Rest In Peace Rodney King

If you are from the LA area, the name Rodney King is very well known.  I'm not sure how much the rest of the country or world really know the name.  Over 20 years ago this young black man was beaten by LA police.  After a trial for the officers involved that became a televised media circus, a verdict came down that was less than satisfactory for the African American community (and to most normal thinking people).  The verdict was followed by the LA riots, that turned the city into a war zone for days.  Even in the Inland Empire where I lived, fear was rampant.  One of the most famous moments during the riots was when Rodney King himself went on TV and pleaded for calm, "Can't we all just get along?"

After the riots cooled and life in LA went back to normal, King dropped off the radar, except for a few brushes with the law.  He tried to live a quiet life out of the spotlight.  On Sunday morning his girlfriend found him in his pooled, drowned.  I pray now that he finds the peace that eluded him in his life.

Black Music Month and Poliical Correctness

June is Black Music Month.  They told us so at work the other day.  It is an observance that was started by President Jimmy Carter, and June has been declared as such by each successive president with the exception of President Obama. I know what you are saying right now.  "How could the first black president not declare Black Music Month."  Well here's the thing; In his great wisdom President Obama has caved to the idiocy of Political Correctness and is now calling it "African-American Musical Heritage Month".

Besides being way to long to say, this bow to PC effectively eliminates a lot of great Black Music.  We lose Seal and Sade, both British, with a Nigerian background, so NOT African American.  We love Ladysmith Black Mambazo, the Black vocal group from South Africa that came to fame on Paul Simon's Graceland album (they are just Africans, not African Americans). And of course we lose Bob Marley and all his kids, as well as Peter Tosh and most of the rest of the reggae community, who mostly come from Jamacia, not America.
So why limit Black Music Month to only African Americans...Let's screw Political Correctness and celebrate Black Music WORLDWIDE!!!

Election Time for California

California's primary is tomorrow.  Of course it is a bit late in the season, and as a Republican I am basically down to just one choice for the presidential primary.  So I was thinking of just throwing the vote there and picking Green Party Candidate Rosanne Barr (just kidding).  There are a couple state wide ballot measures that are of interest. There is one dealing with term limits for state legislators, which if I understand it will actually extend the current term limits by allowing legislators to switch houses at the end of their limited term. If it keeps those idiots in longer, I'm opposed. And we also have to vote on an increase in tax on cigarettes.  On this one I figure I'm for it because the big tobacco companies are spending big bucks to defeat it, and anything that might make less people smoke their cancer sticks, I'm for it!

So not a lot of surprises expect in California tomorrow, but I ask my fellow Californians to vote anyway.                                                                                                                                                                                        

Missing the boat on Education

I was talking with a friend of mine the other day.  He is a recent (2012) graduate of the UC system here in California.  We were talking about how the California state government is missing the point on education.  The state government, currently under our idiot Governor Brown has decided the only way to do anything for  the state's floundering budget is to cut over $330 million from the state's education budget.

My friend and I discussed that fact that when you cut spending on education, you raise a generation that will not be able to compete in the job market, and will be forced to work lower income jobs, or be on welfare, costing the state more.  If you invest in education you will have a generation that can get good jobs in fields where they can make money and pay taxes and actually assist in the budget crisis.

But California was dumb enough to elect Brown AGAIN, and I think he hopes by cutting education he will breed Californians dumb enough to keep electing the same idiots to our state government.  Our state will never recover economically until we cut government waste spending (like the "new car" budget that is filling state storage facilities with unused cars), and invest in our future (EDUCATION!!!).  I say vote them all out!!