 It's bad enough that Southern California is burning, that tens of thousands have lost their homes and all their possessions, and that those of us with loved ones there are worried and heart sick. Bad enough is the stress, sorrow, fear and suffering of those wildfire victims who've lost everything,  ...including their neighborhoods, which will need to be cleaned of the toxic mess left behind from burned cars, houses, chemical products, and horrific amounts of other things before those areas will even be habitable again.  All of that is terrible enough without Republican Speaker of the House - and by extension steward of the distribution of Federal disaster aid - Mike Johnson,  ...making the statement that emergency disaster aid to the devastated areas of California needs to be tied to "conditions." Said Johnson about whether he and his fellow Congressional Republicans would in fact put conditions on the distribution of aid to California: "I think we ought to have a serious conversation about that. Obviously, there has been water resource mismanagement, forest management mistakes, all sorts of problems. It appears to us that state and local leaders were derelict in their duty in many respects, so that's something that has to be factored in. I think there should probably be conditions on that aid. That's my personal view. We'll see what the consensus is. Conditions (will definitely be) part of the discussion." How cruel. And how unseemly for a man in a position of great power whose responsibility is the welfare of all Americans, not just those living in states that reliably vote for his political party. And how far from the Golden Rule written in the gospel of Saint Matthew - do unto others as you would have them do unto you - is the attitude of this publicly self-proclaimed, self-righteous, uber-pious Bible-quoting Christian,  ...whose own state of Louisiana was devastated 20 years ago by Hurricane Katrina and to whose residents massive aid and help were sent not only from the Federal government and the Red Cross but from compassionate Americans all over the country.    And on top of that...how ignorant. How ignorant to call California's state and local leaders derelict in their duty. Has Mike Johnson not been following the news and all the information and analysis that's been on new sites everywhere since the fires broke out? Does the Speaker of the House not know that California is the best equipped state in the country to deal with wildfires? That fire prevention is built into the state's building codes and that all local fire departments are backed up by CalFire, the state agency with a multi-billion dollar budget and some of the world's best-trained firefighters? That California residents living in fire risk zones are required to create "defensible space" around their properties by clearing away vegetation? That climate change has made for higher temperatures, drier vegetation, and more and hotter wildfires in the American West that, as we've now unfortunately learned, can defy the wealthiest, most resource-rich state with the most stringent fire prevention regulations? Does Mike Johnson know that? I learned all that from one news article in the New York Times by climate reporter Christopher Flavelle. Didn't Speaker Johnson have access to that article? Didn't he read anywhere that, thanks to good rain and snowfall last year the reservoirs around Los Angeles were filled to brimming, that there was no water shortage, even with one reservoir in the fire zone empty and off line for repairs? Doesn't he know that the reason some fire hydrants went dry was not because there wasn't enough water or hydrants or hoses or fire fighters, but because these fires were so enormous, so strong, so fast moving and relentless that the flames sucked up water faster than the main storage tanks and reservoirs could supply the water to the hydrants? Does he understand the power of the Santa Ana winds that are propelling the flames, and that each burning ember flying through the air can ignite a house or a tree or brush that will produce a hundred more embers to ignite the next flame? Does he understand the problem of firefighting in wildland-urban wilderness interface - that is, where human activity and development intermingle with natural areas? Does he understand that fighting wildfires depends greatly on the use of planes that drop water and spray fire retardant on the ground but that this time the ferociousness of the Santa Ana winds has been preventing the planes from aiding the ground battle against the fires? Does he realize that those winds, in tandem with a mass of dry vegetation, are what's keeping the fires alive and growing and that as long as the winds blow the fire will grow and dwarf our human efforts to contain it? Is Mr. Johnson not aware that not all wildfire management policies are in the hands of the state? That current Federal environmental laws place considerable obstacles to controlled burning of vegetation that would reduce the risk of wildfires but also cause dangerous smoke pollution? Hasn't Mike Johnson been educating himself on the history and circumstance and attendant factors regarding the California wildfires? Has he been reading any of the news articles that have been disseminating all the above information and more, making it clear that the problem of the California wildfires is far more complex than the simplistic, inane, uninformed, at times false or misleading and, of course, politically-driven verbiage that he and some of his fellow Republicans have been spouting? In truth chances are that Mike Johnson is in fact at least as much up on the news of the California wildfires as I am and subsequently knows at least as much about the complex reality of the situation as I do. He probably knows quite a bit more. In which case his ignorance is not of the mind, but of the soul. Shame on you, Mike Johnson.  References https://www.msn.com/en-us/politics/government/conditions-should-be-placed-on-california-wildfire-aid-house-speaker-mike-johnson/ar-BB1roZvz https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/10/climate/california-fires-climate-change.html https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/09/us/los-angeles-fire-water-hydrant-failure.html https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/10/us/wildfires-pacific-palisades-water-shortage.html https://www.newsweek.com/controlled-burns-california-forest-management-los-angeles-fires-2012492
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 Here in Columbus, Ohio it's a calm, chilly snow-covered day.   But as I look at the lovely winter scene outside my window all I can think about are the images from two thousand miles away of vast, sweeping monster fires propelled on the strong, fast-moving Santa Ana winds blowing through the mountain passes of Southern California and bringing down burning destruction on Los Angeles.     The fires have so far burned down the homes of tens of thousands of people and destroyed acres and acres of beautiful, iconic areas of Los Angeles county,       ...and more people and places are in danger still.  For the past two days the Southern California fires have been on my mind all day long. This is a place where I spend weeks several times a year. I have friends and loved ones there. My niece and her husband and children live in Studio City a few miles from the Sunset Fire.  Fortunately they're safe so far. I have other dear ones living in the South Bay area about twenty miles south of the raging Palisades Fire.  They're safe as well from the flames, but are suffering from the massive smoke and stench and need to stay indoors or wear face masks when they go outside. They sent me this picture of the volleyball beach two miles from their house:  I have a close friend in my neighborhood who has a niece living between the and the Palisades Fire and area of the Sunset Fire, but she is also safe so far.  My sister and her husband live 75 miles to the south of Los Angeles in Fallbrook.  They're safe so far as well but have been notified to be ready to evacuate should the winds change direction and carry fire their way. My loved ones in Southern California have been in ongoing communication with each other, those in less danger offering shelter to those in more. And all I'm able to do for them is to tell them that here, two thousand miles east in the snow and 14 degree weather, my home is always open to them all. That and pray.   It was New Year's Eve, we had a houseful of out-of-town holiday visitors, among them some children, and we were powwowing to come up with something to do to ring out the old year and ring in the new that would be fun, festive, and family friendly. It was one of my daughters, who was among the visitors, who suggested doing what our family used to do to celebrate New Year's Eve: We'd go out for dinner at Friendly's, then go to a movie. (I should add that when our children were young we seldom took them to the movies and almost never out to eat, except on New Year's Eve, which made doing both quite a special, and apparently in my daughter's case memorable, occasion). However, I had to break it to my daughter that Friendly's was no longer in business in Columbus, Ohio, which she was sad to hear. Still, everybody generally liked the idea of dinner somewhere else and a movie. For dinner we came up with Bibibop, a fast food Asian eatery that everyone liked. Finding a family friendly movie playing around town turned out to be more of a challenge. There were Wicked and Moana 2, but the kids had already seen those. I suggested Mufasa until I looked at the stanky Rotten Tomato reviews.  There was also Sonic the Hedgehog, which did pretty well Rotten Tomato-wise,  ...except that none of the adults, myself included, felt that we could handle watching almost two hours of an animated video game. Then I found this movie playing at the nearby Easton Town Center Mall: I'd seen the stage version of "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" and had memories of a funny, poignant, entertaining story of a family of naughty children who highjack the town's Christmas play with an unexpected outcome. And the reviews were top of the line.  The kids and I checked out the trailer and a thumbs up was given all around: Bibibop for dinner and "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" it would be. Now, here's something I haven't mentioned. Some of our holiday guests, including the children, were Jewish. But I didn't think that would matter, and neither did the children or their parents. A comedy is a comedy, and every comedy needs a setting, but good comedy will transcend its setting, which, as I recalled, this particular comedy did. And so when evening rolled around we headed for the mall,  ...which was full of families who, like us, had come for a New Year's Eve outing.  We had our yummy Bibibop, strolled around the mall for a bit, then headed for our movie. Now, for me the first red flag popped up - well, maybe not exactly a red flag; more like a pink flag - anyway, it was during the opening credits of the film when the name of the production company showed on the screen:  To me the word "Kingdom" suggested - just a tad - a purveyor of evangelical Christian content. But, of course, I thought, I could be wrong. Except that by about three minutes into the movie I saw that I wasn't wrong. The story was preachy, churchy, and Christian-y, and the characters of the renegade children weren't just naughty, but downright nasty, a passel of raggedy, terrorizing little thugs.  I found the movie alternately treacly and disturbing, and I wondered how the children in our group and their parents were taking this mix of religious Christmas corn syrup and juvenile delinquency.  I dearly wished we'd gone to see Sonic the Hedgehog. (And how in the world, I wondered, did this goopy flick snag a 92-97% on Rotten Tomatoes?).
About fifteen minutes into the movie there was a loud siren which I - and it later turned out, other members of our group - though was part of the film, a police car, say, coming after the bad children. But that wasn't it. A moment later the screen went dark, the theater lights came up, and a voice over the loudspeaker told us that there was a fire in the mall and requested that we leave immediately by the nearest exit. Which we did, so quickly that the children left behind their popcorn and candy. (Note to all Easton Town Center movie goers: should you ever be in theater 22 as we were and have to make a quick get away from the theater, take an immediate left as soon as you exit the theater. There's an emergency exit leading to the outside right there. On the left of theater 22, that is). Now, I would certainly never wish a fire emergency on any person, place, or thing. But dare I admit I was never so grateful for a fire emergency as I was for this one that rescued us from this movie and my embarrassment at having taken our Jewish guests and their children to see it? I now wondered if - and worried that - they might have been offended. In fact, nobody was offended by the movie, but imagine my surprise when one of the kids asked if we could go back later and finish watching it. "What, you liked it?" I asked. "Yeah," they replied. As it turned out, the children, themselves middle schoolers, were not strangers to the problem of school bullies, and so this plot line resonated with them. As for the rest of the movie, they were curious and intrigued. They wanted to find out what was going to happen next. And so I volunteered to bite the bullet and, provided the mall had reopened (it had; it turned out that the fire was not critical) to take the kids back a couple of days later to see the rest of the movie. Which I did. And which they really liked. But here's the punchline: This time I ended up really liking the movie, too. Almost immediately after the point in the movie where we left last time there was a major plot turn...and what to my wondering eyes should proceed to develop but an engaging, funny, heart-tugging story about a family of impoverished children who were hungry for food, care, knowledge, acceptance, and a sense of self-worth. And about a town full of church-going Christian folks who in fact could be self-righteous, self-important, judgmental, and unkind. And about how it took a crew of children who were themselves poor outcasts to bring to life the story of a baby born in a stable and laid in an animal feeding trough full of hay. By the end of the movie I was roaming through my purse for a Kleenex. It turned out that the comedy and humanity of "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" did, in fact, transcend its setting. And I'm more than willing to grant the movie its 92-97% on Rotten Tomatoes. |
"Tropical Depression"
by Patti Liszkay Buy it on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BTPN7NYY 
"Equal And Opposite Reactions"
by Patti Liszkay Buy it on Amazon: http://amzn.to/2xvcgRa or from The Book Loft of German Village, Columbus, Ohio 
Or check it out at the Columbus Metropolitan Library
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