Sunday, June 3, 2018
New Website and URL for Valley Dude
I am excited to announce that Valley Dude has its own new website here at https://valleydude70.com!! I will be keeping this site up as an archive for previous posts. It is still a work in progress, but I hope you enjoy the new website as much as I do.
Friday, May 25, 2018
June 5 - Primary Election Ballot Recommendations
Hi all - yes, once again it is time for my ballot recommendations. For convenience, I have attached a link to the California Voter Information Guide here, which gives a summary of the statewide initiatives on this ballot.
Whatever you do, please be sure to exercise our precious right to vote. No matter how much money or power public officials have, we can each exercise our franchise the best way we see fit.
Elected offices:
Whatever you do, please be sure to exercise our precious right to vote. No matter how much money or power public officials have, we can each exercise our franchise the best way we see fit.
Elected offices:
- Governor - Delaine Eastin
- Lt. Governor - Gayle McLaughlin
- Secretary of State - Alex Padilla
- Attorney General - Xavier Becerra
- Treasurer - Visak Viswanathan
- CA State Senator 18th District - Bob Hertzberg
- CA State Assembly 46th District - Adrin Nazarian
- U.S. Senator - Pat Harris
- U.S. Representative 30th District - Brad Sherman
- Proposition 68 - YES. This is a $4 billion bond dedicated to parks, natural resources, climate change adaptation, water quality and flood protection.
- Proposition 69 - NO. This requires that certain revenues from a 2017 transporatation law only be used for transportation. Sounds good in theory except this is a constitutional amendment. I generally oppose ballot box budgeting, but even when it does make sense it should not be via an amendment to the state constitution. Lawmakers can fix this through standard legislation - this is a ridiculous proposition.
- Proposition 70 - NO. This would require a super majority vote to spend cap and trade funds beginning in 2024, which would make it very difficult to appropriate funds. I think this is a bad idea.
- Proposition 71 - YES. Gives 5 days to count the vote before a ballot initiative becomes becomes law.
- Proposition 72 - YES. This excludes newly constructed rain capture systems from property tax reassesments. Normally I would say no to this kind of thing, but anything we can do to preserve our precious resource of water is a must.
Saturday, May 19, 2018
What do we do now?
As our country processes yet another devastating school shooting, I came across this rather shocking statistic from the Washington Post - there have been more students killed in 2018 than U.S. Service members. As my mind reeled about the continued inability for Congress to do something - anything - in response to an accelerating crisis, I realized our problems are so much deeper than just tightening access to guns (which still needs to happen). Unlike the Parkland shooting, in this instance the killer used a shotgun and a .38 revolver that he obtained from his father.
I can imagine folks who oppose sensible gun control measures will point to this tragedy as a continued reason to do nothing - after all, an assault weapons ban and background checks would likely not have been a factor in preventing this terrible incident. That's a little like saying requiring seat belts don't prevent all deaths so why bother to have seat belts at all. Let's not forget an AR-15 was used at Parkland. And if "smart" technology were required on guns (i.e., a gun only can fire when it recognizes the biometrics of its registered owner), then it's possible the shooter may not have been able to carry out his plan with his father's weapons. It's possible that none of that may have helped. But we need to try.
My point is not just to say we need sensible action on guns - we do - but we need to change our national dialogue to recognize the humanity in each other. Our response needs to not just come from Congress and statehouses, but our national consciousness. How does a 17 year old high school student become a killer anyway? What happened along the way that detached him so much from those around him? If we only focus on guns than we are missing the deeper strains on how we support our children and each other. Lack of investment in education, health care, economic growth and labor make it easier for hate and blame to seep its way into our being. Easier for adults to dehumanize and berate people who are not quite like them. These threads of thought and the broader deterioration of civility make their way to our children, and not necessarily from parents. I will say however having unlocked guns in the house implicates a lack of gravity and understanding - or even sympathy - about what these weapons can do to our fellow human beings.
As these tragedies increase, the absence of leadership across the spectrum in declaring that the United States is in crisis leads to an acceptance that this is the new "normal".
We can blame Donald Trump for exacerbating and normalizing it through the power of the White House, and that much is true. But this has been going on for a long time. Sandy Hook happened in 2012. Columbine happened in 1999. Since Columbine, 141 children have been killed and 284 have been injured. Over 200,000 kids have been exposed to school shootings. This is the 16th school shooting in 2018. Let's also not forget the 400 people that have been shot and killed so far by police in 2018. Why is there not uniform and sustained outrage? How is this now normal?
I will say it. The United States is in an existential crisis. I can think of a gazillion things that might be helpful in terms of public policy. And we should do some of them. But the first step in all of this is we must recognize that we are all human, and we all need each other. The values we hold with each other are the values that we pass to our children. We need to start here.
I can imagine folks who oppose sensible gun control measures will point to this tragedy as a continued reason to do nothing - after all, an assault weapons ban and background checks would likely not have been a factor in preventing this terrible incident. That's a little like saying requiring seat belts don't prevent all deaths so why bother to have seat belts at all. Let's not forget an AR-15 was used at Parkland. And if "smart" technology were required on guns (i.e., a gun only can fire when it recognizes the biometrics of its registered owner), then it's possible the shooter may not have been able to carry out his plan with his father's weapons. It's possible that none of that may have helped. But we need to try.
My point is not just to say we need sensible action on guns - we do - but we need to change our national dialogue to recognize the humanity in each other. Our response needs to not just come from Congress and statehouses, but our national consciousness. How does a 17 year old high school student become a killer anyway? What happened along the way that detached him so much from those around him? If we only focus on guns than we are missing the deeper strains on how we support our children and each other. Lack of investment in education, health care, economic growth and labor make it easier for hate and blame to seep its way into our being. Easier for adults to dehumanize and berate people who are not quite like them. These threads of thought and the broader deterioration of civility make their way to our children, and not necessarily from parents. I will say however having unlocked guns in the house implicates a lack of gravity and understanding - or even sympathy - about what these weapons can do to our fellow human beings.
As these tragedies increase, the absence of leadership across the spectrum in declaring that the United States is in crisis leads to an acceptance that this is the new "normal".
We can blame Donald Trump for exacerbating and normalizing it through the power of the White House, and that much is true. But this has been going on for a long time. Sandy Hook happened in 2012. Columbine happened in 1999. Since Columbine, 141 children have been killed and 284 have been injured. Over 200,000 kids have been exposed to school shootings. This is the 16th school shooting in 2018. Let's also not forget the 400 people that have been shot and killed so far by police in 2018. Why is there not uniform and sustained outrage? How is this now normal?
I will say it. The United States is in an existential crisis. I can think of a gazillion things that might be helpful in terms of public policy. And we should do some of them. But the first step in all of this is we must recognize that we are all human, and we all need each other. The values we hold with each other are the values that we pass to our children. We need to start here.
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