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A big part of the reason that the California Legislature doesn't solve the state's toughest problems is lawmakers aren't accountable to voters because they come from safe districts. These gerrymandered districts essentially guarantee noncompetitive elections. But that could change if redistricting authority is taken from the legislators and given to an independent commission.
We argue in our editorial today that time is running out in this legislative session, and voters should pressure their Assembly members and state senators to put a redistricting bill on the ballot. Voters will have the final say on redistricting.
The editorial also contains contact information for legislative leaders and local legislators. Let them know you support redistricting reform.
Sacramento Bee columnist Dan Walters also writes about redistricting reform today.
Time is running out on health care reform this session, and the Legislature may again show it can't get anything done of substance. We urge in our editorial today a legislative compromise that the governor can support.
There are 6.8 million uninsured in California. We all pay for them in higher health insurance premiums and the problems contributes to the long waits that we all experience in the emergency rooms of the state's hospitals.
The New America Foundation estimates that every California family with health insurance pays a hidden tax of $1,186 each year when unpaid medical bills of the uninsured get "cost shifted" to the insured.
Delaying this problem only makes it more costly to solve.
Came across a story about an elementary school in Colorado that has banned games of tag among the kids. Seems that some of the kids felt they were being picked on in the games, so now running is permitted at recess only if it doesn't involved chasing.
Sigh. I wonder what school officials would think of some of the games we played as kids. Anyone remember mumbly peg? It involved a pocket knife, which most of the boys carried. Of course, then a pocket knife was regarded as a useful tool and not a murder weapon. Bring a pocket knife to school today and you'll learn just how heavy the weight of authority can be. And maybe that's for the best these days.
Mumbly peg could get a little complicated, but it sure was fun. Wonder if I even have a pocket knife any more?
We all loved this photo in today's paper by Bee photographer Craig Kohlruss:
Geese cross over the new double yellow line in the road Tuesday at Woodward Park. The park opened to traffic again after a brief closure to changed the road from one way to two way. Officials are hoping that the change will help alleviate the traffic backlogs on crowded weekends and holidays.
Craig had this to say about capturing the fun picture: "I've always liked those geese out there but I've never seen them act that way before. I thought that if I got very close, they would scatter. But they never did. I'd take a few shots with a telephoto and then move a little closer ... and closer still ... until I was right over them with my wide angle.
"They were funny because they would follow each other across the freshly resurfaced road to the other side and within a few minutes would turn around and cross back over again. I think the guy in the story hit it right on. They were practicing crossing the road and looking both ways!"
Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez countered my Sunday column with an opinion piece, which we ran in The Bee today. The speaker says the California Legislature has gotten things done and that I have overlooked much of its good work.
Here's his commentary.
On Sunday, I said the Legislature was so inept that it should be abolished. Here's my column making that point.
The Patriot Act has a few quirks in it -- along with several unintended consequences and an egregious number of intentional assaults on the Constitution -- but this one is nasty.
Because of language in the act and its companion, the Real ID Act, Hmong who took up arms to fight alongside Americans in the CIA's secret campaign in Laos during the Vietnam War are classified as "terrorists." That means they can't get green cards, the first step toward citizenship. It also means that many Hmong still stuck in refugee camps in Thailand, or worse, in Laos, can't be admitted to this country. That's particularly frightening, as evidence mounts that Laos is still waging a genocidal effrot to annihilate its remaining Hmong population.
Hmong activists in the Valley and elsewhere, along with a number of local and national elected leaders, are working to change that, as we noted in an editorial today. It can't happen too soon. This is more than a slap in the face to courageous allies, many of whom perished fighting on our side. In some cases, it's putting those same allies and their families in mortal danger.
The Fresno City Council moved ahead with an ambitious downtown project proposed by forest City Development, to the delight of almost everyone except Fresno Mayor Alan Autry. Autry -- once a big booster of Forest City -- was miffed, according to City Hall sources, because Forest City was dismissive of the mayor's beloved pet project, the downtown ditch.
Autry can't veto the council's Tuesday action, since it merely adopted a conceptual plan and gave Forest City permission to spend it own money on an EIR for the project, which will bring more than 700 new residences to the area just south of the downtown stadium. And if he vetoes subsequent council actions in his river pique, that's likely to go nowhere: The council was enthusiastically unanimous on Tuesday, and -- barring an unforeseen cratering by Forest City -- is sure to override any mayoral veto.
Here's today's news story and our editorial.
Last night I logged on to the library system's Web site to see which items had due dates coming up soon. One title caught my attention. "Uh-oh," I thought. 
I got out my cell phone and texted my son, Mikel: "Yo, where is that library book I checked out for you, 'Getting Ready for College'?"
He responded just a couple of minutes later. "It's here in my room."
That's what I was afraid of.
You see, Mikel moved last week, to start his freshman year of college at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. He must have really found the book useful, since he thought to pack it, but he wasn't even going to pack a heavy jacket for the colder winters there!
They think so in Los Angeles where the city attorney has advised police to stop impounding the cars of unlicensed drivers. The Los Angeles Times reports that police police have called a moratrorium on the practice of impounding cars when the only offense is driving without a license. In most cases, these cars are driven by illegal immigrants.
L.A.P.D. made that change after the city attorney said the impounding practice may be unconstitutional. A decision on the issue by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has made the lawyers in L.A. nervous, and they are examining the ramifications of that ruling.
The reason this could be significant for Fresno is that this is a common practice at DUI checkpoints right here in Raisin City. I pointed that out in a recent blog posting.
Here's part of that blog item:
On Wednesday night at Palm and Pinedale avenues, nine drivers were arrested on suspicion of DUI during a checkpoint operation in which typically 3,000 cars pass through. There were 29 vehicles impounded because the drivers didn't have valid licenses,
[Sgt. Eric] Eide said the reason is simple. . . most of the drivers who did not have licenses were undocumented immigrants. It's a reflection of the region's demographics, Eide said. A smaller number of violators were driving on suspended licenses.
The immigrants were otherwise obeying the law, Eide said. Their children were buckled into car seats. Everyone was wearing seat belts. The drivers weren't drunk or on drugs. They just didn't have drivers licenses because of their immigration status.
No word yet on whether Fresno PD is reconsidering its impound policy. But this is a controversial issue, and seems to have many legal interpretations. The Times reported that the L.A. Sheriff's Department is continuing to impound cars of unlicensed drivers. The Alameda County D.A.'s office has told police agencies in that county to continue to impound cars driven by unlicensed drivers, according to the Times.
I've been asked to repeat my list that gives $10,000 worth of political advice for free. I originally posted it on June 5. Here it is again:
Here are my 10 basic rules of campaigning. Political consultants will charge you a fortune for these tips. You get them for free because you read our Opinion Talk blog.
1 -- Be able to say in 30 seconds why you are running. I'm stunned when candidates come into The Bee for editorial board meetings and go silent when we ask why they are running. It's as if they have never thought about this obvious question? And don't say you're running to "give something back." That's a given. Give me a succinct 30 seconds that tells me you really understand what your candidacy is about. Show me that you know what you stand for. If you can't do that, don't run.
2 -- Don't rely on political advice from your friends, family or special interests who won't give you a straight answer. I'd go talk to Dan Pessano. His Good Company Players audiences are the people who will get you elected. Pessano knows how to connect with an audience, and about 90% of getting elected is show business anyway. Pessano is a great coach. I'd tie him up before my opponent does.
3 -- If you're lazy don't run. You better be willing to walk precincts every day, no matter how much money you have to spend or how many endorsements you've collected. Connect with voters on their doorsteps. It will make you a better candidate and make you a better mayor if you actually get elected. Walking precincts is hard work. The lazy candidates don't want to walk. You'll know them by their whining about walking precincts.
4 -- Start your campaign early. The June 2008 primary is exactly a year away. If you haven't already done the preliminary campaign work, including putting together a fund-raising operation and lining up key supporters, you're starting too late.
5 -- Do a background check on yourself using public records and Internet search engines. Have you ever been sued or filed for bankruptcy? You better be able to explain that to voters. And don't think something won't come out because it happened 15 years ago. Your opponents have probably already started Googling you. You just don't know it yet. Opposition research is part of the game, even if we'd all rather that elections be conducted on a higher level.
6 -- Take the 10 top issues facing Fresno and write position papers on each to hand out to the media, supporters and at public forums. It shows that you've thought about the issues and can commit your positions to writing. I'm impressed by candidates who have position papers on the major issues. That takes discipline.
7 -- Understand Fresno's modified strong-mayor form of government. Know what you can and can't do in this system. That will keep you from over-promising when you're on the campaign trail. If you don't understand how City Hall works, how can you expect to be effective?
8 -- Show me in your work, home life or civic activities how you have handled a crisis or problem in a way that gives me confidence that you will be a mayor who takes the right action when major challenges occur. Will you wilt under pressure, or will you be a mayor who will calmly and professionally lead the city through a crisis?
9 -- Show that you have a passion for the job. If you're running because you're bored with your life, don't waste your time or the voters' time.
10 -- Have fun. The campaign will be long and at times miserable. It wil be a lot easier to get through it successfully if you have a sense of humor.
As I read the story in this morning's paper about the latest disagreement between Mayor Alan Autry and the Fresno City Council, I realized how eminently quotable  baseball legend Yogi Berra is.
The article wrapped up with Autry repeating one of Berra's famous quotes: "It ain't over 'til it's over."
That made me curious, so I did a search on the Internet to look up some of Berra's other clever remarks. Here are a few good ones.
From the Web site Quotes from Yogi:
"Yeah, only in America can a thing like this happen." (Yogi's comment on a Jewish mayor being elected in Dublin, Ireland.)
"You don't look so hot yourself." (Yogi's reply to then New York mayor John Lindsay's wife, Mary, after she had told Yogi that he looked nice and cool.)
From Funny2com's Yogi Berra quotes page:
"If you ask me a question I don't know, I'm not going to answer."
"It ain't the heat; it's the humility."
Of course, as is the case with many famous "quotes" ("Play it again, Sam."), much of what was attributed to Berra he never actually said. Berra himself said, "I really didn't say everything I said."
On today's Opinion page, we write about the Bulldog gang's response to the law enforcement crackdown in Fresno. Read our editorial here. Not surprisingly, the Bulldogs are on the run. While it's good for Fresno when they leave town, it's not so good when they show up in outlying communities - Reedley, Selma, Sanger etc. These small cities have far fewer public safety resources than Fresno and they have large rural areas, making it a little easier for gang members to plot and organize in isolation.
It's important that residents and law enforcement in these communities do what they do best - know their neighbors, stick together and keep a close eye on the kids. It may mean that the children do not have as much freedom as they once did, but it's better than allowing gang members to harm, hassle - or worst of all, recruit their children.
Schools, churches, community youth organizations and law enforcement need to ramp up their knowledge of the gang mentality and learn from Fresno's example. Offer to help them get out and get training for good jobs -- or aggressively make them very uncomfortable. Gang members cannot be allowed to bring their brand of misery to the Valley's small, quiet communities.
The resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales was inevitable, even after President Bush gave him continual votes of confidence and Gonzales himself said he would stay. Now the resignation allows Bush to appoint a successor who will lead the Justice Department out of controversy.
In our editorial in today's Bee, we suggest that the president appoint someone who can restore integrity to Justice.
Here's an excerpt from the editorial:
Gonzales leaves a terrible legacy of his own. He has worked to expand presidential powers, undermining our system of checks and balances. He has advocated surveillance without warrants. Perhaps most egregious, he has countenanced the manipulation of U.S. elections. It will take a nonpolitical, independent replacement to begin to bring new shine to this badly tarnished department.
As President Bush said Monday in describing Gonzales as attorney general and before that as White House counsel, Gonzales "played a critical role" in shaping Bush administration policies in battling terrorism; laws such as the Patriot Act "bear his imprint."
That should be seen as a negative legacy, not positive.
The State Senate Appropriations Committee today struck a blow against Assemblyman Juan Arambula's education reform bill that would have created a pilot project in Fresno and Tulare Counties. It wasn't because the bill is a bad idea. Senators sent the bill to "suspense" because the education establishment -- the CTA, CSBA, State Schools Superintendent Jack O'Connell and the rest of the gang that thinks public schools are doing just great -- opposed it. Putting it in suspense doesn't necessarily kill it, but that's the intent of the education establishment.
We'll see if the senators act in the public interest, and resurrect the bill. Unfortunately, the lawmakers will do anything to please the special interests, and the education establishment is the biggest special interest in Sacramento. Arambula is rocking the boat in the Legislature because he isn't playing ball with the professional educators.
Here's the reason that the education establishment doesn't like Arambula's bill:
It would make public schools accountable for the poor results they are producing in California's classrooms. If the schools don't improve, the county superintendent could take over the local school districts. The education establishment thinks it has a constitutional right not to be responsible for what happens in the classroom, and they sure don't want an accountability bill to pass.
This is exactly why I suggested in Sunday's column that the California Legislature should be dumped. Lawmakers have made themselves irrelevant by not getting anything done. They'd rather appeal to the adults than help our kids.
This inability to get anything of substance accomplished is why we have a health care crisis, our freeways are parking lots and our state prisons are being taken over by the federal courts. If there's a problem, the California Legislature heads for the tall grass.
It's time for the public to pressure the Senate to take the Arambula bill off suspense. Senators won't do that unless they feel the public is upset by their action. At least the Assembly had the good sense to pass the Fresno Democrat's bill.
My column saying the California Legislature has outlived its usefulness and should be done away with leaves this question: Now what?
My colleague, Dan Walters of the Sacramento Bee, says a parliamentary system might not be a bad idea. Walters long ago concluded that California is ungovernable.
We also might consider a unicameral system where there's only one house on the legislative side instead of an 80-member Assembly and a 40-member Senate. That way the two houses couldn't duck responsibility by pointing fingers at the other chamber. It might increase accountability and be more efficient than the current Legislature.
Others suggest a part-time Legislature where being a politician isn't a lawmaker's only duty. You might get things done in the Legislature if you also had to worry about having to go out and make a living that day.
But there is no doubt that today's version of the California Legislature is no longer relevant. The state is too big and the problems are too complex.
Dan Walters' column today points out that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, with his celebrity and other great gifts, can't make the system in Sacramento work.
It's time for a change. The politicians won't do it because they like being unaccountable. Redistricting reform would help, but the changes must be much more drastic.
Forest City Development will take its plan for downtown revitalization to the Fresno City Council tomorrow. The company shared some of its vision with The Bee's editorial board last week, and we published an editorial on the issue yesterday.
Forest City has a deal with the city to develop the area south of the downtown stadium, and the company plans a mix of housing and small retail as the first of three phases. The proposal represents a shift in thinking for Forest City, which originally sought to lure a big-box retailer -- Bass Pro was the subject of endless chatter -- but had little success. In the end, Forest City decided to reverse the course and build housing first, hoping to spur the demand for retail and other commercial services once there's a real population living downtown.
That seems to be a wiser course. Downtown is crowded during the work day, but nearly deserted at night. Creating a lively and vibrant downtown requires people who live there, not just daytime workers and occasional visitors.
A committee studying food purity came to some startling conclusions:
"Candy was found to contain arsenic and dyed with copper chloride; conniving brewers mixed extracts of 'nux vomica,' a tree that yields strychnine, to simulate the bitter taste of hops. Pickles contained copper sulphate, and custard powders yielded traces of lead. Sugar was blended with plaster of Paris, as was flour. Milk had been watered down, then bulked up with chalk and sheep's brains. Hundred-pound bags of coffee labeled 'Fine Old Java' turned out to consist of three-fifths dried peas, one-fifth chicory, and only one-fifth coffee."
Chinese imports? Hardly. The study was undertaken in 1859, and described common practices in the United States in those days.
That's from an article in the Boston Globe by Stephen Mihm, under the ehadline, "A nation of outlaws." He suggests that China may be in a phase of "adolescent capitalism," and catalogues a boggling series of crimes against consumers committed by American manufacturers in the 19th century. It's an interesting perspective on today's headlines.
There is a disturbance in The Force. What a weird few days it's been. I think it's just not safe to know me.
OK, first some loser parolee threatened our friends at their home the other night -- scared the whole neighborhood --- cops everywhere, they said, and even the chopper. Fortunately, the officers caught the creep --oops I meant to say suspect -- hiding in the neighborhood.
 Then, just as I was leaving work on Wednesday, the phones went berserk and the fire alarm went blasting. Turns out the basement got flooded, messing up the phones and the Internet, and generally wreaked havoc on the newspaper. Then the fire alarm wouldn't stop, so people had to work with earplugs. Reporters couldn't use their land lines and had to rely on cell phones, no voice mail.
Folks from all over the building worked until the wee hours getting things straightened out. They even dried things out with hair dryers. The next day at the morning editorial board meeting, there was actually talk about "trunk lines" and "modem lines" and "chatterbox." We are frighteningly dependent on very complex technologies that we just take for granted every day. We think nothing of it until they go haywire. Amazingly, the paper was on my porch when I got up at the crack of dawn. That's why they call it the daily miracle.
My husband came in to work at the office over the weekend and our e-mail was down, the Internet was down, PeopleSoft down. And again this morning the Internet is up and down. Geez, don't you hate days like this?
I've had a huge response today to my suggestion that the Legislature has done so little to solve the state's problems that we might as well get rid of it. Most e-mailers like the idea, although at least one thinks it's a dumb idea. One e-mailer offered this assessment: "You're too stupid to dress yourself, let alone have a job, let alone have a job INFORMING the public. Stupid shit."
But most writers agreed with this e-mailer: "They (the legislators) have proven for decades that they do not care what the people want, only for their own careers and memorialization, passing session after session full of crap bills to benefit special interests of all stripes."
Here is the opening to my column, which lays out my reasons for dumping the Legislature:
The only thing the 52-day budget stalemate proved is how irrelevant the California Legislature has become. Change a few laws and we wouldn't need them at all.
State Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata wants to reform the state budget process. I say reform the whole bunch out of business. Nothing the legislators have done over the past two months -- maybe the past several decades -- has made life better for Californians.
They have not fixed health care or made our public schools better. Our freeways are parking lots and they've done nothing. We're running out of water for a growing population and they're calling for another study. They use our most vulnerable citizens as pawns to leverage goodies for their rich pals. The prison system is about to explode and they wait for the courts to fix it. They drag out the budget and still can't balance it.
If this is what representative government in 21st century California has become, I'll pass.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed the much-delayed state budget, and it appears that high speed rail survived -- by the skin of its teeth.
The high-speed rail funds, which had appeared to be threatened by the governor's inexplicable coolness to the project, amount to $17 million, with an additional $3.5 million earmarked for a project in Anaheim.
That's much less than the $55 million originally included in the budget by the Legislature, and vastly less than the $103 million sought by the state's High Speed Rail Authority, but it should be enough for the project to squeak along until voters have a chance to approve a $9.5 billion bond measure in November 2008 -- unless the governor and the Legislature pull that measure from the ballot, as they've done twice before.
Why is getting such a good idea under way like pulling teeth?
About a year and a half ago Mayor Alan Autry convened a group of volunteers to brainstorm about what it will take to attract and retain the creative people so vital to a progressive, vibrant town. Under the sobriquet Creative Economy Council, the group crafted a 65-page document covering the needs and opportunities of Fresno, with a keen focus on downtown.
The council disbanded after the report was finished, but passed its baton to Creative Fresno. That group has now issued a report card on the original recommendations; I got a copy from Suzanne Bertz-Rosa -- a driving force in the creative effort hereabouts -- and it's available at this Web site.
The report card is a valuable mile-marker in the ongoing effort to forge a more vibrant city. It logs some successes, some failures, but mostly points to the need to keep up the effort. Kudos to Suzanne and the others involved in this important work.
If you missed SW Parra's editorial cartoon in Thursday's Bee, be sure to check it out. It's one of his greatest hits. It would look great in any science teacher's classroom. I can even see it framed up in NASA's classroom.
I speculated the other day that Debbie Poochigian, a candidate for Fresno County supervisor, might be able to use campaign funds from the account of her late father, Deran Koligian, a longtime member of the Board of Supervisors until passing away in 2001. She just called me to say she would not use her father's campaign funds, which totals about $108,000.
She said she does not know if she could transfer the money into her account, but it's a non-issue anyway because she said she wouldn't consider using that money.
The Deran Koligian campaign account remains open and the money is donated to various charitable causes a little bit at a time. For example, the latest report shows a $100 donation to Edison Babe Ruth Baseball, $500 to Fresno Central Ag Boosters and $500 to Central High baseball.
Debbie Poochigian also said she she has not discussed using her husband's campaign funds with him, so she "can't rule it in or out at this time." Former State Sen. Chuck Poochigian has about $149,000 in his treasury from his unsuccessful run for attorney general last year.
She already has $168,900 in the bank for the District 5 race and has a Sept. 12 fund-raiser scheduled.
Magsig has raised about $214,000, and Waterston has about $208,000, according to campaign finance reports.
Fresno County Clerk Victor Salazar tells us that he's now providing online campaign statements for many local campaigns. Click here and you can get campaign contribution information for dozens of local campaigns. This is a long overdue service to Fresno County voters.
This site is how I found out that Debbie Poochigian has a line on several campaign committees in her run for the Board of Supervisors in District 5 next year. That money could put her in the fund-raising lead against incumbent Bob Waterston and the other challenger, Clovis City Council Member Nathan Magsig.
Here's my column of last Sunday sizing up the District 5 race.
The Bee's Bob Rodriguez has a good story today about a written apology sent by Pacific Gas & Electric to some 16,000 customers in Fresno. The apology was for a series of recent power outages that have frustrated people and perplexed PG&E.
I got one of the letters myself, and had to read it twice to be sure I had the message right. After all, being a corporate behemoth means never having to say you're sorry.
(I'm reminded of a T-shirt my sister once had. She was working as Santa Barbara County's "energy officer," dealing with the offshore oil platforms in the Santa Barbara Channel. She had frequent encounters with battalions of oil company executives and attorneys, and she loved the message on the T-shirt: "We don't care. We're Exxon. We don't have to care.")
PG&E says it should have the Fresno problem fixed soon. Hope so. We're all getting tired of resetting all those digital clocks every time the power goes down.
Earlier in the week, we wrote an editorial about a proposal for a public safety sales tax. I wrote in my blog that they won't get my vote unless a good portion of that money goes for prevention.
The discussion reminded me of one of my favorite parables about the importance of prevention. It is a poem by Joseph Malines, an American physician, one source says. It's called the "Fence or the Ambulance." There is a nice, frameable presentation of this with artwork on the Internet, but here's the basic text. In truth, of course, whether you are applying this story to dental care, mental care, education or crime, the secret is a healthy balance. Enjoy.
The Fence or The Ambulance
Joseph Malines
'Twas a dangerous cliff, as they freely confessed,
Though to walk near its crest was so pleasant:
But over its terrible edge there had slipped
A duke and many a peasant;
So the people said something would have to be done.
But their projects did not at all tally:
Some said, "Put a fence around the edge of the cliff"
Some, "An ambulance down in the valley."
But the cry for the ambulance carried the day.
For it spread to the neighboring city:
A fence may be useful or not, it is true,
But each heart became brimful of pity
For those who had slipped o'er that dangerous cliff,
And the dwellers in highway and alley
Gave pounds or gave pence, not to put up a fence,
But an ambulance down in the valley.
"For the cliff is alright if your careful," they said,
"and if folks even slip or are dropping,
it isn't the slipping that hurts them so much
as the shock down below-when they're stopping,"
So day after day when these mishaps occurred,
Quick forth would the rescuers sally
To pick up the victims who fell off the cliff,
With their ambulance down in the valley.
Then an old man remarked, "it's a marvel to me
that people give far more attention
to repairing results than to stopping the cause,
when they'd much better aim at prevention.
Let us stop at its source all this mischief, cried he.
"Come neighbors and freinds, let us rally :
If the cliff we will fence, we might almost dispense
with the ambulance down in the valley."
"Oh, he's a fanatic." the others rejoined:
"dispense with the ambulance Never!
He'd dispense with all charities, too, if he could:
no, no! We'll support them forever.
Aren't we picking up folks just as fast as they fall?
And shall this man dictate to us? Shall he?
Why would people of sense stop to put up a fence?
While their ambulance works in the valley?"
But a sensible few who are practical too,
Will not bear with such nonsense much longer
They believe that prevention is better than cure
And their party will soon be the stronger
Encourage them, then with your purse, voice and pen
And (while other philanthropists dally)
They will scorn all pretense, and put up a stout fence
On the cliff that hangs over the valley.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will soon be taking his blue pencil to the newly adopted state budget, whacking out $700 million to satisfy demands made by GOP senators.
One of the places he might find to cut is the $20.7 million that remains in the budget for high-speed rail in California. That's a great deal less than the $100 million or so that's really needed to keep the project moving, but it's the bare minimum required to keep it alive.
If the governor cuts it, that's effectively the end of the high-speed dream for a state that so desperately needs it.
The governor has mouthed the right phrases in praise of high-speed rail -- most notably in this commentary written for The Bee in May -- but his actions have belied those positive sentiments. Now we may be on the verge of finding out the truth -- and it could be ugly.
(Photo: Rich Pedroncelli/Associated Press)
The real caption to this photo says: State Sen. Abel Maldonado, R-Santa Maria, left, gets a smile and a hug from Sen. Elaine Alquist, D-Santa Clara, after he cast the deciding vote for passage of the state budget, at the Capitol in Sacramento on Tuesday.
Is it just me or do these two look REALLY happy about passing a state budget?
The Bee welcomed my old classmate Barbara Morgan back to Earth today with an editorial and news stories, including this one about  students at our dear old alma mater celebrating the famous alum's return to Earth.
Some of the remarks by the Hoover High students in the story suggest that Barb's mission was accomplished -- if I may use that phrase in this context. Her trip fired at least some young imaginations, and that's the best a teacher can do.
And here's a photo from our yearbook in 1969. Cute kid, eh?
So, they want a sales tax to fight crime, hmmm? They'd better think consolidation first, as we say in our editorial today. They also won't get my vote until a whole lot of the money is set aside for prevention - mental health care specifically. I cannot get excited about hiring more cops when I see them stripping the county's mental health care. We don't have enough money to treat mental health problems when they are small, but we call a press conference when it's time to hire more cops to slap people who become severely ill in jail. Where was the press conference for a mental health sales tax? The jail is one very expensive and lousy substitute for mental health care and Sheriff Margaret Mims will be the first one to tell you that.
If they want to raise taxes to prevent crime, support mental health care and treat drug addicts with proven programs that actually work, well then I'm listening.
 Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer was playing with his alliteration during the press conference, saying this isn't panic; it's planning. Let's have one more P - prevention!
Debbie Poochigian, one of the candidates challenging Supervisor Bob Waterston in next year's District 5 race, is running third in fund-raising, according to the political wiseguys in the county. That's true if you don't look at all the campaign statements on file in the Fresno County Elections Office.
This is the way some people see the fund-raising race so far: Clovis Council Member Nathan Magsig leads with close to $214,000, with Waterston having more than $208,000. Poochigian is third with $168,900.
But look a little deeper and you'll see that Poochigian has other money potentially at her disposal. Her father, the late Deran Koligian, still has $108,737 in his old supervisorial account. Her husband, former state Sen. Chuck Poochigian, has $148,848 in his account from his unsuccessful run for attorney general last year.
It's unclear whether Debbie Poochigian can transfer all of that money to her supervisorial campaign. But if she can, she has $426,485 available without holding another fund-raiser. Maybe she won't be able to use all that money because of campaign laws, and maybe her husband will want to keep his campaign account open in case he runs for something in 2010.
But just maybe she is way ahead of her opponents already and they don't even know it. Some think this will be a million-dollar race, with three experienced and well-funded politicians running. Poochigian has proven in dozens of campaigns over a generation that she's a major fund-raiser for others. That's a lot of IOUs, and she hasn't even asked donors to dig deeply into their pockets yet. She could be a million-dollar candidate all by herself.
Either you're sick in bed or you're in school. Those were my two choices growing up, but it sounds like a lot of families are making the whole school attendance idea more complicated than it needs to be.
As we write in today's editorial, poor attendance is costing Valley schools millions every year. The schools are thinking creatively, coming up with incentives to sweeten the idea of gaining perfect attendance.
Step one toward that goal is for the adults to be adults. School attendance is not optional; it's the law. Parents have this job in the morning: get the children up, dressed, fed, and off to school with their supplies on time. Every child has a right to go to school. Except in case of emergency -- say once a year, not once a week -- children should not be kept out of school to babysit other children in the family. That's what mothers and fathers are for.
If the children have attitude problems that affect attendance, it's smart to get help from mentor parents, experienced teachers and counselors. Over the years, they have many methods that can be used to entice students in class.
The basic fact is this: a child cannot learn if she's not in school.
OK, my fingers are now uncrossed. Like millions of others, I've been following the flight of the space shuttle Endeavour for the past two weeks. I've always been a big fan of the space program, but this trip had a special meaning: Barbara Morgan, the teacher turned astronaut, is a former high-school classmate and friend.
I remember feeling bad for her when, in 1986, she was named the backup for first-teacher-in-space Christa McAuliffe. I wished Barb could have been first.
Then came the awful Challenger disaster, and the loss of McAuliffe and her crewmates. I felt a twinge of something like survivor's guilt, relieved that my old friend had not been aboard the doomed Challenger.
And I confess to more trepidation than I expected this time, when Barb finally got her ride into space -- not simply as a teacher but as a full-fledged astronaut. And I breathed a big sigh of relief when the shuttle touched down in Florida this morning. Welcome back, Barb. Good on you.
Have you noticed how much politicians accomplish at the end of the day? It must be significant because they are always telling us about all the things that have happened "at the end of the day."
Consider this description in a Bee wire story about Karl Rove, President Bush's senior adviser, upon Rove's announcement that he was leaving the White House: "At the end of the day, he was the head coach of the political team that won the equivalent of the Super Bowl two times in a row," said a political wag.
Or this quote that ran in The Bee from Sen. Hillary Clinton on her husband's political support: "I'm proud to have his support ... but at the end of the day, I have to stand on my own, just as he did when he started running here in '92."
And then there's that pesky table, as in "We left that issue on the table because we couldn't find agreement." But not to be outdone, other pols take stuff off the table such as tax increases. You can bet that taxes almost never remain "on the table" for very long.
Even the military draft has had table time. "And I can tell you, this (the draft) has always been an option on the table," Army Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute said in a story in The Bee.
And then, of course, our leaders constantly "think outside the box," because they tell us they do. But can you really think outside the box if you are using that description? Seems like it's now a cliche and out-of-the-box thinking has become a recipe for doing what's obvious and not what's cutting edge.
So at the end of the day, tf you think outside the box, have you really accomplished anything if it's left on the table?
There is a story important to the Valley that is getting lost in the news swirling around the University of California. The news of the moment is the controversy surrounding the announcement that Robert C. Dynes, the president of the University of California system, will resign next year. But there is another story about the university's leadership that hasn't gotten as much attention and that is the selection of the vice president for agriculture and natural resources.
As we wrote in our editorial on Sunday, this vice president position is a great opportunity to hire a champion for the Valley's No. 1 industry. The University of California is this region's secret weapon in the worldwide competition known as the agriculture. The UC system attracts some of the world's brightest students and best teachers. Their research provides an incomparable R&D contribution to California's state-of-the-art agriculture industry, which produces 350 commodities.
We need a tested, dynamic leader for this post and we encourage the UC search committee to be aggressive in making this vital appointment. What could be more important than food, the way it is produced and its impact on the environment?
The Fresno Unified School District and the Fresno Teachers Association still have not resolved their contract differences. They return to mediation today, and the opening of school is the perfect time to get this contract resolved. We discuss the issues in this editorial today.
This is part of what the editorial says:
The district and the union have been trying to reach agreement for 16 months, and it seems to those of us watching that a contract could have been reached by now if everyone has been bargaining in good faith.
As the negotiating teams enter mediation today, we hope their overriding concern is improving the education of the district's more than 74,000 children. Put the personalities and egos aside. Every line in that contract must be part of a foundation for improving the quality of education in Fresno.
Compromise is the key to getting this dispute resolved. But any agreement must be one that the district can afford, and it must treat all employees fairly. We must have the best teachers working their education magic in Fresno's classrooms.
Don't be confused by all the candidates running for president. I'm going to help you sort them out. After long consideration, I have concluded that these are the candidates who will square off for president and vice president in next year's general election. You don't need to worry about all those pesky primaries and caucuses in 2008. Here are your tickets:
Republican -- Mitt Romney, presidential nominee; Rudy Giuliani, vice presdential nominee.
Democrat -- Hillary Clinton, presidential nominee; Bill Richardson, vice presidential nominee.
Agree or disagree? Let me know in the comments section of this posting.
The race for Fresno County supervisor in District 5 will be a classic. Here's my take on the three-way campaigning pitting incumbent Bob Waterston against Clovis City Council Member Nathan Magsig and longtime Republican activist Debbie Poochigian.
Here's the opening paragraph of my column on the race:
"Somewhere between being so popular in 2004 that he was unopposed for re-election and today, when he faces two well-financed opponents, the political career of Fresno County Supervisor Bob Waterston careened off track."
Here we go again, Fresno, studying something to death. There have been thousands of good ideas for revitalizing downtown Fresno proposed over the past decade. Many of them would work -- if they were seriously pursued. But we're talking downtown to death.
It seems Fresno's leadership is paralyzed to get things done. Maybe it's out of fear that everyone hasn't had their say yet. Well, they've had plenty of opportunities. If one thing is certain about downtown Fresno is that it's been studied enough. It's time to pull out the cliche: Just do it.
The Bee's editorial today discusses some of the downtown ideas. Here's the final paragraph of the editorial:
"Downtown Fresno has reached the point of critical mass in terms of support. There are clearly sufficient people in the region who would love to have a chance to live in a more intense, livelier urban atmosphere than is available in the suburbs. It is time to give them that chance."
Lots of people have seen the name "Francine M. Farber" in The Bee. She is very active in the League of Women Voters, the universal preschool movement, writes a lot of charming Valley Voices columns and is a frequent letter-writer.
In Saturday's Bee, on the Valley Voices page, she writes about something very personal -- her recent heart attack. The problem began which began with chest pains she put off to indigestion and maybe a little overexertion while playing with her grandchildren at the beach. Her husband, Murray, took her to the clinic, they sent for an ambulance and that led to the words none of us want to hear, "This is an emergency. You are having a heart attack."
She's doing fine now, recovering at home with her husband. She has remarkable energy and had knocked out that commentary within days of her heart attack. Bee letter writers -- aren't they amazing?
The Bee's Matt James has a nice piece today that reveals that Victor Conte, the founder of the Bay Area lab that spawned the latest sleazy chapter in the sports steroid mess, had a very nice time in prison. Conte tells James it was more like summer camp and the four months whizzed by. He could have played tennis, basketball, racquetball, softball, soccer, horseshoes, bocce ball.
Conte served his time at what he called a Club Fed near Bakersfield. Conte, who is from Fresno, is in town this weekend to attend the Flex Wheeler Classic, the bodybuilding event started by Ken "Flex" Wheeler, who is also from Fresno and also went to McLane High School.
Here are a few paragraphs from James' column:
At the prison camp, Conte says, he was invited to an organized debate as to whether baseball players accused of using steroids should be allowed in the Hall of Fame.
"My position," he says, "was that they should, because the overwhelming majority of the players that are in the Hall of Fame used performance-enhancing drugs, in my opinion."
Conte's team won, probably because he went on some sort of filibuster and the other team tapped out.
James Henry, a reader, commented on my blog posting yesterday about domestic violence:
Bee editors: you continue your sexist, and misandrist diatribe promoting that women are the only people who suffer domestic violence. It is stated that domestic violence (DV) in the United States roughly runs 51% male against female. My question to you is who are the "other" 49%? Dogs, Kittens?.
My response: Nowhere in the original editorial or in my blog posting yesterday does it say that domestic violence only hurts women. The news report cited in the editorial happen to be two examples of male-against-female violence (alleged in one case), but the rest of the editorial is careful not to make references to only females being victims -- because they aren't.
"20/20" did a program on men who have been battered by their wives. The transcript can be found here.
Books have been written about violence against men: Phillip W. Cook wrote "Abused Men: The Hidden Side of Domestic Violence"
James went on to point out: "Interestingly, on your front page today is the article 'ACID KILLING TRIAL TO MOVE.' Was this an article about an abused woman, who could take it no longer, and therefore killed her husband because he was abusive?"
The case that he makes reference to may be a case of domestic violence by a woman against her estranged husband -- she has not yet been convicted. Without her case having been tried yet, I don't have any insight into possible motives for her alleged crime.
James says: "Domestic Violence IS NOT GENDER SPECIFIC. So STOP implying over, and over again that it's the man's fault."
My response: I don't think we have implied that.
Now that we get most of our manufactured products from China, it seems that we don't think we have to ensure that the products meet American standards. But hold on. . . Don't we care about whether the toys we're giving our children are safe?
It seems that we're giving our children unsafe toys and looking the other way. It's bad enough that these products are no longer made in America. But shouldn't we care about whether our children are playing with toys full of lead?
Here's The Bee's editorial on the subject.
The first in a series of standardized test results have been released and Valley students again are doing poorly compared with the rest of the state. In today's editorial on the subject, we discuss why more than half of the students in the Valley's biggest school districts are not proficient in math, English and science.
The only good news out of the Standardized Testing and Reporting results was that Valley students are making modest gains in their scores. At least they are going in the right direction, but they must do much better if they are going to compete for jobs and opportunities against other California students.
Here are the troubling numbers: The statewide average for student proficiency was 43% in English, 41% in math and 38% in science. In the Fresno Unified School District, student proficiency was 29% in English, 28% in math and 24% in science. That was the lowest among the Valley's five biggest school districts.
School test scores follow a community's demographics. If the schools are in affluent neighborhoods, students do well. If they are in poor areas, students score lower on standardized tests. Fresno Unified is a poor urban school system, but that cannot be an excuse. Fresno Unified, and other Valley school systems with similar demographics, must find better ways to educate children who grow up in poverty.
I didn't get to yesterday's mail until this morning, and found one interesting item: A flier from Countrywide Home Loans advertising a chance to lower my monthly mortgage payments with a new 40-year note on my house.
I'd just finished reading today's Bee, where, among other things, I found this story in Business about Countrywide borrowing $11.5 billion to shore up its creaky finances in the current mortgage meltdown. The move dropped the company's stock price by 11%. Well, that fills me with confidence in Countrywide.
I'd also read George Will's take on l'affaire subprime on our op-ed page today.
I was especially struck by this line in the Countrywide flier: They're offering me these great savings "even if you have less than perfect credit." Isn't how this whole thing got started?
I think I'll pass.
Until domestic violence becomes a thing of the past, there cannot be reminders often enough about the importance of getting out of violent relationships. Our editorial in today's paper does that again.
There are some interesting tips on the Web site for the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence about some of the ways an abuser can track his or her victim's online activity.
When I wrote about domestic violence in October, I struck a chord with some readers. Here was a comment I received from one anonymous respondent:
"You are so full of **** it streams from your pores. ... A husband and wife are supposed to have a bond that nothing is supposed to come between. ... You people want to think that every woman is blameless, that it is the man's fault, and this is the bull that you perpetuate to society."
I hope Ivanka Trump is not becoming the diva of doom, but it is interesting that shortly after she came here, the Trump deal unraveled. (Cue "Twilight Zone" theme song) And now we see that she's all over the September issue of Stuff magazine -- not a good sign. The party for her featured issue turned into a wake, in the words of Ad Age, because the magazine's in about the same spot as Fresno's Running Horse deal. Stuff calls her "The World's Sexiest Boss" on the cover, with a pretty darn convincing photo. I wonder if Fresno will ever find out what kind of a boss she is.
It's time for some bragging about our website, Fresnobee.com, and this particular blog, Opinion Talk.
Fresnobee.com has been named one of the top 10 newspaper websites, by the Bivings Group, a Washington, D.C., Internet communications firm. The New York Times is ranked first and we're ranked seventh.
Opinion Talk has also been recognized on Blognetnews.com/California. It's ranked California's 7th most influential political blog this week and we're currently the top-rated blog by readers of Blognetnews. These are two separate categories. You can have your say by voting for our blog.
Jennifer Ward is our interactive media editor and oversees our online content staff.
Opinion Talk is written by me, Russ Minick, Gail Marshall and Lisa Boyles from the editorial pages. We also have svereal others blogs that can be found on the Beehive.
I'm a bit curious over the recent strategy of San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District officials to trumpet to residents that the Valley's air is much cleaner. They are doing that in broadcast ads and in commentaries, such as this one from Seyed Sadredin, the district's executive director. As an afterthought, they say there is still much to do. But the clear message from the district is the air is cleaner, and all is good in America.
The problem with that strategy is district officials are essentially telling residents that they can ease off on air-quality efforts -- everything is fine. Of course, this is the same district that has told the federal government that its needs an extension from 2013 to 2024 to meet air-quality regulations.
So which is? Is the air improving or is it still so bad that the air district can't meet federal deadlines?
The truth is that the air is improving, but it is still bad. It's like drowning in 10 feet of water instead of 13 feet of water. You're still drowning.
The district should get off this campaign of dancing around the air problems in the Valley, and push regulations that actually will meet federal clean-up deadlines. The air is still unhealthy and all the air district propaganda won't change that fact. The air district needs to do its job, and stop trying to mislead the public.
How well does you neighborhood rate as a pedestrian-friendly environment? Here's a little test you can take to get an idea.
Go to the Walk Score Web site and type in your address. The site will show you a list of stores, restaurants, coffee houses, theaters, book stores and the like within walking distance of your address. Compare your score with those of friends in other parts of town, or the region, and settle the issue of bragging rights -- or at least get a lively argument going. Post your score here, too.
You could even use this as a tool to check out neighborhoods where you might want to live. Settle arguments with friends. People who want a livelier neighborhood can get at least ideas from this service. Those who prefer dull suburban neighborhoods may even be pleased to get low scores. Different strokes, after all.
There's encouraging news around the River Park "escort area policy." Read our editorial in today's Bee by clicking here. Ed Kashian has stepped in to handle this issue himself and he now sees it as an opportunity to address bigger issues in the community. Good for him.
I appreciated Kashian's candid comments. In a story on Channel 30's Web site, Kashian said the change of heart came after a conversation with his own daughter, who pointed out the lack of entertainment for Fresno's young people. He pictured himself as a Fresno teenager. He says, "I was really taken back, you know I really didn't really view it from the standpoint of the young people, you know. "Sometimes you get old and crotchedy, like I am. You are sitting in your office and you don't see the big picture, kinda thing. But then after looking at it, I thought- what an opportunity, you know. What an opportunity."
He hopes the end result will mean a win-win solution for teens and the shopping center.
The irony of owning a shopping center that is too popular has not escaped Kashian, who says he's been fortunate to own a shopping center that is such a popular place and he doesn't want to ruin a good thing. "Think about it, I'm a real estate salesman," he told Channel 30. "I'm trying to build a shopping center and all of a sudden everyone wants to be here...there has to be something good about that, you know. So, how do we deal with it."
The company Kashian has hired to host a series of meetings, the Rios Company, wrote in a press release that its team worked for Chevron and the Environmental Protection Agency on the Purity Oil superfund cleanup project in Malaga. This was a far bigger issue, of course, than River Park since public safety was the concern there. But in this assignment, Rios says it worked with a network of more than 40 community organizations. The issue began as a superfund cleanup site but from that it was discovered another core issue was a lack of affordable housing for Oaxacan farmworkers. t the end of the day, a coalition had raised $7 million to to build 41 affordable houses that the farm workers received free in exchange for the trailers they lived in next to the Purity site.
Perhaps such a coalition can be useful in solving the underlying issues at River Park - a lack of safe and affordable recreation for Fresno teens, a lack of parenting skills, a lack of social skills from teens.
All inquiries from the public are being directed to the Rios Company at 485-1320. Chime in.
Bee reporter Ed Jimenez -- a former editorial page colleague -- passes along this account of last night's trip to the downtown ballpark to see the Grizzlie play:
"I was among those who sat at Chukchansi Park -- the Chuk, as one newsroom colleague has dubbed it -- on Tuesday evening staring at an empty baseball field for more than a hour, waiting to see if the scheduled 7:05 p.m. game between the Grizzlies and the Tacoma Rainiers would be played.
"Tacoma's equipment apparently didn't arrive as planned, causing the delay. The only form of 'entertainment' was watching the San Francisco Giants lose -- again -- on the big screen.
"About 8:15, the announcement was made that the game was postponed and would be played as part of a doubleheader on Thursday. If equipment was the issue, what's wrong with the Tacoma players strapping on some extra Grizzlies helmets and shin guards and getting on with the game?
"Oh, well, not all was lost. As fans left the park, we were given a loaf of Sara Lee bread, a welcome periodic promotion that apparently also has been a boon for homeless people. During a recent home stand, I placed my loaf in a passing homeless man's shopping cart. I was not alone. He had about five other loaves. 'Share it with your friends,' I told the grateful man."
(For the record, Ed is a big Giants fan.)
Wouldn't it be nice if these folks would just go away:
-- O.J. Simpson, who everyone believes murdered his wife and her friend, and still has the gall to thrust himself into the media spotlight. Simpson says he's innocent -- or maybe he doesn't with the attempted publication of his book, "If I Did It."
-- The family of murder victim Ron Goldman. They are now professional victims, and do nothing to enhance the memory of Ron Goldman. They are getting in on the "If I Did It" book, and will publish it with additonal commentary. A bankruptcy judge has given the Goldman family rights to the book because Simpson still owes them $38 million in a wrongful death judgment.
-- Denise Brown, the sister of Nicole Brown Simpson. Like Fred Goldman, she can't keep her mouth shut. According to the Associated Press, Denise Brown was "shocked and horrified" to learn that the Goldman family had reached a deal to publish the controversial book. Of course, she and other members of her family had tried to get the profits from this book.
I'd rather hear from Paris Hilton, Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan. At least they know they are scamming us with their contrived appearances in the tabloid press. Simpson, and the Brown and Goldman families are trying to persuade us about the righteouness of their cause.
An editorial this morning discusses the promising idea of a new ice rink downtown, with space for offices, restaurants and shops, and three stories of apartments above, right in the old parking lot at Selland Arena.
It's the brainstorm of the owners of the Fresno Grizzlies, Fresno Falcons and Fresno Fuego, the local baseball/hockey/soccer sports empire. They want to buy the land from the city -- at fair market value -- and build the project. One of their motivations is to provide living quarters for athletes and other employees of their teams, who are presently scattered all over town. They would also get a rink for their hockey team's |
