Let Them Eat Top Two
John Wildermuth, writing in this space, made an argument to which I’m deeply sympathetic: we should embrace the top two primary because it makes for better stories. “Even the folks who don’t particularly like California’s new top-two primary system have to admit that it’s going to make elections a lot more fun to watch in […]
Margaret Thatcher—A Memory
Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who passed away today, had a California connection which I was aware of beyond the obvious – her teaming on so many fronts with California’s former governor and U. S. President, Ronald Reagan. Around the time Thatcher became Prime Minister in 1979 she met in England with Howard Jarvis, […]
Politics is Show Business for Ugly People – Except in CA
California, the fabled land of “beautiful people,” apparently has pretty good-looking politicians as well. President Barack Obama kicked up a storm when he praised California Attorney General, Kamala Harris, among having other positive attributes, as being “by far the best looking attorney general in the country.” Gaining less attention but in the same vein, the […]
Stockton’s Trend-Setting Bankruptcy
Ever since the city of Stockton issued bonds as a means of paying off its pension debt in 2007, it has been in a slow, steady march to the expected city bankruptcy that was approved, fittingly on April Fool’s Day, 2013. The irony of the declaration is that the U.S. Bankruptcy Judge who is overseeing […]
Fracking Offers Jerry Brown a Watershed Moment
The recent announcement that Jerry Brown is studying “fracking” in California, suggests that our governor may be waking up to the long-term reality facing our state. It demonstrates that, despite the almost embarrassing praise from East Coast media about his energy and green policies, Brown likely knows full well that the state’s current course, to […]