I found some of the CA ballot measures esoteric, but still made my way through them all. And some are absurdly easy to decide, like once you know Prop 33 was put on the ballot by Mercury Insurance specifically to reverse a regulatory measure enacted decades ago? That's a NO.

ita I think I read somewhere that more people are buying guns under the Obama administration because of the fear Obama is going to take away existing gun rights, make it harder to get a gun or even appeal the 2nd Amendment (I can't believe some people believe that would be possible but they do).

So the NRA and gun dealers benefit from pushing the rumors because it helps their business.

Thanks for the Science!, Rick. (You should hear the word "science" there as if done by Thomas Dolby).

It's good to know the physiology of addiction, and success rates and strategies for quitting.

The Mother Jones guides to the CA propositions looked helpful. In case someone wants some info.

The LA Times also has a guide (and probably the SF Chronicle too).

Even if someone handed me the presidency, I would not take that job, so I guess I can't complain anymore.

I would take the presidency if I could also authorize the Secret Service to beat up Senators and Congresscritters who were being buttheads. "Mr. Boehner? The Secret Service is here." "Oh, crap."

KPCC has a good voter guide on their website too.

Thanks Rick! That was really interesting to read.

Washington also has ballot measures but not as much as California. I generally read the Stranger endorsements and contemplate whether I share the biases they have for the measures. Usually I do. Amusingly, so many people apparently do what the Stranger tells them to do that one candidate who was running for one of two state rep positions, in the primaries, the Stranger endorsed her but said she should've run for the other position because that incumbent was not as good, and encouraged people to write her in for that one instead. And it happened! She got enough votes that she was put on the ballot there for the general election (Kshama Sawant, so not easy to spell! And she's a socialist! And an Econ prof at the local community college! The whole thing amuses me)

So the NRA and gun dealers benefit from pushing the rumors because it helps their business.

That's pretty tidy--if guns are easier to get, but you make people think they are or are going to become harder to get, then you are right at the profit step with little work to do--I'd imagine that the people most likely to stock up on guns (as opposed to get one) are always wary the government is going to take them away, no matter which party is in charge. It's just easier to sell with the Muslim in charge.

They are definitely not stupid.

We had about a dozen proposed amendments to the state constitution. Most editorials said they were all crap that would junk up the constitution and that they should be legislative issues. So Just Say No was the motto around here.

I've got no propositions or anything to vote on, just candidates. And for most of those races, my choice is pretty obvious. I don't really like any of the Senate candidates (got my choice of pro-life anti-marriage-equality Democrat, Tea Party Republican who has said some rather alarming things about rape, or Libertarian who has never held any political office before and seems to have no platform other than "Take back the government from the bureaucrats." So, the Democrat seems to be the least bad choice. All the other races, there's either one candidate who seems like clearly the best choice to me, or it's a position with so little power that none of the candidates have really bothered to articulate their positions on anything, since it's not like they'll be able to do anything while in office.