The old year winds down
Giving thanks
Thanksgiving morning we attended the annual Malibu interfaith service, held this year at the new Malibu Jewish Center and Synagogue. Karen and I go every year but this year was different, because this year the Middle East and Africa-primarily Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Darfur-are all exploding in sectarian violence, at a level of brutality that’s difficult to comprehend. Sitting at the service you couldn’t help but feel that our religious differences here in America are, by contrast, practically serene. Going to an ecumenical service is an indication that we respect each other’s right to pray differently. In a world that seems to be growing more intolerant every day, what we have here is truly unusual and wonderful, and something for which we have to be truly thankful.
A major pothole
Just in case we’ve been growing too complacent with our good fortune, there was a blunt reminder when a water line broke near Big Rock last Saturday, undermining two eastbound lanes of Pacific Coast Highway, and an enormous 30-foot by 30-foot hole quickly gaped open, as you can see in our front-page photo. In what had to be record time, Caltrans, the county, city and the utilities responded and the highway was up and running, which is nothing short of miraculous. The last few years, even with a few fires and a prolonged rainy period that had roads collapsing, have been relatively benign. It’s always a shock how fast nature can turn on this relatively fragile piece of coastal strip. Those fires, storms and slides do happen with some regularity, as most of us who have lived here for a few decades have found out. To live comfortably in this town requires a hearty resistance to stress and a good insurance agent.
Pearl Harbor remembrance
The date of this issue is the 65th anniversary of when the Japanese raided Pearl Harbor, launching the United States into the Second World War.
The new California team
Monday, the new California Legislature was sworn in and 80 members of the Assembly and 40 members of the Senate took office. What makes this new group unique is that term limits have now worked their way through the system. In the Assembly, 36 of the members are new to the Legislature, meaning close to one half are freshmen. In the Senate, 12 of the 40 members are freshmen. True, most of the new Assembly members are former county supervisors, city council or board of education members, but even with governmental experience, it’s still a new game. There is a learning curve and the first few months are really tough for all the freshmen. Typically, they have to find a place to live, set up an office, hire a staff, work out a schedule with their families and their district offices, and try to figure out where the restrooms are located. While they’re doing all this, the rest of the Legislature doesn’t wait for them to catch up and legislation starts going into the hopper. Early next month the governor gives his State of the State message in which he lays out what he has planned for this legislative session. We already know that he has several major priorities, including fixing the health care system, solving the problem of the 6.5 million medically uninsured in this state, and that includes 700,000 children, and alleviating the grossly overcrowded prison system. If that isn’t enough, we just passed almost $40 billion in infrastructure bonds for roads, schools, levees, housing and natural resources, and all the legislators are going to be rushing to grab a piece for their own districts. It’s going to be a very busy session, and I would guess that a number of the freshmen are going to wonder what possessed them to leave their nice comfortable political offices back home to make the run for the Legislature, but that’s what makes the game interesting. Stay tuned.v