Living in the Scoot Utopia

I'm looking forward to getting out and voting tomorrow morning. Here's how I intend to vote on all the items on my ballot. If you want to try to sway me, here's your chance!

MO STATE SENATE: Though I'd prefer a better candidate, I have to go with Claire McCaskill on this one. The important thing here is to get rid of Bush's sniveling, weasly little yes-boy Jim Talent, and a vote for Claire is the only way to do that. This election is too important to waste votes on third-party candidates. (No offense intended to Frank Gilmour or Lydia Lewis.)

MO STATE AUDITOR: I don't give a rat's ass, but since the last few years have shown us how terrible Republican rule is, I'm going for the Democrat, Susan Montee.

U.S.REPRESENTATIVE, 5TH DISTRICT: Unlike many I have no beef with Emmanuel Cleaver, so he'd have my vote regardless of party affiliation.

STATE LEGISLATURE ELECTIONS: Gotta go with the DEMs in these, too. Sorry, REPs, you had your chance and you blew it.

JACKSON COUNTY ELECTIONS: This one is actually a tough call. Because of the whole stadiums lease/tax fiasco I am torn between my hatred of Republicans and my desire to vote out any incumbent I can. These will be game-time decisions. (undecided)

JUDICIAL ELECTIONS: I have not heard of any controversial rulings that I disagree with so I see no reason not to keep them all.

MO AMENDMENT 2 (STEM CELLS): Part of me wants to vote no, only because I find its restrictions a little too restricting. (I don't understand why "clone" is a 4-letter word.) But I will vote YES, because even though it's too restrictive, a "no" vote for that reason would send entirely the wrong message. (If only ballots had a "Please indicate why" text box next to each item.)

MO AMENDMENT 3 (TOBACCO TAX): This gets a hearty NO from me. I am not a smoker but I do not like sin taxes. They are a cop-out, an easy way for politicians to increase revenue without pissing off the majority. The revenue streams from sin taxes make the government addicted to people's addictions. This tax would actually make it in the government's best interest to promote smoking rather than to try to curb smoking.

And yes, I voted for the arena tax (an easy cop-out) and for casino gambling (feeding off addictions). Does that make me a hycocrite? Sure, probably. Deal with it. :)

MO AMENDMENT 6 (TAX EXEMPTION FOR VETERANS ORGANIZATIONS): This amendment is a complicated read and I'm not entirely sure what its purpose is. However I'm going to go with NO on this one. I have nothing against veterans, I just don't think we should be creating new categories of tax exemptions at a time when the state is slashing all of its services.

MO AMENDMENT 7 (PENSIONS, SALARIES FOR ELECTED OFFICIALS): I only just heard of this one today and I have no idea which answer is best, so I will probably leave this one blank unless I learn more before tomorrow morning. (undecided)

MO PROPOSITION B (MINIMUM WAGE): Now matter how I vote on this someone will be mad at me, since I am friends both with winimum-wage workers and people who pay the salaries of minimum-wage workers. However I have seen more anectodal evidence that higher minimum wages help the economy than hurt it. And I really like the part where the minimum wage will automatically increase each year to match the inflation rate -- that's just good common sense. So I give this one a cautious YES.

KC QUESTION 1 (FIRE INSPECTIONS): I don't know how much these cost currently or who pays for them, so I have no idea what this question would be changing. Therefore I plan for now to leave this one blank. (undecided)

KC QUESTION 2 (LIGHT RAIL): I want so badly to vote yes for this, I really do. Had this item just consisted of section 1 and section 2 I'd be all over it with a 'yes' vote. But Clay Chastain just had to throw in that nutty section 3 and screw it all up. So a noble ballot initiative to get a useful light rail line going (section 1) and to use environmentally-friend buses elsewhere (section 2) gets ruined by section 3. What does section 3 call for? Closing all the roads in Penn Valley Park (yes, this includes BROADWAY, an essential north-south corridor), and then building a gondola system to ferry people between Union Station and Liberty Memorial. Yes, a gondola, disrupting the breathtaking views and carrying passengers the whopping distance of..... across the street. (As if we aren't fat and lazy enough already.) Therefore this gets a disappointed NO vote from me.