California 2012 Propositions
My favorite proposition would be one to do away with propositions altogether. We need Legislative Service instead. But there is an election on Tuesday and a fresh slate of propositions for California and San Francisco that need to be decided. My thoughts on the statewide propositions are:
30: TEMPORARY TAXES TO FUND EDUCATION. GUARANTEED LOCAL PUBLIC SAFETY FUNDING. INITIATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT.
Yes, grudgingly. I hate that Governor Brown has a knife to our throats on this one. If it passes then we get $6 billion of extra annual revenue, largely for education. If it fails then because the revenue is already in the budget we’re looking at further evisceration. The sales tax component is regressive, I prefer proposition 38’s more balanced income tax increases across the board. I actually like that the proposition 30 money hits the general fund – I hate measures that earmark money so specifically that there is no room for maneuver. So yes on 30 and no on 38.
The arguments against proposition 30 seem to be that it isn’t specifically earmarked (which I see as a plus) and that we shouldn’t be raising more money for education and public safety while also building out high speed rail. But as the 8th largest economy in the world California should be able to mange to improve public transport and education at the same time. Both are critical to long term growth and prosperity. There is also the argument that you can’t trust government with any money or decisions and that any problem can be handled by just reducing ‘waste’. I don’t really buy that and if you do you might be better off somewhere like Nevada.
31: STATE BUDGET. STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT. INITIATIVE CONSTITUTION AMENDENT AND STATUTE.
No. ‘Local Action Plans’ would allow local government to circumvent state laws and this doesn’t seem like a great idea. Allowing the Governor to make budget cuts without the state legislature smells bad as well. Publishing bills in advance of a vote to help prevent pet projects and pork from being stuffed in sounds good, I wish it had been included as a separate proposition rather than lumped in here (in general Proposition 30 suffers from being too broad).
32: POLITICAL CONTRIBUTIONS BY PAYROLL DEDUCTION. CONTRIBUTIONS TO CANDIDATES. INITIATIVE STATUTE.
No. It’s just a naked attempt to stiff unions and further increase the corporate money stranglehold on US politics.
33: AUTO INSURANCE COMPANIES. PRICES BASED ON DRIVER’S HISTORY OF INSURANCE COVERAGE. INITIATIVE STATUTE.
No. This allows insurance companies to offer a discount based on how long you’ve been insured with another company but also allows them to punish you for a lapse in coverage. If you choose to be without a car for more than a few months you can get a large increase in coverage. It doesn’t seem that the pros outweigh the cons here and the fact that the proposition is funded by the chairman of Mercury further tips me towards a no vote.
34: DEATH PENALTY. INITIATIVE STATUTE.
Yes. I don’t care about the cost of the death penalty, or particularly in it’s effectiveness. I’m fundamentally opposed to the death penalty because I don’t think the state has any business taking life in cold blood. I also don’t think you can guarantee that you’re not executing someone who is innocent.
35: HUMAN TRAFFICKING. PENALTIES. INITIATIVE STATUTE.
No. Punishment for specific offenses shouldn’t be dictated by ballot initiative. Most of these crimes are Federal anyway and so any changes in CA law would have a minor impact (KQED reports 18 offenders in CA prison for trafficking). There is a provision expanding the definition of human trafficking to include copying child pornography… sounds great but you’ll probably end up doing 15 years hard time for backing up your teenager’s phone after they’ve been sexting.
36: THREE STRIKES LAW. REPEAT FELONY OFFENDERS. PENALTIES. INITIATIVE STATUTE.
Yes. As the law currently stands you can get life in prison for drug possession. The US really needs to stop throwing everyone in jail. Judges should have the latitude to make the sentence fit the crime and not be automatically forced to throw away the key. This proposition makes three strikes a little more humane – I’d rather see it done away with altogether but it’s a step in the right direction.
37: GENETICALLY ENGINEERED FOODS. LABELING. INITIATIVE STATUTE.
Yes. Personally I don’t really care about eating GM food, but a lot of people care very deeply and it seems reasonable to provide this information. The main argument against is sinister special exemptions but these boil down to alcohol (not labeled the same way as food to start with) and animals that have been fed GM food but are not GM themselves.
38: TAX TO FUND EDUCATION AND EARLY CHILDHOOD PROGRAMS. INITIATIVE STATUTE.
No. See 30, above.
39: TAX TREATMENT FOR MULTISTATE BUSINESSES. CLEAN ENERGY AND ENERGY EFFICIENCY FUNDING. INITIATIVE STATUTE.
No. I’m not really sure which way of determining how to tax multi-state businesses is best. Allowing businesses to choose which method they use doesn’t seem the right way to go. If this proposition was just about changing the tax calculation I might be in favor, but unfortunately it also funnels around half of the additional revenue to a new outfit to spend on clean energy projects over five years. As the proposition is sponsored by one hedge fund manager you’ve got to believe that there is a hedge fund posed to benefit from the extra spending.
40: REDISTRICTING. STATE SENATE DISTRICTS. REFERENDUM.
Yes. Approves the outcome of the Citizens Redistricting Commission. The backers of the proposition have withdrawn support for it (Republicans trying to throw out the new districts), it’s only on the ballot because it can’t be removed – a yes vote in this case keeps things the same.
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Reviews and Links for October 2012
Skios by Michael Frayn
4/5
Perfectly well oiled comedy of errors.
The Hydrogen Sonata (Culture, #10) by Iain M. Banks
3/5
Solid but somewhat routine Culture installment.
A Wanted Man (Jack Reacher, #17) by Lee Child
3/5
Solid Reacher installment.
Some Remarks: Essays and Other Writing by Neal Stephenson
4/5
Excellent collection of articles and a couple of short stories. Worth reading just for the Wired article on the technology and politics of submarine cables.
Links
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Religion's Kayne West Tendencies
BBC News has a report today on a conference held by CERN to bring science and religion together around the origins of the universe. It has some choice quotes including:
"Science in isolation is great for producing stuff, but not so good for producing ideas"
From Andrew Pinsent, and from Canon Dr Gary Wilton that the likely discovery of the Higgs boson:
"raised lots of questions [about the origins of the Universe] that scientists alone can't answer ... They need to explore them with theologians and philosophers"
Let me get this straight.
- The concept of atoms is first proposed by Demokritos in around 500 BC and realized by Dalton in 1808.
- Subatomic particles are discovered in the late 19th century, followed by Rutherford's gold foil experiment in 1907 demonstrating that an atom is mostly empty space.
- The Standard Model is built over decades including the proposal by Peter Higgs (and others) of the existence of the field and boson by which particles acquire mass.
- An expensive and extensive search by Fermilab and CERN eventually seems to have discovered the Higgs Boson.
A few highlights.
And after hundreds of years of theoretical and experimental physics it's somehow time to turn this one over to the pros?
Another quote from the conference, this time from Prof John Lennox:
"When Hawking argues, in support of his theory of spontaneous creation, that it was only necessary for 'the blue touch paper' to be lit to 'set the universe going', the question must be: where did this blue touch paper come from? And who lit it, if not God?"
Science may never have all the answers. It may not even be possible. But it's the only way to keep pushing back the boundaries. All the theologians have to offer is that they've discovered God, just outside the current resolution of our understanding. Ad nauseam. Bugger off.
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Ordoñez Gun
Looking down the barrel of the Ordoñez Gun at the Presidio of San Francisco.
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Bernal from Davidson
Photo of Bernal Heights Park as seen from Mount Davidson in San Francisco.
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Reviews and Links for September 2012
1Q84 by Haruki Murakami
5/5
Epic Murakami, set in a maybe-alternate-universe version of 1984. There is a definite change in tone in the third book, hard to tell if this is the story of the change in translator but the story sags slightly before picking up the pace again at the end. Even without this it's a long and sprawling book which you'll love if you like Murakami's tone and unique characterization. I'm in the love camp.
Links
Check out Field Trip on Google Play! https://t.co/EVGELuBe -- looks cool, automatically tells you when something interesting is near
Missing kids plan for 404 pages http://t.co/Z3B3v1QZ -- kind of creepy
Field Papers - http://t.co/QHIyzvPn - looks very cool. Via @RavenEllison #todo @myEN
Kids App Maker Duck Duck Moose Raises $7M Series A From Sequoia, Lightspeed & Others http://t.co/SaeXuzop -- well deserved
Crow Gyre http://t.co/jjLn3PtQ -- testing card approval
This Mind Blowing Video Does NOT Use Green Screen http://t.co/RkiyqmR3
San Francisco playground report card: http://t.co/shGKggA5 Precita Park gets an F :( #fb
Announcing Source Code Pro http://t.co/QpUUSO18 -- nice code font @myEN
ITHCWY: Crow Gyre http://t.co/kAM89GHF
Updated with more Endeavor pics: http://t.co/UIXy2xj5 #OV105 #spottheshuttle
Vernal Equinox 2012 in Catfood Earth http://t.co/UOHqwK3V via @CatfoodSoftware #equinox
ITHCWY: #OV105 http://t.co/m7Th3xMp
BBC News - Tom Daley 'abuse' tweet: Legal rethink on online rules http://t.co/ItA6wYFM -- only correct boundary is no boundary
Ridiculous / awesome: http://t.co/9Muup4tA
ITHCWY: Worst special TiVo offer ever http://t.co/rfTaeXn7
via @TheOnion - No One Murdered Because Of This Image http://t.co/Vilv9166
Check out Viva Fund Summer Campaign: http://t.co/XXwB9P1d via @razoo
5 of 5 stars to 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami http://t.co/T5u5ZiOB
ITHCWY: Earthquake Supply Co.: The last time we refreshed our earthquake supply kit was because of a smell. It… http://t.co/SlvpmlFO
ITHCWY: Like Debate?: I’ve just started work on a new project called Like Debate. It’s going to be a new type of… http://t.co/6Bj0YPxa
RT @LikeDebate: Getting Started - Like Debate is my attempt to build a new type of debate web site. The teaser page launched … http://t. ...
Ticked off: How stock market decimalization killed IPOs and ruined our economy http://t.co/P0CzpSQ2
Star Sighting: Invisible Obamas Seen Relaxing in Bernal Heights http://t.co/yLJkubYL #fb
Earth and WebCams announcement from http://t.co/YG0xtwCc: http://t.co/KlJfVs9j
ITHCWY: Catfood: Earth for Android: I’ve just released Catfood Earth for Android. It’s my second app created with… http://t.co/YGjxSkcb
ITHCWY: Guess? http://t.co/0hz03251
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Crow Gyre
Many crows form a gyre in the sky over the Presidio of San Francisco.
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Photos of Space Shuttle Endeavor visiting San Francisco
Updated September 22, 2012 to add a few more photos:
Endeavor (OV105) flying over San Francisco with her escort:
Endeavor over Alcatraz:
Endeavor making the second of two passes over the Golden Gate Bridge:
Crowd watching Endeavor at Crissy Field:
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Worst special TiVo offer ever
Get $1 off two Bounty Paper Towels, seen while watching the September 17, 2012 episode of The Daily Show on TiVo. Hard to imagine how expensive a full roll must have been.
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Earthquake Supply Co.
The last time we refreshed our earthquake supply kit was because of a smell. It turned out a water container had burst. This rusted most of the cans, and then the became a domestic Superfund Site.
Given the current subscription commerce trend - get a new belt shipped by FedEx every four hours - I think there's a small business or a very interesting nonprofit here.
Deliver a 10-day disaster survival kit every couple of years. Pick up the old one a few months before the food expires and donate it to a homeless shelter. Repeat until the next big one strikes and the kit is actually needed. Different levels for different family sizes, pets, special needs, etc.
As usual any of my billionaire readers who are interested in funding this should drop me a line.
