Quick Hits

Governor Jerry Brown is starting to dissolve the State's redevelopment agencies. I say bravo! Redevelopment was a  little used contrivance first conceived after World War II but which really came into being after the passage of Prop. 13. A redevelopment district could abscond with tax revenue for its district for a thirty year period.

Redevelopment became a great way for cities to not share tax revenues with schools, counties and the State. The State was forced to step in to subsidize the loss of school revenue. Redevelopment allowed cities to hang the "blight" appellation and declare eminent domain on a lot of perfectly good real estate in order to achieve some pretty machiavellian and shortsighted schemes.

I worked on several multi million dollar redevelopment projects in the late 80's and early 90's as a consultant and in some of these districts, it was like working with the mafia. The agencies were accountable to no one and had far too much money at their fingertips. I saw some really shady stuff. The cities passed Prop. 22 to try to keep the State from recouping revenue and Brown did the smart thing. I think that he has been a damn good governor.

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All right the jig is up, I get my marching orders from Saul Alinsky. Whoever the hell that is. You can't read an opinion these days without hearing about dogwhistles. How about a new metaphor already? Sheesh. But I had to wonder if I was hearing an ultrasonic sound over at Townhall the other day where Sandy Rios was pontificating in defense of poor, misunderstood Pat Buchanan: "Leftist Jewish organizations like ADL whose gold standard is “tolerance” are absolutely intolerant of Christ-followers or anyone they perceive don’t embrace the sacred cow of political correctness with regard to race. Buchanan has mentioned race and faith in a way they hate and he must be silenced." Those commie jews again, ladies and gentlemen. Now the anti defamation league is left wing?

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Russia is once again standing up for a murderous regime in the process of committing genocide on its own people, Syria. It brings to mind the words of a teacher I had in New York, I forget his name at present. He said, if you learn nothing else in my class, learn that countries are as moral as economically feasible.

On this topic, there is a wonderful article on John Mearsheimer in the current edition of Atlantic. Mearsheimer is a University of Chicago professor and the author of The Israel Lobby and U.S.Foreign Policy amongst other books and has been branded an anti semite by many. That is neither here nor there. In this article, he discusses how fear is the dominant force in international relations and realism dictates that great powers will act in their own interests in order to abet that fear. He calls this doctrine "offensive realism." His book The Tragedy of Great Power Politics sets out his beliefs on the subject. "...with a forceful denial of perpetual peace in favor of perpetual struggle, with great powers primed for offense, because they can never be sure how much military capacity they will need in order to survive over the long run. Because every state is forever insecure, Mearsheimer counsels, the internal nature of a state is less important as a factor in its international behavior than we think."Mearsheimer is quite the apologist for manifest destiny and Kissinger style realpolitik, big international powers pushing their weight around. I don't agree with him on much but the article is fascinating.

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I had to laugh when our president yesterday said that he respect's Iraq's sovereignty but reserves the right to fly drone missiles over it anyway.

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Did you see the article on Chile last week. A domestic maid, Felicita Pinto, 57, caused quite the ruckus when she decided not to take the bus but to instead walk to work on the rich people's street. She was chased down by security guards and forced back to the gate. The community bylaws forbid servants to move at will.

"Can you imagine what it would be like here if all the maids were walking outside, all the workers walking in the street and their children on bicycles?" neighbor Ines Perez told a local television channel.
Shortly before Pinto's rebellion became public, a nanny who works nearby in the Brisas de Chicureo Golf Club wasn't allowed to enter a pool with the 3-year-old girl she watches because she wasn't wearing the traditional maid's apron that all domestic workers are required to wear on the property.
The administration of El Algarrobal II did not respond to requests from the AP for comment, but in an email to Pinto's employer, British shipping executive Bruce Taylor, it argued that maids, nannies, waiters, gardeners, construction workers and pool cleaners must ride the minibus to keep them from "committing robberies or providing information relevant to the privacy of other neighbors on their way to the house where they say they work."

I discussed the issue with my Chilean friend E last week. He told me that Chile is a very insular society. He mentioned that he had never seen a black person until he came to the United States and that the type of classism faced by Pinto is rampant in his home country.

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My friend Pasadena Realtor Gary Mazzioti is now on the board of an organization called Hazel's Beans. Their mission is to promote women's health issues and health awareness.

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I sold a painting in Santa Barbara to the lovely Kerry Allen. She has a neat website called Weekend Hippie.

"Weekend Hippie was born in Santa Barbara, California in 2008 and is all about living a full, responsible life on this planet--and having fun while doing it. First and foremost, loving life and living it with passion while making conscious choices, even small ones, that can make a big difference."   

Cool site. Check it out.