Tag: politics

Posted on

Idyllwild Weather Clam Presents The Next Ice Age

Looks like the snow plows have been busy.Friends,

On this, the 22nd of April, I have half a foot of snow in my driveway. As you can see from the webcam picture above, the county snow plow crews were hard at work pushing that snow into my driveway this morning. Too bad they didn’t actually plow the roads last night. The twisting, winding mountain roads that snake down to the Festival of Dirt. I know times are tight, but in my little town we don’t want or need too much from county government. Just patch the potholes and keep the roads clear. That’s about it. Sadly, it seems that they can’t even manage that.

But I lived (barely) to gripe about it! So that’s something…

– bob

Posted on

Tastes Just Like Grizzly

Friends,

Good news for black bears out of Sacramento today. The California State Department of Fish and Game has reversed an earlier decision to allow expanded black bear hunting after waves of protest washed over their agency.

Personally, I’m not sure why the California bear population needs to be culled in the first place, and certainly there are other targets…

 

Hunting season for black bear in California begins each fall. It ends when hunters either report up to 1,700 black bears killed or when the last Sunday in December arrives.

 

The proposal from Fish and Game staff offered various options to increase the total quota, with one option suggesting 2,500 bears be killed a year and another suggesting there be no limit set. But animal rights groups promised a state ballot measure and a legislative battle.

 

“I don’t think the bears are out of the woods yet. But this is very encouraging news. It shows that democracy works,” said Brian Vincent, with Big Wildlife, an Oregon group that fought the rules.

When does punster season open?

– bob

Posted on

Okay, Fine, I’ll Just Do It Myself

Friends,

After hearing the news of Justice John Paul Stevens’ impending retirement, Supreme Court watchers have fired up the speculation machine again. Some of the names might not be familiar, like Solicitor General Elena Kagan, or Diane Wood. Some might be kinda familiar, like TARP Inspector General chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel Elizabeth Warren. Some lunatics have even mentioned Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for the job.

Each of these potential nominees has a problem or two that might prevent their confirmation in the Senate or at least lead to a nasty, bruising fight. In my opinion, the country cannot handle yet another contentious partisan political slug fest. Somebody’s gotta take this problem and turn it into an opportunity to heal this great political divide, and since nobody else has piped up, I will.

 Hell, if Mickey Kaus can run for Senate as a Democrat, I certainly have the qualifications to be an associate justice of the Supreme Court. What could possibly go wrong?

Oh yeah, that.

– bob

Posted on

Grapes.

It's like a tiara. Friends,

The healthcare bill passed in the House. The Congressional Budget Office thinks that this measure will be revenue-positive, but I think that our nation is now richer for other reasons. I come to this from a position of believing that the health of our fellows is a fundamental right. Period. I would’ve been in favor of a universal healthcare plan if that could’ve been reconciled with free market incentives to innovate. In my own experience, mandates for electronic health record systems haven’t led to a great breakthrough, but rather “good enough” solutions.

If this bill has any genius at all, it’s that there’s an incentive to make better cheaper. The rules of medicine have changed, but those of us in tech are used to the rules changing on a dime. Or because it’ll save a dime. We can make money in this new environment, maybe not as much, but now we’ll be doing more good for more people. If that’s not what you’re into, I hear China could use a new search engine…

Your pal,

– bob

Posted on

Great, Now What?

Friends,

I’ve been trying to write a post about an interaction I’m in the middle of on Facebook, but every angle I try to take on the subject seems, well, not interesting. That story is hereby spiked. What will go up is something else entirely, starting with another picture of an oddly proportioned Japanese car from the way-back machine…

Subaru Roadster, c.1961
1961 Subaru Roadster (that may have a different name that I can’t read because it’s in Japanese on their site). Rear-engine, 23 horsepowers of fury!

  • We were all entertained yesterday by the news that fierce gay rights opponent, Republican State Senator Roy Ashburn was pulled over for a DUI departing from a gay nightclub on Wednesday morning. One of those universe self-leveling moments, I think. Then I learn this morning that legal gay marriage in Mexico City had taken effect yesterday. Predominantly conservative and Catholic Mexico City? The one in Mexico? And we can’t manage it in California, which I still find baffling.
  • As you know, I’m a registered Democrat, but I have been fairly vocal about my “Anybody but Barbara Boxer” campaign this November. The problem is that the opponent with the highest name recognition in California is Carly Fiorina. If you put aside my animosity against her based on her record at HP that killed my last job, her mouth isn’t doing her any favors right now. She thinks that she’s a better candidate because Boxer beats white men, she’s anti-choice, and shares Sarah Palin’s values (whatever that means. sounds like pandering to tea partiers to me. – ed Check!). So maybe not anybody-anybody. Maybe Tom Campbell can help…
  • You remember former speaker of the California assembly Karen Bass, don’t you? She’s running for the Congressional seat being vacated by Diane Watson this year. She’s also the one who donated $20k to a ballot initiative to dissolve the citizen’s redistricting panel. Well, as a parting gift to her Democratic caucus foot soldiers in our very broke state assembly, she promoted twenty staff members and gave them 10% raises in her last days as leader. Could stunts like this account for the deep financial hole the state’s in? Is this the same speaker who kept banging the drum about “revenue enhancements” to plug the state deficit?

Whew! Now that we’ve covered that, what’s for lunch?

Your pal,

– bob

Posted on

Gentlemen! Start Your Denials!

That's totally boss. Friends,

Toyota USA President Jim Lentz testified in front of Congress today and let members of the country’s most hated profession ask him pointed, self-aggrandizing questions filled with OUTRAGE! Lentz brought the statements, though, including this prepared thing…

“We are confident that no problems exist with the electronic throttle control system in our vehicles. We have designed our electronic throttle control system with multiple fail-safe mechanisms to shut off or reduce engine power in the event of a system failure. We have done extensive testing of this system and have never found a malfunction that caused unintended acceleration.”

Throttle-by-wire systems scare the snot out of me as a rule. Look, the robots are clearly out to kill us, that’s a given. The idea that a company as gigantic, wealthy and pervasive as Toyota can’t design an economical car without resorting to cutting the mechanical throttle linkage is pretty troubling to me. Can’t figure that out? Really?

Maybe they have let their customers down—by being punks.

– bob

Posted on

Glowball Wharmining Legislation – Forehead Slap Edition

Wait, what?
Friends,

I went to a town hall meeting with our state assemblyman Brian Nestande last night in the Idyllwild School gymnasium. Yeah, he’s a Republican, but this is a pretty Republican town in a pretty Republican district (warning: PDF link. Scroll down to the 64th. Registration was 41.99% as of last May. – ed). Clearly, on his tour of the district he’s been really pounded on by other groups and it showed in his deference to the current assembly leadership. “I don’t want to get into the politics…” he said often while making a point about the broken politics in the legislature. Budgets? They’re terrible and likely to get worse. Legislative analyst projections of revenue? Wrong and increasingly wrong over the last few cycles. He’s recently been selected by his caucus to sit on the budget committee, which is fine (chief of staff for Sonny Bono a decade ago apparently is enough qualification), but his grasp of the details was pretty thin, I thought.

You’d think it would be a friendly crowd and they were pretty respectful on the whole. Questions asked, with petitioners trying to display their own level of wonkery, and questions answered. Teacher salaries, tax burdens, business stimulation, state employee compensation levels.

So, are there any questions?
The standard bits were trotted out and everybody nodded and hummed and listened with finger on chin. The meeting was informative, but pretty staid and was starting to go long. Then the answer without a question came from our host. I’m going to paraphrase because my notes are crap…

“What bothers me about the global warming legislation in the state is that it creates a demand for green technologies. Wind and solar… But it creates the demand from foreign sources. The legislation won’t allow industries to build the equipment here in the state because of the emissions, but it sets up the demand. We’ll have to buy wind and solar from China or Tennessee or Alabama because they don’t have these rules, so we are going to demand these things and spend the money and send that money out of the state. I don’t get it.”

I’d never thought of this problem before, but it seems so obvious, especially in the context of building up the tax base to fund this budget of ours. The budget that, in the words of the assemblyman, “is diverging, between expenditures and revenue, and is getting worse.”

The, um, “green economy” is starting off famously, don’t you think? Here’s your unintended consequence.

– bob

P.S. The question that engendered the most crowd reaction was the complaint that the CalTrans snowplows were dumping snow in people’s driveways. Can’t something be done? Everybody was positively animated. Top issues, people!

Posted on

Storm Watch! 2009! OMG! Edition!

Snowy
Friends,

The big news today is that the Federal EPA is considering a rule to declare carbon dioxide, the gas that you exhale and that plants inhale, to be dangerous. It’s even been said that carbon dioxide is a main cause of the alarming malady once called “global warming,” now referred to under the more quaint title of “climate change.”

The Woodpecker Snag
And while we’re constantly reminded not to equate the weather with the climate, I think it’s always interesting to look at what’s happening outside my window while considering the frequent flier miles all of the delegates in Copenhagen racked up to express their deep concern about all this warming.

Blurry
It’s been said before, but worth repeating; I’ll treat climate change like a crisis when the people who keep telling us it’s a crisis starting treating it like a crisis. Which doesn’t seem to have happened yet.

Your best (chilly) pal,

– bob

Posted on

Vinegar Joe Says No, Holds Breath

Just stick to removing hard water spots, okay?
Friends,

Former Democrat, now party-of-me Connecticut Senator Joseph I. Lieberman has decided that any mention of a public insurance option in the Senate version of the health care bill must go. The idea that several large health insurance companies are based in his state and have contributed handsomely to his campaigns had no impact on his decision. Clearly, Vinegar Joe sees that a market-based solution to making health care available and affordable to everyone must be the best approach—because it’s worked so well up to this point, I might add. So I will.

BTW, he’s the 60th vote to close debate and force a vote on the bill, in case you’ve lost your scorecard.

So the public option we’re left with at the moment is either your traditional tar and feathers, or perhaps the more viscerally satisfying torches and pitchforks. See? Who says they’ve limited your right to choose?

– bob

Posted on

Jaunty Dumptruck O’ News – Wellness Edition

Is low bridge!
Friends,

In listening to the President’s speech on healthcare last night and reaction this morning, I’ve assembled the Jaunty editorial board and I think we can add important perspective to the debate. It’s this—much like the internet is not a truck, health insurance is not like car insurance.

While the President was saying this…

“And that’s why under my plan, individuals will be required to carry basic health insurance — just as most states require you to carry auto insurance.”

I couldn’t help thinking that most states require you to carry auto insurance because there was a very real possibility that your expensive possession was going to be smashed some day by somebody else’s uninsured expensive possession. Your premiums would rise and the offender would skate. The analogy falls down right there unless somebody would like to make the case that health care reform is tantamount to automobile no-fault insurance policies, which I don’t think you can very easily.

A woman interviewed on NPR regarding her opinion of the speech didn’t care for elimination of pre-existing conditions for consideration for health coverage (where do they get these people? -ed My guess is improv night at the dinner theatre.). She likened this to “…while uninsured, driving your car into a tree, then calling the insurance company for a quote.” This is wrongheaded unless people purposely choose to have a pre-existing condition. Which would imply that they’re crazy.

Treatment for which I presume would be covered.

Your pal,

– bob

Posted on

R.I.P. Ted Kennedy

Well? Is he?
Friends,

In all my excitement about the 19th Amendment, I completely forgot to note the passing of the senior senator from the state of Massachusetts. All of the mainstream media sites have had obituary packages set up for months, so I won’t bore you with any of that. There’s this to think about though—does this mean healthcare reform gets forced through more quickly in honor of the Liberal Lion of the Senate? Some people think so…

– bob

Posted on

Happy French Thermonuclear Bomb Test Day!

Simply comb in Just For Squirrels...
Friends,

Today marks the 41st anniversary of France’s first hydrogen bomb test on the Fangataufa Atoll making her the world’s fifth nuclear power. This was also one of the last above-ground nuclear tests in the world, conducted, we presume, because the French prefer to be fashionably late to the party.

Above-ground nuclear testing has been abandoned by nearly every country because it leads to an increase in albino squirrels. Peace activists have warned that a sudden jump in the albino squirrel population would be “freaky” and “way weird,” leading to a comprehensive test ban treaty among the major nuclear powers.

Or I could still be under the influence of last night’s portobello mushroom pizza. Hard to say, really. It seemed so real…

– bob

Posted on

The Loyal Opposition

Destroy!Friends,

I follow the news pretty carefully and I think I know something about stuff like Cash For Clunkers. I’m generally against the program since it means that tomorrow’s classic cars are heading for the crusher, but a friend of mine on Facebook asked a simple question that seemed right up my alley. Here’s the transcript of a simple thing that went horribly wrong:

[Original Poster Friend] Has anyone taken advantage of the Cash for Clunkers program? I’m thinking of buying a new car this week.
9 hours ago · Comment · Like

[OP Friend #1] my buudy [redacted] just did it…aloota paperwork but pretty darn cool…they really do give good deals, i guess…
9 hours ago

[OP Friend #2] My friend up the street just got a new “Flex” from Ford using the program. He got $3500 for his clunker…
8 hours ago

[Nutso Dude] I only have a 2007 Honda to trade in and I wouldnt buy an American Car because they are shi#, I am sorry, but The Japanese and the Germans and everybody else make better cars then USA, my first Car was an Oldsmobile, but now I stick with Japanese and German Cars. If we built better cars and our Unions weren’t so greedy, American products would be # 1 again and I am sorry they arent even on the list anymore- Hate to sound negative, but We need to get back to the basics that made us great, Pride in our work,Great Products, and Loving our Country, those 3 things will make us great again!!!!
7 hours ago

[OP Friend #3] He makes sense but, I do believe that Japanese cars are also included. Get yourself a Prius.
7 hours ago

[OP Friend #4] Better go quick before the $$$ runs out!
5 hours ago

[Me] Wow. [Nutso Dude] is really wrong about the domestics. Go shop Ford and I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised. What are you going to trade in?
3 hours ago · Delete

Okay, that’s not so bad, I think. I called the guy out, but I was contributing to the discussion—except I started something…


[Nutso Dude – since deleted] Hey Bob, Why would You say I was wrong? Why is GM tanking? Why is Hummer almost obsolete?? Why cant American Cars compete with Japanese cars like Honda and Toyota?? When was the last time You bought a pontiac?? How about a buick?? Bob, I think You are really wrong about American Cars. why would they have to trick You into buying new ones?? Because they suck thats why !!!! Cash for Clunkers is a program that is another scam by The Obama Administration to make it look like people actually want American cars.Do me a favor Bob and Don’t flag me down When your Ford craps out on You and I am driving my Honda by You, because I will give You the finger and tell You to Buy a Honda next time moron !!!
GO YANKEES !!!
OBABAYOMAMA NO MORE!!!!

Things are going badly here. I haven’t modified the spelling or the grammar, so at this point I think it could be a joke. Poorly executed, but a put-on nonetheless. Sadly, Dude continues…


[Nutso Dude – also now deleted] My last statement I said with a lot of love-imao I wasn’t trying too sound harsh !!! Well, maybe a little-lol

Okay. Some love. This is settling down nicely. New comment is posted…


[More from Nutso Dude – deleted] Sorry about the last statement, But I usually dont say to somebody that they are wrong, because the conversation goes negative right from there. I usually say I disagree with so and so, because I think this and that, so excuse me for educating Bob on why we disagree with regard to American Cars.

I’m sure I needed an education on cars. Clearly I needed an education on Facebook etiquette. I should’ve let it go, but no…


[Again, Me] Gosh. That was a little flamey. Personally, I own two old Jeeps to get around in the snow and a used Miata to drive up and down the hill because it’s fun (but not trouble-free). I’ll stand by the Ford recommendation only because I’ve read that they have nice, reliable products out there right now. A VW Jetta TDI wagon would be a mileage and space champ though. Also worth a look.

There we go! I’ve offered my advice and I’m out. Wait! The crazy continues…


[But wait, more from Nutso – also deleted] I am retracting what I said about American Cars, because I have been a little too confrontational lately on Facebook. With that being said, I just want to say Bob that I think that Obama is a Muslim pig that is a racist and is really the White Mans Bitch, because he only works for Teddy Kennedy and the rest of the Pu$$y Ass Liberal Fa#S in the Deomocratic Party,they dont let him make the big decisions, he only gets to play President, if thats sounds too Flamey for You Bob, I am sorry, I am a New Yorker, not some liberal, Butt Pirate from California who loves everything that Obama stands for. Good Day to You Sir!!!!!!!!

[It gets better. More from Nutso – deleted from original post] Bob let me simplify, You go and spend Your $$ on a Ford and I will drive my 2007 Honda Touring Edition and Lets see where it gets us in 5 years. Your Muslim Buddy Obama is killing our country little by little, not only is the Stimulus package doing nothing, but now we are spending tax money to take off the price of American Cars?? Is that right ?? Bob, it wasn’t flamey what was said, I think You are a Flamer !!! So dont hate Bob, love that fact that I make Great money and I am willing to pay taxes so Your Malotto President and first Muslim in Chief can give all of our Money to people who don’t spend it here, they ship it back to their home countries. Man, I have met some stupid people in my day, but Bob just made me realize why We have a community Organizer for a President and that is some people in America just dont care !!!

Really? The rant is amazing, as you can see, but my faith in humanity has been restored a little in that the posts I note as deleted have been removed from my friend’s page. “A little too confrontational” doesn’t begin to describe this flaming hot mess. If this is a common sentiment around the country, we’re in big trouble.

Huge trouble.

– bob

Posted on

Making The Case For Universal Mental Health Coverage


Friends,

As a rule, I follow the news pretty closely, taking in viewpoints from across the ideological spectrum as much as I can. However, some celebrities croaked a few days ago and the ceaseless rehashing of minute details became very tired, very quickly. I had houseguests for the holiday weekend, after all, so the news could wait.

I was wrong.

Alaska Governor Sarah Palin resigned her office in a masterful speech (video link) last Friday that I completely missed until spotting the story above the fold in the L.A. Times newspaper box on Saturday. Patrick Henry demanded liberty or death, Dr. Martin Luther King had a dream, and Mrs. Palin will steer Alaska in a new direction by no longer holding the highest elected office in that state. Genius!

Her rambling, shambling discourse swaying from paranoid to put-upon to put out may be best remembered as a) oddly timed, b) hastily given and c) just not as good as Richard Nixon’s “you won’t have Nixon to kick around any more” speech. She has eighteen months remaining in her term as governor, leading some to speculate on her motives for resigning. I think I’d like to mix and match. She’s pregnant and nutso, needs to earn some speaking fees to feather the nest before the book tour, then she’ll run for Senate unless she loses. Then she’ll do the talk show on Fox (Huckabee & Friends?).

It’s been a tough week for Republican governors, hasn’t it?

– bob