Battles — Something Old, Something New

Today’s news chum brings stories of a collection of battles, some old, some new, some borrowed, and some, umm, crimson:

• Don’t Be Cross. A number of years ago, Los Angeles had a battle. You see, the county logo had a cross on it, above the Hollywood Bowl. This offended those who felt it was indicating government sponsorship of religion (as opposed to a reflection of the actual cross that is lit in the hills above the bowl). So the seal we reworked to remove the cross, and instead have the San Gabriel Mission, and thousand of dollars were paid to change the seal everywhere. Now, two county supervisors want to return the cross to the seal, as the mission has had its cross restored. Seal battle, take two!
• Therein Lies a Tail. Another logo battle was taking place at the airport. This time, American Airlines was asking its employees to vote on the new livery for the tails of their aircraft. Note this wasn’t the corporate logo — they were sticking with the new one there. Here it is just the tail. So the results of the vote were announced today? The winner: the new tail livery of red, white, and blue. The AA Eagle is out. But don’t fret: They plan to keep the old logo alive on a few legacy aircraft, as US Airways has done with Piedmont, PSA, America West, and US Air. One wonders if they will do the same for the American legacy airlines: TWA, Air Cal, and Reno Air.
• Drawing Power from Nature. In the Owens Valley of California, nature has often provide power, be it via water, wind, or the sun. Much of this power has gone to the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, which grabbed stole purchased the land during the aquaduct construction. Now an interesting battle is playing out. It seems that the City of Los Angeles wants to build a large solar array in the Owens Valley to harness the vast amount of sunlight there. The problem? It is visually within range of Manzanar, a very historic and sensitive site. So what is the right answer: side with history, or side with clean power.
• Represent! I’ve written in the past about how a number of Northern California counties want to secede from California because they believe their rural voices aren’t being heard. A different activist in California wants to address the representation problem in a different way. He feels that legislative districts are too big: some districts are larger than some states, in terms of population. So he wants to break them up and up and up until there are 12,000 legislators. Each would represent some small number of people. These would be (a) be paid very little, and (b) be tiered up the chain so work can actually get done. Does anyone really believe this will help the battle for representation?
• It’s a Dead Parrot. Up in the Bay Area, we have the battle going on between an Oakland Hospital and the parents of a brain-dead teen. They want to keep her on a ventilator until…. they never say. Most people think they just cannot accept her death. The thing is: if she is really brain-dead, keeping her on a ventilator doesn’t mean she’s alive.
• I’m My Own Grandfather. In Calabasas, another battle is going on: this time, it is between the new residents who want their fancy expensive mansions and sewer systems, and the older rural residents on septic systems that were there before Calabasas incorporated. It appears Calabasas is abusing the building code enforcement to force the rural residents out, to encumber their land, and to force them to put it up for sale (for developers to buy).
• What’s In A Name? And lastly, this will have you seeing red, or at least Crimson. An Alabama couple wants to name their newborn Crimson Tyde, and people are up in arms about it. While I agree it is a silly name, America is not the sort of country where there is a list of approved names for children (and, yes, there are such places — such as Germany, Sweden, and Iceland, and a number of other countries).

 

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