I have always been a huge supporter of Women's right to choose and have always felt that birth control gave women the ability to better compete in the workplace and to have a career doing something other than being a mother, which I do believe, by the way, is an admiral way to spend one’s early adult years. Today the buzz in the news is the after morning pill that will now be available to young girls age fifteen and up. Ahhh, the reaction from the Right is both predictable and ridiculous as it always amazes me that we still have people who don't think that their young adult daughters would ever think of having sex out of wedlock and that the old rhythm method works just as good for birth control as does the pill. Or better yet that abstinence is the best way to handle the issue of birth control.

Well, as much as I regret having to say it, the world has changed and young people today are much different than the young people with whom I grew up with fifty years ago. To me the irony of much of this is that the greatest uproar comes from those far to the right of center, politically speaking of course, and who believe that life begins at conception. They also believe that providing adequate funding for poor single mothers and children without parents is not government’s responsibility and when budget time comes they are the first to make cuts in these areas. Nothing wrong with bringing these kids into the world but let’s not have programs, government funded programs, that will take care of them when their parents (usually just one in most instances) do not have the means to provide for these children.

With the upcoming election for Sheriff in Los Angeles County this certainly has the ability to have a profound impact on the election. It has always been the case that the incumbent sheriff is nearly impossible to defeat. Normally that is because no one has the ability to raise enough money to be a viable candidate. Furthermore in the past there has been very little valid criticism that can be attributed to the incumbent sheriff. I suspect that what we could see in the coming months has the ability to change past history. Paul Tanaka certainly knows where the bones are buried and Leroy Baca certainly knows that Paul Tanaka knows this. With reports that our own Chief of the Long Beach Police Department, Jim McDonnell is considering a run for sheriff, we could actually be witnessing something very interesting. I, for one, don't consider this race over by any stretch.

I have had, on many occasions, the opportunity to meet Chief McDonnell and I consider him to be a professional in every sense of the word. I also consider him to be the type of personality who is very electable and more than capable of doing the job as Sheriff of Los Angeles County. Stay tuned because this book could be a long one with many more chapters yet to be written.

Not a lot of serious candidates yet in either the 5th District or the 3rd District. The 3rd District is the most curious here, in my mind, due to the fact that in the past this one has always been a virtual hotbed of political activity. Further complicating the upcoming Mayoral race is the fact that if turnouts are low in Districts 3 and 5 the impact on the Mayoral election could be quite profound.

Lots of rumors about the City Attorney and City Prosecutor's upcoming elections out there as well. If long time City Attorney Bob Shannon decides not to seek another term (he hasn't publicly said as I write this), there is a real opportunity here for someone. There is also an opportunity for the city to do something that has been talked to for at least 20 years now, which is to combine the city prosecutor and city attorney into one office. The main opposition to this suggestion has always come, first and foremost, from the City Attorney’s Office more so than the City Prosecutor’s Office. Both of these offices have done a very good job in protecting their respective turf, but now may be an excellent time to look at combining the two. This would save the city a substantial amount of money at a time where money isn’t exactly something that the City of Long Beach has a huge surplus of.