Hope you all get a chance to get out and exercise your Constitutional right to vote today.  If you need any help, let me know.  I'll be happy to tell you who to vote for. 

I'm defiantly going to exercise my right today. As soon as I get off work.

Voted absentee a couple of weeks ago. 

On the hawaii constitutional amendments vote all NO

Yessir!  Flexed my Constitutional right to vote earlier today..

On the hawaii constitutional amendments vote all NO

I wasn't even aware of those until I was in the booth.  After quickly reading through them, it was pretty obvious they all had to be NO.

Voted this morning.  There seemed to be lots of people voting, so that was good.   

How the hell do they give our measly 4 Electoral Votes to Obama and we have no results yet?

Yessir!  Flexed my Constitutional right to vote earlier today..

I wasn't even aware of those until I was in the booth.  After quickly reading through them, it was pretty obvious they all had to be NO.

Obvious to you since you use your "little gray cells."  Not so obvious to the roughly 65% (as of the first print out) who voted yes. 

Seems the majority does not think things through.  I.e., "Should the Hawaii Constitution be amended so that every citizen receive $100,000 if they lose their job, with or without cause?" 

"YES, say the majority. 

"Sounds good, but wait, where would the money come from?"

"Never mind!  You are over analyzing it."

Comments from a mainlander...

hnl.flyboy said,

I wasn't even aware of those [Constitutional Amendment questions] until I was in the booth.  After quickly reading through them, it was pretty obvious they all had to be NO.

One of the beauties of mail-in voting (around here) is that when they send you your ballot, they include a rather extensive but fair-minded pamphlet on the ballot issues.  These include blurbs from pro and con folks on each ballot question and even comments from a lawyer's group on whether each Judge who is up for confirmation should be retained in office. 

I don't know what it costs to produce this pamphlet, but it sure is helpful.

I'm not generally "for" mail-in voting since I see it as vulnerable to fraud, but it sure is nice to be able to vote by dropping my ballot in the mail --and I don't even have to disarm to vote (most polling places are in schools, and though a Colorado concealed carry permittee can have a gun on school grounds, it must remain in the car.*)

wirecounter commented,

Seems the majority does not think things through.  I.e., "Should the Hawaii Constitution be amended so that every citizen receive $100,000 if they lose their job, with or without cause?"

Is that for real?  Someone may have been thinking of the total average cost of paying and administering Unemployment Insurance by the state and this may have been intended as a cost-saving measure, but I don't know.

I'd be interested in seeing links to the other Constitutional Amendments on your ballots, but just out of personal curiosity, not to be mucking around in your (Hawaii's) business.

SpeedTek lamented,

How the hell do they give our measly 4 Electoral Votes to Obama and we have no results yet?

It's long been known that unless you're in certain highly-populated areas, your vote don't count nohow.  I'm trying to locate a map showing this, but it sure illustrates how highly-populated areas absolutely dominate the Electoral Process.  I'm ambivalent about the whole present-day Electoral College thing, becuase it seemed like a good idea until it got corrupted by the mistaken idea that we are a Democracy, which we aren't supposed to be, to my mind. The Founders, as I recall it, were very afraid of a pure democracy, and took steps to avoid it.

Terry, 230RN

*This is not universally true.  There are exceptions for school property out in the boonies which is used for hunting.   

wirecounter commented,
Is that for real?  Someone may have been thinking of the total average cost of paying and administering Unemployment Insurance by the state and this may have been intended as a cost-saving measure, but I don't know.

That was simply an example of what may have been on the ballot.  It was not actually.  I was making a point that some things appear as good ideas on the surface, but actually is not if was truly analyzed.

Another example (and this may ruffle a few feathers) . . . "We should raise the minimum wage to at least $12.00 an hour so people can afford to make ends meet."  Sounds like a good idea, right?  Why stop at $12?  Why not $20 or $30 or $50 per hour?  Now that sounds perposterous, right?

Let us think about this . . . okay this new law gets implemented.  How much would a Big Mac cost afterwards?  The same?  I doubt it.  It would most likely be almost double because taxes would also increase on the earned wage - half of which is payed by the employer (social security tax, medicare, medicaid, federal, state).  Also, unemployment insurance and workmen's compensation would also increase as they are tied to wages.  FYI, unemployment insurance TAX (as it is required) has increased in Hawaii over 60% for the businesses lucky enough to have survived the economic downturn.

So, who would pay $10 for a Big Mac?  $40?  $100?  So less people buying = less business for Micky D's = need less workers = more people out of work.  Micky D's is just one of many companies that rely on minimum wage workers.

Don't get me wrong as I believe that everyone deserves to make more money.  But, it needs to be earned.  No one is entitled to it.

Okay, rant off.  Sorry guys . . . just in one of those moods this morning. 

 

It's long been known that unless you're in certain highly-populated areas, your vote don't count nohow.  I'm trying to locate a map showing this, but it sure illustrates how highly-populated areas absolutely dominate the Electoral Process. Terry, 230RN

Take a look at any county-by-county breakdown of the 2012 election map to see that phenomenon in action.  FML.

That was simply an example of what may have been on the ballot.  It was not actually.  I was making a point that some things appear as good ideas on the surface, but actually is not if was truly analyzed.

Another example (and this may ruffle a few feathers) . . . "We should raise the minimum wage to at least $12.00 an hour so people can afford to make ends meet."  Sounds like a good idea, right?  Why stop at $12?  Why not $20 or $30 or $50 per hour?  Now that sounds perposterous, right?

Let us think about this . . . okay this new law gets implemented.  How much would a Big Mac cost afterwards?  The same?  I doubt it.  It would most likely be almost double because taxes would also increase on the earned wage - half of which is payed by the employer (social security tax, medicare, medicaid, federal, state).  Also, unemployment insurance and workmen's compensation would also increase as they are tied to wages.  FYI, unemployment insurance TAX (as it is required) has increased in Hawaii over 60% for the businesses lucky enough to have survived the economic downturn.

So, who would pay $10 for a Big Mac?  $40?  $100?  So less people buying = less business for Micky D's = need less workers = more people out of work.  Micky D's is just one of many companies that rely on minimum wage workers.

Don't get me wrong as I believe that everyone deserves to make more money.  But, it needs to be earned.  No one is entitled to it.

Okay, rant off.  Sorry guys . . . just in one of those moods this morning. 

 

Nooo, you got it all wrong!  Higher minimum wage means we can afford the cost of living.  It's the evil corporations like McDonalds and Walmart that are raising the prices!  We need legislation to keep prices down!!  [/sarcasm]