Congressman Schiff: Ready for His Close-Up
With Barack Obama keeping a low profile and Bill and Hillary Clinton sidelined, there has been a lot of hand wringing about the lack of fresh Democratic leadership. Now, from the relative obscurity of the California Congressional delegation, a new Democratic “person of the hour” has materialized –Congressman Adam Schiff (D-Burbank). “Before the election of […]
There Ought to Be a Law…That is Ignored
UCLA basketball is facing Kentucky in the Sweet 16 tonight in Memphis, Tennessee. Eyebrows were raised when the trip to Tennessee was justified despite a state law that prohibits California tax-supported individuals from traveling to certain states blackballed because those states passed laws tabbed discriminatory by California politicians. Tennessee has a law that allows therapists […]
California’s Goodreads and the New Economic Order
Michael Larsen is one of the deans of literary agents in the United States, who established Larsen-Pomada Literary Agents in 1972 and has represented hundreds of books since. Last month, at the sold-out San Francisco Writers Conference he acknowledged the mounting challenges facing authors in the past few years—the stagnant book industry sales, the shuttering […]
Hollywood’s Self-Inflicted Wounds
No industry is more identified with Southern California than entertainment. Yet, in the past, the industry’s appeal has lain in identifying with the always-changing values and mythos of American society. But, today, that connection is being undermined, not just by technology, but also by a seemingly self-conscious decision to sever the industry’s links with roughly […]
Recycling Program’s Untruth And Consequences
It’s an old story. A problem arises and government steps in to fix it. A bureaucracy forms, and long after the problem is fixed, disappears or changes, the bureaucracy – unable to adapt or phase itself out – continues to grapple with the fiction of the original problem, creating distortions and waste in the process. […]