California Prop 60 Repercussions

I've had a couple of weeks to process the spectacular failure of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation's measure to kill the porn industry in California.  With the commonplace use of medications to diminish the advance of HIV and the introduction of new products impeding the transmission of HIV altogether, a threatened AHF felt compelled to justify its own existence and plunged into the world of mainstream politics.  They thought they could pull off Proposition 60 (requiring the use of condoms in all porn produced in our state) because they assumed the general voting public would be confused and puritanical enough to hand them that victory, not to mention the haul of millions of dollars of donations from their AIDS mafia corporate collaborators.  I, for one, believed that their strategy would work.  I'm happy to say that I was wrong.

I don't think the presidential election impacted the Prop 60 vote at all.  It's not a matter of a liberal or conservative outlook on life.  I mean, a lot of very liberal feminists and health care professionals, just to name two groups, are very much against porn in general.  I did believe that there would be an 'Ick Factor' at play, and I think the AHF thought so, as well.  Voters might just not want to vote on any issue regarding sex...I mean, like...ick!  I compared the vote tally on Prop 60 to the votes cast on Prop 61, another measure supported by the AHF regarding the cost of medication, and right next to Prop 60 on the actual ballot.  Prop 61 was opposed by veterans groups and big pharma, who spent millions on TV ads, and they killed it bigtime.  AHF would not be able to buy HIV (and maybe Truvada, etc...I'm just saying) meds at the same price as the VA and then mark them up for sale through the AHF pharmacies.  So, Props 60 and 61 failed by the same margins, so maybe there was a bit of a coattail effect.  And by the way, Bernie supported Prop 61 as it crumbled to defeat.

But what I think happened has to do with a New California, bluer than ever after this election with Mrs. Clinton taking ALL of Southern California...yes, even those formerly Republican playpens of San Diego, Orange and Ventura Counties.  She took ALL the coastal counties.  She carried the more populous counties of the Central Valley, everything from Merced to Sacramento.  And she carried Fresno County, as well.  That means that Trump carried the sparsely populated Sierra foothill counties and the impoverished counties of the northern Sacramento Valley.  This reality has been lost on the mainstream media.  This expanded blue electorate understood that it was getting hustled.  Special interests (a term I hate because it's never qualified) tried to leverage our ignorance.  Yeah, I was as ignorant as the next guy regarding Prop 61...and I have no business deciding how to price out pharmaceuticals.  You guys are just trying to get your way through my own ignorance.  Enough discerning voters recognized this ploy and voted Prop 61 down.  And while they were at it, they voted Prop 60 down, as well.  Add in the libertarian streak which is natural among Americans, and the pro-business crowd, and porn lovers from San Ysidro to Crescent City, and the final count wasn't close at all.

Paul Morris of Treasure Island Media was one of the few media voices to oppose Prop 60 and he should enjoy his victory lap.  I have a suggestion for the Treasure Island crowd: it is time for a Cumsloppy Buttholes 2 and it should be dedicated to the AHF honcho (at least, at this writing) Michael Weinstein.  I'm hoping one scene will be filmed with a bunch of Yes on 60 posters on the wall or even better, on the filthy floor, sprayed with a streak of cum.  Problem is, I'm not sure if there ever was a Yes on 60 poster...I never saw one, anyway.

Porn lives...Porn thrives!