california – Page 3 – Observations Along the Road

Death and Taxes

Posted onMonday, January 9, 2012Monday, January 9, 2012Authorcahwyguy

Today’s lunchtime news chum brings together a collection of articles related to taxes and various legislative efforts:

Proposition 13. Prop. 13, which established a base for property tax values in the mid-1970s and allowed limited growth in value since then (unless the property was sold) has long been considered a third-rail of California Politics. However, most feel that the reason California has deteriorated is due to the loss of local income as a result of Prop 13–this is a major source of the problem for public schools. Two articles today touch on Prop. 13. An op-ed piece in the LA Times asks why Prop. 13 should be so sacrosanct–especially for business property values which are unaffected by things such a mergers. Myself, I’d be happy with a periodic step-up in value which would bring some tax equity for those of us who have purchased since the 1980s and have the higher taxes. A second article in the OC Register affects us all: it points out how in 2013, certain taxes collected as part of your property tax bill (such as Mello-Roos fees) will no longer be deductible (well, they aren’t deductible now, but the FTB will start enforcing it). Start looking at the itemization on your tax bill.
Taxing Education. For those of us middle-class folks sending kids to California schools (I may or may not be in that category, depending on where my daughter is accepted), a little relief may be coming in the form of AB 1441, introduced by Jim Beall (D-San Jose). This bill will provide a a tax credit of up to $500 a year for each eligible student (i.e., one attending UC, CSU, or a Calif. community college) for such college expenses as tuition, fees, books and school equipment. Students could receive no more than $2,000 in credits over the course of their education, and the bill itself would expire after 2016.
Legislating Against Stupidity. And now for the death part. The LA Times is reporting about how the parents of a 3-year-old boy who choked to death after swallowing a pushpin at the Oceanside Montessori School have filed a lawsuit against the school. Evidently, the boy went to the bathroom alone, grabbed a pushpin off the board, and swallowed it. Further (and this is where the theme of this post comes in), the family and their lawyers have begun work on state legislation to ban all pushpins from preschool to kindergarten classrooms. Read that again folks: ban all pushpins from preschool to kindergarten classrooms. Given that magnets would have the same problem, what is this going to do to informative displays for children in classrooms? Idiotic. But wait, there’s more. The family said it would also like to see labels added to pushpin boxes warning people to keep them away from small children. Sigh.

Music: Do I Hear A Waltz? (Pasadena Playhouse Cast): Do I Hear a Waltz?

Humpday News Chum: Making Money, Spending Money, Rocketdyne, South California, and Soda Jerks!

Posted onWednesday, July 6, 2011Authorcahwyguy

Today was the first day in a while where I had some lunch time to look over the news, and thus I present a slightly larger-than-usual humpday late lunch news chum:

Making Money. Two interesting articles related to making money. The NY Times has an interesting article on how the government is printing less paper money, because more and more people are using plastic. On the other side of the coin (rimshot), NPR Planet Money has an interesting piece on how the government is minting too many $1 coins because the law requires it, and is spending lots of money to store them.
Spending Money. A few articles on spending money. The LA Times has an interesting article on how LA Theatre is going to dynamic pricing, where the price for a seat depends on demand and when you buy it. I think this screws up folks like me that buy early, but then again, maybe not. My brain hurts. The LA Times also has an article on California Officials paid more than $170K. The tone of this article bothers me. First, people are contractually owed their sick or vacation time. If the state prevents them from using it because of workload, they should not forfeit it. Secondly, when figuring their pay, note that the cost of hiring an additional employee to relieve the workload would likely cost the state much much more in training, benefits, and other costs in addition to the second salary. This is an example where not all aspects of the issue were presented.
Making History. Nice article in the Daily News about the contributions of Rocketdyne to the space shuttle main engine. See, the San Fernando Valley can produce more than just pron.
Redefining South. A Riverside legislator wants to split California into two states, creating a new state of “South California”. His idea of south… “Riverside, Imperial, San Diego, San Bernardino, Kings, Kern, Tulare, Inyo, Madera, Mariposa and Mono counties”. Hmm, no Los Angeles, Orange, or Santa Barbara Counties. Seems more like “Conservative California” to me. I’m surprised he didn’t include the Eastern counties all they way up to Oregon!
What a Jerk! Lastly, a nice historical look back.. and look forward… at the profession of soda jerk. Evidently, the jerk is coming back with fresh made innovative concoctions.

Fear, Uncertainty, and Distrust

Posted onTuesday, March 15, 2011Authorcahwyguy

While I’ve been eating my lunch today, I’ve been thinking about various things in the news and how they reflect the fear, undertainty, distrust… and stupidity in our society today. Let me give you two examples:

As we observe the situation in Japan, we’re treated to headlines such as “New shocks, reactor leak terrify Japanese” or “Crews struggling to contain radiation after explosions and fuel-rod exposure“. Radiation, it seems, sells papers, and boy does it help when people don’t understand the science. What’s important to note, however, is that the reactors aren’t melting down. In fact, arguably, this is demonstrating the safety of modern plants, for when faced with an earthquake orders of magnitude greater than anticipated, we haven’t had a major meltdown. In fact, Japan is not facing another Chernobyl… not even close. (This is not to say that Japan doesn’t have problems, and there are not risks for those near the plants…. it just isn’t as bad as the hype is purporting it to be)
There’s also fear in politics: fear to let the people decide. We’re certainly seeing this in California, where our entire budget and future is being held hostage out of fear of upsetting a few ~~shock jocks~~ obnoxious talk radio hosts on KFI. Whereas the Democrats want to cut the budget and get the state moving, the Republicans aren’t voting. Note that the fight here is not whether to raise taxes (or extend taxes, depending on your point of view). The fight is whether to put the issue to the voters. You heard me right. The people of California went on record that they want to vote on tax increases, and the Republican legislature is refusing to permit the issue to go on the ballot. I wonder what they are scared of?

And since we’re talking about knowledge, here are some “Did You Know?”s:

Did you know that you might not be able to recycle cash register receipts?
Did you know that gluten sensitivity appears to be distinct from celiac disease… and much more common?
Did you know that you can save significant gas by turning off your car instead of idling?

California Highways on Slate

Posted onMonday, December 27, 2010Authorcahwyguy

Later today, I hope to be posting an update on the California Highways site. But until then, I though I would share a link that was sent to me. Slate is doing a series on unbuilt highways, and they coordinated with me on the article on the Beverly Hills Freeway (in particular, the map image at the beginning). They also have a nice article on the Embarcadero Freeway. He also has entries on New York, Chicago, Toronto, and Washington DC. It’s a nice series, with some nice maps.

But Would Woody Sing Of It?

Posted onWednesday, October 13, 2010Authorcahwyguy

As you know, my hobby is highways, and one of the better known highways is US 66. This was the “Mother Road”; it was the road that carried the hard-working people escaping the Oklahoma dust bowl to success in California. Well, guess what? The tide has turned. More people are leaving California and moving to Oklahoma.

No Shit, Sherlock!

Posted onSaturday, January 30, 2010Authorcahwyguy

And you wonder why California is wasting money. Sigh. I just discovered this while working on the highway pages:

ACR 112 (Portantino and Smyth): Cuss-Free Week:

WHEREAS, The California Legislature invites the people of this state to take the No Cussing Challenge each year during the first week of March to improve our relationships, to set a tone of harmony and connectedness in our communities, and to inspire ourselves to higher endeavors; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate thereof concurring, That the Legislature designate the first week of March of each year as Cuss Free Week; and be it further
Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly prepare copies of this resolution for appropriate distribution.

This hasn’t passed yet. I’m thinking I should send a letter to my assemblyman (who happens to be Cameron Smyth), indicating he should stop fucking around and wasting my tax dollars on this shit. I wonder if he would get the irony.

Protected: Good News/Bad News

Posted onTuesday, June 9, 2009Authorcahwyguy

Thursday News Chum

Posted onThursday, June 4, 2009Authorcahwyguy

For some reason, finding good news chum this week has been harder than finding a solvent US-headquartered automobile company. But I know my audience, and did find a few things worth commenting over a few days of skimming the news over lunch:

From the “Maybe We Need A Part-Time Legislature” Department: I’ve commented on this before: our state legislators seem far too eager to introduce bills, without realizing that each bill costs money… and so, one significant way that California could save money is probably by making the legislators get real jobs. Two articles this week highlighted that for me: The first was a story from the SLO local paper about how there is a bill in the assembly to make pseudoephedrine prescription only. Yes, I’m aware of its use to make meth. But it is also one of the few effective decongestants out there, and it already requires a log to get, with quantity limitations. Prescriptions will just make it more expensive, with respect to doctor charges. On the state Senate side, there’s a bill regarding mandatory spay and neutering. Now, I’m all in favor of having animals spayed and neutered, but according to the AKC, this bill is unnecessary. When you look at all the bills introduced, and look at the specifics of the interesting ones, you wonder how much of our current fiscal problems come from the legislator feeling they need to do something to justify their salaries.
From the “It’s an Original” Department: Playbill brings news that the 1983 film comedy “Valley Girl” is being turned into a movie musical. There are also plans to make a movie based off of “Stretch Armstrong”… yes, the toy. This has led some to argue about the dearth of original movies, and how there are too many remakes of recent movies. However, just as with theatre, being original does not guarantee success. What we need is not necessarily original movies or theatre, but movies or theatre from good sources. There are plenty of excellent books out there that could be well adapted, but this would require that folks actually read books. Perhaps that’s too much to ask.
From the “Teach Your Children” Department: Sorta related to conclusion of the last item… Viacom is discontinuing Nick Magazine, because of the usual problems with print media. It seems that kids these days don’t read… and don’t buy from advertisers. Soon, the only successful kids magazines might be the ones that don’t have ads (such as Ladybug). I’m not holding Nick Magazine as a paragon of great writing (it is more in the category of great marketing), but its death does say something about these shill magazines. I wonder what the future holds for the Food Network magazine.