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BOULDER -- Boulder County officials need more time to get the information they need to complete the crafting of new regulations to address the potential negative public-health and environmental impacts of expanded oil and gas exploration activities in unincorporated areas, County Planning Commission members warned on Wednesday night.
Boulder County's present moratorium on processing oil and gas companies' applications and development plans for local oil and gas drilling permits, a temporary timeout that's been in place since early February, remains in effect until next Feb. 4.
On Wednesday, members of the county's advisory planning panel -- which has been working on recommendations for updating those local land-use rules -- voted to urge the Board of County Commissioners to extend that moratorium for another three to six months beyond that Feb. 4 expiration date, "in order to gain additional information."
Planning commissioner Scott Holwick said he wasn't sure he and his colleagues on that panel have "enough information to make a worthwhile recommendation" about new Boulder County oil and gas regulations, although he had to leave the meeting before the vote on the moratorium extension.
Earlier in Wednesday's meeting, several Boulder County residents argued during a public hearing that the current draft version of the proposed regulations wasn't restrictive enough to protect current and future populations from the possible hazards of the process of hydraulic fracturing -- the injection of a mixture of sand, water and chemicals to free up underground oil and gas deposits -- and horizontal drilling.
"The technology and research on this unconventional form of fossil-fuel extraction is still in its infancy," said Audy Leggere-Hickey. "I ask you to please consider a new moratorium until these regulations can be brought in line with the Boulder County Comprehensive Plan, not an oil and gas industry plan for Boulder County."
Kate Johnson, another speaker at the hearing, asked planning commissioners to demand that a five-year emergency moratorium on drilling be imposed before any new county rules take effect.
Planning commissioner Meg Blum said that though she didn't necessarily favor a five-year extension of the current moratorium, there are "many scientific issues" that still need to be explored.
"This has turned out to be much, much more complex than any of us anticipated," said planning commissioner Doug Young
Young, however, dissented from Wednesday night's 4-1 vote urging Boulder County Commissioners to enact a three- to six-month extension of the moratorium. Young said the panel's vote could wait until Oct. 30, when the Planning Commission resumes work on the proposed drilling regulations.
Planning Commission chairman Pat Shanks' motion to seek the longer moratorium was supported by planning panelists Blum, John Gerstle and Natalie Feinberg-Lopez.
Boulder County commissioners already have had to defend the length of the current year-long moratorium, when it was challenged by Thom Kerr, the then-acting director of the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission.
Kerr said in a May 31 letter to the Board of County Commissioners that "local moratoria that extend to approximately a year are not compatible with the balanced development of oil and gas that allows for responsible production and the economic stimulus it creates."
The Boulder County commissioners, however, replied in a June letter to Kerr that the one-year moratorium was needed to complete all the work they expected it would take to "review and revise our oil and gas regulations for the first time in greater than 20 years."
The county commissioners wrote Kerr last summer that "while we have been diligently pursuing this project, much more work needs to be done. It is our hope that we will be able to finish all of our processes and implement new regulations prior to the Feb. 4, 2013, expiration date for the moratorium."
Posing potential complications for Boulder County's completion of its regulatory changes, however, is the fact that the state Oil and Gas Conservation Commission will also soon be considering revising its own statewide rules about such issues as how far wells must be set back from homes, schools, hospitals and other buildings, and the sampling and monitoring of groundwater near new well pads. The state agency has scheduled Nov. 14 hearings in Denver on its proposed rules changes.
John Chandler of Lafayette, who said he co-owns an oil and gas production company that operates in several states, told Boulder County planning commissioners Wednesday that Colorado has some of "the most robust" drilling regulations in the nation.
Chandler said that state regulatory system won't work, however, if every city and county tries to enact its own rules. He said the proposed Boulder County regulations are confusing, and he urged the county to work instead with Gov. John Hickenlooper and the Oil and Gas Conservation Commission.
But Rick Casey, a Lafayette resident who said he's taught environmental economics at Front Range Community College since 2009, told planning commissioners he's become "firmly convinced that fracking is a wrong and unnecessary policy of resource development.
"We should instead be investing in alternative energy and building the base for a truly sustainable energy future, instead of the short-term opportunistic policy of hydraulic fracturing," Casey said.
John Fryar can be reached at 303-684-5211 or firstname.lastname@example.com.


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BRANDON TWP. >>Residents in Brandon Township as well as Bruce Township in Macomb County share concerns about the Enbridge construction project that is repairing and replacing a total of 285 miles of pipeline between Griffith, Ind. and Sarnia, Ontario.
One of the biggest concerns among homeowners near the construction sites is the lack of communication from Enbridge.
In Brandon Township, local residents are concerned:
� Enbridge has been working beyond the township�s restricted construction hours.
� Enbridge uses a private road to enter a pump station.
� Too much dirt and debris is left behind.
�There seem to be issues with communication between Enbridge and homeowners,� said Kathy Thurman, Brandon Township Supervisor.
Enbridge began construction of the pipeline in Brandon in the fall of 2012 and completed that phase last fall. The new phase got underway this spring.
While some of the work has occurred beyond construction hours set by the township, Enbridge officials say they are using directional drills that burrow deep into the ground and have to be used over 24-hour periods.
�To have a successful result, they�ll need to work 24/7,� said Tom Hodge, project director for Enbridge Energy, based in Superior, Wisc.
�Unfortunately, there are a couple of houses there within 200 or 300 feet - a football field away. There will be lights on at night and heavy equipment running. We have offered to put those landowners up in a hotel and tried to put a wall between us to deaden the noise, and we will work with the homeowner any way we can to minimize the inconvenience of the noise and the light.�
Citizens complained at the township board meeting in April, and the board denied Enbridge�s request to extend work hours.
However, Hodge also said the business has taken additional steps to reduce noise by having workers park off site and busing them to the construction area.
�We try to work with the residents,� Hodge said. �When we get a complaint like that we take steps to mitigate it.�
Also in Brandon, one homeowner believes her property values will plummet once a pump station is completed in her backyard.
Enbridge officials approached Sue Evans, 53, who lives on Sarahs Way, in 2012 to renew a lease agreement that would give them access to part of her property. But, at the time, she thought the company was just going to install a new pipeline, she said.
�Then we found out they were going to put in this pump station,� she said. �We�re living in this residential area, and it looks like an industrial park going in behind us.�
The family also is upset that the business fenced and blocked access to part of their property, she said.
Construction on the pump station started last July.
�They�re promising us it will be quiet. It will be ambient noise, but we don�t know how that�s going to happen. They�ve promised us many things that have never happened. Their communication with us has been poor.�
However, Hodge contends that the homeowners will not hear the electrical motors of the pump station when it is complete. The building will be acoustically insulated and will be buffered with trees and landscaping. In addition, the structure was designed so it will not resemble an industrial building.
�I don�t believe we�ll devalue that property any more than what is already on the site,� he said.
Bruce Township residents have complained about noise and closed roads since construction started in May.
�First, we had a fight about trees,� Bruce Township Supervisor Richard Cory said. �That�s what we fought about. We saved 12 big trees. That was huge.�
In addition, Enbridge will plant an additional 150 trees in the township, he said.
Then, homeowners complained about noise, and township officials had to urge Enbridge to follow the ordinance regulating construction hours.
Traffic has been a concern, too. A vehicle hit a person directing traffic recently. The person was hospitalized but not seriously hurt, Cory said.
All in all, he feels the problems are being addressed, he said.
�I�ve had a good relationship with all the Enbridge guys. They�ve all been open. If I�d had the littlest problem, they�ve jumped right on it.�
Oxford Township Supervisor Bill Dunn continues to say that he has not received complaints about Enbridge, since the construction is going through commercial tracts.
A major oil spill in western Michigan spurred the project. In 2010, a section of the old line ruptured, resulting in the spill of 800,000 gallons of crude oil into the Kalamazoo River, and Enbridge was fined $3.7 million because of the spill.
The company has been working on a $1.8 billion project for a new pipeline to carry crude oil from western Canada oil fields to refineries in Sarnia, Ontario. The entire project spans 285 miles from Gary, Ind., to Sarnia and will include the restoration of five pump stations and two new ones.
�This phase is going much better than the previous phases,� Hodge said. �We have all our permits and all of our land issues resolved. We cleared the right of way last winter, last fall. This has gone much smoother.�
Enbridge expects to complete construction in the fall and return to finish restoration this spring.
�We try to be a good neighbor,� Hodge said. �This construction process is an inconvenience, but the end result will be a safer pipeline in that community, and it is delivering a product all of us use and our society depends on.�
As far as Evans is concerned, her only recourse is to hire a lawyer.
�They have taken this residential setting and made it industrial, and there�s nothing we can do about it,� she said. �We want out. But, right now, nobody is going to buy it.�

subset: commoncrawl


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FLORENCE, S.C. – In the opening game of the 2008 Francis Marion/Zaxby's Tipoff Classic UNCP fell to Coker College, 80-71, in men's basketball action as the Cobras' Mason Ambler and Josh Poston combined for 46 points on Friday night at the Smith University Center on the Campus of the Patriots.
The Cobras (3-0) stayed perfect on the season by shooting 55.6 percent from the floor and out-rebounding UNCP (1-2) 35-25. Ambler was the games leading scorer racking up 24 points for Coker with Poston adding 22 of his own.
Junior forward Brandon Thomas posted a team-high 17 points and eight rebounds for the Braves, both career-highs. Senior guard Demarcus Lyday added 16 points to UNCP's total and junior Scott McNeil added 12.
Coker jumped out to an early 11-6 lead before UNCP went on an 8-0 run to earn their first lead of the contest at 12-11. The Cobras would go on to score 15 points over the next six minutes to just four for Pembroke. Coker built up its biggest lead in with 3:58 left in the period at 31-19 before taking a 39-30 lead into halftime.
Thomas and Jason Smith combined for 15 of UNCP's halftime points with Thomas leading the way with eight. The junior from Cherryville, N.C. also led the team in rebounds pulling down six of Pembroke's 11 boards in the opening frame.
Coker's Ambler scored 14 first half points with Poston adding 10 to the Cobras' total. The Cobras shot 52.0 percent from the floor while holding the Braves to only 44.0 percent.
The two teams scored 41 points each in the second half with the first half deficit dooming the Pembroke squad. The Braves pulled to within seven of the Cobras with 6:30 left in the contest at 61-54, but Coker's offense was too much for the young Pembroke team outscoring the Black & Gold 19-17 the rest of the way.
UNCP will play the Savannah College of Art & Design at 4 p.m. to close out the FMU Tipoff Classic while Coker will play host-team Francis Marion at 6:00 p.m.


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WESTMINSTER -- Workers are continuing to excavate dirt for the layover rail station project in Westminster despite a work-stoppage order issued Friday by the Board of Selectmen.
Westminster Board of Selectmen Chairman Joseph Flanagan sent a cease-and-desist order to officials from the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, the state agency in charge of the project; the Montachusett Regional Transit Authority, a regional agency assisting the MBTA in the project; S&R Construction Enterprises, the general contractor for the construction project; and Westminster Business Park, the developer where the layover rail station is located.
Westminster and MBTA officials and their lawyers have taken contrary positions on municipal permitting requirements over the past month after excavated earth was dumped on Westminster Business Park. Westminster officials say the project has failed to file for municipal permits to remove earth from the project site to prepare it for construction. MBTA officials say state sovereignty exempts the MBTA from those municipal restrictions and filing for the permit would set a precedent for future conflicts.
"The conditions we put on earth-removal permits are reasonable," said Flanagan in the statement. "It would have only a negligible effect on the MBTA's project, might save the project a lot of money, and would allow the Board of Selectmen to regulate earth removal and earth fill as it has both the legal right and responsibility to do.
On Monday, MBTA Spokesman Joe Pesaturo said his agency's position still has not changed and the work on the project has not stopped. He shared a letter from the 2009 iteration of the Westminster Board of Selectmen supporting the layover-station project. There is no overlap between the current board members and those who served in 2009.
In the cease-and-desist letter, Flanagan wrote "The board says the MBTA, claiming sovereign immunity, is using this technicality to renege on its promise to mitigate noise during layover station operation." The letter also brought up criticisms of the project itself and said the MBTA has disregarded how the station will harm the town.
Flanagan declined to comment further than the released statement.
The letter also quotes Selectman Wayne Walker.
"If this is the way they conduct their business in other communities in which they operate, it certainly is no wonder that the MBTA is viewed as the most injudicious, irresponsible and fiscally inept agency in the commonwealth," said Walker.
Steve Powell, co-owner of Westminster Business Park, said his employees are respecting the work-stoppage order and are no longer trucking the removed earth from the project. They had been working as subcontractors and those jobs are now being outsourced, along with police detail work on the site.
"This just cost 20 to 25 people some work locally," said Powell. He said the work-stoppage order cut off about three months of work for people who live in the area.
MART Administrator Mohammed Khan endorsed MBTA's state sovereignty claim for the project.
"MART's position is that it is the MBTA's issue in how they construct it," said Khan. He said the MBTA is the agency appointed by the state to construct and operate the layover station and MART is assisting them with the project at this time.
MART was initially in charge of the construction, and Khan said as a regional agency it is required to seek municipal permits, which MART is doing for its work on the rail station in Leominster. However, Khan said, now that the MBTA, a state agency, is in charge of the project, municipal permits are no longer required.
MBTA officials are expected to discuss the project at next Monday's Board of Selectmen meeting.
Follow at facebook.com/michaelhartwell.


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Marian Finucane Saturday 14 June 2014
Live stimulating mix of news, interviews, reports and discussion. Presented by Aine Lawlor
Catherine Dunne was the only Irish judge on the panel of judges for this year's IMPAC award.
The 3 Books she would recommend for a holiday read are:
WINNER The Sound of Things Falling Colombian novelist Juan Gabriel Vásquez has won the €100,000 Impac award for his exploration of Colombia's drug trade, The Sound of Things Falling. The novel is about how the drugs trade affects people not directly involved in the drugs trade.
One from the short list: Questions of Travel - Michelle de Kretser Looks at all sorts of reasons why people travel – two characters and what makes them leave their homeland – one character from Sri Lanka with the backdrop of the civil war and the other character from the blandness of Australia.
Long List recommendation: The Purchase - Linda Spalding
It is about a Quaker family who are against slavery – forced out of a community in Pennsylvania due to inappropriate behaviour
They go to Virginia and in order to survive their first winter they are forced to purchase a slave.
Philomena Lee whose story was told in the hugely successful film Philomenaspoke to Aine about her experience in trying to find her son Anthony who was born in Sean Ross Abbey in Roscrea in 1952.
PJ Gallagher, the comedian, was born in Bessborough House in 1975. He was only there for a few weeks. He went public about being adopted around 2008. He went looking for his birth parents a little over 10 years ago.
Journalist Edward Smith tells the story of his aunt who, when her own mother died, discovered that she had spent 3 years in a mother and baby home in Sligo.
Mary Lawlor was born in 1960 in the Sean Ross Abbey. She spent years trying to trace her family.
Well-known psychologist Dr. Maureen Gaffney enjoyed great success with her book Flourishing which set out to show how you can have a deeper sense of well-being, meaning and purpose in your life if you consciously work at it. Just like if you want to lose weight you must introduce change in your life for it to happen likewise to be happier you need to pay attention to things you can change. Our happiness is influenced by our genes, our life circumstances however Maureen believes a full 40% of your happiness is based on things in our lives we can actually influence.
For How To Be Happy Maureen invited people from across the country to join her for a series of workshops where the participants would be introduced to strategies to improve their happiness and would then road test them in their own day to day lives. The strategies all come from the growing science around happiness and in the series Maureen meets some of the leading experts in this field of science.
How To Be Happy is a new two-part RTÉ series starting Tues 17 June on RTE One at 9.35pm
Making The News - a short documentary about Ed Mitchell - was in the top ten of the voting award category at Sundance London's short film competition last April.
Since turning his life around from TV presenter to sleeping rough, Ed has struggled to get his career back on track. He became homeless at the beginning of 2007. He ended up sleeping rough in the last 4 months of that year before a local journalist spotted him. It became big news from which came a documentary, The Priory and a book (from Headlines to Hard Times published in 2009 and republished in 2010). From Headlines to Hard Times is available from amazon.co.uk
Áine Lawlor went on a trip around Dublin Bay with Jimmy Murray of Seasafari.ie , a tour which is becoming one of Dublin's primary leisure attractions.
For further details check out http://www.seasafari.ie/
Neven Maguire is proprietor/Head Chef of MacNean House & Restaurant and the 'Neven Maguire Cookery School' in Blacklion, Co. Cavan.
Salmon and Asparagus Wraps with Rocket Pesto
Farmed salmon has become much better quality over the years and in my opinion some of the best available comes from Ireland, where the sea is always freezing cold and for the most part is unpolluted, with strong tidal flows. Make sure your salmon fillets are all even-sized and about 2.5cm (1in) thick to ensure even cooking. They also work well on the barbecue and can be made up to 12 hours in advance, covered with clingfilm and chilled until needed – just don't add the squeeze of lemon juice until you're ready to cook them. Serves 4
Preheat the oven to 190°C (375°F/gas mark 5).
To make the rocket pesto, place the pine nuts in a baking tin and roast for a few minutes, until golden brown, keeping a close eye on them to make sure they don't burn. Leave to cool. Place the rocket in a food processor with the toasted pine nuts, Parmesan and oil. Season with salt and pepper and blitz to a smooth purée. Place in a smal bowl, cover with clingfilm and chill until ready to use (this can be made up to 4 days in advance).
Blanch the asparagus spears in a pan of boiling salted water for 1 minute. Drain and quickly refresh under cold running water, then tip into a bowl of ice-cold water to cool completely.
Drain well and pat dry on kitchen paper.
Season each salmon fillet with pepper and arrange 3 asparagus spears, trimming them down as necessary, and a dill sprig on top of each fillet. Lightly wrap a slice of Parma ham around each bundle and place in a shallow non-metallic dish, then add a squeeze of lemon juice.
Heat the olive oil in a large ovenproof frying pan over a medium-high heat and add the butter.
Once it stops foaming, add the salmon wraps presentation-side down and cook for 4–5 minutes all over to seal. Transfer to the oven and roast for another 8 minutes, until the salmon wraps are cooked through.
To serve, arrange the salmon wraps on warmed serving plates and spoon some of the rocket pesto to one side. Add some mixed salad to each plate and place the rest of the rocket pesto on the table. Have a separate dish of Biarritz potatoes and lemon wedges.
Lamb Cutlets with Garlic, Lemon and Paprika
This marinade is wonderful with lamb and would also work well with any type of lamb leg steaks or sideloin chops, depending on what is available. Lamb cutlets are that bit more expensive, but they take no time to cook. The longer you can marinade this, the better the flavour, so it's well worth preparing in advance. Serves 4
Place the garlic, lemon rind and juice, oil, paprika, herbs, honey and some salt and pepper in a shallow non-metallic dish. Stir until well combined. Add the lamb, turning to coat, then set aside for at least 10 minutes, or up to 24 hours, covered with clingfilm in the fridge if time allows.
When you're ready to cook, light the barbecue, preheat a grill to medium or heat a griddle pan.
Shake the excess marinade from the lamb. Put the lamb on the barbecue on medium-hot coals or arrange on a grill rack or a griddle pan. Cook for 6–8 minutes, until cooked through, turning once. Remove from the heat and leave the lamb cutlets to rest for a couple of minutes.
To serve, arrange the lamb cutlets on warmed serving plates with the peach, feta and rocket salad and some steamed baby new potatoes.
Spiced Yoghurt Grilled Chicken Skewers
These spiced chicken skewers are completely delicious in a lunchbox served hot or cold.
They would also be fantastic as part of a portable picnic spread or to cook on a disposable barbecue at the beach. Serves 4
Place the yoghurt, garlic, coriander, parsley, paprika, cumin, lemon rind and cayenne pepper in a bowl and mix to combine. Add the chicken pieces and stir until coated. Season with salt and pepper, then set aside for at least 10 minutes, or up to 24 hours covered with clingfilm in the fridge is perfect.
Heat a griddle pan. Thread 3 pieces of chicken onto a 10cm (4in) wooden bamboo skewer – you'll make 8 in total. Brush the griddle pan with the oil and cook the chicken skewers for 5–6 minutes on each side, until cooked through and lightly charred.
Wrap the chicken skewers in tin foil and put in lunchboxes with separately wrapped flatbreads.
Put in small pots of lettuce, hummus and a tomato and mint salad, if liked.
To serve, arrange the flatbread on a plate with the chicken skewers and lettuce. Place the tomato and mint salad to the side with the pot of hummus.
Grilled Rib-eye Steak with Smoky Red Pepper Butter
Serves 4
Smoky red pepper butter:
To make the flavoured butter, preheat the grill. Place the pepper on the grill rack and cook for 20–25 minutes, until the skin is blackened and blistered. Transfer to a bowl and cover with clingfilm, then leave to cool completely.
Remove the skin, core and seeds from the pepper and roughly chop the flesh, then place in a food processor. Add the butter, parsley, paprika and thyme and purée until smooth. Beat in the cream and then scrape the butter out onto a square of parchment paper. Roll into a cylinder about 2.5cm (1in) thick, twisting the ends to secure. Chill for at least 2 hours to harden.
Trim the rib-eye steaks of any excess fat. Place in a non-metallic dish and add the olive oil, garlic and thyme. Cover with clingfilm and marinate in the fridge for at least 2 hours or overnight is best.
Remove the steaks from the fridge at least 30 minutes before you want to cook them, then shake off any excess marinade and season to taste. Grill, barbecue or pan-fry the steaks over a fierce heat for 6–7 minutes for medium rare, or to your liking. Allow to rest for 5 minutes on warmed serving plates.
To serve, remove the flavoured butter from the fridge and remove the paper, then cut the butter into slices. Place butter slices on top of the grilled steaks and add a baked potato and some purple sprouting broccoli to each plate to serve.
Mango and Lime Cheesecake
This cheesecake combines a luscious tropical fruit topping with a creamy filling and a spiced biscuit base. I think gelatine leaves are much easier to use than powdered gelatine. They are available now from most supermarkets, but if you can't find them, use 2 teaspoons of powdered gelatine for the filling and dissolve in 2 tablespoons of very hot water and use 1 teaspoon for the topping and dissolve in 1 tablespoon of very hot water. Serves 8
To make the base, place the biscuits in a food processor or liquidiser and blend to fine crumbs.
With the motor still running, pour in the melted butter through the feeder tube and mix until well combined. Tip into a lightly oiled 23cm (9in) loose-bottomed cake tin and press firmly and evenly to form a base for the cheesecake. Chill for at least 10 minutes, until firmly set, or up to 24 hours is fine.
Meanwhile, to make the filling, soak the gelatine leaves in a bowl of cold water for 10 minutes.
Place the milk in a pan and add the vanilla seeds, whisking to combine. Cook until it just reaches boiling point, but do not allow to boil. Gently squeeze the gelatine dry and add to the pan with the sugar, whisking until the gelatine and sugar are both dissolved. Pour into a large bowl and leave to cool a little.
Stir the Greek yoghurt into the cooled milk mixture with the lime rind and juice. Whip the cream in a separate bowl until it's just holding its shape, then fold into the filling mixture. Pour into the set biscuit base and chill for at least 1 hour, until set, or up to 24 hours is fine.
To make the topping, soak the gelatine leaves in a bowl of cold water for 10 minutes. Place the mango slices in a mini processor or liquidiser and blend until smooth. Heat 1 tablespoon of water in a small pan or in the microwave. Gently squeeze the gelatine dry and stir into the hot water, until dissolved. Add to the mango purée and pour over the set cheesecake filling, spreading evenly with the back of a spoon. Chill for another 2–3 hours, until completely set, or up to 24 hours is fine.
To serve, remove the cheesecake from the tin and transfer to a serving plate, then decorate with the mint sprigs. Cut into slices and arrange on serving plates with a dollop of whipped cream.
In-depth interviews, human interest stories, consumer and lifestyle news as well as a lively panel discussion on issues of the week and newspaper reviews.
Saturday and Sunday from 11am-1pm
Presenter: Marian Finucane


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Eastwood's act caught GOP off guard
Updated 8:56 am, Sunday, September 2, 2012
Clint, did you ever make my day.
The two biggest names to show up at the Republican convention were Isaac, whose winds thankfully shortened the giant infomercial, and Clint Eastwood, who stole the show on closing night.
Republicans were looking for a big name to get big attention, but, as they say, be careful what you ask for.
You recall that Clint did that great commercial for Detroit that aired during the Super Bowl. So the GOP thought, hey, let's do it live, on prime time.
What they forgot was that Clint is an actor and that the commercial was scripted. On Thursday night, he was missing either a script or a good scriptwriter.
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However, his rambling performance did succeed on one front - it actually made Mitt Romney look and sound coherent.
As for the Democratic National Convention, it will be the first one I skip since 1960.
Let's be honest: It has no mystery, no fights, and it's in Charlotte, N.C., which is about as far off the beaten path - or easy airplane connections - as you can get.
And when you get there, there is no shopping. The only thing to buy is bootleg booze.
For sure, however, I will watch the convention. Because superstars like George Clooney and our own Attorney General Kamala Harris will be lighting up the screen.
Besides, if I didn't watch, Kamala would probably have me indicted.
As reforms go, the pension deal that Sacramento lawmakers reached last week is just a start to correct the mistakes that former lawmakers, including me, have made over the years.
But for all the talk about how the changes were needed to make the governor's tax plan more palatable to voters this fall, the fact is that lawmakers bucked the unions for one reason and one reason only: They want to keep their jobs.
The unions are really bent out of shape because they weren't allowed in the room during the negotiations, as they usually are. But why should they be in the room?
The world is changing. Years ago it was the likes of Southern Pacific and other big businesses calling the shots in Sacramento, and we were all highly critical of them.
These days it's labor. That's not the portrayal union leaders like to see in the media, but it's the truth.
Real reform would be barring labor leaders from sitting on state pension boards. The boards ought to be made up of money managers who are concerned with how much cash is going in and out of the fund. There is no justification for any trustee on a pension board being more interested in spreading benefits than paying for them.
Movie time: It was a week for New York movies. First up, "2 Days in New York," a delightful art house film and the first movie in which Chris Rock actually acts.
Next up, "Premium Rush," a high-pedal story of bike messengers and crooked cops that came out just in time to catch the Lance Armstrong scandal wave.
A perfect Saturday afternoon chase fest.
On the home front, 800 people showed up in Chinatown to celebrate House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi's 25th year in Congress.
In a more intimate setting, former legislator Rusty Areias hosted a re-election fundraiser for Sen. Dianne Feinstein up at his Sacramento home. Farmers, delta dwellers and others with an interest in water policy showed up and paid a pretty penny to help Dianne, proving once again that in California, water is worth its weight in gold.
I am firmly with the city and opposed to wasting money on a study to drain Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. But I'm getting a kick out of the fight over the ballot language for the Nov. 6 measure.
Mike Marshall, the man who's pushing the initiative, was not happy with the wording - saying it favored the city's position and looked as if it had been written by "five white women who didn't do their homework."
A brother on the street walked up to me and likened Marshall's quip to "the pot calling the kettle white."
Want to sound off? E-mail email@example.com.