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Marriage Protection Act
I'm rather confused. I wrote not of sin but of civil rights. In fact, I thought I did a fairly decent job of not impuning any religious overtones in my comments above, especially since most criminal jurisdictions recognize the crimes of incest, child moelstation and rape, and convicted criminals often have their civil rights limited in some fashion. What I did say is that I don't believe there is a "right" to marriage, any more than there is a "right" to have an appeal heard by the Supreme Court, or a "right" to drive. One may apply for a driver's license, or submit an appeal to the Supreme Court, or ask somebody (perhaps one day anybody or even a group of somebodies) to marry, but if anyone truly believes that there are rights to actually have those things I mentioned awarded, heard or performed, then any and every denial of those alleged rights ought to be making certain classes of lawyers very rich for a very long time. I can see that others have become curious about one's obession to brand others "who can string together a few words" as obsessive zealots. Not that obsession is necessarily a bad thing... I used to think it was a rather unique fragrance, myself...— August 14, 2008 10:06 a.m.
Veteran’s hang-up hell
Regarding #4: Since I can't afford other medical care, I use the VA... or at least I did use the VA as recently as 2007 for an urgent care foot injury. Otherwise, as I explained above, I just accept my pains as old age. Part of the reason I am unemployed and unable to afford such luxuries is the thirty percent disability rating that the VA carries on its books, and I personally don't feel the need to challenge the wisdom of the board of physicians that awarded that rating, as the appeals process probably would take valuable resources away from other veterans with other service-connected disabilities. Besides that, there is a remote but real possibility that the rating could be set higher on appeal, not lower, triggering an entitlement for disability pay... and I'd rather not burden taxpayers for that one, unless the Right Honorable Reverend is seriously nominating me to receive phat government checks for the rest of my life... but hey, maybe then I could afford health care insurance! (On 35% disability pay? Right!!!) Being subjected to friendly fire without taking the time to analyze the target makes me curious as to your naval training as a gun commander... ;-)— August 14, 2008 9:43 a.m.
Marriage Protection Act
The question as to whether people other than those consisting of one man and one woman may marry is now a political question, hopefully to be settled with a vote this November. If there is to be no restriction on the composition of a couple to be married, then either there should be no restriction whatsoever, or somebody is not going to be happy by somehow not having the "right" to marry the person of her or his choice. (This is not actually a "right", or anyone refusing a marriage proposal or seeking a divorce could be sued or even prosecuted as a civil rights violator.) My bet is that there will be a lot of those somebodies without the right to marry by choice out there, even if the proposed California marriage amendment fails. Anybody want to speak up for the rights of rapists and child molestors to marry their victims? At least, it should reduce our prison populations... How about polygamy? Incest, anyone? I know somebody who not only loves her dogs, she LOVES her dogs... and I'm pretty sure they have first dibs on whatever is in her will...— August 13, 2008 6:57 p.m.
Dear Abby
Beware of HOA rules that may end up giving you a fine if you use the solar-powered clothes dryer! At the same time, any HOA board that really wanted to fine resident voters for using a clothesline just might find itself being declared in a state of rebellion by the Governator himself, and dealt with accordingly (Cal Mil. & Vets Code sect. 143 and any California law or regulation guaranteeing access to and use of solar energy).— August 13, 2008 5:05 p.m.
Veteran’s hang-up hell
Most of my experiences at VA health care facilities have been positive. I was treated for a heart attack (several day's hospitalization), chronic hypertension, and a number of other, lesser medical conditions through the urgent care clinic. I have not to the VA for medical care or follow-ups in years, but not because of poor service. It's just that me having chest pain seems so damn insignificant when I know that in front of me in line, there are probably recent combat veterans who are missing limbs or needing treatment much more urgently than this old infantryman. A man's got to have priorities, and if I can't get mine right, then nobody else will do it for me. As for the phone system, I never had a problem renewing my VA prescriptions before...— August 13, 2008 3:44 p.m.
For In-coming SEDC president: Having your interview printed in the paper may not be a good thing...
Regarding #5: I may have opened a real can of worms here. I suddenly feel like crawling through two decades of SEDC minutes to see just how many things passed through its meeting "consent calendars" without public discussion...— August 13, 2008 2:17 p.m.
“Ghetto” is not an adjective
I live in the ghetto neighborhood of Southeast San Diego, which itself is a term that was buried with considerable ceremony years ago, but hasn't quite died off yet. Perhaps it is a zombie, and because of the nature of my neighborhood, Southeast San Diego must be a ghetto zombie. I've been told that my ghetto neighborhood is blighted, which justifies it as a ghetto neighborhood. It also appears to justify a lack of popular community oversight regarding the Southeastern Economic Development Corporation (SEDC)... unless one happens to be a paid consultant of SEDC. Having been a college-level English tutor for years... maybe decades?... I am suspicious whenever there is a proposal to adopt a rule of grammar that really carries no weight in public. This in not to say that I can't be a language purist, either, but I generally restrict applying that tendency towards regimentation to formal languages like algebra, BASIC, or Oberon, not to the ordinary use of human expression by people who would most likely just ignore me as soon as shoot me. Some of the best math majors I ever recruited at City College came from ghetto neighborhoods... not many English majors, though.— August 13, 2008 2:06 p.m.
Schmooze and Partake
I wonder what the angle is between getting the Sunrise Powerlink approved and Prop. 8... In any case, the fact that Sempra Energy and its corporate holdings are contributing to both sides of the Prop. 8 debate either means that they are extremely even-handed regarding state politics that have little or nothing to do with energy and power profits, or the left hand does not know what the right is doing.— August 13, 2008 1:38 p.m.
Sempra spins Sunrise Powerlink in the Union-Tribune
Relating to #140: See California Military and Veterans Code on the Sabotage Prevention Act, especially with its definitions of "war", "public utility", and "defense preparedness activity". It would be interesting to hear how the local power utility can explain away its knowledge of its own power lines, the deaths of four marines who were quite capable of avoiding power lines if only they had been made visible, and the utility's liability under the above Act, where penalties are quite substantial specifically when a failure to act to protect a defense preparedness activity such as high tension power lines from damage or destruction results in multiple deaths. As for Mr. Shames, I consider him to be human, and all humans have strengths and weaknesses. As far as I can tell, UCAN has done fairly well to prevent the pass-through of Encanto Gas Holder environmental compliance costs to all San Diego service area consumers before and after the US v. SDG&E criminal guilty verdicts last year... If I am wrong about that, take it to the CPUC and get reimbursed yourself!— August 13, 2008 1:36 p.m.
U-T Continues To Overstate Its Circulation Publicly, but a Potential Buyer Won't Be Fooled
Absolutely FEMA is government, but in a true emergency, We The People need to step up and keep our communities relatively safe and trouble-free, compared to how disorganized things might be a la Katrina. One of the worst things that can happen in a disaster is to have disaster responders get overwhelmed with well-intentioned but untrained spontaneous volunteers. Ordinary citizens and others who have gotten at least some familiarization training through FEMA EMI, the Red Cross, or some other source can at least help our local governments get reimbursed for disaster costs from the federal government. It appears that by using untrained fire cleanup contractors who did not meet the requirements of National Incident Management System/Incident Command System (NIMS/ICS) compliance, San Diego could be out million$ in federal disaster reimbursement money. The laughable part of all this is that earlier, thousands of city employees were potentially caught cheating on FEMA NIMS/ICS exams needed to maintain federal disaster compliance... maybe if they had stopped to actually learn what they were cheated out of, we wouldn't be losing out on the federal disaster reimbursement money now.— August 13, 2008 12:54 p.m.