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# Stray Talk: Tutu on God's grief, tax measures and Lehman's collapse
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/s-t-r-a-y-talk-20080920/
- Published: 2008-09-20T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T21:04:03.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Opinion, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*A center-cut, no-fat review of what was said this past week by folks the world over and right at home*

“Do you ever consider how God feels, when he sees his beautiful people destroying each other? I think God weeps,” — Archbishop Desmond Tutu to a group of students during PeaceJam’s Global Call to Action Conference at Loyola Marymount University.

“There’s a whole slew of tax increase propositions on the ballot this fall. You’ll have to be a zillionaire just to pay ‘em all.” — SMDP columnist Bill Bauer writing in “My Write.”

“We’re definitely moving in the right direction with the grades over the last four years moving up incrementally.” — Dean Kubani, who heads the Office of Sustainability and the Environment, regarding the 2008 Sustainable City Report Card released on this week.

“We realized that too much of our urban environment is given over to the car and therefore not enough to the person and individual.” — William Wright, the director of government and public affairs for the American Institute of Architects Los Angeles, which is one of the facilitators of Park(ing) Day L.A.

“We are seeing that this week, with the fall of Lehman Brothers, the once venerable financial powerhouse, made many investments, through many subsidiaries, and it was hard to divine the real status of the company. It looked great on the outside, but lacked the infrastructure to support it in times of crisis.” — SMDP columnist David Pisarra writing in “What’s the Point?”

“We need a leader who leads by example. We need a leader who eats the right breakfast.” — Daniel Bowman Simon, co-creator of the WhoFarmMobile, regarding his drive to have the incoming president plant an organic garden on the lawn of the White House.

“Running was certainly the game plan. We expected to go in there that way. This week we hope to open things up a little bit more. We’re going to need to be more balanced as the season goes on.” — Santa Monica High School head coach Zach Cuda regarding his game plan going into the season opener against Leuzinger High School.

“I certainly hope that people get out to the candidates forums and that everyone, including us \[Treesavers\] are asked the hard questions.” — City Council candidate Jerry Rubin.

“Watching the horror show of the Twin Towers collapse paralleled my own personal travails, a world collapsing in the rubble of shattered glass and ravaged lives yet I realized that this event was larger in scope than my pithy marital despair. Concerns to the whereabouts of my children, family friends and many of my shipmates from my Navy days moved to the forefront of my attention.” — SMDP columnist Steve Breen writing in “Going Postal.”

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on September 20, 2008.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/092008.pdf?ref=smdp.com)