NATION: You Do Realize They Are Human, Don't You?

Working Theory: I've stated many times that in my anecdotal experience, about half of our SLO population hates the homeless, and about half feel that we need to do more to help them. The high "hate" percentage has always confused me, because basic humanity calls for treating all people with a certain level of dignity, even those we don't like. For instance, the Israelis and America both give 100's of millions of dollars to the Palestinians every year, even though the Palestinians primary reason for living appears to be the killing of all Jews. So why so much hate for our homeless brothers and sisters? That is the topic of this article.

The Spanish Ruled our California Missions: I've been putting together a presentation on the California Missions for a local community service group on 2/3/2016. While thumbing through my extensive library on the California Mission System, I made the connection: the Spanish Conquistadores of New Spain in the 1500's, as well as the more recent Friars and Soldiers of our California Mission system in the late 1700's and early 1800's, both somehow saw Native Americans as less than human. In addition, a theory has been posited that in order to treat slaves in our early days of America so poorly, you had to see them as somehow less than human. 

Let's start with this book I just ordered from Amazon, called Less Than Human: The Psychology of Cruelty, which you can read about by clicking here. 

An excerpt from the book: In ancient Chinese, Egyptian and Mesopotamian literature, the author found repeated references to enemies as subhuman creatures. When people dehumanize others, they actually conceive of them as subhuman creatures. When the Nazis described Jews as Untermenschen, or subhumans, they didn't mean it metaphorically. They didn't mean they were like subhumans. They meant they were literally subhuman."

Above: Our stone age Indians crafted deadly arrowheads from obsidian, as in this beautiful example from California. What are our homeless capable of, if given the chance to be productive? At this rate, we'll never know.

HISTORY: Things you didn't know about our central coast missions - 2/3/2017 Presentation

I will be giving a presentation on the Central Coast Missions to a service group on February 3, 2017. I doubt that it is open to the public, but in case it is, I will post information about how you can attend. I will be collecting some of my concepts for the presentation on this web page, so check back often.

I have visited all 21 California missions, and have studied them all in detail over the years. It was an amazing and transformative time in California history - not necessarily for the better, either! I have never given a presentation on this topic, but that is a good thing. I don't like giving presentations that I have already done before - I like new subjects that allow me to pull together my resources in an area of interest such as this. Stay tuned...

Above: My most favorite mission of all - La Purisima! Why? It's fascinating history, and the fact that it is the most completely restored of the 21 missions. Research continues, as the site is among the least disturbed of the missions, thus allowing new facts to continue to reveal themselves. 

Speaker Biography: Tim Waag has a BS in Math and Computer Science from UCLA, and an MS in Math and an MBA from USC. He has been an adventurer and explorer since the time he could walk, and is a featured speaker at various historical societies across the state. He is an amateur archaeologist and is a member of the SLO County Archaeological Society, and works with various Native American tribes in a variety of social and cultural arenas. He is a trained archaeological site steward for several culturally sensitive sites around the state.

Featured Presentation: While we are all familiar with the California Mission system, there are many surprising facts that have been buried in history and mythology. For instance, Fact or Fiction: There were 21 California missions? Answer: Fiction. There were actually 48, founded between 1697 and 1834, with most located in what we now call “Baja" California. Tim will lead a lively discussion featuring little known facts about our central coast missions, focusing on San Antonio, San Miguel, San Luis Obispo, Santa Ines and La Purisima. While raising his 2 sons, Tim took them to visit all 21 “Alta” California missions, and along the way, was able to dive deep into their rich history.

Definitions. 
New Spain in the 1700's:  colonial territory of Spain in the new world north of the Isthmus of Panama

Truth or Myth? The Spanish created the mission system in order to convert the Native Americans to Christianty? False. During the 1760's, officials of New Spain heard rumors of Russian and British advances towards the west coast of North America - a territory that Spain considered to be "theirs". Though this rumor was totally and completely false, as a precaution, the Spanish crown ordered the colonization of "Alta" (or upper) California. "Baja" (or lower) California had already been colonized and missionized in the region of Mexico that we know today as Baja California. 

See the 2 maps above for the locations of the Alta and Baja California missions systems. Many believed that the mission system was forged in order to exploit gold and other resources in the area - also false. The Spanish had determined during previous colonization efforts in the 1500's that there was no gold or other resources of value in California. Oops! Of course, they got that wrong as well! Oh my. The new world, and especially Alta California, was a big place, and not much was actually known about it by the Spanish during their times of conquest.

Truth or Myth? The 21 California missions were spaced to be “one days ride apart”? False. This is a myth that seems to have been created by the AAA (Automobile Association of America) and perpetuated by our United States school systems, as well as, apparently, the Southern Pacifc Railroad. Interestingly, it’s veracity is actually up for debate for a variety of reasons discussed below. However, at the heart of the matter is the questions: were the mission locations determined primarily or exclusively by their distance between each of them? That claim is, almost without doubt, not true.

All one has to look at is haphazard order in which the missions were built, and the slow and weak funding mechanism from Spanish authorities for creating the missions. Just for fun, I took a look at the “modern driving distance” between the 21 California missions today, with some interesting results. From south to north, here are the distances between the missions today on modern roads, as measured by Google Maps (numbers are in miles): 41, 33, 61, 29, 61, 30, 32, 19, 60, 37, 41, 45, 45, 37, 36, 32, 16, 54, 19, 27. The average of these 20 distances is 38 miles. When using Google Maps, they give alternate routes and mileages. When given a choice of routes, I used the shortest distance and rounded up to the nearest mile. Two types of distance outliers are of interest: those that are much too long for a “day’s ride” and those that are much closer than average to each other.

Missions that are much longer than one days ride apart - distance in miles: 61, 61, 60, and 54. Let’s take a look at an example on our central coast of two well-known missions that are much more than one days ride apart at 60 miles. This 60-mile distance is from one of my favorite missions, La Purisima Conception (the 11th mission, founded in 1787), near Lompoc, to our very own Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa (the 5th mission, founded in 1772) in San Luis Obispo. 

In the late 1700's, there is no way you are riding a horse, driving a wagon, or walking on foot and to get from Lompoc to SLO in one day. My research has shown that a prudent horse and rider can cover 20 to 30 miles in a day, thus seemingly to eliminate the longer distances from “one days ride” contention. Modern endurance horse riders often cover more than 30 miles in a day, but horse mortality rates and negative impact on the horse's health increase significantly. It is unlikely that a horse owner in the mission era would risk permanent damage to their horse, just to get from one mission to another in such a short amount of time. Exceptions might be for trained horse and messenger teams of the era, who were prepared for just such tasks.

Asistencias and Estancias:  It would seem that one example alone would blow apart any conception of traveling between San Luis Obispo and La Purisima in a day. Research into whether there were interim facilities between La Purisima and SLO de Tolosa does not indicate that any known assistencias existed along that stretch of the “King’s Highway”. See link to a find web site on known asistencias associated with the California mission system.

Above (click to enlarge): Santa Margarita Asistencia, circa 1906 - author unknown.

Another interesting phenomen with regard to distance between the mission are the outliers that are much closer than the average of 38 miles. These distances in miles are: 19, 16, and 19 miles, respectively. These closer distances are worth investigating another time.

The Franciscan missions didn't start in San Diego. The first few we're already in place Baja California in the Sierra Gorda (today Queretaro state, Mexico) before Junipero Serra ever arrived from Spain. As he expanded the central Mexican churches, he built a series of missions stretching from Jalpan (today Jalpan de Serra) to the northwest, with each mission a days apart at walking speed. Junipero Serra was always known for walking. 

He was later transferred to the California missions, which already were established in Baja California before he arrived. They were spread out along the peninsula and travel between them was normally done by water. Mission San Diego (de Alcalá) was Serra's first new expansion to the already established Baja California missions. From there he moved further into Alta California, establishing the 21 missions in Spanish territory that we know today as "the California missions". 

During Spanish rule and expansion, any road built by Spanish forces (including the church) was known as a Camino Real (royal road). Official Spanish roads extended all across Mexico, including from Mexico City to Serra's nine original missions and on (overland) to California. The Camino Real from Baja California to San Francisco was just one of many Caminos Reales across Spanish territory. 

Works Cited:

Taylor, Alan. American Colonies - The Settling of North America. New York: Penguin Books, 2001.

Links Cited:

Santa Margarita Assistencia
http://missiontour.org/wp/sanluisobispo/santa-margarita-asistencia.html

Wiki Definition of "New Spain"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Spain

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,2996553
http://www.californiamissionguide.com/california-mission-guide/california-mission-asistencias/
https://www.reference.com/pets-animals/far-can-horse-travel-one-day-bf5864aa50254c85#
http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=22722

JUST FOR FUN! Catalina Crazy, 2016!

Above (click to enlarge): Aerial view of Catalina's Isthmus - also known as "Two Harbors". Isthmus Harbor is nearest to the viewer in the photo, and Catalina Harbor, a favorite deep harbor for Spanish Explorers in the 1500's and 1600's is facing away from the viewer.

This walk through California's most amazing water wonderland, Catalina, is dedicated to David Blackford, El Segundo High Class of 1977 (of which I am also a member). Go Eagles!

Above (click to enlarge): our trusty boat, "Turn Key". Anchored on the reef off of Parsons Landing near the West End of Catalina. She's a 1998 26 foot Seaswirl Striper with 325hp Fuel Injected gas V-8 stern drive, packing 132 gallons of fuel, and sleeping for 3 below deck and 2 up on deck. Featuring radar, 2 depth finders, 2 vhf radios, auto pilot (when it works!) and 1 Raymarine Chartplotter Shuttling her owners all over California since 2012.

NATION: Illegal Immigrants Fear Deportation Under Trump?

Disclaimer: I am neither a Hillary nor a Donald fan. Like most folks, I'm not thrilled with either. I'm an issue guy, and this is (yet another) issue-based, not partisan-based, discussion. Like all politicians, Trump makes a lot of promises, not all of which he will keep. Like Obama, let's wait him out and see what he does. How'd Barack do on closing Gitmo? Keeping your health plan if you like it? Etc. If you showed patience for Obama, how about extending it to Trump (or to Hillary if she were to have been elected).

Begin Commentary: Why didn't illegal aliens fear deportation under President Obama? (Answer: They did!). During Obama's nearly 8 years in office, he deported many more illegal aliens than any other president before him. You can read about it on ABC News by clicking here. Sadly, our media propagates this fear of deportation without regard to the facts. Uneducated illegals apparently believe everything they hear on TV and take it as gospel. Sad.

8 years (almost) of President Obama: 2,500,000 illegals deported.
8 full years under President Bush: 2,000,000 illegals deported.
Fully 25% more illegals deported under President Obama, and during a time when the US economy was unfavorable to low income illegals coming across the border. So many, in fact, that many immigration groups refer to him as the "Deporter in Chief". 

Just one quote from the above artcle:

"Based on statements so far, Trump's plan to remove the undocumented immigrants who have committed crimes is similar to what President Obama declared in 2014."

Above: Rick and Chris had a Haunted House in El Segundo again this year. During a break, I took this "Mad Monk" selfie with some kids in line. Blog photos are more interesting with photos. 

I find it hard to deal with all the misinformation put out there by those who know better. Apparently, their intention is to upset (and bring to tears) illegal aliens in our country, and turning them towards their political side. How about some facts?

What will Trump do in regard to deportations? Probably about the same as Obama. So let's wait and see, and not get prematurely upset, shall we?

E-Verify: Hopefully, the Trump administration gets the E-Verify system working correctly (another epic government failure) so that employers have a way to figure out if an employee can work here legally. There have been serious problems all along with E-Verify, as you can read by clicking here.

Here's a quote from the article:

"E-Verify’s accuracy problems mean that Americans are and will continue to be barred from work due to false positives.  Roughly 0.15 percent of all E-Verify queries result in a false “final non-confirmation.”  While that is an admittedly small percentage, if applied nationwide to an American labor pool of roughly 125 million workers, it would result in 187,500 wrongly issued FNCs to American workers each year. "

NATION: Private Unions Good - Public Unions Bad

*****UPDATE: 11/5/2016

I am in favor of unions (under certain circumstances), such as when they are used to correct unfair work conditions and pay, and to deter illegal discrimination. However, public employee unions are a conflict of interest. Union members support politicians with their member donations, and the politicians, in turn, give out generous benefits (too generous to afford, in the case of California!) to the union members in exchange for their politicking and donations. Simple quid pro quo. 

Above: blog posts are boring without photos. "Abnormal Activity" Haunted House, 2016, El Segundo, Calif. Click to enlarge. Scene from the 1973 movie, "The Exorcist".

The government does not oppress it's workers - just the opposite. It coddles them, then pays them more than private sector workers (when you add up the lifetime pay AND benefits). I'm not saying that public workers don't perform necessary services - indeed, they often perform them well - I'm saying that public taxpayer-funded unions are unnecessary, based on the traditional union role to right the wrongs inflicted on the workers. With a government job (even more so with a government UNION job) you are in for life, you can never get thrown out, unless you do, as Donald Trump famously stated, "stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody".

SLO Homeless Update: "50 Now" Program and the New "Homeless Services Center" (HSC)

*****UPDATE 10/30/2016: The Tribune ran a column in the Opinion Section on 10/30/2016 which you can read by clicking here. They are promoting the new homeless services center (HSC), and asking for the final donations needed to bring it into fruition. The foundation needs the final $250,000 in donations to build the center, which could be completed as soon as October 2017 (doubtful).  To donate, go to www.40prado.org/donate-now. The center should be called an "Emergency" (i.e., short term) Shelter, because it only houses 100 of our 2,000 homeless in the county. The only more permanent shelter after the HSC is the "50 Now" program. 

Above: Image from the above Tribune article, which I "borrowed" from them - I hope they don't mind!

The emperor has no clothes: we don't have any ability to help more than a handful of our many homeless in the most meaningful way possible: providing them shelter (permanent or semi-permanent). We have to do better than this, people! Step up! If you have a home, a bed, and food, then help those who do not! Set your pre-conceived notions of the homeless aside and help a fellow human being. Please! Peace.

Also, the various programs in place around the county to "help" the chronically homeless simply are not effective, likely due to insufficient resources. Occasionally I refer a homeless  person to these services, but for a variety of reasons, they are unable to help them, even though they desperately want help. Unless I follow up with these non-profits and government agencies, I never hear back from them. When I do follow up, they report that they were unable to help that person, leaving them to walk the streets and live in our creek beds and hidden homeless camps. 

AMERICA: Government Prevents Tiny Homes from Being a Solution

It's true. Check out this article from the Los Angeles Times: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-tiny-homes-20161014-snap-story.html

A few quotes from the LA Times story:

“There are so many roadblocks out there to selling them,” said Saenz, 75. “If they want to buy it, they don’t have the land. If they have the land, it’s not zoned for a tiny home. Or they don’t have enough cash.”

At first glance, the tiny home movement seems like a perfect multipurpose solution. Often priced at $50,000 or lower, they could be affordable to millennials burdened with student debt and baby boomers with skimpy retirement savings.

Above: Years of effort, thousands of hours, and so far, no "Tiny Home Village" in San Luis Obispo. Our government gives lip service to a tiny home village, but doesn't actually do anything to help make it happen - why? why? why? One possible answer: they already have a home, so tough luck for the poor and low income unfortunates. Also, the poor and the homeless don't vote, so why pander to them?  It's the "Let them eat cake" solution. Photo: "Cabin on Wheels" from HopesVillageofSlo.com

The LA Times story continues:

Travis Saenz of Adventure Cabins, a San Bernardino company that makes tiny homes, has had trouble selling the dwellings because of [government] zoning restrictions.