La Mesa Is the Place to Be

The cops in La Mesa apparently found the Mayor lying drunk by the side of his SUV. And what did they do? Gave him a ride home, of course.

And I'm sure the cops would have done that for me too...

Sick at sea and at home

So a cruise ship came back with a fresh norovirus outbreak. Nothing says "ain't we got fun" like "ain't we got runs."
 
(Click here for the story: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20080226-9999-1m26cruise.html)
 
Of course, maybe they were just fearing returning to land and our super craptastic economy: ( http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/business/20080226-0730-economy.html)
 
How excited can either Hillary or Obama - or any Democratic candidate for office - be about inheriting the consequences of 8 years of blithe ignorance and mismanagement - at home and abroad?  Have fun with that, y'all. My guess is you won't be around too long to worry about it anyway - voters have super short memories, so don't expect them to blame GW for long.

Press Release of the Week

From the Sac Bee, the press release of the week.

Battin proposes to open HOV Lanes to "Carbon Neutral" drivers

SACRAMENTO – Senator Jim Battin (R- La Quinta) announced today legislation that would encourage every owner of a polluting, flashy, fuel sucking car to buy their way into an environmentally conscious "carbon neutral" lifestyle. SB 1374 would allow auto owners who purchase carbon credits that offset the carbon dioxide emissions of their vehicles to participate in the Clean Air - High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) decal program, allowing the driver to use an HOV lane.

This program currently only applies to the first 88,000 vehicles meeting enhanced California and Federal emission standards. Under Battin's proposed law, carbon neutral vehicles can also participate in the decal program. Battin sees SB 1374 as a perfect opportunity to jump start the state's efforts to single-handedly stop the fractionally small rise in global temperature.

On February 28, the California State Air Resources Board (CARB) is scheduled to consider under its AB 32 implementation plan how voluntary early actions can start saving the planet. "I can’t think of a better way to become a true champion of the environment and reduce your carbon foot print than by going 'carbon neutral' with your car," stated Battin.

Battin himself decided to go "carbon neutral" immediately after he was scolded by the Contra Costa Times article that read, "Lawmakers' flashy, fuel-sucking cars on road at the expense of taxpayers". "I was embarrassingly caught using excess energy. The only thing I could do was take action," Battin declared. Battin immediately purchased for $45 a DriveNeutral Certificate which simply states that his CO2 emissions have been offset for one year. The obvious next question is if he has gone "green" and is "carbon neutral" why shouldn’t he and other environmentally conscious drivers have the same rights as low-emission drivers and live the HOV lane good life?

This proposal should complement CARB’s efforts. Through the DriveNeutral "CO2" Calculator or any of the dozens of other "carbon calculators" one can calculate that a 2007 Toyota Prius emits 4,229 pounds of dirty carbon per year making the Prius a worse foe to the environment than Senator Battin's carbon-free Lincoln Aviator. Through LiveNeutral, or any of the dozens of other carbon credit vendors, it would cost only $15 to eliminate this Prius polluter's carbon footprint.

Battin added, "The guilt of my excess energy using days are a thing of the past - I feel great about my carbon credit indulgence and think many other Californians will too… when they are driving guilt free in the empty diamond lane."

Francis Airs Mayor Ads

This is just one of the crazily early mayor campaign ads coming from Steve Francis. See the rest here.

Don't worry they're all happy and upbeat.

By the way, We Still Have a Budget Problem

It turns out the budget deficit is $16 Billion, not $14.5.

The LA Times goes on about the non-partisan legislative analyst's report that we CAN'T SOLVE THIS PROBLEM BY CUTTING SPENDING!

There, someone said it.

On a related note, the school district is asking for community input about the necessary cuts.

Happy Day After Valentine's

Sorry my extended abscence; my computer blew up and deleted lots of important stuff. And no one likes having to spend time sitting at the Mac Store.

But now I'm back! And I hope everyone had a fantastic St. Valentine's Day.

On that note of 'romance', Assemblyman Calderon (who wants to become speaker) tried to woo the female members of the Dem caucus with long-stemmed roses.

“If I can’t have your heart, I’ll settle for your vote,” said the note accompanying the flowers. “Please be mine, Chuck Calderon.”

What, no flowers for the men?

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News items to make up for your lack of me for the last week:

People are protesting a plan to allow Mexican truck drivers to come through the US and US truck drivers to go through Mexico. They're calling it a 'sham'. Doesn't a sham mean you have to be pretending to do something else?

Students are protesting higher fees on campus again. The problem with crying wolf all those times before though, is now there really is a wolf...

He recently took on a third job and stresses out about his living expenses and the cost of parking on campus.

Parking? How do they always find the most ridiculous people to profile?

And today the legislature is voting on passing all those massive budget cuts we've been hearing about.

Bye-Bye Toll Road

The California Coastal Commission rejected the San Onofre toll road plan.

Maybe not as big news as Romney, but really who cares about Romney now.