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Mushroom City Memoirs

So here's what I think happened, and just trust me on this because it's a real breakthrough: On New Year's Eve, while everybody was celebrating the arrival of 2007 by consuming copious amounts of "spirits" and producing huge rackets with their noisemakers, Earth was walloped by a large meteorite from the planet "Sleazy and Bizarre Behavior." Tragically, cheerful party-goers were so occupied slurping down liquid merriment concocted from the book of "Bartender's Easy Entertainment Tips" that they missed the disaster entirely. Because how else can we explain all of these off-the-wall altered states of goings-on?

"Paul Revere earned his living as a silversmith. But what do we remember him for? His volunteer work. All activism is volunteering in that it's done above and beyond earning a living and deals with what people really care passionately about. Remember, no one gets paid to rebel. All revolutions start with volunteers."

I have worked with non-profits for almost 25 years now, but after a recent United Way effort to develop some new goals for meeting basic needs in this county, I've become a little enamored of the front-line emergency services agencies that I never really paid much attention (or respect) to before. These are the ones that were started by a group of people who wanted to meet a basic need – (most often food). Their service is born from heeding a call to live the gospels, to serve their neighbors in need and their sense of what's right.

Talk to anyone in Morgan Hill about our police department and the conversation usually focuses in on the need for more police officers. Even when new positions are created and funded, finding people to fill them is a greater challenge. If you are a student thinking about a career, think about one in law enforcement.

Global warming. Regional response. Individual action. 

"Public commissions, boards, councils and other legislative bodies of local government agencies exist to aid in the conduct of the people's business. The people do not yield their sovereignty to the bodies that serve them. The people insist on remaining informed to retain control over the legislative bodies they have created."

Good heavens ... this is getting out of hand. Seriously. I thought I could just ignore the proposed bill by Assemblywoman Sally (Motto: "I have no kids and therefore know more than you do about raising them") Lieber of Mountain View. But Ms. Lieber, mother of a politically correct cat or something, has become a media darling recently as she touts her plan to let government further intervene in our day-to-day lives – specifically by making it illegal for a parent (or other caregiver) to issue a swat on the bottom of an errant child under the age of four.

If you are a reasonably observant person, you've no doubt noticed that most plastic containers have a number surrounded by a set of chasing arrows. Here's your weekly eco-quiz, don't worry ... it's multiple choice, which gives you a chance to gauge your eco-knowledge:

It is a fact that two words still strike terror in my heart: Valentine's Day. This is not because I don't believe in love and hearts and all. It's just that every Feb. 14 I suffer unfortunate flashbacks to my grade-school days, which, truth be told, occurred lots of decades ago.