Prop. 187

Are we about to welcome Arizona into the Democratic fold? In 1994, California Republican State Rep. Dick Mountjoy sponsored prop. 187. With Republican Governor Pete Wilson, (Why is it always Republicans?) as it's main supporter, 187 was approved by the voters of California. What prop. 187 did was to deny most state services to anyone in California, who was not a legal resident of the United States. While the backers of 187 were quick to point out that the children of Canadians illegally in the United States would also be kicked out of public schools, well, let's be honest, 187 was aimed at Mexicans, and central Americans.
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So what does prop. 187 have to do with politics in Arizona? Well, history does have a habit of repeating itself, and one of the things that 187 did was to energize Hispanic citizens into a potent, Democratic, voting block. It also had a tendency to inspire moderate, Republican Hispanics to change parties. Nothing like a hate campaign from a major political party to inspire revulsion from the electorate.
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The sad thing is that there is a long history in the United States of employers using immigrants, both legal and illegal, to suppress wages and break unions. What 187 did, and what Arizona's new anti-immigrant law does, is it makes it difficult to discuss immigration in a rational manner. If we could, we would realize that one of the side affects of NAFTA, has been the wholesale destruction of small, family farming in Mexico. One of the reasons for increases in illegal immigration has been income lose suffered by poor, subsistence farmers in Mexico. Remember the Zapatistas, anyone.
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A trade policy based on equalizing the three NAFTA partners economies would go a long way towards solving immigration problems. Common social safety nets, common environmental laws, common anti-trust regulations, and if possible, common minimum wage scales, would enrich Canadian, Mexican, and American workers.
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I'm not going to deny that there are racist elements in Arizona's new anti-immigration law, but I do wish that my fellow liberals would remember that American workers do lose jobs, or have their wages reduced by immigration, both legal and illegal. Being aware of that may provoke a racist reaction, but recognition that the building trades, meat packing, and other jobs in the Untied States have been lost to illegal immigrants is, not in itself, racist.

Bring Back Beheading!

The Supreme Court has banned the three drug cocktail as a painful means of execution and therefore unconstitutional. My home state of California, seeking to kill people in a humane way, is moving towards a single drug method of execution. My question for both the Court and those states that still have the death penalty: Why not beheading?
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If we really think it's important to kill in a humane fashion, it's hard to beat the ax. One very quick chop, an immediate severing of the nerves in the spine, and it's all over in the only method that is close to being painless. The only reason why the United States wouldn't emulate this advanced means of death is squeamishness on the part of prison personnel. I admit that, if I were a prison guard, I would be a bit traumatized, seeing the prisoner's head plopping into a basket, and the fountain of blood squirting across the execution chamber. But what of it? In the name of humanity, shouldn't our representatives be able to stomach a little mess? Yes, beheading is the way to go. If it's really our aim to kill in a sensitive, humane fashion, than the blade is the only method of execution that guarantees a fast and painless end. And if we don't really care about the suffering of the condemned, than let's go back to the garrote! Now that's deterrent.

Bikes=Trucks

Well, not really, but it is notable that Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has gone so far as to say that walking and cycling should have equal status in transportation planning as cars and trucks. This is the new Transpo Department policy. It has no force in law, which would take, as I understand it, an act of congress.
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Anyway, I got to thinking, what does equality in planning mean? I doubt it means equal funding, and as both a cyclist and a driver, I'm not sure there should be equality in funding for bike/pedestrian funding and motorized traffic funding. Like it or not, most of us will be using cars to commute. Any real movement to make cycling a realistic option to car commuting would require an investment on the part of employers, as much as from government transportation planners. Most of us can't show up at work, covered in sweat, and expect to do our jobs. Too many of us have jobs that require some interaction with the public, which means that employers would have to pony up for shower and locker rooms. In cities, off road mass transit would probably make more sense, as far as funding goes, than either car or bicycle funding. Here in Los Angeles, I can think of dozens of routes that would be perfect for subway or above ground, off road, light rail. A better investment than in high speed rail between Orange County to the bay area.
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But since I do live in Los Angeles, and since I own four bicycles, and two pair of hiking boots, I also think about bike and walking routes. I find it very frustrating to see all of the stream beds, criss-crossing the San Fernando and San Gabriel Valleys, channelized and lined in concrete, all with service roads. Lets get some money to open up those routes to foot and bike traffic. And for drivers who object to money going for bike paths, and don't forget most cyclists and pedestrians are also drivers, think of how nice your car commute will be if cyclists are riding along the Los Angles River, and all those stream beds that end up at the L.A. River. Put in plenty of marked bike lanes on streets, letting both cyclists and drivers know exactly where they should be on the road, and every one wins.

In The Angeles National Forest

After, the fires; after the rains; after the mudslides, I finally got into the Angeles National Forest to see some of the damage. I had wanted to drive up Angeles Crest Highway to the paved, gated route down to the Gabrieleno National Recreation Trail at Gould Mesa. This trail is one of my favorites for, among other reasons, it's a long, scenic route that is just above the city. It wasn't my plan to walk the entire route, but I had hoped to walk down to the trail junction to get an idea of how bad things were.
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Unfortunately, the Crest Highway is still closed, so I had to turn around and try Big Tujunga Canyon Road. As I drove into the San Gabriel Mountains, it was clear that from the Sunland/Tujunga area to the Angeles Forest Highway, it's pretty much a complete loss. The canyon sides have burnt down to bare soil, and while the chaparral is growing back, it will probably be a couple of years before things look green and healthy. There are signs all along the road noting that the area is closed to all activities because of fire damage, though the Condor Peak Trail looks like it's still passable, and there was no sign prohibiting its use at the trail head.
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At the Forest Highway junction, I turned right, and headed for the Upper Big Tujunga Canyon Road. The Hidden Springs store is gone. Off of Upper Big Tujunga, I took the narrow paved route towards Camp Colby, a church property. I wanted to see if the trail that goes up the back side of Strawberry Peak was still open. It was signed as closed, but there were two guys in the parking lot and I asked them if they had been on the trail. "Yes," they told me, "And it's not too bad." I asked if they had gone as high as the trail junction going to the peak, but they had not gone that far. There is a lot of fire damage along the creek.
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I then went as far as the Crest Highway. Everything on either side of the road was burned. The chaparral will grow back soon, but the trees will probably not return in my lifetime. The Crest Highway was open in either direction from the Upper Big Tujunga Road junction. There were signs stating that Newcombe's Ranch was open, so it must have come through the fires, if not unharmed, at least in good enough shape to serve food. Looking up the road, I could see that there were areas where the trees were untouched by the fires, and patches that had been burned out. I drove back towards the city as far as the Redbox Ranger Station. It's still in tact, and looking down the Arroyo Seco, things didn't look too bad. The slopes of Mount Wilson don't appear to have been burnt at all. The Redbox Trail is signed, closed, but the trail down to Switzers, was not signed at all.
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I turned around and retraced my route to the Forest Highway and headed toward Mill Creek Summit. Everything along the creek is burned out, including the Monte Cristo Campground. At Mill Creek Summit, the Pacific Crest Trail crosses the road. There were no signs barring entry. I headed down to Aliso Canyon Road, and didn't return to an area unburnt, until I was closing in on the backside of Acton.
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To see my blog on hiking and biking, including a description, with pictures, of a hike from Dawson saddle to Mt. Baden-Powell go to http://www.selfpropelled-wjy.blogspot.com/

Dancing With The Stars Beats American Idol?

As a member of The Screen Actors Guild I must ask my fellow SAG members to stop appearing on Dancing With the Stars, Marriage Ref, Celebrity Apprentice, and all the other reality shows asking for your services. Don't you realize that you are putting hundreds of your fellow actors out of work?

Fearless Predictions

It's the opening of baseball season and it's time for my fearless predictions for this years campaign. As I do every year, I predict that this will be the year the Pittsburgh Pirates win it all!
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No, I'm not crazy. I grew up in a coal mining town 60 miles from the golden triangle, and I always pick the Pirates. Seriously, there are two types of baseball fans; those that stand by the team they first followed and those who switch allegiances. It may not make sense, but I'm a do or die Pirate, Steeler, Penguin, Penn State, Pitt and West Virginia fan.
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Alas, my more rational side can only hope for a Pirate revival. The sad fact is, that baseball's business structure has reduced the game to a handful of true major league teams, united with a whole host of other teams that exist as super farm systems for the Yankees, Red Sox and a few others. Unlike, say the Tampa Bay Rays, the Pirates don't even make an attempt to juggle the buying, selling, and keeping of talent for some sort of run at a championship. I used to think that the worst thing that happened to the game was French philosopher, Jacques Barzun's theory that to understand America it was necessary to understand baseball. Barzun made it acceptable for all those aspiring intellectuals, looking to Europe for some sort of validation to burden a rather simple and pleasurable pastime with one pretentious pronouncement after another. Of course, that was before I saw several decades of the destructive influence of George Steinbrenner and the evil empire in New York. With out further ado, my true predictions for the season.
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AL East. I hate to write this, but the New York Yankees on top. The American League wild card will be the Boston Red Sox, though the Tampa Bay Rays have an outside shot to over take an aging Boston team for the wild card.
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AL Central. The Minnesota Twins. The Twins are lucky to be in a division dominated by small market teams.
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AL West. The Los Angeles Angels. I'm tempted to pick the Mariners, mostly because they are a good, but not great team and I'm a huge Chone Figgins fan, but the Angeles, while far weaker than last year, still have a strong core of players and the money to go out and add more talent.
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NL East. The Philadelphia Phillies are so obviously the cream of the division, that there isn't even a point in thinking about a real challenge to their supremacy. Look for Atlanta to take the wild card. I really, really hate the Braves.
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NL Central. The St. Louis Cardinals, like the Phillies dominate their division. Look for the Chicago Cubs to plummet, as the curse continues. As for my Pirates. They won't finish last.
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NL West. If it wasn't for the McCourt divorce, I'd have not problem picking the Dodgers. If the Dodger owners can keep their marital problems out of the club house, which I doubt, the Dodgers could still win the west, but if not, it's the Colorado Rockies.
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World series, Phillies over Yankees.
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This morning, I was watching some of Tiger Woods press conference, and it got me thinking. Political revolutions are usually accompanied by social revolutions. Part of the social revolution that went with the Reagan era was a fascination with wealth and privilege. Is the return of consequence part of the Obama era? John Edwards, Tiger Woods, and the completely inconsequential Jesse James are all getting raked over the coals for indiscretions that, on the surface, would seem to be fairly minor scandals. Edwards, because he stressed his family man credentials during his presidential run, could be charged with a certain level of hypocrisy, but Woods and James are just fairly common rich guys with a straying libido. Are people just plain tired of the rich and famous getting away with things? I'm predicting that Tiger wins the Masters, well, mostly because he's the only golfer I know. I mean, who in their right mind would watch golf?
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Because I love cycling, I'm calling the Tour of California for Levi Leipheimer. And the Tour de France; Astana isn't a strong enough team to put Alberto Contador in yellow, and Lance is getting up there in age. If it's between those two, I'll go with Lance just because Team Radio Shack, provides a stronger supporting cast. Look for a new winner.
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I'm rooting for Butler, but if I had to put money on it, I'd pick Duke. As a matter of fact, I'd take Duke and give points. And if anyone tells me they picked Butler for the finals, I won't call them a liar, but I will ask for proof.