California Politics: Madame Senator, this is a morgue

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Bizarro Watt: May 30, 2010; My responsibility is to follow the Scriptures which call upon us to occupy the land until Jesus returns.

VikingofRock posted:

While we are complaining about Jerry Brown, he also vetoed collective bargaining rights for graduate student researchers at the UCs. Meaning it is still legally prohibited for them to form a union--even though they have to deal with stuff like their advisors overworking them, taking credit for their work, or asking them to grade papers (that's the TAs'/readers' job).

So what does this thread think: would Gavin Newsom have been better? Who is a "good" state democrat?

I think it depends what you want out of a California Democrat. I don't think Newsom would have had the experience or tenacity to get much done.

The issue with allowing graduate student researchers to unionize was disappointing, but I do remember Brown saying he was open to the possibility in the future, so I don't think he's ever been adamantly opposed to it. Regarding the UCs, I'm more pissed off about the ever-increasing fees and tuition.

Overall I'm mostly pleased with Jerry Brown so far, but I tend to lean slightly fiscally conservative these days. I wish the high-speed rail would work out, though.

# ¿ May 1, 2014 06:32

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# ¿ Apr 28, 2024 01:09

Bizarro Watt: May 30, 2010; My responsibility is to follow the Scriptures which call upon us to occupy the land until Jesus returns.

Mayor Dave posted:

Equally interesting is the way that the grad students who are already in unions get treated when they go on strike. UC Santa Cruz's TA union shut down campus for two days this month and 22 strikers ended up arrested. Even in a liberal beach town and university, opinions are pretty much against the strike. If a town like Santa Cruz sucks for labor relations, what hope does the rest of the state (and country) have?

I think a big factor in the opinions against the strike from the students was that these events happen all the time. I'm pro-union but shutting down access to campus is going to piss off people that would otherwise be sympathetic. People have classes to attend, teach, and lab experiments to run. For the last strike, I didn't even bother to try and get to lab that day, but I heard plenty of anecdotes from others who did.

Also, the rhetoric (and lack of responsibility) displayed by the UCSC TA union is extremely frustrating. In one email they specifically said while they would be striking, it would not be their intention to block access to campus. However, they also noted that in these events there are always some undergrads or others not affiliated with the union that may block access while striking, and that grad students should plan accordingly. Piss off.

# ¿ May 1, 2014 17:00

Bizarro Watt: May 30, 2010; My responsibility is to follow the Scriptures which call upon us to occupy the land until Jesus returns.

agarjogger posted:

Yes, people that would otherwise be sympathetic until they have to suffer inconvenience. Ie people whose sympathies do not run very deep at all. You have problems on your campus which go way beyond intermittent closures. You either support the strikers or you don't. Not that each and every strike is worthy of support, but regardless of whether you're generally pro-union, it does not sound like you support these particular strikers.

There's exactly one and only one way to negotiate with your employer in the same way he negotiates with you: by halting productivity. Since privatization of the university, it's absolutely no different from what happens at a factory picket. They chose that arrangement, not us.

e: But trying to shut down the uni in absence of a general strike, with general backing from the student body is not going to work. I agree that it seems dumb and counterproductive.

To me, the frustrating part is that I do support the strikers, or at the very least their grievances. Sure, some of their messaging is a bit odd in my mind, but overall I support what they're going for. I mean, I experienced first hand the benefits of their collective bargaining when I was able to get a health insurance plan that wasn't poo poo when I was a graduate student, for example.

But that doesn't mean I have to like every method they try. Admittedly, I was in the sciences, but not engineering or anything; most of my classmates were definitely very liberal, and were really frustrated to pissed off about not being able to get onto campus, and I think simply calling it an "inconvenience" is disingenuous. Halting productivity is one thing, in which case they should focus on halting their productivity, rather than keeping other students and faculty from attending class or teaching. A few of the ideas thrown out by the union were TAs not showing up for section, not grading exams/papers, and other things centered around those. I was fine with them doing that (back when I was TAing and they threatened that, I probably wouldn't have done it myself). I don't really now how else to put it though. I support the union and what they're fighting for, but I think shutting down campus is a bad idea.

# ¿ May 2, 2014 01:57

Bizarro Watt: May 30, 2010; My responsibility is to follow the Scriptures which call upon us to occupy the land until Jesus returns.

Does anyone know the current status on the high-speed rail project?

# ¿ May 2, 2014 20:10

Bizarro Watt: May 30, 2010; My responsibility is to follow the Scriptures which call upon us to occupy the land until Jesus returns.

Jerry Manderbilt posted:

Oh, dear, now conservative Texan shitlords are smugging it up about Sriracha and the CEO calling California "communist and anti-business"...

You should have seen them when Toyota recently decided to move their sales headquarters from Torrance to Plano.

# ¿ May 15, 2014 17:00

Bizarro Watt: May 30, 2010; My responsibility is to follow the Scriptures which call upon us to occupy the land until Jesus returns.

ProperGanderPusher posted:

I have it on somewhat good authority that the money-saving aspect of it is a bit misleading since Texas has a rather high sales tax, hence why so many techies demand huge raises before they agree to move (on top of places like Houston being suckfests in general). Is that basically accurate?

Nah, Texas is definitely cheaper to live in compared to California. It's one of the aspects that'll help me deal with living there for the next five years.

# ¿ May 16, 2014 06:00

Bizarro Watt: May 30, 2010; My responsibility is to follow the Scriptures which call upon us to occupy the land until Jesus returns.

Oh hey the UC grad student union is planning on doing a statewide strike during finals week, that's going to go over well.

# ¿ May 19, 2014 06:26

Bizarro Watt: May 30, 2010; My responsibility is to follow the Scriptures which call upon us to occupy the land until Jesus returns.

SporkOfTruth posted:

They listened to my complaints, huzzah. Now it's time to get out there and educate people why we're doing this.

Yeah good luck with that.

# ¿ May 20, 2014 01:15

Bizarro Watt: May 30, 2010; My responsibility is to follow the Scriptures which call upon us to occupy the land until Jesus returns.

Mailed in my ballot weeks ago. I love being able to do that.

My ballot choices were mostly mainstream Democratic probably, though I avoided Alex Padilla for Secretary of State.

# ¿ Jun 4, 2014 00:31

Bizarro Watt: May 30, 2010; My responsibility is to follow the Scriptures which call upon us to occupy the land until Jesus returns.

I voted Pete Peterson for SOS. It's not like the position does much.

# ¿ Jun 6, 2014 00:05

Bizarro Watt: May 30, 2010; My responsibility is to follow the Scriptures which call upon us to occupy the land until Jesus returns.

Is the state government doing much to address the inefficiency in the methods farmers use to get water for their agriculture?

# ¿ Aug 7, 2014 07:35

Bizarro Watt: May 30, 2010; My responsibility is to follow the Scriptures which call upon us to occupy the land until Jesus returns.

It actually looks like the legislature is drawing up a bill to regulate the use of groundwater in the state, which is a big deal considering farms more or less have free reign to use as much as they want. As a result, farmers aren't very pleased with it.

http://www.contracostatimes.com/drought/ci_26307724/california-drought-lawmakers-consider-historic-rules-limit-groundwater

quote:

In what would be the most significant water law passed in California in nearly 50 years, lawmakers in Sacramento are working with Gov. Jerry Brown on a landmark measure to regulate groundwater pumping for the first time.

With an Aug. 31 deadline until the end of the session and billions of dollars at stake, negotiations among farmers, environmentalists, cities and elected officials are reaching a crescendo.

Although landowners who want to divert water from reservoirs and rivers have been required to get a permit from the state since 1914, farmers and cities who tap underground aquifers -- California's largest water source -- can pump as much as they want, when they want and with almost no oversight or limits.

...

Snow and other reformers are supporting a bill by state Sen. Fran Pavley, D-Agoura Hills, that would require local government officials, probably counties in most cases, to bring their groundwater basins up to sustainable levels.

If the bill passes, the local agencies would be required to regularly measure water tables and set numerical goals so that only as much water is taken out as is naturally replenished.

...

"At some point in time there has to be some accountability, and we have to get a handle on how much we are pumping," said Paul Wenger, president of the California Farm Bureau Federation.

"But this is bad legislation and we oppose it. We're afraid that if it passes, the unintended consequences are going to be huge. The financial impacts are going to be huge."

Wenger, a third-generation farmer who grows almonds and walnuts on 450 acres on the outskirts of Modesto, said he's worried that the bill is so broadly written that it would allow state regulators to come in and limit the amount of water farmers can pump from wells.

In dry times like the current three-year drought, when rain and snow aren't available and reservoir levels are low, groundwater is vital, he said. One well on his farm is keeping his orchards alive during the drought, Wenger said.

"We're doing everything we can. We're stretching out our water -- we are just getting by," he said. "But if we didn't have access to groundwater, our trees would drop their leaves and slowly die."

Wenger says the Legislature should delay the law until next year for more study.

"We are talking about one of the most critical bills this Legislature will have seen for many years and we've got a month to work through it?" he said. "We feel like we're getting rolled here."

# ¿ Aug 10, 2014 16:13

Bizarro Watt: May 30, 2010; My responsibility is to follow the Scriptures which call upon us to occupy the land until Jesus returns.

Shear Modulus posted:

Nitpicking but it isn't super easy if you're homeless or don't have a permanent address.

I would imagine not, but I think it'd have be shown that the numbers of people like that would actually alter election results in those areas if they did end up voting. I agree that it should be easier for them to vote, though.

# ¿ Sep 25, 2014 23:12

Bizarro Watt: May 30, 2010; My responsibility is to follow the Scriptures which call upon us to occupy the land until Jesus returns.

Zeitgueist posted:

You're not kidding

Wow, it seems to have a lot of supporters too. What are the chances of this passing?

Edit: Didn't see that there was polling at the bottom. This is great.

# ¿ Sep 26, 2014 15:55

Bizarro Watt: May 30, 2010; My responsibility is to follow the Scriptures which call upon us to occupy the land until Jesus returns.

Hog Obituary posted:

YES MEAN YES
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/09/29/352482932/california-enacts-yes-means-yes-law-defining-sexual-consent?sc=tw

I gotta say, a lot of people on the internet are upset about this. It's pretty hilarious.

# ¿ Oct 3, 2014 02:55

Bizarro Watt: May 30, 2010; My responsibility is to follow the Scriptures which call upon us to occupy the land until Jesus returns.

TheOneAndOnlyT posted:

Hell, you don't even need to ask "would you like to have sexual intercourse" like a robot (regardless how much internet nerds seem to think otherwise).

These people are going as far as making jokes that now you need to have a girl sign a consent form and waiver whenever you're trying to have sex with her, lest you end up being labeled a rapist.

# ¿ Oct 5, 2014 00:26

Bizarro Watt: May 30, 2010; My responsibility is to follow the Scriptures which call upon us to occupy the land until Jesus returns.

Leperflesh posted:

It has been many many years since I read the Merc on anything like a regular basis (I'm talking like 1990). Back then it was well-regarded in my generally blue/left household.

Is it still OK or is it now a rag? Or perhaps a corporate mouthpiece, given the direction SJ's economic basis has taken in the last 20 years?

I read it semi-regularly and I think it's still okay. They sometimes cover CA-only stuff that other newspapers don't. The main reason I've shied away from them recently is the massive amount of ads whenever I try to view their website.

# ¿ Oct 7, 2014 00:27

Bizarro Watt: May 30, 2010; My responsibility is to follow the Scriptures which call upon us to occupy the land until Jesus returns.

WorldsStrongestNerd posted:

California will burn. That once fertile land will dry and dust will blow. Just as the land dries up, the the culture and civilizational spring of California's cities will dry up as well. Campus rape and fracking will seem like quaint problems of the past as fire and horrible droughts turns the state into a barren wasteland. There is no joke here. No jab at any posters. Just a grim reminder of what some of you will see in your lifetime.

Some researchers ran models predicting what would happen to California if the drought continued and the results were that it'd be bad of course but it wouldn't turn California into a wasteland or anything. I don't know anything about their models they ran, though.

# ¿ Oct 15, 2014 20:37

Bizarro Watt: May 30, 2010; My responsibility is to follow the Scriptures which call upon us to occupy the land until Jesus returns.

etalian posted:

Water is a basic resources that serves a great world example for tragedy of the commons.

You have piles of big agribusinesses who pretty much want to make the biggest profit possible and luckily don't have to worry about water conservation due to things such as the greatly reduced water rate. Even if they own they water they are still depleting things like aquifers which will take hundreds of years to refill and contribution to the desertification of the state.

It's also worth noting that for some of these aquifers, if they are depleted enough, the resulting subsidence prevents them from being replenished in the future.

# ¿ Oct 16, 2014 04:02

Bizarro Watt: May 30, 2010; My responsibility is to follow the Scriptures which call upon us to occupy the land until Jesus returns.

I don't really see how Jerry Brown is a Republican in disguise.

# ¿ Oct 22, 2014 00:43

Bizarro Watt: May 30, 2010; My responsibility is to follow the Scriptures which call upon us to occupy the land until Jesus returns.

An op-ed in the LA Times recommends voting against Prop 47 because most hand guns are less than $950 and therefore if someone steals a handgun, they will only get a misdemeanor. Seems like a bizarre ting to focus on, considering the good the prop will do overall.

# ¿ Oct 30, 2014 17:40

Bizarro Watt: May 30, 2010; My responsibility is to follow the Scriptures which call upon us to occupy the land until Jesus returns.

Out of curiosity, could an LA-area residents give their thoughts on Garcetti's term as mayor so far?

# ¿ Oct 31, 2014 22:29

Bizarro Watt: May 30, 2010; My responsibility is to follow the Scriptures which call upon us to occupy the land until Jesus returns.

While I understand how Prop 13 messed with the tax system and budget in the state, it's not clear to me right now how repealing it or revamping it would address housing affordability and rent prices.

# ¿ Nov 6, 2014 01:55

Bizarro Watt: May 30, 2010; My responsibility is to follow the Scriptures which call upon us to occupy the land until Jesus returns.

SporkOfTruth posted:

No, the solution is for the UC to stop loving us in the rear end during contract time and for our union to not fold like a cheap loving lawnchair when probed even slightly.

Not that I'm mad about how the last contract negotiations ended, when we could have called a strike during finals and crippled the admins, noooooooooooooo sir.

I don't think any of my peers would have bothered with that had the union actually called for it. I certainly wouldn't have.

Slobjob Zizek posted:

$1000 a month for a 1 bedroom in CA is fine. The real issue is that grad students in the UC system without extra grant funding make like $18K a year.

For one bedroom with a shared bathroom in a four bedroom apartment? For the most part, no it isn't.

# ¿ Nov 6, 2014 06:41

Bizarro Watt: May 30, 2010; My responsibility is to follow the Scriptures which call upon us to occupy the land until Jesus returns.

CPColin posted:

Then how come you use the word "Cali"?

Because it's a perfectly cromulent abbreviation.

# ¿ Dec 4, 2014 19:18

Bizarro Watt: May 30, 2010; My responsibility is to follow the Scriptures which call upon us to occupy the land until Jesus returns.

Is it state law that the board of supervisors of each county needs to be set at 5? That seems to be consistent. Just curious.

# ¿ Dec 5, 2014 04:43

Bizarro Watt: May 30, 2010; My responsibility is to follow the Scriptures which call upon us to occupy the land until Jesus returns.

Papercut posted:

The SF Board of Supervisors has 11 members.

And amusingly, LA county only has 5. Now I'm just wondering if 5 is the minimum required. Inane question, but I was curious.

# ¿ Dec 5, 2014 17:15

Bizarro Watt: May 30, 2010; My responsibility is to follow the Scriptures which call upon us to occupy the land until Jesus returns.

drilldo squirt posted:

What if I dont wana buy a loving bag when they used to be free.

Sounds like you're gonna have to deal with it, dude. Condolences.

# ¿ Dec 31, 2014 01:08

Bizarro Watt: May 30, 2010; My responsibility is to follow the Scriptures which call upon us to occupy the land until Jesus returns.

Jerry Manderbilt posted:

Huh, then who'll be running for governor in 2018?

I'd like Goodwin Liu to run for either, but then again I still have that pipe dream of him getting on the SCOTUS.

Newsom.

Liu getting a SCOTUS nomination would be a great "gently caress you" to Congress. I'd laugh heartily.

# ¿ Jan 14, 2015 20:10

Bizarro Watt: May 30, 2010; My responsibility is to follow the Scriptures which call upon us to occupy the land until Jesus returns.

Once again I find myself sympathizing almost entirely with UC students and their complaints, and also once again finding their methods just shy of idiotic and useless. Might be a bit bitter and cynical considering I used to go there, though.

# ¿ Mar 4, 2015 19:36

Bizarro Watt: May 30, 2010; My responsibility is to follow the Scriptures which call upon us to occupy the land until Jesus returns.

Zeitgueist posted:

What exactly can students do that will change anything?

Take a building and occupy it, 60's style?

Occupying a building is something that UCSC students do almost every other Tuesday.

I honestly don't know the answer to your question. I think one issue is that in terms of the tuition hikes, most Californians are actually already on their side and blocking traffic isn't accomplishing anything worthwhile minus being a nuisance. Protests also occur with such frequency there that, at least when I was as student, they stopped being that big of a deal and became just another thing. What are they protesting now?, etc. Many of my friends felt the same way and none of us were truth-is-in-the-middle types or conservative turds.

Their messaging is also often inconsistent. It's usually about tuition hikes mixed in with whatever the current hot topic is, in this case police brutality apparently. I also remember last time they threatened to shut down campus (which with UCSC is surprisingly easy-- just block the roads) and that was drat near infuriating for a lot normally sympathetic people. It didn't make me suddenly switch to the pro-UCOP side out of spite because that's idiotic, but I wouldn't be surprised if it did that for a few people. That also relates to my relative annoyance with the grad student union in general.

# ¿ Mar 4, 2015 22:04

Bizarro Watt: May 30, 2010; My responsibility is to follow the Scriptures which call upon us to occupy the land until Jesus returns.

nm posted:

Hell no, did you know they PAY grad students?

Oh man, don't even joke about that.

# ¿ Mar 5, 2015 20:12

Bizarro Watt: May 30, 2010; My responsibility is to follow the Scriptures which call upon us to occupy the land until Jesus returns.

When I see data like that, it makes me want to go back to when they started adding so many management positions in the first place. If they had the funds for all those FTEs, why did they start focusing so much on that?

# ¿ Mar 5, 2015 22:49

Bizarro Watt: May 30, 2010; My responsibility is to follow the Scriptures which call upon us to occupy the land until Jesus returns.

The Los Angeles area isn't a desert, though I guess it can be argued that parts of the Inland Empire are.

# ¿ Mar 16, 2015 03:15

Bizarro Watt: May 30, 2010; My responsibility is to follow the Scriptures which call upon us to occupy the land until Jesus returns.

Trabisnikof posted:

While it isn't a desert it also doesn't have local supplies of water to support the population of now or the future.

Yeah that part is true, I agree with it.

# ¿ Mar 16, 2015 03:21

Bizarro Watt: May 30, 2010; My responsibility is to follow the Scriptures which call upon us to occupy the land until Jesus returns.

FCKGW posted:

The only moral water theft is my water theft

This is a symptom all over the country. See Denver, Colorado, Oregon, anyplace that isn't California thinks that transplant Californians are somehow "destroying" their culture.

The most common complaint I hear is that rich Californian transplants are driving up the home prices in other states. After that though, here in Texas I have heard the complaint that Californians are ruining Texas and are going to turn it into the socialist hell-hole and failed economy that they're trying desperately to escape. Texans are weird. "Everyone's moving from California because of high taxes!" Well, no, see... ah gently caress it.

# ¿ Mar 16, 2015 19:08

Bizarro Watt: May 30, 2010; My responsibility is to follow the Scriptures which call upon us to occupy the land until Jesus returns.

I would imagine that the effect on acidity would be negligible. Atmospheric CO2 is going to play a much larger role in future changes in ocean pH.

# ¿ Mar 20, 2015 01:31

Bizarro Watt: May 30, 2010; My responsibility is to follow the Scriptures which call upon us to occupy the land until Jesus returns.

VikingofRock posted:

This is sort of like the NorCal/SoCal divide: I rarely hear Californians complain about Texans, yet whenever someone complains about California they inevitably turn out to be from Austin.

Absolutely true, in my experience Texans talk way more about Californian than Californians talk about Texas. Part of it is definitely the influx of Californians to Texas in recent years but that doesn't really seem to account for all of it. What's obnoxious is that the state leadership (previously Rick Perry and now Abbott) are capitalizing on this and like to play up the rivalry for attention.

Also Texans absolutely cannot get over the fact that they were a country once (for ten years and it was a disaster, but ignore that part).

Bizarro Watt fucked around with this message at 15:58 on Mar 24, 2015

# ¿ Mar 24, 2015 15:55

Bizarro Watt: May 30, 2010; My responsibility is to follow the Scriptures which call upon us to occupy the land until Jesus returns.

FMguru posted:

California was, briefly, its own sovereign country too (check our state flag for details).

Hawaii was an independent kingdom for hundreds of years.

But no, those don't count and Texas is superawesome and unique and deserves all sorts of respect and deference because yee haw it was once the (proudly slaveholding) Republic of Texas.

California was its own republic for like a month, so it doesn't generally impress anyone if it's mentioned.

Telling people that the Vermont Republic lasted for 14 years though, that's always fun. They even abolished slavery!

# ¿ Mar 24, 2015 16:18

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# ¿ Apr 28, 2024 01:09

Bizarro Watt: May 30, 2010; My responsibility is to follow the Scriptures which call upon us to occupy the land until Jesus returns.

Space-Bird posted:

all this hate is getting too east coast for me, can't we just chill, like true Californians. LA, SF, Austin...getting some low frequency vibes, my dudes.

In other news, I wonder if this photo was taken at the exact moment that protesters at the UC Regents meeting started taking off their clothes:

And apparently the state legislature is now considering limiting some of the autonomy that the Regents have over the university system.

Bizarro Watt fucked around with this message at 02:13 on Mar 25, 2015

# ¿ Mar 25, 2015 02:11

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > California Politics: Madame Senator, this is a morgue

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