Misc.

There is a cute documentary on Net Flix called "The Short Game".  It follows eight young golfers, ages seven and eight, as the prepare for the world championship of child golfers in Pinehurst, New Jersey.  These kids are really incredible.  But what I think is most important is the fact that their parents are there for them constantly, and that you get a good look into their lives in their home countries.  In their schools around the world  you see some things that stands out.  They are disciplined, they attend music and art classes to stoke their creativity, and they are very happy kids.  The outlier is that the American kids don't get music and art classes.  That might not seem like a big deal, but I think it is incredibly important.  But those things have mostly disappeared from American public schools.  Corporations and republicans strangling education budgets to lower taxes are the reason.  I have no doubt.

The Journal today editorialized against logic and common sense in saying that Santolina development won't increase demand for water.  Their editorial board can now be officially called stupid.  They do have a very interesting graphic that shows just how much water agriculture uses in the deserts of our state.  There is no doubt that Santolina could buy out an ample supply of those water rights to use.  But they aren't doing it so far as I can see and they will insist on drawing down on non agricultural uses before paying the real price for water in the west.  Yes, there might be ample water for an ill advised sprawl development, but it might need to be paid for by the developers rather than the taxpayers in the existing city and county where infrastructure rehab needs are ever growing.