Wednesday, June 9, 2010

UPDATE: That One Can Smile...

O great triumph of all that is good and right!

California's Proposition 16, about which I wrote before, has been defeated.

But not by much. This blatantly offensive power grab by a power company was defeated by only 185,000 votes out of nearly four million cast, a 52-48% margin. Clearly, then, my blog entry made a crucial difference as all twelve of my readers went out there and--aww, who'm I kidding?

Actually--I don't think it's too great a reach to suggest that this victory is also a victory for the internet. In the old days, if a utility company like PG&E had spent that much money to blanket the airwaves as they did, and if their opponents (i.e. the good guys) had been unable to come close to the $40+ million that PG&E spent, that would have effectively meant that PG&E was the only guy talking in the room. Which would have meant that only their viewpoint was being expressed, and they would have won easily.

But we have the internet, and for very little money the good guys were able to disseminate clear, specific information about exactly why Prop 16 was so pernicious and evil. And they were able to reach just enough people to eke out a narrow victory.

I'll be writing soon about the internet itself, and the lies being told by the telephone companies who want to make the internet less open and free, but for now there is a victory to relish.

Oh, and one last thing.

Pacific Gas & Electric? Bite me.

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