Highway 37 Big Truck Blues
After 4 days of keeping 20 eight & nine year olds from killing themselves or each other in the wilds of Marin County, they all nearly perished today on Highway 37 when a super long truck lost control and toppled over crushing a 4 by 4 and disabling our bus full of sunburnt, happy kids watching "Piglet avoids the death penalty" yet again on video.
Miraculously, the children and the truck driver are safe and sound. Even the driver of the 4X4 is alive and not in critical condition according to a woman wearing butterfly glasses, thick makeup and a sequined bodice sent out by the bus company's insurance carrier (the woman, not the bodice).
As I return, Bill reports that Karl Rove has, apparently successfully, got Kerry on the defensive by going for the jugular--what's unimpeachable about Kerry is his war record--attack the war record. You see, you not only sell by the weakest attribute, you attack the opponent's strongest attribute. It's brilliant and insidious and shouldn't win, unless Kerry takes the bait--which he seems to be.
Louis Armstrong ain't got nothin' on this scat...
More tomorrow after sleep and no morning filled with camp songs. Although I did like this one:
It starts with an "S"
And it ends with a "T"
It comes out of you
And it comes out of me.
I know what you're thinking,
but don't call it that.
Be scientific,
and call it "scat"
It was a piece of scat!
Piece. of. scat.
Thursday, April 29, 2004
Sunday, April 25, 2004
We Consensed!
No. "Consensed" is not a word. And yet we did it. At 16:30 hours today, Southside Park Cohousing Association congratulated itself on a record-breaking achievement of concensus to spend $1800. We are the only government I'm dealing with that is operating in the black, so we can spend, spend, spend! Victory is mine.
Into the wilderness
Curiously, having just reeled you into my clutches only a week ago. I am to let you go. Tomorrow, I journey to a remote portion of the world, where no cell phone or computer line can reach. I will be unavailable, unassailable, unattainable.
I'm speaking of course of Marin County. I'll be at Marin Headlands Institute on a field trip with my son's class for the week. It's very hot in Sacto right now, so good to head out. To make it worth your while, I'll let you chew on these thoughts that I'm mulling over. I'm interested in your reactions, thoughts.
Ask for More, not Less
The central problem in American politics and maybe in American life is not thinking big enough and not asking enough of each other. In an era of rapidly declining civic and community participation, combined with an extraordinary degree of corporate control over our political system, the solution of the past 20 years has been to shrink expectations.
We can't have real comprehensive universal health insurance, so we’ll ask that children of working poor be partially covered. We don’t have stay-at-home mothers to staff our PTA so we ask parents to write checks instead of participate in the classroom. We don’t have enough people in the neighborhood for a full-fledged neighborhood watch, so we have an email list instead.
This trend of diminishing expectations feeds on itself. As we ask for less, we receive and perceive less and we ratchet it down another notch. The identified phenomenon of “Bowling Alone” becomes inevitable. Permanent. We come to expect only what we can out of ourselves and our internet connection.
Yet, what has been the central lesson and trend of successful education of our children: expect more get more. The Jaime Escalantes of this world get our children to stand and deliver when they tell them, not only can you do algebra, but you can do calculus. Try this. Work on that. Do it again. Suddenly those children are not only doing calculus, but loving calculus, loving school, loving life. They are more confident, more energetic, and most of all more hopeful for the future. They are engaged.
But who is applying this known universal principle of education and life to adults, to citizens, to the members of their own community? Answer: where it is applied, it is successful, but it is applied less and less.
Nowhere is this clearer to me than in the political context. Despite the overwhelming advantage of money in politics, the promise of genuine grassroots activism swamping big money Astroturf still exists and still happens. In California, where term limits creates a large number of open seats in the legislature to fill every two years, we recently saw Lori Saldena beat two infinitely better-funded insider opponents in a heavily contested Democratic primary to fill a state assembly seat from San Diego, running only on the strength of her grassroots support.
Why does this continue to happen in a world where the conventional wisdom has it otherwise? The reason is that when real voters are given hope and believe that an election or an issue really matters, they find the time to make the calls, walk the precincts, get out the vote. They are energized, excited and motivated by the feeling of making a difference.
But you can’t excite, motivate and energize people to work for things that don’t matter. Ten years ago when Proposition 186 was on the California ballot, people took leaves of absence, cuts in pay, moved to the state, changed their lives to gather signatures, raise money and work hard for even the remote possibility of enacting a single payer health care system in the nation’s richest most populous state. The initiative tanked. Still, the bumper stickers, friendships, and memories of a good fight remain over ten years later.
Contrast that to a failed fight to stop the recently passed Medicare Prescription Drug bill in Congress. The die was cast when Washington insiders set their sites on such a low goal to begin with, passing an extension of Medicare prescription drug coverage that the drug companies could live with. The decision was made: we can’t unlock the deathgrip the pharmaceutical industry has on Congress, so we’ll come to the table and negotiate (from a position of weakness in a Republican Congress) and we’ll see what comes out.
What came out was a multibillion dollar boondoggle for the drug companies—new taxpayer money for new drugs and give up the right to bargain for the best prices. Oops! This won’t do, says Ted Kennedy now, after eagerly agreeing to the talks, everyone stop everything and fight this. Too late. It passes in the face of a confused public.
How can you muster a grassroots fight to stop something that might or might not be good for you or bad for you? We asked for too little and were trounced.
A savvy reader might point out at this juncture, but Sara, you’re trounced either way: You push for single payer health care and you’re rolled. You push for a modest extension of coverage of prescription drugs and you’re rolled. What’s the difference? The difference is that in the first instance you’re back where you started but with a full-fledged joyful fight under your belt and in the second instance you’ve actually lost ground with a massive diversion and possibly undermining of the most successful health program we have: Medicare.
Those of us who care about universal health care, affordable housing, creating jobs that pay a real living wage, top-notch schools, clean air and clean water, need to start playing to win. We need to look at what needs to be done, see what needs to be changed to get there and make a plan to do it. This is true whether it’s a 10, 20, 30 or 50 year plan. Those years are going to come whether we plan them or not.
When we sit down and we look at how do we get from here to there, we can easily get overwhelmed, but we mustn’t be. We need to take it seriously and break it down into manageable chunks. Not of low expectations, but of real winable fights that matter.
No. "Consensed" is not a word. And yet we did it. At 16:30 hours today, Southside Park Cohousing Association congratulated itself on a record-breaking achievement of concensus to spend $1800. We are the only government I'm dealing with that is operating in the black, so we can spend, spend, spend! Victory is mine.
Into the wilderness
Curiously, having just reeled you into my clutches only a week ago. I am to let you go. Tomorrow, I journey to a remote portion of the world, where no cell phone or computer line can reach. I will be unavailable, unassailable, unattainable.
I'm speaking of course of Marin County. I'll be at Marin Headlands Institute on a field trip with my son's class for the week. It's very hot in Sacto right now, so good to head out. To make it worth your while, I'll let you chew on these thoughts that I'm mulling over. I'm interested in your reactions, thoughts.
Ask for More, not Less
The central problem in American politics and maybe in American life is not thinking big enough and not asking enough of each other. In an era of rapidly declining civic and community participation, combined with an extraordinary degree of corporate control over our political system, the solution of the past 20 years has been to shrink expectations.
We can't have real comprehensive universal health insurance, so we’ll ask that children of working poor be partially covered. We don’t have stay-at-home mothers to staff our PTA so we ask parents to write checks instead of participate in the classroom. We don’t have enough people in the neighborhood for a full-fledged neighborhood watch, so we have an email list instead.
This trend of diminishing expectations feeds on itself. As we ask for less, we receive and perceive less and we ratchet it down another notch. The identified phenomenon of “Bowling Alone” becomes inevitable. Permanent. We come to expect only what we can out of ourselves and our internet connection.
Yet, what has been the central lesson and trend of successful education of our children: expect more get more. The Jaime Escalantes of this world get our children to stand and deliver when they tell them, not only can you do algebra, but you can do calculus. Try this. Work on that. Do it again. Suddenly those children are not only doing calculus, but loving calculus, loving school, loving life. They are more confident, more energetic, and most of all more hopeful for the future. They are engaged.
But who is applying this known universal principle of education and life to adults, to citizens, to the members of their own community? Answer: where it is applied, it is successful, but it is applied less and less.
Nowhere is this clearer to me than in the political context. Despite the overwhelming advantage of money in politics, the promise of genuine grassroots activism swamping big money Astroturf still exists and still happens. In California, where term limits creates a large number of open seats in the legislature to fill every two years, we recently saw Lori Saldena beat two infinitely better-funded insider opponents in a heavily contested Democratic primary to fill a state assembly seat from San Diego, running only on the strength of her grassroots support.
Why does this continue to happen in a world where the conventional wisdom has it otherwise? The reason is that when real voters are given hope and believe that an election or an issue really matters, they find the time to make the calls, walk the precincts, get out the vote. They are energized, excited and motivated by the feeling of making a difference.
But you can’t excite, motivate and energize people to work for things that don’t matter. Ten years ago when Proposition 186 was on the California ballot, people took leaves of absence, cuts in pay, moved to the state, changed their lives to gather signatures, raise money and work hard for even the remote possibility of enacting a single payer health care system in the nation’s richest most populous state. The initiative tanked. Still, the bumper stickers, friendships, and memories of a good fight remain over ten years later.
Contrast that to a failed fight to stop the recently passed Medicare Prescription Drug bill in Congress. The die was cast when Washington insiders set their sites on such a low goal to begin with, passing an extension of Medicare prescription drug coverage that the drug companies could live with. The decision was made: we can’t unlock the deathgrip the pharmaceutical industry has on Congress, so we’ll come to the table and negotiate (from a position of weakness in a Republican Congress) and we’ll see what comes out.
What came out was a multibillion dollar boondoggle for the drug companies—new taxpayer money for new drugs and give up the right to bargain for the best prices. Oops! This won’t do, says Ted Kennedy now, after eagerly agreeing to the talks, everyone stop everything and fight this. Too late. It passes in the face of a confused public.
How can you muster a grassroots fight to stop something that might or might not be good for you or bad for you? We asked for too little and were trounced.
A savvy reader might point out at this juncture, but Sara, you’re trounced either way: You push for single payer health care and you’re rolled. You push for a modest extension of coverage of prescription drugs and you’re rolled. What’s the difference? The difference is that in the first instance you’re back where you started but with a full-fledged joyful fight under your belt and in the second instance you’ve actually lost ground with a massive diversion and possibly undermining of the most successful health program we have: Medicare.
Those of us who care about universal health care, affordable housing, creating jobs that pay a real living wage, top-notch schools, clean air and clean water, need to start playing to win. We need to look at what needs to be done, see what needs to be changed to get there and make a plan to do it. This is true whether it’s a 10, 20, 30 or 50 year plan. Those years are going to come whether we plan them or not.
When we sit down and we look at how do we get from here to there, we can easily get overwhelmed, but we mustn’t be. We need to take it seriously and break it down into manageable chunks. Not of low expectations, but of real winable fights that matter.
Saturday, April 24, 2004
24-Hour Consensus
After months of trying, the call came. "I can have a construction crew outside your door at 9:00am Monday morning. All I need is the go-ahead and $1800 cash. Is it a go?"
A go? A go?! I think. My God, it's got to be a go. I've spent months, months!, trying to find a contractor, real or fake, it didn't matter. And now, a good one. One I trust. Ready to go. It's got to be a go. But is it?
All that stands between this go and me is 24 hours and a consensus. The consensus of 24 households. Consensus cannot be rushed. Consensus cannot be urged. Consensus must be *found* (the italics feature on this web service looks awful, sorry).
You see, I live in cohousing. Southside Park Cohousing at the corner of 5th and T in downtown Sacramento. An intentional community of 24 households, well 25 really, but one doesn't count.
The community operates by consensus. Yes. Don't play coy with me. You know what that means. You tried it once in your women's co-op, your recycling club or your group house. It's everyone agrees. No majority rule. Every person has veto power. It sucks. Big time.
"Yes!" I say, brightly. "It's a go. Of course, it's a go. We'll see you Monday."
In a flash I'm off that line and onto another one. How will I pull this off? I've just got to. I've been trying for over a year to develop a consensus around paving my neighbor's pathway behind her house.
She's disabled and rides a hand-operated bike or walks with crutches. It's really tricky for her to negotiate the uneven dirt path. I can't watch her go through this another week if we could do it now.
So it's off to the races. I call two key households right away. The ones that everyone calls to see what they think if there's a problem (well, I'm one of those too, but I'm in). They're in.
Next I work the perennial naysayers. I've got to get every single one of them neutralized or it's curtains. It's going well. I cross off household after household on my list. After living with these people for years, you know things. For example, you can't always let one member of the household speak for the other. You can get the husband, assuming he brings the wife along. And bob's your uncle, there's the wife showing up at the meeting threatening to blow the whole thing up.
Oops, I realize! Even though we have the serendipity of a community meeting the next day where the decision can be legally made and even though I've gotten it onto the agenda in the last minute, there might not be a quorum!
I could get everyone ready. Everyone on board. And the thing fails for lack of a quorum. Every lawyer's worst nightmare--win on the merits, fail on procedure. A rooky mistake.
So, I call them back. If they're not going to be there, I need a written proxy stating they're for the expenditure *and* (this is key) they're for consensus without a quorum.
Now technically it's dicey; if you don't have a quorum, you can't have consensus. And if you don't have consensus, how to you consent to waive the quorum?
No matter. I proceed at high speed. I corner them at the Earth Day festival, when they're relaxing on the lawn. I corner them on their way to catch a plane to Europe. I consider visiting one household member in the hospital, to get her to sign a proxy--something akin to wheeling in Strom Thurmond to break a filibuster.
"You should be a lobbyist," one of the neighbors quips. "No. She should teach a *class* on lobbying," another counters. The two of them fall over with laughter at my expense.
Okay, I think. Let them have their laugh. Sure, I'm a trained lawyer and lobbyist. I've broken real filibusters in the U.S. Senate. But I have nothing now. I raise my kids. I teach my little lobbying class. Developing this consensus is likely to be my biggest personal political triumph of the year.
I. Must. Prevail.
But will I? Tune in tomorrow night...
After months of trying, the call came. "I can have a construction crew outside your door at 9:00am Monday morning. All I need is the go-ahead and $1800 cash. Is it a go?"
A go? A go?! I think. My God, it's got to be a go. I've spent months, months!, trying to find a contractor, real or fake, it didn't matter. And now, a good one. One I trust. Ready to go. It's got to be a go. But is it?
All that stands between this go and me is 24 hours and a consensus. The consensus of 24 households. Consensus cannot be rushed. Consensus cannot be urged. Consensus must be *found* (the italics feature on this web service looks awful, sorry).
You see, I live in cohousing. Southside Park Cohousing at the corner of 5th and T in downtown Sacramento. An intentional community of 24 households, well 25 really, but one doesn't count.
The community operates by consensus. Yes. Don't play coy with me. You know what that means. You tried it once in your women's co-op, your recycling club or your group house. It's everyone agrees. No majority rule. Every person has veto power. It sucks. Big time.
"Yes!" I say, brightly. "It's a go. Of course, it's a go. We'll see you Monday."
In a flash I'm off that line and onto another one. How will I pull this off? I've just got to. I've been trying for over a year to develop a consensus around paving my neighbor's pathway behind her house.
She's disabled and rides a hand-operated bike or walks with crutches. It's really tricky for her to negotiate the uneven dirt path. I can't watch her go through this another week if we could do it now.
So it's off to the races. I call two key households right away. The ones that everyone calls to see what they think if there's a problem (well, I'm one of those too, but I'm in). They're in.
Next I work the perennial naysayers. I've got to get every single one of them neutralized or it's curtains. It's going well. I cross off household after household on my list. After living with these people for years, you know things. For example, you can't always let one member of the household speak for the other. You can get the husband, assuming he brings the wife along. And bob's your uncle, there's the wife showing up at the meeting threatening to blow the whole thing up.
Oops, I realize! Even though we have the serendipity of a community meeting the next day where the decision can be legally made and even though I've gotten it onto the agenda in the last minute, there might not be a quorum!
I could get everyone ready. Everyone on board. And the thing fails for lack of a quorum. Every lawyer's worst nightmare--win on the merits, fail on procedure. A rooky mistake.
So, I call them back. If they're not going to be there, I need a written proxy stating they're for the expenditure *and* (this is key) they're for consensus without a quorum.
Now technically it's dicey; if you don't have a quorum, you can't have consensus. And if you don't have consensus, how to you consent to waive the quorum?
No matter. I proceed at high speed. I corner them at the Earth Day festival, when they're relaxing on the lawn. I corner them on their way to catch a plane to Europe. I consider visiting one household member in the hospital, to get her to sign a proxy--something akin to wheeling in Strom Thurmond to break a filibuster.
"You should be a lobbyist," one of the neighbors quips. "No. She should teach a *class* on lobbying," another counters. The two of them fall over with laughter at my expense.
Okay, I think. Let them have their laugh. Sure, I'm a trained lawyer and lobbyist. I've broken real filibusters in the U.S. Senate. But I have nothing now. I raise my kids. I teach my little lobbying class. Developing this consensus is likely to be my biggest personal political triumph of the year.
I. Must. Prevail.
But will I? Tune in tomorrow night...
Friday, April 23, 2004
What is a blog, exactly?
That's roughly the level of on-line savvy of my average reader. The answer: no earthly idea. It's short for "web-log," but you know knew that, right? It's an on-line journal. My God, man, isn't it obvious?! I won't respond to anymore of these inquiries!
Snichols Announces Snout-based Movie-rating System--first movie, Dogville
Although Snichols, the author of "Snicholsblog," renounced her love of pigs over a decade ago with a party on Capitol Hill, a haunting reminder remains (mostly in a box in her closet marked "pigs" which may cause some faithful readers to hum "pigs in the attic, there's no denying. pigs in the attic, there's bacon frying. they are blue. you are pink. they leave no hairs in the bathroom sink...")
Yes, despite, or perhaps because of, this long dead porcine obsession designed primarily for people to have something to give you on Christmas (or Hanukah--when winter comes, look for my "Shiksa Hanukah" series), I find that the only way that I can convey my rating system for movies is not stars, nor thumbs nor animated popcorn, but rather snouts (up to be precise)--(:)
To give you a sense of my system and sensibilities (the new Jane Austin):
Level (:) = "Bill and Coo," the all-parrot western
Level (:) (:) = "Clan of the Cave Bear" with Darryl Hannah--grunt if you want me
Level (:) (:) (:) = "Kramer vs. Kramer" good acting, good script, okay, what's next?
Level (:) (:) (:) (:) = "The Big Easy" 'You ain't from around hea, ah you sha?'
Level (:) (:) (:) (:) (:) = "Moulin Rouge" this movie was made for me! Play it again!
3 Snouts Up for Dogville -- "Our Town" Gone to Hell
I rode my bike to the Tower Theater (Save the Tower!) and saw the movie Dogville. I'm too tired to do it justice now, but I think you should see it. It's like Thorton Wilder's "Our Town" gone to Kafka hell before your eyes. I'm certain I've never seen a movie like it before--shot entirely on a sketchy crime scene of a set. It's not as hard to watch as I'm implying, but requires more of the patience of a Eugene O'Neill experience, with all the philosophy, but without the glorious dialogue--very memorable though and completely unique. The only reason I'd deny it the 4th snout up is that I didn't think it was that well-written or acted, but it was certainly well-conceived and extremely riveting.
The straight poop on cubscouts
Let's set the record entirely straight: the game I played with my son's cub scout troop is called "the movie game."
Invented by me and a group of twisted theatre kids in 1979 over a couple of bottles of Boones Farm Strawberry Hill (oh God, was I sick), the game went on to achieve its 15 minutes in Lisa Birnbach's College Handbook description of Reed College's favorite drinking game.
Decades later, I morphed it back into a kids game, minus the drinking and the obscenity. I'll describe how to play it another time. Sara
That's roughly the level of on-line savvy of my average reader. The answer: no earthly idea. It's short for "web-log," but you know knew that, right? It's an on-line journal. My God, man, isn't it obvious?! I won't respond to anymore of these inquiries!
Snichols Announces Snout-based Movie-rating System--first movie, Dogville
Although Snichols, the author of "Snicholsblog," renounced her love of pigs over a decade ago with a party on Capitol Hill, a haunting reminder remains (mostly in a box in her closet marked "pigs" which may cause some faithful readers to hum "pigs in the attic, there's no denying. pigs in the attic, there's bacon frying. they are blue. you are pink. they leave no hairs in the bathroom sink...")
Yes, despite, or perhaps because of, this long dead porcine obsession designed primarily for people to have something to give you on Christmas (or Hanukah--when winter comes, look for my "Shiksa Hanukah" series), I find that the only way that I can convey my rating system for movies is not stars, nor thumbs nor animated popcorn, but rather snouts (up to be precise)--(:)
To give you a sense of my system and sensibilities (the new Jane Austin):
Level (:) = "Bill and Coo," the all-parrot western
Level (:) (:) = "Clan of the Cave Bear" with Darryl Hannah--grunt if you want me
Level (:) (:) (:) = "Kramer vs. Kramer" good acting, good script, okay, what's next?
Level (:) (:) (:) (:) = "The Big Easy" 'You ain't from around hea, ah you sha?'
Level (:) (:) (:) (:) (:) = "Moulin Rouge" this movie was made for me! Play it again!
3 Snouts Up for Dogville -- "Our Town" Gone to Hell
I rode my bike to the Tower Theater (Save the Tower!) and saw the movie Dogville. I'm too tired to do it justice now, but I think you should see it. It's like Thorton Wilder's "Our Town" gone to Kafka hell before your eyes. I'm certain I've never seen a movie like it before--shot entirely on a sketchy crime scene of a set. It's not as hard to watch as I'm implying, but requires more of the patience of a Eugene O'Neill experience, with all the philosophy, but without the glorious dialogue--very memorable though and completely unique. The only reason I'd deny it the 4th snout up is that I didn't think it was that well-written or acted, but it was certainly well-conceived and extremely riveting.
The straight poop on cubscouts
Let's set the record entirely straight: the game I played with my son's cub scout troop is called "the movie game."
Invented by me and a group of twisted theatre kids in 1979 over a couple of bottles of Boones Farm Strawberry Hill (oh God, was I sick), the game went on to achieve its 15 minutes in Lisa Birnbach's College Handbook description of Reed College's favorite drinking game.
Decades later, I morphed it back into a kids game, minus the drinking and the obscenity. I'll describe how to play it another time. Sara
Thursday, April 22, 2004
Where there's a Who, there's a Horton!
Hey, remember that public financing bill I told you about? Horton, Levine, Longville and a last minute addition of Gene Mullin from San Mateo, voted for it in the Elections Committee Wednesday--it passed without a vote to spare! Bill Magavern, Sierra Club, husband, father of my children, was one of the many Who's who chorused loud enough for Horton to hear them and vote the right way. Now it's on to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, aka Graveyard.
My Bill & his Sierra Club
Well, while I was trying to get semi-catatonic cub scouts to play the tame version of a game my college friends used to know as "fuck me fuck me" (oh boy, this sounds really bad...), my Bill & his Sierra Club were rockin' and rollin' today even more than usual. The Sierra Club board successfully fended off its hostile anti-immigrant takeover and Bill bashed hummers in the New York Times. I can't find the link, so this AP cut & paste will have to do.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
April 22, 2004
Schwarzenegger Has Yet to Retrofit Hummer
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 6:06 a.m. ET
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Labeled an environmentalist-come-lately as a candidate, Arnold Schwarzenegger answered his critics by announcing plans to retrofit one of his gas-swilling Hummers to run on eco-friendly hydrogen power.
``I think that's where the future of fuel will be going,'' he said at the time.
But seven months later, the high-tech Hummer has yet to hit the road. For the moment, the project has produced more talk than torque.
Seven companies submitted bids to do the work -- ranging in cost from $40,000 to $150,000 -- but no contract has been signed, said Rick Margolin, assistant director of Energy Independence Now, a Santa Monica group that evaluated the proposals on behalf of the governor.
``He does have people working on it,'' Margolin said.
Schwarzenegger, who has owned as many as six of the enormous SUVs at one time, raised his proposal for a clean-fuel vehicle with officials in the Hummer division of General Motors Corp. But for now the company is not engineering a hydrogen-fueled Hummer for him or anyone else.
``It's out there as an idea,'' said David Caldwell, a spokesman for Hummer. ``It's not something that exists currently. It's not something you would expect to see in the near future.''
He added, ``We would never do a Hummer on any energy source that would not perform like a Hummer is supposed to perform.''
Schwarzenegger took delivery of the first Hummer made available to the public more than a decade ago, a civilian version of a military vehicle that caught the public's attention during the Gulf War.
His popularity in Hollywood helped transform the brand into a favorite status vehicle. He was forced to defend his association with the hulking, low-mileage Hummer during the campaign when rivals questioned his environmental credentials considering his choice of transportation.
General Motors markets and distributes the latest version of the vehicle, the 6,400-pound H2, and estimates it gets 10 to 13 miles per gallon. Dealers put the figure at 8 to 10 mpg.
The issue hasn't vanished. Activists planned a Thursday news conference in Sacramento to urge the governor to stop driving his signature vehicle, citing its impact on air quality.
Sierra Club lobbyist Bill Magavern said the gas-greedy Hummer ``wreaks havoc to our environment'' but viewed the governor's promise to retrofit his sport utility vehicle as ``largely irrelevant.''
``The Hummer is the opposite kind of vehicle from what we would like to see on California streets,'' he said. ``What's more important to us is whether he keeps his promise to reduce California air pollution by 50 percent. ... We have yet to see his strategy.''
There was no mention of his Hummer on Tuesday, when Schwarzenegger directed state agencies to work with private companies and research groups to develop a statewide network of stations offering hydrogen fuel within six years: ``Your government will lead by example,'' he said in announcing the initiative.
With the governor working on the alternative-fueling plan, the retrofitted Hummer was ``pushed down on the priority list,'' Margolin said.
Hey, remember that public financing bill I told you about? Horton, Levine, Longville and a last minute addition of Gene Mullin from San Mateo, voted for it in the Elections Committee Wednesday--it passed without a vote to spare! Bill Magavern, Sierra Club, husband, father of my children, was one of the many Who's who chorused loud enough for Horton to hear them and vote the right way. Now it's on to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, aka Graveyard.
My Bill & his Sierra Club
Well, while I was trying to get semi-catatonic cub scouts to play the tame version of a game my college friends used to know as "fuck me fuck me" (oh boy, this sounds really bad...), my Bill & his Sierra Club were rockin' and rollin' today even more than usual. The Sierra Club board successfully fended off its hostile anti-immigrant takeover and Bill bashed hummers in the New York Times. I can't find the link, so this AP cut & paste will have to do.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
April 22, 2004
Schwarzenegger Has Yet to Retrofit Hummer
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 6:06 a.m. ET
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Labeled an environmentalist-come-lately as a candidate, Arnold Schwarzenegger answered his critics by announcing plans to retrofit one of his gas-swilling Hummers to run on eco-friendly hydrogen power.
``I think that's where the future of fuel will be going,'' he said at the time.
But seven months later, the high-tech Hummer has yet to hit the road. For the moment, the project has produced more talk than torque.
Seven companies submitted bids to do the work -- ranging in cost from $40,000 to $150,000 -- but no contract has been signed, said Rick Margolin, assistant director of Energy Independence Now, a Santa Monica group that evaluated the proposals on behalf of the governor.
``He does have people working on it,'' Margolin said.
Schwarzenegger, who has owned as many as six of the enormous SUVs at one time, raised his proposal for a clean-fuel vehicle with officials in the Hummer division of General Motors Corp. But for now the company is not engineering a hydrogen-fueled Hummer for him or anyone else.
``It's out there as an idea,'' said David Caldwell, a spokesman for Hummer. ``It's not something that exists currently. It's not something you would expect to see in the near future.''
He added, ``We would never do a Hummer on any energy source that would not perform like a Hummer is supposed to perform.''
Schwarzenegger took delivery of the first Hummer made available to the public more than a decade ago, a civilian version of a military vehicle that caught the public's attention during the Gulf War.
His popularity in Hollywood helped transform the brand into a favorite status vehicle. He was forced to defend his association with the hulking, low-mileage Hummer during the campaign when rivals questioned his environmental credentials considering his choice of transportation.
General Motors markets and distributes the latest version of the vehicle, the 6,400-pound H2, and estimates it gets 10 to 13 miles per gallon. Dealers put the figure at 8 to 10 mpg.
The issue hasn't vanished. Activists planned a Thursday news conference in Sacramento to urge the governor to stop driving his signature vehicle, citing its impact on air quality.
Sierra Club lobbyist Bill Magavern said the gas-greedy Hummer ``wreaks havoc to our environment'' but viewed the governor's promise to retrofit his sport utility vehicle as ``largely irrelevant.''
``The Hummer is the opposite kind of vehicle from what we would like to see on California streets,'' he said. ``What's more important to us is whether he keeps his promise to reduce California air pollution by 50 percent. ... We have yet to see his strategy.''
There was no mention of his Hummer on Tuesday, when Schwarzenegger directed state agencies to work with private companies and research groups to develop a statewide network of stations offering hydrogen fuel within six years: ``Your government will lead by example,'' he said in announcing the initiative.
With the governor working on the alternative-fueling plan, the retrofitted Hummer was ``pushed down on the priority list,'' Margolin said.
Wednesday, April 21, 2004
Blog Me Flog Me Make Me Write Bad Checks
Hey, thanks for signing up to receive my blog on a regular basis. Quite a vote of confidence, given how uniformly boring and tame my first few entries have been. Complaints have been issued from some quarters who are more used to my incendiary, obscene, Pigbitch S. Thompson style of journalism and less used to my informative, sincere, public-has-a-right to know mode. How to reconcile them? No fucking idea...
National Thought for the Day: Better Marketing for the Good Guys
You're going to have to get used to this now if you're going to be one of my readers--I have rants. One of my rants is what I call "Jif peanut butter marketing."
When Madison Avenue has to sell an inferior product, one of its tricks is to advertise the product using its weakest, not strongest, attribute. If this is the first you are hearing about this, you'll now notice it everywhere you go.
The most obvious examples are junk food sold for their healthful properties. How do they sell Jif Peanut Butter? "Choosy moms choose Jif." If you're choosy, no way would you choose the peanut butter that contains way more salt and sugar than real peanut butter, which is just ground-up peanuts. Same with Kool-Aid or Hi-C--crap in a can--"filled with vitamin C" or of course the recent KFC marketing of fried chicken as health food.
Think fast: what's the worst thing about HMOs? Limited choice of doctor, poor quality of care. Everywhere you'll see billboards selling HMOs on choice of doctor and quality of care. Citibank sells you credit cards by making fun of identity theft (to see how Consumer Federation of California makes fun of Citibank go to these hilarious spoofs: CFC Spoofs)
The important issues have so much going for them, that's why the good guys always hype "we're for clean environment, jobs that pay a living wage, affordable housing." But what if that's not the right approach? What if we need to start marketing like Madison Avenue to get people back to our side?
"Be Progressive, do it for the fringe benefits."
"Uncle Sam does it quicker, better and cheaper."
"Pay your taxes, America needs the money more than you do."
On a closely related topic, read How the Democrats Were Betamaxed telling how Republicans have "betamaxed" the American public into buying Republicans, a weaker product, instead of Democrats, the product that more meets their stated needs.
Hey, thanks for signing up to receive my blog on a regular basis. Quite a vote of confidence, given how uniformly boring and tame my first few entries have been. Complaints have been issued from some quarters who are more used to my incendiary, obscene, Pigbitch S. Thompson style of journalism and less used to my informative, sincere, public-has-a-right to know mode. How to reconcile them? No fucking idea...
National Thought for the Day: Better Marketing for the Good Guys
You're going to have to get used to this now if you're going to be one of my readers--I have rants. One of my rants is what I call "Jif peanut butter marketing."
When Madison Avenue has to sell an inferior product, one of its tricks is to advertise the product using its weakest, not strongest, attribute. If this is the first you are hearing about this, you'll now notice it everywhere you go.
The most obvious examples are junk food sold for their healthful properties. How do they sell Jif Peanut Butter? "Choosy moms choose Jif." If you're choosy, no way would you choose the peanut butter that contains way more salt and sugar than real peanut butter, which is just ground-up peanuts. Same with Kool-Aid or Hi-C--crap in a can--"filled with vitamin C" or of course the recent KFC marketing of fried chicken as health food.
Think fast: what's the worst thing about HMOs? Limited choice of doctor, poor quality of care. Everywhere you'll see billboards selling HMOs on choice of doctor and quality of care. Citibank sells you credit cards by making fun of identity theft (to see how Consumer Federation of California makes fun of Citibank go to these hilarious spoofs: CFC Spoofs)
The important issues have so much going for them, that's why the good guys always hype "we're for clean environment, jobs that pay a living wage, affordable housing." But what if that's not the right approach? What if we need to start marketing like Madison Avenue to get people back to our side?
"Be Progressive, do it for the fringe benefits."
"Uncle Sam does it quicker, better and cheaper."
"Pay your taxes, America needs the money more than you do."
On a closely related topic, read How the Democrats Were Betamaxed telling how Republicans have "betamaxed" the American public into buying Republicans, a weaker product, instead of Democrats, the product that more meets their stated needs.
Tuesday, April 20, 2004
Ah-nold Intrigue: Doing what he puts his mind to, or not?
Like the rest of the nation, I find it fascinating to watch Governor Arnold. Oh, not so much because he's a movie star--I only recently saw one of his movies for the first time, the one where he's pregnant and looked better than I did in maternity outfits--but because he seems to be the very epitome of actualization.
I tend to agree with Dan Weintraub's column in the Sacramento Bee today 4/29/04 Weintraub Column (and I don't often agree with Weintraub anymore). Weintraub looks at the Governor's can-do attitude and asks the question, when is he going to use it to deliver on his promise to disinfect the corrupt government with sunshine. "I will open up the windows and doors of government," he said, before he was elected. "No more decisions in the dark." So far, his top "victories" have been backroom deals.
But he is capable of amazing feats. Witness his turn around of the recent (ill-advised, in my opinion) pair of initiatives to borrow California's way partially out of this year's debt. The initiatives were polling at 39% a month out. He campaigned vigorously pronouncing, with all the vigor of a daily affirmation, "they will pahss." And they did, over 60% of voters opted to leverage their future.
Think what he could do if he applied that power to something that really mattered, like getting public financing of elections for the State of California, or universal health coverage.
International National Outrage: SIERRA MAGAZINE STORY REVEALS U.S. MINING COMPANY'S SUPPORT OF TERRORISTS LINKED TO AL-QAEDA
Read the amazing Sierra Club story at http://www.sierraclub.org/terrorism revealing how a Denver-based mining company secretly paid off Al-Qaeda-linked terrorists under the auspices of "international security." ABC is reporting on it on Primetime Thursday too.
Like the rest of the nation, I find it fascinating to watch Governor Arnold. Oh, not so much because he's a movie star--I only recently saw one of his movies for the first time, the one where he's pregnant and looked better than I did in maternity outfits--but because he seems to be the very epitome of actualization.
I tend to agree with Dan Weintraub's column in the Sacramento Bee today 4/29/04 Weintraub Column (and I don't often agree with Weintraub anymore). Weintraub looks at the Governor's can-do attitude and asks the question, when is he going to use it to deliver on his promise to disinfect the corrupt government with sunshine. "I will open up the windows and doors of government," he said, before he was elected. "No more decisions in the dark." So far, his top "victories" have been backroom deals.
But he is capable of amazing feats. Witness his turn around of the recent (ill-advised, in my opinion) pair of initiatives to borrow California's way partially out of this year's debt. The initiatives were polling at 39% a month out. He campaigned vigorously pronouncing, with all the vigor of a daily affirmation, "they will pahss." And they did, over 60% of voters opted to leverage their future.
Think what he could do if he applied that power to something that really mattered, like getting public financing of elections for the State of California, or universal health coverage.
International National Outrage: SIERRA MAGAZINE STORY REVEALS U.S. MINING COMPANY'S SUPPORT OF TERRORISTS LINKED TO AL-QAEDA
Read the amazing Sierra Club story at http://www.sierraclub.org/terrorism revealing how a Denver-based mining company secretly paid off Al-Qaeda-linked terrorists under the auspices of "international security." ABC is reporting on it on Primetime Thursday too.
Monday, April 19, 2004
Political Alert--Will Horton hear a Who?
Will California take its first major step towards clean public financing of elections like the voters opted for in Arizona and Maine?
Tomorrow, March 20th, the California State Assembly's Elections Committee is scheduled to vote on AB 2949, the public financing of elections (or "Clean Money") bill introduced by Assemblymember Loni Hancock (D-Berkeley). As of last night, Chair John Longville (D-San Bernardino) and Assemblymember Lloyd Levine (D-Los Angeles) were inclined to support the bill. The bill needs one more vote to clear its first hurdle. The two Republican members of the committee are committed to voting no.
That leaves Assemblymember Jerome Horton (D-Inglewood), fresh from defeating the Walmart, as the key vote. Will Horton, usually motivated by money and self-interest, be true to his constituents' interest and vote for this historic measure? If you live in any of these members districts, call them. For more information check out the website for the California Clean Money campaign: www.caclean.org
Stay tuned...
Local recommendation of the day: Aching back?
A good masseuse in Sacramento is Sandra D'Amici (916) 752-8765 -- On J between 26th and 27th.
Unsolicited advice of the day: Have goals
Quiz, who said "the main thing that gets in the way of people achieving their goals is not having any"?
Answer: me (and everyone).
If you want to accomplish anything at all, get goals--big ones--the kind that make you feel like a little kid waiting for Christmas. Write them down on an index card at least once a day. Even that little act will put you on the road to achieving them--no matter what you do (oh, and subscribe to Rich Results newsletter).
Peace, Sara
Will California take its first major step towards clean public financing of elections like the voters opted for in Arizona and Maine?
Tomorrow, March 20th, the California State Assembly's Elections Committee is scheduled to vote on AB 2949, the public financing of elections (or "Clean Money") bill introduced by Assemblymember Loni Hancock (D-Berkeley). As of last night, Chair John Longville (D-San Bernardino) and Assemblymember Lloyd Levine (D-Los Angeles) were inclined to support the bill. The bill needs one more vote to clear its first hurdle. The two Republican members of the committee are committed to voting no.
That leaves Assemblymember Jerome Horton (D-Inglewood), fresh from defeating the Walmart, as the key vote. Will Horton, usually motivated by money and self-interest, be true to his constituents' interest and vote for this historic measure? If you live in any of these members districts, call them. For more information check out the website for the California Clean Money campaign: www.caclean.org
Stay tuned...
Local recommendation of the day: Aching back?
A good masseuse in Sacramento is Sandra D'Amici (916) 752-8765 -- On J between 26th and 27th.
Unsolicited advice of the day: Have goals
Quiz, who said "the main thing that gets in the way of people achieving their goals is not having any"?
Answer: me (and everyone).
If you want to accomplish anything at all, get goals--big ones--the kind that make you feel like a little kid waiting for Christmas. Write them down on an index card at least once a day. Even that little act will put you on the road to achieving them--no matter what you do (oh, and subscribe to Rich Results newsletter).
Peace, Sara
Sunday, April 18, 2004
My First Blog Ever
Aha! Almost a year after my last birthday when my brother suggested I create a Blog, I create one. Wow. Here I am. My very own blog.
Checkout my picture in today's Sacramento Bee front page of Metro section story "Broadway Plan Raises Hackles."
http://www.sacbee.com/content/community_news/sacramento/story/8946499p-9872695c.html
It's an okay picture--I made sure I stood slightly behind the guys in front of me to minimize my hips--but I'm listed as "President" of the Southside Park Neighborhood Association, which I'm not. I'm the "chair." This may strike you as a distinction without a difference, but it has resonance in my community.
Anyway, I'm glad Terri Hardy wrote the article. The surrounding neighborhoods to Broadway in Sacramento are concerned about the apparent interest of our City Councilmember in giving control of the revitalization of this strip to business interests, to the disadvantage of neighborhood groups.
Aha! Almost a year after my last birthday when my brother suggested I create a Blog, I create one. Wow. Here I am. My very own blog.
Checkout my picture in today's Sacramento Bee front page of Metro section story "Broadway Plan Raises Hackles."
http://www.sacbee.com/content/community_news/sacramento/story/8946499p-9872695c.html
It's an okay picture--I made sure I stood slightly behind the guys in front of me to minimize my hips--but I'm listed as "President" of the Southside Park Neighborhood Association, which I'm not. I'm the "chair." This may strike you as a distinction without a difference, but it has resonance in my community.
Anyway, I'm glad Terri Hardy wrote the article. The surrounding neighborhoods to Broadway in Sacramento are concerned about the apparent interest of our City Councilmember in giving control of the revitalization of this strip to business interests, to the disadvantage of neighborhood groups.
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