California Forum

Years ago, when I was a reporter, a woman named Carol wrote to let me know how distasteful she found a passage in one of my stories.

There were no champagne corks flying when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's budget team held a dour briefing on New Year's Eve to unveil his budget proposal for 2009-10.

A week after a gas explosion shook a Rancho Cordova neighborhood and blew up a house, killing one man and critically injuring his daughter and granddaughter, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. finally released its rule book for handling gas leaks. Incredibly, the public still can't see it.

Sacramento dodged a bullet, barely, with the city's first New Year's ball drop at 10th and K. This uncontrolled crowd situation was marred by pockets of disorder. If Mayor Kevin Johnson and event organizers want people to come back a second time, they need to do a post-event analysis – and much, much better planning for 2010.

I'm not much on New Year's resolutions, perhaps because I've never managed to stick to one for more than the first few days of a new year. But I'm going to make one in public and see if that helps.

BAGHDAD – As violence diminishes and U.S. troops draw down, Iraqis are trying to figure out what kind of political system will emerge when American influence fades.

When the new Congress begins this week, many familiar faces will be missing. While the most notable absentees will be Barack Obama and Joe Biden, something tells me we will see plenty of them in coming months.

Like pebbles tossed into ponds, Supreme Court rulings can radiate ripples of consequences. Consider a 1971 ruling that supposedly applied but actually altered the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

Earlier this month, The Bee's editorial board repeated its call for the state to eliminate the Integrated Waste Management Board, calling it a "patronage plum" for termed-out legislators, such as former state Sen. Carole Migden.

Members of the Sacramento Regional County Sanitation District are glad to read that The Bee acknowledges that science should drive policy concerning the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. We have been advocating the same point for years with little traction.

California lawmakers are skilled at issuing resolutions. In the last session, the Assembly alone issued 267 resolutions, ranging from Take Your Dog to Work Day (ACR 103) to other important proposals, such as new postage stamps.

The world has bigger problems than the media's current miseries, so you may have missed these reports from two days last week: Macmillan Publishing eliminating 64 jobs, New York magazine announcing its first layoffs, top-level execs getting the ax at CBS, Crain Communications dumping 6 percent of its work force, a pay freeze at the New York Times, eco-themed magazines succumbing to slumping advertising, National Public Radio laying off 64 staffers, Detroit's two dailies cutting home delivery to three days a week.

When I speak to community groups, I usually begin by describing new or improved Bee coverage, and here at year's end the list is pretty long.

The miracle of bird migration is on full display in the Sacramento region for the next few months, as the large birds – cranes, swans, geese, ducks, and hawks – that nest and raise their young in the far north take a seasonal respite from the harsh arctic winter to enjoy the temperate weather and abundant food sources of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Valley.

Once again the Sacramento Bee has used cheap, sensational headlines to drive a wedge between the government employees on whom so much of our local economy depends, and private-sector employees. While the Dec. 21 story on the amount of overtime earned by firefighters in the Sacramento Fire Department was well written and factual, those facts were not seen by anyone who was too infuriated to read beyond the charts and first few sections of the story.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's decision to furlough and lay off state workers is counterproductive and extremely shortsighted. It is unfortunate that The Bee supports his plan.

Bee cartoonist Rex Babin: 2008 in review

In 1966, the price of eggs rose to a level that President Lyndon Johnson judged, God knows how, was too high. There were two culprits – supply and demand – and Johnson's agriculture secretary told him there was not much that could be done. LBJ, however, was a can-do fellow who directed the U.S. surgeon general to dampen demand by warning the nation about the hazards of cholesterol in eggs.

Highway projects, the budget, gambling, etc.

President-elect Barack Obama will inherit an agenda of staggering uncertainty as the nation struggles with a fading economy while stuck in two wars overseas.

The end of the year means the end of a cycle. It's a time to look back at what we accomplished and where we came up short. That is so not only on a personal basis, but also as a country.

Here's a question: Why don't we remember the good news?

An insider looks at the future of the Republican Party.

A new Capitol Visitor Center recently opened, just in time for the transformation of the Capitol building into a tomb for the antiquated idea that the legislative branch matters. The center is supposed to enhance the experience of visitors to Congress, although why there are visitors is a mystery.