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Same-sex marriage in CA?
2007-09-14 19:48:00
Once again, our state legislature in California has voted to legalize same-sex marriage (the first time was in 2005 when the govenor vetoed it). If the act is singed into law by Govenor Schwarzenegger, equal marriage rights in the Golden State will become a reality. The act would define marriage as a contract between two persons, rather than "man and woman."According to the San Francisco Chronicle:"For the second time in three years, the Legislature has approved a bill to give same-sex couples the right to marry in California, with Friday's Senate vote split almost along party lines and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger expected to veto the measure as he did in 2005.The bill, AB43, is the third effort by Assemblyman Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, to pass what he has termed a "gender-neutral marriage" bill. The act would amend California's Family Code to define marriage as a civil contract between two persons."Marriage is more than just a civil contract ... it is different from domestic part...
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Constitution alive
2007-09-13 19:30:00
I published the following in the Monterey County Herald, 13 September:Stating the Constitution not to be a living document is one of the greatest fallacies in thinking. Human beings evolve, as does society, its values and institutions. Human beings are, unfortunately, incapable of perfection and knowing the truth itself. We cannot know what the great philosopher Immanuel Kant called "das Ding an sich ," the thing itself, and can never be completely certain of the decisions we or our ancestors have made. It is, therefore, of the utmost importance that we do not stunt progress. We must be willing to change our values and laws as new discoveries and insights are made.Initially our society was convinced that slavery and segregation were acceptable and that women were inferior to men. As time passed, we evolved. We changed our values, outlook and laws in response to our enlightened realizations. To date, we have changed our Constitution 24 times and are a more humane society for it.We ar...
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A rare occurance
2007-09-09 21:46:00
I pusblished the following in the Santa Cruz Sentinel, September 8:It is rare that I, a staunch progressive, agree with a policy of the Bush administration. Yet, I have to commend the administration for escaping its neoconservative ideological prison with the mortgage aid proposal. It may be just a small step, aiding only 80,000 of roughly 2,000,000 Americans who will face the risk of foreclosure, but is nonetheless a step in the right direction.By using government intervention to aid consumers, the Bush administration is undoubtedly following a liberal strategy. By borrowing a progressive idea, this administration has drafted a policy in agreement with most of the nation's economists. Studies have found that 63 percent of economists identify as liberal, while registered Democrats outnumber registered Republicans 2.8 to 1 among members of the profession.Finally, the Bush administration is actually listening to the majority of economists and helping ordinary Americans.
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You must be kidding me...
2007-09-08 00:40:00
Conservapedia. It exists. At first I though I was looking at a piece of online satire in the style of Stephen Colbert. But no, Conservapedia is a place for Fox News rejects who could no longer pretend to be "fair & balanced." It is a project with the earnest intention of informing others. Yet, it is not be confused with its quasi-namesake, Wikipedia.One of my hobbies is contributing to Wikipedia, where I serve as an administrator. Thousands of people read Wikipedia entries everyday and it has become one of the most commonly used reference works in the world. Contributing to Wikipedia is, therefore, a rewarding experience. While Wikipedia is to be read with caution, its articles are often of surprisingly high quality. Many articles feature footnotes and make it possible to clearly identify sources. As Wikipedia is edited by a large and diverse group of people, including a fair amount of scientists, professors, researchers and graduate students, most nonsense, false claims and blatant...
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The misunderstood immigration debate
2007-09-06 23:13:00
I was looking through an old issue of The New Republic and stumble across yet another great article every American should read, in the magazine every American should read. Below I have summarized the article and a link can be found at the bottom (though the article is for subscribers only)In “Immigration Confusion: Illegal Substance,” John B. Judis, visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, author of three books and senior editor at The New Republic is advocating immigrants rights by clarifying that unauthorized immigrants are not actually criminals. While unauthorized immigrants have technically violated the law, it is our laws that are at fault. It is our ignorant and unjust immigration law that poses the problem, not the millions of Mexicans nationals who were forced to break it. It is our law that has created a permanent underclass of more than ten million. The presence of this underclass is a problem for American society as “it encourages crime, ...
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Changing Roles
2007-09-05 19:23:00
The Republican and Democratic Party are increasingly changing roles. The Democratic Party is increasingly the party of the well-educated professional while the GOP is becoming the party of the white working class. The reason: more critical thinking among those in the professional class.Why well-educated professionals vote increasingly Democrat should not be a surprise. Many have had considerable education in the humanities and social sciences and have been thought the fine art of critical thinking. The more critical thinking about societal issues and individual does, the more likely he or she is to adopt a progressive world view and vote Democrat. This is why academia is a liberal bastion and a slight majority of those with graduate degrees have voted reliably Democratic since the late 1980s. Now those with Bachelor's degrees, who outnumber those with graduate degrees, are becoming increasingly liberal. In 2004, college educated women voted Republican 52 to 48 percent while in 2006...
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Superstition or reality?
2007-09-02 07:30:00
Throughout the Southwestern U.S. and regions of Latin America exists the myth of a creature called "Chupacabra." This mythical creature is said to look like a hairless coyote and suck the blood out of goats; hence the name which is Spanish for "Goat-sucker." This creature is an ideal example of how superstition persists even in the presence of a reasonable explanation.Recently a Texas rancher found what many claim to be a Chupacabra. This creature is hairless and has blue skin. The Texas Fish & Game Department, however, believes that the creature is not a mythical Chupacabra but a diseased grey fox. According to biologists illness ridden gray foxes may develop hair loss and a blue-ish skin tone.Now a DNA test is to be conducted in order to test whether or not the creature in question is indeed a Chupacabra. Has the possibility that Chupacabra is simply an ancient name for diseased grey foxes ever arisen? Native Americans and early European settlers most likely did not recognize dise...
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Curb your enthousiasm
2007-09-02 01:34:00
Recently the Census Bureau released new income data from the 2006 Current Population Survey. The data shows a slight increase in household income Yet, we would be well advised to curb our exuberance as household income is an imperfect measure of prosperity by all accounts.The driving force behind the rise in household income is an increase in the percentage of dual earner households. The recent household income increase is therefore reflective of the marriage, not the labor market. Wages for the past several years have remained roughly stagnant. Even though marriage may seem to off-set stagnant wages, the gains made from coupling incomes are often off-set by increased household size. Large households may have higher incomes than their smaller counterparts, but also have more members to support. The result is a stagnant standard of living.

No celebrity left behind
2007-09-01 08:14:00
I accidentally published this letter in two newspapers. I submitted it to the Weekly over a week after submitting it to the Herald, thinking the Herald was not going to publish it. To my surprise, however, I discovered that the Herald had published the earlier version of my letter on August 31st. The version below is the slightly revised one I sent to the Weekly after wrongfully believing the Herald was not going to publish it:Americans like to state education as one of the things they value most. Yet the market tells a different story. Imagine if professors and teachers were paid on the same basis as pop stars. Each time the music of a celebrity musician is played, he or she receives a royalty. This is the equivalent of an educator receiving a royalty each time a former student uses the knowledge the instructor imparted upon them. Professors and teachers would be multimillionaires.According to Salary.com, Britney Spears makes roughly $40 million a year. By comparison, the average p...
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S.F. becoming more prosperous
2007-09-01 01:41:00
Amierca's most liberal city, San Francisco, is becoming more prosporous. Since 2000:Median household income has increased by $10,000 from $57,000 to $67,000. The percentage of those living below the poverty line has dropped by 22% to a record low of 7.8%.The number of homeless has decreased by 28% since 2002
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Ancient views on homosexuality
2007-08-29 19:17:00
Letter I published in the Salinas Californian newspaper (today, Aug 29 issue):I was left aghast by Laura Aguilar's letter, "City leaders abandon morals for votes." Her August 27 letter stated that Salinas' city leaders "have decided to abandon God and our founding fathers..." by allowing the recent gay-pride parade. This claim was followed by a call on local churches to contact city officials. Augilar's argument is based on ancient texts and her call for action is unconstitutional.The idea that God would oppose homosexuality is taken from archaic texts written by humans for humans in an ancient society. These texts advocate several dangerous concepts, including slavery and child abuse, I am certain Jesus Christ would be in favor of gay rights. The ancient texts that state otherwise bear little relevance to the world of today and must not be used to conduct public policy.The Founding Fathers would be as appalled as I am when confronted with the views of the "Moral Majority." The F...
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New income data, how much do Americans make?
2007-08-29 07:34:00
Every August the Census Bureau releases its annual income data. This data is based on surveys and complex mathematic models. It should be noted that this data only gives a rough estimate. The data, for example, shows that the percentage of household with six figure incomes increased from 17 to 19 percent. Yet, considering the margin of error there is a considerable chance that the percentage has remained stagnant or even decreased. The data also excludes the circa 12 million unauthorized immigrants, whose incomes are far below average (ca. $27,000 median household income). As with all statitical data, view these figures with caution and beware the margin or error.For Income earners, age 25 or older:Bottom 20%:.............$12,500 or lessMedian:.......................$33,907 (This is what the "Average American" makes)Top 20%:.....................$62,500 or moreTop 15%:.....................$70,000 or more ("Upper middle class" is ca. 15%)Top 10%:.....................$85,000 or moreTop...
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What do the economists say?
2007-08-22 03:02:00
The vast majority of Economists are liberals and even more support the Democratic Party. As a matter of fact the viewpoints of most economists form a good outline of contemporary liberalism. A study by Carnegie University and research by the Southern Economics Journal found the following:71% of Economists beleive that income inquality in the U.S. is too high. 81% of Economists advocate a role for government in redistributing income. 63% of Economists idenitify as liberal A study by Stockholm and Santa Clara University found the following beleives among economists:Most economists favorSafety regulationsGun controlRedistributionPublic schoolingAnti-discrimination lawsThe Democratic Party (2.5:1 ratio)Most economists oppose:Tighter immigration controlsGovernment ownership of enterpriseTariffsSeems like liberalism/progressivism is the ideology of choice for American economists. While I'm not all surprised, it proves that we're onto something!
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Hym of American health care
2007-08-20 07:34:00
Go Ahead And Die! (Pirates Of The Heal th Care -ibean), A song about the U.S. health care system by the Austin Lounge Lizards. For political messages conveyed in song, I can only recommend this band. Even though the band members have degrees in history, law and philosophy rather than music, the music is really quite good. It's great musical satire!
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Go Ahead And Die! (Pirates Of The Health Care-ibean)
2007-08-20 02:46:00
A song about the U.S. health care system.
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Bush crackdown, a bad idea
2007-08-19 08:02:00
Letter I published in the Salinas Californian newspaper:The proposal by the Bush administration to involve local law enforcement in prosecuting undocumented workers is a step in the wrong direction. It will make our society less humane and more dangerous.Idea lly, we would recognize the right of every human being to travel our planet freely. We would institute a responsible open-door immigration policy and let all those who do not pose a threat to American society enter. We would grant amnesty to the millions of immigrants who form the foundation of our economy. Bush is attempting to lead us further away from this ideal.Not only will we expand the enforcement of unjust immigration policies, we will drive unauthorized migrants further into the shadows. Since they are treated as second-class "citizens," unauthorized immigrants come in contact with criminal elements often. They witness countless crimes and possess information that could solve numerous crimes. It is in the best interest ...
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Strange bedfellows
2007-08-16 03:52:00
In our fight for open borders, we progressive cosmopolitans have made an interesting ally: Big Business. While, some business honchos are cosmopolitan progressives themselves, it is not too often that the business lobby and progressives see eye to eye. Yet, on issues regarding immigration and globalization we do. As undocumented workers constitute 25% of all farmhands and form the basic foundation of the construction sector, corporate America has a stake in granting legal acknowledgment to unauthorized immigrants. Open door immigration, which would let all those who do not pose a threat to American society, enter is also looked upon favorably by U.S. business interests. Globalization; the removal of trade barriers is another concept of which progressives and corporate American are proponents. Progressives see globalization as providing opportunity to those in the world's most impoverished region and as moving us closer to the cosmopolitan ideal where countries surrender the soverin...
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Why care?
2007-08-04 02:53:00
Why are Americans so obsessed with ancestry at the dawn of the twenty-first century. There is an excellent article, Strangled by Roots, by Steve Pinker in the newest edition of The New Republic, advertised on the cover as dealing with “Our weird obsession with Genealogy.” But why do we care? Truth is, knowing your ancestry is completely trivial unless you are receiving an inheritance or personally know one of your ancestors. Knowing what your ancestors did five hundred years ago or being able to pin-point their location on a globe is wholly trivial. Of course, there it is not harmful to attain trivial knowledge, so long as one is aware of its trivial nature.Pinker correctly points out that “many social scientists have gone so far as to claim that kinship is a social construction with no connection to biology.” Of course, certain psychological traits are based on genetics. “Blood relatives are likely to share genes. To the extent that minds are shaped by genomes, relatives ...
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Objections to glorifying war
2007-08-04 01:41:00
I recently published the following in the Monterey County Herald newspaper. It is in response to a piece of legislation currently considered by the city of San Francisco:Recently San Francisco made headlines by just considering the idea that the Blue Angels ought not to fly over the city. While Chris Daily introduced the bill, citing "safety concerns," groups such as Veterans for Peace cite a fear over the glorification of war. War, though sometimes necessary, is the most morally objectionable activity a society can partake in. There simply is no glory in maiming and killing. War is humankind at its worst. Too often we deny the cruel nature of war by dehumanizing our "enemy," and creating fanciful euphemisms, such as "collateral damage" (dead civilians) or "non-operative personnel" (dead soldiers).While many may disregard the efforts of some San Franciscans as "ultra-liberal" and "unpatriotic," their concerns over the dangerous glorification of war ought to be taken seriously.

Social class
2007-08-01 09:07:00
Social class is inevitable and necessary, but it can be made humane. Unfortunately, there cannot be such a thing as a classless society. A complex society requires people to occupy a variety of different occupation. Inevitably, groups of persons who play similar roles within society are going to form. Status commonly reflects contributions more accurately than income alone, as it considers the prestige persons are accorded for the service of society.The problem with social class is that we, humans, have used it for condescendence and ranking persons in terms of “low” or “high.” Too often, too many people think that higher societal status translates into a superior existence. Such is, of course, not the case. An upper middle class person is not “The Better” of a working class person. Nor is a working class person inferior to an upper middle class person.Truth is that all human beings are equal in a moral and ethical sense. The equality of humans needs to be recognized con...
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Buffet, role model for the rich
2007-07-30 07:48:00
The super-rich are vastly overcompensated. Capitalism does not always reward contributions to society justly. The perhaps most obnoxious habit of the super-rich, aside from wasting $11 million on oil paintings for multi-million dollar mansions in a world where 20,000 people die every night because of poverty, is pretending they have earned it. Education, hard work and dedication can undoubtedly lead to economic success. They will earn you entrance into the upper middle class and perhaos the "merely-rich." Being super-rich, however, is a matter of luck - of benefiting from social injustice. William Buffet seems to have realized this to at least some extent, stating himself to be "disproportionately well" compensated. He freely acknowledges that rewards do not always fit contributions, stating that: "you can knock a guy out in 10 seconds and earn $10 million for it... If you are a terrific nurse, this world will not pay a lot for it." (Lowe, 1997; p. 165) In comparison to other multi-...
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Bush needs to be impeached
2007-07-28 06:07:00
President Bush is to be impeached. He has initiated a war under false pretense, caused of needless deaths of thousands and exemplifies the Peter Principle. The charges are as follows:Deception: He duped many Americans, including some liberals such as myself, into support the invasion of Iraq. The threat posed by WMDs was used in order to justify the war. Yet, no such weapons have been found. Fooling the public into supporting his military endeavor by using faulty intelligence alone constitutes sufficient grounds for dismissal.Incompetence: He has proven incompetent. As the Commander in Chief, the president is very influential - too influential - in matters of war. Therefore, he is partially responsible for any military engagement; its execution and results. It is widely acknowledged that the U.S. entered Iraq without a proper exit strategy with the war itself having been directed poorly - from putting 20-somthing year olds in charge of Iraq ministries to dismissing the entire armed ...
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Race and the President
2007-07-27 01:26:00
As the sensational news of someone who is not a European-American male having a realistic shot at the presidency has become mundane reality, I find it necessary to reflect upon some of the core principles of liberalism. I, like many Coastal California voters, am a liberal Democrat. Like most progressives, I would love to see a woman or a person of minority ethnic descent in the Oval Office. Yet, I will not vote for or even favor a candidate because of race or gender. Doing so would contradict the ideology to which adhere. The core principle of liberalism is a belief in personal liberty. A belief in maximizing personal freedoms translates directly into believing that the effects of ascribed statuses – characteristics that are not attributed to a person’s actions – ought to be minimized. I, therefore, refuse to judge a person on the basis of their ethnic origin or gender. My liberal ideology prevents me from favoring a candidate based on ancestry, ethnicity or gender
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Open thy gates America!
2007-07-27 01:24:00
Open door immigration, including amnesty for the current 12 to 20 million "unauthorized migrants" is the only ethical and sensible policy. I was recently involved in a debate while editing the United States article on Wikipedia. The debate was a classic example of the kulturkampf between the rational left and the nativists right. In order to support their unethical and socio-economical unjustifiable views, nativists insist on dehumanizing those who want to work in this country. They insist on applying the term "illegal" unto a human being. Some even propose using the term "alien" rather than "immigrant." Seldom does one see such rampant demonization and dehumanization of the down-trodden in what is otherwise a relatively civil society. But how else could the nativists support their perspective?Truth is that restricting immigration is immoral in most cases; it marks an unjust infringement of right of human beings to move throughout their planet. People ought not to be bound by the sh...
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A quick note about capitalism and fairness
2007-07-24 01:30:00
In the ideal capitalist society a person is to be rewarded in accordance to his or her contribution. Yet, we may never achieve this ideal with income not always being representative of contributions. Each from their ability according to their contributions, one might say. What constitutes a contribution? Any action that benefits the general well-fare of society. Unfortunately a perfect capitalist mixed economy cannot exist as it would require people to be completely rational, constantly making the best decisions for themselves and others. Human nature is simply not perfect enough for the perfect capitalist society.In our society, people are – roughly speaking – rewarded for possessing skills that are perceived to be scarce – these commonly coincide with their perceived impact on satisfying society’s wants. They are not always paid in accordance to their contributions in raising society’s well-fare. Generally speaking those who contribute more commonly receive more. Those w...
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A Third Way Manifesto
2007-07-23 21:17:00
The third way, that is the capitalist mixed economy, is the only functioning type of distributing economic resources. Both, laissez faire capitalism and socialism are bound to fail because they rest upon false assumptions.The premise of laissez faire capitalism and economic libertarianism is that human beings are rational and always take the action that is most beneficial to them. This assumption is too idealistic, however. Human beings do act irrational from time to time. They do smoke, drink and behave recklessly. They also exploit and hurt each other. They are also prone to being manipulated by advertising. Even if human beings were to act in consistently rational manner, doing what is best for the individual may not be best for society. Slave owners, for example, did profit from keeping slaves. They did what was best for them. But was it what was best for society? Clearly not. Laissez-faire capitalism fails to account for irrational behavior and resulting market failures.The pre...
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Opposites attract
2007-07-20 22:04:00
Things are not as they seem. Take socio-economic status and politics. Income and education do both: the raise the chances of person being liberal and raise the chances of a person voting Republican. How can both be true? These two statements seem to contradict each other.The liberal minority – roughly 20% of the electorate – increases in size as we advance upwards the socio-economic ladder. The percentage of college graduates who identify as liberal is considerably higher than the percentage of high school drop-outs who identify as liberal. Liberals tend to be well-educated professionals with 41% residing in mass affluent households (the highest percentage of any group in a recent Pew Research Center study).Yet, liberals remain a minority even among those in the professional class. Moderates are, as on any other level of the strata, a plurality. The more economically prosperous a moderate person is, the more likely he or she is to vote Republican. As moderates outnumber liberals...
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Woes of the Average
2007-07-20 08:26:00
The average American is not struggling to make ends meet, the middle class is not shrinking. Average Joe and Jane are, however, falling further and further behind the rich and caught an increasingly competitive struggle to “keep up with the Johnsons.” The absolute standard of living of all Americans has increased considerably. Even median income levels have increased over the past three decades. With women having entered the workforce an increasing number of dual-earner households have made those with six figure household incomes one of the country’s fastest growing economic demographics. Yet, the average is loosing out to the rich. The top 1% has received an increasingly disproportionate share of income over the past twenty years. The gap between the top 1% and the bottom 90% has returned to pre-New Deal era heights. Furthermore, the average American enjoys far less leisure than his or her counterparts in other post-industrial nations. Why? Because he or she needs to do so in...
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The redundant CEO
2007-07-19 07:31:00
A common excuse by which the crème de la crème of CEOs and successful entrepreneurs attempt to justify their extreme affluence is through taking credit for the success of “their” enterprises. A CEO or the founder of a company taking credit for “his” or “her” company’s success, however, constitutes nothing more than wish-ful thinking. Large corporations, such as AT&T or ExxonMobile, are successful not because of their CEO, but because of thousands of employees and managers.Truth be told, the CEO is no more important to a large corporation’s success than any other member of upper management. A similar statement can be made concerning entrepreneurs. Once a company is established and successful, the entrepreneur has lost most of his or her influence over the corporation. Therefore, he or she can no longer take credit for every accomplishment of the company he or she once founded. As a business grows, the head person, be it the founder or a hired CEO, loses influence. I...
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Cheap Stuff! 2
2007-07-18 19:06:00
In response to my post "Cheap Stuff ," fellow blogger iamagod voiced a few very interesting concerns I would like to address. The comment stated that globalization and cheaper consumer goods don't help poor Americans.I understand how one might reach this conclusion. There are, however, three things to consider. Globalization and consumerism have increased the purchasing power of all Americans -even those in the bottom quintile- and provide opportunities to those who need them the most.1) Globalization has caused a drop in the prices of the most common household goods. DVD players, TVs, clothing and foodstuffs are cheaper than ever before. Meanwhile the household income of the bottom quintile has remained roughly stagnant in constant 2005 dollars since the late 1970s. With income remaining stagnant but prices dropping, the purchasing power of poor Americans has increased. As poor Americans have more purchasing power, they are able to attain a high standard of living - the number of g...