Memories of November 22, 1963 and Beyond
The principal of my combined high school/junior high school in Massachusetts came on the school intercom the last school period to inform us President Kennedy had been shot. I was in the school library. Shortly thereafter walking to the bus to go home, I came across a student I can only brand the “class clown” […]
A Weekend in November
I had looked forward to that Friday because there was a political lunch that day that would be a break from my studies at Georgetown University. The speaker was California Congressman James Roosevelt, and I remember asking him a question, though I cannot remember what the question was. Roosevelt was the son of the last […]
Can California Survive Another Jerry Brown Surplus?
Oh, brother. California budget history is repeating itself. And so is Jerry Brown. This week’s LAO projections of surpluses for the next five years immediately recalled the last time the ever-austere Gov. Brown fashioned a big surplus. It was 1978, and the surplus then amounted to $5 billion – similar to today’s projections in the […]
Vidak Warns: Water, Water Everywhere, Nor Any Drop to Drink
The California Department of Water Resources announced this week that the Central Valley may only get five percent of the water it needs next year. The Central Valley, the heart of California, is the state’s top agricultural producing region, often called “the nation’s salad bowl” for the great array of fruits and vegetables grown in its […]