A round of applause to the Downtown Encinitas Main Street Association for the 'L8 Night' program

For the month of December, DEMA is putting on a great program every Thursday night. Over 20 stores are participating in the program which has been given the handle: "L8 Nights" do to the fact that the participating stores will be open from 5-8pm. Not only will the stores be open later, many will be rolling out some special sale prices and providing refreshments as well. In addition, there will be live music throughout downtown and traveling holiday carolers. On top of all of those other great things, there will be a very special guest in the lumberyard on the select Thursdays (Dec. 2, 9, 16, and 23). That's right, the one and only real Santa Claus will be in the Lumberyard from 5:30 - 7:30pm. It is wonderful that DEMA is putting these events together to bolster local business on the 101 and provide a fun community event.

http://www.encinitas101.com/l8-nite-thursdays/

Where does Encinitas stand going into 2012

Most people don't even want to think about another election season after having just come out of one. for about two months, we are bombarded on street corners, TV and radio, and even on our telephones with 'information' about who/what we should vote for. Most people are glad to see election season gone.

That being said, Election season does leave me, personally, with some questions about what our now upcoming 2012 election season looks like here in Encinitas.

Now that the state proposition banning the practice of gerrymandering the congressional districts has passed, will the U.S. 50th congressional district continue to be a Republican stronghold? Will the district maybe be redrawn in a manner that includes a large Democrat population? Will 2012 be the year that the perpetual Democratic congressional candidate Francine Busby finally wins?

What about the City? A friend of mine and I were discussing Encinitas politics the other day, and she made me smile when she said: 'The funny thing about the City of Encinitas is that there are two distinct and separate factions, and nary will they meet in between.'

With that in mind, who will the factions support in 2012? If you look at the current majority faction, uncertainty ensues. Will Dan Dalager run again in 2012 to get a seat back? What about Doug Long; we haven't heard his name in a while, but perhaps it will resurface? Will the honorable judge Brandenburg make a showing? Will the day finally come that has been suspected for many years that James Bond will retire from public life? I'm fairly sure we can all assume that Jerome Stocks will run again, but will he run on a slate with other people as has been common practice in the last few elections?

Then there's the other faction. In the same way that Jerome Stocks running again is a sure bet, I assume that Maggie Houlihan defending her seat is too (at least from the information I have heard these two are most likely running). I imagine that this faction will likewise have candidates for the two other non-Houlihan seat. Who will those two candidates be? Will we see a Tony Kranz repeat, or will we see a return of Rachelle Collier?

I'm incredibly curious on who y'all think the 2012 candidates will be, please comment to share your thoughts.

Filled with happiness and pride

So, it's been less than 20 days since I started this blog. Let us review all the interesting things that have happened in that time:

-'Megamind' became the #1 movie in the nation

-California decided it did not want to go from 'The Golden State' to 'The Bud State'

-The Republicans took the House of Representatives

-A write-in candidate won a senate seat for the first time since the 1950's

-Former president Bush has been goin' strong on a book tour of his White House days memoir: 'Decision Points' (fitting name considering he was the self proclaimed 'Decider')

-The City of Encinitas has one new councilperson-elect

-John Boehner got dewy on election night (How sweet? Apparently he looked through Glenn Beck's book and found the chapter on endearing the public through fake emotion!)

-Andre Cuomo won the Governor's seat in New York ( upon which point Carl Paladino then offered Mr. Cuomo his big orange baseball bat)
-Meg Whitman lost the California gubernatorial after spending somewhere around $145 million

-One of the Chilean miners was on Letterman

So, in short, a very interesting week.

I also have to say that I am so happy and/or proud in the people (although few of you) following this blog. It is really great to see that it has not turned into petty bickering and personal attacks like on the Leucadian. I feel like the Leucadian is a really great resource for the local folk to discuss the issues, but that is ruined by the incredibly rude, angry, and aimless people who comment on the posts there. High-five, and give yourselves a pat on the back for being civil! Thank you.

If you don't like it speak to city council to get me de-seated

On comments on the Leucadian blog, the usual angry ranters have come to the realization that I am on the City of Encinitas youth commission. Following this revelation, there has been much discussion on the merits (or lack there of if you are one of the ranters) of said commission and my activity on it. Below are my beliefs about the commission I currently sit on.

First let it be noted that online when I comment on something or make a post, I do it as a person, not as a youth commissioner and that anything I say should be viewed as a reflection on me and my views, not as a reflection on that commission.

According to the 2000 census, the City of Encinitas is made up by 25.1% youth. Anyone who disagrees with the existence of the youth commission thus believes that the City of Encinitas should ignore the ideas, beliefs, and wants of the youth which makes up almost exactly 1/4 of its residents, simply because those residents are young and not eligible to vote. This idea of abolishing the youth commission is amazing to me. You are really going to say that the city should do away with its only program that helps to represent and give a voice to 1/4 of its residents.

The reason the youth commission is so important, is because it gives the more informed and active youth an opportunity to represent that 25% of residents. One person complained about the fact that there is a youth commission representative on the General Plan Update Committee. Do you really believe that the city should turn a blind eye to ALL of its youth? This would go against some of the core beliefs this city stands for: you'll note that on all city agendas it is stated that: "The above mentioned agencies are equal opportunity public entities and do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age" Please notice that it mentioned AGE.

Many have said that I am too uninformed or too 'crazy' to be on this commission. If anyone believes this, I give them the opportunity to speak to the city council to ask to have me removed from the commission. Just let me know via comment on this post when you're going to do it so that I can represent my side of the story to the council. Also, if you think the city should abolish the youth commission go ahead and present that one to the youth commission as well (same applies about giving me notice).

Enough of the Leucadia Blog - J.P. Silences any opposition.

The Following post is something I left as a comment on the Leucadia Blog, written by J.P. St. Pierre on 11/2/10 ( yes, the blog where all the hateful Barth supporters sit around and intellectually stroke themselves while talking about how much they hate Jerome Stocks). I left a comment that was later deleted, and then went back and reposted it. The post I was commenting on was regarding how we need to return to civility in Encinitas politics. I actually was pleased with the post until I saw other people comments, which were all angry and derogatory slurs against Dalager and Gaspar (angry inappropriate slurs that were in direct contradiction with not only the truth, but also with the intended message J.P. was trying to send with the post). I started this blog almost as an opposition column to the Leucadia blog, and didn't intend to get into a 'blog war' but let me throw down the gauntlet; they have take their pettiness too far.





The aforementioned post that was deleted because the people that are generally involved in this blog are too afraid of the truth and people actually learning things (DON'T DELETE THIS ONE, LET MY VOICE BE HEARD):

YOU ARE ALL TOTALLY RIDICULOUS!

All of this anger and animosity that J.P. Wants to rid us of comes from this blog! Say what you really mean:

"Hey folks, lets stop all of this hatred and name calling....Unless the hate is directed at Dalager, Bond, Stocks, Long, and now Gaspar" ---- Don't be such a hypocrite J.P.

And Chris, all of the real 'dirty politics' in this election have come from the Barth camp. Barth has a voting record that many people in the city don't support so in order to get re-elected, she contacted a staff writer that was on the verge of losing his job and got him to write liable stories about Dalager taking bribes that the powers that be (The Fair Political Practices Commission) has thrown out and shut the case on; all in the spirit of painting herself as the lesser of the evils. She still owes the City almost 18,000 dollars from that awful and baseless harassment suit that the city attorney practically  made a bonfire out of; saying that it was nonfactual, baseless, and that she had no legal right to make the suit. When are we going to be reimbursed for that one Teresa? When are you going to apologize for your absolute slander of the good men on the city council.


However, I do support the highly hypocritical message J.P. tries to send here. Even when you slanderers are asked by the Grand Wizard of slanderers to calm down a little, how do you react, you go out and say things like: "Yeah, those baby hating, Nazi loving, Dalager supporters should stop all that hate." And then you inappropriately, hatefully, and groundlessly call Gaspar a "stupid Bitch." Then you prove your insanity further by trying to validate your use of the hurtful term "stupid bitch" when your deity tells you it is uncalled for.

In addition, I want you to notice that I post this under my full, legal, God-given name for all the world to see so that I can own up to my comments fully, instead of hiding under pseudo names like "Voter" like the cowards that have commented on this before me.

I DARE YOU NOT TO DELETE THIS ONE! LET US ENGAGE IN THIS POLITICAL DISCOURSE!