Handy-Dandy Guide to California’s Crazy 17 Ballot Propositions, Part 1
With folks filling out absentee ballots, now’s a good time to tee up all the ballot propositions. This is Part 1. Voters are burdened with 17 propositions this year thanks to a 2011 law signed by Gov. Jerry Brown that dumped all initiatives circulated by mere citizens on November ballots. Legislators, being our Platonic guardians, […]
Prop 57 Contains a Loophole for Violent Criminals
With violent crime increasing in California, it seems reasonable to grant early release to inmates convicted of nonviolent offenses to make room in the prison system for truly dangerous felons. Most of us would be happy to trade an accountant guilty of bilking his employer for a serial rapist. One is a far greater threat […]
Small Businesses Call Governor Brown To Act On Six Bills
Although there are many legislators celebrating what has widely been regarded as a ‘very successful year for progressive legislative priorities,’ small business owners have little to celebrate as the 2015-2016 legislative session officially comes to a close. And while small business may not have been invited to the negotiation table on minimum wage, family leave, […]
Bilingualism vs. “Bilingual Education”
When I’m driving, my car radio is invariably tuned to KOIT, the leading “easy listening” station in the San Francisco Bay area. My tastes are humdrum and unsophisticated, so the songs merely provide some pleasant background music, occasionally punctuated by commercial ads, mostly annoying but occasionally amusing. One of the better ones began running only […]