No on CA Prop 16

Do not be fooled by the patriotic name, Prop 16 will increase PG&E's stranglehold on our state's energy.

http://www.ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/California_Proposition_16_%28June_2010%29

Eisenhower's Farewell Address, Part 1

This is something that every American should watch.

Eisenhower's Farewell Address, Part 2

Ja"makin'" Me Nervous

As civil unrest continues to fester in Jamaica over the planned extradition of an alleged drug lord, tourists are weighing the pros and cons of vacationing to the island this summer. Let's help them out:

Pros:
-beaches
-sun (unless you look like this)

Cons:
-smelly dreadlocks with guns hidden in them
-no land-based escape route from skeezy drug lords
-street sharks


There seems like an obvious solution here: find a pool, pop a Red Stripe, and throw on Bob Marley's Legend.

Incarceration Over Education

As California's gubernatorial election approaches, Steve Poizner and Meg Whitman are trading blows in a battle to earn the nod as the voice of California Republicans. Meanwhile, presumptive Democratic nominee, former governor Jerry Brown, has been guarding his coffers awaiting what is sure to be a hard-fought general election. Whoever wins the unenviable task of confronting California's current hardships is going to have to think outside the box. A good place to start would be California's broken prison system.

The Golden State currently spends more money on prisons than on our entire higher education system. It costs more to house an inmate in prison than to send a student to Harvard, and as our prisons swell beyond capacity more and more students will be unable to attend college due to budget cuts and tuition hikes.

The state's budgetary prioritization of incarceration over education may actually be having an inverse effect on criminal activity. Sixty percent of inmates are functionally illiterate and it has been shown that third grade reading scores can be accurate predictors of prison populations. Moreover, California ranks worst in the nation in recidivism rate as 7 out of 10 released inmates return to prison within three years. Budget cuts in education and tuition hikes will only exacerbate this problem.

California's next governor must address this bleak cycle. Current drug laws serve to criminalize thousands of otherwise law-abiding Californians and would be a good place to start easing the strain on our prisons. The legalization of marijuana has been gaining steam and will actually be on the ballot for legalization in November. Strong, unequivocal support for this measure by the gubernatorial candidates would go a long way toward moving the issue of drugs out of the criminal realm and into the public health realm.

California is in dire need of bold solutions. We can only hope that whoever wins in November is willing to think outside the box.