I love Mondays. I love to get up in the morning and watch the folks commuting on the 14 toward Los Angeles and listen to the Metro trains heading south along Soledad Canyon.

I will be here for the election on Nov. 4. I really can’t wait for that to happen so maybe some of the pages on the Internet and Facebook will fold up and go away. If you don’t vote, you’ll not have real rights to gripe.

This election will see the end of the Howard “Buck” McKeon era in the 25th Congressional District. He has had a long run and actually did some good things for us. The cross-valley connector got some bucks by Buck’s efforts. He also helped the folks up in the Antelope Valley by making sure some Pentagon contracts were maintained. As they say in the Navy, rest your oars and go ashore, Buck. Thanks for the work you did for and with us all those years. Bravo Zulu – Well Done.

I figured out how to stop some of those not-so-nice telemarketers. Let them ramble, and when they ask how much you want to buy, just ask them if they take food stamps. Funny, I don’t get another call from them after that. Now if I could do the same for the political robo-calls…

Talking last night with my family members who live in Kentucky, they said it was a lot cooler there. I looked it up and sure enough, it was 68 degrees with 100 percent relative humidity. So instead of it being “hot and steamy” it is “cold and clammy.” We’re basking in the dry humidity levels. And wind, too. Cool nights and warm days. Love California.

Governor Mine in 2013: There’s still some gold in them-thar hills. Click to find out more.

Talking to some folks in Acton the other day, they said the richest and most productive gold mine in California is right in Acton. It isn’t active right now; the Governor mine produced nearly $1 billion of gold in the years it was working. That was at the old fixed price of gold. I wonder if anyone wants to try and open it again. Rumor says there is plenty of gold left in that hill.

I find it amusing that one of the proposed routes of the high-speed rail system could take it right through the middle of that mine. Maybe that is how they plan to subsidize the operation of that train. If it is like any other high-speed railway in the world, it will need a lot of extra money to pay for the operation. A gold mine is a good thought. Better than using the taxpayers, because we’re tired of being the “gold mine” for that particular project.

Does anyone know why that mine stopped operations? I’ve heard all kinds of stories. What is the one you’ve heard?

Did you know only American-owned companies can mine for gold in the U.S.? I guess that China won’t be coming anytime soon. That’s the law. Somehow I think they’ll end up getting a lot of the gold anyway.

I was looking at some of the “new math” methods for the new Common Core educational system. I don’t know if I should laugh or cry. Back in the day, we just did arithmetic. Not sure what is going on now. I do know all these educational experiments have resulted in a couple of generations of kids who can’t read, write or solve simple math problems. But the experiment shall continue. Our schools have embraced the Common Core crude. It is just another reason California was once No. 1 in educational opportunities and status in the country. We have slipped all the way to No. 47.

Teachers are teaching to the tests, since they get paid to make sure the children pass the low requirements of Common Core. The men and women who built the rockets to the Moon didn’t have Common Core. They had hard work and long hours of study. China is talking of going to the Moon. At the present rate, they will get there before the U.S. has its own rocket to place men in orbit.

Can you even imagine that? We don’t have a way to get folks into orbit on our own. We have to pay the Russians to take us there. When did we take that giant step backwards?

I saw that the Newhall School District spent the better part of the summer having teachers learn how to teach using the Common Core methods. I think most of the teachers who attended those sessions would have preferred to be on a beach, soaking up some rays and drinking a little wine. Wine might take away the bitter taste of Common Core.

Will Common Core be another failed educational experiment? I just want to know when we’re going to stop using our kids as lab rats? I would list all of the other failed programs, but I’ve not got enough space in the next five days listing maybe five a day.

I’m tired of paying for these experiments. Aren’t you?

Darryl Manzer grew up in the Pico Canyon oil town of Mentryville in the 1960s and attended Hart High School. After a career in the U.S. Navy he returned to live in the Santa Clarita Valley. He can be reached at dmanzer@scvhistory.com. His older commentaries are archived at DManzer.com; his newer commentaries can be accessed [here]. Watch his walking tour of Mentryville [here].