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Have you noticed that neither major party does a very good job of governing when they are in charge? They only seem to have their act together when they are the loyal opposition attacking the White House or the Congress.
When George W. Bush was president, the Democrats made points attacking him on the war in Iraq and the economy. Now that the Democrats are in charge, the Republicans have turned into brilliant political strategists ripping President Barack Obama and the Democratic Congress.
It's much easier attacking your opponents' ideas than having to come up with ideas of your own to make the nation better. This attack-dog politics is one reason that major problems are not getting solved. I know I'm tiring of it.
It's probably naive to think that the two sides should be able to come together on the major issues and reach a compromise acceptable to most Americans. But it won't happen because the Democrats and Republicans are not committed to fixing America, but are only interested in getting the upper hand.
We need less partisanship and more people in Congress willing to find common ground. But unfortunately, the political pendulum will swing back and forth to the extremes, and the party in power won't be able to govern.
I'm often surprised about people's strong reactions about getting flu shots. As vehemently as I believe in getting one religiously every year, others vehemently oppose the idea.
Last night at my running training, a teammate of mine asked our coach if she should hold off on getting one until after our event, the Nike Women's Marathon and Half Marathon, which is less than three weeks away.
"Don't do it!" another teammate urged. "It could make you sick."
According to an article in USA Today, "flu shots can't cause the flu. But this is perhaps the most persistent of the myths about flu vaccine, experts say."
If you get the flu after receiving a flu shot, you already had the flu but just weren't showing symptoms yet.
Another website addresses some other myths about flu shots:
Myth: "The side effects of the vaccine are worse than the flu."
Fact: The worst side effect you're likely to get from a flu shot is a sore arm. The risk of a rare allergic reaction is far less than the risk of severe complications from influenza.
Expect more than the usual amount of concern and confusion about flu shots this year since the H1N1 flu outbreak will require an additional vaccine -- the first, a regular seasonal flu shot, is already available. The vaccine for H1N1 is still to come.
Even as I was writing this blog entry, an email came into my inbox from the American Lung Association, providing more information about how serious the threat from the flu is. At Faces of Influenza, you can learn more about the flu, get the latest medical information and read personal stories of people whose lives have been affected by this disease.
My daughter Katie and I got our flu shots last week. We had a sore arm after getting the shots, but we didn't get sick -- we never have. I still got a flu shot the year I was pregnant with her, and I've gotten one with her every year since.
Flu kills. To me, it doesn't make any kind of sense to mess around with that risk when a quick little shot can prevent it.
Check out how Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi are describing the struggle of Western nations against terrorism. I just read that Chavez and Gadhafi have signed a declaration "decrying what they call attempts by powerful Western countries to equate struggles against colonialism with terrorism."
Does anyone believe the stuff these guys say? They have played a major role in the growing terrorism across the World.
According to the Associated Press, Venezuela and Libya "reject intentions to link the legitimate struggle of the people for liberty and self-determination" with terrorism, but also adds that they "reiterate the importance of countering terrorism in all its forms."
Let's remember that Gadhafi regularly harbored terrorists, allowed militant training camps to flourish in his country and sponsored terrorist attacks. "Chavez, meanwhile, has been accused by Colombia and the United States of supporting the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, which has been seeking to overthrow governments in Bogota for 45 years," according to the AP.
I have three words for anyone dealing with Chavez and Gadhafi: Don't Trust Them.
Our editorial on Sunday pointed out that Fresno's Marjaree Mason Center. which has lost $207,000 in state funding this year, needs the community to help it serve victims of domestic violence. Click here to read the editorial.
This is what you can do:
-- Help pay for the center's boiler that just went out. It will cost $67,000 to repair it, and PG&E has already donated $10,000.
-- Donate cash for general operations.
-- Donate supplies, including diapers, personal care products and food.
To donate by credit card call: (559) 237-4706.
If you know someone who needs help, call 1-800-640-0333 or (559) 233-HELP.
Click here to go directly to the Marjaree Mason Center Web site.
From the New York Times; "William Safire, a speechwriter for President Richard M. Nixon and a Pulitzer Prize-winning political columnist for The New York Times who also wrote books on politics and a treasury of articles on language, has died at age 79."
A family spokesman said the cause was pancreatic cancer.
Click here to read The NYTimes' story on Safire's death.
In 1978, Safire won a Pulitzer for columns that accused President Jimmy Carter's budget director, Bert Lance, of improper financial transactions. Lance resigned, and later was acquitted during a high-profile trial. Ironically, Lance and Safire became friends.
Safire wrote many great lines for politicians, including the classi one that is often credited to Vice President Spiro T. Agnew: "Nattering nabobs of negativism." Agnew delivered the line in a speech, but Safire wrote it about the news media of the time.
For more than 30 years, Safire wrote columns for the op/ed page of the New York Times. They included political columns and commentaries on language usage.
My column today explains how President George H.W. Bush laid the foundation for farm water losses in California when he signed the Miller-Bradley bill in 1992 after coming to Fresno and promising to veto the bill opposed by farmers. You can read my complete column by clicking here.
That bill took 1.2 million acre-feet of Central Valley Project water every year from farmers and diverted it to environmental restoration, wildlife refuges and rivers.
In addition, the Republicans blame the Endangered Species Act for taking away the rest of the farm water in their "fish vs. people" argument. But they ignore the fact that Republicans had the power to change the ESA, but didn't.
For six years under the second President Bush (George W. Bush), the Republicans held both houses of Congress and the White House but let the ESA stand. They could have changed the ESA, but didn't.
Seems like this is a political talking point for Republicans and not a philosophical commitment to saving California farms.
I was in heavy traffic in Northwest Fresno Friday evening and a woman on a cell phone was bearing down on me in a minivan. She would speed up, slow down and then violently hit the brakes as the line of traffic would come to a quick stop. Clearly, she couldn't drive and hold the phone to her ear at the same time. She was driving illegally, but it didn't make any difference to her.
I was fearing that she would slam into the rear of my car. I pulled into the other lane and finally got her attention, yelling at her to get off the phone and pay attention to the heavy traffic. That didn't make her happy.
Did I ever wish there was a traffic officer in the neighborhood. She was endangering people and her attitude clearly was that she could drive while talking on the phone and it was no one else's business.
Distracted driving is a major problem today, If you watch a drivers on cell phones, they appear drunk as they weave back and forth into the various driing lanes and speed up and slow down depending on their conversation.
I've been sent several emails from critics of health care reform saying Congress refuses to post the health care reform bills on the Internet. So I checked out the claim and found that there are several links available to the House and Senate versions of the health care reform bills.
So for those of you who want to read up on the health care bills this weekend, we are providing you with several handy links.
For the House version (HR 3200), click here.
For the Senate version, click here.
Click here for modifications to the Senate version.
Click here for background information on the Senate version.
Republican candidate or governor Steve Poizner has jumped on opponent Meg Whitman's voting record during a statement issued as California Republicans gather in Indian Wells for their state convention. Poizner, the California insurance commissioner, said Whitman's lack of voting for 28 years disqualifies her from the governor's race.
Here's more from the Poizner statement:
This weekend Meg Whitman will have to face the California press corps, which is the only thing she avoids more than debates and voting. It's not a good time for Meg to face the California press corps because as we all learned yesterday, Meg Whitman never voted for 28 years of her adult life (from 1974-2002). She didn't just miss some votes -- she missed EVERY SINGLE VOTE in EVERY SINGLE election for 28 years.
Meg Whitman's campaign has taken the attitude that they do not need to address this issue. Rather than helping reporters who were looking for the facts, Meg Whitman scoffed, "Go Find It." Is this the same transparency we should expect from Meg Whitman if she became governor?
They will not answer the questions: Did Meg Whitman really not cast a single vote for 28 years of her adult life? Did Meg Whitman really not register to vote for 28 years of her adult life? ... and of course, WHY NOT?
Meg Whitman will attack Steve Poizner, but I can assure you that Steve Poizner had nothing to do with preventing Meg Whitman from voting for 28 years.
This news is disqualifying to a candidate for governor, her campaign knows it, and they are on the defensive.
 An article in today's paper recounts an episode that took place at last week's Fresno State football game in which Valley water politics caused several students to get kicked out of the stands.
According to the article by George Hostetter:
Several Fresno State students say they were kicked out of the Bulldogs-Boise State football game because they were holding up signs supporting west-side farmers struggling to secure a stable source of water.
But a top Fresno State official says the students were given the heave-ho because they were abusive to security personnel and at least one sign was of a political nature, a violation of university rules for fans' signs at athletic events.
Sports columnist Matt James also wrote about the issue in today's paper:
The idea of keeping politics and sports entirely separate seems impossible, if not a waste of time and energy. And the issue of water to the Valley is hard to overestimate. It affects us all, many directly. The team's starting quarterback grew up driving a tractor on his parents' farm.
I think there are even a couple of other factors -- important ones -- at stake here.
First, free speech is a constitutional right in our country. Can university officials, at a publicly funded institution, decide to suspend those rights at sporting events? What about other venues? I've got a big problem with that.
State-paid security employees at a state-funded event where people are encouraged to show their colors very possibly makes the security and management team state actors and therefore violators of well-established First Amendment rights. Further, if signs saying things like "Jesus Saves" and "Pat Hill for President" are not political speech, how is "Got Water?"
Second, don't we encourage our college students -- all of our children, really -- to think for themselves, to form opinions and to stand up for their beliefs?
When I raised this issue on my Facebook page, one friend had this comment:
CSUF is (shocking, hold on..) a COLLEGE -- and at college you're supposed to think, discuss, and even debate things, -- and form your goals and interraction with your major and your areas of study. (So that means there is going to be a bit of 'highmindedness' going on on different subjects because it's supposed to be a place where MINDS are developed.)
The irony of all this? At a COLLEGE football game, students of this college, who are studying and becoming the shapers and the actual future of (not just) their major, -- but what happens in the Valley overall. (note: somewhere between 75% and 90% of the produce consumed in the country is grown HERE, in the Valley) THESE students, -- who pay to attend the school, maintain a good GPA (to be in a fraternity) -- who are attending an event at THEIR school, -- are ejected for bringing up an issue that greatly affects this region, in a school that specializes in resource management, water being one of those key resources.
Now, how screwed up is that?
Former eBay chief Meg Whitman, a Republican candidate for governor in next year's election, hasn't voted much in elections. Do you think her spotty voting record will hurt her campaign to succeed Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger?
The Sacramento Bee reported that Whitman didn't vote in the 2003 gubernatorial recall election, "even after Business Week listed her among a group of top executives with 'worse than spotty voting records' in a 2000 magazine story."
Whitman will face state Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner and former Congressman Tom Campbell in the GOP primary.
Here's more on Whitman's voting record from the Sac Bee story:
Whitman apologized for failing to vote "on several occasions" as she introduced herself earlier this year as a candidate to replace Schwarzenegger as governor at a state Republican Party convention in Sacramento. She said her failure to vote was a mistake for which she had no excuses.
"Every citizen should take time to vote, and on more than one occasion, I didn't," the former eBay chief told the GOP activists. "Voting is a precious gift handed down by generations of Americans. I regret not having delivered my vote on several occasions."
In fact, however, a Bee review found Whitman regularly skipped elections in California and several other states where she lived and worked.
The review covered six states and a dozen counties, including towns and counties in Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, New Jersey, Rhode Island and California where public records indicated that Whitman lived, worked or attended college.
The government requires us to buy vehicle insurance if we want to drive a car legally in California. If you believe that makes sense, why wouldn't you require people to carry health insurance?
One of the proposals in the Democrats' health care plan is requiring individuals to carry health insurance. If they don't they would be fined. (That's a tax, no matter what the Democrats call it). Of course, to make this requirement fair, health insurance would have to be affordable. There are proposals to provide a subsidy on a sliding scale based on income.
But what about the initial question I posed? Should individuals be required to carry health insurance?
Representatives of ACORN wrote a commentary for today's Bee explaining some of the things they have done in Fresno. You can read the commentary by clicking here.
Here's part of the commentary:
Carolyn Smith has been a Fresno resident for 25 years. She recently joined ACORN with a commitment to improving her community.
A month ago, Mrs. Smith and Fresno ACORN members in southwest Fresno joined together to address local safety concerns. The first step was increasing the lighting. ACORN members united, confronted the city of Fresno about the problem, and repairs to 10 street lights were completed in a matter of a few days, and more to date.
Fresno ACORN members believe public safety, affordable housing and financial investment in their local communities are all priorities for southwest Fresno and will continue their efforts in creating the change they want to see.
 Have you ever been stuck in freeway traffic and wishing you had a passenger so you could use the fast-flowing carpool lane? Well, you might be able to do that in the Bay Area if you are willing to pay.
Under a plan being studied, solo drivers might pay as much as $10 to drive in the carpool lanes. By 2011, single-occupant vehicles might be able to use carpool lanes on some of the most congested freeways in the region.
Sounds like you might as well get rid of the carpool lanes altogether if you can buy your way into them. So these lanes now are not to encourage carpooling, but are being used as a revenue source?
This idea needs to be dumped. How in the heck are you going to enforce it?
 Larry Kudlow, host of CNBC's The Kudlow Report, was impressed by California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner, who is a Republican candidate for governor next year. This is what Kudlow wrote in his blog:
"Mr. Poizner delivered a tremendous Laffer-like supply-side growth message. He was much sharper and more on-target than his competitor Meg Whitman who I interviewed the prior evening."
Sounds like a Poizner endorsement to me.
The end of the recession so far doesn't seem to have trickled down to the San Joaquin Valley. But the experts tell us things are looking rosy -- at least for the experts. I'll wait to pass judgment on this recovery. I'd like to see more people working.
Here's today's AP story on economy:
NEW YORK (AP) -- A private forecast of economic activity rose in August for the fifth straight month, the latest sign the recession has ended. The Conference's Board leading indicators point to an economy on solid ground early next year, though some analysts caution that a rising unemployment rate will restrain growth.
The Conference Board said Monday its index of leading indicators rose 0.6 percent in August. That follows a 0.9 percent gain in July revised up from 0.6 percent. Economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters had expected an 0.7 percent gain last month.
The indicators are designed to project economic activity in the next three to six months. The August results support many analysts' projections that the economy started growing again in the current July-September quarter and will continue to gain in the fourth quarter.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke last week said the recession was "very likely over."
 Democratic gubernatorial candidate Gavin Newsom and his wife, actress Jennifer Siebel Newsom, have announced the birth of a daughter -- 7-pound, 12-ounce Montana Tessa Siebel Newsom.
Newsom, the San Francisco mayor, is running against Attorney General Jerry Brown for the Democratic nomination for governor in next year's primary election. Here's a column I wrote about Newsom when he campaigned in Fresno in May.
The Legislature did not come to an agreement on a comprehensive water package before the legislative session ended. It was one more failign of this Legislature. Now Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger should call lawmakers back for a special session on the water crisis. They need to upgrade our water infrastructure, which is badly out of date.
The Fresno Bee editorial board urged the special session in an editorial that ran Sunday in the print edition. Click here to read the online version of the editorial.
This is what is needed in a water package: "The state must provide additional water storage in reservoirs and underground water banks. The serious environmental degradation of the fragile Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta must be resolved. The state must promote conservation by urban, agricultural and industrial users and spread the conservation mandates equitably across the state."
Steve Maviglio, who has worked for several California Democrats, including Gray Davis, has written an op/ed in today's Bee saying what a silly idea a part-time legislature would be. You've heard my arguments on the need for a part-time legislature, so here's the other side.
Click here to read Maviglio's piece.
Maviglio is director of a group just established to fight the part-time legislature movement. Californians for an Effective Legislature is co-chaired by three former lawmakers: Democrats John Laird of Santa Cruz and Dario Frommer of Burbank and Republican Bob Naylor of Sacramento.
What do you think about a part-time Legislature?
California legislators -- both Democrats and Republicans -- don't like to carry money. Why should they? Taxpayer supply them with a leased vehicle and a credit card to keep gasoline in it. If they want to go to dinner or take their families to Disneyland or a Britney Spears concert, they have lobbyists pay these personal expenses.
But it gets worse. The lawmakers then manipulate their disclosure statements to make it appear they took less than they actually did. One scam is to have the lobbyists pay for their spouses and children so those expenses do not show up on their disclosure forms.
Our editorial today blows the whistle on this practice. You can read it by clicking here.
ACORN, which has been under attack by conservatives since the presidential election, is in real trouble this time after its staffers were caught on tape appearing to advise a couple posing as a prostitute and pimp to lie about the woman's profession and conceal her earnings so she could get housing assistance. This is very serious, and could be the beginning of the end for this organization.
An internal investigation has been launched by ACORN and the fallout over the hidden camera revelation is threatening the group's federal funding.
Congressional Republicans, including Rep. George Radanovich, R-Mariposa, just signed a letter to President Obama demanding that federal funding be cut off. Radanovich is among 129 House Republicans to sign the letter.
The anger is growing against liberal-leaning ACORN, which also is defending itself against previous allegations of collecting fraudulent voter registrations.
Just in from the AP:
The House has voted to admonish Rep. Joe Wilson over his "You lie" outburst to President Barack Obama during the president's health care speech to Congress last week.
The 240-179 vote on the resolution of disapproval reflected the sharp partisan divide over the issue. Democrats insisted that the South Carolina Republican take responsibility for what they said was a serious breach of decorum. Republicans characterized the vote as a political stunt.
Wilson would not back down on his position that he owed the House no apology. Surrounded by Republican supporters, Wilson said Obama had "graciously accepted my apology and the issue is over."
I made it.
Last week, I hiked the Mount Whitney Trail, made it to the summit and back down again. (I wrote a week before the trip about some apprehensions I was having.)
As it says on some signs near the beginning of the trailhead, getting to the top is only half the journey. Making it safely back was the other half, so I wasn't celebrating until I had gotten the whole way back. I suspected that we weren't going to get back to base camp until after dark and I was right.
We got started about 9:15 a.m. on Tuesday from Whitney Portal, elevation 8,360 ft. Originally we had been thinking of camping at Outpost Camp -- which is 3.8 miles in, elevation 10,365 feet -- so we wouldn't have to carry the big heavy backpacks for as much of the climb. But we got there too early, and had too much of the day stretching ahead of us. So we plodded further up the mountains.
 We made it to Trail Camp -- 6.3 miles in, elevation just above 12,000 feet -- a little bit after 4 p.m. We set up our tent, refilled and filtered our water, made dinner, repacked the gear we would take to the summit into smaller, lighter bags and crashed for the night.
We were up hiking again at 7:10 a.m. the next day. Up the 98 switchbacks, across Trail Crest and up the back side of the peaks, reaching the summit right after noon. We didn't linger long there. Our thinking was that we should make better time coming down, but we still needed to cover 11 miles back, plus break down our campsite at Trail Camp.
We didn't make as good of time as we hoped. Even downhill, this was hard terrain for a hiker as inexperienced as me. By the time the sun went completely down and we had to turn on headlamps, we still had about 1.5 or 2 miles to go down the last switchbacks to Whitney Portal. My pace slowed again, as I cautiously made my way down the last of the trail. But I did not fall in the dark with the 30-plus lb. pack on my back.
Finally, I made it back to the spot where we had begun almost 36 hours earlier.
There were moments when I thought I wouldn't make it, especially in the middle of the night, trying to sleep in our little tent on a slab of rock 12,000 feet above sea level. If my hiking partner had been at all inclined to turn back, I think I would have been right there with her. But we went on, not back. And we did it.
It wasn't easy. I don't know if I'll ever do it again. But it was a remarkable journey, both in the 22 miles we covered on foot and the distance I covered inside myself, the distance between not knowing what I was capable of and achieving the result I hoped for. I'm so glad I took on this challenge at this point in my life.
At the summit, just outside the Smithsonian Hut Shelter, there is a guest register for visitors to sign. Besides us that morning, others who reached the top were from Ohio, Nevada, Colorado, Indiana, England and Poland. I added my name and wrote a comment: "For my daughters -- You can do anything!"
Even if you don't have an account on Facebook, I think this link should take you to my photo album with more pictures from the trip.
 When Patrick Swayze was filming "Roadhouse" in 1988, he spent a lot of time in Fresno because of the production schedule. Much of the movie was filmed in the Reedley area, and the production company headquarters was at the Piccadilly Inn-University.
As everyone knows by now, Swayze died Monday at age 57 after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. I still remember the buzz around Fresno as Swayze showed his playful side by enjoying all that our community had to offer. Every time I see "Roadhouse" reruns on TV, I look for local landmarks in the various scenes.
Swayze and his pals cruised the college night club circuit in Fresno during off hours, and Swayze sightings were part of the local entertainment for a few weeks. Co-star Sam Elliott accompanied Swayze and they'd make the locals swoon. This was before the popularity of text-messaging on cell phones so it was a bit more difficult to track them as they made their Fresno rounds. People would call The Bee and ask where Swayze was last spotted. It was our version of "Where's Patrick?"
One evening, Swayze and Elliott judged a bikini contest at a popular night spot -- the old Tequila Pete's on Shaw near Fresno State. Swayze "regaled the crowd by taking the dance floor," according to a Bee story at the time. He also joined the dancers at the Black Angus Restaurant during his stay. Several other Fresno restaurants benefitted from Swayze sightings.
Much of "Roadhouse" was filmed at John Harris' ranch along the Kings River. The home was originally built by agricultural giant Russell Giffen, and it's quit fitting for a movie. Several scenes were shot in Reedley and Sanger, and those communities swelled with visitors wanting to watch the filming.
UPDATED
This is what the health care reform bill says:
"Nothing in this subtitle shall allow Federal payments for affordability credits on behalf of individuals who are not lawfully present in the United States."
So why do Republicans think that language isn't tight enough to meet their concerns? What kind of language would it take for Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., to not say "You lie" when President Barack Obama says illegal immigrants would not be covered by his plan?
Do you think this is a legitimate concern by Republicans, or is there nothing that would satisfy them because it makes better politics to use illegal immigration as a wedge issue in anticipation of the 2010 mid-term elections? But the Democratic tactics are no better. They are a manipulative bunch when it comes to hanging onto power.
One thing is for sure, the language can bar illegal immigrants from getting on the government health program, but that doesn't matter if this provision is not enforced. There are an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the U.S. and many of them will get sick. If the Democrats are serious about blocking illegal immigrants, they should also have a mechanism to see that this issue can be controlled. But the truth is, they won't do that, and that means they are trying to have it both ways.
Under current law if illegal immigrants (or anyone else without health insurance) show up at the emergency room, they must be treated. That happened under both Bush presidencies, the Clinton presidency and now under the Obama presidency. That won't change with health care reform, and it even might get better with immigration reform.
There are six changes that would make the nation's health care system better. . . and surprisingly Democrats and Republicans agree on some of them. Of course, there are fundamental issues they disagree on, but there is more common ground than you'd think, given the divisive debate on the issue. So let's drop the political objections. A little compromise on both sides would go a long way toward fixing the system.
Here are six health reforms that are needed:
-- Offer coverage at a fair price for those with "pre-existing conditions, and ban insurance companies from dropping people who get an expensive disease.
-- Allow portability of group health plans to prevent the so-called "job lock" where people fear moving to another job because they might lose their health insurance.
-- Institute tort reform to keep down the cost of malpractice insurance.
-- Allow insurance companies to sell health plans across state lines to make the market more competitive.
-- Ensure that reforms slow the skyrocketing cost of medical care by reducing waste and fraud in the system and making it operate more efficiently.
-- Find cost-efficient ways to cover all citizens because everyone ends up paying for the uninsured through our taxes when they get care at emergency rooms and in increased insurance premiums when the costs of the uninsured are shifted to the insured. That comes when the total cost of health care is factored into premiums.
UPDATE on final point:
"Families USA, which supports expanded health care coverage, found that about 37% of health care costs for people without insurance -- or a total of $42.7 billion -- went unpaid last year," according to this story in USA Today. "That cost eventually was shifted to the insured through higher premiums, according to the group."
"I don't think anybody has any idea about how much they are paying because of the need to cover the health care costs of the uninsured," said Ron Pollack, the group's executive director. "This is a hidden tax on all insurance premiums, whether it is paid by business for their work or by families when they purchase their own coverage."
The legislative session ended in Sacramento at midnight Friday and lawmakers offered the same old thing -- gridlock and dysfunction. This is a group that couldn't balance the state budget and never came close to solving the state's water crisis. The 80 members of the Assembly and 40 members of the Senate should be ashamed of their performance.
I review the legislative session in today's column in The Fresno Bee. Click here to read my take on the 2009 Legislature.
And yes, I renewed my call for a part-time legislature. Lawmakers aren't doing a fulltime job so why pay them fulltime? They've earned part-time status.
The 32% tuition increase being proposed on University of California students -- after several recent fee increases -- will drive annual tuition to more that $10,000, and that doesn't count books or room and board. The impact is putting a UC education out of reach of students from middle-class families. That concern is waved off by UC administrators. Middle-class families apparently don't have the clout to get UC's attention.
As with other fee increases, one third will be set aside for financial aid. That means that students from wealthy families will be able to attend because they have the means and students from poor families will have their tuition subsidized by financial aid. But students from middle-class families won't be able to attend because they don't qualify for financial aid.
This is one more attack on the middle class by our government institutions. The Fresno Bee's editorial board criticizes the UC administration on this issue in today's main editorial. Click here to read the editorial.
Not suprisingly, California is a state that invests more in its criminals than it does in its brightest students. No wonder the Golden State has become so tarnished.
Wisconsin came back to defeat Fresno State's Bulldogs 34-31, but it took two overtimes to do it at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison on Saturday afternoon. The Bulldogs, now 1-1, will take on Boise State Friday at 6 p.m. at Bulldogs Stadium in a crucial WAC game.
The Bulldogs struck first against Wisconsin and led 21-17 at halftime. But they had troubles putting points on the board in the second half. The Dogs tied the game 24-24 with a field goal near the end of regulation to force overtime.
Fresno State showed that it could stay with a Big 10 team on the road, but ended up losing to Wisconsin for the third straight time. Now for the game of the year -- taking on Boise State on Friday.
UPDATE at 11:06 a.m. today from Jim Boren:
I just received this text message from Lisa: "I made it to the top and back!"
She described herself as "sore and proud." Her Bee colleagues are proud of her, too.
 A week from right now, I will be in the middle of the most strenuous physical challenge I've ever undertaken. In fact, based on how next Tuesday goes, I should have a pretty good idea of whether or not I will succeed in my overall goal -- hiking to the summit of Mount Whitney on Wednesday.
A week from tonight, I will be sleeping at a campsite 11,000 or 12,000 feet above sea level, closer to the stars than I have ever been in my life. I will have a day of hard hiking behind me, the hardest I will have ever done. And I will face an even harder, longer day to come on Wednesday.
I have to admit that when the invitation to join this hiking party was extended to me, on Aug. 5, I really had NO clue what I was signing on for. But being the researcher that I am, my ignorance lasted only about a half hour. Then I realized that Mount Whitney is no mere hike. It is THE highest peak in the lower 48 states. And I was no serious hiker (I'm still not -- yet).
Crap! Could I even do this? I'm a runner, yes, but even my slow pace on the half marathons I've done only kept me on my feet for 3 hours or less. I've never even done a full marathon, though I plan to in March, in Atlanta. Our plan is to do Whitney, a 22-mile round trip, as a two-day hike, with backpacks, to an elevation of more than 14,000 feet.
I didn't even fully commit until we did a practice hike two weeks ago -- the 10.6-mile round-trip from D&F Stables near Huntington Lake to Kaiser Peak, elevation 10,320. Kaiser was a serious, strenuous climb with an elevation gain of more than 3,000 feet.
I'm not lying. Kaiser was hard. I was sore for at least three days afterward. But I made it. So I'm going to try Whitney. I'm humble enough to know that trying is all I can promise until I see what the mountain has in store for me. Only about a third of those who try succeed. And there's a lot of difference between 10,000-plus feet and 14,000-plus feet. That extra 4,000 feet can have a big impact on performance and success.
This "little" distraction is cutting into my running. I'm training for a half marathon, the Nike Women's, Oct. 18 in San Francisco. I skipped my long weekly training run the day before doing Kaiser. And my coach recommended I skip our long run again this weekend, in anticipation of the effort I'll need to put out for Whitney. Worries about how the hike will go are starting to wake me up at night, interfering with my sleep and my motivation to get out there for my shorter weekday runs.
But I'm still going ahead with it, even though it worries me, if I've got what it takes to do it. It will be hard. It will be uncomfortable. It may be too much for me. I won't know until I try it.
This wasn't an immediate goal of mine, not even a month ago. But things change. Lives change. You can adapt to the changes or get run over by them.
This has been a year of changes for me. I am not the same person I was a year ago, not even six months ago. I'm stronger, more determined, more confident.
I want my daughters -- and my son -- to know that it's OK to have big dreams and to try to make them come true. Being a good parent, and a good partner, means being true to yourself. And that making a commitment means following through, even if you fail. At least you will have tried.
(Originally posted as a Facebook note on Sept. 1, 2009)
President Barack Obama offered his latest vision of health care reform to a joint session of Congress Wednesday night. The nation finally heard what the president wanted in a reform package, which was nice since he had allowed others to define his proposal during angry town hall meetings this summer. His idea of letting Congress work out the details was not only bad politics, but bad policy.
What did you think of the President's speech tonight and the plan he laid out?
Obama said he would support a trial run on tort reform and would be flexible on a public option. According to McClatchy Newspapers' Washington bureau, the president also said that any plan he signs will:
--Ban insurance companies from denying coverage because of pre-existing conditions.
--Prevent insurers from dropping or watering down coverage during illness.
--End arbitrary annual or lifetime coverage caps.
--Limit out-of-pocket expenses.
--Require insurers to cover routine checkups, mammograms and colonoscopies.
UPDATE:
Assemblyman Mike Duvall, R-Yorba Linda, has resigned his seat saying his comments about sexual affairs he was having with lobbyists were inappropriate and have become a major distraction during the final week of the Assembly.
Shouldn't he also have said that the actual affairs were inappropriate and a distraction? One more reason to have a part-time Legislature. Lawmakers seem to have too much time on their hands.
The Flash Report has this compilation of news items on a reported sex scandal involving Assemblyman Mike Duvall of Orange County. The Flash Report says Duvall has been "having extra-marital affairs with two women, one of them a lobbyist for a major utility -- Duvall is the Vice Chairman of the influentual Assembly Utilities and Commerce Committee."
The stunning part of the news reports is there's apparently a video and audio from a legislative committee room, and the assemblyman was caught on a live microphone bragging about his conquest, including spanking the woman.
The dysfunctional Legislature can't get a water package passed or solve the state's other problems, but it seems some members are keeping themselves very busy. How much closer can you get to a special interest?
This link from ABC10 quotes Duvall's sex talk caught on the open mike.
The Red County blog calls for Duvall's immediate resignation.
Politico.com reports that the initial draft of President Obama's Wednesday night speech to a joint session of Congress has been reviewed by key aides and "is now in the president's hands." This is a crucial speech for Obama because his health care reform plan has been slowed in Congress -- by some members of his own party.
Most people across the political spectrum have indicated that they want improvements in the health care system, but are not ready to sign off on a massive overhaul of what amounts to one-sixth of our nation's economy. It is time for members of both parties to find common ground on this issue.
It appears that the White House is scaling back its proposal and would "only include a public insurance option as a fallback plan," reports Roll Call, the Capitol Hill newspaper.
We'll see if Obama can sway members of his own party to go along because Democrats have the votes to pass a plan without Republican votes. It gets a bit tricky in the Senate where the death of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy prevents Democrats from having the 60-vote "supermajority" needed to stop Republican blocking maneuvers.
I'd like to see a compromise plan that slows the skyrocketing cost of medical care, allows people with "pre-existing conditions" to get health insurance at a fair price and allows portability of group health plans to prevent the so-called "job lock." We need reasonable tort reform and insurance companies should be able to compete throughout the nation, and not be locked into only competing within states. We must find a way to cover all citizens because all of us end up paying for the uninsured through our taxes and in increased insurance premiums.
Let's get this done so it makes the system better. We can do it if we put away the political knives and commit to one objective: improving the health care system for all Americans.
Some people are outraged that President Barack Obama would tell America's school children to do their best in school and take responsibility for their education. This controversy shows how petty many of the president's opponents have become. Challenge the president on legitimate issues. . . his health care plan, the stimulus package, the skyrocketing cost of federal government. But on this one, his opponents couldn't be more wrong.
Obama is scheduled to address the nation's school children on Tuesday, which is something that many presidents before him have done. A transcript of Obama's speech shows the main themes to be to urge children to "take responsibility for their education, pay attention in class and study hard."
How can that be controversial? But in this hate-your-opponent political era, even telling children to do well in school gets people fired up -- if the other side says it. How sad.
Critics claim Obama is trying to indoctrinate the nation's children. I hope so. I'm tired of people making excuses for children not doing well in school. These are the folks who oppose the high school exit exam because it might hurt someone's self esteem. Obama, by the way, is on opposite sides of the teacher unions on tying teacher pay to student performance.
The controversy was whipped up by talk radio hosts. Don't expect many comments on this one until Rush's show airs Tuesday morning, and his listeners have a chance to parrot back his spin on this issue.
Today's editorial in The Bee talks about the ups and downs of our economy. Here are the opening paragraphs of today's editorial:
On this Labor Day, it might be a good time to count our blessings because it's been a tough economic ride for most American families since the last Labor Day. Some are out of work and those still employed are working longer hours for less money -- and happy to have their jobs.
The good news is the economy is showing some signs of rebounding after a recession that's gone on way too long. Even the stock market is improving and that's especially helpful to baby boomers looking at retiring in the next few years and relying partly on their 401k accounts.
But there still will be a lot of pain as we move out of the recession, and that is affecting consumer confidence.
You can read the entire editorial by clicking here.
Danny Tarkanian, who assisted his father, Jerry Tarkanian, in coaching the Fresno State basketball team, is back in Las Vegas and running for the U.S. Senate against majority leader Harry Reid, a Democrat. A poll released by the Las Vegas Review-Journal shows Tarkanian running 11 points ahead of Reid. Tarkanian, A Republican, had 49% of the vote to 38% for Reid.
Tarkanian, who is working in real estate, is a former UNLV basketball player, where his father also coached. Tarkanian may not be the only Republican running. Nevada Republican chairman Sue Lowden also may run. In a match=up with Reid, the polls shows Lowden with 45% of the voet to 40% for Reid. Lowden has not said whether she will run next year.
The poll was taken last week by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research Inc., according to the Nevada newspaper. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus five percentage points.
Liberals are angry that President Barack Obama is not going far enough with health care reform and conservatives are angry that he even wanst to mess with an industry that is one-sixth of the U.S. economy. The president apparently is trying to land some place in the middle.
The Associated Press is reporting that the White House "signaled openness Thursday to compromises that might attract moderate congressional Democrats as well as some
Republicans." Top presidential adviser David Axelrod told the AP that the president believes in "fundamental principles" about overhauling health care, but "he's not dogmatic about how we get there."
Here's more from today's AP story:
Axelrod's cautious answers Thursday might offer little comfort to those seeking forceful signs from the administration.
Asked if Obama might accept a Republican senator's idea for creating a public health insurance option only if private insurers prove unwilling or unable to meet certain affordability targets, Axelrod replied: "We need choice and competition within the pool that's created."
The plan has been floated by Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine. She often is seen as the most likely GOP lawmaker to support a primarily Democratic-crafted health bill. She would have nonprofit agencies offer health insurance only if private insurers could not cover 95 percent of the people in their regions with plans costing no more than about 15 percent of the person's or household's annual income.
Many Democrats want prompt creation of a government-run program to compete with private insurers, who stand to gain millions more customers if Congress mandates coverage of the nation's uninsured. Obama has often said he favors such a "public option." But he and his aides have repeatedly stopped short of saying he would sign no bill without it.
Maybe the dustup over building dams in California to help with the farm-water crisis is overblown. Mark Grossi reports today in his Earth Log that a Kings County water district has sold its water to Southern California for $73 million. That's five times the normal cost of the water.
That puts 2,500 acres of almonds near Kettleman City in jeopardy. But it appears that selling water is a lot more profitable than farming these days.
The farmer in this case is a Bay Area partnership, which says it will farm the almonds as water comes available.
Here's more from Grossi's Earth Log:
The sale is bound to cause some anxiety in farm country. Many fear that farmers will sell their water to Southern California for millions of dollars and leave huge tracts of land barren.
The Dudley Ridge Water District in the southwest corner of Kings County sold 14,000 acre-feet of water to the Mojave Water Agency in San Bernardino County, according to the California Department of Water Resources.
The $5,250 per acre-foot is many times more than farm water usually costs. An acre-foot is about 326,000 gallons, or a 12- to 18-month supply for an average Valley family.
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