🎭 Theatre Writeups, 🛣️ Highway Updates, 📰 Musings on the News, and other 🗯️ Rants and Roadkill Along the Information Superhighway
Yesterday, as I had 1½ hrs between my dr. and dentist visit, I began a closer read of my ballot information. As everyone is still asleep this morning, I figured I would type my musings on the subject up. Yes, it is long. I welcome honest attempts to sway my position: I’m always open to convincing arguments.
The Propositions: 1A-1E, 83-85
Read More …
As a reaction to the amazing spread of last year’s JibJab animation This Land is Your Land, political animations on the Internet are all the rave, and are speading like wildfire. KPPC 89.3 FM in Pasadena has provided some pointers to some cute animations being used to express opinions on the upcoming November 8 election:
Which one is your favorite?
P.S.: Beware the Tower. Jibjab also has a great animation making fun of Big Box Markets.
Another quote from Last Days of the Late, Great State of California (out of print, but available used) by Curt Gentry:
For all the ado about cutting trimming, and squeezing, the budget submitted [by Ronald Reagan] totaled $5.93 billion–not only considerably higher than Pat Brown’s farewell effort but the highest ever proposed in any state.
To help cover it, Governor Reagan increased the sales tax to 5 percent, imposed additional state taxes on liquor and cigarettes, and raised state income taxes, in many case from 100 to 200 percent.
He was trying.In the heat of the controversy over major budget cuts, some minor cuts passed almost unnoticed. The budget of the State Disaster Agency was cut. And 25 percent was lopped from the $100,000 normally alotted to the Unversity of California’s seismographic laboratory, bringing to an end several promising studies into the origins of earthquakes and the manner of propagation of seismic waves.
He had promised to decrease the cost of state government. He had increased it. He had promised to lower state taxes. He had doubled and tripled them.
Get this book and read it. It is still relevant today.
Recently, I replaced my copy of the Last Days of the Late, Great State of California (out of print, but available used) by Curt Gentry. This book is primarily the story of the 1966 Gubernatorial campaign between Ronald Reagan (R), George Christopher (R), Edward G. “Pat” Brown (D), and Sam Yorty (D); it also notes the importance of California, and ends with California falling into the ocean after a 9.0 earthquake on the San Andreas Fault. This is really a wonderful book; I highly recommend it.
The key point of the book is how the 1966 election, coming on the heels of the incidents at UC Berkeley, the Watts Riots, the defeat of Goldwater, etc., mirrored what was going to happen in the nation. I just have to share a few paragraphs from the book as a telling example:
“On a few issues, Reagan was alarmingly specific.
If elected, he would investigate the University of California.
Also he would cut the costs of state prisons and mental hospitals. These institutions, according to the candidate, were nothing more than a “vast hotel chain” which could be run far more efficiently and economically by someone with background in hotel management.
There was, he noted, not a state office that couldn’t be better run by businessmen. If elected, he promised to solicit business and industry for help in running the state. (It was with some difficulty that one recalled Reagan’s onetime presidency of a union.)
As for federal aid, in most instances he was against it. Any activities of the federal government could be practiced more effectively at the local level. Take disaster relief. “Suppose a disaster happened next year,” he mused. “What do you think would happen if a Governor of California, instead of calling Washington, would get on the radio and television and say to the people of California, “These are our neighbors, our fellow Californians. This is what’s happened to them, this is what they need”? He had participated in many Hollywood benefits and was sure the same technique could be applied on a statewide basis.”
Just sort of speaks for itself.
As I read more and more about Katrina and New Orleans, one of my favorite books keeps coming to mind: The Last Days of the Late, Great State of California by Curt Gentry (and my copy is missing: ixixlix? ellipticcurve?). This book is mostly an analysis of the 1966 race for Governor, examining the fates and foibles of such luminaries as Pat Brown, Sam Yorty, and some guy named Ron Reagan. Actors… they’ll never make it in politics, especially as Governor.
Anyway, the book ends with a twist: A massive earthquake on the San Andreas Fault, that starts in the Imperial Valley, and ripples all the way up the coast with syphathetic quakes, until all of California west of the Fault falls into the ocean. No more Los Angeles, no more Santa Barbara, no more Hollywood, no more San Francisco. Governor Reagan is killed sitting on the john in the capitol.
The end of the book has a whole litany of things we would miss if this happened, from the Hollywood sign to agriculture to the Venice Boardwalk to… I think you get it.
Why am I thinking of this? I think, after Katrina, that New Orleans will never be the same. Historic structures will be gone. The French Quarter, as we knew and remembered it, may be trashed. No more “Inn of the Seventh Sister”. No more “Preservation Hall”. Think of the numerous historical artifacts that have been lost. Think of the trolley cars that have been damaged beyond repair. Numerous old and historical houses will have been destroyed. The history of a city lost in the blink of an eye. The city may never be the same.
So here’s to you, old Big Easy.
I just did my monthly updates to the California Highways Home Pages. Of particular interest to folks outside of
Want to see the list of all the bills? Visit here for the assembly, and here for the state senate. You can then visit here to get the text of the bill.
AB 766 (Chavez). Internet-based dating services.
This bill would require an Internet-based dating service to, at the request of a subscriber located in California, remove the subscriber and his or her personal information from public display.
AB 1193 (Hancock) Recycling: compact discs and digital versatile discs.
This bill would prohibit the distribution or mass mailing of compact discs (CDs) or digital versatile discs (DVDs) for commercial purposes to households that are assessed a solid waste fee, without the consent of a person in the household, unless the recipient is provided a postage paid return mailing envelope or similar return mechanism that would allow the recipient to return the disc, and accompanying packaging, to the sender. The bill would require a person that sells or provides a disposable CD or disposable DVD, as defined, to a consumer in this state, to include a postage prepaid mailing envelope or similar no-cost-to-the-consumer mechanism for returning the disc, and accompanying packaging, to the producer or other designated entity for recycling. (Just think of the impact on this to AOL!)
AB 1218 (Wyland) The William J. “Pete” Knight Memorial Act.
Existing law requires each public school to conduct daily patriotic exercises. Existing law provides that this requirement may be satisfied through reciting the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America. This bill, the William J. “Pete” Knight Memorial Act, would require that the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America be recited each day during the school year at each elementary and secondary school. The bill would declare that a pupil or school employee who does not wish to participate in the recitation may remain silent and seated in the classroom during the exercise.
AB 1236 (DeVore) Marriage Choice Act of 2005.
Existing law establishes the procedures by which parties to a marriage may seek a dissolution of marriage. Existing law also governs marital agreements between a husband and wife. This bill would enact the Marriage Choice Act of 2005. The bill would prohibit married parties with children together who have not completed high school from obtaining a dissolution of marriage on grounds of irreconcilable differences unless both parties have given consent, as prescribed. The bill would also establish procedures by which a couple may enter into a marital contract rejecting the right to a “no fault” divorce, except in certain circumstances. The bill would require couples seeking to enter into this type of marital contract to undergo specified marital counseling and education before entering into that contract, and also before divorcing.
SB 681 (Simitian) Vehicles: wireless telephones.
Under existing law, motor vehicle operation is closely regulated, and drivers must follow many legal requirements or face criminal sanctions. Under existing law, it is a crime for a person to drive a schoolbus or transit vehicle while using a wireless telephone, except for certain work-related or emergency purposes. This bill would make it an infraction, operative January 1, 2007, to drive a motor vehicle while using a wireless telephone, unless that telephone is designed and configured to allow hands-free listening and talking operation, and is used in that manner while driving. This offense would be punishable by a fine of not more than $20 for a first offense and not more than $50 for each subsequent offense, including all assessments and court costs.
SB 906 (Ashburn) Calico: official state silver rush ghost town.
Existing law designates Bodie as the official state gold rush ghost town. This bill would designate Calico as the official state silver rush ghost town.
