Hi Speed Rail in California

The Chronicle is reporting that the "California High Speed Rail Authority staff is recommending crossing from the central valley into the bay area using the Pacheco Pass instead of the Altamont pass

Neither plan makes any sense.  Among the arguments for the Pacheco route include 

-- Require branch tracks and splitting service to reach Oakland, San Francisco and San Jose, which would make operating the system more complex and costly

-- Necessitate construction of a costly and undoubtedly controversial new transbay bridge or tube.

-- Involve running four to six tracks through populated areas of the Tri-Valley, probably requiring homes to be seized by eminent domain and construction of elevated tracks.

-- Require construction in sensitive wetlands areas.

The Altamont alignment also offers many benefits, Morshed said, including shorter travel times between the Bay Area and Sacramento and the northern San Joaquin Valley, and access to large numbers of long-distance commuters.

The bay area already has a trans-bay tube ... and rail that will not be destructive to sensitive wetlands.  BART needs to be extended from Milbrae in the peninsula to San Jose, and back up to Freemont in the East Bay.  Then "simply" (as if anything is simple) and connect the existing system at perhaps Pittsburg Bay Point to the High Speed rail system.  

The BART system needs to be extended to San Jose anyway.  Lets not forget the less expensive housing in east bay that should be connected to the BART from Freemont to San Jose - thus completing a circular pathway for all of the Bay Area to utilize.  Union Station in San Francisco would be a feather in SF's cap, and I'm sure a lot of power and money people want it there, but having a connecting system that we already have makes more sense than creating an entirely new infrastructure.  Further, the BART will be due for major repairs and upgrades in the next 20-30 years.  This should ALL be included in transportation infrastructure upgrades.

Dianne Feinstein is moving to support Amnesty for Telcoms

Senator Feinstein is considering preemptively giving amnesty to big corporations in the telcom industry, yet, for years, she has failed to give a similar good faith consideration to LGBT Americans. Infact, she has failed over the years to even give the same consideration to LGBT Americans that the big corporations CURRENTLY have to present their case on a "case by case" basis to a Judge. LGBT Americans are not even given an opportunity to present their case to a BCIS investigator to consider an application to sponsor their partner for a green card. Why are LGBT Americans considered under law more apt to commit fraud and therefore denied due process? Why even consider sweeping legislation that would bypass the "case by case" review that even LGBT Americans are not entitled to and grant amnesty to big telcom corporations? I humbly doubt that Senator Feinstein has taken the time to really consider the relative guilt of either LGBT Americans, or Corporate collaborators. In both of these issues, fairness dictates that you should allow for a blind process to weigh the evidence. Any other determination on your part represents a lack of faith in the judicial process, and "Ms Feinstein knows better" As with the Uniting American Families Act and the TeleCom Amnesty issue, policy should be consistent: Support the authority of the judges and investigators in their job and allow for "case by case review. Mickey

Capital Punishment

The State of California is currently in a de-facto moratorium on capital punishment.  The thing that repeatedly comes to my mind concerning capital punishment is that most of those that support capital punishment are people that report to be christians.  I have had conversations with people that are somehow able to resolve their divergent views, and the mental process is quite frankly, very revealing.

There is no doubt that Jesus spoke repeatedly about the sanctity of human life.  The bible does not make exceptions to the “thou shat not kill.”  There are exceptions in man's law i.e. self defense.  but the same people that advocate for the saving of the “un-born” are many of the same people that are in favor of death penalty.  How?  It turns out that they are able to dissociate humanity.  This dissociation is insidious, and has been used for multiple crimes against humanity: genocide, slavery, and torture.  I was told that “these people have abdicated their right to be called human” and therefore, it then becomes acceptable to violate their humanity thru death and torture.  

We hold these truths to be self evident: that all men are created equal and are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights: among them life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”  These words are the beginning of the enlightened document used to separate this country from tyrannical rule.  The Declaration of Independence!  This document predates the constitution; however, it set the stage for the American democracy experiment.

The founders understood that humanity is neither given or taken by men, rather it endowed by that person's creator, and is “inalienable”  Like all of us, these men were imperfect in their real world execution of their beliefs.  (witness the continuation of slavery)  However, this does not dismiss the principals from which this country was founded.  

It is time that the people of this country look back at their core principals and realize the ultimate humanity that is inalienable in all of us.  All of us are imperfect, but as a matter of principal, murder should never be acceptable.  As with self-defense, it can at times be understandable, but it should not be acceptable.  The death penalty is only ever about retribution.

The taking of a life in the case of the death penalty cannot be mitigated by an argument of self defense.  Even the most dangerous and violent criminal who is so pathological that they are a danger to all can be controlled by solitary confinement.  At that point, they can be treated with dignity and respect due a fellow human being.  As a society, as a matter of philosophy and policy, murder should not be committed in a cold blooded manner in our name.  When is happens, we are all lessened by the commission.  As a society, our humanity as been lowered to the lowest common denominator where murder has become acceptable human behavior.

First full day of Palm Springs Gay Pride

We took Friday and Monday off ... long over due respite from too much stress and hard work. As usual, I got up early, and we took a morning ride up the Gondola to the top of Mt. San Jacinto.