Today is Dec. 7, 2000, the 59th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. In the early ’60s, I was stationed on a ship home-ported in Pearl Harbor. Whenever we went to sea, we would pass the Arizona where it had sunk alongside Ford Island. Because it was still considered an active ship of the U.S. Navy, we would render honors as we passed the site, even though there was nothing you could see above water. But as you went by, just below the surface, the superstructure of the battleship was visible. Stranger yet, even though it was 20 years after the sinking, jets of air or oil would gurgle and periodically break through to the surface and there was always that eerie feeling that there was life in that great metal tomb. There is something about a battlefield that stays with you forever.
Somehow, with all his political craziness going on right now, we shouldn’t lose sight of the price paid for a great deal of what we take for granted, and perhaps lighten up a bit about our own unease the Florida vote delays.
Whatever the outcome of the presidential election, and it’s looking more like Bush will take it, the next president is going to have to pursue a very middlish bipartisan course or be doomed to failure. I don’t envy him his task. The economy is looking to go south to some degree, the foreign situation, particularly in the Middle East, is explosive, and it’s guaranteed the future President is going to be intentionally tested by a number of countries hostile to the United States and probably by a few we consider our friends.
Domestically, his largest problem is going to be his friends, and the Armey/De Lay crowd will want to treat this election as a mandate. But, there is a gigantic iceberg just below the surface that literally could shatter this new presidency. That’s the possibility the Special Council could try and indict Bill Clinton after he leaves office. If that happens, it’s open warfare, and this could very well be one of the first major tests of the Bush presidency. One, if it happens, that will be tough to survive.
I got up this morning and the air was very light and balmy and had that Santa Ana feel to it. You only have to be burned out once to forever have that feeling in the pit of your stomach whenever those Santa Anas blow. For those of you who haven’t cut your brush back, it’s definitely time to do it. Also, check your fire insurance coverage. I can tell you from hard experience, if you burn in a major conflagration, you burn big, and, if the wind is blowing hard, there isn’t always a heck of a lot the Fire Dept. can do. So it’s a must that you cut back your dry brush and take some precautionary steps to protect your home. If it burns, it all goes, and that includes the foundation. These days, with city code upgrades, you have to figure a minimum of $200 per square foot to rebuild and a minimum of 50 percent of your house value for your contents.
The holiday season launched past Sunday with the opening of the Creche at PCH and Webb Way and Christmas and Hanukah decorations going up all over. It’s a wonderful season for many of us, but it’s also a difficult time for many. These past weeks, we’ve run some stories about those with eating or drinking problems and how to try and handle the holiday events that are sore temptation to many. It’s also a very touchy problem for some of the schools. We’re a society that prizes multiculturalism, but at the same time, we can’t constitutionally have religious observance in public schools. Sometimes, this appears to be a distinction without a difference and creates a very touchy problem for school principals. Unlike some of our justices, I’m not a big believer in the strict word of constitutional law. The founders were pragmatic people and they, or their forbears, had personal experiences with religious intolerance and religious wars. They knew it could tear the country apart, like nothing else, so they sort of opted out and took a position of governmental neutrality. Not pro and not con. In the main, it’s worked for more than 200 years — Americans don’t kill each other because we have different religions, which, in this world, is an unusual thing. It certainly seems to work here in Malibu, which is usually a very tolerant place, and is one of the reasons it is a such good community to live in.
Finally, when this political brouhaha is over, I’d like to run a page with the best political stories, jokes and cartoons that are coming to us every day in our e-mails. I’m saving mine and I hope if you have some good material, you’ll e-mail it to me at agyork@malibutimes.com or fax it to 456-8986.