waltondammerung

Where's the jerk who calls himself The Tick?

Josh is that jerk! And I, his geeky sidekick, Arthur. Happy Halloween!

Someone else to sue

It's too bad the world series ended this evening. Otherwise, all of those lawyers lined up on both sides to take legal action if the other guys win might have had someone else to target, according to the Chicago Tribune:

"How can the World Series affect the presidential election? That's a question being debated in New England, where they worry about such things. The thinking is if the World Series goes seven games and ends Oct. 31, the victory parade in Boston would be scheduled on Election Day. That could affect the voters in New Hampshire, some of whom would have to make the choice of staying home and voting or driving to Boston and back to take part in the celebration for the Red Sox. New Hampshire is considered a swing state, and could be important if it's a close electoral race."

Thanks to Kip for pointing this out to me.

Public service announcement

Trader Joe-San's wasabi-infused teriyaki sauce is, well, disappointing. It doesn't taste one bit like wasabi. I have been known to eat wasabi paste all by it's lonesome from time to time, and so my crest has fallen to the depths of... the deep. How could you let me down, Trader Joe-San?!?

Jacques Derrida (1930-2004)

Since everyone else has been eulogizing Derrida on their blogs, I thought I'd join the chorus. To Derrida, who, among many other things, can be said to have been one of the more intellectually honest secular philosophers of our age (later tendencies toward Jewish mysticism aside).

"No more of talk where God or angel guest
With man, as with his friend, familiar used
To sit indulgent, and with him partake
Rural repast, permitting him the while
Venial discourse unblamed: I now must change
Those notes to tragic; foul distrust, and breach
Disloyal on the part of man, revolt,
And disobedience: on the part of heaven
Now alienated, distance and distaste,
Anger and just rebuke, and judgment given,
That brought into this world a world of woe,
Sin and her shadow Death, and Misery
Death's harbinger: sad task, yet argument
Not less but more heroic than the wrath
Of stern Achilles on his foe pursued
Thrice fugitive about Troy wall"

-Paradise Lost
Book IX, lines 1-16

Jury doody

I have jury duty this week. As if that's not bad enough, I have to call the courthouse every evening to find out whether or not I have to show up the next day. I have now been on hold for exactly 45 minutes, and they're playing John Secada on the hold music. All I have to say is , "Guilty, guilty, guilty!"

I voted today

That's right. I dutifully filled out my absentee ballot and slipped it in the mail slot. Then I checked my mail only to find that the ballot I had just sent off was outdated--there was a new and improved ballot waiting for in the mail. Since I'd already sent the first ballot, I couldn't fill out and send in the new one. Oh well. At least the stuff I really cared about was the same on both.

Among those that I care about was one initiative that just makes my blood boil every time I think about it, Prop 63. Here's the way the voter guide describes it:

Mental Health Services Expansion, Funding. Tax on Personal Incomes Above $1 Million. Initiative Statute.
• Provides funds to counties to expand services and develop innovative programs and integrated service plans for mentally ill children, adults and seniors.
• Requires state to develop mental health service programs including prevention, early intervention, education and training programs.
• Creates commission to approve certain county mental health programs and expenditures.
• Imposes additional 1% tax on taxpayers’ taxable personal income above $1 million to provide dedicated funding for expansion of mental health services and programs.
• Prohibits state from decreasing funding levels for mental health services below current levels.

It's not that I don't care about my fellow citizens' mental health. In fact, for the sake of argument, whatever great cause this money is for is immaterial. What is important is that the measure allows me to vote to force other people to give up 1% of their income for this cause. All tax measures do that on some level, of course. If a tax measure passes, even people who voted against it will have to pay for it. Even graduated taxes, however, require almost everyone to dig into their own pockets, so every voter arguably has some personal stake in whether the measure passes or not. Every voter--in an ideal world at least--would have to ask himself, "Is the mental health of old people worth 1% of my income to me?" If it is, he'd vote in favor of the measure. If not, he would vote against it. The fact that those who vote "no" are also forced to pay the tax is an unfortunate but necessary part of democracy.

This measure, on the other hand, allows an overwhelming majority of people who have no financial stake in it whatsoever to force a minority of people to pay 1% of their income toward a cause they may or may not feel is the best use of their money. Even if every person in California who makes more than $1 million a year voted against it, the measure could still pass by a huge margin (and probably will). It's theft masquerading as charity. It says to the non-millionaire voter, "Come, vote for this measure. Feel good about yourself because you're helping the mentally ill even though the only thing you've given of yourself for the cause is a milliliter of ink from your pen."

The most sickening thing about the measure is that the very fact that it is set up as a tax only on the wealthy implies that, if the tax applied to everyone in the state, it would not pass. If its proponents thought it would pass as a tax on everyone, there would be no reason to propose it as a tax only on the wealthy. So, if the measure passes, it will simply demonstrate that a majority of Californians are willing to give up 1% of someone else's income for a cause for which they would not be willing to give up, oh, about .3% of their own, if that. Worse and worse.

If I were a millionaire, I would high-tail it out of California as soon as possible and take my money with me. Most of the smart ones probably already have. And when they do, after this initiative inevitably passes, we'll be stuck with a law on our hands that does not allow us to decrease spending on mental health. The state will have to raise taxes on everyone to pay for the programs set up by this initiative, and a few years down the road everyone who voted for it and others like it will be whining and complaining about taxes and the budget and a poor job market, wondering how we got into this mess.

*Sigh.* Does anyone else have a sudden urge to move to New Hampshire?

Little Amy wants to play

This is for those of you who have asked me how long it has been since it rained here, and I replied that I don't remember. I now know that it has been 166 days. We are actually forecast to get rain this weekend. A whopping 1-1/2 inches. It is an important enough event that I actually heard a weather forecast on the radio for the first time yesterday in, oh, probably about 166 days.

When You're Bitter Enough to Send the Very Best

I've been to the Hallmark store near where I work twice now. Both times, I got in line behind a gaggle of other women purchasing cheerful cards only to find myself the only one not gleefully bashing any and all husbands and ex-husbands available to bash. Last time, there was even a single woman in front of my who joined the fray, picking on other women's husbands whom she'd never met. For some reason, I have trouble imagining these women inspired to buy greeting cards by spontaneous feelings of love and goodwill. Then again, maybe I'm just out of step with the spirit of the day.

Hip, hip, huzzah!

Congratulations, Jessie (Walton) and Chad Weiler! I wish you all the best (even though you sold your snow machine to buy a house and I can't borrow it any more)!