As of now, (2:00 am on the west coast, on Jan. 9) we do not know what the political motivations behind the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, her staff, and those wanting to meet their congresswoman were. One thing we do know though is that there is plenty of hate-filled rhetoric on both sides of the political aisle. Even now, people are rushing to blame people like Sarah Palin and other conservative “tea-party” affiliated activists for this tragedy. However, placing the blame at their feet alone would be intellectual dishonesty.

While it may come out that the person who pulled the trigger was an avid fan of Sarah Palin and misguidedly thought that Gov. Palin wanted someone to shoot Rep Giffords, it would be incorrect to blame Palin. The culture in Washington DC itself is to blame. It is people like former Nevada State Representative Sharron Angle (R-Sparks) who once intonated the need for “Second Amendment remedies.” It is the fault of former Rep Alan Grayson (D-Fl) who claimed that all Republicans are evil. It is the fault of our Nation’s political leaders for letting the political dialogue get this heated.

What is needed is a new sense of decency and respect across political boundaries. We need calm and reasoned dialogue on both sides with meaningful attempts at compromise. One-sidedness does nothing but ratchet tensions to an unacceptable, and ultimately fatal, level. This needs to come from both sides. We need meaningful conversation on both sides. Differences are ok. I am a Democrat attending Pepperdine’s School of Public Policy. I have differences of opinion with my classmates and professors on a daily basis. The difference is that I am able to sit down and have a meaningful discussion that sometimes results in discovery of common ground.

Today’s political climate doesn’t allow for that anymore. Members of opposite parties can’t sit down and hash out compromises any more for free of being branded a “RINO” (Republican-In-Name-Only) or a “DINO” (Democrat-In-Name-Only) and subsequently beaten in a primary race in the next election. As a nation, we need to demand reasoned dialogue. We need to demand calm and rational thinking and reject those who force-feed us simple ideas of “my way or the highway.” The issues that we are facing are bigger than a 30 second commercial or 5 second sound bite on the local news.

We can’t fix this overnight. It is folly to think so. But it can start out of the ashes of a tragedy just like this. Bring civility back to politics. We have seen so many people cut down from hate. Sadly, this was just the latest example.

California Races

Governor – Jerry Brown

Senator – Boxer

Lt. Governor – Newsome

Proposition 19 – Fail

Proposition 20 – Pass

Proposition 21 – Fail

Proposition 22 – Pass (barley)

Proposition 23 – Fail

Proposition 24 – Fail

Proposition 25 – pass

Proposition 26 – pass

Proposition 27 – Fail

Nevada Races

Governor – Sandoval

U.S. Senator – Reid

CD 3 (suburbs of Las Vegas and Clark County) – Heck

Lt. Governor – Brian Krolicki

Attorney General – Catherine Cortez-Masto

Treasurer – Kate Marshall

Secretary of State – Ross Miller

Controller – Kim Wallin

Balance of Nevada Assembly – 27 (D) 14 (R)

Balance of Nevada Senate – 14 (D) 7 (R)

Nationally

Balance in U.S. Senate –

Democrats – 53 (DE, NY, OR, CT, CA, IL, NV, WV, AK)

Republicans – 47 (CO, PA, WA, KY, MO, WI, FL, IN, LA, NH, NC, OH)

Balance in U.S. House of Representatives –

Democrats – 213

Republicans – 222

I look forward to seeing if I am right or wrong!

Good luck to all of my friends out there working on campaigns.  On some of these, I hope I am wrong, but this is designed to be as objective as a former democratic political operative can be.  Don’t get discouraged!  Kick some butt!

“Division III: No scholarships. No television. No scouts. Not many fans. But occasionally you still get a ridiculous highlight like Saturday’s tag-team interception in Washington, D.C., between Gallaudet University’s Tony Tatum (No. 2) and Shelby Bean (No. in the third quarter of the Bison’s conference opener against Castleton (Vt.) State

“Gallaudet SID Sam Atkinson (along with the play-by-play) confirms: The play was ruled an interception by Bean, setting up the Bison with a first down at the Castleton 38-yard line. The last guy who turned this trickwas an All-American who just signed a $43 million contract in the NFL.

“It was for nought in the end: Gallaudet – the world’s only university specifically designed for deaf and hard-of-hearing students – couldn’t convert the turnover into points, and went on to lose, 31-28, on a 20-yard field goal with 11 seconds left in regulation. But the YouTube glory still belongs to the Bison.”

Always a fan of Deaf Sports!

Nevada State Seal

Although I currently live in Malibu, CA, I try and keep up with events happening back in Las Vegas, NV.  After all, I am registered to vote there and have many ties back to the city I call home.  That is why when this article came across my screen, I was horrified to read it.  Sadly, this kind of activity has been going on for years and years in Nevada.  Like other states, where one part is the economic engine for the state and the rest of the state, for the most part, uses that funding to survive, there is some tension between the respective sides.   To learn more about the ongoing civil war between Northern and Southern Nevada, read this article.

State’s South has cause to rebel – Las Vegas Sun – By Brian Greenspun

The author of this op-ed has is the publisher and owner of the Las Vegas Sun and a long time Southern Nevada resident, so his opinion may be mildly biased.  However he brings up many valid points.

Nevada’s economic power is located in the south, notably Las Vegas, where the vast majority of the statewide population lives.  Nevada is on the map because of Las Vegas.  If Las Vegas was not there, Nevada would be a nowheresville state.  When times are good, and Las Vegas has more funds than it needs, then I fully encourage the city to spread its wealth around in the state to encourage growth.  Not only is it the right thing to do, but it will help the State, and Las Vegas, in the long run.

Las Vegas Skyline

However, that is not the case today.  Not only is Las Vegas being forced to hand over more and more money to the state to go into parts of the state that are not Southern Nevada, but Las Vegas and Clark County are suffering from disproportionally large budget cuts from state services.  Las Vegas residents are being forced to hand over more and get less as a result.

Like Mr. Greenspun says, where is the outrage over this?  This seems like the exact thing that the Tea Party people and the conservatives are outraged over on the Federal level.  Does it not apply on the state level?  And if it doesn’t, why not?

An additional aspect of this is the attempt of the enormously powerful Nevada Senate Minority Leader, William “Bill” Raggio (R-Reno) to add seats in the Legislature and other government boards in an attempt to balance out the inevitable result of a power shift to Southern Nevada as the population continues to grow and Term Limits – which were championed by republicans like him – takes effect.  This is a desperate attempt to grab onto any sliver of power that he can for Northern Nevada.

Truckee River, Northern Nevada

I am not saying that Southern Nevada should keep all of the money it generates for the state.  It cant.  The rest of the state, and eventually Las Vegas, would crumble to dust.  I am not saying that Northern Nevada is less deserving of quality elected officials or legislative power or even of state money.  I spent two and a half years in Reno, and I have had the opportunity to travel to many parts of the state, including the North.  Northern Nevada is like a bright green emerald for the state.  It is filled with beautiful vistas and amazing people.  Additionally the businesses up there are able to do a large amount of work beneficial to the state.  Northern Nevada has one of the largest concentrations of mining operations in the country.  A decent portion of the countries beef comes from Northern Nevada.

However, the inequality has to stop.  The state cannot grow if its government continues to strangle the economic engine of as much cash as it can.  The balance of power has been shifting for a while. A last minute power grab can’t stop it.  it can only draw out the pain for Southern Nevada and the state as a whole for a while longer.  We have been in pain long enough.  It’s time to stop the North vs. South fights and fix the state as a whole.  Hopefully, whoever is elected in November remembers that.

Signe Wilkinson, Philadelphia Daily News - Published Wednesday, March 31, 2010

These next two come from a regular comic that I read called PHD Comics.  I highly encourage you to check it out!

The common theme in both of these comics is the focus on federal spending.  The second one is more poignant to me because of the questions it raises.

Jorge Chan - Published 4/12/2010

Jorge Chan - Published 4/14/2010

The Federal Government spends so much money overall, but only a very small fraction is spent on research.  According to economists such as Robert Solow, an expert in growth accounting, 45% of our past economic growth can be traced back to technology and research.  When looking at ways to spur economic growth, is this something we are taking into account?  I sure hope so, but after seeing this information, I cant say that I have much confidence that they are…

Yesterday was my last day at the WHO and I am officially on vacation.  Because of that, this blog will be going dark until late August or so… I may make a comment or two in the interim, but I doubt it.

Thanks for reading and talk to you later!

The WHO

I had the opportunity to talk to someone working in the Global Alert and Response department here at the WHO.  These guys are responsible for tracking the incidences of 25 specific illnesses that can spread quickly.  Essentially, they are on the front lines against epidemics.

Most of their work is done in areas where there is not a strong health network set up.  Things like Ebola can ravage a country and a village and spread quickly if the right people do not know about the problem.  Because not all illnesses get reported to centralized health monitoring facilities, the WHO and the GAR team is forced to rely on an informal network of aid workers and other agencies and groups to supplement the information already being received by the governments.

Another example of something that the GAR team would track is Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).  This is something that the current Director General, Dr. Margaret Chan, is very familiar with.  One of her claims to fame is her experience fighting SARS in Hong Kong.  Because of that history, the GAR team works with Dr. Chan to improve response and awareness.

We talked about the role of WHO in a health epidemic incident.  When an outbreak is reported, the GAR and the affected Member State determines if assistance is needed in responding to the crisis.  If on-the-ground assistance is needed, the WHO would deploy a team of people, including doctors, logistics experts, communications experts and others to make sure the crisis can be contained and dealt with appropriately.

The last thing we discussed was something that has been discussed in recent years; the concept of a pandemic.  Pandemics are international health crises that tax the health systems of nations worldwide.  SARS was a pandemic, H1N1 was a pandemic.  But the question remains, how do you define a pandemic?  According to the WHO, a pandemic is when the illness is detected in three separate countries, falling within two separate WHO regions.  Only then can a pandemic officially be declared.

Enjoy the pictures below!