This just in from the AP: "San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom ends race for California governor, clearing Democratic field." The decision leaves Attorney General Jerry Brown as the only Democrat in next year's California governor's race.
The San Francisco Chronicle had this quote from Newsom:
"With a young family and responsibilities at City Hall, I have found it impossible to commit the time required to complete this effort the way it needs to -- and should be -- done.
"This is not an easy decision," he said. "But it is one made with the best intentions for my wife, my daughter, the residents of the city and county of San Francisco, and California Democrats."
The decision isn't surprising. Newsom trailed Brown by double digits and more in most public opinion polls and his fund-raising didn't meet the campaign's expectations. It was only a matter of time until Newsom admitted the obvious. He did that this afternoon.
Brown issued this statement on Newsom's decision:
"Mayor Newsom is a talented public official and I believe he has a bright future. I am sure this was not an easy decision. Anne and I wish Gavin and his family all the best."
Schwarzenegger: F-bomb in veto message was wild coincidence
McClatchy Newspapers are reporting that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said in Washington that the veto statement containing an obscene message to a political foe was a "wild coincidence." It was wild all right. The kind of wild whopper you tell your parents when you can't come up with a decent lie to cover your tracks.
The first letter in the seven lines of the veto read: "F--- you." The governor was speaking to reporters while visiting Vice President Joe Biden at the White House to discuss the federal stmulus package.
Here's more on the odds on the "wild coincidence" from the McClatchy story: "Stephen Devlin, the chair of the math department at the University of San Francisco, told the San Francisco Weekly that the odds of the letters appearing in proper order in seven consecutive lines to spell out the profanity was one in 10 million."
Was this lawyer being reasonable or a pain in the rear?
High-profile Fresno defense attorney Richard Berman got into an altercation at the security check point at the Madera County Courthouse so we're doing an informal poll here at Opinion Talk. Was Berman being reasonable, or a pain in the rear to the Madera County security agents?
Here are the issues from Thursday's Bee story. Lawyer Richard Berman refused to take off his watch at the security checkpoint because "This is a $30,000 watch." That suggests he would have taken off a cheaper one, so this may be more about the value of the watch than whether the rule is reasonable.
"The guard tried to bar Berman from entering the main hall of the courthouse by blocking his way with one of her arms," the story says. "'Take your hands off me,' he told the guard. He slipped past her outstretched arm and headed to a courtroom, where he was defending a client on a drunken-driving charge."
One other issue before you vote: "Defense attorneys have long complained that the Madera courthouse policy is unfair because prosecutors are exempt," the story says. "Because the District Attorney's Office is in the same building, prosecutors can go through a back door and avoid the screening process."
So what do you think? You can vote now. Was Berman. . . A) Being reasonable, or B) A pain in the backside?
I have to agree with Bill McEwen's column today. With two officer-involved fatal shootings in two days (here and here), people are going to raise questions. No matter how justified the shootings may turn out to be, the community will expect clear answers.
So far this year, Fresno has had 10 police shootings, six of them fatal. As McEwen said, "Citizens haven't had a way to learn the facts -- let alone details -- of police shootings. Police control the information. Internal-affairs investigations are shrouded in mystery, their findings almost always kept secret."
Filling the auditor position, which Mayor Ashley Swearengin said the city is close to doing, needs to happen as soon as possible.
I've been critical of the shoddy roadwork on Shaw Avenue over the past several years, and that hasn't made me many friends at City Hall. My interest in this crucial roadway caused me to watch the latest construction work closely. It appears to my untrained eyes that this version of Shaw will be pleasing to Fresno motorists. The city has been repaving Shaw between Highway 168 to just west of Blackstone Avenue as part of a $1,585,000 project.
Problem areas in the past have been the intersections of Fresno and Shaw and First and Shaw where the lanes were sinking. But that appears to be fixed and I'm giving early kudos to city Public Works Director Patrick Wiemiller and his staff.
This work hasn't been easy because Shaw is a well-traveled street, especially around Fresno State and near Fashion Fair shopping center. But the temporary inconvenience to motorists during the construction project will be worth it when it is completed. I think they still need to paint the lanes and do some other touch-up work.
Did Schwarzenegger put obscene phrase in veto message on rival's bill?
The Sacramento Bee's Capitol Alert and the Los Angeles Times are reporting that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger may have put an obscene phrase in a veto message that targeted a San Francisco Assembly member who had earlier jeered the governor.
"The phrase, 'F--- You,' is spelled out by the first letter of seven consecutive lines along the left margin," says the Times. The governor's press secretary said it must have been a "strange coincidence."
Schwarzenegger did not sign a bill by Assembly Member Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco, that would have helped the Port of San Francisco make pier improvements. Ammiano had ridiculed the governor when Schwarzenegger dropped by a Democratic fundraiser that was near an event he was attending.
The Sacramento Bee says Ammiano "reportedly greeted the governor's surprise stop at a Democratic fundraiser with 'You lie!' and 'Kiss my gay ass' just days before the bill got axed."
Click here to read the veto message, which was supplied to us by the Sac Bee's Capitol Alert.
It seems the governor decided to play "hide the birdie" in his veto message. Maybe Schwarzenegger did this to take the heat off his wife, Maria Shriver, who has been in trouble lately because she was caught talking illegally on the cell phone while driving and parking her Cadillac Escalade in a red zone.
Columnist writes that Obama's war on Fox News is bad strategy
Syndicated columnist Clarence Page's column in today's Fresno Bee takes on the Obama's administration's war on Fox News. Here's is Page's opening paragraph:
"Surely President Obama and his advisors don't really think that their feud with Fox News will do anything but enhance the cable network's viewership. A deeper problem is what the flap over Fox reveals about Team Obama: They still seem to be more comfortable with campaigning than governing."
California First Lady Maria Shriver, after apologizing for talking illegally on the cell phone while driving, has been videotaped by celebrity Web site TMZ.com illegally parking her Cadillac Escalade in a red zone in Santa Monica. Note to Maria: If they are following you around with a camera, stop doing dumb things that you'll have to apologize for.
And on cue, here's her latest apology: "I regret I made a mistake. I take responsibility for it."
Poor Maria. Thanks to TMZ, she'll have to obey the law like the rest of us. And you think it's easy being rich and famous?
If the governor knows what's good for him, he won't mention that little parking problem when he gets home for dinner tonight. Besides, I think we can all agree that Maria has suffered enough.
Capitol insiders say state lawmakers are moving toward a water reform package that would upgrade California's water system, and allow it to serve the state's 38 million people. The current water system was constructed for 19 million people and doesn't adequately serve urban and agricultural users or allow enough water to protect the environment. That's a key reason this has been such a contentious issue in Sacramento.
The reform package would start with protecting the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, which is crucial. If the Delta fails, most of the state will lose much of its water supply.
John Howard in the Capitol Weekly explains the Delta issue in a straightforward way. If you live in the San Joaquin Valley, you should understand the importance of the Delta to our quality of life:
"The delta is a vast estuary east of San Francisco through which flows most of California's drinking and agricultural water. The delta, fed by the state's major rivers, is crisscrossed by aging, fragile levees and sloughs. Powerful pumps at the southern edge of the delta pull water into the California Aqueduct and move it to central and southern California. Sustaining the health of the delta -- balancing the needs for water with environmental protections -- represents the crux of the debate over California's water future."
Another voice on Fresno Grizzlies' stadium rent deal
Forner Fresno City Council Member Garry Bredefeld, who supported building the downtown stadium, says the Fresno Grizzlies should not have their rent reduced. In a commentary in today's Fresno Bee, Bredefeld says the owners of the Grizzlies need to improve their business model and the city can help. But he opposes a rent reduction.
Bredefeld was responding to a commentary from former Council Member Jerry Duncan, who supports a rent reduction. Click here to read the Oct. 21 commentary by Duncan.
A controversial mural being painted in the Tower District was vandalized with splatters of blue paint this morning.
The mural, on the side of the recently opened Neighborhood Thrift Store at Olive and Wilson avenues, has been a topic of debate by neighbors and the Fresno art community.
Credit card companies gouging consumers before reform deadline
Have you noticed all the letters you've been receiving from your credit card companies that are changing the terms of your agreement? They are raising interest rates and fees on previous balances to beat a reform law that will outlaw that practice. It doesn't matter if you have a solid credit history and have made timely payments.
An editorial in today's Fresno Bee urges Congress to move up the reform deadline from Feb. 22 to Dec. 1. Click here to read the editorial.
Tell us what you think about this practice. Is it unfair or is this just the way business works?
You can avoid the higher rates by paying off your balances and stop using the credit cards. I suggest you stop using credit cards and pay cash for the things you need and not purchase items that you can't afford.
That college student driving in the lane next to you is probably texting
UPDATED
A new study says 84% of college students text while driving, and this obsession with cell phones is dangerous. Fresno State professor Tamyra Pierce has been studying texting, and she says the trend has skyrocketed in just two years. A 2007 study reported that 62% of college students were texting while driving.
Our editorial today says drivers who text and cause an accident should be dealt with harshly in the criminal justice system. Click here to read the editorial.
Pierce, an associate professor of mass communication and journalism, is an expert on social media.
Here's your chance to do more than just complain about Fresno
Get up on Saturday morning and head over to the Lowell Elementary School at 171 N. Poplar Ave. and spend a few hours volunteering on Make A Difference Day. People will start gathering at 8 a.m. and you'll be asked to work from 9 a.m. until 11 on cleaning up the surrounding neighborhood, doing paint touch-ups, picking up debris, planting flowers, helping on a mosaic tile project and many other chores.
This is a partnership between HandsOn Central California and the city of Fresno. Mayor Ashley Swearengin will be there to kick off the event. Other partners are Heald College, Eye-Q Vision Center and the Fresno Redevelopment Agency.
The Lowell neighborhood is one of the gateways to downtown Fresno, and includes historic landmarks and homes. But it also is a neighborhood with many challenges and this area is one that the mayor has committed to improving during her term.
The city's partnership with HandsOn Central California is a good one, and HandsOn's ability enlist volunteers should be a big boost for the Lowell neighborhood. This would be a great way to spend your Saturday morning. They need 350 volunteers. Be one of them!
I'm told there are several other projects around Fresno that need volunteers on Saturday. You have many opportunities to make a difference.
As my readers know, I've complained for years about the shoddy roadwork on Shaw Avenue where the roadbed collapses after the city does repaving work. My main example is the left-turn lanes on eastbound Shaw turning north on Fresno Street. Those lanes collapsed shortly after they were put in (for $1.2 million), and now resemble a hollowed out wooden boat.
This rippling effect (or rutting) was caused by the original pavement being "fluid," according to the city. This happened on several other parts of Shaw near Fashion Fair. The city didn't have the money to fix it properly. But all that's changed, and the city is now repaving Shaw between Highway 168 and just west of Blackstone Avenue.
City officials promise this will be done right this time. I hope so, and I'll be watching to see if the roadbed collapses again as soon as the weather gets hot. This time the city is spending $1,585,000 on the project.
The work is causing traffic problems on Shaw. I encountered this going to a meeting today at Fresno State. But this temporary inconvenience is a small price to pay for fixing a well-traveled road that is littered with potholes and rippling. Don't use Shaw during the construction period unless you have no other choice. The work will be done soon.
Here is the city's explanation of the project:
"Project scope involves resurfacing the intersections plus approaches for each eastbound and westbound lane, to address the paving that went tender prematurely and led to rutting. There are also northbound and southbound approaches being resurfaced at the Fresno Street, First Street, and Cedar Avenue. In addition, there is other related work -- loop detection, curb lines, striping, etc."
The bears at Yosemite National Park figure that minivans will yield the greatest treasure of food over a clean luxury car. A study just out says bears break into minivans more often than any other vehicle.
The reason is simple. Minivans most often are the vehicle of choice for young families with children who have lots of snacks on board. The bears have learned that even if an ice chest is not in the minivan, there will be snacks spilled on the floorboard or in between seats. In addition, the bears have found that minivans are easier to get into than other vehicles, according to the study. The bears like to pop out a side window to make their entrance.
Click here to read The Bee story on the study published in the October issue of the Journal of Mammalogy. Click here to read the actual study.
It would be a tragedy if state lawmakers walk away from getting an historic water agreement that would build dams, fix the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and help conserve the water that we have.
Environmentalists want the deal killed because they oppose building dams. But we need to capture water in wet years to be used in dry years. We also need to fix the crumbling Delta, which is crucial to transferring Northern California water to the San Joaquin Valley and Southern California.
But now some Republicans want to back away from a water agreement, but not because it isn't a good plan. They are angry that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed bills that the GOP says are a "public policy disaster." But it doesn't make sense to kill the water bill because you're mad at the governor.
The Fresno Bee's editorial board urges all parties to keep working on an agreement to find a water soluton for California's 38 million residents. You can read the editorial by clicking here.
Fresno Grizzlies are looking for a break from city on stadium rent
The city and the Fresno Grizzlies still have not come to an agreement in the latest negotiations on the team's rent at Chukchansi Park in downtown Fresno. The owners of the Triple-A team say they need a break on the annual rent of $1.5 million if they are going to make it financially.
The Fresno Bee's George Hostetter lays out the issues in this story in the Sunday paper.
The Grizzlies, who say they pay the highest rent in the Pacific Coast League, want their rent reduced to $500,000 a year. The city says it needs the team playing in the stadium to help pay off the stadium bond, but is not ready to cut the rent by as much as the Grizzlies want.
Here's more from today's news story:
The Grizzlies say they've lost more than $5 million from 2006 through 2008, and the just-completed season also was awash in red ink due to declines in attendance and corporate sponsorships.
The Grizzlies blame much of their financial woes on the stadium rent, the highest in Triple-A baseball. Team officials say they've discussed rent relief with City Hall since they bought the franchise in late 2005, but it has been only in the past year that the efforts turned serious.
There's a story that has been developing for a little over an hour now. Rescue efforts were launched in Colorado in a quest for a balloon-type aircraft that was believed to be carrying a little boy. But now the ballloon has landed and the little boy isn't in the basket.
Watching discussions on Facebook, reactions range from alarm at the 6-year-old's fate to questioning whether this is all a hoax and all kinds of possibilities in between.
I hope it turns out OK.
ASSOCIATED PRESS UPDATE 1:15 p.m.: FORT COLLINS, Colo. -- Sheriff's dept.: Deputies carrying out ground search for boy after not being found in balloon.
Photo by Associated Press/KMGH-TV: In this image rendered from video and released by KMGH-TV in Denver, a hot-air balloon is seen over Colorado, near Fort Collins. A 6-year-old boy was believed to have climbed into a hot-air balloon aircraft and floated away Thursday, forcing officials to scramble to figure out how to rescue the boy. Larimer County sheriff's spokeswoman Eloise Campanella says the device, which is shaped like a flying saucer, has the potential to rise to 10,000 feet.
Limbaugh dropped from group wanting to buy NFL team
Talk show host Rush Limbaugh has been removed from the investment group trying to purchase the St. Louis Rams after the head of the organization said Limbaugh's role as a limited partner has complicated the effort to buy the NFL franchise.
"Goodell said Tuesday at an NFL owners' meeting in Boston that he would find it inappropriate for an owner of a franchise to make the sort of controversial remarks attributed to Limbaugh in the past," according to the Washington Post. "Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay also said Tuesday that he would not vote to approve Limbaugh as an owner. Any sale of an NFL team must be approved by at least three-quarters of the owners."
Some African-American players also opposed Limbaugh's bid to be an owner, citing controversial remarks that the radio host made about Donovan McNabb of the Philadelphia Eagles.
Limbaugh had this reaction, according to news reports: "This is not about the NFL. It's not about the St. Louis Rams. It's not about me. This is about the ongoing effort by the left in this country, wherever you find them, in the media, the Democrat Party, or wherever, to prevent the mainstreaming of anyone who is prominent as a conservative."
The office of First Lady Maria Shriver just emailed me this response to the cell phone controversy:
STATEMENT FROM FIRST LADY MARIA SHRIVER
October 14, 2009
"I'm sorry. I will be donating my favorite old cell phone to my Women's Conference partner Verizon through their HopeLine program that helps domestic violence shelters. I invite anyone else who wants to recycle their old phone to join me. That's my version of swift action with a higher purpose."
I think the first lady recovered nicely. I'd also like to see her do public service announcements on the dangers of talking on the cell phone while driving.
Arnold to Maria: Get off the phone, honey, and drive
California First Lady Maria Shriver has been spotted again driving while talking on the cell phone, and that has proved slightly embarrassing for her husband, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The governor has been critical of drivers ignoring the cell phone law, which he signed.
The celebrity and entertainment Web site TMZ.com caught Shriver driving and talking illegally on the cell phone on three occasions.
The governor promised "swift action" in response to the publicity over his wife driving under the influence of the cell phone. Here's the translation to the Guv's statement: "I'll ask her to please stop talking on the cell phone while driving. I even got her the latest Bluetooth so she could drive and talk legally, but I think it messes up her hair. She should get a driver like me and problem solved."
In a commentary in today's Fresno Bee, State Sen. Dean Florez says PG&E's SmartMeters, coupled with the utility's coziness with regulators, have allowed it to gouge its customers to the point that some energy bills doubled this summer.
You can read the complete commentary by clicking here.
Here's part of Florez's commentary:
Captive to an ever-hungry monopoly, we set the air conditioner at 82 degrees. We change windows from single pane to dual pane. We make sure every light bulb is energy efficient. Still, our August bill tips the scales at $750.
After hearing from angry citizens in Kern County, I decided to look deeper. What I've discovered is a tale of greed and gouging, a so-called SmartMeter program riddled with problems and public watchdogs so cozy with PG&E that they've surrendered all teeth.
This is not 2001. The energy crisis is over. We've bailed PG&E out of bankruptcy. By charging higher and higher rates, the utility's net profits rose 17% -- $1.2 billion -- in 2008. The balance sheet for the first half of this year looks even more lusty.
Carly Fiorina on San Joaquin Valley water challenges
Carly Fiorina, the former Hewlett-Packard CEO who has launched an exploratory committee for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate, discussed the state's water challenges in a commentary written for The Fresno Bee. Click here to read the entire column.
She will face Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, R-Irvine, in next year's Republican primary. The winner will take on Sen. Barbara Boxer.
The founding chancellor of UC Merced, Carol Tomlinson-Keasey, who saw the institution through its infancy, died Saturday of complications related to cancer, according to a statement from the university.
She was 66.
As the first chancellor of UC Merced from 1999 to 2006, Tomlinson-Keasey was the driving force behind creating a research university from scratch in a Valley woefully underserved by the UC system and higher education in general.
I met with her many times as the UC Merced campus was being planned and I credit her with getting the campus built while many around the state opposed constructing another UC campus. This is from a 2005 column I wrote about her work to get the campus running:
"The effort to bring UC to the Valley easily could have careened off track dozens of times. Tomlinson-Keasey, whose doctorate is in developmental psychology, had to do a lot of hand-holding to overcome the hurdles.
"She lobbied Congress and the state Legislature for support and the Army Corps of Engineers for a wetlands permit. She recruited faculty to the remote campus and coaxed donors to leave their legacies with major gifts. She drove the length of the Valley dozens of times to build enthusiasm for the campus.
"Most of all, she has been an outspoken ambassador for a university that started out as an unwanted stepchild. It should have been easier, especially when selling the idea to Valley leaders."
She did all this while fighting breast cancer, which was not widely known. We owe much to Tomlinson-Keasey. She made her adopted Valley home better.
Republicans in dead heat for right to challenge Boxer in U.S. Senate race
Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, R-Irvine, and former Hewlett Packard executive Carly Fiorina are in a virtual dead heat for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate. The latest Field Poll has DeVore 20% of the GOP vote to 21% for Fiorina. That's the seat held by Democrat Barbara Boxer.
This represents a huge surge for DeVore, who was 12 percentage points behind Fiorina in March. But we're still eight months away from the primary election and the serious campaigning has yet to begin.
Meanwhile, Boxer still leads both Republicans in matchups, according to the poll. The Democrats is running ahead of Fiorina at 49% to 35% and ahead of DeVoreat 50% to 33%.
OSLO (AP) -- President Barack Obama won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday in a stunning decision designed to encourage his initiatives to reduce nuclear arms, ease tensions with the Muslim world and stress diplomacy and cooperation rather than
unilateralism.
Nobel observers were shocked by the unexpected choice so early in the Obama presidency, which began less than two weeks before the Feb. 1 nomination deadline.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Obama woke up to the news a little before 6 a.m. EDT. The White House had no immediate comment on the announcement, which took the administration by surprise.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee decided not to inform Obama before the announcement because it didn't want to wake him up, committee chairman Thorbjoern Jagland said.
"Waking up a president in the middle of the night, this isn't really something you do," Jagland said.
The Nobel Committee lauded the change in global mood wrought by Obama's calls for peace and cooperation but recognized initiatives that have yet to bear fruit: reducing the world stock of nuclear arms, easing American conflicts with Muslim nations and
strengthening the U.S. role in combating climate change.
"Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future," Jagland said.
The chairman of the Republican Party is contending that President Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize as result of his "star power" rather than meaningful
accomplishments.
Michael Steele issued a statement Friday saying, "The real question Americans are asking is, What has President Obama actually accomplished?"
Steele, who took over the reigns of the party earlier this year, said he thought it was "unfortunate that the president's star power has outshined tireless advocates who have made real achievements working towards peace and human rights."
He said he doesn't think Obama will be "receiving any awards from Americans for job creation, fiscal responsibility, or backing up rhetoric with concrete action."
In Kings County, there's a political fight over whether the Kettleman Hills hazardous waste site should be expanded to accommodate the increasing amount of hazardous material that California generates. But environmentalists must realize that increased regulations mean more material is characterized as hazardous waste and it has to be dumped somewhere.
That's why it doesn't make sense for them to fight the expansion of Waste Management's Kettleman Hills facility. The Fresno Bee editorial board makes that point in today's editorial supporting the expansion plan. Here's more from the editorial:
But the proposal by Waste Management is partly the result of California's restrictive environmental regulations. As a state, we have decided that we want environmental hazards removed from contaminated sites, and that material be disposed of properly.
You can't say get rid of hazardous material, but don't dump it anywhere.
We believe that Waste Management's proposal is a reasonable one, given California's environmental regulations. The Kettleman Hills facility is highly regulated, and has a good safety record. This plan would extend the hazardous waste capacity by 30 years.
Radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh and Dave Checketts, the owner of St. Louis' National Hockey League team, are trying to buy the St. Louis Rams football team. Forbes magazine says the Rams franchise is valued at $929 million, but there is no news on what the selling price is.
This is from the AP: "In a statement, Limbaugh declined to discuss details, citing a confidentiality agreement with Goldman Sachs, the investment firm hired by the family of former Rams owner Georgia Frontiere to review assets of her estate, including the NFL team. Limbaugh also declined to discuss other partners that might be involved in the bid, but said he and Checketts would operate the team."
A letter in Friday's Fresno Bee says that it is time to stop re-enacting America's Civil War, turning our nation's saddest time into a commercial act of entertainment.
A couple more letter writers address this same issue in tomorrow's Letters to the Editor.
I've never been to the Civil War Revisited, so I don't have an opinion on whether or not it's a worthy event. But it always interests me when controversy springs up over events like this. Civil War Revisited just wrapped up its 20th season in Fresno (Full disclosure: The Fresno Bee is one of the event's sponsors).
Is it a worthy exploration of our nation's history, or an affront to all of the soldiers who were killed in the conflict? And as one of the letter writers in tomorrow's paper points out, is this annual tradition something that blacks should be righteously angered about?
Willie Brown says water issue could be disaster for Dems in 2010
Former Assembly Speaker Willie Brown took up the cause of moderate Congressional Democrats in California, writing recently that the environmentalist-inspired water policy of the federal government could cause election problems next year for California Democrats.
You can read Brown's commentary in the San Francisco Chronicle by clicking here.
Here are the key paragraphs:
"The perception is that folks like Rep. George Miller, D-Martinez, and environmental activists are orchestrating a policy out of Washington that says "yes" to water for the delta smelt and "no" to water for crops. Anger over putting fish before jobs in these lean times is running as strong as any anti-war, anti-Enron feeling we had up here in the Bay Area during the Bush years.
"Not only could the fish fight lead to a split within the Democratic Party, it could also be just the issue Republicans are looking for when the environmentalists' best friend in the Senate, Barbara Boxer, faces re-election in 2010."
Bill Clinton is endorsing Gavin Newsom for governor
Bill Clinton's feud with California Attorney General Jerry Brown continues, and now the former president is campaigning for Gavin Newsom in the San Francisco mayor's campaign for the Democratic nomination for governor. This goes back to the 1992 presidential campaign when Brown made relentless attacks on Clinton and his wife, Hillary. The attacks angered the Clintons, and they don't forget their enemies.
It was a very nasty campaign, even after Clinton locked up the Dems' presidential nomination 17 years ago. Now Clinton is helping Newsom in his underdog campaign for the Democratic nomination fight against Brown. Clinton is scheduled to campaign today in Los Angeles, and then will appear at a fundraiser for Newsom.
Clinton remains a huge Democratic favorite, and he will help Newsom raised a lot of ed cash for his campaign against Brown.
The National Park Service must rewrite its plan for how Yosemite Valley is developed, and The Fresno Bee editorial board is urging that a balance be struck between giving public good access access, while protecting the area. It can be done with cooperation.
"Some of the most strident environmentalists seem to want Yosemite reserved for the few. That's wrong. This is a national park open to all citizens, and we even invite guests from across the world to this crown jewel of our park system. Restricting access is not the answer.
"Then there are those who want the park commercialized to the detriment of its natural wonder. Yosemite should be used but not abused by development that does not belong in a national park."
For a change of pace, I'm offering this morning the speech by 4-year-old Josh Sacco who recites the Kurt Russell movie version of the 1980 U.S. Olympcs hockey coach's talk to his team on the even of upsetting the dominant Soviet hockey team. Jim Sacco says his son, Josh, has watched the movie, "Miracle," about 150 times. He knows the Kurt Russell speech by heart, and here it is. Russell played coach Herb Brooks in the movie. This YouTube video is an Internet sensation.
It sort of fits in with our recent Olympics discussion. OK, it's a stretch, but this is a fun video.
Rio de Janeiro was chosen as the host of the 2016 Games on Friday, with Chicago getting tossed in the first round of the selection process. That was a blow to President Barack Obama, who had made a personal apeal on behalf of Chicago. The International Olympic Committee made the selection in its meeting in Copenhagen.
"Rio de Janeiro was voted the winner over Madrid in the final round of voting, the I.O.C. having already delivered the an unexpectedly early knockout blow to Chicago, which was eliminated in the first round," according to the New York Times. "Tokyo was ousted in the second."
The Los Angeles Times summed up the Obama political problem this way:
"Chicago's elimination was one of the more shocking defeats in IOC voting history. The city had long been viewed as a front-runner. But the emotional appeals from Obama and his wife Michelle -- who both had flown to Copenhagen to make Chicago's case -- fell on deaf ears in the European-dominated IOC."
I'm not really sure why Obama took the political risk of actually appearing before the IOC on behalf of the Chicago Olympic bid. It was a no-win situation for him. If Chicago lost, it would be a blow to his prestige. If Chicago got the bid, it would have been seen as a favor for his Chicago friends.
Economic recovery still not including American workers
While the experts say the recession is ending, that so-called recovery has not helped put Americans back to work. The federal government anounced today that the unemployment rate was at 9.8% in September thanks to businesses cutting anouther 263,000 jobs. That number was much higher than the 180,000 losses that the Labor Department had predicted.
This has a big impact on the recovery because unemployed have trouble paying their mortgages and credits card bills; they don't buy things in retail stores, and that ripples through the economy. In addition, those with jobs are not sure whether to make purchases, so they cut back on their spending.
In addition to the unemployment news, we also saw a decline in factory orders. The Commerce Department said those fell 0.8% in August following a 1.4% gain in July, according to the AP. Economists had predicted a 0.7% increase, the AP reported.
Secret Service says Facebook poll was not a threat to president
This just in from the Associated Press:
By EILEEN SULLIVAN (AP)
WASHINGTON -- The Secret Service has determined that a juvenile was behind the online survey that asked whether people thought President Barack Obama should be assassinated, an agency spokesman said Thursday.
No criminal charges will be filed against the juvenile or the juvenile's parents, spokesman Edwin Donovan said. Donovan would not identify the names of the child or parents or say where they are from.
The poll, posted Saturday on Facebook, was taken off the popular social networking site quickly after company officials were alerted to its existence. But, like any threat against the president, Secret Service agents took no chances.
The poll asked respondents "Should Obama be killed?" The choices: No, Maybe, Yes, and Yes if he cuts my health care.
It's great to see a 
There's a 
The office of First Lady Maria Shriver just emailed me this response to the cell phone controversy:
Carly Fiorina, the former Hewlett-Packard CEO who has launched an exploratory committee for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate, discussed the state's water challenges in a commentary written for The Fresno Bee. 
I'm saddened by ![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=161cefd9-1626-4f54-b871-da86258b24b3)
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