Public Comment

Save Ukraine's Homeless House Pets

Owing to the onerous wreckage of war, Giving Tuesday has gained a new focus. The following plea was posted by Greater Good Charities:

"Without your help, pets in Ukraine won't survive the winter. Farmland in Ukraine has been seized and grain stores have been destroyed, leading to global food shortages. Pets who have been stranded or abandoned in the war-torn country are starving. This Giving Tuesday, help save the lives of thousands of pets with your donations."

Politics and Pets: Cats Versus Dogs

That item got me thinking. Are most pet-owners conscientious liberals who believe in care-taking and animal companionship or conservative authoritarians who like to bark orders, give commands, and demand obedience as they parade their animals on a leash?

According to a University of California Press study titled Pets and Politics: Do Liberals and Conservatives Differ in Their Preferences for Cats Versus Dogs?, "states with the highest percentage of cat owners in America tend to be liberal-leaning, and states with the highest levels of dog owners tend to be conservative-leaning." Other findings (as of 2010): "Over 48 million [US] homes have at least one dog, over 31 million homes have a cat, and over 1 million homes have at least one fish."

How does this translate into current politics?

"We found that 7 of the 10 states in which former President Donald Trump had the most support were also among the 10 states with the highest percentage of dog owners." 

"Self-reported dog people tend to score higher on SDO and competitiveness than self-reported cat people." The SDO scale stands for "Social Dominance Orientation," which is defined as "the preference for hierarchy, hierarchical group structures, and the domination of higher groups over lower groups." 

A related Right Wing Authoritarianism scale rates individuals with "a strong belief in authority and a need to follow the leadership of authority figures." RWAers tend to be dog people since "dogs are seen as more loyal and obedient than cats." 

Studies have affirmed that dog-people score "higher on Conscientiousness and lower on Openness to Experience, compared to 'cat people.'” 

Another difference between GOPs and DEMs. Democrats tend to rescue pets from animal shelters while Republicans tend to purchase animals off-the-shelf—paying with cash at a pet store.g 

Fashion Plates 

A collection of personalized license plates spotted around town: 

A grey Tesla: LUVVVVV (Wait! I thought LUVVVV is "What makes a Subaru a Subaru.") 

A tan Toyota 4Runner: TESSTAD (Dad gives tests? The car is co-owned by Tess and Tad?) 

A silver RAV4 Electric Toyota: It had a normal plate but the frame triggered a double-take. It read: "Summa Cum Laude / Accidental College." 

Bumper Snickers 

Horn Broke: Watch for Finger 

I'm only driving this way because I'm pissed off 

Want to See God? Keep Texting While You Drive 

EARTH Without ART Is Just 'EH' 

Dogs Have Masters; Cats Have Staff 

Chicken Pot Pie: My 3 Favorite Things 

I dream of a world where chickens can cross the road without having their motives questioned 

The Poetry of Sports Headlines 

While the SF Chronicle is known for inserting puns into its daily dose of news headlines, the Chronicle's sports pages feature headlines salted with athletic abbreviations, league lingo and playbook gab — a combo that creates a special kind of poetry. Some recent samples: 

Transfer portal shakes up Pac-12 while providing lift to Cal. 

Resting starters watch as New Orleans delivers rout. 

Americans stoke knockout hopes after clutch draw. 

Dons' men stay perfect; Krimili sparks women. 

Bosa wears out Chargers with ironman game. 

Seat growing hotter for Stanford's Shaw. 

Young core left withering on sideline. 

Pelicans beat Grizzlies. 

Return to Sender? 

A couple of back-to-back mail-back questions: 

It makes perfect sense that local property taxes are paid to an Alameda Tax Collector named Henry Levy (as in "levy, verb: to impose a tax or fine; to collect monies due") but why are local water bills to EBMUD sent to a Payment Center in Los Angeles? 

Diablo Canyon and Biden's Billion-dollar Bailout 

On November 21, Joe Biden announced he was ordering the US Treasury to give PG&E $1.1 billion to continue operating California's degraded Diablo Canyon nuclear reactor until 2025. (Note: Biden's Billion isn't a loan or a subsidy—it's an outright gift!) The aging reactor, which has far surpassed its 40-year operational lifetime, has been troubled by breakdowns and mishaps. 

If Biden had offered this gift as a give-back to the country's taxpayers (and their non-tax-paying children) everyone in the US would be getting about $3.06 in extra pocket change. If that money were handed out to qualified homeowners, 100,000 Americans could have installed solar panels on their roofs. 

With the ability to generate 2240 megawatts, the Diablo Canyon site can serve the needs of 3 million people. And each of those 3 million energy consumers has just seen Biden hand over approximately $367 of their tax dollars to pay PG&E to operate its troubled and unprofitable reactor. 

Biden on Hate 

The GOP has two main complaints it uses to throw shade on Democrat candidates in the last election—out-of-control inflation and out-of-control crime and violence. 

While inflation was a worldwide problem not unique to the US, the levels of American violence have out-paced every other country on Earth that is not currently engaged in war—or dealing with the threat of attack from US and/or NATO forces. There have been more than 600 mass shootings in the US so far this year. But you don't hear the GOP grousing about gun violence and gun-abetted crime when it comes to these high-body-count crimes. Even when the truth is spelled out in the very name of the most dangerous of these weapons. "Assault rifles!" The deadly truth is spelled out—right there in the corporate ads. 

When Biden recently spoke out about the Club Q mass-shooting in Colorado Springs, he proclaimed "We cannot and must not tolerate hate." 

If you think about it, this all-too-common statement is fundamentally flawed. A similarly constructed sentence might proclaim: "If there's one thing I can't tolerate, its intolerance." Or, to put it in grosser terms: "We must hate hate." 

Imagine a Day without a Mass Shooting 

The Brady PAC—a gun control group founded after Ronald Reagan's press secretary Jim Brady was shot in the head during the assassination attempt on the president—has a few data points to share: 

• 155% more people are shot in incidents where assault weapons are used.
• Since the assault weapons ban expired in 2004, there's been an 183% increase in massacres and a 239% increase in fatalities.
• 67% of Americans support a ban on assault weapons.
NRA-backed extremists in Congress are doing everything in their power to protect gun sales and block a ban. But with a gun safety majority in the Senate, we have the chance to fight back and FINALLY pass this critical and life-saving legislation. 

Shoot for the Moon 

Live Views of the Moon and the Earth from the Artemis Mission 

Watch live as the uncrewed Orion spacecraft completes a six-week mission around the Moon and back to Earth. During #Artemis I, Orion will lift off aboard the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, and travel 280,000 miles (450,000 km) from Earth and 40,000 miles (64,000 km) beyond the far side of the Moon, carrying science and technology payloads to expand our understanding of lunar science, technology developments, and deep space radiation. 

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