I have an unusual background for someone in the public sector, having worked for a number of years in the private sector not just as a consultant, but actually in a private enterprise. In the private sector, it is a gospel fact that government in California is bloated at all levels — too many employees doing too little work. But like many gospel facts, it turns out that this one […]
There is a woman here in Sonoma County who transmits on Twitter various and sundry pieces of information and gossip (much of it presumably unconfirmed) about the local political scene. Tweeting under the name “SRPolitics,” she has chosen to conceal her true name, taking as her on-line identity a photo of John F. Kennedy, for reasons that aren’t clear to me. My initial reaction to this was irritation. Dealing in rumors […]
In light of the fact that from the beginning of this Congressional term Senate Republicans have been threatening to filibuster everything they object to, no matter how routine or minor (the latest being a nomination to the National Labor Relations Board), why haven’t the Democrats called their bluff? What Democrats have been doing is this — if the Republicans threaten to filibuster and the Democrats don’t have 60 votes, they throw […]
Frequently the most difficult legal issues arise at the intersection of two separate and distinct areas of the law. The Supreme Court’s recent much-criticized First Amendment/campaign finance decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission is a good example of this. On its face, given the facts of the particular case in front of it, the decision seems to me to be entirely correct. A conservative non-profit corporation, formed for […]
My laptop died during my trip to the ACWA conference in San Diego in early December. It wouldn’t boot up, and the hard drive icon didn’t light up, suggesting that the hard drive was dead. So the day before yesterday, while I was in Best Buy to get my son a graphics card for our main computer (which didn’t end up working), I bought an inexpensive replacement hard drive in […]
Today was my first day back on my bike riding in the “real world,” as opposed to riding inside on the trainer, since my accident on July 3. For a long time, I couldn’t ride without risking hurting my arm if I fell, but lately I’ve been putting off riding out of what I now understand was just pure fear. An odd fear, not one that I was even conscious […]
I’ve had my new Droid phone now for a little over a week, so being a somewhat tech guy I decided to post a short review. The bottom line: 8 (maybe even 8.5) out of 10. I really like it. The positives first. The Google Android 2.0 operating system on the phone is very, very good. It’s simple, straightforward, and fast. It integrates smoothly with GMail, my business email, and […]
One of my four readers asked if I’d considered writing a post on health care reform in the U.S. I don’t know that I will say anything that hasn’t been said elsewhere, but here we go … et voilà: The health care issue in the U.S. is so difficult for four reasons. The first reason is economic, and really a no brainer: The real costs of health care are hidden. […]
C’est à Alain Minc, dans Le Point le 6 aout: “Etre un libéral de gauche, c’est posseder un mauvaise chromosome, atypique dans l’ADN politique; c’est croire que l’intérêt général existe en dehors le marché, mais que l’Etat n’est pas l’expression naturelle et exclusive de cet intérêt général.” Je le crois aussi. Rough translation: To be a conservative leftist is to possess a bad chromosome, unusual in political DNA; it’s believing […]
Those who know me know I’m not a huge movie fan, but I do watch movies in French (some from Netflix, but mostly on TV5 Monde). This weekend Suzie and I went to the Rialto to see a French movie called Séraphine. Based on the remarkable and true story of the French artist Séraphine Louis (also known as Séraphine de Senlis), the movie slowly absorbs you into the mind and […]