Back for More!

Hey all!  After three eventful years, Artful Codger is back!  I'm back posting on politics, economics, health care, health insurance, films and filmmaking and other miscellaneous stuff.

My approach is as always: a non-partisan, common sense approach to the issues of the day.

My main focus this week is "Splitting California in Half".

I've been thinking about this issue for years.  I've done a lot of research on the subject.  I've concluded, as have many others, that California is simply too big and too politically divided to exist much longer the way it is.

I was struck by the results of the 2016 presidential election.  Although the Republicans nominated the most unconventional candidate in its history, Donald Trump did surprisingly well.  In half the state.  In the most left-wing portions of the state, the vote was diametrically opposed.

Maps from the California Secretary of State tell the tale.  The very left-wing, progressive part of the state, the coastal counties from San Diego to Humboldt, voted overwhelmingly for Mrs. Clinton.  The more conservative half of the state, the Central Valley counties to the West of the Coast Range, voted more narrowly, but clearly, for Mr. Trump.   This illustrates convincingly that California is two states, economically and politically.  Los Angeles shares much more in common with San Francisco than it does Fresno and Bakersfield counties.

In future posts I'll look at the history of previous attempts to split the state up, how it can be accomplished, the positives and negatives, the ramifications, and the politics involved.

A.C.

Gay Marriage

As expected, the Supreme Court legalized homosexual marriage throughout the land.

By a narrow 5-4 ruling, the court held that gay marriage cannot be banned by the states, even when the state's population has made it clear they do not want it.

Anthony Kennedy exhibited his continued journey from conservative justice to liberal outlook.  He claims that the 14th amendment to the Constitution protects marriage of any sort to exist, everywhere.

By this tortured reasoning, any marriage between anyone, and anything, and in any number, is now legal.  Expect a quick legal effort to make polygamy likewise legal, which will happen because 'love' is all that counts.

Next, expect an assault on religion.  How can a church refuse to glorify same-sex marriage when it is supposedly protected by the Constitution (which, by the way, is silent on the subject.  This is more reaching by the liberal majority on the court).  I anticipate an early effort to censure any religion that refuses to perform same-sex weddings.

Already it's illegal for persons who for religious reasons to refuse to celebrate homosexual marriage.  They will be fined harshly by the government if they don't jump up and down in joy when ordered by gay couples to do their bidding.

It will be interesting to see if any gays are foolish enough to demand that Muslims perform such weddings.  They won't because they only demand those who will easily fold, such as Christians.

It's a sad day for America.

First the homosexuals want to change the law making it a crime to engage in their sexual behavior.  Well, OK.  Then they wanted to adopt children.  Well, there's a shortage of adoptive parents, so, OK.  Then they wanted to have spousal rights of joint ownership and survival benefits.  I guess.  Then they wanted gay marriage.  Now they want us not only to tolerate their behavior, but to celebrate it.

If we don't enthusiastically scream our assent, then we are bigots and evil.

This is what America has come to.  And we let it happen by electing liberals who have packed the court with looney leftists.

On the Confederate Flag

First of all, I don't like the Confederate Flag.  I don't like the South's role in the Civil War, which was fought over one issue, and one issue only: slavery.  I don't think it should be raised on the grounds of the state capitol of any state, and I don't think the South's role in the conflict should be honored or glorified.

That said, I abhor the sudden silencing of those who wish to display such items as the Confederate flag, Confederate memorabilia, or any other image that evokes the Southern Cause. 

It's only abhorrent speech that the first amendment protects.  If you agree with me 100%, I'm going to support your speech, obviously.  But if you vehemently disagree with me, I must also support your right to free speech.

Political correctness rears it's ugly head yet again.  Those on the left can't seem to understand that one day, their speech may be unpopular, and restricted.  Then, of course, they will squirm.

Are We At War With China?

Today comes the news that the federal government personnel files have been hacked, and (once again) it looks as though the Chinese government is responsible.  The group nicknamed 'Deep Panda', also thought responsible for the hacking of health insurer Anthem Blue Cross, has accessed 4.1 million current and former federal employees.  They took personnel information including names, addresses, pay grades, pension and health insurance data.  It's not clear if the breach included Social Security numbers

This isn't even the first time Chinese hackers have targeted the Office of Personnel Management.  In March, 2014, they nabbed the names of people who had applied for top secret security clearances.

OPM says they fend off 2.5 billion hack attempts each month.  Most, obviously are thwarted.  But when you have the resources of the Chinese government behind you, you're facing the best computer geeks on the planet.

What are the Chinese up to?  We've seen other provocative moves by the Chinese lately, including the construction and occupation of artificial islands to be used as military bases in the South China Sea.  China is ramping up its military spending is growing at a 10-12% rate per annum.  That's in contrast to the United State's virtually flat budget, although that may soon change. 

Since China's revenue comes primarily from exporting around the world, kind of make you wonder why we keep buying their stuff.  Every dollar we send to China is another dollar available for their intelligence and military budgets.

We really do seem to be in a conflict with the Chinese, whether we realize it or not.

Is 'ultrasounded' a word?

I told my wife that I had my former cat 'ultrasounded'.  I said that the vet suspected cancer, so I took her to the specialty vet and had her ultrasounded.  That sounded kind of off, and so did she.

I looked it up on Google, and can't find a definitive answer.  Spell check here doesn't like it, as well.  She said I could say, 'I took her to the vet and had an ultrasound done', but that seems unnecessarily long.

If poor Uggs had had an X-ray, I could say, 'I had my cat X-rayed'.  So why not say ultrasounded.

Makes sense to me.

El Nino?

May 2015 in Sacramento California thus far has been pretty mild, except for two days early in the month when it was about 10 degrees above normal, into the low 90s.  Lately, it's been in the low to upper 70s, which isn't that unusual for May, it's just that we generally have more variability; 70s for a few days, into the 80s, then into the 90s, or even 100s (!)  Yes, May can be hot.  I remember 1987 (I think) when I painted my duplex in mid-May.  We had a string of days well over 100 degrees, maxing out in the mid-100s.  It was brutal, painting under the eaves, paint dripping down my arms, sweating like crazy.  It seemed like a harbinger of things to come...a hot summer!  But, it cooled down and we had a pretty normal summer after that.

Went to LA yesterday to see the eye doc.  The traffic was crazy busy, even at 10:30 in the morning.  It never got better, of course.  The weather was great, though, which is why LA is so crowded.  The weather's usually very nice, but you'd never get me down there.  Too many people, too little green space.  My doctor's office was on the UCLA campus, and even though I went to UC Santa Barbara, I've never been there.  Unlike UCSB and UC San Diego, the campus is in an urban environment, and not particularly attractive.

I had a delayed flight out of LA, supposedly due to inclement weather in New Orleans.  I didn't back home in Sacramento until midnight.

Rain or lack thereof

We're in a drought...sort of. 

I'm in Sacramento and I've been living here since 1960; a long time.  We've had years of low rainfall and high rainfall.  The last drought we had that was called a drought was in 76-77.  It was in all the papers.  You went to a state park, and they'd have displays about the drought.

That was a drought.  In 1976 we had just over 7 inches of rain.  It was sunny and in the mid-70s...in January.  Very weird, very nice winter weather (unless you were a skier, as I was), and very scary.  It was dry, dry, dry.

This past weather year, 2014-15 (the weather year, at least for rain, goes from July 1 to June 30), we've (so far) gotten over 13 inches of rain.  The average (which it is, not 'normal' as is so often used) is just over 20 inches.

(An aside...That average has inched up since I've been paying attention to the weather.  It used to be 19 and something inches.  Now it's over 20.  Interesting.  Been getting wetter? )

They say an El Nino is forming, or has formed, or will form.  That usually means wetter weather, which would be welcomed by all except those with leaky roofs.  It has been a somewhat wet spring, which follows an absolutely dry January.

So...it's dry, but it's been worse.  The drought of 76-77 was not followed by all of the hand-wringing and turgid verbiage as is the case nowadays.  Makes for more wailing and gnashing of teeth, and, of course, more money to the local bureaucracy.