Write Lightning is a blog from writer Deb Thompson.
Everyone is welcome here.
(Some links or topics may not be completely kid-appropriate.)
Everyone is welcome here.
(Some links or topics may not be completely kid-appropriate.)
Politics
Tue, Apr 29 2008
Buena Vista and Watsonville news
In our ongoing saga with the Watsonville's 2030 development plan, a new chapter unfolded when Santa Cruz Superior Court Judge Paul Burdick stayed on the side of common sense and law this week with his ruling. I'm not saying that simply because he agrees with me. I'm saying it because Judge Burdick recognizes that the shortcut approach the city took in its continuing disregard for airport safety zones meant that the city has not fully done its homework on the Buena Vista area.
I hope the city planners will at least admit that they need to scale back their daydream for this semi-rural area with its small horse farms and rolling hills of greenery so that the area still has a unique quality that draws visitors and new residents who love the area for what it is. I've seen an example of the city's plan for dense housing in the area behind the Target store, which I believe is known as Seaview Ranch. The driveways are too short, the homes are tightly spaced with very little side clearance, the yards aren't big enough for kids to play in without having to spill over into the street with their games. If the city really wants to make Watsonville a great place to raise kids they'll think of these things in the future planning of any subdivisions. I'd like to think they've learned a valuable lesson and now I'm waiting for them to show me what they can really do now as they plan for the future of this beautiful coastal area.
posted at: 08:13 | category: /Politics | link to this entry
In our ongoing saga with the Watsonville's 2030 development plan, a new chapter unfolded when Santa Cruz Superior Court Judge Paul Burdick stayed on the side of common sense and law this week with his ruling. I'm not saying that simply because he agrees with me. I'm saying it because Judge Burdick recognizes that the shortcut approach the city took in its continuing disregard for airport safety zones meant that the city has not fully done its homework on the Buena Vista area.
I hope the city planners will at least admit that they need to scale back their daydream for this semi-rural area with its small horse farms and rolling hills of greenery so that the area still has a unique quality that draws visitors and new residents who love the area for what it is. I've seen an example of the city's plan for dense housing in the area behind the Target store, which I believe is known as Seaview Ranch. The driveways are too short, the homes are tightly spaced with very little side clearance, the yards aren't big enough for kids to play in without having to spill over into the street with their games. If the city really wants to make Watsonville a great place to raise kids they'll think of these things in the future planning of any subdivisions. I'd like to think they've learned a valuable lesson and now I'm waiting for them to show me what they can really do now as they plan for the future of this beautiful coastal area.
posted at: 08:13 | category: /Politics | link to this entry
Mon, Apr 28 2008
No one should hold back the care of our state and of our kids
I appreciated the San Jose Mercury News article from Anna Caballero and Dave Holmes. They're right. This is no time to let a union group have the power to stonewall projects that will keep our state's infrastructure and schools going. We need to explore any alternative that gives us the power to make it happen. I'm not against unions as a whole, but hearing that unions may be holding back progress for all of us makes me ready to vote against any such union stronghold, especially if it involves the taxpayers' purse strings in our beautiful state of California.
posted at: 13:04 | category: /Politics | link to this entry
I appreciated the San Jose Mercury News article from Anna Caballero and Dave Holmes. They're right. This is no time to let a union group have the power to stonewall projects that will keep our state's infrastructure and schools going. We need to explore any alternative that gives us the power to make it happen. I'm not against unions as a whole, but hearing that unions may be holding back progress for all of us makes me ready to vote against any such union stronghold, especially if it involves the taxpayers' purse strings in our beautiful state of California.
posted at: 13:04 | category: /Politics | link to this entry
Wed, Apr 23 2008
Energy costs mean sacrifice is coming
I observed an interesting perspective on oil prices and oil production this morning. I must confess that I loathe the thought of drilling for oil off our California coastline. It was a mixed blessing to learn that we might not get that much oil even if we did resort to endangering our shores. Then I read another opinion piece, in which the writer reminds us that oil companies do not pay an extraction fee in California.
A few months from now we'll be voting on the issues in Prop 87. We have to cut something somewhere or we aren't going to be able to keep public schools going, keep roads open and have affordable food. The cost of transportation means everything else costs more. I don't know what will happen in November when voters go to the polls, but I do know that our sense of entitlement to a cheap ride is just about over in California. If we can't at least admit that much, we're in total denial.
posted at: 10:21 | category: /Politics | link to this entry
I observed an interesting perspective on oil prices and oil production this morning. I must confess that I loathe the thought of drilling for oil off our California coastline. It was a mixed blessing to learn that we might not get that much oil even if we did resort to endangering our shores. Then I read another opinion piece, in which the writer reminds us that oil companies do not pay an extraction fee in California.
A few months from now we'll be voting on the issues in Prop 87. We have to cut something somewhere or we aren't going to be able to keep public schools going, keep roads open and have affordable food. The cost of transportation means everything else costs more. I don't know what will happen in November when voters go to the polls, but I do know that our sense of entitlement to a cheap ride is just about over in California. If we can't at least admit that much, we're in total denial.
posted at: 10:21 | category: /Politics | link to this entry
Wed, Apr 09 2008
Full of hot air
It's frustrating to hear that our legislators can be talked into spending taxpayer dollars on working to ban the sale of helium-filled metallic balloons. Besides, people will simply buy the balloons and also buy their own helium tanks so they can fill the balloons. Then we'll have a whole set of new problems. Why do we keep electing egotistical people who focus on fringe problems instead of working on core issues?
posted at: 22:15 | category: /Politics | link to this entry
It's frustrating to hear that our legislators can be talked into spending taxpayer dollars on working to ban the sale of helium-filled metallic balloons. Besides, people will simply buy the balloons and also buy their own helium tanks so they can fill the balloons. Then we'll have a whole set of new problems. Why do we keep electing egotistical people who focus on fringe problems instead of working on core issues?
posted at: 22:15 | category: /Politics | link to this entry
Tue, Mar 25 2008
I still don't get it
I didn't understand what Vice-President Cheney was trying to say in his interview with Martha Raddatz. I admit feeling frustration and anger at the idea that President Bush suffers a greater burden than those who serve on front lines. It could be that he (Vice-President Cheney) was trying to make us feel better, but for some reason I was upset at his words and at his apparent attitude. Someone else wrote a piece that included thoughts close to my own.
It just seems to me that maybe none of us, including President Bush, has really suffered here at home in the way that war often makes people suffer. Most of us are so far away from the guns and the bombed-out buildings that we can't understand the urgency that our country's leaders apparently feel over all this. And if they feel such urgency, we tend to wonder why we are still doing the same things in Iraq after 5 years?
It's becoming very difficult to sustain both support for our troops and support for our administration, particularly when our administration negates our misgivings and our fears as some statistic to be pushed aside. Our feelings are real and we ask for more than verbal pats on the head.
I've never been able to associate the events of 9-11-2001 directly with the conflict in Iraq. I've never felt as though our country's safety was directly related to the conflict in Iraq. I've never wanted to feel that some young person put his or her self in harm's way in Iraq so that I could feel safe here. I want Mr. Cheney to talk to us about that and to explain exactly what it is we are trying to accomplish there. Ethereal remarks about a war on terror make no more sense to me now than they did 5 years ago. Terror is in more places than Iraq. What are we doing there, specifically? If Mr. Cheney wants me to understand exactly what our goal is for fighting in Iraq, then he needs to answer these things instead of telling me (and others) how I should or shouldn't feel.
Patriotism is not blind faith in a few politicians who will be out of office in a few years or a few months. Patriotism runs much deeper than that. If we ask for specific answers and we don't get those answers and then we're upset, it doesn't mean we're unpatriotic. It simply means we're earnest in our wish to understand. The current administration needs to find a way to talk to us in terms that address our very real emotions and our willingness to understand exactly what is going on. We have to find ways to work together or we'll fail at any major task our country undertakes. It's imperative that our administration accept this and then explain their actions so that we can get behind them in their decisions.
posted at: 08:06 | category: /Politics | link to this entry
I didn't understand what Vice-President Cheney was trying to say in his interview with Martha Raddatz. I admit feeling frustration and anger at the idea that President Bush suffers a greater burden than those who serve on front lines. It could be that he (Vice-President Cheney) was trying to make us feel better, but for some reason I was upset at his words and at his apparent attitude. Someone else wrote a piece that included thoughts close to my own.
It just seems to me that maybe none of us, including President Bush, has really suffered here at home in the way that war often makes people suffer. Most of us are so far away from the guns and the bombed-out buildings that we can't understand the urgency that our country's leaders apparently feel over all this. And if they feel such urgency, we tend to wonder why we are still doing the same things in Iraq after 5 years?
It's becoming very difficult to sustain both support for our troops and support for our administration, particularly when our administration negates our misgivings and our fears as some statistic to be pushed aside. Our feelings are real and we ask for more than verbal pats on the head.
I've never been able to associate the events of 9-11-2001 directly with the conflict in Iraq. I've never felt as though our country's safety was directly related to the conflict in Iraq. I've never wanted to feel that some young person put his or her self in harm's way in Iraq so that I could feel safe here. I want Mr. Cheney to talk to us about that and to explain exactly what it is we are trying to accomplish there. Ethereal remarks about a war on terror make no more sense to me now than they did 5 years ago. Terror is in more places than Iraq. What are we doing there, specifically? If Mr. Cheney wants me to understand exactly what our goal is for fighting in Iraq, then he needs to answer these things instead of telling me (and others) how I should or shouldn't feel.
Patriotism is not blind faith in a few politicians who will be out of office in a few years or a few months. Patriotism runs much deeper than that. If we ask for specific answers and we don't get those answers and then we're upset, it doesn't mean we're unpatriotic. It simply means we're earnest in our wish to understand. The current administration needs to find a way to talk to us in terms that address our very real emotions and our willingness to understand exactly what is going on. We have to find ways to work together or we'll fail at any major task our country undertakes. It's imperative that our administration accept this and then explain their actions so that we can get behind them in their decisions.
posted at: 08:06 | category: /Politics | link to this entry
Mon, Mar 24 2008
Lakotahs invite the U.S. to listen up
Some of the Lakota folks in the vicinity of South Dakota (and portions of surrounding states) have had it with colonial rule. They've declared independence. They wish to be known as Republic of Lakota.
I don't pretend to know the first thing about the Lakota way of life, but I know that we have plenty of silly, outdated laws in localities that seem to get left on the books. There are still rules on where to tie up horses at a trough, where one may and may not chew tobacco and spit, what one may and may not sell between certain hours on Sundays. These silly laws, if nothing else, show that it's time for new dialogue on old rules. The world is a very different place from the one it was when newer immigrants made treaties with indigenous peoples. What would be the harm in at least sitting down together and taking a second look at something that obviously isn't working for the good of all citizens? It seems sad that we have to come to a place where people feel a need to secede from their own country in order to be recognized as worthy of notice and negotiation.
Reservations are little more than the concentration camps we deemed so disgusting a couple of generations ago. They're no longer, if they ever were, a reasonable answer to living and working in a free U.S.
posted at: 08:13 | category: /Politics | link to this entry
Some of the Lakota folks in the vicinity of South Dakota (and portions of surrounding states) have had it with colonial rule. They've declared independence. They wish to be known as Republic of Lakota.
I don't pretend to know the first thing about the Lakota way of life, but I know that we have plenty of silly, outdated laws in localities that seem to get left on the books. There are still rules on where to tie up horses at a trough, where one may and may not chew tobacco and spit, what one may and may not sell between certain hours on Sundays. These silly laws, if nothing else, show that it's time for new dialogue on old rules. The world is a very different place from the one it was when newer immigrants made treaties with indigenous peoples. What would be the harm in at least sitting down together and taking a second look at something that obviously isn't working for the good of all citizens? It seems sad that we have to come to a place where people feel a need to secede from their own country in order to be recognized as worthy of notice and negotiation.
Reservations are little more than the concentration camps we deemed so disgusting a couple of generations ago. They're no longer, if they ever were, a reasonable answer to living and working in a free U.S.
posted at: 08:13 | category: /Politics | link to this entry
Fri, Mar 21 2008
Reining in pork with technology
I listen closely when someone decides they can do more for their country by opting out of running for political office. It's great that Lawrence Lessig wants to help battle special interests in Washington by using an Internet-based approach. What he might also do is think further ahead to the way cell phones and portable electronic organizers are becoming prevalent, particularly among younger people. We might have to change the old guard's habits by thinking several steps ahead in terms of technology and communication methods.
posted at: 07:19 | category: /Politics | link to this entry
I listen closely when someone decides they can do more for their country by opting out of running for political office. It's great that Lawrence Lessig wants to help battle special interests in Washington by using an Internet-based approach. What he might also do is think further ahead to the way cell phones and portable electronic organizers are becoming prevalent, particularly among younger people. We might have to change the old guard's habits by thinking several steps ahead in terms of technology and communication methods.
posted at: 07:19 | category: /Politics | link to this entry
