[Dialogue] small signs

[LAURELCG at aol.com]

In a message dated 10/25/06 5:08:30 PM, opossum2 at att.net writes:

<< 
2.  Prop 87 on the ballot in California.  California taxes gasoline and 
petroleum products fairly heavily, but until now it has not had a straightforward 
extraction tax.  California is usually a bellwether for trends and changing 
opinions.  It will be very interesting to see if such an automobile-addicted 
culture can reconcile heavier taxation of petroleum products (and costs) with 
conservation. >>

Steve,
Thanks for your e-mail.  It is so helpful to have you point out hopeful 
signs.  I'll be surprised if Prop. 87 passes, based on the huge spending against 
it, both on mailings and television ads. The LA Times, the Sacramento Bee, the 
CA Chamber of Commerce, CA Taxpayers Association, CA State Firefighters' 
Ass'n., Californians Against Higher Taxes are all against it.  There have been tv 
ads with Al Gore and Bill Clinton endorsing it, and we've had a pro mailer from 
the Sierra Club, but the ads against say it will "increase the oil tax by $4 
billion, to be spent by 50 political appointees with no results required."  I 
pray that it passes, despite my cynicism.

Jann McGuire
Born in Odessa, Texas, during the oil boom (1937); graduated from Midland 
High School in 1954, when the Bush family lived there.  One of my high school 
friends baby sat for them.  What a strange time in history to be alive -- the 
petroleum age.