Well, it seems that San Francisco and Oakland are engaged in a competition for the “what on earth could they be thinking?” award. Here’s what is news lately:

SAN FRANCISCO:
Juvenile probation officers, citing the city’s immigrant sanctuary status, are apparently protecting Hondurans caught dealing drugs. And it gets worse. One of the origins of the problem is a 1989 city law defining SF as a sanctuary city for immigrnats, which apparently either prevents or discourages city officials from cooperating with the federal immigration authorities. I assume the “good” intent of the law was to protect illegal immigrants from being deported unjustly. There are some that argue that you need something like this, otherwise illegal immigrants will be reluctant to go to the police to report crime, be reluctant to help the city or follow any laws, etc. I don’t know if I completely agree, but I do acknowledge there is something to be said for that. There also have been cases where people have been deported, but then face persecution, arrest and abuse in their home country upon their return.

I assume that whomever drafted the law did not exclude cases where the illegal immigrants have been arrested for a crime. If you want to protect someone who’s honest and doing the right thing (although here illegally), that’s one thing. But I can’t think of any reason to protect someone that is arrested for a crime.

So what apparently is happening is that Honduran youths have been brought to the US, or have come on their own. In SF, they have been found selling crack cocaine in the city. Upon arrest, they claim to be under age 18, and have other Hondurans who claim to be their relatives. So the juvenile authorities have handled the cases in juvenile court, which is shielded from public view, and apparently the federal government’s view. Since they can’t send the violators to the California Youth Authority (by law), they have in a number of cases bought airline tickets to send the violators home to the Honduras. A juvenile officer accompanies them to Houston to make sure they get on the plane out of the US. This allows the violators to re-enter the US in the future, whereas if they were deported, federal law prohibits them from coming back.

It’s an amazing waste of taxpayer money for the officials’ time and the plane tickets. Just unbelievable.

OAKLAND:
Not to be outdone, the city of Oakland boasts a city manager that tips off relatives in gangs about police investigations, and keeps her job as well. At least so far.

It started out almost two weeks ago, when Oakland police, with state and federal assistance, arrested 56 suspected gang members. Among them was William Lovan, who is a nephew of Deborah Edgerly, the Oakland City Administrator. A few days after the busts, the story came out about her involvement in the case. On June 7, her nephew was being questioned by police outside a West Oakland liquor store. He told police he had locked his keys in inside the minivan that was running, and there was a gun inside. Apparently he or someone called Edgerly, because she showed up and began demanding to know why the van was being towed. Unhappy with the response, she called the assistant chief of police to complain, and was told that it was part of the bigger investigation.

Well wouldn’t you know it, she then calls her nephew later on, tells him the police are investigating him and his associates. So Lovan calls the gang leader and tells him that he has word “from the top” that the police are closing in.

Edgerly started with the city in 1987 and was one of the main city players the last couple of years. She was able to get the Police Department to change their training requirements to help her daughter try to become an police officer. So far the daughter is unsuccessful, after failing three times at the academy, although she continues to work at the police department as a civilian employee. It’s a little bizarre that she’d push for her family to be police yet sabotage the police elsewhere.

Edgerly and Assistant City Administrator Cheryl Thompson showed up two years ago and made threats when police arrested Thompson’s son for disorderly conduct outside a bar. The son was a city employee, continuing a tradition of nepotism. There are nearly a dozen relatives of Thompson and Edgerly that work in the city’s finance and management division. That fact along should set off alarm bells at the city.

Last year, Edgerly overturned Police Department officials who had recommended dismissing Debra Taylor-Johnson, who had vouched for a recent hire. The problem was that employee she vouched for was hired under an alias and had arrest warrants out for identity theft and welfare fraud.

In another case of poor hiring, police last year found out that the mother of the leader of the gang they targeted this month was actually working as a civilian employee in the police personnel record area.

Once the Edgerly storm broke a week or so, our illustrious Oakland mayor Ron Dellums did what he is best at doing. He sat and basically did nothing. Dellums, who was elected mainly because we was famous as an ex Congressman and was black, has been pretty much a resounding failure as a mayor. After a week’s inaction, he first had a press conference with Edgerly where he answered no questions but stated that Edgerly would remain as Administrator through July before retiring. He finally moved Friday to suspend Edgerly, only because of the intense public reaction and press coverage. It remains to be seen if she’ll be able to walk away into retirement with her $150,000 a year pension. Unless Oakland officials develop some backbone, I wouldn’t be surprised if she does.

Link below is to one of Chip Johnson’s stories. He is one of the reporters that broke the story:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/06/24/BAV811DSGR.DTL&hw=Chip+Johnson&sn=004&sc=538

On May 14, another Mexican died.

In Sacramento, the state Capitol, life continued on. What’s another Mexican, after all?

Her name was Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez, a 17 year old illegal. She had come north with her fiancee, 19 year old Florentino Bautista, and found work in a vineyard in near Lodi. On May 14, she was working a 9.5 hour shift for $8 per hour. After hours of working in 100 degree heat, she fainted in Florentino’s arms. Bautista later said, “I was just holding her in my arms. She looked like she was in pain, and she wasn’t reacting to anything. I told her to be strong and that I was with her. I thought maybe she could hear me.”

After she fainted, the foreman recommended she rest in a hot van and be revived with rubbing alcohol before he could take her to a Lodi medical clinic, almost two hours later. She never regained consciousness.

In the past, if you’d driven by many of the agricultural fields in California (& most other states), you’d see workers toiling in the fields, often without any toilets in sight. It wasn’t until 2005 that California implemented emergency regulations that required farms and contractors to provide workers water, allow regular shade breaks, and have an emergency plan in place to help those suffering from heat exhaustion. None of the other 49 states have a heat illness standard. That it took until 2005 to require decent working conditions is a shame, and shows you how money and special interests have trumped common decency in the state Capitol.

Since 2005, there have STILL been over 23 suspected heat-related fatalities. Maria’s employer, Merced Farm Labor, was issued three citations in 2006 for exposing workers to heatstroke, failing to train workers on heat stress prevention, and not installing toilets at the work site. Merced Farm Labor was fined $2,250 in 2006 but has never paid. The state, meanwhile, has let Merced Farm Labor continue to operate despite the failure to pay. The fines are little more than a slap on the hand, and the underlying message is apparently “Don’t worry about it”.

The farms share complicity in this, as they have mostly gone to a system where farms contract with labor contractors for work. The labor contractors are the ones that turn the other cheek when the workers are illegal, and fail to take proper care of the workers. The farms then can plead, “It wasn’t me” when problems occur.

Since Maria’s death, foremen at the vineyard have put water jugs throughout the vineyard. But they are still not providing any shade.

In Sacramento, the Republicans still talk about family values and the Democrats still talk about standing up for the workers.
While the suits talk, the field workers still toil in the heat. You’ll notice that the California Department of Agriculture was up in arms over the supposed threat from the light brown apple moth, but has showed little or no reaction to bodies in the field.

Oh well, I guess it’s no big deal, who cares if another Mexican dies......right?

I was reading an interesting article in the June issue of Spirit magazine (Southwest Airlines) that talked about Wannado City in Florida. In contrast to the Disney, Universal, etc parks there, the Wannado is focused on being a park where there are no thrill rides or water parks. Instead, kids 4 to 12 get to try their hand at any one of 100 professions. This includes firefighter, policeman, detective, banker, doctor, dentist, archaeologist, baker, TV reporter, pilot, grocery clerk, actor, artist, singer, cameraman, nurse, etc. They get currency known as “Wongas” when they enter, and they “work” at various jobs to earn more Wongas to spend on events at the park.

It’s a fascinating idea, and one I think generally worthwhile. I’m putting a few links below to articles about this place.

WannadoCity

WannadoCityNewsVideo

If you are one of the many people who are packing a few extra pounds, be thankful you live in the US. If you lived in Japan, you’d be running on the treadmill or running for cover. A law that took effect in April requires companies and governments to measure the waistlines of people ages 40 to 74. The government limits are 33.5” waists for men and 35.4” waists for women. If you exceed that, you are given dieting guidance if you do not lose the weight within three months. You are given further education if you still are above the limits after six months.

The government will impose financial penalties on companies and governments that don’t meet their targets.

If you’re wondering how this compares to America (Proud home of the all you can eat buffet), the average American male has a 39” waist, and the average American woman has a 36.5” waist.

While the US isn’t as bad as Japan yet regarding government intrusion into their waistlines, we’re not as far behind as you think. Insurance companies have won the right to charge people different rates depending on their weight and health. As a consequence, numerous US companies are actively pushing their employees to get healthier and to lose weight. On one hand, that’s a good thing. On the other hand, it is one more step in our progression to a “Mommy” state, where the government professes it knows what’s best for you. Given the dysfunctional operation of most local, state, and national governments, it’s ironic to see how they are becoming busybodies poking their noses into the private lives of their citizens.

A little over a week ago, the California State Supreme Court enabled gay marriages to proceed. In contrast to a few years ago, there was less uproar and agitation. Some of this was probably due to Massachusetts already allowing this, and some due to it already being performed a year or two ago in San Francisco. Like similar events in the history of the US, such as rights for women and civil rights, there has been an amazing amount and hand wringing initially, with people forecasting the end of the world. Then as time goes on, things settle down and it becomes much less of an issue.

A recent poll of Californians found that a majority (51%) now approved gay marriage. The interesting statistics were based on age, however. Over 68% of those ages 18 to 29 approved gay marriage, whereas only 45% of those aged 65 and older did. It appears that the young don’t see this as a big deal, whereas the old do. So as the population ages, gay marriage appears to be headed toward society’s approval. It was also interesting to see that the approval rate that now is 51% was only 44% in 2006 and 30% in 1985. I think as more gays come out, and people are more used to having gays as friends, co-workers, acquaintances, neighbors, etc, there is less resistance.

Despite this gradual progress toward common sense, there still are those who oppose it, and the arguments cited by them are sometimes a bit bizarre. The SF Chronicle recently had an opinion piece by Douglas Kmiec, who apparently is a devout Catholic, right wing Republican, ex Justice Dept lawyer, and a Pepperdine professor. The link to the article is here:

Douglas Kmiec

He links gay marriage to eugenics and infers it benefits mostly the very affluent, it threatens democratic equality, and harms the children. Yet he provides no evidence to back up his claims. I’m surprised that he didn’t also claim all homosexuals are sexual predators coming to attack us. He also cites procreation as a reason to discriminate, yet does not address the up to 50% or so failure rate of heterosexual marriages or the number of heterosexual marriages that do not produce children. A Pepperdine professor should be a bit more educated about the facts and a little less hysterical about non-existent threats to our society. (one interesting side note is that Kmiec was recently denied Communion at a dinner for some businessmen, apparently because of his support for Barrack Obama).

The other source of resistance that amazes me are the black churches. After having fought so hard in the past and with all the discrimination that blacks have faced in the past, you’d think they’d be the first ones out in front to support they gays and end that discrimination. Unfortunately, homosexuality is still kept quiet in many parts of the black community.

So for now, limited but still significant progress toward a more just society. I must tip my hand toward SF mayor Gavin Newsome, who helped push this forward. Even though he has done some other bonehead things, this is one thing that he can rightly take some pride in.