Jerry Brown may have spent time studying in a Jesuit seminary, but that didn't stop him from touting the need for a Hanukkah miracle.
Giving a speech during Monday's capitol menorah lighting ceremony in Sacramento, the governor tied the original meaning of the Jewish holiday to the state's urgent need to utilize solar energy, the Sacramento Bee reported. "We're running out of oil, so we need a miracle," he said during his appearance. "Today's miracle is not to find more oil, but to utilize the sun."
"When we continue to use our intelligence we're going to take that sun through the miracle of modern science and technology and we're going to light up California, our cars, our homes our air conditioners," he continued. "And we are going to reduce significantly and every year the amount of money we are sending over to the Middle East to some very dangerous characters who do not have our best interests in the heart."
Brown has long been a proponent of exploring alternative forms of energy. One of the cornerstones of his most recent gubernatorial campaign was an emphasis on tackling environmental issues, and last Thursday, he hosted a climate change summit at the California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park.
And he's never been one to shy away from attention-grabbing language on the issue. "The main thing we have to deal with in climate change is the skepticism, the denial and the cult-like behavior of the political lemmings that would take us over the cliff," the governor said during last week's conference.
But exploring alternative forms of energy takes significant resources, and right now, California is in dire need of just that. Earlier this month, facing an increased deficit and a bleak financial future, Brown announced that the state budget will be slashed by a whopping $1 billion in the coming year.
Accordingly, "we need a lot of miracles here in Sacramento to get our problems solved," he admitted during Monday's Hanukkah celebration.