As the county deals with an outbreak of swine flu, a lack of emergency rooms and a battered property tax base, the Board of Supervisors has been busy naming astronaut Buzz Aldrin Los Angeles' "consul general to the Moon."
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Good work. If ever Roman Polanski escapes to the lunar republic we have someone to turn to in order to begin the extradition process. Aldrin took the opportunity to call on NASA to create a colony on the moon by 2035. We expect it will be an unincorporated part of the county.

"I think we face a wonderful opportunity to chart a course that could be even greater historically than being the first nation to send a few of its citizens to the moon," said West L.A. resident Aldrin, 79. "Instead of just visiting an object in space, this would entail human beings settling on another planet in our solar system."

While the supervisors are undertaking such crucial work on behalf of county residents, we suggest they name Tommy Chong official county psyconaut and ambassador to Mars (or at least Amsterdam).