It is a measure of how all-consuming the Presidential race was that until I watched Colbert tonight, I had not the faintest idea that a black former NBA star, Kevin Johnson, not only was running for mayor of Sacramento, but won and is now Mayor Elect.

Now, Sacramento isn't exactly the biggest city in the world, but it's still relatively large - 37th largest in the US, according to Wikipedia. For reference, #39 and #40 are Kansas City and Cleveland. It's also #26 on the list of greater metropolitan areas.

Normally, the fact that Sacramento elected its first black Mayor, who was also an NBA star, might have merited at least a bit of press. Not so in the crush of Presidential hoo-hah.

Anyway, he seems like a decent enough guy, who has come to the realization that public schools are failing and wants to do something about it other than throwing yet more money at them. I doubt he'll do any worse than your average politician.

Voting-wise, well... not that bad. But I guess I wish people cared as much about the rights of people as they apparently do about the rights of chickens.

Ah, Joe the Plumber. He was just tossin' around a football in his front yard, until Obama, Godzilla-like, stomped over and started pinging questions off him¹. But hey, Joe rallied, as any good American would, and *totally stumped* Obama with a hypothetical question about whether his business would be destroyed if he was lucky enough to start owning a business that made a quarter of a million dollars a year, even though that was not actually possible, but hey, what if it happened, and also I have no understanding of marginal tax rates?

Well, poor ol' Joe. The EEEEVIL media started wondering about Joe. Was he who he said he was? Turns out... sorta kinda, but not entirely. Maybe his question was not entirely politically innocent, which conclusion is supported by the fact that Joe is currently stumping for a particular candidate.

Apparently, though, answering these background questions about Joe turns out to be the worst fucking thing you can do to a person. The media, it seems, utterly DESTROYED Joe, for the crime of asking a politician a question. Whether any politician had a role in bringing this person to the forefront seems uncouth to ask. It was all about the media, you see, the media destroying a normal "undecided" voter.

Nevertheless, the destruction of Joe who had the temerity to question Obama, was total. He was forced into giving numerous interviews, first on his his lawn (due to the power of the liberal media, he was unable to walk into his house and close his front door), then in television studios, entirely against his will. Joe was then flown to New York in chains, and forced by whip torture to appear on several news programs to further the destruction of his reputation. Once transferred to the capital of the liberal media, he was threatened with tarring and feathering if he failed to appear on various live televised interviews.

Joe has since been further degraded by the liberal media, who held his child at gunpoint until he agreed to a book deal, and possibly a country music album. When will the liberal media stop *punishing* Joe for his questioning of Obama? WHEN? Dear god, WHEN WILL THE PUNISHMENT STOP.

Oh, Joe, you poor, poor man. Why must you be destroyed by being enriched and aggrandized?



¹A number of Republican folks seem to think that somehow Obama picked Joe out of the crowd, but the first report of it was from Joe himself, who said that he was just throwing a football around, and his neighbors weren't asking good enough questions, so he decided to go ask Obama a question. How precisely he knew from a few blocks away that his neighbors weren't asking good enough questions is something that maybe the interviewer should have asked, but oh well.

According to this helpful broadsheet about Proposition 8 mailed to us by the Knights of Columbus¹, there are books about gay people out there, and they *could* be used to teach gay marriage to elementary school students, whether You Like it or Not. But the important part is this quote:

A 'No' Vote Means Gay Marriage is Still Mandated

Which reminded me to remind all my California pals that just in case Prop 8 doesn't pass, that the deadline to get gay married is December 29. Don't delay - get gay married today! It's not just a good idea, it's The Law.


¹Knights of Columbus is a Catholic fraternal organization, like the Masons or Elks and such. And only a deeply cynical person would think that the funding for "Yes on 8" is coming from the Catholic Church, but the Church would prefer the ads not actually say "Thanks for putting a fiver in the collection plate, this is what we're spending it on."

1) Wall-E. I seem to have enjoyed it more than most, but then having read dozens of opinions from folks about what the supposed message was, I was able to realize that as with the news, your objections or kudos to a given media product say more about where you stand than the actual message. Yes, there were one or two overt messages, largely about overconsumption and the need to get out and do something. They're not invalid messages, but they were so incredibly overt that they quickly became funny. As such, I immediately just got over it and simply enjoyed the movie. Anyway, no matter how much you might scowl, you'd have to be cold-hearted indeed not to be charmed by the, let's call it the "dancing" scene so as not to be spoilery.

2) This is probably only of use to folks in the LA area, but, the Americana at Brand is just as irritatingly pleasant as the Grove is. In fact, it's kind of better in its' use of space. The trolley (yes, they have a trolley here too) is completely useless except for cuteness' sake, as it doesn't take you anywhere except on a loop through the entire property, and there is only the one stop at the beginning, or end. At least at the Grove, you can theoretically use it to go from one end to the other. More problematically, there are far fewer shops, and *all* of the shops are upscale, as opposed to the Grove where a few of them are actually useful. And of course there is no Farmer's Market, or as my wife put it as we were getting ready to leave "But there's no meat shop! There should be a meat shop attached!" Which indeed there should always be. To date, we have found no better butchers than those located in the Farmer's Market. If you, whoever you are is reading this, know of a better butcher in the Los Angeles area, I am absolutely soliciting your advice. I'd prefer advice from folks who have actually purchased meat from these butchers, of course.

3) John Adams. Good book, good documentary on HBO. Read it, watch it. I never would have thought that I would find more respect for one of our founding fathers (and, for that matter, lose respect for one who I had largely considered a genius), but I did. Mr. Adams is sadly overlooked in our history. Our revolution would almost certainly not have happened if it were not for him... although perhaps it was inevitable.

There's an alternate history story, if anybody wants to write it: Boston, 1808. The cod fisheries are producing, industry is flourishing from Philadelphia to Boston, the cotton is flowing, and now the crown wants money to fight Napoleon - who steps to the fore? Come now, the British Isles are months away. We can and will have our own country! The sheep farmers of Australia had a revolution 20 years ago and the UTA (United Territories of Australia) is now a free and independent country! Will we sit idle and watch the pointless wars of Europe financed upon our backs? Nay, I say nay!

So you're thinking to yourself "hey, dude, it's 2:09 AM - shouldn't you only be conflicted about whether to go to bed right now, or a minute from now?" And you'd be correct.

Except that some time in the past 40 minutes, the flag-stickers have come by. In our neighborhood, there is a real-estate agency which takes it upon itself late on the night of July 3 to stick plastic US flags into lawns across the neighborhood, with, of course, an advertisement for whichever agent they wish to promote this time. This year, it's one Bella Kay.

The trouble with this "patriotic" display is that it puts people in a difficult position.

1) People who aren't particularly patriotic. For these folks, it's not all *that* big of a deal, except until they notice the little flag they're unwillingly displaying as an opinion they don't actually have. (I doubt there are very many of these folks, but hey, let's be inclusive.)

2) People who actually ARE patriotic, who now have a flag that they did not want (because they would put out their own) and must dispose of in an appropriately respectful way. Perhaps this only applies to people who have had members of their family in the military, or people who have been in the Boy Scouts, or just people who think that the flag of our nation deserves respect. I'm pretty conflicted about it, myself.

I mean look. I believe that this nation is a pretty damned good one, or at least by gumby we set out to be a good one. The legal protection of the rights of individuals is not so bad of a way to start.

Does the flag which stands for the nation which is supposed to uphold those ideas thus deserve some respect? I think it does.

Yet I'd never prosecute anyone for burning it, especially if they were doing so to protest something the nation had done. Or throwing it in a trash can if you were trying to make some sort of statement. Remember the part about the rights of individuals? Free speech is part of that.

Nonetheless, I hate to see someone just going "well fuck, some asshole threw another piece of trash on my lawn" and chucking the thing out. It seems to me that the flag of this nation, for good or for bad, should mean *something*. If you are disrespecting it as a form of protest, then hooray! But it shouldn't be just another piece of trash that shows up on your lawn.

And that is the position that this year, Bella Kay of the Larchmont office of Coldwell Banker has put us in. Worst yet, she's only put those of us who actually give a shit in this position. Most folks will just pick it up, sigh, and throw it in the trash. Only the truly patriotic folks will be all conflicted.

Thanks, Coldwell Banker.

(Is it different than, say, a piece of mail that has the flag printed on it? I'm not sure that's a flag. Does it make a difference? Man... I dunno. It's all too complicated for the likes of me.)

(Also also, there are flags of other nations which I believe stand for the same things as well. Nobody will stick a flag of say, Denmark, or Australia, or the United Kingdom in my lawn, but should I feel the same way about their goals of the Rights o' Man?)

I was looking at my wife today, at about 5:57 PM when I got home, and I suddenly realized: I no longer wanted to have anything to do with her. She had done nothing wrong - indeed, she had cooked one of the tastiest meatloaves I've ever eaten. And some broccoli. I have to assume that she had been having the same sort of thoughts, and was hoping that I would choke on one of the suspiciously large florets.

Suddenly, we both realized that our marriage had been irreparably damaged.

Alright, hardy har har. But I'm going to ask two questions, one of which I asked long ago and was not answered, and a somewhat related but new question:

1) Is there a rational or legal reason to be against gay marriage?

2) I accept that you are opposed to gay marriage on religious grounds - I don't share your beliefs, but I respect your right to your faith. Indeed, you are free to deny marriage to gay people within your church, and honestly I have no problem with that. I'm firmly committed to the First Amendment. But... what does it matter if the state sanctions gay marriage? I know *you* don't sanction it, and nor does your church. But why does it matter what the state does? (I'm pretty well aware that I'm asking this one largely into a crowd of unbelievers. But if any of you have any insight on this one, please, help me out.)

I recently received my official election packet for the upcoming election, which consists of no actual "elections," but instead only two referendums, Propositions 98 and 99.

I checked out the websites of both of them, which, you know, basically said the same things the "pro" and "con" arguments did. The Prop 99 website did have links to a couple of purported news stories, though, one of which contained the following quote:

Arnie Bernstein said his landlord has been trying to drive him and his wife out for years to jack up rents. Without rent control, they'd be forced to leave the state.

"All these landlords think they are getting shortchanged because they can't get market value," said Bernstein, 64, who lives on Social Security. "But many of them aren't worth market value.

"Where I live, you can hear people fornicating next door. The plumbing is bad. If I first came to L.A. and they offered me this place for $1,300, I would about-face and walk away."

Um, Mr. Bernstein.

First of all, as I'm reading Prop 98, you wouldn't be affected. Rent control would remain in effect until you vacated the place, so you're fine.

Second, well, every apartment (in fact every thing you can buy) is worth market value. All "market value" means is "what someone is willing to pay you." It doesn't mean "a lot more than I personally feel like paying." If you left your apartment, your landlord could put the place on the eeevil market for $8,000 a month. It's unlikely your landlord would get any takers. He or she would have to drop the price until they found someone willing to pay the price offered. That's what "market price" means.

Anyway, if your plumbing is bad, there are 8 zillion renter-protection statues in place in this city and state, maybe you should try forcing your landlord to do something. Also, the next-door fornication is a *feature*. C'mon, you're totally enjoying it.

This is only of interest to Los Angeles area residents, but it ought to be of great interest:

Metro is inviting public comment on the Metro Westside Extension Transit Corridor (aka "What the heck are we going to do about Wilshire Boulevard?") Check out this press release at http://www.metro.net/news_info/press/metro_176.htm

If you can't see that, or if you'd rather have a brief summary, here is the important part:

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) will be conducting several meetings in October to obtain public comment on the agency’s Westside Transit Corridor Study, which will analyze various transit alternatives and environmental impacts for the possible extension of the Metro Red Line or Metro Purple Line to West Los Angeles.

Agency consultants will evaluate potential environmental impacts for several transit modes, including Bus Rapid Transit on dedicated lanes, at-grade or aerial Light Rail Transit, subway or aerial heavy rail.

All meetings are from 6-8 p.m. and will be held at the following locations:

Tuesday, October 9, Emerson Middle School, 1650 Selby Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90024
Thursday, October 11, Pan Pacific Recreation Center, 7600 Beverly Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90036
Tuesday, October 16, Wilshire United Methodist Church, 4350 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90005
Wednesday, October 17, Beverly Hills Public Library Auditorium, 444 N. Rexford Drive, Beverly Hills, CA 90210
Thursday, October 18, Santa Monica Public Library, 601 Santa Monica Boulevard, Santa Monica, CA 90401

I, for one, plan to attend the meeting at the Pan Pacific Rec Center. I don't think I'll be able to get to the one in Beverly Hills, though I wish I could - I'd love to see if the residents of Beverly Hills mobilize once again to attempt to deny any sort of transit coming through their town.

So why the hell should you care? Don't government agencies just do whatever the hell they want to do? The answer is actually no, they don't. They're not allowed to. But they often get to, due to public apathy, or sometimes they are prevented from taking pretty obvious steps that would benefit millions due to the yelling of a few obnoxious people.

The trouble is that normally, *very few* people show up to give their comment. It's usually the same 10-15 people who show up to all of these sorts of things, and it's ONLY them. So these few crackpots who do show up have a disproportionate weight, because public agencies are required by law to take all public comment seriously (and show that "hey, this was the public comment we got" if they are challenged on any action they take.) If only a few dozen normal people showed up and filled out comment cards, I assure you, it would make a *huge* difference.

If you absolutely cannot make it to any of these meetings, please take the time to write a very brief letter stating that you support an extension of the Red Line down Wilshire Boulevard (or whatever it is that you believe.) Send your letter to:

Mr. David Mieger, AICP, Project Manager and Deputy Executive Officer
Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro)
Mail Stop: 99-22-5
One Gateway Plaza
Los Angeles, CA 90012

If you can't even do that, please comment at the “Contact Us” page of the project web site at www.metro.net/westside, or by phone on the project information line at (213) 922-6932.

Please know, however, that a comment submitted in person is rated more highly than a letter, which is rated more highly than a phone call, which is rated more highly than a comment submitted on a website. So if you can show up to one of those meetings, please do.

Whether you're for it or against it, make your voice heard. Participate in your government, people.

My personal opinion, for what it's worth, is that there ought to be a subway or maybe even aerial heavy rail, as long as it connects seamlessly with the existing Red Line at Wilshire/Western and is faster than driving, which shouldn't be hard given the traffic on the 10 or on Wilshire. But whether you oppose mass transit or love it, EVERYBODY ought to oppose dedicated bus lanes. They work in some places, but not on a corridor as congested as Wilshire. If we're not going to do anything, we'd better at least let as many cars through as possible. Transit only works if it's easier, or faster, or a lot cheaper than private cars - trying to force people to get out of their cars, such as with HOV lanes, doesn't work. This is why grade-separated transit is the only thing that's going to work along Wilshire.

I'm pretty stupid, so maybe some of you smart folks can help explain a few things to me.

1. Money Stuff
So, if the minimum wage is currently 6 bucks or whatever, and we raise it to 8 bucks, won't stuff that currently costs 6 bucks come to cost 8 bucks? I mean, not overnight, not two weeks from now, but a lot quicker than it would have otherwise. And won't everything else in life cost more by about the same percentage? And if it's not a problem to raise the minimum wage to 8 dollars an hour, why not make it a real "living wage" and raise the minimum wage to $40,000 a year or the hourly equivalent, about 19.25 per hour? Anywhere but Manhattan, 40K seems like a pretty decent wage, right? In fact, heck, why not raise it to $100,000 per year? We'll all be sittin' pretty! Won't we?

2. Lame Emo Stuff
You people that I like, stop getting divorced. Why you gotta do that? 'Splain that... actually don't explain. There's probably good reasons. I can't even say knock it off. But still: Dammit.

3. Political Stuff
So apparently we're going to legalize the approximately 12 million illegal immigrants who've come here over the past 15 years or so... or however long it's been since the last amnesty bill that was supposed to stop illegal immigration in its tracks. Apart from the pointless $5K fine, what is supposed to happen for these people? Will their employers suddenly be forced to pay them minimum wage and start collecting taxes? Seems unlikely, but even if it did do that, doesn't that just create a 12-million-person hole in the labor market for new illegal immigrants? And leave the 12 million new immigrants high and dry?¹

4. Tom Jones Stuff
Why, why, WHY, Delilah?


¹Please note for the benefit of the stupid and knee-jerk: I'm absolutely 100% in favor of immigration, and I absolutely do not care where it comes from. I'd be in favor of massively increasing the amount of immigration we legally allow into this country. I'm not a racist/anti-immigrant/John Bircher/Neo-Nazi/whatever. I just don't think illegal immigration is a good thing for anybody, especially the illegals themselves, who are generally exploited into doing shitty work that they *ought* to get paid a lot more for. And yes, I'm willing to pay more for lettuce and lemons to stop this stuff from happening.

If you want to check two boxes, for the person you *would* vote for and the person you figure you probably *will* end up voting for, go ahead.

Poll #972062 Decision Eventually
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 26

If the 2008 Presidential election were held today, who'd be your pick?

Here's a link to an interesting image, showing corporate aviation outbound from Miama Opa-Locka and Ft. Lauderdale airports the morning after the Superbowl: http://syndicated.livejournal.com/cellar_iotd/165830.html

No surprise, really, but interesting to see. However, the picture in one of the other links in that post suggests that commercial traffic out of those airports (which was probably beefier on the day after the Superbowl than it would have been on a normal Monday morning at 10 AM) was still significantly less than the corporate aviation, and suggests that overall, corporate aviation is getting a mostly free ride as far as funding the Air Traffic Control system is concerned.

I dunno. But looking at either of those pictures, I think that the controllers in the towers at Miami and Ft. Lauderdale and the regional controllers who are in charge of the whole area probably deserve a big fat bonus for the work they did last Monday.

BAGHDAD, Iraq (Associated Press) - Clutching a Quran and refusing a hood, Saddam Hussein went to the gallows before sunrise Saturday, executed by vengeful countrymen after a quarter-century of remorseless brutality that killed countless thousands and led Iraq into disastrous wars against the United States and Iran.

Does it make a difference right now? No, probably not. Is Iraq better off without him? It may take a while but I surely hope so. But today, right now, is the world better off for not having this particular bastard in it? Yes, yes it is.