I got a phone call today from someone who lives near Bullard High School, in Northwest Fresno. He was upset because school officials decided to paint over a mural that students had created a few years ago. He felt that school leaders should have sought community input before destroying students' artwork.
What was the mural? (The caller thought it was something representing F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby.") Was it offensive? Where on campus was it located?
Does anyone know any more details about the history of this mural or why it was covered up? And does anyone have a photograph of this mural? I'd like to learn more about this situation.
This month's column by by Del Rey farmer David Mas Masumoto describes the raisin industry in the San Joaquin Valley in the way that only Mas can. Here are the opening paragraphs:
Take a leisurely drive through the countryside this time of year with your car windows rolled down. You have to go slow -- if you're lucky, you pass a vineyard and the fragrance of drying grapes fills the air.
Best time is in the evening, when the cooler air presses down against the earth, an inversion layer trapping the aromas of the landscape. You can smell farming when you pass a raisin vineyard by the scent.
Sarah Palin stepped onto the national stage a year ago
On Saturday, it will be exactly one year since Sarah Palin was plucked out of obscurity and named by Republican presidential candidate to be his running mate. It's been quite a rise to prominence for the former Alaska governor. McCain now is back in the U.S. Senate and Palin is considered a possible Republican candidate for president in 2012.
She's loved by conservatives and despised by liberals. Palin has had so much exposure that it seems she's been on the national stage for a long time. But all this occurred over the past year.
We thought we'd throw open the Sarah Palin question to Opinion Talk bloggers. What do you think of her? Does she have a chance of being elected president in 2012? Here's your opportunity to tell the world your opinions of Sarah Palin, so join today's political discussion.
Limbaugh stops calling Obama a socialist; now says he's a fascist
The orders have come down from the top. The talking point now for Dittoheads is to call President Barack Obama a fascist. Rush Limbaugh had been calling the president a socialist, but the talk show host has reportedly said that term has lost it impact. He's a fascist, says Limbaugh.
If you want to know how all this went down, click here for a piece fromt he Los Angeles Times.
Click here to go to Rush's Web site. This is the quote posted on Rush's site: "Fascism is where the private sector still owns what it owns, but the politicians run it -- and fascism is exactly what we're getting under Barack Obama."
Fans of David Mas Masumoto are in for a couple of treats this week. The Del Rey farmer/philosopher wrote this commentary for the Los Angeles Times and he'll have his monthly column in The Bee on Sunday. He's writing about raisins this month in a piece called "Scent of Raisins." Look for it Sunday. Click here for an archive of Mas' columns in The Bee.
I caught up with Mas today in Portland where he is on a speaking tour promoting his latest book "Wisdom of the Last Farmer."
Mas has written eight other books about the Valley and the lessons he's learned from farming. They include "Heirlooms, Letters From A Peach Farmer," "Harvest Son," "Epitaph for a Peach" and "Four Seasons in Five Senses."
International condemnation continues over the "compassionate" release of the Libyan bomber of Pan Am Flight 103. Abdel Basset al-Megrahi was the only person convicted in the 1988 bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland, in which 270 people, including 189 Americans, were killed. Scottish officials defend their decision to send the bomber back to Libya where he got a hero's welcome.
He should not have been released and should have completed his life sentence, even if he is dying of cancer. There should have been compassion for the families of the victims of the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103. The hero's welcome in Libya is all you need to know about whether there's any remorse for the bombing.
The issue is also affecting Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's scheduled trip to the United Nations next month. He reportedly wants to stay in an upscale New Jersey neighborhood during his stay, but Gov. Jon Corzine and New Jersey federal legislators joined an angry chorus of opposition to Gadhafi's expected stay in the state, according to news reports. Thirty-eight of the victims were from New Jersey.
Local photographer Howard K. Watkins, who has taken photos of political events for almost four decades, offers this photo of Sen. Ted Kennedy attending the 1973 convention of the United Farm Workers in Fresno. Kennedy, who died Tuesday at age 77, spoke at the UFW's first constitutional convention at the Fresno Convention Center.
Kennedy is shaking hands with UFW founder Cesar Chavez in Watkins' photo. This photo is part of the archives of 150,000 photos that Watkins is donating to the Henry Madden Library at Fresno State.
For nearly a half-century in the Senate, Kennedy was a dominant voice on health care, civil rights, war and peace, and more. To the American public, though, he was best known as the last surviving brother of a storied political family.
Breaking news: Ted Kennedy dies after battle with brain cancer
Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts died Tuesday night at age 77, according to this story on Fresnobee.com.
The Kennedy family announced the death in a statement.
"Edward M. Kennedy - the husband, father, grandfather, brother and uncle we loved so deeply - died late Tuesday night at home in Hyannis Port," the statement said. "We've lost the irreplaceable center of our family and joyous light in our lives, but the inspiration of his faith, optimism, and perseverance will live on in our hearts forever. We thank everyone who gave him care and support over this last year, and everyone who stood with him for so many years in his tireless march for progress toward justice, fairness and opportunity for all. He loved this country and devoted his life to serving it. He always believed that our best days were still ahead, but it's hard to imagine any of them without him."
Kennedy, elected in 1962 when his brother was president, served 46 years in the U.S. Senate. Only two other senators served longer. He was the only Kenned brother "to die after reaching old age," The New York Times said. "President John F. Kennedy and Senator Robert F. Kennedy were felled by assassins' bullets in their 40s. The eldest brother, Joseph P. Kennedy Jr., died in 1944 at the age of 29 while on a risky World War II bombing mission."
Vilsack coy on whether administration will support an agricultural guest worker program
U.S. Agricultural Secretary Tom Vilsack wouldn't commit on whether an agricultural guest worker program will be part of the Obama Adminstration's immigration proposal. During an appearance before The Fresno Bee's editorial board Tuesday afternoon, Vilsack said President Obama wants a comprehensive immigration reform solution. But he said the administration is not ready to discuss specific details of the proposal.
Immigration reform is a contentious issue and the former Iowa governor showed his political skill in ducking the agricultural guest worker question.
Vilsack, who is in the San Joaquin Valley for a farm tour Wednesday morning and a agricultural town hall in Modesto in the afternoon, said the administration has been concentrating on health care reform and climate change recently. Immigration reform also is an important issue, he said, and the administration is working on a comprehensive plan. Democrats in Congress are expected to introduce an immigration bill in the fall.
Vilsack also will talk with Valley dairy farmers. Dairies are in trouble here and nationally because milk prices are very low and production costs have skyrocketed. Vilsack's Agriculture Department has given dairy farmers some relief by increasing the price the government pays for milk and cheddar cheese through a temporary dairy price-support program.
This is a huge issue for the San Joaquin Valley because the region leads the nation in milk production. The declining dairy industry is just one more part of a troubled local economy.
This gets me riled up. They just announced the 2009 inductees into the California Hall of Fame and Tulare's Bob Mathias isn't one of them. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and First Lady Maria Shriver unveiled the list of 2009 inductees Tuesday.
Mathias was considered the best athlete in the world at age 17 after winning the decathlon in the 1948 Olympics. The world stood still watching the high schooler win the Olympics. He repeated in the 1952 Olympics. He later played football at Stanford, and they made a movie of his life. He played himself in the movie. Mathias served in Congress and later was the director of the United States Olympic Training Center.
The Bee's editorial board complained last year about the lack of Valley representation in the California Hall and suggested Mathias, Olympic champion Rafer Johnson, author William Saroyan, baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Tom Seaver and astronaut Barbara Morgan, the first teacher in space. This year, they selected Rafer Johnson, so we made some progress in raising the awareness of state Hall of Fame.
Here are this year's inductees: Entertainer Carol Burnett, former Intel CEO Andrew Grove, governor and U.S. senator Hiram Johnson, decathlete and philanthropist Rafer Johnson, industrialist Henry J. Kaiser, philanthropist and peace activist Joan Kroc, film-maker George Lucas, football commentator John Madden, gay rights advocate Harvey Milk, artist Fritz Scholder, author Danielle Steel, fitness and bodybuilding pioneer Joe Weider, and Air Force test pilot General Chuck Yeager.
State politicians are finally picking up our proposal for a part-time legislature
Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Poizner said today that he supports going to a part-time legislature in California. Great idea. A part-time legislature is one of the key government reforms proposed by The Fresno Bee's editorial board. I've also pushed that idea in several columns over the past couple of years. Now maybe he'll pick up my proposal for a unicameral legislarure.
Here's part of today's news release from the Poizner campaign:
Poizner Calls For Part-Time Legislature
In an interview on KTKZ 1380 AM today in Sacramento, Steve Poizner made the following push for a part-time legislature:
STEVE POIZNER: "A part-time legislature would transform the nature of the legislature and make it much easier to actually solve problems and get things done. The fact is, you have a bunch of full-time politicians who care about their careers. We have to wrestle control out of the hands of these career politicians and instead elect people that actually come from the trenches: teachers and bus drivers and business people who have a career, that have income coming from having to make a payroll some place, or getting a paycheck. Send them to the legislature with their wisdom and their ability to make tough policy tradeoffs, and then combine that with forcing the legislature to focus just on those few things that actually make a difference rather than a full-time legislature going through 3,000 bills a year. That would really transform the place and help me as the next governor to get the job done."
I once parked near the traffic circles on Chestnut on the Fresno State campus to watch how motorists handle them. For the most part, Fresno drivers have no idea how to drive traffic circles or when to yield the right of way. But traffic circles also cause problems for pedestrians, especially those who are blind.
Ed Eames wrote a letter to The Bee explaining his challenge with traffic circles:
"As a blind person, I am stymied by traffic circles, and my volunteer drivers are no more fond of them than I! I have been told by traffic engineers that to safely cross, I must make eye contact with drivers who will then give me the right of way. Believing that would be tantamount to buying a bridge in Brooklyn!"
It's time to get rid of "pre-existing conditions" in health care insurance rating system
One of the most unfair parts of the current health care system is allowing insurance companies to gouge people who have "pre-existing conditions." This rating category allows the insurance companies to deny coverage or put them in costly high-risk pools with high deductibles and limited coverage. It seems the goal of insurance companies is to cover only people who are in good health.
The problem of pre-existing conditions needs to be fixed and it's one of the improvements that The Fresno Bee editorial says should be made in the health care reform package. Click here to read today's editorial on the issue.
Pre-existing conditions can be just about anything, depending on the insurance company. It might include cancer, pneumonia or treatment for stress. Those with these conditions essentially become outcasts in the system. Their crime is they are sick, and they might cost insurance companies money if they go to a doctor.
We need health care reform, but Democrats are blowing it
The nation's health care system needs to be reformed, but Congressional Democrats are going about it the wrong way. These political miscues have damaged President Barack Obama's effectiveness and it could be a big bonus for Republicans in next year's mid-term elections.
Click here to see what The Fresno Bee's editorial board has to say about the politics of health care reform.
Here's a topic that hasn't been in the news too much in California in a while -- capital punishment. Columnist Tom Teepen writes today about a Georgia case in which the Supreme Court stayed the execution of a Georgia man and ordered the trial court to consider whether new evidence may show his innocence:
"Yet dissenting from the reconsideration granted by the high court, Justice Antonin Scalia, joined by Justice Clarence Thomas, called any rehearing a "fool's errand" and argued, "The court has never held that the Constitution forbids the execution of a convicted defendant who had a full and fair trial but is later able to convince a habeas court that he is 'actually' innocent."
In other words, it's perfectly OK to execute an innocent if all the right boxes have been checked. Somehow, it is difficult to imagine James Madison giving a triumphant fist-pump at such faithfulness to his work."
Is it time for the U.S. to join many other nations around the world that have abandoned this practice?
The Fresno Bee editorial board supports returning the California Legislature to part-time status. Click here to read the entire editorial.
Here is a porton of today's editorial:
We believe lawmakers need to be in touch with the results of the decisions they make in Sacramento, and that's one of the main reasons we've been advocating a return to a part-time Legislature.
Lawmakers need to have "real" jobs, and spend at least half of their time going through the same struggles as their constituents. They need to know the on-the-ground impact of raising taxes and fees or cutting a crucial program because they've overspent the state budget.
In 1966, California went to a full-time Legislature to "professionalize" our politicians. The thought was they could work full time on the state's problems, and lawmaking would improve. It hasn't turned out that way. We have gridlock in the Legislature, and state lawmakers have seldom passed a balanced budget on time.
President Obama talks about need for health care reform in op/ed
Click here to read President Barack Obama's commentary on health care reform, which was published in today's Fresno Bee. The commentary was originally published in the New York Times.
We have another ticket giveaway for our loyal bloggers who have made Opinion Talk one of the best-read blogs in the region. The game is at 7 p.m. Saturday at Chukchansi Park in downtown Fresno. The Fresno Grizzlies will be playing the Tacoma Rainiers. This is the final homestand of the year.
To score these tickets, send an email to me at jboren@fresnobee.com. Do it soon because time is getting tight.
I'm not sure what guns and health care have in common other than if you use one, someone may need health care. But they are now linked in the campaign against health care reform.
A dozen people carried guns -- one had an assault rifle -- at the protest in Phoenix Monday against the health care reform package. President Barack Obama was giving a speech inside the convention center.
"Arizona is an 'open-carry' state, which means anyone legally allowed to have a firearm can carry it in public as long as it's visible," the Associated Press reported. "Only someone carrying a concealed weapon is required to have a permit."
Phoenix police said it was all legal. Maybe so, but it makes me nervous to know that people protesting the president's programs are bringing guns to political rallies. I know this will upset NRA members, but that's not the place to bring guns. I also think there will be a backlash to these in-your-face tactics.
Click here for more detals on the Phoenix protest.
If you frequent a business, and the CEO of that business goes public with a political or philosophical position with which you disagree, what would you do? Does it matter? Would it affect your decision to shop there? Or would you support a full-fledged boycott against the business?
A piece in The New York Times summarizes just such a flap that broke out last week: Last Wednesday, John Mackey, the chief executive of Whole Foods, took to the pages of The Wall Street Journal to opine that "we clearly need health care reform," but arguing against the solutions being put forward by the administration.
Daily Kos blogger DarkSyde wondered if Mackey had lost sight of his demographic:
"Mr. Mackey, I'm not sure if you understand who it is that shops at your organic grocery chain. A lot of progressives, vegetarians, professional and amateur athletes, and others who care so much about the environment and what they eat that they're still willing to shell out three bucks for an organic orange, even in the midst of the worst recession in sixty years. I was proud [Whole Foods] was based in my hometown of Austin, and defended it against most of the conservatives I knew growing up there, many of whom still hold your entire business in utter contempt. Some of them ridiculed me for shopping at Whole Foods, with all the 'tree huggers and granola eaters and hippies' who, incidentally, made you a millionaire."
What do you think? Are those who are proposing the boycott overreacting?
Chamber keeps pushing for law enforcement consolidation
Al Smith, president/CEO of the Greater Fresno Area Chamber of Commerce, and Ruth Evans, vice-chair of the Chamber's governmental affairs division and a Joint Powers Authority member, wrote this commentary about the need to consolidate public safety services in Fresno County.
Recent headlines about inmate releases from the Fresno County Jail and the struggle to fund the county Public Defender's Office are just more reasons public safety integration must happen in Fresno County -- and must happen soon.
Fresno city and county leaders can no longer afford to drag their feet on this issue. Revenues are down. Departments are making deep cuts. And those cuts are now threatening public safety.
What Nevada officials aren't telling you about their business climate
My column today discusses the effort by Nevada economic officials to poach California business. I offer as bit of truth in advertising to what Nevada's campaign is telling you.
Republicans who supported end-of-life counseling go silent as topic gets controversial
It seems that end-of-life couseling was a nonpartisan issue until it became taboo recently for Republicans to support it. Now end-of-life counseling is another term for euthanasia. It's become so controversial that the proposal is being dropped from the Senate's version of the health reform package.
This story discusses the transformation of this topic.
Here's part of the story:
"Just last summer, Congress overwhelmingly approved legislation requiring doctors to discuss the issue with new Medicare enrollees. And the government already requires hospitals and nursing homes to help patients with advance directives or living wills if they want support, under a 1992 law passed under Republican President George H.W. Bush.
"Supporters say the current House proposal just goes one step further by paying for the counseling, with the idea that doctors and patients would spend more time on it instead of just having a cursory discussion in an initial Medicare visit. The counseling is voluntary."
E. J. Schultz, The Bee's capital reporter, has posted an item on the Beehive about Assembly Speaker Karen Bass firing Assemblyman Juan Arambula of Fresno as chairman of the Assembly's public safety committee. Click here for E.J.'s post. Arambula switch from Democrat to independent recently and it was only a matter of time before Bass moved against him.
Here's more from E.J's posting:
The Fresno lawmaker, who left the Democratic Party in June to become an independent, was recently removed from the committee by Speaker Karen Bass, D-Los Angeles. His replacement is Assembly Member Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco.
Ammiano is author of AB 390, a bill to legalize marijuana. The legislation is stalled in the Legislature -- and probably faces long odds. But its first stop is likely to be the public safety committee that Ammiano now leads.
Arambula took the move in stride: "I serve at the pleasure of the speaker, so wherever she puts me is where I'm going to try to do my best."
The Fresno Bee editorial board lays out its position on health care reform in today's paper. Check it out by clicking here. Here's part of the editorial:
There's nothing wrong with asking tough questions and being skeptical of the proposal before Congress. But shouting down speakers you don't agree with is not healthy for a political system that already suffers from too much cynicism.
Health care represents one-sixth of our economy and it's unwise to move quickly on solutions without knowing the unintended consequences of the proposal that's more than 1,000 pages long. But that doesn't mean stay with the status quo.
Supporters of gay marriage will wait until 2012 election for next ballot measure
The Sacramento Bee reports that supporters of gay marriage in California have decided to wait until the 2012 election to push a ballot measure that would legalize same-sex marriage in the state. Leaders of Equality California said today they will not put the measure on next year's ballot, and will concentrate their efforts on the 2012 election.
Backers of gay marriage had initially thought they could overturn Proposition 8, the gay marriage ban passed by voters last November, in the 2010 election. But more cautious supporters said they would have a better chance of success in 2012, which is a presidential election. That would bring a higher voter turnout, including more Democratic and younger voters, to the polls than in an off-year election.
Proposition 8 defined marriage in California as only "between a man and a woman."
Columnist Matt James has another great column in today's paper (full disclosure: Matt is a friend and lived with us for a couple of months last year, so I may be biased -- but I don't think so).
In the piece, "Run your race, but don't be in a rush," Matt writes about the Alyssa Samansky Track Challenge, which is tonight at Clovis West. I already knew the story behind this event, which is held in memory of a little girl who died four years ago, but the way Matt tells a story, even a familiar one, brought an audible sob out of my throat.
As a runner, I know the Samansky family. Alyssa's dad Aaron owns Sierra Running Co. Later, when I learned what happened to his daughter in a Save Mart parking lot, I realized that he had fitted me for my first pair of good running shoes less than a week after his little girl's life was ended.
The Track Challenge give anybody a chance, whether you're fast or slow, to see what's it's like to do track events.
As adults, most of us never get to run a track race, not even the serious runners. ... Tonight, you can enter a meet. It doesn't matter what your age and speed happen to be. For $10, you can enter one event -- or as many as your body can take.
There are no trophies, no medals, you just race and find out your finishing time.
The money raised -- just a few hundred dollars -- goes to the Woodward Park Library, in memory of a 7-year-old girl who "could race through books faster than her parents could get them from the library." Sounds like my daughter Alyssa.
I urge you to read Matt's column, maybe go throw a shotput or run around the track tonight, or drop off a check to buy a book or two for the library. Books feed our imagination, take us around the world. But especially absorb the message in Matt's last paragraph. And if you have children, hug them tight and cherish every minute you have with them.
"If you can't make it to the track today, at least slow down. For a minute or even an hour. Drive slower. Stop for yellow. Look both ways. Go home from work an hour earlier. Take time to appreciate. It'll feel even better than running fast."
Here's a portion of an ABC This Week program in which former House Speaker Newt Gingrich defends statements by former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin that the health care bill would create "death panels" that would encourage euthanasia.
My attention to the news over the weekend was overshadowed by my own personal experience with crime. Saturday morning, my car was broken into while parked along the Eaton Trail, north of Woodward Park. My purse was taken. In my 42 years, I've never lost a purse or wallet.
A few years ago, our van was broken into while it was parked in our driveway. But in that instance, they didn't damage the vehicle and the only thing they took was my cell phone.
The crime against me on Saturday felt much more invasive. Maybe it was the shattered glass across my car's passenger seat. Or maybe it was the steps I had to take in the aftermath of losing my drivers license and debit card.
I had yesterday off, but instead of the relaxing day I had envisioned, I spent the day taking care of errands related to the break-in. It was a productive day, but not in a way I would have chosen to be productive.
I ordered a new license from DMV (by the way, DMV is very crowded the Monday after a furlough Friday). I had to go to my bank to begin the process of disputing the $43 charge the thieves made with my debit card in the half hour or so they had it before I succeeded in blocking it, once I discovered the crime. I went to Target to buy a new purse. And in the afternoon, I had to pay out the deductible to get my car's window repaired.
Those things -- besides the inconveniences I'll have to put up with in the weeks to come until my new license and debit card arrive -- cost more than the cash that was in the purse.
Today I found out that the thieves dumped my purse behind the Save Mart at First and Nees. Store employees were able to contact my employer because my work ID badge was still in it. But none of the other contents, save a lipstick.
I'm glad to get the purse back. I just wish I could get past this sense of violation that I'm feeling.
Dirty-mouthed comedienne Kathy Griffin strolled down the red carpet at the Teen Choice Awards Sunday night with Levi Johnston on her arm. Johnston is now famous for being the teenage ex-fiance of Bristol Palin, daughter of former Alaska governor Sarah Palin. Bristol and Levi have an 8-month-old son.
The red carpet scene was just plain bizarre. It seems that Levi is making the party circuit thanks to his connection to Sarah Palin. Griffin undoubtedly is looking for comedy material for her act. In politics, they call that a "win-win."
Griffin also guest-hosted the Larry King Show on CNN and had Levi as a guest. They discussed their "mock relationship."
I was sorry to see the news that Milano, a Fulton Mall restaurant, is closing on Aug. 21. I have walked to the restaurant for lunch several times recently, and there was a nice noon crowd. But lunch won't pay all the bills.
The restaurant, which specializes in killer pizzas, also serves as a music venue on weekends. It's a great location on the north end of the mall and is easily accessible from the Arts District. The Bee story said this: "It had been a part of local cultural happenings such as ArtHop and the Rogue Festival. It also hosted punk rock and ska shows from local and touring bands."
But in the end, the numbers wouldn't work to make it successful, and that's to bad.
"It's been so difficult to do this for the last two and a half years," said co-owner Kendall Simsarian. "We kept waiting to turn that corner and every time we got closer to it, it got farther away."
Simsarian is a lawyer who has an office on the mall.
The tragic Dinuba case raises the issue of whether it's wise to conduct high-speed chases when crooks run from a traffic stop. In this case, eight people died when the crook's car blew a stop sign Saturday afternoon and hit a pickup carrying a family of seven. Five of the dead were children, and ranged in age from 1-year-old to 8 years. The three people in the stolen car all died. They were 16, 17 and 19 years old.
Dinuba police were chasing a Dodge Neon that had been stolen. An officer attempted to make a traffic stop when the car bolted.
Most police agencies have adjusted their chase policies, opting to radio ahead or have a police helicopter follow the suspect's car safely from above. There are times, though, when a high-speed chase is warranted if letting the criminals flee would put the public in even more danger.
It's a tough call to make on the spur of the moment and it's easy to second guess what police did two days later. But proper training and a clear pursuit policy would help make the call a bit easier. Police have to make a lot of difficult callls in a split second.
Another aspect to this case is the children in the pickup were not using safety devices -- seats belts, child restraint seats or booster seats. All five were ejected. Maybe all would not have died if their parents had them using the safety devices required by law.
The 2003 recall election did not make California better
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's tenure will end in 17 months and Californians may be having second thoughts about the recall election in 2003. It's not that Gov. Gray Davis shouldn't have been dumped by voters, but we surely aren't any better off than we were six years ago. It's not Schwarzenegger's fault entirely because the Legislature has proved that special interests are more important to lawmakers than serving all Californians.
Read my column in today's Bee as I explore what happened in the Golden State since the recall. You can read the complete column by clicking here.
Since we are taxing vices like marijuana, cigarettes and booze. . .
I propose a federal tax on people who forward mindless emails from the Internet to everyone in their address book.
They should be charged $1 for every person they send to, and an extra dollar if the email they are forwarding has been forwarded more than three times. Then impose one more dollar if the sender doesn't clear out all the junk at the beginning of the email before they send it so you can actually read the stuff they are sending.
And an additional $1 tax if they don't use bcc in the address form because they are giving spammers additional working email addresses with this junk mail they are sprating around the Internet.
Let's see, the Internet tax I'm pushing is up to $4 now. Oh, and if the email they are sending has been on the Internet for more than five years, a $5 surcharge and a 30-day suspension of their computer privileges.
I get several of these emails a day, and most of them are repeats. Some of them are dumb and some of them are very funny -- at least they were the first time I saw them a year ago. If it's not original, hit Delete and not Send.
Danny Tarkanian to run for U.S. Senate against Majority Leader Harry Reid
Nevada Sen. Harry Reid could have a familiar name to contend with in his re-election campaign next year. Danny Tarkanian, son of legendary basketball coach Jerry Tarkanian, announced Friday afternoon that he's running for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate.
Danny Tarkanian was an assistant basketball coach at Fresno State during the Bulldogs coaching tenure of his father. Jerry Tarkanian made his mark, of course, coaching UNLV to a national championship in 1990 and having three Final Four appearances for the Runnin' Rebels.
This is from Danny Tarkanian's Web site: "Danny runs a real estate business and is co-director of the Tarkanian Basketball Academy, which teaches over 350 Clark County kids both basketball skills and life skills, such as work ethic, overcoming adversity, teamwork, winning with class and losing with dignity.
"Danny's family is the most important part of his life. He and his wife Amy live in Las Vegas with their three daughters, Lois, Ava and Ashley."
Here's Tarkanian's complete statement:
Today I am announcing my campaign for the United States Senate.
I am certainly not a Washington insider, but speaking just as a Nevadan, I'm very concerned about the direction Senator Reid is taking us in Washington. We simply cannot continue to allow our federal government to borrow, spend and bail out entire industries at the expense of future generations of Nevadans.
I believe that government can have a role in our economic recovery, but it needs to be a limited and effective role; however, currently, our vast and intrusive federal government is growing well beyond the powers set out in the Constitution. This centralized power is a direct threat to our personal liberties.
Despite these threats, Mr. Reid, in partnership with Speaker Pelosi, is one of the principal architects of this unprecedented effort to expand Washingtons reach, and every day he succeeds in his mission, Nevadas future is put at greater risk.
Now some say that this massive expansion is needed to stimulate the economy, but in fact it is creating even more economic danger to Nevadans. In just this last year, for example, the Federal Reserve announced with the administrations approval that it was flooding our economy with $1 trillion additional dollars. Added to that, we have spent nearly $1 trillion for TARP, authorized almost $800 billion in so-called stimulus spending. My fear is that this unchecked dollar printing and spending growth is exposing Nevadans to the specter of runaway inflation and unsustainable deficits.
And while all this is happening, Reid says hes focused on raising $25 million dollars from special interests for his re-election and his partys partisan goals. He should be focused on helping average Nevadans.
Now, today is not a day to confront Mr. Reid beyond what I have already said. There are many candidates considering this primary race and I certainly welcome them all. We are all in this race to propose an alternative to the direction we are heading, and what is important is that we will listen to each others ideas and offer up our own. This race must be about solutions and ideas and I intend to provide the voters with a new vision for how Nevada should be represented. I dont have all the answers, but I understand that for us to come together as a country we have to start listening to each other.
As I begin moving forward, I will learn from and build on my past experience in a statewide campaign as a starting point for both organization and fundraising. I will solicit and take advice from policy experts in their respective fields, and those who have traveled this path before. I have started putting together a new, experienced team to help guide my effort. And once I have my full team, I will have a formal campaign kickoff event.
I have no illusions about the difficult path ahead of me. But as I learned in my recent court fight against a powerful State Senator, sometimes you have to stand up for what is right. And sometimes when you speak truth to power, you can win. So without reservation I am committing myself to this cause to fight for what is right for Nevadans. And I hope Republicans, Independents and Democrats will join me. I have a new website www.dannytarkanian.org, or www.tark2010.org - where supporters can volunteer or contribute.
The past month has been an eventful one, with my father recovering from surgery, and a panel of Clark County citizens clearing my name. I want to thank all of those who have wished our family well through calls, letters and emails. And as I go forward, I especially want to thank my wife and children, my parents, the rest of my family, and our many friends for all their love and support.
The federal government's "Cash for Clunkers" program has worked so well that it ran out of money prematurely. But that was fixed Friday when President Obama signed a measure adding another $2 billion to the incentive program.
Car showrooms hadn't seen much action the past year, but "Cash for Clunkers" has brought big crowds to dealerships. The program now ill run into Labor Day.
Auto industry analyst Aaron Bragman of IHS Global Insight told the Associated Press that it's unlikely that the demand will remain as high as it is now. Many people who qualified have already bought cars, he said. But car dealers think it will keep sales up for a time. We'll see.
More from the AP: Under the program, passenger car owners are eligible for a voucher worth $3,500 if they trade in a drivable vehicle that got a combined city/highway mileage of 18 miles per gallon or less when it was new for a new car getting at least 22 mpg. Vouchers of $4,500 are available for owners who trade in a passenger car that got 18 mpg or less combined for a model that gets at least 28 mpg.
In this tough economy, an 8-year-old girl better not try to sell lemonade on a Tulare street corner without getting a business license. Daniela Earnest tried that the other day on a Tulare intersection and a city code enforcement officer shut her down.
It's nice to see that local government -- the one closest to the people -- is not letting people compete against the big guys unless they have a business license. Daniela was trying to raise money for a Disneyland trip. Too bad, says city government, you must have a license to do business in the city of Tulare.
Here's one more way the state officials scam taxpayers
Over at the San Francisco Chronicle, columnists Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross report on the state Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board. It seems the board members called a meeting to discuss Gov. Arnold Schwarzeneger's charge that the board wasn't "working hard enough to clear a backlog of 82,500 cases." But only two of the six members showed up, according to Matier and Ross.
We all know by now about these cushy jobs that are created for ex-politicians. They pay $128,109 a year and you don't have to do much.
Matier and Ross confirm that with this column item: "Former Republican Assemblywoman Sharon Runner, wife of state Sen. George Runner, was at a cabin near Lake Tahoe; George Plescia, the former Republican Assembly leader, was somewhere near his home in La Jolla (San Diego County); former Assemblywoman Cindy Montañez, the Democratic speaker's appointee, was in Washington, D.C.; and former Democratic state Sen. Liz Figueroa was working out of an Oakland satellite office."
David Mas Masumoto, farmer/philosopher/Bee columnist, has a new book out called "Wisdom of the Last Farmer." You can hear Mas read his book and get a copy at 6 p.m Thursday at the Coke Hallowell Center for River Studies, 11605 Old Friant Road. This is part of the Respite by the River series. The event will also feature a fruit tasting and live music from Denver-based musician George Inai.
If you haven't heard Mas' readings, you are missing a Valley legend taking the words off the pages of his books and making them dance before you. Each time I hear him, I come away with a new interpretation. Buy his book and go to one of his readings. A San Joaquin Valley bookshelf without Mas' books has a big void.
Mas writes a column for us that runs the last Sunday of the month on The Bee's Other Opinions page. You can get an archive of his columns by clicking here.
Mas has written eight other books about the Valley and the lessons he's learned from farming. They include "Heirlooms, Letters From A Peach Farmer," "Harvest Son," "Epitaph for a Peach" and "Four Seasons in Five Senses."
Mas will embark on an extensive book tour promoting his latest book. You can get a list of book tour events by clicking here. It will be a very busy month for Mas. In August, he'll be in Pasadena, Santa Monica, New York City, Seattle, Portland and San Francisco.
Should we legalize pot to balance the state budget?
Get ready for the California marijuana wars coming to a ballot box near you. Supporters of a movement to legalize pot in California have filed a ballot measure with the state attorney general's office that would allow adults 21 and over to possess up to an ounce of marijuana, and homeowners to grow marijuana for personal use in backyard gardens.
The measure needs nearly 434,000 signatures to qualify for the November 2010 ballot. A Field Poll earlier this year said 56% of California voters supported legalizing and taxing marijuana.
Another pot measure seeking to qualify for the California ballot is called The Tax, Regulate and Control Cannabis Act of 2010, and would repeal all local and state marijuana laws and clear the criminal record of anyone convicted of a pot-related offense, according to news reports.
In addition, Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco, has authored a bill that would tax and regulate marijuana like alcohol. Ammiano says this would generate revenue for state government services at a time when California is nearly bankrupt.
U.S. Marine Corps clamps down on social networking
According to this Wired.com article, the U.S. Marine Corps has banned Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and other social media sites from its networks, effective immediately.
"These internet sites in general are a proven haven for malicious actors and content and are particularly high risk due to information exposure, user generated content and targeting by adversaries," reads a Marine Corps order, issued Monday. "The very nature of SNS [social network sites] creates a larger attack and exploitation window, exposes unnecessary information to adversaries and provides an easy conduit for information leakage that puts OPSEC [operational security], COMSEC [communications security], [and] personnel... at an elevated risk of compromise."
A new Field Poll shows that California's demographics have changed significantly over the past three decades. That shift has impacted the Republican Party the most, with the state's GOP membership not reflecting those changes. That's a key reason California is a blue state.
About 79% of California Republicans are white. The white population in California has dropped from 69% in 1978 to 43% today, according to the Field Poll. GOP leaders acknowledge that they must broaden their base and there are outreach efforts underway across the state.
"Absolutely, the Republican Party cannot become a governing majority in California without dramatically increasing its reach into communities where we have underperformed in the past," GOP chairman Ron Nehring told the Associated Press.
Sacramento Bee columnist Dan Walters takes a look at California's latest demographic data in his commentary today: Here's part of it:
California, it's been observed, is a canary in the socioeconomic mine, telling the rest of the nation what to expect in the future, for better or worse.
If so, then the rest of the nation had best be prepared for fragmentation, which is the only word that fully captures the division of a once-cohesive society into its many component parts.
How else does one explain, for instance, that a state whose wounded economy still ranks among the global leaders has the nation's fourth lowest rate of medical insurance coverage, as a new Census Bureau data dump confirms?
How else does one explain that California, with about 12 percent of the nation's population, is home to more than 30 percent of its welfare recipients? Or that it spends more of its budget than any other state on prisons? Or that its academic achievement scores and its traffic congestion are at or near the bottom among the states while its
unemployment rate is near the top?
Underlying those and many other vexing political and economic issues is, almost everyone now agrees, dysfunctional governance. And no small factor, as well as an illustration of the state's fragmentation, is the evolution in the body politic over the last several decades.
I just received this new release from the city and I'm passing it on to Opinion Talk readers:
FRESNO, CA - Fresno Area Express (FAX) announced today that it has partnered with Google Transit to provide an online trip planning tool through Transit in Google Maps.
This free trip planning tool combines the latest FAX data with Google Maps. It integrates transit stop, route, schedule, and fare information to make trip planning quick and easy for transit novices and seasoned travelers alike.
"As part of Google's commitment to develop useful public-private partnerships, we are pleased to welcome FAX to Google Transit. This partnership shows FAX's
commitment to innovating, serving their riders, and attracting new riders" said
Jessica Wei, Strategic Partner Development Manager at Google.
To plan a trip using Transit in Google Maps, go to www.google.com/transit or to
www.fresno.gov/fax then click on Google Transit Trip Planner. Available on Google
Maps are options for getting step-by-step transit directions, finding transit stops in the area and viewing station information and schedules. Another feature of Google Maps is that it is compatible with screen readers for the visually impaired.
"We are excited about the partnership with Google Transit, and are pleased to offer the community an additional resource for accessing information about the services provided by Fax," said Ken Hamm, Director of Transportation.
For more information, the public may call 621-RIDE.
It's tiring hearing Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims threatening to cut officers or let felons out of jail early because of reductions to her department's budget. Mims would have a point if she and Fresno County spervisors were doing all they could to operate efficiently.
But they refuse to consolidate overlapping and wasteful law enforcement services in the Fresno metropolitan area. This turf battle can no longer be tolerated.
This editorial in The Fresno Bee explains why it would save money and offer residents better law enforcement if our leaders pursued aggressive consolidation of overlapping services.
"For example, the Sheriff's Department should turn over coverage of the county islands in the metropolitan area to the Fresno Police Department. That would enable Mims to use those officers to cover the rural areas of the county," the editorial says.
"The county would have to pay the city for the coverage of county islands, but that contract would be much cheaper than the current inefficient system that has city police officers and county deputies going in and out of each other's jurisdictions to provide law enforcement coverage."
In a state of 38 million people, we have a water system designed for half that number, It's time to solve this problem with a comprehensive water solution that includes building dams, improving underground storage and undertaking extreme conservation measures. This problem won't get solved by ignoring it.
In today's lead editorial, The Fresno Bee's editorial board give its take on the state's water issue and what stands in the way of a comprehensive solution. Click here to read the editorial.
Pete Rose deserves to be in Hall of Fame before steroid cheats
I've always opposed Pete Rose getting into the baseball Hall of Fame because he bet on baseball, an activity that compromises the integrity of the game. But if any of the steroid cheaters get into the Hall, Rose shouldn't be denied. The entire careers of the steroid users are suspect. Rose became the all-time baseball hits leader without artificial means.
Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Alex Rodriguez and all the rest should not be honored in the same building as Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Hank Aaron, Willie Mays or the other greats of baseball.
Now we find out that the Boston Red Sox's miracle World Series win in 2004 was tainted by their big sluggers being on the juice. David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez are on the list of steroid users from 2003. That series win is forever tainted. The Sox should have the championship expunged from their record and Major League Baseball should have that year's World Series winner left blank just to put emphasis in the record book on the cheating.
Meanwhile, baseball has an inept commissioner in Bud Selig, who allowed steroid use under his watch. He has no clue on what to do about the steroid problem.
I say wipe out all the records compiled during baseball's corrupt steroid era, and don't even consider letting any of the cheaters into the Hall of Fame. By the way, Rose shouldn't get into the Hall either.
