These guys are all so damned entertaining to watch. I'm speaking of the elected Republicans that inhabit Northern California. Better to be entertained by them than to take them seriously. To take them seriously would be real trouble; you'd have to give up your hold of reason, your emotional heart and your ability to handle reality. It'd drive you to strong drink and maybe a hallucinogenic or two. That's how Hunter Thompson would have to handle the likes of Dan Logue or Doug LaMalfa: Good drugs to help salve bad politicians.
The anything-but-Democratic-leaning newspaper, the Appeal-Democrat of Marysville, had an article yesterday entitled: Assemblyman Logue opposes homeless rights bill--that featured Assemblyman Dan Logue doing his usual blustering about the cheesecake life the poor and homeless live. Quoting the paper:
Assemblyman Dan Logue, R-Loma Rica, said Friday he will not only oppose a bill that allows homeless people to sleep in public, he will fight it.
"My belief is that type of statute should be left up to the cities and not the state," Logue said. "The problem in Sacramento is, it's a one-size-fits-all approach to government."
Context: A San Francisco Assemblyman has come up with a creative bill that gives dignity and respect to the homeless by ensuring that public spaces have bathrooms and opportunities for hygiene needs. To quote the Appeal Democrat again:
"Authored by Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco, Assembly Bill 5 was written to provide rights to everyone, regardless of housing status, for accessing public property. It would require the California Department of Public Health to fund the construction of health and hygiene centers for homeless people. In addition, officers would only be able to enforce local ordinances — such as bans on sleeping on park benches — if the municipality was providing enough support to its homeless population."
One measure of our increasingly Anti-Social Society is the lack of public restrooms available to the public. I've walked the streets of San Francisco, in need of relief of the number two kind, and have been unable to find a public restroom. Literally, businesses will not let the public use their restrooms; public parks had their public restrooms closed. I finally found a public park in San Francisco where you had to pay to use the toilet. I kid you not. Not everyone has the ability to pay to take a dump. Especially the homeless.
Ammiano's bill is masterful: it rewards cities that have shelters and services for the homeless. Cities that choose to deal with their homeless problem by using harassment or "bus therapy" will be punished. This is a compassionate bill that helps communities make the humane and compassionate decision when it comes to dealing with the homeless.
Assemblyman Dan Logue ain't that kind of guy. He used to push Nevada as a model state when it comes to taxes, business incentives and frugal government. When Nevada crashed during the recession, Logue decided that Texas was the best state to model California after. But back to Dan Logue's Nevada. I learned tonight by colleagues that Nevada is being sued by a number of states for the comprehensive use of "bus therapy". Bus therapy is when you round up the homeless and mentally ill and literally buy them a bus ticket to another state. That's the Dan Logue way of handling the mentally ill. That's the Rural Republican way of handling the mentally ill. And that's what Dan Logue wants to do in Chico or Oroville or Marysville.
Of course, Dan Logue has no clue what it means to be homeless; he has a plethora of homes. He ran a rather shady real estate business for years and owns several homes in the Marysville area. Last year, when it looked like he would have to run in another Assembly District due to District lines being redrawn, he just changed his address to a house he owns in a gated community in the Foothills. No, Dan won't ever be homeless. He is like that greedy old Potter in "It's a Wonderful Life"--squashing humane attempts at creating a homeless bill of rights while he sits back in his luxury gated community complaining about how soft the Homeless and Poor folk have it.
He is one puffy prick.
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