Politics and Culture

PICO RIVERA - After a newly appointed mayor took a Bible off the dais and chose not to schedule prayer at each council meeting, the country's 220-year-old debate over church and state has sprung up in Pico Rivera.

Since he became mayor in January, Gregory Salcido has tried to include less religion during council hearings.

"It's a very black-and-white situation, clearly defined in the Constitution," Salcido said after the January meeting. "When our framers crafted the First Amendment of the Constitution, they put the establishment clause in to protect the integrity of both institutions."

Here.

In fact, it is "black and white." Gregory Salcido is in the black: According to the Supreme Court, it's perfectly fine for city councils to pray provided they're not too specific, i.e., the prayer can say "God," but not "Jesus."

They open sessions of congress with prayers, for God's sake.

I would respect Greg's decision more if he had just said, "I don't feel like it," than having to hide behind an imaginary ban. The other option is that Gregory Salcido actually doesn't know what he's saying is wrong. I don't know which one's more embarrasing.

"The Latino Mayberry." Hmmm.

I must say that I really like my city. Lived here 80% of my life. It has lots of places to go: A Borders Books, which is a sign of civilization. I've never had a crime problem. The people are nice. I've worked at the schools and my kids currently attend Burke and McGee and seem to be doing well. Their teachers are very good. My kids are in baseball, cub scouts- all of that stuff. I go the Saint Marianne Catholic Church. Race isn't a factor in anything, as far I know.

Yes, it's heavily Democratic, but more because of union membership and custom than anger and the seeking of government services. It's certainly not a broad cultural affinity with Ed Begley or Sean Penn, although there are a few of those around.

The video makes a good point. Most people in Pico Rivera don't see themselves as alien to the American experience. The police aren't their enemy. Citizens turn to the police to stop crime- imagine that.

Pico people go to church, picket the local strip club (for and against), work, study. They get mad if schools don't teach your kids.** You know, normal stuff.

I think that's the key for Hispanic success: to see ourselves as individuals who want to succeed instead of victims. It's the attitude of successful minority-immigrants like Indians, Italians, Irish, Koreans, Cubans, and, if you think about it, Americans from almost everywhere else on the globe. Yet, many Hispanics, urged on by liberals and leftists (you know that Communist radio station like Pacifica broadcasts their poison in Spanish), make choices that lead them to form part of an underclass.

Anyways, the report is pretty accurate and our sheriffs do carry guns.

**A principal of mine, one of my favorite people in world called Andrew Sermeno, came up with a brilliant compromise with religious parents who didn't want Halloween celebrated at school: He turned it into "Character Day" and made all of the students dress as a character from a book. The kids had to carry the book in the parade.

1. Ford is going strong, relative to other auto manufacturers. They have a very attractive line up, with an easy-to-understand small (Focus), medium (Fusion), and large (Taurus) lineup that more closely resembles Toyota than the former GM's completely confusing array of vehicles. The concept actually reminds me of other product categories like laptops or iPods.

I have to think that some of Ford's success has to do with it being the only privately-owned American automobile company that hasn't asked for a bailout- people may be boycotting.

2. I was talking to a teacher friend of mine about the current economic situation. We both agreed that it was very difficult for people now. He said something that was interesting, however. When I said that Europeans have permanent 10% unemployment, he replied, "Yeah, but they have health care and good unemployment benefits."

Very interesting. Such a sentiment would represent a huge shift in American values, one that would make us poorer, certainly, and worse people in general, in my opinion.

I replied that it probably wasn't that attitude that brought your ancestors to the United States.

3. I attended an LAUSD board meeting. I'll explain my reasons for attending later, but I had to wait a long time before I could speak because one of the members, Julie Korenstein, was retiring, and many people came to praise her. I noticed that the speakers mostly talked about how she funded this project or another- psychologists for kindergarteners, "green" power, recycling. About halfway through, I thought: "Hey! Maybe this is why the school district is broke!"

4. When Ms. Korenstein spoke about her career, she recalled how she fought for "accurate information in health textbooks."

"Hmmm, what did she mean? Did the book say that washing hands is a waste of time or that we have 52 teeth?"

No, it turns out that Bush had given some federal funds to districts if they mentioned abstinence in their textbooks. Ms. Korenstein may think that abstinence is a bad policy and prefer that young ladies insist that their partners use condoms instead, but "accuracy" in science means whether something is empirically observable; unless the text said that abstinence will allow teens to sprout wings and fly, I'm pretty sure the information was "accurate." To Ms. Korenstein, conservative ideas aren't just bad policy, they're objectively, scientifically false.

5. The Wisconsin werewolf appears the day after Michael Jackson dies. Coincidence?

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6. Obama said that he "believes in the UN" and wants to "revitalize" it. Question: In order to revitalize something, doesn't it have to have been "vital" at one time? The only time it did anything of significance was Korea in 1950 and only then because the Soviet Union was boycotting.

7. Some people are saying that Kim Jong Il may want to start a nuclear war before he dies- "go out with a bang," so to speak. This is the evil version of the Randy Pausch-"Bucket List" philosophy of life, a form of secular existentialism wherein a life filled with "great" accomplishments is a meaningful one. Phrases associated with this idea include "leaving a mark on the world" and people who hold it usually suppose no life after death. Life, for them, is like a one-week vacation: they have a limited time to "see everything." It can be a motivator. It can also be a depressor if one dwells on the fact that all of the memories acquired during the trip will be gone the day one arrives home. Those vacations stress me out. Anyways, Il's mark would be a huge crater within Seoul.

When I'm not blogging or soldiering, I'm a teacher at Huntington Park High School which is part of the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Which means I'm part of the United Teachers of Los Angeles (UTLA), the teachers' union. Recently, the membership voted to strike. Today was the day we were supposed to walk out, but a judge stopped the action.

The judge lifted my burden.

I struggled with whether to honor the action or not. I would have lost a day's pay. I'm also not sure whether it's a good idea to strike at this time. California is at 10+% unemployment and is in danger of breaking off and falling into the ocean because of its crushing debt. Is this the time to push for a no-layoff policy?

On the other hand, I didn't want to incur the wrath of my colleagues, some of whom don't absolutely hate me. I also don't think it's immoral to strike so my decision wasn't exactly a case of deciding between right and wrong.

Oh and Duffy's phrase, "Don't raise class size!" should be interpreted as, "The more students in a class, the less teachers we need. Don't fire teachers."

I don't know what to make of this mom, pathetic or disturbing?:

"I missed Woodstock and the protest against the Vietnam War," Loh told the enthusiastic gathering. "Many of us have found as moms we've joined the church of public school. We've found the faith."

I'll write more on this later. Here's the story.

My friends brought "Guerrilla Gardening" to my attention, as a good thing.

My reaction: I don't think these green guerrillas are bad or dangerous. We should applaud civic-mindedness and promote better maintained green spaces. Three things bug me, however:

First, it's probably not a good idea to encourage private decoration of public spaces. Sure, trees are fine, but we can only imagine the things that some people would like to drive into that dirt. What if people decide to arrange the gardens in the shape of a cross! The city would put snipers on helicopters.

Second, is this the smartest way for them to spend their time? Why don't they ask the city council to allow civilian tree planting like the city does highway cleanup? Most of all, if the guerrillas really wanted to beautify Los Angeles, they'd do something about the ugly, hideous graffiti that blights our city. Wait! That would require true revolutionary courage.

Which leads me to my third point. Why adopt the "Che Appleseed" pose? What is it about leftists that they have to feel as though they're taking on the "man?" The Twitter feeds, the revolution talk-- hilarious and sad at the same time. Great job guys, but please give up the para-military trappings and Communist rhetoric.

Some thoughts:
1. The precedent for this is the regulation of vice as in a city not wanting a strip club.
2. Vice laws exist to protect families, children especially, from a member's bad habits. Health laws are to protect us from ourselves (and children from their parent's decisions).
3. Don't the same people who think vice is protected under the constitution want to institute food bans?
4. Vice, as commonly understood, is always bad and unnecessary. Its very appearance in a community is corrupting.
5. On the other hand, food is necessary and people must choose one kind over another. People can drive right past the McDonald's and park in a Subway. Or, one can say that junk food is unnecessary and always corrupting.
6. Vice, like junk food is fun or tasty, but bad for one and the community.
7. This is a whole new level of nanny-stateness.
8. Women can decide whether to abort the child in their belly, but not what food to fill it with.
9. My main objection is that since people have a limited number of things they can care about, they'd care more about physical than moral health.
10. Governments in poor areas can get away with more because nobody pays attention and just keep electing the same people over and over again.

Conclusion:

Not as bad as I originally thought, but I'd still vote against it.

From here.

City officials are putting South Los Angeles on a diet.
Restaurant signs glow July 24 in South Los Angeles, where new fast-food outlets could be banned for a year.

Restaurant signs glow July 24 in South Los Angeles, where new fast-food outlets could be banned for a year.

The City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to place a moratorium on new fast food restaurants in an impoverished swath of the city with a proliferation of such eateries and above-average rates of obesity.

The yearlong moratorium -- which the mayor still must sign into law -- is intended to give the city time to attract restaurants that serve healthier food. The action is believed to be the first of its kind by a major city to protect public health.

Sheriff Lee Baca said Friday that he wants to implement two programs to address the rising level of tagging. The first would require parents of teenagers arrested for tagging to talk to deputies at the jail about the consequences of graffiti. He said such meetings would result in a "higher level of shame" for parents, who either allow their children to tag or can't control them.

The second would establish a hotline for parents to call if they suspect their children are tagging. At the same time, Los Angeles County Supervisor Gloria Molina has proposed creating a special "graffiti administrative hearing panel" to more swiftly deal with vandalism cases that would otherwise be drawn out in the court system.

Graffiti is the most senseless of all crimes. It's a crime that actually costs money to commit! I'm glad they're doing something. Another thing they should do is to make them to the Lowes Home Improvement (they'd show the receipt) and have the idi... taggers film themselves clean it up. Once verified, they'd get their fine back.

story here