SAN DIEGO – Here is a look at the activities of our fellow Jews who are holding public office or shaping public policy: 
National News
WEDDING — It would be quite an occasion to have a Supreme Court Justice officiate at any wedding, but what made Ruth Bader Ginsburg‘s conducting the ceremony on Saturday, August 31, so newsworthy was the fact that it was the first time a U.S. Supreme Court had tied the knot for a gay couple. Michael Kaiser, who is president of the Kennedy Center, and John Roberts, a government economist, were wed at the Kennedy Center, which the Associated Press reports is a favorite haunt of the opera-loving Ginsburg. In an interview with the Washington Post, the justice said her officiating could be construed as “one more statement that people who love each other and want to live together should be able to enjoy the blessings and the strife in the marriage relationship.”
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POLYGRAPHS — In Alexandria, Virginia, meanwhile, Chad Dixon awaits sentencing in a federal court on Sept. 6 for what the U.S. Justice Department has said was an illegal effort to teach people to thwart polygraph exams. According to MCT (McClatchy-Tribune) news service, federal prosecutors say Dixon “adopted a mercenary-like attitude toward the nation’s border security and the security of the nation’s secrets” and deserves to be imprisoned. They also argued his training methods could help child molesters avoid prosecution. His attorney, Nina Ginsberg, arguing for probation, said there is evidence that “polygraphs do not operate above chance levels and are therefore detrimental to national security.”
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U.S. SENATORIAL DOINGS — U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., says President Barack Obama was correct to seek congressional approval before launching any strike on Syria in retaliation for that government’s use of chemical weapons against its own people. “We need stronger international support. We need the president to make the case to the American people. And I think by bringing this to Congress, we’ll have that national debate which will help bring consensus as to the appropriate action.” Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., was likewise supportive: “I appreciate the administration’s continuing efforts to consult with Congress about the situation in Syria and its commitment to further consultation with Congress.” Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., meanwhile has said “I agree with Secretary (of State John) Kerry that the world cannot let such a heinous attack pass without a meaningful response, and I hope the international community will take appropriate action.” …The Sierra Club of Hawaii has endorsed U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz in his Democratic primary election campaign against U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanbusa. Schatz was appointed to the U.S. Senate last December to fill the term of the late Sen. Daniel Inouye… Highlighting the range of services that may be provided under the US Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development grants program, U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colorado, visited the Abts Pharmacy in rural Haxtun. The pharmacy will open branches in other rural communities like Julesburg and Holyoke. Bennet is taking input on the pending Farms Bill…U.S. Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., recently participated in a ribbon cutting at a biodiesel refinery operated by Renewable Energy Group in southern Minnesota.. The plant uses waste animal fats, greases, corn oil and other vegetable oil. Said Franken: ““This expansion of REG’s biorefinery has not only created jobs, but also will contribute to reducing our reliance on foreign oil and keeping our environment clean. I congratulate REG on its upgrade and for its efforts to keep our state on the forefront of this important industry.” … U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore. says as chairman of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, he will push for the government to give more attention to fire prevention. He blamed recent large forest fires around the country on years of neglect that permitted dry brush and trees to build up. … U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., told an audience at the University of Connecticut Stamford that decreasing the cost of textbooks should be a priority at the nation’s colleges. He called textbook costs “a growing and already a severe burden for many students.” … U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, Ind-Vermont, welcomed news that Entergy “will shut down the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant which has had so many problems in recent years.” The senator cited “a strong desire on the part of the people of the state of Vermont to close the plant that was scheduled to operate for only 40 years.” He said closing the plant will prompt Vermont “to focus on leading the nation toward safer and more economical sources of sustainable and renewable energy like solar, wind, geothermal and biomass.” … U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., has recommended that the federal minimum wage be increased from $7.25 to $10 an hour. “People are struggling,” she told Ed Schultz on MSNBC. She said that raising the miniumu wage would help to narrow the gap between the very wealthy and the working poor.
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C
alifornia News
VETERANS — “Too many California veterans have earned benefits they are not receiving because of bureaucratic delay, government malaise and a lack of coordination among a number of government offices and agencies,” according to Jonathan Shapiro, chairman of California’s “Little Hoover Commission,” which serves as an official watchdog agency. The commission issued a study, “An Agenda for Veterans: The State’s Turn to Serve” and reported in a news release: “California is leaving hundreds of millions of federal dollars untapped each year that should be going to veteran pension and health benefits. California must do more to identify veterans, educate them about their rights and help them file well-document claims, especially women veterans. Texas and Florida, which count fewer veterans in their populations, both bring in more federal pension and health benefit dollars than California does. These benefits are not a privilege, they are a right, and earned through sacrifice to the nation as a whole.”
PRISONERS — With the State of California under a federal court’s year-end deadline to release 10,000 prisoners to relieve overcrowding in the prisons, Gov. Jerry Brown and State Senate President pro tempore Darrell Steinberg are offering different plans how to respond. Brown has recommended that California pay other states to house some of its prisoners and in addition lease private space within California for the temporary housing of other prisoners. He has asked the Legislature for a $315 million appropriation to do that. Once the pressure is off, Brown has said, California can come up with a more thoughtful response to the prison crisis. Steinberg, D-Sacramento, suggests that there is a more thoughtful response already within reach. At an Aug. 28 news conference , he recommended that the state seek a stipulated agreement with the plaintiffs in the Plata/Coleman case which would extend by three years the time to bring prison population into proper balance with available facilities. California would agree to abide by the recommendations of a five-member panel on prison populations that would be created with two members appointed by the governor, two members by the plaintiffs and one member who shall be a justice of California’s Court of Appeal with expertise in prison management issues. An 18-member Advisory commission on Public Safety would be created to make additional recommendations to help California stay within the cap “including changes in criminal sentencing and evidence-based programming for criminal offenders.” Additionally, there would be a $200 million grant program, later to grow to $300 million, to encourage “more effective criminal justice practices and programs” to reduce the prison population. These may include diversion programs, programs for better supervision of parolees, and similar measures. Steinberg distributed polling data by David Binder research indicating Californians by large margins favor such measures as releasing frail and elderly prisoners not considered a threat to society, and expanding treatment programs for mentally ill patients.
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INTERNET — In another of Steinberg‘s legislative efforts, the Legislature has sent to Gov. Brown for signature or veto a bill (SB568) requiring Internet companies like Facebook to remove material posted by a minor if requested by the minor. “A teenager that says something on the internet that they regret five minutes later, under this bill the websites in California will have to have the ability for the young teenager to remove that.
San Diego County News
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COMMUNITY COLLEGES — State Sen. Marty Block, D-San Diego, was quoted in a recent U-T San Diego article by Karen Kucher about his admiration for San Diego Community College District Chancellor Constance Carroll, with whom he had worked closely back in the days when he served on the Community College Board. After the U.S. Supreme Court decided Brown vs. Board of Education in 1954 requiring the desegregation of schools, Carroll, an African-American, encountered hostility from whites as a 12-year-old school girl. The experience, suggested Block, may have provided Carroll with greater empathy for students “who have faced the tough road in life….Had she taken a different path, she could be president of San Diego State or chancellor of UCSD. It is probably that in her background that caused her to gravitate to community colleges instead.”
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Compiled by Donald H. Harrison, who welcomes your submissions at donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com