Sweet Home Santa Barbara

Today I went to a Honky Tonk Country Concert featuring Coldwater Canyon. I actually felt like Reese Witherspoon in Sweet Home Alabama since I was dressed in all black/gray pinstripe business clothes while people were line-dancing and yelling yee-haw (no joke). I wasn't down South though-- just at a Santa Barbara Concert in the Park with Alex's family and a couple hundred well-to-do Santa Barbarans. I laughed when the singer said they would close with the Red Neck Anthem. I knew it would be Sweet Home Alabama, and it was. It was a fun night though, and I'll be back next week for the Oldies band.
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Santa Barbarans may not be "red necks," but, as in every other town, there is a fair share of, how shall we say, ignorant thinking. While looking for news about the fire in the local SB newspaper, I came across a story about a man, Damian Nolasco, who held up a group of people to steal a pack of cigarettes.

Someone posted a comment in response to the online article, saying:

Oh yeah we got a handle on the gang problem here for sure. It's all those youth programs the City Council loves to throw our money at to appear to be doing something you know. Or maybe it's that we just call them Latinos now instead of illegals or gang members - that solves the problem. Meanwhile it has escalated to guns now instead of harmless objects like baseball bats and knives . . . Join the Minutemen. Support 287(g)

I love how there is no mention that this person is in a gang, or even was with a group of people himself. Oh minutemen.
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On a somewhat related less racist but more constitutionally precarious note . . .

There was a column in the Santa Barbara Independent today about the gang situation. The columnist lambasted the mayor for trying to solve the gang problems by having "basket weaving" programs. She argued that the city should give policy the authority to stop and search any person who "looks like a gangbanger." She also said that if you don't want to be searched you should stop dressing like a gangbanger or move out of town. Um, Fourth Amendment anyone?

What I really want to ask this columnist, however, is what exactly does a gangbanger look like. When I googled "how do gang members dress?" -- the first result I got said "Today, many gangs wear professional sports team jackets, caps and shirts, so identifying them is more difficult. Law enforcement officials depend on criteria other than clothing to identify gang members. " (Dept of Community Justice, Oregon)

I have the feeling that the description that she would give--baggy pants, "wife-beater" tank top, flannel, bandanas, chains, red or blue, etc--could aptly describe the occasional attire of friends I know who upstanding citizens and are not in gangs.

I could just see the police pulling over my friend AK, who during finals shaved his head, had baggy sweatpants, a white undershirt, a flannel hoodie, and an angry look on his face.
Officer: Let me search you, you look like you belong in a gang.
AK: I'm going to my evidence final.

(By the way, the City of Davis has prepared this nifty guide for parents: Is your child in a gang?)
Gang violence is not funny, just some people's responses to dealing with them are.

For What I'm Worth

Apparently I am worth $6.9 million dollars, as are you. That seemed like a lot of money until MSNBC informed me that I am worth $900,000 less than five years ago.

The EPA came up with this number based on what people are paid to avoid certain risks. The article explains it better, but it seems pretty random to me. Why this matters is actually important, however. The article explains:

When drawing up regulations, government agencies put a value on human life and then weigh the costs versus the lifesaving benefits of a proposed rule. The less a life is worth to the government, the less the need for a regulation, such as tighter restrictions on pollution.

Consider, for example, a hypothetical regulation that costs $18 billion to enforce but will prevent 2,500 deaths. At $7.8 million per person (the old figure), the lifesaving benefits outweigh the costs. But at $6.9 million per person, the rule costs more than the lives it saves, so it may not be adopted.

Some environmentalists believe that this administration changed the monetary value of life to avoid more environmental regulation. I would not be surprised if this were true.

What got me excited about this whole thing is that this is Administrative Law. EPA deciding environmental regulations, State and Parks promulgating rules about nude beaches (and being sued when they don't have public hearings- LA Times article), and what I deal with at work-- California Department of Education bossing around school districts.

Now that Alex is taking an administrative law class, I am working on it all day long, and I am editing administrative law review papers, I feel like it's all admin, all the time. And I kind of like it.

Battle Royale

In the same way that I bring a path of natural disasters wherever I go, I also have a knack for coming from states with . . . unorthodox politicians.

Rumors have been circulating the internet about Jesse "the Body" Ventura jumping into the Minnesota Senate race, challenging Democratic nominee/Comedian Al Franken and Republican nominee/Incumbent Norm Coleman. Too bad Norm Coleman was not Gary Coleman. Wait, Gary Coleman only runs for office in California. The Minnesota Senate race is almost starting to sound like the California recall election.

I do not automatically dismiss candidates because they actors, wrestlers, and Terminators. I actually respect people who run for office because they want to make a difference. Sometimes these celebrities even turn out to be good public servants. And they always make things more interesting, especially with the soundbites:

In classic Ventura theatrical style, the ex-wrestler met a National Public Radio reporter in an undisclosed parking lot over the weekend to discuss his intentions, telling him that Minnesotans should "take a good hard look at all three of us and you decide. If you were in a dark alley, which one of the three of us would you want with you?" --MN Star Tribune

People expect this kind of things in California (we do have Hollywood), but Minnesota? Who would have thought.

Let There be Light (and Internet)

Although the fires are mostly contained (and hopefully stay that way), Santa Barbarans have been coping with fire-related blackouts for the past week. I have sat through power outages and/or internet outages almost every single day for the past week at both home or work. Today, though, was the first day that the lights went off at work; it was pretty eerie.

In addition to remembering how reliant we are on electricity and the internet, SB'ers have coped in different ways:

• College kids in IV party like its the end of the world, as even documented the city paper. My favorite was how they hang flashlights from the ceiling to play beer pong.
  
• One of the lawyers, not able to work on anything on his computer, cleaned his office and threw away boxes of old files.
• I am pretty sure another lawyer left to go golfing in Los Angeles.
  
• The paralegals/assistants wanted to hit the bar for Bloody Mary's until they realize that businesses will probably be closed because of the power outage as well.
• The business on our floor created a mess by buying and installing their own generator but while it was being installed . . . yes, the power went out.
  
• As for me, I went into emergency prepardness mode by stealing a big Mag flashlight from home and buying candles and matches at CVS. Basically, I need light to edit all these law review articles I have to get done by Saturday.
  

I swear, this is karma for me gloating about how perfect it was in Santa Barbara compared to everywhere else. I am praying that the power and air conditioning do not go out tomorrow when the heatwave and triple digits hit.

Going for the Gold

With the Olympics just now a month and a day away, the LA Times had an article about China's push for gold medals. In 2001, China launched Project 119, "a program named after the number of gold medals then offered in swimming, track and field and such water events." I knew Americans were competitive, but the Chinese are hardcore. They are also determined to show-up the West.

The article describes what many of us remember from those little segments they show before athletes compete:

Recruits are plucked from regular schools and from their families at 6 or 7 years old and placed in one of 3,000 special sports boarding schools after passing height, body mass and related physiology tests. Training is intense, and youngsters are expected to spend years doing what they're told without complaining, in the interest of regional and national glory. . . .

"Sure, other nations are keen to win gold medals," said Wei Hanfeng, editor of the Chinese edition of Sports Illustrated magazine. "But other governments don't control your private life, prevent you from dating or seeing your family, force you to live in a dorm or stop you being rewarded by sponsors."

I remember cheering against the Chinese in the 2004 Olympics for this very reason. Sitting in my apartment in DC, my friend G.W. and I explained to my roommates about how we did not want to see the Chinese government be rewarded with medals for running this kind of athlete machine. (for being the President and VP of Bruin Democrats at the time, our staunch anti-communist stance sure sounded Republican). They just laughed at us for making everything political.

Yes I know that there are "cultural" differences, there are not enough resources in China for everyone to play sports for fun, and that some parents in the United States subject their kids to the same kind of conditions and pressure as the Chinese government for sports (and theater, and medical school). And I do feel bad for the individual Chinese athletes when they lose because I can only imagine how much "shame" they feel they brought to their country and family. But I still root against the Soviet-style athletic program that the Chinese have adopted.

...And maybe I root against them to prove to everyone that I really am not Chinese. U-S-A!

We Want Pre-Nup, Yeah

If you ain't no punk holla' we want pre-nup
WE WANT PRE-NUP!, yeah --Kanye West

One of my favorite parts of riding the train is engaging in and non-intentionally listening to other conversations. There is something about the train that makes people feel comfortable talking to complete strangers. I talked to some ladies about homelessness and gentrification, a girl behind me talked to an Italian exchange student about American culture, and an older couple talked to a group of Air Force Cadets and their girlfriends about pre-nups.

This last conversation caught my attention the most. I am not sure how they even got on the conversation but the older woman on the train thought they were a horrible idea because it means you are going into a marriage expecting failure. She went on a long speech about how you do not need one if you really know the person you are marrying, and if you are getting one-- you clearly don't have trust in the relationship. The cadets disagreed with her, as did I; maybe it's a generational thing.

Having actually written an entire pre-nuptial agreement for a client this summer and knowing what goes into them, I think they can be especially useful for certain people (disparities in income, marrying later in life, people with a lot of property, people who have child pay or receive child support statements from previous marriages, etc), especially in community property states like California where everything gets split right down the middle.

Ultimately I think it's a personal decision and has no bearing on the success of a marriage. 95% of people do not get pre-nups yet 1/2 of all marriages still end in divorce. Maybe it's these statistics that make my generation more open to the idea. And maybe we see good people like family friends, aunts and uncles, or even our own parents (well not mine, still going strong after 25 years) get divorced. I still think that most people getting married really do want to make a lifetime commitment and want to make it work, but sometimes it just does not for so many reasons.

To automatically state that people getting pre-nups have trust issues, don't know who they are marrying, or are dooming themselves from the start is a little silly. I wonder how this woman would feel if we made assumptions about divorcees. She was on her fourth marriage and her husband was on his third (and had most of his assets taken away by wife number two).

Summer Selections

Living in a new place with newly found free time, mobility, and television programing makes me feel like I am living a different life than the one I have during the school year. Here's what I have been . . .

Watching on tv: America's Best Dance Crew. My roommate and I caught the tail end of last season and now I am fully addicted. Supercr3w is my favorite, but I also cheer for A.S.I.I.D and Boogie Bots (representing DC)

Reading for fun: Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet. Alex and Oprah both say it's good; I am slowly making my way through the 1,000 page book.

Listening to: 103.3 the Vibe, the Beat of the Central Coast. My brother and I always used to listen to Power 106 every morning driving to high school, and now I continue the hip-hop tradition by listening to this station on my drive to and from work. Though it might be hard to imagine me "bumping" hip-hop in my SUV while dressed in business attire, it picks me up in the morning and I loathe stations with morning talk.

Watching in the theaters: Wall-E. I am not sure if it is "Best-Picture" worthy, but still a good, cute movie.

Reading for my news: The Santa Barbara Independent and the Daily Sound, since I have become an adopted Santa Barbaran who hates the Santa Barbara News-Press (the owner = crazy) and needs updates on the fire.

Eating: more sushi than usual. Between visiting my sushi-loving parents and going out with lawyers who always want sushi, I have been getting my share of raw fish. And frozen yogurt with mochi and strawberries; perfect summer treat for those hot days.