The 35,000-member California Medical Association has called for the legalization of marijuana, the largest medical group in the nation to advocate that position. CMA delegates, meeting in Anaheim at their annual convention, said legalization was the best way to ensure that proper research on the drug was conducted. The decision marks a major political victory for pro-legalization forces.
From Anthony York in the Los Angeles Times: "The CMA's new stance appears to have as much to do with politics as science. The group has rejected one of the main arguments of medical marijuana advocates, declaring that the substance has few proven health benefits and comparing it to a "folk remedy."
"The group acknowledges some health risk associated with marijuana use and proposes that it be regulated along the lines of alcohol and tobacco. But it says the consequences of criminalization outweigh the hazards."
"Lyman says current laws have "proven to be a failed public health policy." He cited increased prison costs, the effect on families when marijuana users are imprisoned and racial inequalities in drug-sentencing cases. The organization's announcement provoked some angry response."
California's two huge public pension funds, CalSTRS and CalPERS, have asked for delay in putting into place new accounting rules that are intended to provide greater visibility to pension fund finances.
From CalPensions' Ed Mendel: "CalPERS wants more time to reprogram 2,200 plans and is having difficulty hiring scarce actuaries at state pay rates. CalSTRS needs time to hire more staff and begin a relationship with 1,600 school districts at an estimated cost of $1.2 million a year."
“Most of this is stuff that could be dealt with in time,” Alan Milligan, CalPERS chief actuary, told a Governmental Accounting Standards Board hearing. “But I do believe we need more time to implement this new standard.”
"The CalSTRS chief financial officer, Robin Madsen, told the board: “We are excited to participate with GASB on that. We have been in dialog and conversations, and we would like to continue that. We just don’t feel it’s ready at this point.”
The impacts of Proposition 13, the anti-tax initiative that Californians approved 1978, have not only have been felt in California, they have played a role in the nation's fiscal decline as well, as the proposition's spurious economic underpinnings gain credence in Washington.
From Christopher Palmeri at Bloomberg: "The measure led to reductions that dropped per-student school spending from seventh to 29th nationally, prompted cities to pursue sprawling retail development to compensate for lost revenue, and pushed the state into budget gridlock, including a $705 million revenue shortfall announced Oct. 10, by requiring two-thirds approval for any tax increase."
“Proposition 13 set up an unfair and dysfunctional two- tiered system of property taxes,” said Kevin Starr, a history professor at the University of Southern California and the author of a series of books on the state. “It choked off a source of revenue, and the lack of that revenue has brought California to the edge.”
"The measure, approved in 1978, was the inspiration for an antitax movement that has taken hold of the public discourse in Washingtonand in state legislatures throughout the country. It caps real estate levies at 1 percent of a property’s most-recent sale price. Before it passed, local governments could raise revenue as they saw fit."
Solar- and clean-energy jobs are on the rise across the United States and one in four of those new jobs are in California. At a time when national employment grew by 1 percent, solar-energy jobs increased by 6.8 percent..
"Growth is expected to accelerate by 24%, creating 24,000 jobs over the next year, based on a survey of solar employers."
"The industry's momentum is expected to continue despite bad publicity it received from a political scandal surrounding the bankruptcy of Northern California solar panel manufacturer Solyndra. The Fremont-based company recently closed after getting a $535-million federal loan guarantee."
"We have to look beyond the failure of one company and see the tremendous success that's occurring here," said Arno Harris, the chief executive of Recurrent Energy, a San Francisco solar developer."
"Solar, added David Hochschild, vice president of another Fremont solar panel maker, Solaria Corp, "is on the cusp of playing a large role in mainstream markets."
And finally from our "Big Bird" file comes the tale of the hacking of Sesame Street's YouTube page by porn hustlers, who were able to put the porn on the site for 22 minutes. Big Bird, indeed.
"What would Bert and Ernie say? The truth of the matter is that the channel is regularly visited by young children, and parents trust that the page will be safe for them to view."
"The NSFW content was available for all the world to see for approximately 20 minutes, before the channel was suspended for "repeated or severe violations of our Community Guidelines."
Good thing Kermet and Miss Piggy weren't involved....
