Wednesday, September 29, 2004

College Update

What a rush. I can't even describe it anymore than that. So instead, I'm going to list the three questions everyone asks to try to start conversation:

1) where are you from?
2) what's your major?
3) where do you live now?

Man I love this school. Almost as much as Randy Newman loves LA.

College Update

What a rush. I can't even describe it anymore than that. So instead, I'm going to list the three questions everyone asks to try to start conversation:

1) where are you from?
2) what's your major?
3) where do you live now?

Man I love this school. Almost as much as Randy Newman loves LA.

Friday, September 24, 2004

I'm actually doing it!

I'm actually going to college! Finally!

Wednesday, September 22, 2004

Voting with Rational (#2: Prop. 59)

Preface: Before the November election, there will be many advertisements regarding propositions, and candidates for various offices. This is my forum to tell you of my views. I encourage you, whether you agree or disagree, to comment on what I have to say. This is what the political process is about: choosing what is best for our city, county, state, and country. These choices should never be made blindly and, therefore, I will present links for places where you can research other points of view.

Topic #2: California Proposition #59

The full text of the proposition is too long, and the official summary can be confusing, so here's my summary in normal language:
While it keeps the constitutional rights, including that of privacy, due process, and equal protection, this measure will give the public the right to access meetings of government bodies and certain government officials' documents. The only exemption is of the records and meetings of Legislature. The proposition began as a Senate Constitutional Amendment and was put on the ballot for voter approval, after it was passed in both the state assembly and senate unanimously.
So basically, this measure would be more of the public saying "we want access to more government documents" in principle without actually allowing that much more than is already available. The language in the proposition is very vague. It says that Californians will have a "right of access to information concerning the conduct of people's business" and laws in our state "shall be broadly construed if it furthers the people's right of access, and narrowly construed if it limits the right of access." Therefore, this measure would not actually change any rights to access specifically -- in fact, it even says that current laws will not change -- rather, it would tell law makers and judges how laws must be interpreted.
I guess there's really nothing wrong with that. Nor is there any really outstanding argument against the measure. It's sponsored by the California Newspaper Publishers Association and the California First Amendment Coalition, and the one person cited as speaking up against the measure is an attorney, Gary Wesley, who says "Proposition 59 may be better than nothing, but it does not go far enough. The question is whether to vote 'yes' and hope for more or vote 'no' and demand more." I see your point Mr. Wesley, but you've got to start somewhere.
Bottom line is this: for most of us who wouldn't don't read any actual legislative texts, nonetheless the debates and conversations about them, this measure doesn't really apply directly to us. It does, however, affect those who do, and I believe that they should be given access to this information should the choose to seek it. If they're going to discover something, present them with the opportunity to. That is why I am in favor of Proposition 59. Yet, don't just take my word for it. Do your own research!

Get Your Own Info:

Cal Voter site(non-partisian voter information):
http://www.calvoter.org/voter/elections/2004/props/prop59.html

Official Proposition site:
http://www.prop59.org/

IT'S YOUR VOTE. MAKE IT COUNT!

Tuesday, September 21, 2004

Voting with Rational (#1: Prop. 68)

Preface: Before the November election, there will be many advertisements regarding propositions, and candidates for various offices. This is my forum to tell you of my views. I encourage you, whether you agree or disagree, to comment on what I have to say. This is what the political process is about: choosing what is best for our city, county, state, and country. These choices should never be made blindly and, therefore, I will present links for places where you can research other points of view.

Topic #1: California Proposition #68

The full text of the proposition is too long, and the official summary can be confusing, so here's my summary in normal language:
Proposition 68 will limit new tribal gaming, however, it will require tribal casinos to pay 25% of their gaming revenues to a government fund. If tribes do not accept terms within 90 days, the proposition will then allow 16 specific non-tribal casino companies to build their casinos and force them to pay 33% of their revenues to fund public safety, regulatory, and social programs. The measure also provides a future clause which will exempt these casinos from future increases.
So how will this measure affect California's budget? The California Director of Finance and a Legislative Analyst estimate revenues of likely over $1 billion annually(that means our state would bring in $1,000,000,000 more dollars a year. That's a nice check to take home.). And these funds would be used primarily for additional firefighting, police, and child protective services.
It seems like a great proposition to me. The state gets money from the casino's revenues. What downsides could there be?
According to the "stop68" website, "Prop. 68 would authorize the big corporate gambling interests bankrolling the measure (racetrack and card club owners like Hustler Magazine’s Larry Flynt) to operate Las Vegas-size casinos with 30,000 slot machines in our cities and suburbs—near 200 schools and traffic congested streets and freeways."
So in other words, they don't want any kind of economic stimuli near their schools, cities, and suburbs because their streets and freeways are already traffic congested. They even go on to claim that Californians will have to bear 400,000 more freeway car trips. However, that Wal Mart Super-center, or that new strip mall, or that new shopping center; they are obviously exempt from this worry. The rational against 68 has even more holes in it, and enough deception that I wonder why they call the proposition the "deceptive gambling proposition," and not their own site as the deception.
The site has provided a map which shows exactly where the new casinos would be going. Unfortunately, they have struck a chord with many voters where this measure wouldn't even apply. For example, they have been advertising heavily in San Diego. Why? Because we've got a huge population to vote against the proposition, even though it will barely affect us. The only casino on the map in San Diego county is in Oceanside. Interestingly enough, they HAVE made the attempt of making it look like the casino will go right next to a recreation park. While it would be about two blocks away from a park, the recreation park drawn on the map that looks so large isn't a normal park. It's a golf course, ironically called "Center City Golf Course", despite it's location at the north most end of San Diego County. Nonetheless, a golf course. A privately owned golf course. So in other words, their argument is "we favor this private business over your private business. They don't provide money for the state. But we like them better. They look nice. They maintain their greens. Really well actually. I saw them mowing earlier." Yet, I digress in sarcasm, so what else is new.
I noticed in their arguments that they mention Larry Flynt a lot. I guess it's a great way to mention someone who wives will see as an immoral, disgusting sleezeball; someone who husbands see as a godsend, yet will still publicly despise. I guess the more times they mentioned his name, the more it got the message out. The phrase "racetrack and card club owners like Hustler Magazine’s Larry Flynt" appears 3 times on the site, and Larry Flynt's name is on 17 different pages bringing his name total to over 50 times mentioned. They even go so far as to call the measure the "Flynt Gambling Proposition." They base this claim off of his introduction of the concept as a part of his gubernatorial campaign. So, in other words, we should vote against this measure because we don't want to have a womanizer from the entertainment business taking control of our state. Good thing we avoided that crisis.
The last point I'd like to bring up on the negative's side is how they play the quoting game. "As the San Francisco Chronicle reports (5/11/04): Prop. 68 means 'California will quickly surpass Nevada as the nation's top gambling state.'" Would that necessarily be a bad thing? California's economy is strong, the 5th largest in the world, so why do we have such an unbalanced budget? Wouldn't more money in the state's treasury be, dare I say, GOOD for the state? If we surpass Nevada as the nation's top gambling state, what will that mean? We might have a lower sales tax. Or even no sales tax. Nevada's casinos are so strong and bring in so much money that they don't have a sales tax in their state. None. Zilch. We Californians, of course, pay around 7.75% and 8.5%, depending on where we live in the state. I'd rather have lower taxes. Wouldn't you?
To be fair, I went to the "Yes on 68" site. It has its quarks, and some were just annoying, but these were only the matter of bad web design, not content based. The site just provides a lot of numbers with no real context. Which is unfortunate because the other site is very well designed.

The reality is this: make sure you know who you're getting your information from. The pro-68 side says that they are supported by horse racing and card clubs, and the con-68 side say that they are "A Coalition of Indian Gaming Tribes, with major funding by United Auburn Indian Community and Pala Band of Mission Indians." Obviously, both sides have a vested interest in your vote, one way or the other. The Indians don't want competition, and the "Larry Flynts"(sorry, couldn't resist) want to make money in California.
The difference between the two options is that as a voter, you can't say that you want more funding for schools, firefighters, police, and social services, but you're turning this opportunity away. It's not the best solution to get more money into the government, or to these services, but it is one way, and it's actually being presented. The only other way that the Governor is providing budgetary relief is through cuts. Here's a way to get more money for the government where nothing is cut and everything is gained.
Yes, there will be more traffic. But there's traffic everywhere you go. And these casinos won't add a noticeable amount on a local level. And here's the bottom line: 68 could mean less taxes eventually while stimulating the economy in a positive way. Unless you have a gambling problem. Then you'd be screwed.
Those are my thoughts, what are yours?

Get Your Own Info:

Click Here For Non-Partisian Voter Information With Links to Biased Sites

IT'S YOUR VOTE. MAKE IT COUNT!

Why I Love Macs

I just had a 10 minute video chat where I met everyone in the Carmel program in Israel. Yes, I video conferenced Israel. Free. Man I love Macs.

Sunday, September 19, 2004

AEPi Sighting

I was college shopping in target a few days ago, and I came across this. No joke. I didn't even make it say that. It just did. Maybe it's a sign. Or maybe it's a display.

Apology

I sincerely apologize to you, the reader, for having to read the poor grammar usage in the previous post. I shall hang my head in shame.

The evening that turned out not so badly

So after a lot of trying to figure out what was going on, Sarah, Alexa, and I hung out and saw Wimbledon. Not a great movie. Don't even wait until it's on video. Wait until it's on tv for free. But then, you'll have to wait through the commercial breaks and it won't even be worth it because you'll just have wasted time on a really bad movie, AND had to bear the brunt of cliff hangers that lead into the same ads over and over again. In other words, don't see this movie. However, if you like really predictable movies that feature british actors attempting sports, then this movie is right up your ally.
Anyway, the evening didn't turn out so bad, and I made through it unscathed and without remorse for any friendships. That means that it was a successful evening. Good times, Shavua Tov. Deep breath, and I'm off.

Saturday, September 18, 2004

Sad day

I don't know what's sadder:

• The fact that I have two friends that I would even consider calling right now

or

• The fact that I posted an invite to hang out on Live Journal. Yes, I did stoop that low. Not quite sure what to do with myself. The post that I'm sure I'll regret.

I got a new phone!

So I finally got a new phone. And while it is the one everyone else and their mother has (excepting of course, my sister and, ironically, my mother), it's nice. Now I'm just waiting for it to charge so I can leave the house. No, that's a lie. For me to leave the house, that'd mean I'd have somewhere to go. Which I don't. I love road trips and what they do to friendships. Anyway, here's the phone:

http://us.lge.com/Product/proddetail.do?action=mobile&prodId=VX6000&categoryId=0401

Thursday, September 16, 2004

A day of randomness? Or just a Rosh Hashana thing?

Or maybe, I'm just having one of those really odd days. Sometimes it's good to have a strange day. A day where you really don't know why you're doing what you're doing, but you do it anyway, and the most random things happen while you are doing the most random of things. I guess being more specific would probably be helpful.
Today, I woke up, had breakfast, went to go pick up Buddy's guitar(random #1) for tonight's service. When I got to Buddy's, he showed me everything like I wouldn't have expected picks and a capo to be in the pick box in the guitar. I understand that it's his baby...whatever...random. Then I went to the post office to drop off two packages to wherehouse records. It's pretty cool. For 9 bucks, I sent CDs off which will give me about $200 credit at Wherehouse.com. Pretty cool. Also, pretty random.
After some time at home getting ready for services, my dad and I drove to the Civic Theater, where my Temple holds High Holiday services, listening to Air America radio's Randi Rhodes show. She had on a guy who was the founder of "nametheoctobersurprise.com" which wasn't that random, but the concept behind the site is just scary. Karl Rove's past candidates (Nixon was one of them, I think Bush Sr. was another) almost always have an "October" surprise which seals the win for them. For Nixon's second term, Kissinger said, in October, something along the lines of "we are at peace." This set the nation at ease and won the election for Nixon. There were many other details involved in the election, and this wasn't the only reason they won, however, it just goes to show how evil and scary Rove is. Anyway, the rational for the site is to guess what Bush's October surprise will be. Some of them, scarily, could very well come true.
One of them especially caught my interest. It's been pretty widely rumored that Osama will be caught in October. This caller's idea was an expansion of the rumor. His prediction was that Osama would be found. In Iraq. Under the protection of the insurgents. This way, Bush can say "see, I was right!" in a nice little package and Kerry wouldn't have time to respond, unfortunately. Again, not that random. Just scary.
Back to the randomness of the day.
So when I got to the Civic theater, I unloaded my gear and saw an Expedition on the sidewalk. I didn't really think much of it because it was a loading dock, after all, and there were a few other cars in the area. My Dad pulled me over, though, and pointed out something I hadn't noticed at first glance: Mayor Dick Murphy's body guard was helping him in, went around to the other side, and then drove off. You wouldn't have noticed the car to be any different unless you had seen what I had, but it was still really cool to see a civic leader up close and personal. I'll admit it, I still get star struck about those kinds of people. It happened with Yoffie, and now it happened with Mayor Murphy.
I also don't know if I was unimpressed or impressed with his entourage, or lack thereof. In one way, the fact that he had a special car was something I didn't really expect. Then again, I really had never given the security detail on a Mayor any thought. Anyway, pretty random.
Once I got inside, my ear, which had just been annoying, started acting up and I could barely hear out of my right ear. I asked Dr. Feldman about it, and he got me meds for an ear infection. Kinda random. Rather, just unfortunate and irritating. Anyway, it's really productive to song lead, nonetheless be a part of a makeshift band, without the ability to hear well out of one ear. I'm assuming from reactions of others that it sounded good. I really have no idea. Pretty random though. (I'm at 11 times using the word "random", notwithstanding this past time)
Now it's a new year. Kinda like a new month. But less often.

Wednesday, September 15, 2004

I'm movin back

After much internal deliberation(okay, it was really because there are stalkers on lj), i'm moving back to posting on blogger. thoughts?