California Secretary of State Debra Bowen’s decision to decertify electronic voting machines manufactured by Sequoia and Diebold is a welcome one. There are serious security concerns associated with these machines that the manufacturers have not addressed, forcing Bowen to take this action. Among other things, it has been demonstrated that the machines can easily be hacked, employees of the manufacturers can gain access to the machines, and they provide no paper trail for each voter for a hand count in case of breakdown.
Your search for suspect returned 810 results
Campaign Limits in San Jose
One of the hallmarks of fair and responsible campaigns in our city has always been the limits on the amount of dollars that could be contributed to a candidate for mayor. Many times, the special interests and mendacious politicians (not always a given) tried to get the limits raised above the five hundred dollars per person cap and were consistently rebuffed. Raising campaign money should be hard. There should be no bundling or bag men in the guise of lobbyists doing the dirty work. These forces tried it twenty years ago when I was mayor and more recently with little success; the limits held.
Mel Gibson Livid Over Norcal Recommendation
Launches Verbal Tirade at City Staff
During a quick trip to San Jose to promote his next movie “The Passion of the Buzz,” actor Mel Gibson stopped off at City Hall to make his feelings known about what he called a “bogus” San Jose city staff recommendation to renew the Norcal contract.
Chamber of Hypocrisy
Like other voters, I have received the Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce hit piece on Cindy Chavez as well as the “Cindy Chavez stole my home” phone calls from the same Chamber political action committee, COMPAC. Unlike others, perhaps, I am not surprised by their tactics. After all, the Chamber is an organization of, by and for the local business community. They are empowered to look after the special interests of their members, representing a very small but vocal portion of the population of our city who seek a large influence at City Hall. It just so happens that these may not be the same interests of the vast majority of our citizens.
Haunting on Ridder Park Drive
Kudos to Sal Pizarro, writer for the Mercury News, for his Monday mention of the ECV Clampers “most satisfactory” plaque ceremony in Alviso. Sal’s mention is a bit of a surprise being that Clampers are wascally wabbits whose rough edges (they drink beer) might have sawed against the grain of the PC police at the Mercury News.
Alum Rock Park Albino Menace
Albinos have been sighted chasing cars on ominous Hicks Road. They have been seen lurking about in the woods above The Cats Restaurant in Los Gatos. And a large enclave of albinos frolics in the gorges of upper Alum Rock Park. Urban legends of flesh-eating albinos are not unique to San Jose. Google “albinos urban legend” and countless links from communities all over the world provide harrowing accounts of albinos emerging from the dark in search of human flesh or poodle meat.
Obscure Monuments of Downtown San Jose
Like the city planning document in “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Universe” that was kept in a locked basement and guarded by a leopard, some monuments in San Jose are hard to get at—or find. Within a half-mile radius of Plaza de Cesar E. Chavez Park is a giant bronze rendition of Tony Ridder’s running shoes, a statue of William McKinley, a memorial forum honoring Robert F. Kennedy, the actual cornerstone of the 1887 San Jose City Hall, and a Brobdingnagian statue of Thomas Fallon and the horse he rode in on.
News In Review: Trouble Downtown And At Santana Row
According to the Fly in Metro, things sometimes aren’t so great either downtown or at Santana Row. Some downtown club owners feel like they’re the victims of over-zealous enforcement by police. And Santana Row seems to have been a poor choice for the Italian Family Festa.
A Few Mistakes
I know a few things about mistakes. I have made my share of them, sometimes before rather large audiences. In the last two weeks I have noted two doozies that deserve to be nominated on this year’s list.
Development 101 – Part 3
It is interesting that the words of a past mayor now seem to carry so much weight in the opening decade of the 21st century. Yet these words uttered by Janet Gray Hayes nearly thirty years ago reverberate now as never before: “Let’s make San Jose better before we make it bigger.”
