Editor’s Note:

(Not surprisingly, our chief correspondent refuses to adhere to management’s directives. While in Tokyo this week, he was instructed to present impressions — with luck, insightful — of one the world’s great cities. Instead, his latest missive relates to toilets and, therefore, in the interest of family values, is being filed as an “Angry Man” screed.    Read more »

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Tokyo Offers Some Opportunities for California

One of the aspects of Japan that feels particularly alien is the toilets, which appear to have recently seen duty on the U.S.S. Enterprise.

On the first model closely encountered, along the right edge is a six-button control console.

Beginning nearest to the wall, a button allows the seat to be heated.    Read more »

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After a Day or So in Tokyo…

It’s hard getting used to the medical facemasks.

Particularly when they’re worn by a team of guys in goggles, gloves and scrubs — one cousin removed from HAZMAT — who board the plane when it arrives at Narita Airport.

They check for viruses, epidemics and inquire if anyone might have influenza.     Read more »

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Willie Brown at the Sutter Club June 4, 2009

On Jerry Brown’s candidacy for governor:

“He’s a distant relative. he’s going to highlight the blood relationship but he’s a distant relative.”

On how he is addressed:

“Not many people cal me Willie Brown. The Lord, a few others.”

On the budget mess:

“There hasn’t been a budget since I left.    Read more »

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Editor’s Note:

(Rather than replicate the model of Reuters which covers Sacramento from Bangalore, India, we note that the chief correspondent for California’s Capitol is en route to Tokyo where he will be through Friday June 12. While it is certainly the hope of management that he will share his impressions of one of the world’s great cities his personnel file contains a sorry history of repeated failure to follow management’s directives.    Read more »

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And After Fixing That Pesky Budget Thing, How About the Unemployment Insurance Fund?

The awful economy that has contributed to the state’s record budget gap of $42 billion and, now $24 billion, has also driven the state’s unemployment insurance fund deeper into insolvency.

A new report by the state Employment Development Department estimates that the fund will end 2009 $6.2 billion in the hole and $17.8 billion in the hole if no action is taken to change the way it’s financed.    Read more »

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Safe Surrender of Infants — Again

Give Assemblyman Alberto Torrico an “A” for effort: His fourth attempt to increase beyond 72 hours California’s safe surrender of children was approved June 3 by the lower house on a bipartisan vote.

The three previous attempts by the Fremont Democrat to increase the amount of time in which parents can give up their children without penalty have been vetoed by GOP Gov.    Read more »

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Spay and Neuter Redux

Nothing seems to inflame political passions more than pets.

Even though heavy on exemptions, a measure by Sen. Dean Florez aimed at encouraging more spaying and neutering of dogs and cats faced a rocky hearing on the Senate floor.

On nearly every other issue, Florez, a Hanford Democrat, would have had the unflinching support of at least 21 of his fellow Democrats, assuring passage in the 40-member house.    Read more »

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Hello? Rome Is Burning

As a special two-house conference committee met to consider ways to close a $24 billion budget gap, the Assembly spent the first hour of its June 1 session approving 12 pieces of legislation.

Among them, AB 21. 

The measure orders the Department of Pesticide Regulation to “conduct a review” of the “assessment undertaken pursuant to the 8th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer and the 20th meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer by the Technology and Economic Assessment Panel regarding methyl bromide.”    Read more »

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Didn’t Think It Could Get Any Worse? Think Again

As though the state’s fiscal condition weren’t dire enough, Controller John Chiang sent a letter on May 29 to the governor and legislative leaders saying that on July 31 the state will be $1 billion short of meeting its payment obligations to schools, local governments and vendors.

“Based on the May Revision revenue and expenditure estimates provided to us late last week by the Department of Finance and taking into account the actual cash receipts and expenditures my office tracks, it is clear the health of the State’s treasury has significantly deteriorated since the adoption of the (budget), a mere three months ago,” Chiang wrote.    Read more »

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