City Slickers

Photo above: City Slickers III. Wind River area, Wyoming. Son Matt, Brother Dave, Son John Paul, Me J.P.

Small Talk

SMALL TALK: View the story of the air rifle that doubled the size of the United States. Fantastic bit of 2nd Amendment history re: Lewis and Clark.

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Monday, October 18, 2010

California Dreamin' Dimwits

It never ceases to amaze me the innate capacity of Americans to inflict self-induced wounds to the body politic. California immediately comes to mind. As a resident of that state for thirty years, before coming to my senses and fleeing with all my worldly possessions to a much saner state, I watched that quintessential  beacon of prosperity and hope slowly dim as the dimwits took charge. Don’t get me wrong, I am a huge believer in good environmental policy, but environmental policy run amok can destroy the quality of life with a vengeance. Here are just a few examples of green run wild.

Over what now turns out to be faulty, if not bogus science, nearly the entire logging industry of California was wiped out over a small bird called the Spotted Owl. California mandated fuel standards requiring ethanol and other additives ensures that state gasoline prices are always ten to twenty cents above what I pay here in Utah. Now we are finding out that ethanol production is just as damaging, carbon-wise, to the environment, as well as driving up the cost of corn. Then there is the big one--global warming and the dimwits response to it. I’ll be the first to acknowledge that the Earth has been on a warming trend over the past hundred years or so. The science, with some caveats, supports that fact. However, the cause of the warming has yet to be determined, although the chief dimwit, Al Gore, seems to think so. He and his ilk have convinced a lot of folks, including the Terminator, that California should lead the way in capping carbon emissions. Since the dimwits can’t get Congress to go along with their goofy schemes, they figured California would be the next best thing in advancing their agenda.

So Arnie and the boys passed AB 32, California’s climate change law, a Cap and Tax scheme right out of the playbook of Babs Boxer. Reality has set in, now that the costs of this law are beginning to be understood. One study commissioned by the California Small Business Roundtable concluded that over one million jobs would be lost and that each California family would incur an additional $3,847 per year in expenses. Now, with unemployment at over 12 percent in that once great state, the voters have been given a chance to put off this ruinous bill by voiding it until such time as the economy improves. If you are a Californian, for your own economic benefit, vote FOR Proposition 23.

If you are not a Californian, urge your friends out that way to put some common sense back into play.

JP

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

We were thinking about moving back to California at some point, but this is just one more affirmation that I don't want to live in that state

J. P. Morgan said...

Here is a response I received in reference to the blog. Talk about shades of Orwell's 1984>


"Your post re Cali is soooo true. Our air is quite clean now, but still we have Spare the Air Days (no BBQ in the summer and no fireplace fire in the Winter). I ignore that shit, but they did hire some people to watch us and urge neighbors to report!

Now they have instituted higher bridge tolls to get people to commute together, but ended the free commuter car reward. Then they put in congestion pricing so if you go into the city from the East Bay or North Bay at commute times, you pay even more. Nothing being done about the hordes coming from the South Bay.

New construction can have no fireplace built except gas. Government is talking about mandating “retrofits” at sale for the fireplaces.

Oh, and they just love putting low income housing in the upscale neighborhoods in our town so the poor people will feel better about themselves.

Garages must be separate from the house and there can only be one lane into the yard to the garage.

And NOW, some creeps want to ban leaf blowers, to noisy and they blow fecal matter into the air.

Guess I’m really fed up with this crap. Actually know some people at work who are Dems and will be voting Rep for a change….Yeah.

Anonymous said...

I hope the California schmedricks impose even more draconian laws on the suckers who elect them. There'll be a point at which businesses and mobile citizens will abandon the state to its own suicidal devices and vote with their moving vans in droves. That's when the Socialists will run out of other people's money to fund their totalitarian Dystopia
Aram

JP said...

The last year they reported, I think it was for 2008, the net domestic loss was something like 160,000 residents fleeing. What is interesting about this statistic is that people who have the means to flee most likely are not on the welfare rolls. By the way, the welfare reform act under Clinton which limited life on the rolls to five years does not apply to California. That is why they have the most on welfare in both absolute and percentage basis.

Anonymous said...

The past repeats. Back when Dukakis was ascendant in preying on Mass. tax payers, I was looking into moving to the Nevada/Utah area. One day, I happened to be shooting the bull with the manager of a U-Haul office. He told me that the company suits had just ordained that no trucks or trailers were to be rented for one-way trips out of New England. Seems like so many Mass. residents were heading south and west that their inventory of available equipment was being stripped bare.