Promote the general welfare

Cholera, small pox , whooping cough, diphtheria, chicken pox, polio, mumps, measles; all of these diseases are uncommon to the point of extinction in the United States today.

I can remember when they were not. I can remember my mother pushing my head down so my chin hit my chest as a "test" that I did not have polio. I had whooping cough, chicken pox, mumps and measles. Whooping cough nearly killed me. Measles could have deafened me; thank God it did not.

Today these diseases are almost extinct in the United States.

And we have got complacent because of it. Conservatives and even some liberal parents are waging a war against childhood immunizations using the same twisted logic some Supreme Court justices are using to consider abolishing the affordable care act.

Basically, "I" have the right to my liberty, even though it endangers the general welfare.

Much has been written about the commerce clause in the court arguments. Is the mandate a tax? Can the government force a citizen to buy health insurance?

I would suggest this completely misses the point.

What is critical to the constitutionality of the act is in the Preamble, that every child memorized, that every tea party patriot carries: that the Constitution is "to provide for the general welfare".

The "Public Welfare" was included in the Constitution primarily because of public health!

Welfare...two parts...WELL...FARE! When the Preamble was written, welfare was aimed at the public's protection against epidemics. Welfare as a poverty program was unheard of; they had indentured servitude and debtors' prisons.

At that time, the only protection was government enforced quarantine, sanitizing drinking water, etc. Government was the most effective deterrent to disease, and not very effective at that. There were no immunizations!

Epidemics were killing people! Lots of people! A smallpox epidemic killed the entire Jamestown Colony! The Native American populations were dying by the thousands of measles because they had no immunity.

Epidemics were the primary threat to the "general welfare" until the mid-twentieth century in the world. Far more people died of typhoid fever than by warfare. Vaccines were not invented until late in the 19th century.

Today we assume the primary threat to health is non-epidemic disease; cancer, heart disease, diabetes.

We do that because most pandemic diseases have been controlled in the industrialized world; most have not in Asia and Africa.

We have over 50 million people, many children, without health insurance. Many are not getting immunizations. No health care, no doctor, no clinic, no shots!

By having no national health care, and basically saying a person either gets it through employment or buys it, we automatically exclude many children. Children are the targets of epidemics. Children are attacked by viruses , they have no immunity!

Moreover some liberal and religious zealots are now refusing to get their children immunized because of their "liberty as parents".

This is a direct threat to public well...fare.

Public Health Officers call it "herd immunity". If a population is immunized over 90%, a viral epidemic has no real chance to take hold. Well over 50% of children have no health insurance. This is a ticking time bomb!

We have had the swine flu scare, the bird flu scare; Africa right now has viral diseases that are killing thousands.

And conservatives are praying the Supreme Court overturns the Affordable Health Care Act to save their liberty. Justice Scalia likens the health care mandate to being forced to eat broccoli.

If the Court overturns the Act, it will forever be known that we chose to be free to say no to broccoli, rather than be forced to save children's lives.

Have you ever seen someone with full onset polio? Have you ever seen full onset smallpox? Have you ever seen a child cry itself to death with cholera? You probably haven't. If we continue down this wing-nut path; you will!

Government were instituted for basic reasons. One big one was to cooperate, pool resources, to fight epidemics to survive.

During the Dark Ages governments across Europe were weak. Feudalism was the main form, and did a miserable job dealing with general welfare and health. The Black Death and Bubonic Plague were results of "liberty" through feudalism and limited government. One half of Europe died!

Viruses do not care if you are a lord a vassal, a knight, a king...they kill you all the same. Disease is a great equalizer. When you do a bad job with health for the general welfare, everyone is as risk. Even the 1% can get polio; witness Franklin Roosevelt.

It is just a matter of time before a killer virus develops for which there is no vaccine. There have been countless pandemic warnings. World health organizations plan constantly for pandemics that start in countries that have poor to non-existent public health care systems.

Viruses evolve, they adapt, and they need breeding grounds. Populations with widespread gaps in health care are breeding grounds. The United States, without a universal health plan, is a breeding ground.

So, pray hard so that Scalia's fight for liberty succeeds so you can get sick. And having health insurance is no protection, it is those who don't have health care who will breed the germs that can kill your child.

Ironically the death panel that the tea party so disingenuously lied about to stir opposition to government backed health care is sitting in judgement right now: It is The United States Supreme Court!

Broccoli or B.S.?

The Big Bad Government

Justice Scalia struck a blow for broccoli haters everywhere, when he incredibly compared being forced to pay for health insurance to the government ordering you to eat broccoli.

I hope he was kidding; because, if he actually thinks that way legally, and is so shallow in his reasoning, then how did he get through law school?

First of all, broccoli is a food, health insurance is a service; a way to share risk among a large pool of people to keep the risk, and hence reduce the liability, to an individual at a level that can be afforded if something bad happens.

Many states, including California, mandate that everyone have car insurance. The federal government mandates certain anti-pollution devices, miles per gallon requirements; etc. Nobody has taken that to court, because for one; it shares risk and reduces liability for the person who has a car wreck, and two; pollution is bad for the general public health.

How on earth is health insurance any different? We have 50 million or more today in the United States without health insurance, because after World War II, as health care costs increased, we decided that the employer should provide health care as a "benefit" of employment. If you had a job, you usually had health insurance because the "benefit" was relatively cheap, and most employers could afford it.

You all know what happened next. Inflation, recessions, technology, all worked to reduce the numbers of workers who had the "benefit".

Because the United States is not yet a tyranny that allows it citizens to die, local, state and federal laws were passed requiring emergency rooms to treat those who don't have insurance, and provides a minimum of government backed health coverage (Medicaid).

Conservatives, many who are racist, hateful, spiteful, and greedy human beings, have hated that since it was done.

They blame the poor, and the unemployed for their plight, call them lazy, moochers; etc., and really believe that providing what is a bare bones health care system to mostly poor children is a taxpayer giveaway.

Since they usually have Medicare or employer insurance, they make it a matter of being told by the government to "eat broccoli", and a "threat to liberty" if the government gets involved in the health care process to insure the nearly 1/4 of all Americans who do not have health insurance.

Meanwhile, every modern nation on earth has long ago implemented either a total single payer government tax supported health insurance system, or a private insurance system with some government support for those who lack the means to pay all the premiums.

All of these nations do not allow people to opt out of the system in any substantial numbers. Health Care in these "civilized" nations is considered a liberty; like "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness", and essential to the country's future.

The United States, passed and implemented half a century ago, a Medicare system, that is a single payer system, with private insurance supplements. This has meant that the senior population, over 65, and the disabled, cancer victims, are covered.

Unfortunately, this also meant, the senior population, now has an attitude of "I got mine, screw you", and have been incredibly resisting any like program for everyone else.

I have several Medicare friends, who hate the Affordable Care Act, who are working night and day to see it repealed, I have some wealthy friends, who would like to do the same thing to Medicare, since they don't need government backed health insurance.

It all boils down to broccoli. The government is too big, I don't want to be told what to do. I want to say no to broccoli...waaa....waaaa....waaa.

Ok, if you still are reading this, take out a piece of paper and list for me all the times the government, local, state and federal, told you what to do this month. Now, it has to be directly told you what to do, what to buy, where to go, when to go; etc.

Having trouble?

That is because we enjoy a level of freedom in this country second to none. We can go where we want, do almost anything we want, eat what we want (mostly not good for us), say what we want; etc., etc.

Broccoli, Bullshit! It's all about greed and me first...and it is killing the United States of America!

Who Will Pay?

Who Will Pay?

In Potterville, hundreds go to the emergency room for their medical care. Many leave, because the waits are usually measured in hours; or sometimes days. People die waiting in emergency rooms all the time!

One of our Potterville hospitals is for profit, the other is a Mercy-West non-profit.

If you want an experiment in seeing poverty, spend some time in Potterville's emergency rooms. Watch the little children, coughing, crying, scared as they wait with drug addicts and alcoholics to see the doctor. It is not a pretty sight. But that is the plight of the uninsured in America, and a majority of the uninsured are children. Children cry in emergency rooms because they are scared.

There is a lot to be scared of in an emergency room!

At the for profit hospital, an aggressive campaign has been waged to get all emergency room "business". Huh?

Why; you are probably asking. Why would the for profit hospital be trying to get emergency room business when it is made up of uninsured who can't pay?

This is why...

If the Affordable Care Act is voided, or crippled, the uninsured in the United States again will have no recourse; there will be no forcing or assisting people to have insurance.

In fact, that is true today, since the "mandate" will not go into effect until 2014. The Court is preemtively reviewing the law; which is unprecedented by the way.

Preemptive Judicial Review...google it...you won't find it!

And, the underemployed are already losing their insurance. Employers right now are cutting benefits at every turn; it is the first thing to go in hard times. Find me an employee, other than C.E.O.s, who have seen their medical benefits go up...go ahead...find me one who has seen more medical benefits rather than less...

There are NONE!

Basically, we will be back to square one. And, since it took 70 years of argument to get the Affordable Care Act, which is a compromise and a conservative based idea, (after all Romney did it in Massachusetts) we will not see any reform soon.

The Insurance Lobby will have won!

Fine, I suppose, if you are a social darwinist. Fine, if you can sit in those emergency rooms and listen to frightened children cry. Fine, if you like paying 50% of your salary for medical insurance!

Without the leverage of being "forced" to pay a fee for Health Care, what will happen is the uninsured will grow and grow and grow. A huge underclass has already evolved, with the emergency room the only resource for medical care.

Right now over 50 million have no health insurance. In Potterville I would bet almost 50% do not have any coverage. The recession/depression is adding millions to the national total.

The 50 million will become 75 million or higher.

That is why the for profit hospital is encouraging emergency room use. There will be even more customers if the act is voided, or even partially voided. Every one of those people must be served, no matter what, and somebody has to pay.

But who will pay the bill? Who will pay for all those uninsured?

Medicare will! And all my con friends, who are rooting for the Court to overcome "Obamacare" will see their Medicare gutted, costs increase, and their retirements ruined.

Who will pay? WE WILL!!!!

Potterville Again!

Two front page articles, in different places, about good ole Potterville. I am not making this up!

The first was a center cut headline, that Ann Coulter...THE Ann Coulter...has visited a local Winery/Restaurant in a "closed to the public" appearance. The owner of the winery, an unabashed conservative wacko, went on and on about how truthful Ann is, and a "straight shooter" (see shooters later in this article).

He then spiraled into some drivel about how his business was essential to the area's economy that spread nicely into the second main headline of the "Potterville Journal" (Record Searchlight) that reported several lawsuits between the Coulter lover and the county.

It seems this self-appointed savior of Shasta County's economy, had neglected to tell the county that he not only was putting in a winery on his property, but a full restaurant as well. This he did without paying for any of the permits, or going through that pesky government regulation stuff.

And, he railed against the county, saying that "I can take my business anywhere else if they persist in over-regulating me" (my paraphrase).

Now we know why Ann Coulter was there. The bad old government is ruining yet another businessman, by enforcing its zoning laws. By GAWD we tea party patriots will not stand for it..the mayor needs to cross the Sacramento again dressed like George Washington!

Maybe he should take his business to other parts (he sure as hell isn't going to get mine)! Maybe the Mohave Desert?

After all, he said he can take his winery anywhere! He really did, he said he could take his winery anywhere. I kid you not...direct quote...What an IDIOT!

Oh and real smart of Mr. Conservative, piss off the few wine drinkers in Potterville (most of the rednecks swill beer and smoke doobies; see prior article on Marijuana Dispensaries).

The only wine drinkers of note in Potterville are......liberals. They sure as hell don't let anyone know however...we are all closet liberals in Potterville (all five of us)!

On the inside cover was an article, following up on the two policemen that shot the two little dogs, in a hail of bullets, to "protect themselves".

Evidently, the two brave officers, had already handcuffed the suspect who sought refuge in the dogs owners' room, and had to blast their out of the room because they were "charged", threatened, cornered (you get the drift) by the two little dogs.

Let's see, two officers at least, armed, with bullet proof vests, who have the bad guy handcuffed, are "charged" by two small dogs.

Now the really good part; I kid you not, it seems one of the officers had a Police Dog on a leash!

That's right, a 100 pound police dog, trained to kill small dogs, jet airplanes, and anything else that gets in the way. A POLICE DOG!

But they aimed at the aggressive" pit bull" (actually Schnauzer/Boxer mix and the Chihuahua (no kidding, one of those tiny ones) who was pregnant by the way (are you kidding me!).

I am not making this up...really I am not...honest!

And just for the record, Haven Humane, our Potterville Humane Society, has not uttered ONE WORD! Humane Society???? Not in Potterville! Shoot the little shits!

Christ, between the two of them they couldn't have outweighed one of the Police Dog's legs!

Really, I am not making this up!

So, two dogs weighing less that 15 pounds against a trained police dog, German Shepherd no doubt (about 90 pounds) needed the cop to empty his revolver into them, to save the Police Dog's life. Are you shitting me!?????

Maybe the dogs had hoodies on?

Why not back out of the damned room and kick the dog who was advancing, and shut the damned door? Just a wild suggestion.

Oh, of course the "supervisor" cleared the cops of all wrongdoing, and for good measure, claimed the motel was a den for drug dealers and such. The motel owner took exception to that statement of course. Remember, Potterville's own city council sued the state to close the drug dealers dispensaries. No tolerance for drugs in Potterville....sanity either!

Can you imagine being downwind of the bullets? The Chihuahua evidently was, and died for it.

Any efforts to save her pups were not reported.

I seriously doubt if the cop could have hit her if he aimed at her anyway...those are little dogs!

So blast away Potterville! Take your business else where away from the Commies! Shoot first, ask questions later.

Finally, (there's more???)....in good ole Potterville North, they are trying to recall a city councilwoman, a tea party member, who is so nuts that even Potterville cons can't stand her.

Potterville North, a poor area, has kept its electric rates artificially low for years, since most of its citizens are so poor thanks to our conservative wing-nut leaders, that the bond companies, who have been loaning the city money to off-set the modest increase in electrical charges for years, now wants their money. There go those damn liberals again! Ann, Ann, where are you?

So, the city raised the electric rates (still far below PG&E by the way).

And who is leading a petition drive to get the rates lowered, against all sane advice, why the tea party wacko who is being recalled of course!

That's right folks, the target of a recall, is leading the charge to reduce rates, that could put the city in default of loans, it simply has to pay. Makes sense in Potterville!

So, in review(?) ...When in Potterville on vacation:

1. Potterville shoots dogs. If you are traveling, we suggest boarding your dogs. For sure, DO NOT TAKE THEM TO A MOTEL!

2. Be particularly careful to avoid "drug den" motels, especially next to the now legal, but banned (sort of) marijuana dispensaries.

3. Oh, carry a gun too, because the place is crawling with dope fiends.

4. And then, don't drink the wine, because you have to go to the Ann Coulter loving winery, and eat in the illegal restaurant, so Mr. Hollywood won't get mad and leave...?

5. And finally, dim the damn lights, because you know, the Tea Party is fighting for your right to pay lower electric bills, so their stalwart leader can keep her city council job.

I am NOT making this up!

So Nine Get to Decide

So now nine get to decide.

The Insurance Industry has spent millions the past two years to subvert the Affordable Care Act. They have done this because for the first time in seventy years, the federal government finally stepped up and attempted to regulate an industry that makes money off other people's pain and suffering.

The health insurance in this country, in spite of the passage of the act, have persisted in raising premiums, continuing to exclude coverage, and have basically operated as situation "normal", because they have the Republican Party, and probably the Supreme Court in the bag.

It is bought, pure and simple. At least two members of the court, have actually attended Health Insurance propaganda meetings, in an obvious conflict of interest. But, Supreme Court justices have almost untouchable status when it comes to reusing themselves; in short, they can do whatever they want to do. I can right now, for sure, tell you how those two will vote; they are bought!

Other times in this nation, a "bought court" has made a decision that led to great unrest, suffering, and even civil war. The Dred Scott Decision comes to mind, that led to the Civil War. Plessy vs Ferguson, a decision that legitimized racist Jim Crowe Laws, meant over a 100 year wait for Civil Rights in the United States for people of color. Thousands were lynched in the court's stupid wake.

So don't hold your breath for the Supreme Court to make a just decision concerning the Affordable Care Act. Conservatives, aided and abetted by greedy Insurance Companies, have spend a lot of time and money, to buy the five votes they need to invalidate critical parts of the Act.

And, they have agreed to take on the law, TWO YEARS before anyone is "harmed" by the "mandated" portion of the Act. This actually breaks an Injunction Precedent that has held for over 100 years; that dictates simply that some harm must occur before someone can sue for relief.

Not one person has been required to buy insurance by the Affordable Care Act, not one! Where is the alleged harm of the Act? How can you sue before the Act is even in effect? This is Constitutional Law nonsense.

If the Supreme Court acts, it will be one of the first time in judicial history that the Court acted in a preemptive manner. Moreover, this would be a preemtive move regarding Congress' constitutional responsibility to regulate interstate commerce, which will upend the prior Injunction Precedent.

In short, this could lead to Congress having to have the Court decide on any major tax increase, or decrease, tax incentives, tax breaks, fees, tariffs; you name it. This could reduce commerce and business in the United States to a crawl.

And you can almost feel that the court is going to do exactly that. Five conservatives have taken it upon themselves to write new campaign finance law with "Citizens United" and probably will do the same with the Affordable Care Act.

Remember that title, "Affordable" when it is gutted and Insurance Companies raise your premiums by 100%. Remember the Insurance greed, as it reduces this nation to a pauper state. Have you ever wonder what the greedy bastards will do with no one to stop them? We all get to go to the emergency room.

Oh, I forgot, Romney has a plan; but it depends on which Etch-A-Sketch it is on.

Judicial Review is a joke in this country. We are about to see what a bought and paid for Supreme Court means.

Entitlement: How a Definition Has Changed

The root word of "entitlement" is title. This word was defined in the 1930 Dictionary as "the feeling a person of privilege has when expecting reward to which they are due". Another definition that was common for this term fifty years ago was "the right or title" due in a monarchy or aristocracy. In short, a title that a person of noble birth has coming to them by law, by birthright. Entitlement in this definition is a right of passage, a title, like Duke or Duchess, that a aristocrat would assume according to feudal law and custom.

Today, entitlement has a totally different definition. Wikipedia, which remember is a digest of various Internet contributors, defines entitlement using Medicare and Social Security as examples. Welfare is also defined as an entitlement.

Yesterday, while visiting my golf club's urinal, I read on the cork board, an Internet "joke" using golf as a metaphor for the "entitlement society". Basically the hit piece said that high handicappers in an entitlement system, would get to win, no matter how bad they were, and the hard working low handicappers were screwed.

This echoes the conservatives rock solid belief that the "entitlement society" rewards the undeserving, the lazy at the expense of the hard working middle class.

Really? Social Security and Medicare are both social insurance programs, every participant pays a premium (payroll tax) into a fund. When you retire, the "entitlement" you receive is funded by the payroll tax contributions of everyone who pays, both the retiree and current workers.

There is no gift here. There is no giveaway. The system is predicated on current workers paying for the benefits of those who retire, and once a worker retires, they are guaranteed a certain base benefit as well. In the case of Social Security, the level of benefit is based on the amount you contributed when you worked. These two programs are even more essential today, with many middle class retirees having lost their pensions in the conservative caused recession.

Republicans have hated these programs since they were passed. I remember Ronald Reagan in the 1960s made a LP Record attacking the idea of Medicare. Republicans hate Medicare!

The reasons for which they were passed (the elderly dying in the streets, and the elderly going without medical care of any kind and dying) were totally ignored totally by the cons. "It is a government giveaway program, an entitlement" and must be destroyed! They said this in in the 30s and 60s, they still say it today.

Just yesterday, another "proposal" was made as part of a "budget" by a conservative fanatic in Congress, to destroy Medicare, privatize it, and basically kill it. This was supposedly to reduce the deficit that Republicans caused by a yet another mindless tax cut!

Meanwhile, America still has over 50 million uninsured, because like fools, we base our health insurance on private for profit companies insuring through employers. A retired person is not employed, so without Medicare (or being rich), NO HEALTH INSURANCE! Back to dying in the street!

But Fox News and the conservative propaganda machine has literally re-defined the word "entitlement" to not mean an aristocratic title given to the rich, but a government handout to the undeserving.

How middle class white old guys can get so worked up over this, while they are on Social Security and Medicare,is beyond me.

Every statistical, reputable scientific study of poverty and health care in the world, ranks the United States in the low twenties behind every developed country.

In short, America is the antithesis of an "entitlement" society. We are not even close!

The poor and those unfortunate enough to be unemployed or on welfare, receive far less in benefits and government help than over twenty like industrialized nations. To be poor in the United States is to live in an agony that is known only in third world nations.

But still, the middle class, angry at everything (including themselves) insists that the "entitlements of big government" are unfair, reward the lazy, and need to be repealed.

Here is a news flash for you: the entitlement society exists alright, for the rich and well-born. Tax policy over the past forty years has enabled a culture where inherited wealth is the norm. In fact, George W. Bush, got the "death tax" reduced to zero, allowing already fabulous rich spoiled brats to inherit all of daddy's money. Millionaires are now billionaires in America.

In a true sense, America's entitlement society is creating a real aristocracy, and returning the word's definition to the classic sense: aristocrats are protected by law in their inheritances and titles against any attempt at fairness or social equality. The Declaration of Independence and the Contitution are being discarded so the rich can have even more at the expense of everyone else. "We the People" serve the aristocrat, just like it was in 1775.

Fox News, and the conservative sound machine, have convinced middle class angry whites, that entitlements are for the poor, when in reality they are for the rich.

And again, every statistical study you can find, proves a huge shift in wealth from the middle class to the very rich.

So the next time you sneer at "entitlements", remember the root word is "title", as in Sir, Duke, and King...or is it Fuhrer!?

I Am Not Making This Up!

Conservatives command the political, social and economic landscape in Potterville. It is not unusual at a cocktail party, to have someone "go off" on you if the talk goes to let's say, gun ownership for example. The NRA runs Redding. If you criticize gun violence, you better duck!


Gun ownership is understood as a right to kill and die for in these parts. Just yesterday, a progressive friend of mine, when told by another that he had been bit by a dog, said he could fix that; with 25 cents; it costs 25 cents for a 22 caliber bullet.

And, sure enough, last weekend, a couple with two small dogs in a motel, got caught in the middle of a police pursuit of an bad guy (of no relation to them) and the officers blew their two dogs away because they barked at them! Two guys in blue uniforms shot two small dogs who were barking at them! I am not making this up!

This occurred when the officers barged into the room, in pursuit of someone else. They apologized, as they put a bullet in the brain of the last living dog, as she writhed on the floor mortally wounded. They were protecting themselves, they said, from two small dogs that were both barely 20 pounds each. I am not making this up!

But this is Potterville, where we shoot first and ask questions later.

It is also Potterville, where lying about progressives, hating Obama is a spectator sport, and if you act offended, they are "just kidding".

A con friend just sent me the latest Internet hit lie, that Michelle Obama's brother, who coaches the men's' basketball team at Oregon State, had his job saved by an nepotism grant of stimulus money to the university. This allegedly happened in his first year as coach, after a slow win/lost start.

Media checked out the story, and found time lines did not match...the university received the bulk of stimulus money, like other universities, before the season even began. In short, it was an out and out lie.

But integrity doesn't count in good ole Potterville. When confronted, no apology, my con friend was just "kidding", just teasing you. I am not making this up!

The President is "evil", as was told to my very upset wife by some of her Bible Study friends.

Politics and religion are gleefully mixed in good ole Potterville. The Bethel Church runs the Civic Auditorium!

My wife was perplexed by why Christians would call the President evil , and profess hatred of him. She still gets upset, because comments are made all the time about liberals, and "socialists" by her BSF friends. I quit going, because in one "fellowship meeting" I was told "separation of church and state" is not in the Constitution.....therefore we need the church back in our government. The guy didn't even know what the "establishment clause" in the First Amendment was. Look it up!

Meanwhile, at church last night, we talked about how a fundamentalist conservative church across town, prays for our church all the time, because we have allowed liberals in our congregation and we are all "doomed to hell"..

I am not making this up.

And a couple of years ago, the mayor, a right wing fanatic, actually dressed up like George Washington and was rowed across the Sacramento River (on his way to Trenton I suppose) during a Tea Party Rally. I am not making this up.

The right is everywhere. And the "ends justify the means" is everywhere in Potterville. And gun violence is everywhere.

Last year a man was gunned down on the main street, shot dozens of times, never given a chance to surrender. He was a Native American of course. Minorities are still beaten, jailed, and shot in Potterville. I am not making this up! We have very few people of color in Potterville.

So move on up to good old Potterville, land of the free, home of the brave...but bring your gun.

I am not making this up.

Oh, I was born and raised here. My mother's family is a "pioneer family"...my father's is Cherokee..

I am not making this up!

Oh Shit!

So we sit along I-5, having long ago hooked our future on gas stations, restaurants, and recreation. We sit alongside I-5, where diesel trucks rumble up and down, R.V.s cruise by at 6 miles per gallon, and once in awhile we go to Cottonwood to act like cowboys in our beloved big pickup trucks.

Most everyone in Potterville you see has a pickup truck. We put decals on our trucks, saying things like Obama Sucks, or You Will Have to Pry my Gun from my Cold Dead Hands, stuff like that.

We have several shopping centers, with many empty storefronts, that are miles apart, and we are planning another "regional" center in prime farming land about 10 miles south of Potterville. The residents of this bucolic area have got a petition on the ballot to stop it, but we will find a way to build it; it means lots of jobs, the outside developer promised. Build baby build!

And now, Obama, damn him, has raised gas prices. The damn environmentalists, who ruined our logging with protecting the Spotted Owl and other varmits, now aim to cause me to stop driving my pickup truck.

I was so mad that I decided to get some books and read up on oil. I was on a Blog this weekend, and saw a chart that showed huge resevoirs of oil that we just won't drill for because of Obama I guess.

So I read 'When Oil Peaked' by Kennety Deffeyes. He is a disciple of this guy named M. King Hubbard. Both of them are esteemed geologists, who worked for Shell Oil and are often quoted regarding oil supplies. They should be able to prove once and for all that oil is plentiful, all we have to drill baby drill. Oilmen should know?

Oh Shit!

We are running out of oil. No shit? We have 40 years left at any kind of competitive level. Oh shit!

"The invisible hand of economics is now clenched into an invisible fist, pounding the economy down to fit the resource base." ('When Oil Peaked" by Kenneth S. Deffeyes).

In 2005 oil was $44.00/barrell; in June 2008 it was $147.00/barrel; where it is almost today. Meanwhile, "tripling the price brought about a trivial amount of additional oil" ('When Oil Peaked" Deffeyes).

Does that mean Drill Baby Drill will not fix this? Does that mean that oil companies, who can make huge profits by mining oil at the huge price increases for a barrel of crude, have not in the past four years been able to increase production? Does this mean easy to get oil, cheap oil is gone!?

That is exactly what that means.

The book, and dozens like it, goes on to analyze geologically the fact that cheap crude oil, easy to mine and get, is all gone. That is why conservatives want to drill in Alaska next to the Arctic Circle, because there isn't any more easy to get oil. That is why B.P. was almost 100 miles out in the Gulf of Mexico, using a rig that was illegal, to get to the precious oil. That is why they risked so much; because it truly is black gold!

That is why Rick Santorum recently held up a rock of tar sand, as our salvation, but did not tell people how expensive it will make it into gas nor the huge costs involved to the land it occupies.

That is why we are being told fracking for natural gas is our salvation, there is lots of it, and we can easily put it into natural gas stations that don't exist and in the naturual gas engine in my pickup that isn't there?! Oh shit!

That is why Bridgstone will build a pipeline eventually aross the U.S., through prime farmland, endangering the water supply, to get oil to market, to sell to China and to us at over $6.00/gallon. That's right folks, six dollars a gallon! Probably higher.

Let's see, at my pickup's 10 miles per gallon, that means it will cost $36.00 to drive to Chico! $150 to drive to San Jose....Oh Shit!

And the price of gas can only go up from here on in...because we are flat running out it. Didn't Obama tell us we had to change, that we had to get back on trains, and buses and public transportation? No shit!

Oh Shit! We are screwed. And we built our damned town, Potterville, around I-5, completely depending on cheap gasoline, to get people up here. For example, we just built a "Field of Dreams" softball/baseball/soccer complex at huge cost, because they told us people from the Bay Area would drive up here to use it. They haven't and won't! Oh shit!

I can see Russia from my House!?

Oh Shit!

Potterville Gas Stop

It was 110 in the shade in 1968, when the Nash pulled into the Chevron Station. Since I was trained as a "attendant/salesman" we descended on the car, taking our assigned positions to give the Standard Oil Treatment.

My buddy, Doug, immediately went for the windshield and hood duty...disgruntled I slid into the tire pressure and pump the gas position; this was the two man approach (we had three man, and even four man in those days).

I wondered for a second, why Doug went for the windshield and hood. In 110 degree heat, this was not the ideal duty. Then I saw her.

Next to a woman no doubt her mother, was a beautiful girl, with an incredibly low cut blouse.

"Shit", I murmured as I put the gas nozzle in the slot.

And Doug, well he was lingering over the windshield, staring directly down her blouse. She saw him too, smiled and actually bent forward to get something on the console. "Oh my God", I said out loud, as Doug no doubt got the coveted "N" shot.

Doug then moved to the hood, opened it and looked up as the woman said, "Check the coolant".

I knew he wouldn't do it, because a car in 110 degree heat, in Redding, always showed hot when it pulled into our station. We had been trained NOT to check the coolant, because you could get burned when the radiator spewed hot liquid all over the lot.

But incredibly, Doug turned the cap, and up came the coolant, all over the place. He stepped back, allowing it to finish, knowing that the driver could not see because the hood was up. Then he, oh my God, then he took the water hose from the island, and poured cool water into the radiator.

"Doug", I yelled, but too late, I heard the pop as the radiator housing cracked. You see, cold water on the hot cast iron housing, would cause a crack.

Now we had a pickle. AND A NASH OF ALL THINGS! There were no spare parts for a Nash in Potterville.

It took my father, a service manager at a local Chrysler Dealership, calling a welder who was closed, getting them to do a special job and four hours before we got that Nash on the road. Meanwhile, as I am running around trying to fix what Doug's leering did, he sits in the air conditioned office, soothing the mother's anger at his stupidity, and making a date with the damn girl.

What does this have to do with Potterville, you are asking?

Well today, in the local paper, the front page was filled with articles about the price of gas. Of course, in Potterville, this all is the fault of the Democrats.

Potterville, you see, is highly dependent on I-5, just as it was beginning to be when I worked in that service station many years ago. We live and die by the automobile culture, having sprawled in all directions, just like the L.A. basin.

Many people, in the past forty years or so, have moved up to Potterville from Southern California. They have brought with them the worship of car culture (we have Kool April Nights) and their conservative politics as well. Shasta County, up until about 1972, elected Democrats.

Now we elect nothing but conservative Republicans, who worship the car, L.A. sprawl, culture.

First one shopping center, then another, were built. Some of us wondered aloud, where the people were going to come from to support the thousands of square feet of retail real estate?

But, we were shouted down as liberal tree huggers, who were against progress.

So, we built and we sprawled. What worked for L.A. would work here!

And today, the paper went on and on about how gas is so expensive, how people cannot drive to work, cannot drive to the shopping malls that are miles away from their homes. The paper hoped that people will travel this summer, Potterville's main economic attraction now is tourism, travel on I-5 is its lifeblood.

We depend on a freeway for our very existence!

But the only way to get here, is by car. We have a small airport, the trains still come through, but with two passenger pickups a day, at 3:00 in the morning!

You see, the oil companies long ago destroyed train passenger service. In fact, the bus depot is gone too; same reason.

So, Potterville is totally dependent on the car culture; right when the world is running out of gas.

The L.A. mentality made Potterville a gas stop, on the way to no where.

I Live in Potterville

I live in Potterville.

Potterville was the fictitious town that Jimmy Stuart encountered when he was "not born" and visiting his hometown that had been taken over by the wicked Banker, Mr. Potter. In the film, the city has turned into a poor, rundown, rotten place to live; where the rich are very rich, and everyone else is dirt poor. A conservatives paradise. I live in Potterville.

Redding, California, my hometown, is Potterville now.

The most recent evidence of this is the city's comical efforts to ban Marijuana Stores from Potterville.

Conservatives around the state, alarmed by the evil weed, have been trying to outright ban Medical Marijuana Stores from their cities for months now. It is amazing how conservatives use government to not only regulate trade, but destroy what they don't like, when it goes against their values! But if it is something they value, like sponging off the rest of us for fire protection; drown government in a bathtub!

Never mind that Marijuana, as a drug, has way less of a lethal history than say alcohol, or tobacco (both legal drugs). We are still trying to find evidence of a marijuana drug fatal overdose. Where are the conservatives who are so interested in public health with tobacco and alcohol deaths in the millions?

Our City Council, dominated by tea party conservatives, decided to ban the stores. They pushed the City Attorney into going to court, in an expensive display of fighting "windmills", against his sane legal advice.

The City Attorney told them they could regulate the stores, like any business, but banning them was problematic.

Oh no, the fools said. We, in Redding can push a court case that will overturn California Law. Forget the cost!

Meanwhile, parolees are streaming into the city, because state prisons were so overcrowded that the courts finally said, let the minor felons go, return them to their counties. So, the City Council, austere to the end, laid off cops and firemen, while the number of parolees walking the streets dramatically increased.

And what is their priority? Why, it is the Medical Marijuana Stores of course! So what if your car gets stolen, we must fight the evil weed!

Meanwhile Trinity County, right next door, has bumper crops of the stuff, is supplying marijuana to China at last check!

So, the pillars of our community, who are driven by Tea Party fervor to reduce the size of all government (I am surprised they haven't gone after the Student Councils in the High Schools), spent thousands in going to court to set a precedent that no judge in his/her right mind would do.

And, today predictably they lost; a Superior Court judge, trying to keep a straight face, denied the city's request to ban the stores; citing a pesky state law that legalized them; pesky things state law!!

I live in Potterville, where the Tea Party is supreme, where common sense is long gone, where the rich are richer, the rest of us are poor, and we have a huge American Flag next to the freeway.

And now our local assemblyman is pushing a bill to repeal a state fire protection fee, of $150 a year, that is assessed owners of homes in the surrounding dense forests. The Tea Party is claiming this is really a tax and should be repealed.

Of course I don't pay the fee, because I live in the city. Only those who live in overgrown fire zones, pay a fee that will "waste money on Cal-Fire" and work to save homes and lives. Divide $150 by 12... a whopping $12.50 per month, to have fire protection. The cons claim this "crushing tax" is a duplicate fee, since some of them live in fire districts (most by the way do not).

There are thousands living in forests, that have thousands of dead trees thanks to the "fictitious global warming", literally sitting on a powder keg. And the mean old state wants a fee so they can save their lives and homes!

I have an idea, repeal the fire fee, and impose a $12.50 per month fee on marijuana stores...makes as much sense as what these fools are doing!

I live in Potterville, where the next firestorm will kill us all, because we will be fighting a forest fires with garden hoses. And, we won't even have a joint to ease the pain!

Does the Country Matter?

You all need to see "Game Changer" on HBO. Even conservatives need to see it; although parts of it will probably enrage you.

The myths of our current age, produced a near catastrophe for the country. Sarah Palin, who you feel very sorry for during the film, is thrust into the meat grounder of national politics far before she is ready. The results are, to put it lightly, sad, ugly and troubling.

The myths:

1. What we say versus what we do, or have done, matters more.

The media makes news of everything. The mike is turned on 24-7, everything a person does is fair game. This contrasts with FDR for example; and the fact that many Americans did not know he was paralyzed when he was President. You may disagree with FDR, but he did not have to fend off endless questions about his health. What did were what the news media covered. His personal health and personal life for that matter were not covered. This was because the press did not have the electronic media of today, the 24 hour Internet and Cable T.V. exposure. So actions not sensationalism mattered. Policy not propaganda counted. The fireside chats were words to be sure, but the mike was turned off the rest of the week. Actions counted!

2. Appearance counts, actions and words do not count.

Lincoln, by all accounts, was a homely man. FDR, as I have said, was in a wheelchair most of the time. Truman cussed (a lot), behind closed doors. Eisenhower, was balding, not a very good speaker, and played golf a lot. But, for all these leaders, appearance, make-up; etc., were not what mattered. What they DID, what they said in speeches, and how they managed and worked with Congress mattered. Actions and words mattered.

3. Character does not matter, it's all in the game! Just win baby!

Sarah Palin is assaulted by the media. Her pregnant daughter is fair game, her clothes are fair game, everything is fair game. Her marriage is investigated. Meanwhile her character and political abilities are ignored.

This deficit comes out in interviews and in the everyday workings of the campaign, but the media is more interested in her clothes' selection. Meanwhile, she has serious problems with world problems, domestic issues, and with the truth. The media misses this, which could be critical had she been elected.

Not to bash Palin, she actually is a product of the media circus, and revels in it to this day (she has made a fortune off of it), but as a stateswoman, she would have been a disaster. She also appears to be vindictive and has integrity issues. She lies a lot!

4. The Political System is so broken it doesn't matter if we elect an idiot to the Presidency.

Now, both parties think the other side's candidate is an idiot. But, we all, for the past 200 years, have secretly known that the campaign, gathering of delegates, the primaries, have been a vetting system for our Presidents.

The campaign tests their mettle, their intelligence, tests their endurance, and yes, tests their political character. The film shows that this may be changing. Candidates are recruited for their "rock star" ability. Palin is an entertainer. Obama a great speaker, but inexperienced. McCain is covered by the media as dull, boring; although has much more experience.

Are we now electing entertainers not Presidents? We did that about 30 years ago, with Ronald Reagan. California did it just a few years ago with Arnold.....? Do you have to be a media star to get elected?

Sarah Palin was a close call. She was absolutely not qualified to be Vice President of the United States. President Obama, conservatives would say, was the same.

In the film, this premise regarding Obama is qualified however, when one of McCain's staffers says Palin could not even name one Supreme Court Case, but was a rock star like Obama. Another staffer then reminds him that Obama was a Constitutional Law Professor and a Harvard graduate.

There is a huge difference. Obama was and is a rock star, and a very smart guy, his resume by any standard qualifies him to be President. Whether it qualifies him to be an effective President is open to debate.

5. Finally, the "liberal media" has ruined politics, and is unfair to conservatives, so it is okay to manipulate and lie to them, because they are after all the enemy.

There is no liberal media. The media is run by corporations, who by nature are not particularly friendly to liberals; especially liberals who raise their taxes. Fox News Corporation, is the strongest media outlet in the United States, and nobody calls them liberal.

Politicians who use this, like Palin did and does, to justify actions and statements that stretch the truth are doing great harm to the Republic. Integrity does matter, especially in matters of essential public policy. For example, for liberals or conservatives to blame the President for high gas prices is nonsense; there are multiple reasons. To suggest one person can control gas prices, or to claim a particular party if elected President will immediately cure our energy problems, is absurd!

The plain truth is America uses almost 40% of the gasoline the earth produces everyday, far more than anybody else, and the world is running out of gas! President Obama has told us that, and the media slams him. Reality is that fact must be dealt with sooner, not later, or we are in for a disaster.

The stakes are too high to continue these myths. We need to force the media to grow up. We need to start demanding that they do, by turning the damn T.V. and computer off! Try reading!

(Especially this blog)...Pun intended?

I would suggest this is finally happening with Rush Limbaugh, who has crossed the line of decency so much, and is finally being reigned in. Apparently his ratings were beginning to dwindle before his sexual accusations outburst. Mike Huckabee, no liberal for sure, it taking a rival time slot to Limbaugh, and promising more "reasoned" commentary. Rush, who as much as anybody is responsible for the myths listed above, may finally be in trouble.

This has to happen with all the media, and the only people to do it are us. We need to stop playing the gotcha game, stop encouraging negative politics, and start demanding performance and policies that help our country over hyperbole and bullshit...

The country does matter!

Bring them Home

Get out of there! Get out of there!

Pack up the troops, round up the divisions, fire the damnable "contractors" and get them out.

We need to come home now!

President Obama inherited this mess, but then made it worse by sending in 40,000 more troops, ostensibly as a "surge" to tame the Taliban enough to give us a graceful exit.

But, we are fighting with an armed forces of volunteers, and National Guard troops, who have been to Iraq and Afghanistan two, three, sometimes four times. Our guys are worn out. We don't have time for a graceful exit. When we killed Bin Laden that was the graceful exit!

Recently, it was reported that the suicide rate for army troops is the highest ever. The rate of psychological breakdowns is at an all time high.

I would suggest that the battle fatigue of today's troopers is the highest since the worst years of World War II.

What we are asking of today's troops is crazy. They may be professionals, but they are human beings, and human beings were not built for years of combat. We just are not wired that way, hence the psychological breakdowns.

So the Koran is burned by "accident". Now, a Sergeant goes "crazy", and kills 16 civilians and then burns the bodies. This was no rookie, but a Sergeant, a professional. This was no accident, I believe it is a cry for help!

This was not the act of a person who had lost it. It was well planned; he did it at night with night vision glasses.

Burning the bodies was meant to give us second thoughts. To a Muslim, burning the body is a guarantee that the dead have no chance to heaven. It is an purposeful disrespectful act that is sure to cause wide scale protest and violence.

The sergeant meant to do this...it is desperate call to end the war! The burning of the Koran was also no accident...the troops are sending us all a message...get us out of here!

The damned military industrial complex, that keeps this thing going for profit, needs to be reigned in. Unfortunately, President Obama has bought their crap, and is trying to find a "graceful" exit. There is no such thing.

Republicans actually want to re-engage. The "war party" went nuts when the President apologized for the burning of the Koran; cons will not withdraw us from Afghanistan; they put us there in the first place.

The President needs to do it, and right now. He is the only one who can do it. He got us out of Iraq; he needs to do the same right now in Afghanistan. Terrorism is at an all time low. Bin Laden is dead. There simply is not a reason, other than "withdrawal with honor" to stay.

Nobody, I mean nobody, believes that democracy will result in Afghanistan after we leave. Terrorist is at an all time low. Mission Accomplished: Get Out!

President Obama is running higher in polls right now. The economy is looking up.

He needs to not make the horrible mistake Lyndon Johnson made in 1968 when he promised to "get the boys home by Christmas" and then the Tet Offensive hit. It was over six years until the madness finally ended.

There are industrial and military forces in this country who profit hugely by undeclared war. War products corporations make amazing profits. The military, especially the officer corps, benefits with promotions and endless opportunities. And there is the combat pay of course. Veterans benefits go up; etc. But the enlisted men are going mad!

I think that deranged Sergeant just made a statement; albeit it a horrible one; to get us out of there! We need to listen to his cry for help!

Fanaticism

Ideological "purity"; never compromises, never gives in, always is right...always....

The conservative movement in the United States, for the past fifty years, has moved increasingly to the right. In that movement, is engendered fascist aspects of political, social and economic behavior.

A fascist fanatic must constant prove his/her purity of thought. This drive for purity of thought, ideological loyalty to political belief, must, in the world of fanaticism, be constantly proven.

Hence, the fanatic carries a copy of the Constitution or the Bible in their pocket. They chant slogans, that Rush if Right, or never give in.

Fanatics blame the "liberal media" for bias, whenever their fanaticism is divulged. Sarah Palin, a fanatic, famously claimed that the "liberal press" ruined her chances to be Vice-President. The questions were biased, unfair, and were a gotcha; even though she did not have a clue how to answer them.

Fox News, another fanatical organization, claims "fair and balanced" but as an opposite force to the "liberal media". Importantly, whenever Fox is caught lying in other unethical behavior, it is explained away as "efforts to counteract the evil liberal press".

One wonders how Murdock explains away breaking into emails, as ethical anti-socialist behavior, hiring professional hackers, to basically steal information that is used to smear political opponents. Lying to win, the ends justifies the means, is a tactic to obtain the ideological result.

The ends justify the means, is a huge part of Fox's approach, and the fanatical conservatives.

In their myth cluttered political philosophy, the evils of socialism and communism, justify lying and making things up to win politically. Fanatics justify illegalities by arguing that the threats to liberty are so pervasive, that they MUST cheat to win.

As fascist fanatics move further to the right, the thin blue line of civil rights and individual freedoms get blurred.

We saw this played out with the torture used by the Bush Administration; the cause of homeland security was so important, that torture was justified; even against American citizens.

Any reminder that this behavior is wrong, immoral and also doesn't work to get information; is attacked as weak, liberal, and un-American.

Fascist fanatics also work themselves into corners of thought, where they are willing to kill or die for their beliefs. Imagined threats are worked into reality, and political opponents are seen as dire enemies, who must ultimately be eliminated.

No longer content to debate, to reason, to operate within civil law, the fanatic becomes more "pure" by first restraining the opponent, then jailing them, and finally, to "purify the country" eliminating them.

Rush Limbaugh demonstrated this progression in the recent controversy, where he began by discrediting his imagined opponent, then verbally attacked her, then tried to destroy her; depicting her as a prostitute, and suggesting that she become a porn star. This was destruction pure and simple; verbal at first, but given the chance, could become actual physical attack.

In a real sense, Limbaugh assaulted the "liberal slut", in an assault meant to not just discredit, but to destroy.

And, Linbaugh also included the test: that the true conservative fanatic, must adhere to his attack or risk being not pure, not sufficiently conservative or dedicated .

And what was most threatened? Liberty of course. Lindbaugh depicted himself as the fanatical hero, pure in the face of the liberal slut, protecting freedom and liberty. He even said that at one point, that he was alone facing the opponents of freedom (while destroying the freedom of speech of another).

Fascist fanaticism exists in the conservative movement in America today at a level not seen since the 1930s and the Fascist American Bund. There are powerful financial forces allied together, who long ago crossed the line into fascism and who are planning the destruction of civil rights and the rule of law. A student of fascism can see the criteria, and the behaviors, increasing on the right.

Finally, fascist fanaticism cannot be easily eradicated. A hallmark of fanaticism is stubborn allegiance to "the cause", which is manifest in oaths, promises written in ceremonial pledges to never give in, to never surrender. This ceremonial pledging, promising to the end to be loyal to the "cause" is the last stages of fanatical fanaticism.

The fascist leader, at the movements latter stages, hold endless rallies and demonstrations, where the masses take oaths to protect the homeland, to denouce their enemies, to fight to the end; etc. Serial oath taking is a criteria of fascist political thought.

The individual is urged to sacrifice themselves for the greater good, the "cause" or the "leader" up to and including sacrificing their lives. This self-sacrifice is fed by the need to belong, to win, to purge the nation of the "unclean". These committments are always part of an oath, a public demonstration that the cause is more important than individual rights or thought.

Again, we see this in Lindbaugh's comments. The young woman was a prostitute, wanting taxpayers to pay for her sex, some called it recreational sex, and Lindbaugh even wanted to watch. Those fellow conservatives who were appalled by her behavior were admonished by Lindbaugh to "join me" in condemning her; pledging our loyalty to fight against the liberal media and the slut.

All of these are stages, along which a fascist fanatic proceeds, until the ultimate conclusion: war, violence and death to the unclean, the liberals (or socialists). Pledges and oaths soon give way to promises to fight, to kill, for the cause.

The problem is, the fanatical fascist, once they have moved through all the stages of radicalism, is committed to the death for the cause. Nothing can dissuade them. If they do begin to think about what they are really doing, it is weakness and cannot be tolerated. This leads to the inevitable purges that have afflicted fascist organizations in history.

I am reminded of the inevitable Brown Shirt purge in Nazi Germany in 1936, where Hitler killed thousands of his followers, because of their "impurities". Purging of impurities for the cause are a hallmark of fascism.

In a sense, Mitt Romney faces that kind of purge today. The instinct in conservative fanatics is to purge Romney, he is not conservative enough, he can never be right enough. Hence, the Republican primary drags on and on, even though Romney will probably be the victor, but the fanatics will "destroy the village to save it", willing to destroy Romney to "purify" the party. Moderates have already been purged by the Tea Party; only the pure constitutionists belong in the Tea Party.

I predict if Romney is nominated and is defeated,yet another purge will take place in the Republican Party, the Tea Party will revolt, and seek to destroy the moderates in the Party for the sake of even more purity.

Some of this is going on already, as the fanatics drive harder and harder for purity, especially concerning social issues like pro-life, abortion issues. A conservative cannot just be pro-life, they now must be pure pro-life, no exceptions, abortion must be outlawed in every circumstance. There can be no compromise.

Several states, have passed repressive restrictions on abortion, requiring invasive tests aimed at scaring women away from considering an abortion. Moreover, sexual purification is also the goal, no pre-marital sex, no contraceptives; the Puritan ethic of the Scarlet Letter is reborn.

Fanatical fascism is building its power in American today through the Tea Parties and the conservative movement. The progression toward violence is traceable, and becoming more predictable.

As it grows in power, it will get harder to stop.

Fair and Balanced???

Your editorial about LaMafa, who takes thousands of dollars from the government every year in rice subsidies, took the typical "fair and balanced approach", to the "I won't compromise no matter what conservative wackos" of today's politics.

You divulged that both Republican primary candidates for Wally (do nothing) Herger have predictably taken the Norquist (I really am President), "no tax increase pledge".

Then you pivot and equate that with some Democrats who have taken pledges, actually individual promises, to not cut labor interests. Somehow both sides are wrong...even though the cons are the ones who refuse to compromise EVER!

Where is the liberal's no cut labor pledge? I did a google search...no such thing? I searched "no tax increase pledge" and there Norquist is...in all his fanatical glory.

California, unfortunately, gave us Ronald Reagan. And Reagan gave us Norquist. In the 1980s, he aimed the fanatic at America, trying to drum up support for his tax cut mania. Reagan is long gone, Norquist lives on like a bad dream.

In California, this has led to the phenomenon of politicians cutting taxes due to windfalls, economic booms and the like. Then, when times get bad, or there are different circumstances, as you article says, pledges to not raise taxes handcuffs the government when we most need it.

And the result? Our public education system is in shambles. Our prison system is a disaster. Our roads are really serial pot-holes. Government at all levels is broke. And whose fault is it...why public pensions obviously!??? That's right, blame labor for depressions. Your side tried that during the Great Depression, and did not get a majority in Congress for 25 years!

And, in Shasta County, the radical right controls all levels of government, from city councils to Congress. And, our county is starving to death. And a Democrat has no chance. This is in a sea of Democrats, that stops at Sacramento.

We are a backwater stop on the way to nowhere, and the rest of the state doesn't give a damn. By being red in a sea of blue, we are committing political suicide!

Oh, I know, let's secede and join Oregon...oops, they are Democratic also. How about joining Modoc County, they are like minded (mindless)....and also poor!

Fanaticism hurts people. But be fair, it does not cut both ways. Liberals are not taking pledges. Liberals are not running the country into the ditch to make a point.

Conservative fanaticism has reached such a point today, that with a little help, democracy is in real trouble. Republicans, and conservative newspapers like yours, need to stand up as Barbara Bush did this week and say, "Since when was compromise a bad word?" How refreshing to see leadership from the former First Lady!

We used to call Redding "Poverty Flats". Then the New Deal came, and we saw fifty years of government project based prosperity. Then we got Reagan, and went hard right, and now we should be called Potterville!

It is not fair, and it sure as hell is not balanced!

Rubbers Unite!

What follows is a rebuttal I wrote to a conservative columnist who was taking the typical GOP puritanical stand on abortion and contraception, that is claiming Democrats are actually trying to control population for political gain? I hope the GOP keeps it up, Obama may be able to run for a third term!!!!

Here you go again. The front page of the Sacramento Bee, N.Y. Times; et al., carried a story that reports the GOP is getting clobbered by their infatuation with the contraception controversy. Women particularly are turning away from the GOP in large numbers over two things: the puritanical obsession with a contraception issue settled years ago, and invasive, brutal procedures GOP state legislatures are passing to discourage abortions.

I never could understand anti-abortion zealots who feel killing abortion providers is somehow Godly? Or, burning down an abortion clinic is God's will?

So, your party "values" committing political suicide, just as it is in California with your obsession with tax cuts trumping common sense. People do NOT agree with you and are not voting for you. But, like conservatives before you, the stubborness of fanatics is dooming you to political defeat after defeat.

Now, your article implies Democrats are using easy access to contraception for population manipulation somehow to build political power. You warn about becoming like Europe. Oh dear, we might have trains, and not be addicted to oil...save us!

Here is some political manipulation for you: The Catholic Church, many years ago, decided it could gain back the losses of the Protestant Reformation, by encouraging more Catholic births. So, an edict was issued to ban contraception for Catholic women.

This was not that effective in educated developed nations, where affluent women could still get contraceptives and quietly took them (98% of American Catholic women it is estimated have used some form of contraceptives; there is more than the "rhythm method" going on).

The story is tragically different in under developed nations. Large families are the norm, and it is also the norm that many of the children starve or die of disease before they can grow to adults. And then there is Africa, where local religious objections and culture forbit contraception, and millions of children are starving to death.

Did you ever see a child starve? If your bigoted, evil mind can gain pleasure in that, that God's will is being done, because we must be fruitful and multiply, then I pity your soul!

In short, the Catholic Church's selfish edicts on contraception, have caused untold suffering in the Third World. And the Bishops wring their hands telling us how much "charity" their church gives through their missionaries. Give me a break!

Virginia's abortion prevention plan, actually mandated a horribly invasive procedure, in all cases (even rape and incest) before a women could get an abortion. So a rape victim is medically raped by the state, so puritans like you can feel closer to God.

Ok, here is a news flash for you. God does not care if we use contraceptives. God's heart breaks if a woman gets an abortion, but he forgives. And, he will judge eventually us all. It is not our place to judge. It is not the state's place to decide reproductive issues for people. The difference in providing contraceptives for people is THEY DON'T HAVE TO USE THEM. Your party's approach is that the state knows best, it can keep contraceptives away from people, and it sure as hell can forbid abortions.

How in the world is this liberty???

So keep it up. Write a column a week about contraception and abortion, and then join the green party, because yours is going to be toast if you keep this up!

Policy Not Talk

The reason we have elections in this country, is because we believe that the People should decide their representatives, who then pass laws and make policy to guide our country. We don't do this for light and transient reasons; but judging from the past weeks we might question that in the way

the Republicans are running their presidential primary.

During this process, we have witnessed lots of rhetoric, ranging from contraceptives to President Kennedy's decades old speech on church and state.

We have listened to bashing, attackes, mocking, half-truths. About the only thing the candidates can agree on if the goal of "getting rid of Obama". Or "Obama has to go".

I do not recall this approach from opposing parties in efforts to remove a white President, sounds almost like "get the N...", but I digress into the "race card".

What we do not see are any policy ideas, or ideas for law changes to address the big three: that determined the last Presidential election: 1. Energy. 2. Education. 3. Economy-Health Care.

Obama won because he had a plan for all three. John McCain addressed these three as well, but his limited government, more de-centralized approach did not prevail. The American People were presented a choice and made it based on policy suggestions. We had a decent choice.

This time we don't!

And the President, despite furious Republican oppositon and endless blocks in the Congress, made progress in implementing policies and law in all three areas: 1. Energy, passing laws encouraging solar energy, reforming car manufacturing through the auto bailout with dramatically increased miles per gallon rules; etc. 2. Education: Race to the top and a change in No Child Left Behind. Increase in support for college students; etc. 3. Finance reforms and aid that brought us back from the brink of Depression, and passage of the Affordable Care Act; etc.

Now, all of these are controversial of course, all are debatable. And none are being talked about much in the Republican primary.

Americans deserve a choice. We need to look at the choices that we have, because they will determine our collective futures.

Right now, no real policy options from the Republicans: they are too busy on social conservative issues, whether contraception should be legal, abortion, moon exploration?

This one is easy, elect the guy who will deal with our problems and not pander to them.

Oh yeah, another goal was to get Bin Laden.....enough said!

Simple kindness

Yesterday, my wife told me my two daughters and herself planned an outing, (without me) to celebrate their birthdays. We all share March birthdays, my two daughters from a previous marriage, and me.

She asked if I minded.

I almost cried.

I lost my first wife about 15 years ago. We knew she was going to die for a long time.

Many things haunted me, scared me; especially the future and how I would be an only parent.

As my daughters have grown into women, with families of their own, my wife has easily, and lovingly moved into the role of their step-mother.

Yesterday, she moved into motherhood of us all.

I am blessed and love her so much. She helps me, she scolds me, she is my helper, my soul mate and she filles the void of love that my daughters miss so much.

I love her. Thank god for her simple kindness.

The California Dream is Gone

Did you know that California has the most repressive, rotten, unfair, anti-business climate on the planet?

Did you know corporate taxes are fifth in the country? Fifth, oh my Gawd, even though there are more people in California than any other state, we still are fifth.

Did you know the overall tax burden is 15th in the country? How on earth can we survive?

Why, we must cut taxes again, don't vote for Brown's Tax increase; it is tax and spend. We need to lay off those unionized state and local workers, slash their pensions and...and...

Sound good to all you cons out there.

Ok, try this on for size: Thanks to this lunacy that has been going on since Prop 13 California's public universities and colleges now cost middle class families more than Harvard, Stanford, Yale, Princeton; etc.

That's right, because of our infatuation with the tax nut right, a middle class high school grad now can go to Harvard for almost half of what it costs for U.C. Berkeley. San Jose State actually costs more than U.C. Berkeley, because Berkeley can provide some financial aid to middle class students. San Jose cannot.

California has Silicon Valley. This area is an economic dynamo for the entire state. We used to have a highly educated citizenry, the best public education in the country K-12. Then the gouls set in, the Jarvis/Gann's the "Tax No More" crowd.

And our state has been going down hill ever since.

IT IS A GLOBAL ECONOMY! California sits on the Pacific Rim, and competes directly with China, Japan and India. We stupidly have allowed Apple Computer and others to outsource manufacturing of computers to the Far East for blue collar work. Now, as we have destroyed our once great public universities, we outsource white collar work as well.

And now, our best and brightest are going back east to go to college because it is cheaper!

Some of you cons, will say, oh now kids can go to Stanford and Harvard? Have you checked the enrollments of these schools? There are elite universities with undergraduate enrollments of about 6,000. UC Berkeley has 25,000!

Our best students must get into a lottery for Cal, they must apply for financial aid, and then, they pay almost double for the education compared to Harvard!

So make sure you all vote against the small tax increase in the fall. Make sure you keep believing the Tea Party, whose economic foolishness have destroyed this state; and threaten to destroy the country.

They are wrong....they always have been wrong. And the tragedy is many middle class grandfathers have voted with them, and doomed their grandchildren to a life of poverty.

Un-believable!

Response to a Denier

Your piece today was interesting, although wrongheaded. You quoted Barry Goldwater, whose optimism you subscribe to; but you flew right by an important part "if man does not destroy himself".

We are destroying ourselves! Global warming is not a liberal plot, it is real. On the front page of the paper was an article describing how the snow pack was less than minimal. This is going to be be standard; except we will see more warm wet storms, but now cold enough to bring snow.

We in the north state will be alright, it's the rest of the state that is in trouble, because snow melt is what provides their water. Of course this means more water going south, all the time. I would not buy houseboat stock if I were you.

What I wish you would have said, is the world has reached peak oil. Sweet crude oil has about a 40 year lifespan, add tar sand oil and it gets to about 80. After that, nothing. Your daughter will be about your age when we run out! My grand daughter will be about 40. What kind of world will they have?

Which means gas for your daughter will be $15.00/gallon! Our economy will be finished unless we change. And we cannot drill our way out of it. Tar sand oil, or converting oil from coal (we have lots of that) is hugely expensive, uses billions of gallons of water, and adds to the warming that just yesterday killed dozens with warm weather spawned tornadoes. That's right, global warming causes the outbreak of killer storms we are seeing all over the planet.

And your small car, that gets 35 miles per gallon, will bankrupt you.

As for your conservative optimism, we saw that in 1940. The "America First" movement refused to support American getting involved in Europe or Asia to stop the spread of fascism. They were made up mostly of conservatives; who like you, were "optimistic that man can figure out a way", unless he destroys himself first.

Roosevelt, the enemy of all things conservative, was practically screaming that we needed to get into the war or face Hitler alone. The draft passed the Congress by one vote. One vote in 1940!

And still the conservatives, optimistic that the oceans would protect us, optimistic that we could find a way to live with Hitler, optimistic that it was all overblown by those crazy Democrats to justify a larger government, held fast to America First.

And then we got Pear Harbor, where the optimists said it couldn't be a flight of the enemy on radar, but geese, or B-17s! More optimism! And we parked our planes wing tip to wing tip, confident that saboteurs were the biggest threat; and then the Japanese came and destroyed our denier's world in one day. While we slept, we almost were defeated. While we enjoyed our optimism, disaster got us!

We won WWI and II with courage, sacrifice, teamwork, high taxes, and patriotism. We also won WWII by out resourcing the enemy. We burned up much of our native oil supplies, and out oiled Japan and Germany, who did not have petroleum supplies. Hitler and Japan ran out of gas!

After the war we needed to go to the Middle East for oil, because we burned up much of our own winning the war and saving the planet. Right now, if the Middle East gets heartburn, we get an energy crisis. We are addicted to their oil. We don't have much left we can all our own.

The problem was, the world got a huge dose of CO2 in the atmosphere with all this gas, that has grown to threaten the planet; only this time it is not fascism we fight, it is nature herself.

And once again, the conservatives have their heads in the sand, denying reality, denying that we either rally together to save ourselves or die.

People in this town have been trained, by your newspaper and talk radio, that good old conservative optimism is all we need; that man can figure out a way, that liberty will prevail.

Liberty prevailed all right in WWII, with organization, cooperation, firepower, millions of airplanes and yes, BIG government, that mobilized us to win and survive.

We are right there, right now. Whining about $5.00 gas is nothing. We should be be coming together, putting solar panels on every roof, demanding that the City go solar and get off natural gas, demanding that railroads once again have passenger service, taxing cars off the road, getting trucks back to the rails; etc.

Every time I see an R.V. I wince, every time I get blown off the road by a eighteen wheeler, I see the coming disaster.

What we have to do will hurt, it will mean sacrifice, innovation, using our heads, cooperation (all the human liberty traits that you hold dear). But it will mean cooperating within our government to do it...we cannot do this as individuals.

Sounds far fetched right? We can individually figure this out right? We can conservatively get through this right? We don't need government to do this right? WRONG!

Roosevelt said, and I am paraphrasing, the basic problem with conservatives is their frame of reference is the past, they look back, we look forward. He also said, cooperation will beat competition (among ourselves) every time. And he was right! Ask any football coach!

So do your daughter a favor, look forward not back. Stop fighting and denying what is right in front of your face.

The tragedy is we have the tools to do this. We have done this before. But we stopped arguing and started working together to get it done.

The only difference, is this time it is for all the marbles! We truly are entering an end game scenario.

Lindbaugh is Right?

He did it again. Of course he does it on purpose. And, he does it because he is a rabble rousing, demagogue.

Rush Limbaugh called a woman who testified concerning the Health Care/Contraception controversy a slut and a prostitute. He did this, by taking what she said out of context, accusing her of saying she needed to be paid for sex.

And the Republicans think it is "entertainment" and not deserving of any condemnation.

And America's discourse takes another nose dive toward armed confrontation.

That is right, armed confrontation. There are forces in this country, mostly on the right, who want to take up arms against those who disagree with them. Their emotions are encouraged by Fox News and Rush Limbaugh. This nation is not that far away from Civil War if this keeps up.

Name calling, stereotyping, demagogy, are all fascist behavior. Fascist behavior seeks to undermine democracy, and peace at every turn, to attain ultimately takeover of the state.

Oh, you just said, he is name calling himself. Rush is not a fascist. Maybe not, but his behavior is!

There are criteria of fascist political behavior and Rush Limbaugh shares many of them. He is doing this on purpose of course, to stir the political rhetoric into the abyss of fascist conflict. It is what it is. He is trying to foster open conflict in this country. His comments constitute a "clear and present" danger to the common good and peace.

And Republicans do not condemn his remarks. In fact, they make excuses for him, "He is an entertainer" or, "he is practicing free speech". They, just like many Germans in Nazi Germany in 1938, are scared to death of the preacher of hate.

The Supreme Court years ago, in a landmark decision, said there where limits on free speech if the consequence of it was like "yelling fire in a crowded theater". In other words, free speech does not mean you can speak in such a way to pose a clear and present danger to public safety.

I submit that Lindbaugh breaks this rule daily. He actively is encouraging violence, and in this most recent stunt, defamed and slanders a young woman; whose only sin was testifying in front of a Congressional Committee.

He deserves a devastating law suit, and judgement, that will put the jerk off the air.

Of course that won't happen, because after all; it's "entertainment"...

So, the radicals gain another point, and we take one more step to fascism in this country.