The LA Times Goes to Birmingham

“Hi, I’m Peter King, with the LA Times. No, not that Peter King. I’m Peter H. King. That’s what I use for my byline.”
“I’m here in Birmingham, Alabama. I’m hanging out in this park all day. No, I haven’t really been anywhere else in town, but here’s my pitch: I’m going to hang out in [...]

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Proposition 7 Again

Last month I wrote a post about California’s Proposition 7 that’s gotten a lot of visits and interest from all kinds of folks. One of the things that worried me when I wrote that post was how little had been written about the initiative despite its gigantic costs and potentially serious benefits and costs. Now [...]

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On The Ballot: Proposition 10

Initiative-happy Californians have a lot on their plate this fall. In addition to Propositions 4 (parental notification for abortions), 7 (they’re calling it “Big Solar” – certainly it will crush “Small Solar”), and 8 (heteronormativity for everyone!), they’ve got Proposition 10 to consider as well. This one is likely to be confused with Prop 7 [...]

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Getting Schooled

There are many ways to lie. Perhaps there are even more ways to lie with statistics. There’s an almost magical quality about being numerate when others aren’t. You can generate some numbers, tell others what they mean, and they may (if you’re lucky) believe you. Just so with concepts like “proficiency.” Tests that measure proficiency [...]

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On the ballot: Proposition 7

So far in the last month, we’ve talked about Proposition 4 and Proposition 8. Continuing our look at the California ballot, it’s Proposition 7 day here at Toxic Culture. This initiative would require California utilities to get half of their power from renewable energy sources by 2025. This would mean a 2% increase in renewable [...]

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On the ballot: Proposition 4

There you go again. Proposition 4, on the ballot this November in California, would require doctors to notify the parents of teenagers looking to get abortions. It’s basically the same as propositions voted down in 2005 and 2006 (Prop 73 and Prop 85, respectively). This time around, the law’s branded as “Sarah’s Law.” According to [...]

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Learning to Drive

Formally, I learned to drive in Albuquerque, New Mexico. That’s where I’m from. My father taught me in a 1974 Volvo sedan that was bought the same year I was born. It was dark blue and instead of a tape deck it had one of those radios where you push thick buttons to jump around. [...]

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The case for extending foster care

The Golden State’s not so shiny if you happen to be one of the nearly 100,000 children in foster care in a given year. We’ve got 18% of the nation’s foster care population, and like many states we’re shirking our proxy parental responsibilities.
Foster care is for children who are seriously abused or neglected. It is [...]

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Happy Anniversary, Getty Gardens

One of the great places in Los Angeles is the Getty Center, a towering white facility way above the city in the hills. On a clear day you can see the ocean, and on just about any other day you can see (for free!) the collections and wander the oversize white buildings that manage to [...]

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Worse Than Texas

When someone describes your home state as more kill-happy than Texas, you know you are living in dark days. Worse than Texas? Turns out that Phillip Alston, a United Nations Human Rights Council Special Envoy, took time on Monday to issue a blistering report about a trip he took to Alabama where he met with [...]

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