Imagine the benefits that would eventualize, to use a City Hall kind of word, if parking meter readers used tricycles to get around town, instead of their current pollution-generating CNG-, electric-, propane- or whatever-driven microvans. The city would set an example to its citizens, most of whom now routinely jump in the car to make short trips to the bank, to get a loaf of bread or to take a shirt to the cleaners; demonstrate a support for human-powered transportation that has been heretofore honored mostly by its absence; and reap health benefits in the form of cleaner air from zero-emissions and lowered health care claims from fitter employees.
On the City's website, aptly titled "Factoids," is the following:
"ELECTRICAL VEHICLES EMIT NO TOXIC EMISSIONS. Have you ever noticed that electric vehicles have no exhaust pipe? Think about it. No exhaust, no need for an exhaust pipe! And keep in mind that electricity is relatively inexpensive in comparison to Unleaded or Diesel fuel. We are evaluating the electric vehicles in different capacities -- you can see some of them at work at the beach and at the promenade. We have received funding for our leased electric vehicle program and are working on getting more."
While it is true, discounting for the moment the damming of free flowing rivers by hydroelectric plants and the slaughtering eagles by windmills, that it's nice that there are no emissions actually emanating from electric motors themselves, still, given the fouling of the air by burning fossil fuels and vegetable waste in the generation of electric power, it's hard to argue that electricity is emissions-free. Still, you have to admire the canniness of transferring the pollution to some other political bailiwick and managing to lay claim to all that "funding" in the process.
Resource: The Magna Carta and Its American Legacy
"'...here is a law which is above the King and which even he must not break. This reaffirmation of a supreme law and its expression in a general charter is the great work of Magna Carta; and this alone justifies the respect in which men have held it.' -- Winston Churchill, 1956" - from the website. <http://www.archives.gov/>
Gridlock: Worst US Traffic BottlenecksWe're #1!
Of the 10 most congested traffic interchanges in the country, four are in Los Angeles County:
1. U.S. 101 at the I-405 Interchange (Los Angeles)
2. I-610 at I-10 Interchange (Houston)
3. I-90/94 at I-290 Interchange (Chicago)
4. I-10 at SR 51/SR 202 Interchange (Phoenix)
5. I-405 at I-19 Interchange (Los Angeles)
6. I-85 south of I-85 Interchange (Atlanta)
7. I-496 at I-270 Interchange (DC-Maryland-Virginia)
8. I-10 at I-5 Interchange (Los Angeles)
9. I-405 at I-605 Interchange (Los Angeles)
10.I-285 at I-85 Interchange (Atlanta)
"An Initial Assessment of Freight Bottlenecks on Highways," Cambridge Systematics, Inc.
1. U.S. 101 at the I-405 Interchange (Los Angeles)
2. I-610 at I-10 Interchange (Houston)
3. I-90/94 at I-290 Interchange (Chicago)
4. I-10 at SR 51/SR 202 Interchange (Phoenix)
5. I-405 at I-19 Interchange (Los Angeles)
6. I-85 south of I-85 Interchange (Atlanta)
7. I-496 at I-270 Interchange (DC-Maryland-Virginia)
8. I-10 at I-5 Interchange (Los Angeles)
9. I-405 at I-605 Interchange (Los Angeles)
10.I-285 at I-85 Interchange (Atlanta)
"An Initial Assessment of Freight Bottlenecks on Highways," Cambridge Systematics, Inc.
The LAPD's Interactive Crime Statistics Map
Enter your address and a date range to bring up crime stats in your area:
<http://www.lapdonline.org/crimemap/>
<http://www.lapdonline.org/crimemap/>
Art at War: Web Comix Set in Future Echoes Reality
The year 2011: President John McCain has plummeted (we're talking about a work of speculative fiction: the real though equally unpopular president 
is more likely to be Lindsay Graham); the war in Iraq rages on -- don't laugh, how many years did it take to get from Tet to the roof of the US embassy in Saigon?; gasoline is $10 a gallon; and Tom Cruise and Mary-Kate Olsen have just called it quits (mainly, because it turns out it's Brad's baby -- okay, I added that). When videoblogger Jimmy Burns captures a suicide bomb blast that rocks a Brooklyn Starbucks and destroys his apartment upstairs, he's hired by maverick network Global News and sent off to Iraq. "Shooting War" is Jimmy Burns' story, an engaging web comic by author Anthony Lapp and artist Dan Goldman. Though only a half-dozen chapters of "Shooting War" have been published by SMITH magazine so far, the series has already made salient comments on such topics as the future of Iraq's warring factions, globalization, and the struggle of citizen journalism against mainstream media, and promises to be a useful tool for raising consciousness about the Iraq War among certain segments of the population.
<http://smithmag.us/shootingwar/>
is more likely to be Lindsay Graham); the war in Iraq rages on -- don't laugh, how many years did it take to get from Tet to the roof of the US embassy in Saigon?; gasoline is $10 a gallon; and Tom Cruise and Mary-Kate Olsen have just called it quits (mainly, because it turns out it's Brad's baby -- okay, I added that). When videoblogger Jimmy Burns captures a suicide bomb blast that rocks a Brooklyn Starbucks and destroys his apartment upstairs, he's hired by maverick network Global News and sent off to Iraq. "Shooting War" is Jimmy Burns' story, an engaging web comic by author Anthony Lapp and artist Dan Goldman. Though only a half-dozen chapters of "Shooting War" have been published by SMITH magazine so far, the series has already made salient comments on such topics as the future of Iraq's warring factions, globalization, and the struggle of citizen journalism against mainstream media, and promises to be a useful tool for raising consciousness about the Iraq War among certain segments of the population.<http://smithmag.us/shootingwar/>
California: A History and Guide to CA Flags (pdf)
Flags Over California is a history and illustrated 
guide from the California National Guard to the flags that have flown over the Golden State, such as the flag of the Spanish Empire, the Russian-American Company pennant, the standard of the Mexican Republic, the Fremont flag, and various versions of the bear spangled banner. The site also provides the text of laws related to the look and correct procedures for displaying the California state flag.
<http://www.calguard.ca.gov/>
guide from the California National Guard to the flags that have flown over the Golden State, such as the flag of the Spanish Empire, the Russian-American Company pennant, the standard of the Mexican Republic, the Fremont flag, and various versions of the bear spangled banner. The site also provides the text of laws related to the look and correct procedures for displaying the California state flag. <http://www.calguard.ca.gov/>
New World Order: The Biometric Consortium
The Biometric Consortium, a group that provides the U.S. government with "research, development, test, evaluation, and application of biometric-based personal identification/authentication technology," aggregates information on "automated methods of recognizing a person based on a physiological or behavioral characteristics...face, fingerprints, hand geometry, handwriting, iris, retinal, vein, and voice," including publications, research, and links to other resources on the subject. <http://www.biometrics.org/>
Infrastructure: California Bay-Delta Authority Levee System Integrity
The California Bay-Delta Authority's backgrounder on the "1,600 miles of aging levees in the Sacramento-San Joaquin
River Delta and its watershed," providing drinking water for much of the state, irrigation for Central Valley agriculture, and a habitat for many plant and animal species, discusses the state of the levees, currently so fragile that an earthquake or a heavy rain could breech them, with Katrina-like economic consequences, and describes the state government's plans to fund repair of eroding structures. <http://calwater.ca.gov/>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
<<< See You Later, Alligator: Johnny Grande, piano player on Bill Haley's "Rock Around the Clock," dead at 76. >>>
River Delta and its watershed," providing drinking water for much of the state, irrigation for Central Valley agriculture, and a habitat for many plant and animal species, discusses the state of the levees, currently so fragile that an earthquake or a heavy rain could breech them, with Katrina-like economic consequences, and describes the state government's plans to fund repair of eroding structures. <http://calwater.ca.gov/>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
<<< See You Later, Alligator: Johnny Grande, piano player on Bill Haley's "Rock Around the Clock," dead at 76. >>>
Presidential Politics: Edwards has early lead in Iowa
Well, well, well.
The Des Moines Register recently released the results of a poll of likely participants in the 2008 Democratic caucuses, and guess what? John Edwards -- not Hillary Clinton -- is the current front-runner in Iowa. Edwards took 30% to Clinton's 26% (John Kerry showed at 12% and Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack was just out of the money at 10% -- and the big loser of the day for coming in fourth on his home turf; former VA governor Mark R. Warner and Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh were in single-digits). Sen. Clinton's attempt to position herself with Kerry-like inevitability for 2008 may already be showing cracks.
The rest of the story: The Des Moines Register
The Des Moines Register recently released the results of a poll of likely participants in the 2008 Democratic caucuses, and guess what? John Edwards -- not Hillary Clinton -- is the current front-runner in Iowa. Edwards took 30% to Clinton's 26% (John Kerry showed at 12% and Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack was just out of the money at 10% -- and the big loser of the day for coming in fourth on his home turf; former VA governor Mark R. Warner and Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh were in single-digits). Sen. Clinton's attempt to position herself with Kerry-like inevitability for 2008 may already be showing cracks.
The rest of the story: The Des Moines Register
Immigration: Round-Up
America's Immigration Quandary: No Consensus on Immigration Problem or Proposed Fixes delivers the results of a 2006 survey that unsurprisingly found that "the public remains largely divided in its views of the overall effect of immigration." The report, prepared by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, analyzes data from a national survey of 2,000 adults and from separate surveys of an additional 800 adults in five metropolitan areas. Topics surveyed include jobs and immigration, temporary worker programs, illegal immigration, et cetera....U. of Md. prof Ron Walters calls for "a respectful Black-Latino coalition" on immigration, citing "the necessity to consider rationally the content of an agenda that will unite the potential power of both...." An Arizona congressional race is providing a test of the Republican contention that exploiting xenophobia is the way to win elections. An article in the Post, Six-Term GOP Congressman Faces a Challenge in a State Seen as Moving to the Center, says Rep. J.P.Hayworth, an immigration hawk who wrote a book on locking down the border titled Whatever It Takes, may lose to Democratic nonentity Harry Mitchell (well, he was mayor of Tempe), a candidate so low-key his advisers have to make a point of reminding voters that he really is energetic. If you feel so moved, send Harry a donation....In the spirit of know-thine-enemy, I offer you the site for the right wing Federation for American Immigration Reform, a nonprofit that "seeks to improve border security, to stop illegal immigration, and to promote immigration levels consistent with the national interest -- more traditional rates of about 300,000 a year," addressing immigration issues (including national security and its support of a plan to curtail immigration) and annotating current immigration reform legislation....The National Immigration Law Center, "dedicated to protecting and promoting the rights of low income immigrants and their family members," has issue briefs, articles, and other material about "immigration, public benefits, and employment laws affecting immigrants and refugees," analysis of pending immigration reform legislation affecting such areas as guest workers, driver's licenses, and border controls; plus links to related federal and California sites....The U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Office of Immigration Statistics, "responsible for developing, analyzing, and disseminating statistical information needed to assess the effects of immigration in the United States," prepares the Yearbook of Immigration Statistics, demographic profiles on legal permanent residents and naturalized citizens, population estimates, maps, and working papers and special reports....Public opinion polls and arguments for and against different aspects of U.S. immigration policy; discussions of three perspectives on immigration -- honoring commitment to newcomers or cutting back because of either security or economics; government immigration statistics; a "behind the headlines" feature; descriptions of agencies and organizations concerned with immigration; and similar resources are provided by Public Agenda, "a nonpartisan opinion research and civic engagement organization...." Finally, for teachers, The Immigration Debate in the Classroom 2006 from the SCORE (Schools of California Online Resources for Education) History/Social Science project of the San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools is useful for its annotated links to classroom materials about "the highly charged national debate on the issues of immigration reform and border security," background documents, lesson plans, ideas for teaching controversial topics, and such classroom activities as debates and letter-writing.
Editorial: Wi-Fi and the Cities (New York Times 06-06-06)
No fewer than 300 cities and towns around the nation have taken wireless Internet access, or Wi-Fi, to the people. San Francisco's aim is to make the entire city a hot spot, Chicago plans to blanket the city with access, and large parts of Philadelphia are to go wireless soon. But New York, which should be leading the way, is dragging. A plan to offer free Wi-Fi access in city parks has been moving slowly, and a larger vision has yet to take shape.
Wide dissemination of Wi-Fi is not the future. It is now, needed by businesses, educators and 
Local governments are filling a leadership void at the federal and state levels, and they are going directly to providers to negotiate Wi-Fi deals. San Francisco's mayor has turned to Earthlink and Google. Earthlink, based in Atlanta, is also helping Philadelphia. In some of these deals, lower-speed connections are free, with higher speeds available at a price. The providers also hope to make money off advertising.
Surfing the net in the parks is a modest goal for New York, where some smaller parks have already been hooked up by agreement between independent groups managing those parks and NYC Wireless, a nonprofit organization. The city needs to get moving to get the larger parks online, but it also has to get serious about wider access. The minimal goal — pressed with energy in the City Council by Gale Brewer of Manhattan — should be free or low-cost access in its densely populated, poor neighborhoods in all the boroughs. That is where cable and phone line options are out of financial reach, and where education especially suffers as a result.
New York Times Editorial
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