News

By now, we're all thoroughly bored with the cute story about the neighborly squabble in Sunnyvale over some redwood trees on one side of the property line that swallowed whole some solar panels on the other side of the property line. Or shaded them out or whatever.

Most of the press chuckled a bit while goshdarning about what a real shame of a dilemma it was. I mean, they both were just trying to live right, right?

But over that other border, in Nevada, the story of two green beings getting redfaced over such silly things as solar panels and carbon-absorbing trees produced nothing more than the usual smug, superior, delighted chuckle from that state's biggest newspaper's editorial staff, whose editorial today starts off with "It could only happen in California." It then makes fun of an earnest couple that drives a Prius, and so on, but then loses its sense of humor for a moment over a clean energy advocate who says maybe California's solar shade law needs to be tweaked so it's more fair for everyone:

"In another place and time, Ms. Del Chiaro might have said, 'To make sure everyone's property rights are fully protected,' admonishes the editorial. But then it regains its chuckle for the reprise: "But this, of course, is California."

Har har. Right. They don't gotta worry about that solar panel stuff, and trees and stuff, and conserving things and being fair and stuff, over there in Nevada where the lake's running dry.

There, just had to shovel that shit back over the fence.