Newsroom

When Juan Cabrillo first sailed up the Santa Barbara Channel in 1542, he noted a massive natural oil slick - that's how vast are California's petroleum resources.

Three major developments have occurred within the last six weeks that are each disturbing by themselves, but extremely alarming when viewed together.

The Farm Bill is now before us, a measure originating in the House of Representatives whose majority was elected on a clear mandate to stop wasting money. Yet all this bill does is to continue to waste money. Yes, it tightens up a little on automatic eligibility for the food stamp program and that's a good thing. Yet this modest reform is a poor substitute for the complete overhaul that is desperately needed.

In the early 1760's the Royal Governor of Massachusetts began issuing "writs of assistance" as general warrants to search for contraband. They empowered officials to search indiscriminately for evidence of smuggling.

Last week, the nation learned of the plight of Sarah Murnaghan, the ten-year- old who will die within weeks unless she gets a desperately needed lung transplant. There are no pediatric lungs available - but there are adult lungs, which her doctors say would be entirely satisfactory for her condition. But because she is nearly 11 years old but not 12, the bureaucratic regulations prohibited it.

Since 1835, the Rules of the House have limited appropriations to only those purposes actually authorized by law. Unless and until the program is authorized, the House may not appropriate funds for it under this long-standing rule. Yet this rule is routinely ignored by the appropriations committee and by the House. Last year, the eleven appropriations bills reported out of committee contained over $350 billion for programs that had either never been authorized, or whose authorizations had lapsed years, and sometimes decades ago.