When I am elected to the Board of Equalization, I will move my headquarters to Fresno. It is well located at the center of the state, and for reasons specified here it is the best place from which I can […]
Month: February 2010
Global Warming: If You Can’t Beat It, Join It.
This recent article in Reason Magazine by Ronald Bailey raises the issue of whether Global Warming is worse than the sort of society and government it would take to stop it. Actually, I think a more efficient way of dealing […]
In Which I Make Pompous Suggestions Concerning Transit in Los Angeles
Source: LA Metropolitan Transportation Authority Anyone looking at a map of the LA Metro notices that it is an East Side phenomenon – the westernmost point it reaches on the coastal side of the hills is Hollywood and Highland. It […]
Padding? Or Something Reality?
There was a recent discussion in the Wall Street Journal about why a flight from Los Angeles to New York, which takes six hours under ideal conditions, should be scheduled at seven hours. Some wonder whether this practice is ethical. […]
Sorry Wrong Number: A Basis In Reality
One of the less cheery films that we as a family like – because it reminds us of some of our relatives – is Sorry, Wrong Number, a 1948 noir film with Barbara Stanwyck. As a young girl, the Stanwyck […]
Tax Auditors Keep Tabs on Bars by Imbibing…
I have never considered running for office, but I think I shall now consider running for the Board of Equalization. And I promise to anyone who votes for me that I will not delegate the important matter of liquor taxes […]
San Jose Mercury News: Tech Group’s Poll Suggests Candidates Should ‘Friend’ Voters
I’m not surprised on the least. They already “friend” anyone who gives them more than $100 – more than that, if you do that, they will structure a whole social life for you. If I was lonely and single, that […]
A Theology of Earthquakes and Culture
After the Haiti earthquake, Pat Robertson declared that the earthquake was punishment for Haiti’s voodoo culture. How does he know? And is it any of his business? Pronouncements of this sort, I believe, fall into the category of “taking the […]
Native is Now Normal
I am of such an advanced age (let’s just say that my current age was a favorite number of the Babylonians!) that for me to announce that I was a native Californian was to claim something rather special and unusual. […]
Are “Big Corporations” People? And Can Everything Be Blamed on Them?
The recent decision that corporations and unions are free to make independent expenditures and public commentary on elections frightened a lot of people. It did not empower these organizations to contribute directly to campaigns in unlimited qualities, only to engage […]