Endorsements: CA Prop. 1A High Speed Rail. & more...

2008 is turning out to be a MASSIVE election. Since I have become old enough to vote, I can't think of another election where SO MUCH has been on the line, in SO MANY places. Here's a quick run-down of the MOST IMPORTANT THINGS.

United States President:

Barack Obama.

Do I need to explain this to anybody? He's the man.

CALIFORNIA:

Proposition 1A, High Speed Rail:

California truly can lead the nation if it passes Proposition 1a, by building a world-class high speed rail system to connect all of its major cities with one another. This in turn will probably jump-start a serious national discussion about high speed rail, as Congressional Representatives and Senators seek to bring home some high speed rail action to their own states when California brings up the topic of federal matching funds. Places in the world that already are boosting their economies with High Speed Rail (or planning to) include Mexico, Argentina, China, Taiwan -- oh yeah, and Japan and Western Europe. Not to mention jobs; 160,000 jobs will be directly created as a result of the project, and 450,000 jobs over the long term. That is more jobs than currently exist in the entire state of Alaska.

SONOMA & MARIN COUNTIES

Measure Q, SMART rail:

Sonoma and Marin counties have voted in the past on the issue of the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART) project. It has always received greater than 50% of the vote, but never yet passed the 66.6% threshold required to raise the sales tax to fund construction of the project. Since the last time it was on the ballot, it has been tweaked to include night and weekend service proposals, as well as perfect the accompanying two-county-long bicycle trail. Several cities on the proposed alignment have already begun focusing their growth around the train stations (which in many cases already exist), including Cloverdale, Santa Rosa, Petaluma, Novato and San Rafael. This is the High Speed Rail project-equivalent for the North Bay (at least for Sonoma and Marin counties), and it is equally important for those areas. It will become the transportation centerpiece for these communities, tying them to one another and offering their residents the currently-unavailable option of NOT DRIVING to leave town. And, for those folks that would prefer to see, say, a dedicated-ROW Rapid Bus system: That is not the question on the ballot. This is the chosen technology, this is the proposal that currently has legs, and this is the project that will restore the livability of your communities.

OREGON

UNITED STATES SENATOR: JEFF MERKLEY

Oregon is currently home to the only remaining Republican United States Senator on the west coast of the lower 48 states, Senator Gordon Smith. He's worse than useless -- he's a rich playboy who owns a frozen-food packing plant, employing illegal aliens to pad his own pockets while doing nothing for federal immigration reform. This is an extremely tight race, so if you're an Oregonian, well, I probably don't need to tell you to be sure and send in your ballot and vote for MERKLEY FOR SENATE!

There are other endorsements I could make (California: Yes on 2, Yes on 5, No on 8), but those are really the MOST CRITICAL ISSUES.

Further, if you're an Oregonian, you already know... but if you're a Californian, I highly recommending registering as an absentee voter, or otherwise securing for yourself the right to vote by mail. I can't tell you how helpful it has been for me to go online and google things as I'm filling out my ballot. Especially for those issues where I had not yet made up my mind prior to seeing the ballot, this is so valuable that I really can't stress it enough.

OK, go out there and PARTICIPATE IN YOUR DEMOCRACY!!!

cheers,
~Garlynn

P.S. A disclaimer, and a special notice. After October 31st, 2008, I will no longer be with the Metropolitan Transportation Commission in Oakland, CA. I have accepted an offer to go join Peter Calthorpe & Associates in north Berkeley, CA as a Senior Planner in their regional planning division. One of my first projects there will be to work on a land use vision for California that is centered around the High Speed Rail project. So, while I will still have a job (and the vision project will continue forward) even if Proposition 1a fails, I would much prefer for my first project at Calthorpe to be relevant. So, tell everybody you know to vote Yes on Prop. 1a... they can do it for me, if for no better reason!!! :-)

Quote of the Week

"I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered."
Thomas Jefferson 1802

Old TJ wasn't specifically talking about our current situation in his warning about banks... not exactly, anyways. The Federal Reserve still controls "the issue of their currency"; but regardless, the banks are involved enough that the children of property owners are waking up homeless on this continent, which our forefathers conquered.

Or, am I overstating the case with regards to the current mortgage catastrophe? Is all of this just a natural part of a healthy market cycle?

Will the election be fairly counted in November 2008?

In states where electronic voting machines will be used with no verifiable paper trail, the answer can only be:

NO.

If you have not done so already:

REGISTER AS AN ABSENTEE VOTER.

It's the only way to guarantee that your vote will have have verifiable paper trail.

Also, make sure that you vote EARLY, so that your ballot will be counted well before the polls close.

To register as an absentee voter, go to:

www.declareyourself.com

You should do this NOW, as voter registration deadlines are pretty much here already -- there's not a minute to waste, if you still need to register as an absentee voter!

Happy voting in 2008!

cheers,
~Garlynn

Obama-nomics not actually bad for the economy...

Annual rates of employment growth, by president (from Krugman):


Michael Boskin, the chief economic adviser during the presidency of George H. W. Bush, has declared that Obamanomics will be bad for the economy.

It doesn't seem like there could be anything worse for the economy than having a Republican president in office, according to the above bar chart.

When will this country learn that trickle-down economics just does not work? That government spending is real spending in the economy, and public works projects actually do create new, real, good-paying jobs? That running a massive deficit for the federal government is not the healthiest way to run the economy? That spending hundreds of billions of dollars to invade other countries does little or nothing to improve the situation within our own country?

Obama may have his problems. But I don't think that being bad for the economy is one of them.

JUST SAY NO TO BUSH/McCAIN!

Will California be the next to go Idaho-Style?

I'm referring, of course, to Idaho's law that allows bicyclists to treat stop signs as yield signs, and stop lights as stop signs.

Currently, there is a media buzz about something less then a proposal (call it a topic of debate at an obscure committee of an obscure regional government) to perhaps push for a similar law to be passed by the California Legislature, assuming a legislative sponsor and the requisite votes could be found.

First, on Wednesday June 18th (2008) the Examiner kicked off the coverage with the article, Proposal would change rule for bicyclists at stop signs, which scooped every other media outlet on the topic. It also cast a rather critical eye on the subject, claiming that "police said the idea would likely lead to more bicycle-to-car collisions."

The, on Thursday the San Francisco Bay Guardian responded with a much more positive take on the topic in their article/blog post Let's change the bike laws. They lay out a very good rationale for why the law change makes sense, and why it may encounter plenty of opposition even so.

KCBS, the SF Bay Area television station, posted this article on their website, quoting the argument that "they do it already, why not make it legal? (My paraphrasing.)

Following up, SFist put up the post, Cyclists to Legally Run Red Lights?.

The proposal, in its current form (a memo to the Regional Bicycle Working Group by MTC Regional Bicycle Planner Sean Co), was posted by the San Francisco Bay Guardian on their website.

On Friday, the media storm continued. Bronstein from the Chronicle chimed in with his own aghast reaction in the column Should we change the laws for cyclists? The Examiner continued its negative coverage of the issue with not just one but three articles: The article Plan allowing bikes to cruise through intersections is idling, the editorial How to make city traffic worse and the headline for the letters page, To stop and roll, that is the question.

All of this over one presentation at one meeting. If anything, the proposal is attracting attention. What comes next is anyone's guess.

Interestingly, back in May the San Francisco Bay Guardian posted a story on this same topic, The Bike Issue: Don't Stop. And, I had previously blogged on this topic back in February, 2007. Let's hope that the momentum keeps building for this, until we get the law passed in all the West Coast states!

Gas & Diesel Prices Should Be Higher (Like, already $5 a gallon)

I've been watching the recent run-up in gas and diesel prices, and comparing them to the recent run-up in oil prices per barrel, and to me, the numbers don't quite add up.

So, I decided to make a quick spreadsheet to confirm my suspicions. Nothing complicated -- I just took some readings of the oil price, average gas price at the pump and average diesel price at the pump. I did this for winter, spring, summer and fall (January, April, July & October) of 2007 and 2008, and then again for January and May of this year.

For example, in January 2006, the average price of gas (U.S.) was $2.35/gal. The average price of diesel (in Oregon) was $2.41 a gallon. The oil price per barrel was $62.50. This resulted in a ratio of 0.00376:1 for gas, and 0.00386:1 for diesel; that is, the price of a retail gallon of gasoline (including taxes) was 3.76% of the price of a barrel of oil, or 3.86% for a gallon of diesel.

Simple stuff.

In July of 2007, just to give another example, gas was $3.00/gallon (4.14% of a barrel of oil), and diesel was $2.83/gallon (3.90% of a barrel of oil).

Now, however...

In May of 2008, gas is about $3.80/gallon (nationwide U.S. average, your pump price may be considerably higher), and diesel is at an average price of $4.15 (though obviously, it's selling for higher in many places).

That's about 2.86% of the price of a barrel of oil (which just hit $133 yesterday) for gas, and 3.12% for diesel.

The average ratio from January 2006 through January 2008 was 3.80% for gas, 3.97% for diesel.

If we just multiply these numbers by the current price of a barrel of oil, we see that...

Gas SHOULD be selling for $5.05 a gallon, and diesel SHOULD be selling for $5.28 a gallon.

Let me repeat that...

RESULTS:

GAS: $5.05/gallon

DIESEL: $5.28/gallon

(Based on what prices SHOULD be, according to historical average ratios of gas & diesel pump prices to the price per barrel of oil over the past two years)

For whatever reason, as far as I know, we haven't seen these average prices anywhere in the country, not even in downtown San Francisco (sure, a couple of stations have already passed the $5 a gallon mark, but not the city as a whole). And that's the most expensive major market in the country, by most measures, when it comes to retail gas prices.

You can quibble with my methodology. This is not a Ph.D. thesis. It's just a back-of-the-envelope calculation.

My prediction? Unless oil prices come down rapidly and steeply, we're going to see pump prices rocket past $5/gallon for both gas and diesel. The only question is when. Next week (after Memorial Day)? Next month? I don't see how the currently-low prices are sustainable.

Sources:

Oil Prices per Barrel
Gasoline Prices at the Pump
Diesel Prices at the Pump through Feb. 2006
Current Diesel Price

Finally, here's the spreadsheet:

Bicycles: Faster than Cars, Even on Freeways

Well, at least, in L.A., during rush hour:

http://blog.wired.com/cars/2008/05/in-a-city-built.html

The "Crimanimalz" decided that, to make a point about bicycling in the City of Cars, they needed to take their message -- and their bicycles -- to the freeways. Now, they ride the sinewy ribbons of concrete during rush hour, and get from point A to point B faster on their human-powered two wheels than anybody in their steel coffins with wheels.

How's that for Critical Mass?

Endorsement: Chris Smith for Portland City Council

I'm going to keep this brief, because not everybody reading this blog is in Portland:

Please consider voting for Chris Smith for the Portland City Council, if you are registered to vote in Portland, OR. He's the most qualified for the seat, and with Willamette Weakly endorsing his opponent Amanda Fritz, he will need all the help he can get to be elected.

He's been on the board of Portland Streetcar for ages, and he runs the Portland Transport blog, about improving the quality of transportation in the city. In that arena, he would make a nice complement to a Mayor Sam Adams to provide progressive, visionary leadership for the city.

More info can be had at his web page: http://www.citizensmith.us/.

That's it for my endorsements for this primary, though I am personally against all of the three ballot measures on the ballot. More police-state crap, IMHO.

cheers,
~Garlynn

R.I.P. Albert Hofmann, 1906 to 2008

Rest In Peace, Albert Hofmann, 1906 to 2008. The father of LSD. 102 is pretty good for a psychaedelic adventurer:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2008/apr/30/chemistry.drugs

This interesting little comic tells his story in an easy-to-read way:

http://phocks.org/stumble/lsd-history-comic/

Many folks have hypothesized that, without LSD, the modern computer age would never have received the required inspiration. LSD trips directly inspired the creation of, among other things, the computer mouse and the Apple Macintosh, according to this Wired news story: http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2006/01/70015?currentPage=all.

A further list of celebrities who have used LSD is here: http://www.nndb.com/lists/447/000085192/.

About his discovery, Hofmann once said:

"I think that in human evolution it has never been as necessary to have this substance LSD. It is just a tool to turn us into what we are supposed to be."

The complete text of his book, _LSD: My problem Child_, can be found here: http://www.psychedelic-library.org/child.htm

cheers,
~Garlynn

Stuff White People Like

This is probably the finest piece of urban anthropology concerning modern North American liberal white culture.

Here's the current list of Stuff White People Like, with my thoughts on each (as a bona-fide white person) of the Top Ten:

1. Coffee. Yup, it's true, white people like coffee. Personally, I went through a period (after starting on Coffee People's Black Forest Mochas -- soy, of cource, and triple) where I drank soy chai (I'm lactose-sensitive, not trying to watch my weight), and then for a while I drank yerba mate. But, now I have an espresso machine & grinder at home, and roast my own beans to make my own cappuccinos -- with hemp milk, 'cuz it froths better than soy. I still drink yerba mate in the afternoons, though. And yeah, as a guy I don't really admit to drinking coffee, but for a different reason -- I only drink soy/hemp cappuccinos, not straight coffee... for the most part. :-)

2. Religions that their parents don't belong to. Hmm, I think this may apply to Baby Boomers more than Gen X or Gen Y, given than mainly this applies to a drift away from traditional church-based Christianity, and once that drift has occurred, I'm not sure that successive generations really pursue the matter in a manner different from their parents.

3. Film Festivals. Yup, white people do seem to enjoy film festivals -- either in their own town, or somewhere else if they are satisfied with the local one(s).

4. Assists. For a minute, I thought the author was going to get homoerotic with this one, but no -- they were talking about sports, and claiming that white guys like to pass in basketball 'cuz they generally have a problem with dunking, and also are trying to make up for slavery.

Ooooooooooookay. Sure, whatever. I guess I'll buy that.

5. Farmers Markets. Yeah, white people dig these. Organic farmers markets, even better. With a pub serving microbrews nearby -- perfect!!

6. Organic Food. See above -- take anything, offer an organic version of it, and automatically you can charge a higher price and white people will gladly pay it. Paul Newman figured this out with Oreos (Newman-O's!) and he's been making money hand over fist ever since (but x% goes to charity!). Personally, I think that Whole Foods is just the only organic food option that most white people have, and they rave about it because it's better than Safeway. They like that it sells all kinds of organic stuff. If they had a better alternative (i.e. more local, less corporate), they'd shop there, but they don't, so they go to Whole Foods.

7. Diversity. But only, apparently, as it relates to restaurants (and definitely not when it refers to the drivers of the other cars in the same traffic jam as them). Ethnic food is great, and white people realize this. The same food all the time can get old. So, it's a constant juggle between Mexican food (burritos), Thai food, Japanese food, Chinese food (but only in a pinch -- this is a kind of second-rate ethnic food, mainly due to concerns about MSG and general lack of perceived quality), and if you're in a really diverse place

8. Barack Obama. Unless, of course, they prefer one of the white people running for that job. But, point taken -- white guilt might be the root cause of some of Barack's support.

9. Making you feel bad about not going outside. Yeah, as a white person, I always wonder -- why don't I see more black people (specifically) out hiking, camping or generally doing those back-to-nature types of activities? Do they just not get the general feeling of urban oppression and drive to spend some time in the forest? Is there some other explanation, like they really would just prefer to sit at home, watch sports, drink beer and play video games?

10.Wes Anderson movies. These movies, i.e. _The Royal Tenenbaums_ or _The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou_, do seem to be a staple of current White Person culture. Personally, I liked the latter, but found the former to be a bit tedious and even boring at times. Whatever, they're just movies. Mindless entertainment. I much preferred _American Beauty_ in terms of being a message movie (message being, living in the suburbs and pursuing the classic vision of the American Dream is not all it's cracked up to be -- look, here's the dark side, or what really goes on).

Anyways, I just had to share this link, and my thoughts. Nice to have a meta moment with relation to the dominant urban liberal white culture, eh?

cheers,
~Garlynn

P.S. For those who don't wanna click, here's the full list:

#1 Coffee
#2 Religions their parents don’t belong to
#3 Film Festivals
#4 Assists
#5 Farmer’s Markets
#6 Organic Food
#7 Diversity
#8 Barack Obama
#9 Making you feel bad about not going outside
#10 Wes Anderson Movies
#11 Asian Girls
#12 Non-Profit Organizations
#13 Tea
#14 Having Black Friends
#15 Yoga
#16 Gifted Children
#17 Hating their Parents
#18 Awareness
#19 Traveling
#20 Being an expert on YOUR culture
#21 Writers Workshops
#22 Having Two Last Names
#23 Microbreweries
#24 Wine
#25 David Sedaris
#26 Manhattan (now Brooklyn too!)
#27 Marathons
#28 Not having a TV
#29 80s Night
#30 Wrigley Field
#31 Snowboarding
#32 Vegan/Vegetarianism
#33 Marijuana
#34 Architecture
#35 The Daily Show/Colbert Report
#36 Breakfast Places
#37 Renovations
#38 Arrested Development
#39 Netflix
#40 Apple Products
#41 Indie Music
#42 Sushi
#43 Plays
#44 Public Radio
#45 Asian Fusion Food
#46 The Sunday New York Times
#47 Arts Degrees
#48 Whole Foods and Grocery Co-ops
#49 Vintage
#50 Irony
#51 Living by the Water
#52 Sarah Silverman
#53 Dogs
#54 Kitchen Gadgets
#55 Apologies
#56 Lawyers
#57 Juno
#58 Japan
#59 Natural Medicine
#60 Toyota Prius
#61 Bicycles
#62 Knowing What’s Best for Poor People
#63 Expensive Sandwiches
#64 Recycling
#65 Co-Ed Sports
#66 Divorce
#67 Standing Still at Concerts
#68 Michel Gondry
#69 Mos Def
#70 Difficult Breakups
#71 Being the only white person around
#72 Study Abroad
#73 Gentrification
#74 Oscar Parties
#75 Threatening to Move to Canada
#76 Bottles of Water
#77 Musical Comedy
#78 Multilingual Children
#79 Modern Furniture
#80 The Idea of Soccer
#81 Graduate School
#82 Hating Corporations
#83 Bad Memories of High School
#84 T-Shirts
#85 The Wire