California Politicking

"Proposition 8, by depriving same-sex couples of the right to marry, denies them the dignity, respect..."

Thu, 28 Feb 2013 16:10:00 -0800

“Proposition 8, by depriving same-sex couples of the right to marry, denies them the dignity,...

New Youth LGBTQ Youth Foundation: Our mission is to serve as a community, cultural and funding source for LGBTQ Youth in the Greater Bay Area through grants, scholarships and initiatives.

Thu, 07 Feb 2013 08:26:19 -0800

New Youth LGBTQ Youth Foundation: Our mission is to serve as a community, cultural and funding...

PBS’s “Silicon Valley” documents the origins...

Wed, 06 Feb 2013 15:34:00 -0800

PBS’s “Silicon Valley” documents the origins of California’s technological frontier, giving insight into the entrepreneurial drama and genius of its eight original explorers:

“On [a] morning in 1957, none of the eight likely had any idea what would happen next.

The coining of the phrase “Silicon Valley” was more than 10 years in the future. The unique business culture with which the place would come to be associated — openness over hierarchy, risk over stability, innovation over the tried-and-true — had still to be tested. And the integrated circuit — the revolutionary technology that would usher in a new era in human history — had yet to be invented. That morning, the future Silicon Valley was just a speck on the map — and a most unexpected place for the Information Age to begin.”

"Capital appreciation bonds worth $9 billion will end up costing taxpayers $36 billion. Some school..."

Wed, 06 Feb 2013 14:09:00 -0800

“Capital appreciation bonds worth $9 billion will end up costing taxpayers $36 billion. Some...

How does California rank when measuring state elections...

Wed, 06 Feb 2013 11:48:29 -0800

How does California rank when measuring state elections performance?

A new interactive Pew study visualizes the Elections Performance Index (EPI) using data from 17 indicators (including voter turnout, data completeness, voter registration rate, etc.) to compare elections administration policy and effectiveness.

The Pew research has a couple surprises for California:

California’s voter turnout rate was less than half its population— only 45.1% in 2010, which was significantly below the state’s average turnout rate of the previous 30 years (57.9%, according to The Daily Beast)
In 2010, California ranked as the 4th lowest state, with an EPI of 48%

"The Central Coast, with its real and symbolic proximity to California’s Central Valley — the home of..."

Wed, 06 Feb 2013 09:24:14 -0800

“The Central Coast, with its real and symbolic proximity to California’s Central Valley — the...

tortillapower: Banksy Mission District of San Francisco

Tue, 05 Feb 2013 23:47:24 -0800

tortillapower:

Banksy
Mission District of San Francisco

Gov. Brown wants to return Calif. public universities to Golden Age of education in his next term

Tue, 05 Feb 2013 16:36:00 -0800

Gov. Brown wants to return Calif. public universities to Golden Age of education in his next term:...

futurejournalismproject: So God Made a (Latino)...

Tue, 05 Feb 2013 15:20:00 -0800

futurejournalismproject:

So God Made a (Latino) Farmer

fjp-latinamerica:

One of the most popular ads during the Super Bowl was for the Dodge Ram. The spot took a 1978 speech by the late Paul Harvey and played it against images of American farmers.

Something was missing though. We let Latino Rebels take it away:

Do you notice anything about the farmers being featured in the commercial?

Yeah, 100% Americana. An America that seems to be stuck in another time. Last time we checked, the commercial overlooked a few other farmers, the over 3 million workers who contribute to the country’s $28+ billion fruit and vegetable industry. Or what about the fact that “the majority (72%) of all farmworkers were foreign-born, with 68 percent of all farmworkers were born in Mexico?” We are guessing that displaying the REAL FACE of farming in the United States would that have been way too uncomfortable to show? By the way, we know you showed only two Latino faces for a second, but that didn’t cut it, Chrysler.

So, a remake is in order. Doing so above is the award winning investigative reporter Issac Cubillos,

Power to more accurate ethno-cultural representations in mass media advertising.

"I got a Visitor’s Pass and, along with a few other visitors, stepped into a gated area surrounded by..."

Tue, 05 Feb 2013 11:48:00 -0800

“I got a Visitor’s Pass and, along with a few other visitors, stepped into a gated area...

latimes: Interactive Mayoral Map: Take a look back at L.A.’s...

Tue, 05 Feb 2013 09:24:15 -0800

latimes:

Interactive Mayoral Map: Take a look back at L.A.’s three previous mayoral elections, with each tiny dot representing an individual voter. And be sure to keep it bookmarked for when it’s updated with the results of the March 5 primary!

And click here to check out our continued coverage of race for the mayor’s office.
(Via the LA Times Data Desk)

California sues BP for alleged hazardous waste violations at over 700 gas stations

Mon, 04 Feb 2013 18:12:00 -0800

California sues BP for alleged hazardous waste violations at over 700 gas stations

kqedscience: San Francisco a Test Case for Coping with Rising...

Mon, 04 Feb 2013 17:19:32 -0800

kqedscience:

San Francisco a Test Case for Coping with Rising Seas

“Parts of New York and New Jersey are still reeling from Superstorm Sandy, an event that brought climate change and the threat of sea-level rise front-and-center. It’s a looming problem for all coastal cities, and one that San Francisco has been pondering since long before Sandy struck.

Along San Francisco’s western shore, the Ocean Beach Master Plan [PDF] is a kind of test case for sea-rise planning. It calls for big changes, including a strategy known as managed retreat.”

Learn more in the latest radio story from KQED Science,

LA Times: Calif. farm owners demand immigration reform

Sun, 03 Feb 2013 16:36:17 -0800

LA Times: Calif. farm owners demand immigration reform: A few reasons California farmers are heavily...

Why California's Central Valley is lookin' good to solar plant developers

Sun, 03 Feb 2013 14:12:20 -0800

Why California's Central Valley is lookin' good to solar plant developers

Obama administration says Medicaid will NOT be cut

Sun, 03 Feb 2013 11:48:38 -0800

Obama administration says Medicaid will NOT be cut: Why does this matter for California? According...

shortformblog: Cardinal Roger Mahony, who served as Archbishop...

Sun, 03 Feb 2013 09:24:37 -0800

shortformblog:

Cardinal Roger Mahony, who served as Archbishop of Los Angeles from 1985 until 2011, is embroiled in a furious scandal over his handling of reports of child sexual offenders amongst the ranks of his priesthood. The scandal broke open widely when a Los Angeles court ordered a trove of 12,000 pages of files, detailing the records of greater than 100 priest sexual predators, to be made public by the Archdiocese, following an exhaustive five-year legal struggle over the documents. The archdiocese complied, releasing the documents to their website, revealing shocking instances of Mahony prioritizing canonical infractions and violations above reports of abused children, both in tone and in practice. Of Father Jose Ugarte, for example, Mahony was pressured to take action not by reports that Ugarte was molesting children (as he’d been accused of, to no avail, twenty years earlier), but by the idea that he was improperly administering the sacrament of confession onto his victim. As a memo directed to Mahony from a cleric stated: “Given the seriousness of this abuse of the sacrament of penance… it is your responsibility to formally declare the existence of the excommunication and then refer the matter to Rome.” You can check out the files for yourself here. (Photo by maveric2003) source

Immigration reform could increase California tax revenue, shift worker base, experts say

Sat, 02 Feb 2013 11:48:20 -0800

Immigration reform could increase California tax revenue, shift worker base, experts say

Puck Lo: Despite realignmnent efforts, numbers are still high in CA women's prisons

Sat, 02 Feb 2013 09:24:18 -0800

Puck Lo: Despite realignmnent efforts, numbers are still high in CA women's prisons:...

orangecountydreamteam: Today, OCDT and allies delivered a...

Fri, 01 Feb 2013 18:47:37 -0800

orangecountydreamteam:

Today, OCDT and allies delivered a letter to the Orange County Sheriff, demanding she stop collaborating with ICE!

We were stopped from personally handing her the letter, and a representative was sent outside to receive it.
The demonstration in front of the sheriff’s office had community members speak out loud why it is necessary for our community to trust our law enforcement, and why we don’t.

We ended the event with the chant, “we’ll be back!”

Thank you to all the people who stood up for themselves today, and to the community organizations that stood next to us.

Some courageous young folks doing great work.