response 51 of 130:

Oct 6 14:26 UTC 2003

There wouldnt be a problem with "brain drain" if our so called free 
trade agreement applied to labor too. We should just let any Canadians 
and Mexicans into this country to work and vice versa. Imagine how 
*that* would shake things up.

response 53 of 130:

Oct 7 01:44 UTC 2003

You caught us there, Mr. richard.  How on earth did you find out that 
our grandparents swam across the Atlantic Ocean in order to avoid 
passing through Ellis Island??  (It was a closely protected family 
secret.)  He is one sharp guy, ain't he!

(Also, a person may be born a citizen even if only one of is parents is 
in the U.S.  It would, I presume, have to be a particular parent.)

response 55 of 130:

Oct 7 02:50 UTC 2003

We appreciate your clearing that up.

response 57 of 130:

Oct 7 04:36 UTC 2003

#57...read what I said, Arnold is a EUROPEAN immigrant.  The immigrants 
coming into California and Texas are largely latinos and asians.  Not 
white europeans.  If you don't think racial politics plays into it, you 
are being naive. I would bet anything that if all those immigrants 
coming to California were white europeans like Arnold, he would not 
have those views.  

btw, San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, who is pretty wealthy, is 
promising to personally fund an immediate effort to recall Arnold if 
he's elected.  The partisan politics in California seem particularly 
fierce.  If the republicans succeed in getting Davis recalled, I don't 
believe the democrats will rest until a republican is recalled.  There 
will be a recall effort next year, and the year after, and the year 
after.  IMO the only way to nip this thing in the bud, and save 
California years of political misery and expensive petition drives and 
recall elections, is to vote this one down.  To say, as emphatically as 
possible, that elections should only be held when they are regularly 
scheduled to be held.  

response 59 of 130:

Oct 7 13:18 UTC 2003

Re #57: I'd guess the first thing whoever comes out of this as governor
will do is try to change or eliminate the recall option.  Overall that
would be a good thing, since clearly it's a poorly thought out law. 
Sort of like how the independent prosecutor law wasn't renewed after the
Republicans' massive multi-year, multi-million-dollar fishing expedition
made everyone realize how flawed it was.

response 61 of 130:

Oct 7 17:25 UTC 2003

re: #59...wouldn't arnold look hypocritical if he gets elected governor
through a recall election, and then moved to eliminate or change the recall
option?  

response 63 of 130:

Oct 7 17:52 UTC 2003

I'm surprised the legislature hasn't already started looking into it.

response 65 of 130:

Oct 7 19:08 UTC 2003

My understanding is that the recall option would have to be changed by the
voters, not the legislature.

I suspect there will be some strengthening of the procedures for keeping
non-serious candidates off the ballot, but doubt there will be much support
for getting rid of recalls entirely.

I voted around 11:30 am (the polls are open from 8 am to 8 pm, I think).  My
temporary consolodated polling place turned out to be somebody's rather
cramped one car garage.  The table where the poll workers were sitting was
right behind the voters, facing the voting screens, so there was no secret
ballot.  It didn't look to me like there would have been enough room to do
things differently, given the space provided.  There wasn't a line (unlike
my last time voting in the normal polling place, which took more than an
hour), but I think I overheard somebody say that out of around 1,000
registered voters for that precinct, 300 had already voted, which would either
be really phenominal turnout, indicate that nobody was waiting until after
work to vote, or indicate that I heard one of the numbers incorrectly.  Still,
I'll take high turnout in North Berkeley as good news, and hope it isn't
matched in more conservative areas.  The messy part of the ballot was the
replacement election.  Cruz Bustamonte's name was several screens deep on the
electronic voting machine.  I'm not sure where Ah-nold's name was, since I
didn't look for it.

response 67 of 130:

Oct 8 02:18 UTC 2003

Unlike some people, I do have a problem with Mexicans and such
coming here illegally.  They may be a boon to the low-wage sector
of the economy, but if you made them pay for bilingual education
and the other special services they require I'll bet that they'd
stay home.  This means that the public is subsidizing the
difference, and losing a bundle on the deal.

How American can someone be if they don't even speak the language?

I'd be happy to pay another ten cents a pound for my chicken so
that Tyson can make the job safe and rewarding enough to attract
workers from this side of the border.  Besides, if these jobs
are so bad that workers are disabled by repetitive-stress
injuries, it's not fair to anyone to work them.

response 69 of 130:

Oct 8 04:36 UTC 2003

#67..."how american can someone be if they don't speak the language"

"if you made them pay for bilingual educa tion and the other special sservices
they require I'll bet that they'd stay home"

russ you in my personal opinion are indicating racist feelings with those
comments.  also have you ever lived in a large city like new york? if you had,
you'd know there are many MANY people who are americans but who speak little
or no english.  English isn't "the language", you aren't american because you
can or can't speak english.  

response 71 of 130:

Oct 8 05:43 UTC 2003

What fraction of voters read fully the arguments for and against a
proposal or person? They mostly get their information verbally, via the
media and personal contacts (with equally poorly informed voters). I
suspect that persons that do not know English but live in their ethnic
communities, are not particuarly less well informed than the English
speaking community, especially on matters and candidates that are of
direct concern to them.

response 73 of 130:

Oct 8 06:07 UTC 2003

Certainly not as continually as thoughts expressed in the language of the
majority (if you are a member of that language group). However minority
opinions from other language communities do have spokespersons, although
their voices, even though in English, do not get as widely  reported.