Reports From My Nanocosm

ARCADIA, Calif. – Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger warned Wednesday that legislators could push California into a nightmarish era of higher taxes and runaway spending unless voters endorse his proposal to place tighter controls on the state budget.

In a staged poolside appearance at a private home, the Republican governor told an invitation-only audience that Proposition 76 would give him the tools to fend off a Legislature eager to dig deeper into taxpayers’ pockets.

Schwarzenegger Vows to Rein in Spending – Yahoo! News

~ Yawn ~ If Arnie really cared, he wouldn’t have wasted $100 million plus on a special election and would have waited a year for the next statewide election. He’s right that the budget needs to be balanced, but I’m very skeptical that Prop 76 is the solution.  Redistricting, Prop 77, is the only proposal of his that I curently plan to vote for.

If Delphi Corp. has its way, workers for the nation’s largest auto parts supplier would be paid as little as $9 per hour under 65% wage cuts, and be hit with a tenfold increase in health-care costs, no dental and vision care and other sharp reductions in benefits, according to a proposal revealed on the Web site of a UAW local.

Delphi’s demand: Take $9 an hour

Wow, that’s quite a cut although I doubt they’ll cut across the board to dock executive pay too. If Delphi does get their way (they will), look for other industrial companies to also follow suit. I wonder, would a 50%+ industry-wide wage cut in manufacturing spark deflation, even if spread over 5 years?

lawgeek writes:

“White House lawyers target The Onion for use of Presidential Seal One more sign that no one in the White House Counsel Office run by Harriet Miers has ever read the Constitution — The New York Times reports  that the White House is now sending cease-and-desist letters to The Onion  for using the Presidential Seal  in conjunction with its Bush parodies”

LawGeek: White House lawyers target The Onion for use of Presidential Seal

I guess this proves they don’t really have a sense of humor. Next thing we know, The Onion will be labeled terrorists.

Added Golden State guard Jason Richardson: “They want to sway away from the hip-hop generation. You think of hip-hop right now and think of things that happen like gangs having shootouts in front of radio stations.

Richardson added that nicer clothing wasn’t necessarily the best way to determine the character of the players. “You still wear a suit, you still could be a crook,” Richardson said in Oakland, Calif.

“You see all what happened with Enron and Martha Stewart. Just because you dress a certain way doesn’t mean you’re that way.

“Hey, a guy could come in with baggy jeans, a do-rag and have a Ph.D., and a person who comes in with a suit could be a three-time felon. So, it’s not what you wear, it’s how you present yourself.”

Pacers’ Jackson says NBA dress code attacks blacks – NBA – Yahoo! Sports

Give that man and A-. Well spoken. But business is business. The NBA is all image and marketing. Lose that and you… well, you lose.

While organic compounds have been discovered in meteorites that have landed on Earth, this is the first direct evidence for the presence of complex, important biogenic compounds in space. So far evidence suggests that PAHs are formed in the winds of dying stars and spread all over interstellar space. “This stuff contains the building blocks of life, and now we can say they’re abundant in space,” Hudgins said. “And wherever there’s a planet out there, we know that these things are going to be raining down on it. It did here and it does elsewhere.”

Life’s Building Blocks ‘Abundant in Space’ – Yahoo! News

Something may indeed be out there. The probability increases with every find like this.

Ridiculous if true…

Shaath, now the Palestinian information minister, said: ” President Bush said to all of us: ‘I’m driven with a mission from God. ‘God would tell me, ‘George, go and fight those terrorists in Afghanistan’.’

“And I did, and then God would tell me, ‘George, go and end the tyranny in Iraq…’ And I did. “

‘And now, again, I feel God’s words coming to me, ‘Go get the Palestinians their state and get the Israelis their security, and get peace in the Middle East.’ And by God I’m gonna do it’,” said Shaath.

Abbas, who was also at the meeting in the Egyptian resort of Sharm al-Sheikh, recalled how the president told him: “I have a moral and religious obligation.

“So I will get you a Palestinian state.”

Bush claimed God told him to invade Iraq, Afghanistan: BBC – Yahoo! News

I wonder when PBS will air this.

Note to George: You’re not on a religious mission. You weren’t appointed by God. You are an elected leader of a Republic. You were elected to continue mis-managing the bureaucratic quagmire we call ‘government’ and not for a religious crusade.

I’ve been up too long and should be sleeping, but I’m not. I was awake at 4:30am this morning so I could make a 6:30am flight to Ontario. I felt odd wearing a suit while walking through SJC. I could only imagine being seen by a coworker whose first thought would be ‘job interview’ – it wasn’t. I was summoned to testify in a criminal trial for a couple of telemarketers in Riverside, CA, which was once part of the dreaded 909. 

The telemarketer called me at home in Fall 2002 and tried to sell me something I didn’t think was legally theirs to sell. What luck for us both. I reported it to Bill Lockyer’s office, and they referred it to the local DA in Riverside, where the telemarketer resided, and they had the telemarketer arrested. Trial was initially scheduled the following Spring and I was summoned to appear. I had no choice or say in the matter. The threats they give in those summons will make anyone show up. I shudder at the prospect of hot pokers and electrical wires tied to unmentioned body parts. Well, maybe it isn’t that bad   Court was postponed for some unknown reason. That happened over and over for more than two years; each time trial was scheduled, it would be postponed a couple days before. They even summoned me to appear the day after I would have left for my big trip to Bangalore and London. But the case was postponed until late August and was postponed again until last week.

The 15th time was the charm; the trial started this morning. I was put on call last week and told I’d be given 24 to 48 hours before my testimony and that they’d fly me down for the day. They weren’t kidding because I got the call yesterday afternoon. I scrambled to send out email in advance of my day out of the office, but I know some things slipped through the cracks and were left partially done.

Anyway, I made it there and back safely. The Deputy DA and his staff were very professional. The judge seemed to have fun in repeating his witness instructions for the millionth time. I testified truthfully and didn’t get flustered. I hope my testimony was benficial towards the prosecution. And, I was able to apply my roundtrip to Rapid Rewards.

I’m still under a gag order so I can’t/won’t say much more. Maybe I can say more when the trial ends later this week or next.

I added photos from my trip to my Flickr account. I was most interested in the very diverse memorials they have on their downtown mall. My camera battery died as I took the photo of the old courthouse.

High Court Nominee Has Never Been a Judge – Yahoo! News

I don’t care how nice or good a person is, or what party they’re affiliated with, they shouldn’t sit on the Supreme Court if they’ve never been a judge before. This is very reminiscent of other recent, less-than-qualified appointments. I hate politicians and the political system.

Technologies du Langage: Yahoo: Site Explorer

I found this interesting. Thought I’d share.