Gov. Jerry Brown took to the airwaves Sunday, telling CNN’s Candy Crowley that voter passage of tax increases on the wealthy included in California’s Proposition 30 were indicative of a coming nationwide shift in voter attitudes, just as passage of Proposition 13 signaled a tax revolt thirty five years ago. “I was here in 1978, when Howard Jarvis beat the entire establishment, Republican and Democrat, because the property taxes had just gotten out of control. Now the cutting, the cutting and the deficits are out of control.”, said Brown. [Read more…]
A Few Election 2012 Winners and Losers
This just in: we’re not the Wisconsin of the West. There were some big winners and losers in last week’s election and the principal players themselves have gotten the bulk of the attention. Here are a few of the most noteworthy victors and flops besides the candidates themselves. Let’s start with the triumphs:
A Change is Gonna Come
Ahh, hope fills the air that I breathe, as I move, light and easy, like a river dancer on a cloud that’s floating in a gentle wind, as Bob Filner becomes my mayor and Barack Obama my president, again.
It’s a nice high I’m in, hallucinogenic, with music, Sam Cooke singing, “It’s been a long, a long time coming, but I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will.”
Oh, it feels so good having a couple of guys in high places who view what people have worked towards for years as earned “benefits” not “entitlements,” and see unions as who they are, “We the People!” Not “bandits.”
[Read more…]
Letter to a Future Republican Strategist Regarding White People
By Eric Garland
We are really quite unimpressed with Congressional representatives such as Todd Akin and Paul Broun who actually serve on the House science committee and who believe, respectively, that rape does not cause pregnancy and that evolution and astrophysics are lies straight from Satan’s butt cheeks.
To whom it may concern regarding the United States federal elections of 2014, 2016 and beyond:
Allow me to introduce myself to you, the existing (or aspiring!) strategist for the Republican Party. My name is Eric Arnold Garland and I am a White Man. Boy, am I ever – you need sunglasses just to look at my photo!
If I read the news correctly, I fit a profile that is of extreme importance to the GOP, as I embody the archetype that fits your narrative of Real Americans. Just how much should my profile interest you? Are you sitting down? [Read more…]
Field of View: Flowers at the Balboa Park Botanical Garden
The Balboa Park Botanical Garden is a delicious reprieve from politics. There are more than 2,100 permanent plants on display, so this is really just a snippet. I focused on the orchids this trip because I find their complexity fascinating from an evolutionary standpoint. The Garden, which is open Friday through Wednesday and is free to the public, also features cycads, ferns, tropical plants and palms, among other varieties.
All photos by Annie Lane. [Read more…]
Don’t Expect the Hundreds You Spend on an iPhone to Buy You Customer Service – At Least Not Without a Fight
I’ve been a loyal iPhone customer since the first one came out in 2007. That is to say I have spent what amounts to thousands of dollars when you consider the cost of the phone and various paraphernalia, too – the chargers, a Bose stereo, protective cases, apps, songs, ringtones, etc.
Since purchasing the iPhone 5, I can only say I’ve never been more disappointed in the Apple company, product or customer service than I am now. [Read more…]
Prop 37 Failed, Now What? Ways to Avoid GMO Foods and Support Sustainable Agriculture
On the November 2012 ballot was Proposition 37, which would have required foods containing genetically modified ingredients (GMOs) to be labelled. The proposition did not pass, falling by a vote of 53% No and 47% Yes. John Lawrence wrote about Prop 37 in the lead up to the election with some good thoughts and information you can check out here and here.
The battle over Prop 37 drew a lot of national attention, and dollars in support and opposition poured in from all over the country. According to Ballotpedia.org, the final financial tally was $8.7 million supporting and $45.6 million opposing. The largest contributors to the opposition were Monsanto ($8 million) and DuPont ($5.4 million) followed by PepsiCo, the Grocery Manufacturers Association, Dow, Bayer, and … [Read more…]
A Restaurant Review – D.Z. Akins
I was born and raised in the “borscht belt” of Los Angeles. I graduated from Fairfax High School, just steps away from one of the more famous deli’s in the United States – Cantor’s -. It is impossible to tell you how many times I ate at Cantor’s; and even now I frequently have them send me some of their raisin pumpernickel bread.
When we moved to San Diego in 1966, the only Jewish Deli around was “Ross-Sands”, located in the old Sav-On shopping center off of Rosecrans in Pt. Loma. When they closed, it left an emptiness of traditional deli’s for quite some time, even though one of the sons – Myron Ross – went to work at the deli at Fed Mart for a few years. (Interesting to note that Myron is now a musician, having played for George Gobel, Buddy Greco, Andrew Sisters, Kay Starr, and many Las Vegas type shows, Ben Blue Review, Frank Sinatra Jr., Frankie Laine, Earl Grant, Tommy Noonan, Jane Russell, Connie Francis, etc. He has lost most of his vision but still continues to play and draw crowds.) [Read more…]
Election Update: Peters Edges Closer to Victory
In the race to determine who the representative for the California 52nd Congressional District will be, Democrat Scott Peters saw his razor thin lead over incumbent Republican Brian Bilbray grow to 1,334 votes as the San Diego County Registrar of Voters office continued to tally the remaining absentee and mail-in ballots. Peters is poised to […]
The American Public Is Doing a 180 on Marijuana Prohibition…How Come the Politicians Aren’t?
By Mark A.R. Kleiman / Salon via Alternet / Nov. 9, 2012
The election results this week from Washington, Colorado, Massachusetts and Arkansas demonstrate that public opinion about cannabis has moved much faster than the positions of elected officials. That Massachusetts voters would pass a fairly loosely regulated medical marijuana system isn’t very surprising. But that voters in Arkansas came within a whisker of passing one shows that it isn’t just a hippie-dippie issue anymore. And for Colorado and Washington to take the plunge into full legalization – not just of use or for medical purposes, but full-scale commercial growing and sales – marks an epoch.
There are two “What next?” questions: What happens at the ballot box two or four years from now? And what happens in Colorado and Washington over the next year or two? Neither question has a clear answer, but the political developments may be easier to forecast than the operational ones. [Read more…]
The Fiscal Cliff: Why Obama Should Go Over It, If Necessary
The looming so-called crisis facing the US after the reelection of Barack Obama is the fiscal cliff. It has been hyped as something that will bring wrack and ruin to the US economy unless something is done soon to prevent it from happening.
However, in my opinion and that of others, if nothing were done and the provisions already agreed upon went into effect on January 1, 2013, it might actually turn out to be the best thing for the US in the long run, mainly because the military-industrial complex would take a hit while there would be no consequences for Social Security, Medicare and Veteran benefits. [Read more…]
Wall Street Moguls Whine About How Tough Their Lives Are With Obama Win
By Andrew Leonard / Salon via Alternet / Nov. 9, 2012
Who is ready to shed a tear for Wall Street? The moguls bet big, and lost. Now, if we are to believe their whining, they are preparing to pay the piper.
“We played the old Beatles song ‘The Taxman,’ on our trading floor this morning,” bond fund uber-manager Bill Gross told Bloomberg on Thursday.
Oh lordy, hard times are coming! [Read more…]
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