated from every sector. The revenue being generated is at it’s highest! I believe the problem is with the spending and management and it each department needs to become completely transparent with line item spending. Until that happens I will never be for raising taxes.
I believe most people would support raising taxes if they knew where each dollar was going. They wouldn’t have a problem supporting their schools or the local fire department, however, without honesty and complete transparency, the public will not support it because they know it’s due to wasteful spending internally.
Initiative Measure No. 1185
Initiative Measure No. 1185 is already the law but will be expiring soon. Your vote supporting it renews the law making it more difficult to raise taxes on all of us. Your vote for Initiative Measure No. 1185 “would restate existing statutory requirements that legislative actions raising taxes must be approved by two-thirds legislative majorities or receive voter approval, and that new or increased fees require majority legislative approval.”
Just two years ago, 64% of voters approved this measure. I stand with them to re-instate this measure for many years to come. Don’t raise my taxes unless you come to me with a plan and full transparency (line item spending) for your department/program. We then can make a decision if its useful or useless.
Last night was the first round of the debates for the presidential campaign. I certainly was expecting a debate, however, it feel short. It was 90 minutes of Romney laying the smack down on Obama. It appeared at times Obama was being scolded by Romney like a child who did something wrong. The only real debate and I use “debate” lightly was in regards to the topic of ObamaCare. The President stood proud to have created such a program and seemed confident to talk about it. During the debate Romney mentioned laying off Sesame Street and big bird. The producers of Sesame Street were not happy about losing that funding provided by the Government should Romney be elected. The statement released by Sesame Street sounded like Romney was firing them. In realty, Sesame Street has had a free ride for 43 years now and they just need to add commercials to the program. Currently the show doesn’t have any sponsors or commercials. I know the show is valuable but does it deserve to be founded by the Government. Paying all their staff and CEO’s? Non profits do make money and a lot of it… look at the Salvation Army or the Goodwill.
For this article I was curious just how much Sesame Street makes per year so I looked it up. On their 2011 IRS form they pulled in 8 million dollars from Government grants. I would say that is fair amount to work it out on there own right? Well here is the kicker… they made an additional $45 million on product royalties! Things like toys and Tickle Me Elmo’s for example. Oh it doesn’t end there. They have content and syndication deals also. When it’s all said and done in 2011 Sesame Street pulled in $112 million dollars in revenue (not including the 8 million in Government support). Big Bird is part of the 1%! Why is Big Bird on Welfare then? This show can support itself. There has to be a better way to make that “poor” program work and I’m sure they will figure it out. It’s just a good example of things that are not going to make everyone happy. It was sad to hear that news from Romney he may cut them, however, looking at the money now and what the show is bringing in – they don’t need us paying for their show. If you cut things some people will get mad and that is why most politicians don’t cut at all. They want to save their office and don’t want the negative response by the few mad people. Unlike Obama who is “helping” everyone with the handouts and not putting his neck on the line with any program cuts or decisions. His goal has been fluffing up the job numbers (which he still failed at) and made 47% of the public loving the free handouts of the Government. It’s pathetic.
None the less, it was a good showing for Romney. I expect Obama to come with more heat next round, however, he better be ready with the answers to his failed numbers the last 4 years. It’s going to be a tough road debating the negative numbers during his presidential history. He can’t really say what he would do better this time because on every topic he has failed at it… plus why didn’t he implement this new approach the last 4 years. The numbers of the last 4 years don’t lie. The spending has never been worse. Jobs are in the gutter and worse than when he started. ObamaCare isn’t free like most of the public thinks and Mitt has already done it …. better. We have a cyberwar with Iran and soon a real one. Syria is falling apart. North Korea hates us and we are running private operations there the administration doesn’t want to call a war yet. China and Russia sure don’t support us. National deficit is maxed more than Bush spent for the wars. Can’t blame it on Bush because Obama raised it more in 4 years than Bush did in 8 years. Obama on energy was a disaster and total loss of billions. We are sending billions to countries who don’t appreciate it. Our embassies are under terrorist attacks all over including Libya. Could it get any worse with Romney even with little to no experience on foreign policy – it would appear he has a better shot at it from this point. There really isn’t a topic that Obama hasn’t failed at. You simply can’t debate with a failed record. He can say what he want to do and what people want to hear but in reality he’s had 4 years and hasn’t implemented those things. You just have to sit there and take it like a man just like Obama did last night.
The only thing Obama has working for him is his history of supporting and financially helping everyone for free. The handouts to the public who will continue to support him until the end. Can’t blame them really that would be a nice life and I wouldn’t want it to end. It’s not their money so who cares right. Obama has the African and Latino votes which is huge. However, history has proven Republicans have done more for blacks than the democrats have ever done. The civil rights movement was started by Republicans and wasn’t even backed by democrats! Look that up if you don’t believe me. Obama has supported the illegals so of course they will continue with the support for him. Obama’s brand is strong. He is a family man which I believe is true and that really hasn’t been displayed to the public for Romney. American’s eat that up and feel better about someone who has that brand in place.
Next debate is Paul Ryan vs Joe Biden for Vice President. I predict Ryan will mop the floor with him. Ryan is an AMAZING talker and knows his numbers and facts well. His banter and wittiness will be sharper than Biden. I suspect Joe Biden will do better than Obama because they will be more prepared due to how the Romney/Obama debate concluded.
The time has finally come where we get to see the Romney vs Obama debate. It will be interesting for sure to see who will be the leader. We all know Obama is a good talker and this debate may just win him the election if done right. There are many problems he is going to have to have a response to such as both the low jobs and economy numbers. I suspect his answer will be the typical point the finger to Bush and blaming the Republicans for holding up his proposals on the table. As of right now, I don’t believe Romney is a very good talker so we’ll have to see how that works for him.
History has told us many elections are won or lost during the debates. This election comes down to giving Obama another chance or letting someone new in there to see what he can do. It’s a matter of how many people believe the excuses President Obama gives regarding his past and like I said he is a great talker. You see Obama on talk shows like the view for example because they know talking good is one of his greatest assets. Then as Romney mentioned in secret, that 47% of Americans are being supported by the Government so they are of course going to support Obama until the end. Why would they change anything and vote for Romney? No way they would. Many people were easily convinced with the hopes and changes he was preaching 4 years ago and many are still on-board with the President. It’s sort of like it doesn’t matter what he says – just how he says it (which is amazing). I expect to see Romney start to say and support the things Obama supports to try to pull some additional votes. We’ve seen this already with him supporting President Obama’s immigration policy. More than 60% of voters supported Obama last time in 2008. He will be making more and more promising trying to convince the Obama supporters to change their minds and try a new path.
If you’re watching the Romney vs Obama debate tonight you can find it on pretty much every tv channel at 6pm PST.
Over 50 million are expected to be watching the debate tonight.
Lets get it on!
