Choice: Pensions or police  Orange County Register  When the
money runs out, government subdivisions start turning on one
another. That's happening with the city of San Bernardino's
bankruptcy. In August, the city stopped making pension payments
for its current employees into the California State Employees'
Retirement System; it owes $6.9 million. CalPERS appealed to the
bankruptcy judge, insisting that the city must pay, even if that
meant cutting police and fire protection for the city's 213,000
residents.  Bankruptcy Judge Meredith Jury in Riverside ruled
that CalPERS would be ill-advised to sue for the money in state
court, although she could not prevent that. “She said she was
inclined to think at least $13 million in payments the city
plans to defer until July 2013 are legally required, but the
harm to the city would be overwhelming,” reported the Inland
Valley Daily Bulletin.  The judge said, “One of the immediate
effects of that would be that the employees would not be paid,
and that, to me, is a deat