The California ballot has some propositions for you
That old Chinese adage "may you live in interesting times" definitely applies to the ballot we will be punching chads out of in November of this year. In a state with 53 Congressional Districts, at this point it appears that there are only five races where the outcome remains to be decided. In each of the two political parties, there are two races within the party for a seat that was going to remain in that party under almost any circumstance. The race for the 52nd Congressional District is a toss-up at this point, with Democratic incumbent Scott Peters facing a strong challenge from former San Diego City Councilman Carl DeMaio. DeMaio was the first openly gay person to serve on that city's city council. He was the man behind Prop B on the San Diego ballot in 2012, which attempted to limit city pension payouts in future years by making some smart reforms. It passed by a 2 to 1 margin.
In the end, the state's Congressional delegation will be similar to the current make-up, with Democrats holding a more than 2 to 1 lead in the Congressional Districts. As far as the races for Governor, Lt. Governor, and the rest of the state's executive positions, all of the Democratic incumbents who are running for reelection will win. In the few races where an incumbent isn't seeking reelection, a Democrat will win the office. Republicans will also make no gains in the State Senate and the State Assembly.
This give strength to the belief that California is an extremely liberal state, and in some areas it is. But would an extremely liberal state pass Proposition 187? Propositions that cut taxes, or make it harder to raise them? The voters of California have tried on a number of occasions to abolish the death penalty in the states and either failed to qualify a prop for the ballot, or had their proposition rejected by the voters. I think the state is extremely liberal in some areas, and rather moderate in others.
Now, on to two ballot propositions. Props 45 and 46 both involve the healthcare industry. No matter what you read, the truth is that one is backed by insurers looking to make it easier to raise rates and the other is from trial lawyers who are looking to make it easier to win larger judgments in medical malpractice cases.
Proposition 45 is backed by five insurance companies that control almost 90% of all healthcare insurance policies written in California. Trial lawyers are trying to hide the real purpose of Proposition 46, which is to raise the cap on non-economic damages in medical malpractice cases. While it is true that malpractice cases represent less than 2% of the total cost of healthcare, as long as a person can get compensation for lost income, future lost income, medical bills and future medical costs related to an act of malpractice, the need for huge non-economic damage awards really doesn't exist. In a perfect world, larger punitive damage awards in cases of gross negligence might be preferable, but I'd rather do everything we can to contain the costs of healthcare. Yes, a 2011 CBO study shows that malpractice insurance premiums had been declining for four years. Even then, they are still too high.
I'm voting NO on both of these bad propositions, and I encourage you to research them yourselves and make an informed decision of your own.
* * *
If you are accused of domestic violence and you are an NFL player, you get suspended or otherwise removed from your team. I find it very interesting that the U. S. Women's Soccer program has not suspended Hope Solo for that reason. Ms Solo was arrested and pleaded guilty to two counts of domestic violence in an incident involving her sister and her nephew. Trial is scheduled for this coming November.
Why are NFL players prohibited from playing while facing these charges while Ms Solo is not only playing; but being celebrated for a recent record achievement involving shutout games? Hope Solo is a major role model for girls and young women, particularly those who play soccer. So why does she get a free pass on this? Maybe it has something to do with the fact that aside from Abby Wambach, no one else on the women's national team roster is a recognizable name to those who don't follow soccer.
Whatever reason or reasons are behind this idiotic decision by those in charge of the women's national soccer team, they are not doing the right thing.
* * *
Picture three hotels located adjacent to one another. The one in the middle is a "big" hotel, with more than 300 rooms. The one on the left is slightly smaller, with more than 150 rooms and the one on the right has less than 150 rooms. If several members of the Los Angeles City Council have their way, come July 1st of next year, the owners of the big hotel will have to pay their workers a minimum wage of $15.37 per hour. The slightly smaller hotel would become subject to this higher minimum wage the following year, while the smallest hotel would not be subject to this ordinance.
Apparently the City Council in its miniscule, finite wisdom thinks it is smarter than the economists who prepared reports for them to peruse prior to passing this ordinance (it is up for a vote on September 24th).
I can think of no good reason for bellhops, janitors, food servers and every other class of hotel employees to earn different wages because of the size of their employer. It makes no sense. The value of labor is a function of economic forces, with only minimum wages altering this basic equation. Worse yet, why just hotels? Should a cook at the diner down the street from the big hotel be denied the higher wage that the cook doing the same job for the hotel coffee shop receives?
Yet another bad idea from a well-meaning intention of the nanny-state namby-pambys of the City Council.
* * *
Random Ponderings:
Would someone on the White House staff quietly let President Obama know that you don't salute if you have something in your right hand? Not a big deal but it is a break in protocol.
Turns out the woman who claimed to have three breasts was a fake. I'm sure a lot of guys are broken-hearted. I was just pondering the problem that having an extra one to try to please during lovemaking would present some logistical problems.
Maybe they should search people coming into a venue to watch Chris Brown perform for knives and confiscate them all until after the show. Then no one will get stabbed.
No one is infringing upon Rob Schneider's freedom of expression rights. If an advertiser doesn't want to use him because of a position he takes on an issue, that's their right. He still gets to be anti-vaccination, he just won't get paid to plug health insurance for one company. Rob needs a short remedial high school government class.
I'm saddened to hear that Julie Newmar took a fall at LAX when she got disoriented by the flashes of paparazzi cameras, but that's not their fault. They aren't responsible for ruining her $89 pair of stockings. I guess it's a good thing she can still afford to spend that much on one pair of stockings.
Kudos to MTV for introducing an intersex character on their show "Faking It."
Next time you stop for gas and want to pump some air into your car's tires, don't pay for the air. California law mandates that a gas station must provide free air and water (for their vehicles) if they purchase gasoline. If they insist that you pay, go to this link and report them: http://www.cdfa.ca.gov/egov/dms/aw/
If someone could bottle emotional maturity, the Dodgers would definitely pay any price and have Yasiel Puig drink the entire bottle.
When I read today's date in history stuff, seeing the founding of CompuServe reminded me that I used that service so much one month when I got my first modem that I had a bill for $800. I paid the bill and cancelled CompuServe.
It isn't hard to believe that "breastaurant" Twin Peaks was the fastest growing restaurant chain in the U.S. last year.
So was it calling NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell a liar, or the repeated use of profanity that caused ESPN to suspend Bill Simmons? I suspect a little of both. ESPN needs to be in the good graces of Goodell, especially when their deal to show pro football comes up for renewal.
* * *
September 24th in History:
1180 – Manuel I Komnenos, last Emperor of the Komnenian restoration dies. The Byzantine Empire slips into terminal decline.
1645 – Battle of Rowton Heath, Parliamentarian victory over a Royalist army commanded in person by King Charles
1664 – The Dutch Republic surrenders New Amsterdam to England.
1674 – Second Tantrik Coronation of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.
1780 – Benedict Arnold flees to British Army lines when the arrest of British Major John André exposes Arnold's plot to surrender West Point.
1789 – The United States Congress passes the Judiciary Act which creates the office of the United States Attorney General and the federal judiciary system, and orders the composition of the Supreme Court of the United States.
1830 – Belgian Revolution: A revolutionary committee of notables forms the Provisional Government of Belgium.
1841 – The Sultan of Brunei cedes Sarawak to the United Kingdom.
1846 – Mexican–American War: General Zachary Taylor captures Monterrey.
1852 – The first airship powered by (a steam) engine, created by Henri Giffard, travels 17 miles (27 km) from Paris to Trappes.
1853 – Admiral Despointes formally takes possession of New Caledonia in the name of France.
1869 – "Black Friday": Gold prices plummet after Ulysses S. Grant orders the Treasury to sell large quantities of gold after Jay Gould and James Fisk plot to control the market.
1873 – Establishment of "Satyashodhak Samaj", (Truth-seeker Movement) at Pune, Maharashtra, India by Mahatma Jyotirao Phule.
1877 – Battle of Shiroyama, decisive victory of the Imperial Japanese Army over the Satsuma Rebellion
1890 – The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints officially renounces polygamy.
1906 – U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt proclaims Devils Tower in Wyoming as the nation's first National Monument.
1911 – His Majesty's Airship No. 1, Britain's first rigid airship, is wrecked by strong winds before her maiden flight at Barrow-in-Furness.
1914 – World War I: The Siege of Przemyśl (present-day Poland) begins.
1932 – Gandhi and Dr. B. R. Ambedkar agree to the Poona Pact, which reserved seats in the Indian provincial legislatures for the "Depressed Classes" (Untouchables).
1935 – Earl Bascom and Weldon Bascom produce the first rodeo ever held outdoors under electric lights at Columbia, Mississippi
1946 – Cathay Pacific Airways is founded in Hong Kong.
1946 – Clark Clifford and George Elsey, military advisers to U.S. President Harry S. Truman, present him with a top-secret report on the Soviet Union that first recommends the containment policy.
1948 – The Honda Motor Company is founded.
1950 – Forest fires black out the sun over portions of Canada and New England. A blue moon is seen as far away as Europe.
1957 – Camp Nou, the largest stadium in Europe, is opened in Barcelona.
1957 – President Dwight D. Eisenhower sends 101st Airborne Division troops to Little Rock, Arkansas, to enforce desegregation.
1960 – USS Enterprise, the world's first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, is launched.
1962 – United States court of appeals orders the University of Mississippi to admit James Meredith.
1968 – 60 Minutes debuts on CBS.
1968 – Swaziland joins the United Nations.
1972 – Japan Airlines Flight 472, operated Douglas DC-8-53 landed at Juhu Aerodrome instead of Santacruz Airport in Bombay, India.
1973 – Guinea-Bissau declares its independence from Portugal.
1979 – CompuServe launches the first consumer internet service, which features the first public electronic mail service.
1990 – Periodic Great White Spot is observed on Saturn.
1993 – The Cambodian monarchy is restored, with Norodom Sihanouk as king.
1996 – Representatives of 71 nations sign the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty at the United Nations.
2005 – Hurricane Rita makes landfall in the United States, devastating Beaumont, Texas and portions of southwestern Louisiana.
2007 – Between 30,000 and 100,000 people take part in anti-government protests in Yangon, Burma, the largest in 20 years.
2009 – The G20 summit begins in Pittsburgh with 30 global leaders in attendance. It marks the first use of LRAD in U.S. history.
2013 – A 7.7-magnitude earthquake strikes southern Pakistan, killing more than 327 people.
2014 – The Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), a Mars orbiter launched into Earth orbit by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), successfully inserted into orbit of Mars.
Famous Folk Born on September 24th:
Horace Walpole
John Marshall
Sarah Knauss (she lived to be 119 years old)
Franklin Clarence Mars
A. P. Herbert
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Ham Fisher
Konstantin Chernenko
Herb Jeffries
Richard Bong (Medal of Honor recipient, shot down at least 40 Japanese planes during WWII)
Jim McKay
Shelia MacRae
John W. Young
Audra Lindley
Jim Henson (we miss your genius)
Linda McCartney
Gerry Marsden
Lou Dobbs
Gordon Clapp
Phil Hartman (gone too soon)
Kristina Wayborn (Bond girl)
Kevin Sorbo
Nia Vardalos
Sean McNabb
Lisa Matthews
Sergeant First Class Paul Ray Smith (posthumous Medal of Honor recipient)
Stephanie McMahon (the WWE universe loves to hate her)
Casey Johnson
Ross Matthews
In the end, the state's Congressional delegation will be similar to the current make-up, with Democrats holding a more than 2 to 1 lead in the Congressional Districts. As far as the races for Governor, Lt. Governor, and the rest of the state's executive positions, all of the Democratic incumbents who are running for reelection will win. In the few races where an incumbent isn't seeking reelection, a Democrat will win the office. Republicans will also make no gains in the State Senate and the State Assembly.
This give strength to the belief that California is an extremely liberal state, and in some areas it is. But would an extremely liberal state pass Proposition 187? Propositions that cut taxes, or make it harder to raise them? The voters of California have tried on a number of occasions to abolish the death penalty in the states and either failed to qualify a prop for the ballot, or had their proposition rejected by the voters. I think the state is extremely liberal in some areas, and rather moderate in others.
Now, on to two ballot propositions. Props 45 and 46 both involve the healthcare industry. No matter what you read, the truth is that one is backed by insurers looking to make it easier to raise rates and the other is from trial lawyers who are looking to make it easier to win larger judgments in medical malpractice cases.
Proposition 45 is backed by five insurance companies that control almost 90% of all healthcare insurance policies written in California. Trial lawyers are trying to hide the real purpose of Proposition 46, which is to raise the cap on non-economic damages in medical malpractice cases. While it is true that malpractice cases represent less than 2% of the total cost of healthcare, as long as a person can get compensation for lost income, future lost income, medical bills and future medical costs related to an act of malpractice, the need for huge non-economic damage awards really doesn't exist. In a perfect world, larger punitive damage awards in cases of gross negligence might be preferable, but I'd rather do everything we can to contain the costs of healthcare. Yes, a 2011 CBO study shows that malpractice insurance premiums had been declining for four years. Even then, they are still too high.
I'm voting NO on both of these bad propositions, and I encourage you to research them yourselves and make an informed decision of your own.
* * *
If you are accused of domestic violence and you are an NFL player, you get suspended or otherwise removed from your team. I find it very interesting that the U. S. Women's Soccer program has not suspended Hope Solo for that reason. Ms Solo was arrested and pleaded guilty to two counts of domestic violence in an incident involving her sister and her nephew. Trial is scheduled for this coming November.
Why are NFL players prohibited from playing while facing these charges while Ms Solo is not only playing; but being celebrated for a recent record achievement involving shutout games? Hope Solo is a major role model for girls and young women, particularly those who play soccer. So why does she get a free pass on this? Maybe it has something to do with the fact that aside from Abby Wambach, no one else on the women's national team roster is a recognizable name to those who don't follow soccer.
Whatever reason or reasons are behind this idiotic decision by those in charge of the women's national soccer team, they are not doing the right thing.
* * *
Picture three hotels located adjacent to one another. The one in the middle is a "big" hotel, with more than 300 rooms. The one on the left is slightly smaller, with more than 150 rooms and the one on the right has less than 150 rooms. If several members of the Los Angeles City Council have their way, come July 1st of next year, the owners of the big hotel will have to pay their workers a minimum wage of $15.37 per hour. The slightly smaller hotel would become subject to this higher minimum wage the following year, while the smallest hotel would not be subject to this ordinance.
Apparently the City Council in its miniscule, finite wisdom thinks it is smarter than the economists who prepared reports for them to peruse prior to passing this ordinance (it is up for a vote on September 24th).
I can think of no good reason for bellhops, janitors, food servers and every other class of hotel employees to earn different wages because of the size of their employer. It makes no sense. The value of labor is a function of economic forces, with only minimum wages altering this basic equation. Worse yet, why just hotels? Should a cook at the diner down the street from the big hotel be denied the higher wage that the cook doing the same job for the hotel coffee shop receives?
Yet another bad idea from a well-meaning intention of the nanny-state namby-pambys of the City Council.
* * *
Random Ponderings:
Would someone on the White House staff quietly let President Obama know that you don't salute if you have something in your right hand? Not a big deal but it is a break in protocol.
Turns out the woman who claimed to have three breasts was a fake. I'm sure a lot of guys are broken-hearted. I was just pondering the problem that having an extra one to try to please during lovemaking would present some logistical problems.
Maybe they should search people coming into a venue to watch Chris Brown perform for knives and confiscate them all until after the show. Then no one will get stabbed.
No one is infringing upon Rob Schneider's freedom of expression rights. If an advertiser doesn't want to use him because of a position he takes on an issue, that's their right. He still gets to be anti-vaccination, he just won't get paid to plug health insurance for one company. Rob needs a short remedial high school government class.
I'm saddened to hear that Julie Newmar took a fall at LAX when she got disoriented by the flashes of paparazzi cameras, but that's not their fault. They aren't responsible for ruining her $89 pair of stockings. I guess it's a good thing she can still afford to spend that much on one pair of stockings.
Kudos to MTV for introducing an intersex character on their show "Faking It."
Next time you stop for gas and want to pump some air into your car's tires, don't pay for the air. California law mandates that a gas station must provide free air and water (for their vehicles) if they purchase gasoline. If they insist that you pay, go to this link and report them: http://www.cdfa.ca.gov/egov/dms/aw/
If someone could bottle emotional maturity, the Dodgers would definitely pay any price and have Yasiel Puig drink the entire bottle.
When I read today's date in history stuff, seeing the founding of CompuServe reminded me that I used that service so much one month when I got my first modem that I had a bill for $800. I paid the bill and cancelled CompuServe.
It isn't hard to believe that "breastaurant" Twin Peaks was the fastest growing restaurant chain in the U.S. last year.
So was it calling NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell a liar, or the repeated use of profanity that caused ESPN to suspend Bill Simmons? I suspect a little of both. ESPN needs to be in the good graces of Goodell, especially when their deal to show pro football comes up for renewal.
* * *
September 24th in History:
1180 – Manuel I Komnenos, last Emperor of the Komnenian restoration dies. The Byzantine Empire slips into terminal decline.
1645 – Battle of Rowton Heath, Parliamentarian victory over a Royalist army commanded in person by King Charles
1664 – The Dutch Republic surrenders New Amsterdam to England.
1674 – Second Tantrik Coronation of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.
1780 – Benedict Arnold flees to British Army lines when the arrest of British Major John André exposes Arnold's plot to surrender West Point.
1789 – The United States Congress passes the Judiciary Act which creates the office of the United States Attorney General and the federal judiciary system, and orders the composition of the Supreme Court of the United States.
1830 – Belgian Revolution: A revolutionary committee of notables forms the Provisional Government of Belgium.
1841 – The Sultan of Brunei cedes Sarawak to the United Kingdom.
1846 – Mexican–American War: General Zachary Taylor captures Monterrey.
1852 – The first airship powered by (a steam) engine, created by Henri Giffard, travels 17 miles (27 km) from Paris to Trappes.
1853 – Admiral Despointes formally takes possession of New Caledonia in the name of France.
1869 – "Black Friday": Gold prices plummet after Ulysses S. Grant orders the Treasury to sell large quantities of gold after Jay Gould and James Fisk plot to control the market.
1873 – Establishment of "Satyashodhak Samaj", (Truth-seeker Movement) at Pune, Maharashtra, India by Mahatma Jyotirao Phule.
1877 – Battle of Shiroyama, decisive victory of the Imperial Japanese Army over the Satsuma Rebellion
1890 – The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints officially renounces polygamy.
1906 – U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt proclaims Devils Tower in Wyoming as the nation's first National Monument.
1911 – His Majesty's Airship No. 1, Britain's first rigid airship, is wrecked by strong winds before her maiden flight at Barrow-in-Furness.
1914 – World War I: The Siege of Przemyśl (present-day Poland) begins.
1932 – Gandhi and Dr. B. R. Ambedkar agree to the Poona Pact, which reserved seats in the Indian provincial legislatures for the "Depressed Classes" (Untouchables).
1935 – Earl Bascom and Weldon Bascom produce the first rodeo ever held outdoors under electric lights at Columbia, Mississippi
1946 – Cathay Pacific Airways is founded in Hong Kong.
1946 – Clark Clifford and George Elsey, military advisers to U.S. President Harry S. Truman, present him with a top-secret report on the Soviet Union that first recommends the containment policy.
1948 – The Honda Motor Company is founded.
1950 – Forest fires black out the sun over portions of Canada and New England. A blue moon is seen as far away as Europe.
1957 – Camp Nou, the largest stadium in Europe, is opened in Barcelona.
1957 – President Dwight D. Eisenhower sends 101st Airborne Division troops to Little Rock, Arkansas, to enforce desegregation.
1960 – USS Enterprise, the world's first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, is launched.
1962 – United States court of appeals orders the University of Mississippi to admit James Meredith.
1968 – 60 Minutes debuts on CBS.
1968 – Swaziland joins the United Nations.
1972 – Japan Airlines Flight 472, operated Douglas DC-8-53 landed at Juhu Aerodrome instead of Santacruz Airport in Bombay, India.
1973 – Guinea-Bissau declares its independence from Portugal.
1979 – CompuServe launches the first consumer internet service, which features the first public electronic mail service.
1990 – Periodic Great White Spot is observed on Saturn.
1993 – The Cambodian monarchy is restored, with Norodom Sihanouk as king.
1996 – Representatives of 71 nations sign the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty at the United Nations.
2005 – Hurricane Rita makes landfall in the United States, devastating Beaumont, Texas and portions of southwestern Louisiana.
2007 – Between 30,000 and 100,000 people take part in anti-government protests in Yangon, Burma, the largest in 20 years.
2009 – The G20 summit begins in Pittsburgh with 30 global leaders in attendance. It marks the first use of LRAD in U.S. history.
2013 – A 7.7-magnitude earthquake strikes southern Pakistan, killing more than 327 people.
2014 – The Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), a Mars orbiter launched into Earth orbit by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), successfully inserted into orbit of Mars.
Famous Folk Born on September 24th:
Horace Walpole
John Marshall
Sarah Knauss (she lived to be 119 years old)
Franklin Clarence Mars
A. P. Herbert
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Ham Fisher
Konstantin Chernenko
Herb Jeffries
Richard Bong (Medal of Honor recipient, shot down at least 40 Japanese planes during WWII)
Jim McKay
Shelia MacRae
John W. Young
Audra Lindley
Jim Henson (we miss your genius)
Linda McCartney
Gerry Marsden
Lou Dobbs
Gordon Clapp
Phil Hartman (gone too soon)
Kristina Wayborn (Bond girl)
Kevin Sorbo
Nia Vardalos
Sean McNabb
Lisa Matthews
Sergeant First Class Paul Ray Smith (posthumous Medal of Honor recipient)
Stephanie McMahon (the WWE universe loves to hate her)
Casey Johnson
Ross Matthews
posted by me at 10:37 PM
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