A Long, Painful Drama

The reason for Mayor Filner’s failure to resign is obvious in today’s request for the taxpayers to pick up his legal defense.

In office he has negotiating power to get a better deal on Sunroad and unwanted sexual advances, plus taxpayer paid legal. There is no advantage to resign, except to the reputation of the city and to the taxpayers, he will resign only when the pain outweighs the benefits.

For Filner, there is only the continuing bad publicity that is a problem, and that is well outweighed by his upside in staying in office if he can get taxpayer legal support, and even taxpayer payment of damages.

I have no idea if there is any legal requirement for him to be represented by taxpayer-paid defense – that depends on the wording of the existing city law, and if that is not addressed, on precedent and case law.

And all of that may well depend upon whether his actions can be construed as happening as a result of his office. As a stretch he could argue that if it were not for his office, he would not have had access to the offended women – but stretching law is what lawyers do.

San Diego City has already failed the taxpayers by having no city law permitting the forcing of a Mayor to resign if convicted, so I guess the city laws are pretty lame.

It is starting to look like this will be a long, painful drama.

 

 

A Heroic Story, But a Foul Aftertaste

I seem to have my Reading List scrambled.

The Washington Post reviews “The War Below — the Study of Three Submarines That Fought Japan” and in the last paragraph of the book review notes that the “War Below” covers in the last chapters, the Japanese POW atrocities also covered in “Unbroken.”

I just finished “Unbroken” and I am not certain that I can face a second helping of those Japanese atrocities. Let’s just say that POWs in Germany and Italian POW camps in WWII, died at a rate less than 1%, while POWs in Japanese internment perished at a rate of 37%. And that is just those who made it to POW camps.

“Unbroken” tells the heroic story of of Louis Zamperini, a great athlete who was destined to be the first runner to break the Four-Minute mile at the Olympics until the war intervened and he went off to war as a Bombardier on a B-24.

I won’t give away too much of the book because it will apparently appear as a movie at Christmas, directed by Angelina Jolie.

Suffice to say, Zamperini was shot down, survived (only three out of 11 on board made it out of the plane), and easily eclipsed the previous record by surviving at sea for 46 days, only to be captured by the Japanese. His prison punishment was even worse than the sea travails because he was both world-famous and absolutely rebellious.

This is a great read, and probably the movie will not portray the harshness of the treatment in view of the current friendliness with the nation of Japan.

Zamperini’s sadist in the POW camps (named Watanabi) was listed number seven in the first list of those to be tried after the war as war criminals, but he escaped into the hills and awaited the political decision to grant amnesty to those who survived. Wantanabi died of natural causes, unapologetic, and without spending a day in jail in 2004. The decision to grant amnesty had to do with our new friendship with Japan.

Political correctness trumps history every day.

The California Japanese (aided by friends in Japan) last week successfully stopped a memorial in Buena Park, California, to the “Comfort Women” (sex slaves) the Japanese enslaved by the thousands for the benefit of their military. (Best estimate, 200,000 to 300,000 women were so enslaved.)

The Japanese still refuse to take full responsibility for the war and their crimes.

 

 

 

Thank God For Weiner!

Now that Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, Diane Feinstein and Nancy Pelosi have called for Filner’s resignation you have to admit that Filner is hurting the Democratic “brand”

Heck, even the local Socialists (socialistworker.org) have withdrawn their support.

Filner doesn’t care, and apparently neither does Marti Emerald and the another woman on the San Diego City Council. Those women were the recipients of HUGE union support and they owe their very existence to the labor unions.

At some point, it will be necessary to do a forensic study as to who is responsible for first bringing, and then supporting this fiasco. There are six remaining votes for Filner on the Democratic Central Committee

In fact we have heard nothing from Marti, or Enrique Morones, for that matter.

In view of the shrinking support for Filner, it is even more important that we hear from his remaining supporters.

Thank God for Anthony Weiner, Edward Snowden, and Elliot Spitzer, but particularly Weiner.

Fortunately, New York City is a MUCH larger media market, and media target, not to mention that Anthony Weiner is simply an even creepier (and slightly more telegenic) visage.

Because of actual physical assault, Filner is far more criminally important, but the existence of other salacious activity in larger media markets lets San Diego play a second fiddle on TV.

Snowden is actually far more important nationally and internationally, and he should be given the Medal of Freedom (for alerting the public to the reach of NSA) while serving life in prison (for aiding China and Russia), but Filner is our local problem.

 

 

Democrat Divisions Are Interesting

The divisions within the Democratic Party in San Diego regarding Mayor Filner are interesting.

It is not just, as I have previously noted, women against union labor. It is that, of course but it is more nuanced.

Labor has had sufficient clout to sway the votes of three women on the San Diego City Council into failing to vote, or even make remarks against Filner. The head of the County is a woman, Francine Busby, who cast the tying vote to stop the local Democratic machine from condemning Filner.

That may change as early as tonight, as the San Diego County Democratic Central Committee meets to review the bidding that caused a 24-24 tie just last week.

There are now three faces to put with the accusations, and all the accusations are similar, from women with credibility.

And the local Socialists have withdrawn their support of Filner. They may not be a deciding vote in the Council, but their voice is heard.

And, Nancy Pelosi has finally come out, having first dodged the issue, calling Filners’ actions, “reprehensible” and “disrespectful.”

Unions look to be on the losing side in tonight’s vote. They are not accustomed to losing in Democrat political circles.

Even Democrats Are Fleeing Obamacare

Obamacare is in deep trouble. The support, never a majority, is dropping.

The most recent Washington Post/ABC News poll shows that the support among “moderate and conservatives” Democrats has dropped from 74% to 46%.

The overall support for Obamacare is also dropping, but it will only drop more as companies continue to reduce the hours of employees in order to stay under the required number of hours for triggering the need to provide Obamacare.

The Washington Post has a story about an Adjunct Professor in Virginia whose classroom hours have been cut to get him under the 30 hour a week trigger, and that cut has cost him $8,000 a year. This sort of thing is happening all across America, and it is even more relevant in food services and the hospitality industries.

The president has delayed the implementation of the corporate rules, but industry is not waiting for that shoe to drop because if it is coming, it must be prepared for.

It’s going to get worse for the president before it gets better.

Filner Picked on the WRONG Woman

Well we now have the first face to put with the Filthy Filner sex scandal, and, interestingly, and it is another Progressive and former supporter.

She is also a former “journalist” with the San Diego Union Tribune, so she is well known in the media, has served as a media spokeswoman – that gives her immediate credibility with the press. Talk about picking on the exact wrong person to hit on!

(It also demonstrates, as if we did not already know it, the symbiotic relationship between the press and government.)

With an acknowledgement that Progressives are the ones who have brought this Progressive to task for his actions, even Progressives must admit that it is other Progressives who provide the support that lets Filner think he can hang on.

Republicans can only, and should, stay out of this fight. This fight is between factions of the Progressive movement, which like the Democratic Party in general is a political party of cooperating Special Interests. In this case, women are on one side and unions on the other, so instead of cooperating, they are competing..

It is also, to some extent, a class divide, pitting North County upper class against working class individuals south of Route 8.

Into this internecine warfare, Republicans and Independents are unlikely to trespass, letting the bloodletting take its toll on a surging Democratic Party that has its first San Diego Mayor in decades.

The fact is that Democrats in the party apparatus KNEW that Filner was, is, a boorish, angry, and unstable individual — but, he had the name-recognition necessary to win in a sea of generally low-information voters. They gambled, hoping Filner would not explode — but they gambled against the odds and lost.

Should Filner resign? Perhaps, if you only look at both politics and justice, but if you look at it from another angle, Filner has not done enough damage to alert those who voted for him of their responsibility for this fiasco.

Some important elected Democrats have publicly fallen on their swords, but some still have not, and more importantly, many voters are still not following the impact, even as they did not follow Filners’ abrasive, angry, unstable history.

Given enough time and chaos, no one will ever admit voting for Filner, just as in days past no one admitted voting for Nixon.

Fortunately, Filner is cooperating in the chaos, and soon there will not be a former Democrat in San Diego.

Filner should stay until the very last Democrat in San Diego cries “basta.”

More On The Filner Reality Show

Enrique Morones, described as “a community activist and organizer” in voiceofsandiego.org, writes that, “As mayor, as in previous positions, Filner has been doing a great job: binational Olympic hopes, the Balboa Park 2015 celebration, the homeless, etc.”

Exactly!

Progressives, who have a nasty habit of claiming the high ground and contending that everyone else, by definition is on the low road, seems perfectly willing to assign women to a subservient and sexual position, and San Diego to a permanent Reality Show status in media, in order to further the Progressive agenda.

Perhaps the Independents, whose votes swing elections everywhere, will remember this episode in future elections, and perhaps, just perhaps, women will reflect upon their slavish adherence to the Democratic Party and remember who really is supporting a “War on Women.”

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There is a question as to what should be done with the PREVIOUS local, downtown City Library, now empty, downtown.

How about: Convert the previous library building to a sanctuary for the women on Filner’s staff, one with an entry sign that reads, “Filthy Filner Free Zone,”

There could be a Reading Room, featuring books on Sexual Harassment And The Abandonment Of Women To The Advancement Of The Overall Progressive Movement, and restrooms with decontamination chambers. There could be kiosks featuring chain mail underwear, and air horns (Rape whistles are too quiet to deter Mayor Filner).

The building could even contain a full TV studio, so national media could broadcast the San Diego Mayoralty Reality Show that we have recently become. The San Diego Sanctuary could have a Dance Studio to give women the moves to avoid the Filner Grasp, and a running track to keep the women quick enough to run away.

There could be a Francine Busby Waffle Shop,

A Donna Fry Hair Salon.

A Marti Emerald Nautical Shop called “Go Down With The Ship”

The opportunities are endless, and growing.

Detroit’s Wounds Are Self-inflicted

The beginning of the demise of Detroit was the 1967 riot, which began when the police raided an after-hours bar called the Blind Pig where 82 Black people were drinking (the Blind Pig was located in something ironically called the “United Community League for Civic Action”) and the five-day riots that ensued resulted in 43 dead, hundreds of injured, hundreds more arrested (mostly for looting), and more than 2,500 buildings or stores looted. More than 400 families were rendered homeless as the riot continued for five days, and only the National Guard, and eventually the US Army quelled the insurrection.

(There were 7,231 arrests, half of whom had previous criminal records.)

This riot, which many have forgotten, and a lot more find it convenient to forget, was one of the top three largest and most damaging riots in US history, and caused a lot of people to find other, less dangerous places to live.

More importantly, the dangerous people remained, causing a greater concentration of dangerous people causing still more people to leave. With a continuously shrinking tax base, the city was doomed. Eventually, more than half the population departed.

Thomas Sowell wrote: “Before the ghetto riot of 1967, Detroit’s black population had the highest rate of home-ownership of any black urban population in the country, and their unemployment rate was just 3.4 percent. It was not despair that fueled the riot. It was the riot which marked the beginning of the decline of Detroit to its current state of despair. Detroit’s population today is only half of what it once was, and its most productive people have been the ones who fled.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1967_Detroit_riot

“Civil Rights” leaders and race hustlers don’t want to admit this history.

Detroit’s woes are self-inflicted.

Quick Hits

The British government has FINALLY agreed to honor one of the most important individuals in Western history, the hero of the breaking of the Nazi codes at Bletchley Park.

His name was Alan Turing, and his genius was remarkable.

His genius led the efforts, and gave us modern computers, but his homosexuality led the British government to chemically castrate him, and that led to his suicide by eating a cyanide-laced apple at age 41.

All western civilization owes him a deep, deep debt of gratitude.

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Helen Thomas died today. She was a cantankerous woman who unfortunately looked a lot like a female Bob Filner in her old age, which caused people to overlook her accomplishments.

There is a great interest in the proposed (or supposed) iWatch. I am certain that Apple Fanboys will snap them up, but I’ll pass.

Because everyone should own at least one item of jewelry that is exquisite, and men’s options are limited, I wear a Rolex Presidential watch. It has nothing to do with keeping time, because a Timex keeps just as good time. No, it is jewelry, and was a celebration of my selection as president and CEO of a Los Angeles TV station.

I think I’ll pass on an iWatch, if the rumors of that watch ever becomes hardware. (But, as a certified Geek, I’ll still lust after one, and envy those who have one.)

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Last year California authorized driverless (autonomous) cars, and San Francisco has a number of driverless Google cars running about.

Google autonomous cars have driven hundreds of thousands of miles, and the only accident was when a required human rider took over the controls because he thought the software was doing something wrong. Forensics proved the human was the one who was mistaken.

Google uses Toyota Prius and Lexus  RX models, but a new autonomous vehicle has joined the mix on Northern California roads, a diesel BMW 300 series, and it is being tested by Bosch.

I attended an autonomous automobile “race” in Victorville, California in 2009 – it was actually a test in the desert of how those cars did in simulated city driving. Bosch had a VW Jetta rigged so that all of the test equipment was under the skin. Stanford University won the $2 million prize that day even though every car “failed”– the Stanford Jettas did best. (I think my Engineering Ph.D friend and I were the only people in the stands.)

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There is not much to look forward to but chaos and delay in the Detroit bankruptcy front.  The Vallejo and Orange County bankruptcy proceedings went on for years, and this will last longer still.

Bankruptcies are slow and ponderous, at best.  I turned around a computer company for the Federal Bankruptcy Court, and even a company takes years, so I imagine a city the size of Detroit is REALLY difficult. There are a lot of rice bowls to be broken.

Dave Bing has been the Mayor of Detroit for several years. A Democrat, and a former NBA player, he did as good a job as was possible considering the hand he was dealt. I have followed his plight, and admired his skill, but he was saddled with existing union contracts and a recalcitrant City Council and union leaders.

Only a Federal Judge can unscramble this egg. It will not be easy because the city has lost almost 70% of its residents, leading to block after block of abandoned houses. Several years ago you could buy a house for under $500. The city has about 80,000 blighted or abandoned buildings

The Washington Post has a column suggesting several solutions that include making Detroit a tax-free zone to attract business (and therefore jobs), to giving Green Cards to foreigners to move there. Foreign money, entrepreneurship and dilution of the existing criminal element might make the suburbs livable again.

The turnaround manager is an African-American lawyer who, in a city with an 83% African-American population (and 18% unemployment), has street cred — and with his experience turning around Chrysler, has cred in financial markets.

I wish him and Dave Bing, luck. Other cities will follow, and we need a big city template.

The Filner Debacle Enthralls Me

People act as if “Due Process” is the same in politics as it is in criminal matters, and it isn’t. The Court of Public Opinion rules politics, and it demands no proof. Perception is perfectly permissible in the voter’s eyes, and the voters can give or take away on perception.

When Filner is attacked by not his political  enemies, but his political friends and supporters, then voters have every right to have a PERCEPTION that, perhaps they made a mistake in voting for Filner.

I am not now and have not been (at least for four decades) a member of either major party, so, while my remarks are partisan, they are not Republican partisan.

This kerfuffle is absolute manna for anyone in the press, opinion writers in particular.

That it also skewers self-important “Progressives” ne Liberals, who try to hold the high ground by proclaiming themselves as protectors of women, and claim it is Republicans declaring a “War on Women” is just too delicious to overlook.

The Country Democratic Party is, if we can believe Ms. Busby, evenly split on the subject of Filner’s retirement. It underscores the hypocritical difference between Liberal’s rhetoric and their actions insofar as protecting women in the workplace is concerned. (Can you say “Clinton” – although that was consensual, it was still workplace sexual activity between high and low employee).

I strongly suspect that in the halls of the Democratic(sic) Central Committee, the division is between women (for resignation), and unions (against).I I am told by the voiceofsandiego.com that the division is between the geographic of North San Diego County vs South San Diego County. Perhaps. That would be a financial division as well, North County being affluent.

I love it. Divided, the Democratic Party teeters, if they do not fall. Hypocrisy is always a delightful subject.