With less than two weeks left to wade through the California ballot, I’m still working on understanding all of the measures we’re voting on. I’m getting there, though. I’ve made half-baked preliminary decisions on most of them. Now I just have to find enough background to bolster my positions (or enough contradictory evidence to overturn them).

I’m pretty sure I’m voting no on Proposition 83. Just because you give it a name like Jessica’s Law doesn’t make it a worthwhile or effective way to combat sex criminals. In fact, it seems that most of the hundreds of millions of dollars it will cost will go into keeping track of the offenders least likely to commit another crime. Plus, it’s been tried in Iowa and has failed there. I’m not against putting away the bad guys, but I don’t think that’s what this measure does, at least not in a way that’s likely to make our children any safer.

Proposition 84 is a bond measure that deals with water resources, and I’m definitely voting yes on that one because it hits me where I live. I mean, my company makes money helping the state keep its waterways safe and available to the general public. This yes vote is part self-interest (that is, job security) and part knowing where the state spends these kinds of funds (and knowing it’s a good thing).

It seems to me we voted down something like Proposition 85 in last November’s election. This one would require parental notification and a waiting period before a minor can have an abortion. Evil, evil, stuff, and not only because it’s a giant step toward making all abortions illegal (which obviously is the real goal of the writers). This isn’t going to make children talk to their parents; instead it will drive a wedge between parents and children at a time when the children are most vulnerable. It takes a private decision and makes it the province of doctors, the courts and law enforcement. That’s just wrong.

And now I only have five mores state measures to wade through. As I said, I’ve already made up my mind. Now I just have to get the facts.

Somehow today Hell Week morphed into Heck Week. The wind died down, and I’m sure that helped. And the Boss was mostly on good behavior, so I got a lot of the busy work done that I’ve been having to put off because of the constant crises. Now with five days left I can work on the projects that have to be completed by the end of the month. It might take all weekend, but I now have confidence that I’ll get it all done. Unless something else comes up, of course.