films / tv

The suggested topics for our meeting on Monday, January 26, '08, are:

1. Recent films, film festivals and award shows.
   
2. Current TV shows

Regarding item 1: 

2009 Palm Springs International Film Festival: official site, Desert Sun (active pages)

Sundance Film Festival: official site, NY Times article

Golden Globes, People's Choice, Critic's Choice, SAGs, Spirit Awards, Oscars

Regarding item 2: 

NY Times: Awash in a Stream of Movies - Netflix on TV

SCPD Forum Club

I attended our neighboring Sun City discussion club meeting tonight. Their meetings are monthly from 7 to 9 p.m., like ours. Because they have some upwards of 50 people attending, their discussion takes place at round tables of about 8 people. First, they have a speaker who presents the topic; tonight's speaker spoke for some 45 minutes. Discussion is led by a moderator at each table who afterward summarizes the discussion to the group as a whole.

Tonight's speaker was Marvin Epstein (with rather impressive bio) and the topic was:

The U.N., NATO & American Global Domination.

Upcoming meetings & topics are:

• Feb. 11 - Capital Punishment - D.A. vs. Public Defender
  
• Mar. 11 - Euthanasia
  
• April 15 - 100 day status of Obama administration - Morris Beschloss (see his DS column & blog)
  
• May 13 - Decriminilizing Drugs
  
• June 10 - Topical subjects, finger foods and dessert
  
• July, Aug. & Sept. - dark
  

SCPD Forum Club meetings are held in the Oasis Room at the second clubhouse, Sunset View. Guests are allowed.

Note the use of the word 'topical' for their June 10 meeting. See Jon Meacham's recent use of the term in Newsweek, to wit:

there is often a disconnect between the topical and the truly long--lasting

Getting older / medical ethics

The topics selected for our meeting on Monday, January 12, '08, are:

1. Getting older
   
2. medical ethics

Regarding item 1, update:

Savvy Senior , AARP

Regarding item 2:

NY Magazine: Six medical-ethics dilemmas examined

Predictions / Crime

The topics selected for our meeting on Monday, December 29, '08, are:

1. Predictions for 2009
   
2. Crime and Punishment
   

Regarding item #2: 

NPR: Criminal justice

CNN: Iranian to be blinded ...

Regarding item #1:

• Many at the meeting focussed on the economy.  Someone pointed out a WSJ piece about a Russian predicting the iminent breakup of the U.S.
  
• 1/8/09 update: Here's a Charlie Rose piece about remedies that are being considered.
  

schools / prisons

The topics selected for our next meeting, Monday, December 15, '08, are:

How can we improve

1. Our schools?  
   
2. Our prisons?  
   

Regarding item #1:

L.A. Times: Rate of passage of exit exam is the lowest yet

Wikipedia: No Child Left Behind Act

KCRW's To the Point: Has Barack Obama Split the Difference on Education Reform?

Regarding item #2: Not covered at the meeting

the economy

The topics selected for our next meeting, Monday, December 1, '08, are:

1. How has the recession affected us at Sun City Shadow Hills? Is it going to get worse?
   
2. How's the bailout working? Should it be extended to other areas of the U.S. economy ?
   

Regarding item #1:

MSNBC: Cracked Nest Egg, New crisis in commercial real estate looms

Regarding item #2:

Earlier posts: The Bailout, Wall Street and Main Street

MSNBC: FHA-backed loans: the next subprime crisis?, Here's why it's so hard to modify a mortgage

NY Times: White House Philosophy Stoked Mortgage Bonfire

what to discuss?

During our November 17, '08, meeting, we discussed:

1. the HOA board meeting held earlier that day and
   
2. the process by which topics are selected.
   

Regarding the latter, we reviewed the role of the advisory committee and its chairperson in choosing topics. It was concluded that the topics recommended for discussion by the committee be limited to those brought up previously at committee meetings. The committee chairperson has no discretion beyond selecting among those topics. Of course, the club and its officers can substitute any topics of their own choosing for any reason at any time. The committee's role then is to keep a list of topics ready to be drawn upon.

What are the criteria we should use in selecting topics:

• narrow or broad?
  
• bland or controversial?
  
• visceral or cerebral?
  
• simple or complex?
• consequence - fleeting or persistent?
• scope - local or global?
  
• personal or impersonal?

Also:

• how much discussion time is needed?
• how to phrase the topic??

U.S. election

These topics, from the November 4 election, are scheduled for our November 3rd rmeeting:

1. On our own ballots, who will win and what measures will pass?  By what margins?
2. What about ballot measures in other States?

Regarding item #1:

November 4 ballot: Smartvoter, California Ballot Measures

League of Women Voters: Easy Voter Guide, How to Evaluate Initiatives, An Overview of State Bond Debt

Regarding item #2:

MSNBC: Hot-button social issues highlight state ballots, Outcome

freeway interchange

The Desert Sun had an article about our freeway interchange here and here.  

The public has until the end of the month to comment on all the alternatives

Here's a PDF on our portal that contains the 3 current alternatives.  The complete document and technical studies are available for review at City Hall and the library.

Animal rights /California redistricting / Indio User Tax

The discussion topics for our October 20, 2008, meeting come from the November 4 election ballot:

1. Proposition 2: Shall certain farm animals be allowed, for the majority of every day, to fully extend their limbs or wings, lie down, stand up and turn around?
2. Proposition 11. Redistricting -- State of California (Initiative Constitutional Amendment and Statute - Majority Approval Required) Shall the authority for establishing state office boundaries be changed from elected representatives to a commission comprised of Democrats, Republicans, and representatives of neither party selected from the registered voter pool in a multilevel process?
3. Measure K. Amending User's Tax Ordinance -- City of Indio (Majority Approval Required) Shall the city of Indio amend and modernize the city's utility users' tax ordinance?

Regarding item #1:  

Voter guide: Proposition 2

N.Y. Times: editorial

Regarding item #2:  

Voter guide: Proposition 11 

Regarding item #3:

Voter guide: Measure K

Desert Sun: Measure K an important step forward for Indio

Claremont Insider: Indio Spin Class

Per Gustavo: The City of Indio Utility User Fee Application For Exemption is now available at the HOA office.  If you're 62+ or disabled, you may qualify.

The Bailout

October 6, 2008, meeting topic: 

The Bailout, a review of the $700,000,000,000 "rescue plan" by the federal government of the US financial industry

Was this action needed or should the industry have found another way to resolve the problem?
Are the taxpayers protected?
Why are foreign financial institutions benefiting from the act?  Are they?
Where will the US get the money to fund the act?
Why was the amount $700 billion selected?
Is the act an example of Socialism?

This American Life (radio): Another Frightening Show About the Economy

L.A. Times: Schwarzenegger to U.S.: State may need $7-billion loan

Wall Street and Main Street

September 22, 2008 meeting.

Neither a borrower nor a lender be. Polonius in Hamlet

At the end of every seven years thou shalt make a release. Deuteronomy 15

On Sunday 9/7, the U.S. government took control of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Here are some links related to that and subsequent actions:

NPR update: The Week America's Economy Almost Died

NY Times: A Bailout Plan, but Will It All Work?, Bipartisan Support for Wall St. Rescue Plan Emerges

Newsweek: too international to fail

NY Times: As Crisis Grew, One Option Remained , Few Stand to Gain on This Bailout, and Many Lose, ’08 Rivals Have Ties to Loan Giants, What Created This Monster(Newsweek: credit default swaps), Freakonomics blog

Charlie Rose: BAILOUT featuring Dr. Doom, Nouriel Roubini

NPR: If Fannie And Freddie Had Failed, Fannie's Lesson: The Real Scandals Are Legal

PBS: 11 minute July segment, moral hazard, featuring Bird and Fortune

Scientific American: Economics in a Full World (original)

Slate: Daniel Mudd on Foreclosure, The Death of the Credit Card Economy

MSNBC: How Fannie and Freddie weren't reigned-in

Here's a year-ago online piece about the then federal effort to stem the foreclosure tide.

ethanol / California insurance surcharge

These topics were originally scheduled for September 22::

1. In the United States, as much as one-third of the maize crop this year will go to the gas tank and this is a huge blow to the world food supply.   Should we continue developing biofuels as an alternative to the use of oil?
   
2. Gov Schwarzenegger proposes a surcharge on property insurance statewide to defray the state's cost for fire protection and emergency response.  Should all taxpayers subsidize people who choose to live in fire-prone areas?  
   

Regarding item #1:

From my other blog: ethanol

Regarding item #2:

Press-Enterprise: Fire burdens

foreign tech worker visas / HOA board qualifications / golf course

The discussion topics for the September 8, 2008 meeting are:

1. H-1B visas. American companies recruit foreign born and trained engineers, scientists and high tech workers to help staff their businesses. US law limits the number of such new recruits to 65,000 annually. Should the quota be increased?
2. Resident Board member qualifications for the HOA Board election, Monday, Sept. 29, 2 p.m. Note: A Board candidate forum was held Wednesday, September 3, 2008, 6 - 9 p.m., ahead of our discussion meeting.
   

Our Pete Anderson gave a thorough golf course update.

Regarding item #1:
Wikipedia: H-1B visas

Regarding item #2:
September View pages 10 and 11, for limited statement.
BallotBoxServices login ID: scsh74 . Click on View Candidates at the top for detailed completed questionnaires from the 8 candidates. With his very impressive resume, one of my own picks is Roland Dilda.  Cumulative voting is in effect, so you can cast 2 votes for one candidate.

alternative energy / price of oil

The discussion topics for the August 25, 2008 meeting are:

1. The November ballot initiative Prop 10 to authorize the sale of $5 billion in general fund bonds to provide alternative energy rebates and incentives, covering only vehicles powered by natural gas.
   
2. Is it good or bad for the price of oil to be high?
   

Regarding item #1:
Ballotpedia: Prop 10
Natural Gas: A Primer, Newsweek- NG Vehicles
From my blog on Peak Oil: (T. Boone) Pickens Plan

Regarding item #2:
From my Peak Oil blog: ethics
From another blogger: explaining the oscillations