Years ago when I was a reporter I was a phone-breaking, telephone-book-throwing howler. “No” was not in my vocabulary and woe was the bureaucrat who tried to stonewall me. I truly resented it when someone said I couldn’t get answers to my questions. I channeled that indignation into determination. If they won’t let me in the front door, I thought, I’ll try the back door. If that doesn’t work I’m parachuting through the chimney. I could regale you for quite some time with anecdotes of the contortions I went through to get what I wanted. But I don’t want to sound like Grampa drooling out war stories. Just take it from me. I would get mightily pissed. Kicking in a desk drawer was a routine thing.

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Hillary Clinton was here in Newport Beach tonight, hitting the political ATM. They only care about us when they need to pay off a $20 million debt, right? I have no idea what Clinton said at her rally with boosters at the Balboa Bay Club or how much money she raised because the campaign wouldn’t let us in. I managed to get a couple of Trojan Horses in there, but the Clintonistas cleverly caught the spies and booted them out so I wasn’t able to get you the insider account like we did when John McCain was fundraising here in March.

That’s OK, though. I got some better gossip for you.

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Today my friends who contribute weekly to our In Theory feature dropped by for a lunch I coordinated. As I mentioned in one of my earlier blogs, I really enjoy managing the In Theory feature, which quizzes local religious leaders about moral and ethical issues that often arise in current events, because it teaches me so much about religion.

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