Politics as Usual — A Veterans Day Tribute
My grandmother answered a knock on the front door and was asked by the stranger at the door if she was the mother of Harry Fox. She fainted.
It was early 1945. The Second World War raged and my grandmother thought the man at the door was the one she had dreamed about too many times. In her dreams, a man came to the door to inform her that her son, who has served in the United States Army since 1941, had been killed in action. The dream was so real that when the stranger said her son’s name she believed her premonition had come to pass.
Had she known her son’s whereabouts she would have been right to be afraid. Tech/4 Harry Fox was serving with General George Patton’s Third Army at the Battle of the Bulge.
In December 1944, Adolph Hitler attempted his last, desperate offensive thrust, sweeping tanks and infantry into the frozen, hilly, dense Ardennes woods. Hitler’s armies and Panzers massed in total secrecy and surprised the Americans in an attempt to disrupt the allied front, capture Antwerp, and break apart the Anglo-American alliance.
Reading the Brown Transcripts
The transcripts of media interviews recorded by Attorney General Jerry Brown’s former spokesman Scott Gerber (and related emails) run to 93 pages. The PDF is here.
If you can only read one thing, check out the transcript of the interview of Brown by Beth Fouhy of the AP. This is the real Brown: cagey, canny, and candid. His media method, as I learned in reporting a story on Brown recently for the American Prospect, is to seize control of the interview by asking reporters as many questions as they ask him. The best adjective for this method is Socratic.
A bit of news: Brown makes plain in this AP interview, conducted in April, that he’s a candidate for governor. He hadn’t spoken that plainly at that point about his intentions (he’s still playing a “will I or won’t I?” game), though his candidacy has been widely considered a certainty.
He also talks more straightforwardly than he has in other interviews about his intentions for the state. Brown’s overarching view is, as a character famously said in the film The Candidate, “politics is bullshit.”
Keeping Our Promise
On this Veterans Day it is a time for all of us to reflect in gratitude upon the contributions our fellow citizens have made for us all when they donned the uniform of the United States military.
It is a time to visit, either in person or in our thoughts, the graves of the thousands of men and women who gave the ultimate sacrifice so that the commitment to individual freedom—to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness—and the country that has championed it from the start, would flourish in spite of every danger and opposition.
California is the home not only of a number of important military bases, but also of hundreds of thousands of veterans. While many of these of our fellow citizens have gone on to great personal success, many still also struggle with homelessness, with lingering physical and psychological trauma, with financial challenges.
Our state works hard to keep the promise we have collectively made, in the immortal words of President Abraham Lincoln, “to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan.”
Going Green Key to Making Green
One thing was clear recently at the California Travel & Tourism Commission’s (CTTC) first-ever California Sustainable Tourism Summit – going green is key to the travel industry’s economic future.
An astounding 170 stakeholders – more than double the anticipated participation – flocked to Asilomar near Monterey to discuss the future of sustainable tourism in the Golden State. Representatives from destination marketing organizations (DMOs), parks, wineries, transportation companies, restaurants, accommodations, media outlets, conservation groups, universities and local governments came to share best practices and learn more about how we can all ensure that tourism maintains its economic vitality while protecting the environment and community for future generations.
In California, sustainability is integral to the tourism landscape, attracting a fast-growing niche of eco-savvy travelers who are looking for green travel products and services – and are willing to pay more for them.
Deeper Cuts Could Light the Fuse on Tax Measures
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s announcement that the current fiscal year budget is already $5 to $7 billion dollars in the red may have repercussions beyond the expected legislative budget battle.
With the budget heading toward another large deficit (including the projected structural deficit of an additional $7 billion-plus), the governor is suggesting across the board spending cuts again.
That will not sit well with the spending lobby, which has been mulling over tax raising initiatives in light of the polling numbers that indicate little interest in more taxes from the voting public. The cost of a full on initiative drive has made a number of the big money players have second thoughts about launching campaigns given the sour mood of the public and the down economy. Money is even in short supply for political wars.
However, the governor’s pronouncement will surely become part of the calculus when public employee unions and other pro-tax organizations decide whether to go ahead with tax increase measures. They’re thinking a roll of the expensive campaign dice might be worth the gamble when facing more deep cuts.