Hi Tom,

After prop 13 passed ( back in 78 I believe) - the government has done it's best in CA to punish the voters - shutting down libraries, cutting hours, services etc.

Howard Jarvis was mad as heck and wasn't gonna take it any more and CA promptly took it all away ;-)

Feinstein, Boxer, Willy Brown are archetypes of political arrogance and hypocrisy.

California politics has long suffered corruption and influence. Always follow the legislation to a corporate sponsor.

Yellow and high sodium lights - helped require the replacement of tens of millions of street lamps and often fixtures.

New lighter textbooks - would require whole new reprints of existing books and huge purchases by the state.

Books are slow in becoming obsolete - they can last decades in the schools.

This is like low-flush toilets - a sudden windfall to the manufacturer of same.

The lobbyists for this - are certainly not students carrying heavy book loads - but are likely reps of some textbook company who have thought up a duesy of a way to get huge new orders, while making millions of books obsolete.

My CA politician relatives received ten huge assorted boxes of free fireworks every year - as a "gift" . They did not support a ban on fireworks. Did this influence them? - well I never asked. ;-)

The perks of a politician are numerous and many - it is a "lifestyle" which leads to a holier-than-thou attitude and only the truly strong minded and well anchored can be around all the media and society that accompanies it, and remain level-headed.

Oh, I forgot Alan Cranston....another CA past-favorite of mine. ;-)

Don't you love them...always entertaining!

SDAI-Tech1