As someone who is probably going to be “furloughed” two days a week (read as “10% pay cut”) and who the Governor of our state thinks should give up two paid holidays each year, I’m a little disappointed.  However, I do understand that these things happen and we all need to do our part.  I have one objection, however.

State workers currently have both Lincoln’s Birthday and President’s Day off.  Our governor has proposed to eliminate Lincoln’s Birthday and Columbus Day as holidays.  I understand the need to cut.  However, I am offended that the government is considering cutting these two holidays and leaving intact a holiday that most other states do not have: Cesar Chavez Day.

I’m all in favor of migrant workers’ rights, and certainly Chavez accomplished a great deal to improve Hispanic workers’ working conditions.  However, in comparison to crossing an ocean in a wooden boat or being President of the United States, I think Cesar Chavez’ accomplishments, frankly, pale in comparison.  Lincoln held the union together and fought a war for it.  He was President of the United States. 

To eliminate Lincoln’s birthday as a holiday but to leave Cesar Chavez Day intact is fundamental political correctness.  Better to eliminate a dead president’s holiday than to tacitly suggest that  somone who is a minority and admittedly made great strides in civil rights areas is not as important to the history of the United States as a President who fought a war to save the country.  But that’s just my opinion.

MM suggested that I post about how it’s been in the upper 60’s to low 70’s here for highs for the last week or so, with lows in the mid-30s.  I think he’s just being mean, because he knows friends and family in places like Idaho, Washington DC, North Carolina and perhaps Indiana will be jealous.  However, we should all be jealous of my friends in San Diego, where the highs are in the 70s and the lows are in the 50s.  So, I think we should all be jealous that we don’t live in San Diego.  Meanwhile, I’ll try not to enjoy the mid-60s weather too much as I walk through the park across the street from my new office on my lunch break.  Don’t worry, I’ll be sure to use sunscreen.

As many of you know, I supported Tom Campbell in 1992 when he ran for Senate against Bruce Herschensohn in the Republican primary.  He is a moderate Republican, and I continue to maintain that California cannot elect a Republican to statewide office until the California Republican party realizes that the only Republican that can win statewide is a moderate Republican.  Regardless of one’s personal beliefs of moderate or conservative, this is CALIFORNIA and overall, it leans left to moderate, not right.  Remember, even Ronald Reagan started off as a Democrat before changing parties and being elected Governor.  In any event, all those years ago, when I was in college, some friends and I supported Tom Campbell.  He lost.  But he has not been forgotten, nor has his political career come to an end.

I am active in Republican politics up here, recently having helped found the Lincoln Club of Sutter County.  We’re having an event on February 12.  When I found out Tom Campbell had formed an exploratory committee for Governor, I sent my e-mail address, and tried to figure out a way to get in contact with him, to no avail.  Then, yesterday, I received a blast e-mail with his economic recovery plan for California.  So, I responded, and reminded him of a fundraiser that I attended for him at a restaurant in my parents’ home town, and invited him to our event on Feb. 12.  I didn’t really expect a response.

I was pleasantly surprised when I had an e-mail waiting for me from the man himself.  What surprised me even more is that he said he remembered the event at the restaurant, said he is already booked for Feb. 12 (no surprise, it’s kind of a big day for Republicans) but that he’d really like to do another event for us.  And, (here’s why I’m really impressed) he provided an e-mail that he says is his personal e-mail so he’ll actually see correspondence from me.

Aside from supporting his policies, this is exactly why I supported him the first time he ran for statewide office (and the second, although the California Republican Party decided not to support him when he won the nomination in the only open primary).  He’s a down-to-Earth, rational Republican who believes in fiscal conservatism, but also supports the idea that California needs to do something about the environment and other problems and needs to be a leader as one of the world’s largest economies.

I hope he wins the nomination.  It’s 18 months before we vote again in statewide primaries, but now is when things start happening.  www.campbell.org

I start my new job tomorrow.  I’m sad to be leaving so many wonderful people at my current agency, but I’m looking forward to the challenges awaiting me at ARB.  Fortunately, Monday is a holiday, so I’m starting just in time to figure out where things are and how to get more notepads and then it’s a three day weekend.

Ok, admit it: if you have kids and jobs, you probably didn’t make it to midnight last night.  I know we didn’t.  It’s almost a tradition: by the time we get to New Year’s Eve, I’m sick and we can’t do anything anyway.  It started the first year we were married, which was the big Y2K turnover.  We went to my parents’ house for Christmas Eve, and we put up their tree that night.  Between my allergies and my parents leaving the windows open and not heating the downstairs, I came home seriously sick.  As in the next day I had a fever of 103.  This was when everyone had the flu and went to the urgent care.  Of course, the thing about the flu is that all you could do at the time was suffer through it.  I, on the other hand, had an upper respiratory infection that could be treated with antibiotics.  So, when the big New Year came around, I was still recovering.  I think I ate soup (I don’t remember what MM ate) and went to bed early again.  Needless to say, not a particularly memorable New Year’s Eve celebration.

This year was more of the same.  ToaM brought home a cold and has been sharing it with all of us.  I had to work all week, so MM has been home with Chatterer and ToaM.  By the time I came home, and we fed the boys and put them to bed we were both exhausted.  We opened champagne at 9 pm (it was midnight on the East Coast!) and enjoyed it and then we went to sleep.  Heck, what did you expect from a small town in Northern California?!

Either that, or we’re just getting old.