esrosedotblog

The Trumps are heading for a confrontation on the environment and we are ready.

California, other states and cities set to be part of resistance against Trump climate policies

People should know now that our Jerry Brown is one tough bastard. He has been through the wars. And what is more, he is Jesuit trained!

He and his gang are getting ready to resist any rollback in environmental laws.

Happy warriors.

In our case, treading would get him a rattlesnake bite. Mean and permanent.

The court cases will last long past the political life or endurance of these bastards.

Did I write that I would wait to jump this guy until he is in office?

No way.

Labels: California, environment, Trump Administration

Fun to read today that the infection of California liberal thinking voters has spread to other western states.

As Donald Trump Repels Minority Voters, G.O.P. Fears Its Future in the West

Long dismissed as a cowboy territory "the west" has become a revitalized place. Not only have people moved here from back East where them liberals hang out but the rise of the Hispanic vote has become something of a tidal wave.

The advent of Trump has accelerated the process. His bigotry and xenophobia has hit a chord with those who have heard it all before and do not want to hear or see it again.

It finally became clear to people of Mexican descent that they could express themselves strongly at the ballot box and in the rough and tough of electoral politics.

It is my impression that most people here who are from second generation immigrant families have awoken to their strength and are no longer willing to hide and be quiet.

They grew up under circumstances where drawing attention was not a good idea especially if there was some question of immigration status. It became a "mild mannered", well mannered culture.

Not so much now.

Here in California the generation gap is obvious. Older Latinos are more polite and shy. Younger, much less so. No "hat in hand" approaches. Which is a good thing.

We were astonished at the bigotry when we came here.

In California there is such a thing as Latino pride and it is apparently spreading. Hiding out is no longer required or wanted for the new kids. Good for them.

Labels: California, Latino

Donald Trump's success in the primaries has brought about a singular opportunity for Republicans in this state to be important on the national scene.

But it ends up being a curse. A problem. Trump is not a party player and is only by chance a Republican.

And he is a New Yorker.

He is not very popular here and there will be a primary fight.

California Prepares for Long-Denied Star Turn in Presidential Race

The thing is that our primary comes after many of the others and as a result we are always the after thought.

Not so this time.

There will be a fight for delegates and it is heating up nicely.

Nothing like watching the other side getting into a circular firing squad.

As for the Democratic side, there is no real excitement here. Sanders would do better among west coast liberals and there are a lot of us but that race is essentially over.

Any votes Sanders gets will be symbolic, a kick in the ass for the Clintons. But to no effect.

First, the Clintons do not care and second, the outcome is already forgone.

Labels: California, GOoPers, Republican primary

The "hate California" wave continues.

For those of us who chose to be here over any other place in the world (and, frankly, could afford it) find all this snark laughable.

Sour grapes? Well, we have those too and they turn it into the wine the assholes drink in plentiful amounts. Thanks for your business.

I don't walk around boasting about our new home. We just chose it. And fuck you if you don't think it was a good choice.

In fact, take a look at this. It will make you feel better.

The Hellhole That is California

Oh.

No. I guess it won't.

I live out in the desert part. Which is hot this time of year. But not too hot.

I will not enumerate the ways this is better for us than cold wet New England, but keep on with this bashing and I will have to do it.

I loved the East. I grew up there. I went to school there.

It is no better or worse than any other place except probably the redneck south. And that is more from being a faggot and vulnerable to their whims there more than anything else.

But I don't have to disparage. I have a good bit of white trash in me and I respect those who are still struggling to get out of that stereotype. But not the ones who do so by shitting on other people.

And so on.

It is August here and in the 70s this morning and it is gorgeous. That is enough for me. Sunny Sunday where I am and I hope the rest of you all enjoy your day in your favorite locale.

Labels: California

The drought in California is a serious problem.

We can see it just around the corner.

Fortunately the condo complex has a minimum of grassy area but it is still enough to use up more than our share of water.

I suspect that the monthly meeting will have more suggestions for action including turning some areas over to sand and gravel. Desert.

It is surprising how much this costs initially.

One would think that a dump truck and a visit to the outer desert for some rocks would do the trick. But the labor to do this is intensive. Of course, the upkeep is pretty simple once the installation is complete.

That is, if you are thorough about layering black poly under the rocks. Surprises lie for those who do not. The heat and the protection provide a great place for weeds to prosper.

This is, of course, no real hardship and must be done.

The real problem here is the over 100 golf courses. They are on their way out with the grass. Some have already converted extensively to desert.

I only mention this because golf is an industry here. A huge one. A year round haven for the compulsive weekly and daily golfer. And then the ancillary businesses. Food, lodging, retail.

Life in the oasis. But it is drying up and that will have to be dealt with first.

Here is an old photo. There was no snow on the mountains this year. None.

Labels: California, drought, Palm Springs

I am proud of my adopted State. In a lot of ways it is similar to my Massachusetts where I lived for so many years. 32.

It is left leaning and, what is more, it works.

There are a lot of jokes about us being where the "fruits and nuts" come from. Well, to some extent. But it is a wonderful kind of nuttiness that makes us take risks and see the world as a place you can arrange for better living for everyone.

I will leave the "fruits" part for another time.

Paul Krugman writes about this today.

Left Coast Rising

The point is that our policies of raising taxes to even out the economy have largely worked. There is more employment, there are expanded social services and, what is more, there is a budget surplus.

Good news for the lefties, bad for the sour grapes, me first right wing who still say it is all a give-away. Wait. Is that one of the conservatives I see there scooping up his benefits of living here?

I live in the middle of the angry right belt. Riverside County and Palm Springs are the home of the old and mean. Less and less so, gratefully. They are thawing out. They have learned that when the tide rises so do all the boats. And, in the end, they are all reaping the benefits of a strong retirement income. At least part from a (gasp) government program, Social Security. The irony.

Labels: California, economy

We had a nice time in Big Bear.

And we came home a day early.

The lake is beautiful. The ride to the Lake is stupendous. The resort area is kind of strung out so there is not a dense buildup around.

The construction around the lake is mostly modest newer homes which keep their distance from mother nature.

We arrived mid afternoon and had a nice walk along the lake shore. Our room faced the water and it was very low profile. Mid-range quality, a little dank.

We had a nap. Sat and stared at the water which is quite beautiful. The far shore is all woods and any visual intrusion by construction is minimal.

There was a small beach and a series of barbecues on the beach and we got to watch two families and their kids have a quiet good time.

We went out to dinner and had a good meal at a better restaurant. There were no other people. As expected we were off season and off weekend and so we had things pretty much to ourselves.

We went home, stared at the lake some more and went to bed.

This morning, both of us arrived at the same conclusion and that is that we had enough of Big Bear and were ready to go home.

So we did.

I am happy that we have always been able to be in synch about this kind of thing.

The ride back was equally if not even better than the ride up. The morning sun has an advantage of angle on the landscape. All downhill, rollie coaster, a great ride.

I am the designated hill driver because John is the more intense watcher of the scene and I am not a very good rider in the copilot position.

We will probably not go back. Who knows?

As intended, it was a nice day from the heat. A change of scene. A good time alone together. We have still not finished the conversation after all these 39 years.

Labels: California, vacation

California is viewed as the most over rated state in a recent poll by Business Insider.

But it is also the favorite, the hottest, the craziest as well.

People have a lot of opinions about CA. Me too.

For each category, states and how they stack up try this.

How Americans Feel About the States

Labels: California, United Sates of America

I am proud of my Governor.

Brown Cheered in Second Act

They have made fun of Jerry Brown all his political life which, as it turns out, has been extensive.

Never out of office, well hardly, and never unwilling to take on the most humble position in the "losing" category.

Try being Mayor of Oakland. He did and did a lot.

He ran for his second sojourn as Governor and won handily. The Republicans here are almost totally in disarray.

No one expected much, figured it was a walk in. Well, it was. But then the hard stuff.

Taxes. The burden. Faced.

The budget, cut to the bone then judiciously restored as revenue began to come on line.

A liberal record to be proud of in the face of an intransigent population.

It helped that the GOoPers helped him but they did so because he put them in a corner.

He got redistricting and used a citizens commission. The result was a friendly, mostly, legislature or at least, given they were Democrats, a legislature that he would work with.

We are not out of the woods yet. People wait his downfall. The reports of his political demise have been largely exaggerated. He has not only a political pulse but a strong hand on the wheel.

Many short short videos. Stay tuned. Until you fall asleep. Oddly, Jerry is not a charismatic speaker. He is himself. He gives people credit for having intelligence. He does not talk down.

Labels: California, jerry brown

Today is the 16th anniversary of our arrival in Palm Springs.

1997.

We drove cross country from Boston to Niagara to Indiana to somewhere in South Dakota. Wyoming.

We had planned to stop at the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone but had called the moving company and found they were ahead of schedule.

Not 070997 (see the numerology? It looks better as 7-9-97 but I don't write my dates that way) but 070797. Oh Oh.

Skipped Yellowstone dropped down to Utah, Ogden and then Salt Lake, on to Las Vegas and then Palm Springs. Home.

The trip was great. The first and last X=country ride. Once was great, not twice.

We had the new Cherokee and did a stop over at various places, taking time to see stuff that people don't normally look at as well as the old standards.

Niagara Falls. Great. Awesome.

Indiana to see friends, the nearly last stay in someone else's home. Not forever, actually. We tried it one more time on our first trip back east. Sucked.

I just can't do that. I lived off motels all my life so that is not a problem but I can't deal with home-i-ness that is not mine.

On to the Plains. No cities, the plan was to hit half Inter-State and go off the track, no blue roads, but not the super highway. 300-500 miles a day with stops for sights.

We saw sights. Looked and looked. Flat. Flat. Flat. Then not.

We stopped at an old fashioned amusement park, visited a prairie dog city, saw the Badlands, stopped at Wall's Drugstore and stayed overnight in a national park in that required group seating for meals. Awful experience.

The next morning we drove out and went through a tunnel where a mountain goat family were spending the night. They let us through.

And so on.

If I turn on the slide player in my head, scene after scene rolls through.

The foothills before the Rockies.

I don't mean to flash it by you so quickly but it is like anyone else's slides. A fast shuffle, in and out.

When we got here it was hot of course. We had kind of planned it that way. Start with the heat and then it is all down hill.

We didn't go back east for over a year.

These were two rules that we made for ourselves for a variety of reasons, one being that we wanted to get the desert thermostat hooked up, but the other was to insure that we got clearly that we were here.

It is one of the best moves I have ever made. Which is not saying much as I have not moved that often, unlike my husband who has many towns and houses in his life's wake.

I lived in two houses on the same street as a kid.

Then MIT. Three different rooms, same floor in one dorm then another. And so on.

Then the early career stuff in Germantown outside Philadelphia, up to Lower Bucks County the first house I sort of owned. Then four houses in Plymouth MA and then three places in Boston. But none of these involved big travel. Coming here was big big travel.

When you get to my age one realizes that there are "once in a lifetime" experiences even if I didn't plan it that way.

The great western move was one of those. We took the time and the trouble to see as much as possible. Did I mention both sides of the Grand Canyon, North and South?

Oh beautiful for spacious skies for amber waves of grain.

I had seen Europe, Japan, the usual winter resort places. But the US of A? Not until then.

Indelible.

Inspiring.

Wonderful.

The American West. Huge. Unending. Forever. A life spent in the cramped Northeast, a great place and a great time, cannot prepare for the going and arriving WEST.

Labels: California, travel

NO WAITING

This happened today. Yesterday already. Shockingly fast. They were talking about 4 weeks.

Court Lifts Ban on Gay Marriage in California

This is another example of the stunning reaction from all "the non-gays" here.

It has been overwhelming to have straight friends come up, out of the blue, and congratulate us, to say how happy they are for us.

This kind or speed is unprecedented. Try to get anything else done in local or county government.

It has been a great week.

On a balcony overlooking the grand staircase at San Francisco City Hall, an ornate space that has long been a magnet for weddings, the couple whose case sparked this week's Supreme Court decision exchanged vows. The ceremony was officiated by state Attorney General Kamala Harris, and the ring bearer was the couple's 18-year-old son. "This is the first day of the rest of our lives together, said Kristin Perry, who with her fiancée, Sandy Stier, filed the lawsuit against Proposition 8, the ballot initiative that outlawed same-sex marriage in California in 2008. Stier turned to the horde of reporters and well-wishers crowding the room, smiled and said: "Thank you so much for coming to our wedding."

To be first class citizens, no better no worse.

To, most of all, be welcomed by loving people who have no stake in this thing other than our happiness.

Labels: California, marriage equality

ROCKET IN OUR POCKET

Sorry to go all gay on you recently but then that is the way things are around our house all the time.

This great news.

Good News of the Day - Gay Marriage in California

Now at 61% and climbing.

The Field Poll, the gold standard of California polling.

This means that if Prop 8 came back for a vote today, it would lose by a wide margin.

It also means that if the Supremes do not support us, we can go right back in and do it all again. They are moot on the question.

Labels: California, gay marriage

OUR STATE GOES BOOM

The Hellhole That is California

And in only half his term. Jerry.

He is cookin' and ready to move further with a lock on the legislature.

This is what happens when your GOP goes legless. They are almost non-existent at the State level and soon will lose some more congressional seats too.

This is the amusement park, The Pike. Title is California amusement park building boom.

I just liked the picture.

The Pike was and is in Long Beach where we have spent some time. Now, it is a commercial development. Booming. But no amusement park. An aquarium and a huge conference center fills the space.

Labels: California, economy, fun

BROWN BALANCED

What Arnold could only talk about, Gerry has done. With the help of a lot of agencies and now, a supermajority in the legislature.

California Balances Its Budget

When we moved here, California was still the land of the golden cow. All tits on full flow.

Then, the recession and overspending and a refusal to up the ante on taxes. Because California is also the land of Prop 2 1/2 and the Arnold recision of the auto registration fees. A big source of income in this automotive state.

Then trouble. Schools unfunded. Deficits. Pain.

Gridlock in the legislature and in the government at large.

Then Brown. A new era.

He said he would do it and he has.

We actually voted "yes" to a new tax to help the guv' out. Prop 30. Sold as a solution for the underfunded school systems.

Now black ink. Brown and black. A good color combination.

Good news.

Labels: California

SCRAMBLED DISTRICTS

The Redistricting Commission released its report today.

The first draft.

Political earthquake roils California delegation

Earthquake is a good description I suppose. But the effect of ending our highly gerrymandered districts may not be as radical as all that.

I do not know how our district went but I suspect there will not be a big change. We are not particularly gerrymandered for the congressional district but are a bit more skewed for the legislature.

All in all, it appears that we will have a bluer delegation. More Democrats.

I wrote about the Commission earlier. It is non partisan made up of a number of volunteer citizens who passed through a rather rigorous process of selection. It is not likely that the report or its final report will be challenged but then this is a contentious state. Litigious. Time will tell.

Labels: California

THROW THE BASTARDS OUT

Still at loggerheads in California.

The Republicans say no and Pat Brown says yes.

But some, think there is a way out.

Will Redistricting Save California?

I want to see the head count before I take any optimism from this.

I do know that term limits did not work. Getting rid of Grey Davis and putting the Dickinator in office didn't work.

This might just be another faint hope that will get blown away with the first breeze.

There are a few in the GOP at state and national level who are willing to tell and act on the truth now. They are quickly attacked by the bags or the nuts or both. But they hang in. Sometimes.

This might help.

I am an optimist by nature. So I will await further results.

When does it happen?

Very soon. The first draft of the lines will be published June 10, 2011.

We did a good thing. We voted for a non-partisan commission to do the redistricting. Not the legislature. Not the executive.

There were really good people put on the commission.

I am pretty sure they have the right to act, period.

We will see.

If you want to see how this commission was put together and what they are doing, read here!

This is the how they got selected page. Click on the menus to see the rest of the commissions work.

Labels: California

VILLAIN

I didn't vote for him. And I am embarrassed that this thug got into office.

His repeal of the registration "tax" killed the state revenue and we are still recovering.

He had a reputation for near rape during the short election but "bad boyed" out of it.

All the time he has lied to his wife and to the people of California about what most regard as disqualifying behavior for public office. But that is not all the scandal. His administration was a clown act. A cavalcade of incompetence. Getting by.

Arnold's True Love Child: California

In his wake is a weakened State, a wife who gave up her career so he could have his macho trip, an anonymous woman servant who got paid off for her participation and, most tragically, a ten year old child who has no father.

There is no doubt that the maggots of the media will hunt these people down and further wreck their lives.

Another Republican whose private life fails to match his rhetoric. Notice how many sex scandals involve GOoPers?

Jerry Brown has lived in public service all his life and has operated truthfully even when he, unmarried, was chasing girls.

He is dealing with the budget. He is working with the legislative branch.

He does not think that public office is a game or a prize to be won.

Arnold. A fucking disgrace. Take that literally.

Labels: California, republican whack jobs

JERRY BROWN MAN OF THE PEOPLE

Jerry Brown's Bargain Basement Travel Style

No entrourage. Apparently no body guards but a cop does meet him.

He says that "the people of California make good seatmates". Besides he learns something by mixing.

This is not fake.

Arnold had a private plane, so did the others.

I know that it is theater to an extent. But it is the best theater. An honest example and some humility and openness to be a part of the electorate not above it.

Labels: California, jerry brown

BREATHTAKING

Full screen view absolutely.

And the song isn't bad either.

Labels: California, fun. music

With A WHIMPER

Schwarzenegger hands out lucrative jobs on way out

And a pardon. To say nothing of the 33 pardons he refused to endorse from the Parole Board.

He always was a shit head first, last and, I suppose, always but I don't figure on watching his future much.

Don't let the door hit you on the ass on the way out, Arnie.

This is the guy who was going to clean house. Blah blah blah. The governator.

Of course we believed none of it so this is no surprise. I am surprised that he didn't give himself a job.

I think that this is the wax museum version of the guy. No difference actually. He has an underbite.

Labels: California