California Statewide Direct Primary — 2018 A

Yesterday, the Official Voter Information Guide for the June primary election arrived in the mail. While I will have several sets of comments to make about this in the future, today’s post will deal with just a few points of information.

The election will take place on Tuesday, June 5, 2018.

Polls will be open from 7:00 am to 8:00 pm on election day. (If you are in line when the polls close, you still get to vote.)

May 7, 2018 is the first day to vote-by-mail.

May 21, 2018 is the last day to register to vote. You are eligible to vote if you are:

  • a U. S. citizen living in California
  • at least 18 years of age
  • registered where you currently live
  • not currently in state or federal prison or on parole for the conviction of a felony
  • not currently found mentally incompetent to vote by a court

The California Secretary of State’s Website — http://www.sos.ca.gov/ — gives you access to election information:

  • The Voter Guide
  • Registration information and status
  • Find polling place or vote center on Election Day
  • Get vote-by-mail ballot information
  • First-time voters
  • Research campaign contributions and lobbying activity (follow the money):
  • Watch live election results after poll close on Election Day

Register to Vote

Register to Vote: http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/voter-registration/

There is something that is new this year, at least I’ve never seen it before: Pre-registration for 16 and 17 year olds. If you are 16 or 17 years old, you may pre-register and on your 18th birthday you will automatically be registered to vote. Just go to: http://www.RegisterToVote.ca.gov and click on the “Pre-Reigster to Vote” button and complete the information requested.

All of the above information, and more (96 pages of it) is available in the Voter Guide.

Remember, we live in a representative democracy. In a representative democracy a nation’s citizens elect people to govern for them. If you want a say in electing these people, you need to be registered to vote and then actually vote.

We are taught that as citizens we have a right to vote. Well, along with the right to vote I believe that we have a duty. I believe that we have a duty to educate ourselves about the issues and candidates and then to cast our votes accordingly.

Whether you are a centrist or you lean to the left or right of the political spectrum; whether you believe we are on the correct track politically or believe we are going to heck-in-a-handbasket; if you wish your opinion to be heard by the powers-that-be, you need to vote.

Of course, if you favor candidates and policies that are opposed to those I espouse and don’t vote, I won’t cry about it.

But, I will say: “If you don’t vote and things don’t go the way you want, don’t complain. You had your chance.”

Sunday Morning Newspaper Headlines

Those of you who occasionally read my ramblings know that I subscribe to and read two newspapers: The Orange County Register (OCR) and the Los Angeles Times (LAT). Each has its good and bad points and between them, knowing their biases, you can get a pretty good handle on current events both here and abroad.

Sometimes it’s easier than that — just read the headlines (later you can read the articles and see if you conclusions were “right” or not).

Register Headlines

OCR – Real Estate: No homes available to buy? Affordability may be the culprit — No s–t, Sherlock! The house is not available for me to purchase because with a spouse and two kids I cannot afford the Orange County median price for a home of $630,000 (up from $580,000 a year ago).Orange County Register headlines

OCR – Real Estate: DUAL AGENT or double agent? — One agent to represent both the buyer and seller or one agent to represent the buyer and another to represent the seller? This is a hard one. Let’s see, both are paid on commission. Therefore, the higher the price the higher the commission. A higher price benefits the seller and his agent. A lower price benefits the buyer and . . . no, it doesn’t benefit his agent — a higher price does. Hmmm . . . Three of the four parties benefit from a higher price — what happens to the price? One agent represents both the buyer and seller: the seller gains from a higher price; the agent(s) gains from a higher price; the buyer gains from a lower price. Two of the three benefit from a higher price — gee, do we get a higher price or a lower price?

OCR – Business: California optimism tops among big U.S. states — Gee, maybe all of those “scare” stories about businesses moving to Texas and other states because California is bad for business aren’t completely true?

OCR – Opinion: Why the establishment wants Ted Cruz — They don’t, really. But they figure both Trump and Cruz are losers to Hillary Clinton in the general election. With Trump as the nominee, the establishment still has a raging Cruz to deal with after Trump loses. However, if Cruz is nominated, and loses, he just may disappear from the national scene and the Republican establishment won’t have to deal with his ilk for a couple of decades.

OCR – Local: Why Universal Studios Hollywood has gone Disney — $

OCR – Local: O.C. child molester released from state mental hospital jailed in Pa. — We’re surprised? Only that it took two years.

OCR – News: Weak audits endanger public purse — A public employee may walk off with public money if he, or she, isn’t watched?

OCR – News: New force in politics: Millennials — There are 75.9 million of them, and they are only a force if they vote. (Or is it that they become a force when they have enough wealth to contribute to the right candidate/politician?)

OCR – News: Big GOP names loath to join Trump ticket — They figure he’ll lose and who wants to be associated with a “great” loser?

OCR – News: Man who burned puppy alive gets nearly 4 years — . . .


Times Headlines

LA Times headlinesLAT – Business: Tech start-ups discovering frugality — People aren’t throwing enough money at them any more?

LAT – Sports: dodgers can’t get rid of an unsettling pattern — Yeah, even with their outlandish payroll they lose six in a row.

LAT – California: Scoring big — Elected politicians get free tickets to sporting events. Gee, we’re surprised again.

LAT – California: Idle engines are costing Metrolink — We leased train engines, and we’re not using them. You mean we still have to pay for them?

LAT – News: An academic slowdown (Nationwide, test scores have stalled.) — We’re surprised? This ain’t Lake Woebegone. Scores cannot keep going up to perfection and beyond, no matter what laws, standards, carrots and sticks are brandished.

LAT – News: Syrian city lives in ‘state of terror’ — Aleppo is in the middle of a warzone in a country torn by civil war and outside intervention, and we’re surprised life there isn’t calm, cool and collected?

LAT – News (Op-Ed): Why ‘gender neutral’ is a better way to pee — . . .


And I’ll take a moment to remind you, especially those who have or work with children: news is often just a matter of perspective — http://www.gocomics.com/forbetterorforworse/2016/05/01