We can all vote, can't we?

I think I'm pretty good at predicting what will happen politically. I know that every year while the Republicans control the House and barely control the Senate that the plan to open the Alaskan Arctic refuge up for drilling will get past the House, but die in the Senate. I know that a radical immigration bill will come out of the House and then once it's in the Senate will be killed. I know that the minimum wage will never be increased to where it should be as long as Republicans control both the Congress and the presidency.

I also know that Republicans will NEVER try and get rid of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. I mean, they wouldn't dare, would they? I mean, even the most radical Republican realizes that voting is every American citizen's right.

Don't they?

GOP Halts Extension of Voting Rights Act - LA Times (June 22, 2006)

Holy crap! What could it be? Women again? Blacks? They don't want blacks to vote? Actually, I think it's the Chinese. The House is scared that the Chinese will overrun the country. That's why they don't want to allow ballots to be both in English and Mandarin, or whatever Chinese language is necessary. This is America, damn it, learn our official language! (Note: The United States does not have an official language)

Oh, maybe the act is discriminatory against the "reformed" states with a history of racism and other forms of discrimination. Why should they have to run their election laws by the federal government. I mean states like Texas (James Byrd), Alabama (continues to permit segregated schools) and Mississippi (Trent Lott) have all reformed, right?

So yeah, I just wanted to share with everyone my surprise at being wrong for once! Peace.


P.S. Keep your eyes on this. If the voting rights act isn't extended, tens of millions of people WILL be disenfranchised.

Traffic sucks, but this could make it better

While reading the newspaper (latimes.com constitutes a newspaper for me now), I came across an article about a $3 billion study that suggested building a 4.5-mile long tunnel under South Pasadena to connect the Long Beach (710) Freeway to the Pasadena (210) Freeway.

First thought: "Are they crazy?"

Second thought: "When are they going to start?"

I mean, let's face it, traffic sucks. That semi-Downtown/semi-San Gabriel Valley area is particularly bad.

Of course earthquakes are another thing people think of whenever it comes to building a tunnel, or anything for that matter, underground in Los Angeles. Well, Japan has tunnels. They have survived earthquakes. Plenty of earthquakes actually. And as the article points out, engineers actually think it'd be safer in the tunnel during an earthquake than it'd be on one of Los Angeles' freeways.

Finally, I just think it'd be great to do something big in Los Angeles. We are always thinking small. Add a carpool lane here, make reversable lanes, put in left-turn signals. A tunnel would be something huge. But its impact could be even huger, sorry bigger.