We all know about “Road Rage” but because of California’s dire drought conditions we may need to get ready for “Hose Rage.” This term was used in Australia during long periods of drought when neighbors would turn on neighbors who were using excessive amounts of water to wet lawns. There was even a reported homicide attributed to “hose rage” in Sydney.
Will the “hose rage” psychology hit California?
Speaking of the drought, I heard someone suggest that the dying lawns in California will soon give new meaning to the term “Golden State.”
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“Senator DeLeón, you are no Arnold Schwarzenegger — when it comes to crushing cars.”
This week in Sacramento, Senate President Kevin DeLeón put on a demonstration to emphasize the need to turn in gas-guzzling vehicles and drive fuel-efficient cars. The highlight of the press event (okay, pun intended) was a truck crushed by an automobile-crushing machine. For those who saw the classic James Bond film “Goldfinger” a similar machine was used to eliminate one of Goldfinger’s adversaries. (Forgive me, Mr. Bond, but, uh… I must arrange to separate my gold from the late Mr. Solo.)
During the Recall campaign, Schwarzenegger had some of his Hollywood friends hook up a huge wrecking ball hundreds of feet in the air which dropped dramatically on a car painted with the words: Davis Car Tax.
More visually exciting than the crushing machine—I was there and saw it happen … and probably greener. Gravity played the key role instead of the power required to operate the jaws of the crushing machine.
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The disaster movie San Andreas opens today with the threat that California will disappear into yawning chasms in the earth caused by violent earthquakes.
Rest assured the “swallow by chasm” catastrophe won’t happen.
Dr. Lucy Jones, CalTech scientist and earthquake specialist, known to Southern California television viewers as “The Earthquake Lady,” was invited to the premier of the movie and tweeted her reactions to key parts of the film. Here’s her tweet dealing with chasms.
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George Pataki, the former Governor of New York, has jumped into the presidential race. His prospects look dim at the moment. The Washington Post notes that he is dead last in a Fox News Poll of GOP primary voters and that None of the Above ranks ahead of him.
However, I wonder if he might secure at least one endorsement from a well-known California politician. I was in the room with Pataki and former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan when Riordan was mounting a run for governor in 2001 with Pataki’s encouragement. Will Riordan return the favor?