My Views

I checked out “Eat the Rich” written by P.J. Rourke in 1998 from the McClure Branch Library that had last been checked out in year 1999, 8 years ago. The MccLure Branch is “bursting at the seams! This also “tongue in cheek” well renowned writer offers a good change of pace from some of the pathetic romance books dominating our public library system. I recommend “A Parliament of Whores” also by O’Rourke, a book that somewhat fairly describes the processes of decision making in D.C.

For serious readers, I reprint an essay titled “Eye of the Beholder” by Victor Davis Hanson, a renowned writer and syndicated columnist for Tribune Media Services. He writes “War torn Iraq has about 26 million residents, a “peaceful” California perhaps now 35 million. The former is violent and impoverished landscape, the later said to be paradise on Earth. But how you envision either place to some degree depends on the eye of the beholder and is predicated on what the daily media appear to make of each.

As a fifth generation Californian, I deeply love this state, but still imagine would be if the world woke up each morning to be told that once again there were 6 more murders, 27 rapes 38 arsons, 180 robberies and 360 instances of assault (more of each not yet or ever reported) in California – yesterday, today, tomorrow, and every day. I wonder if the headlines would scream about “Nearly 200 poor Californians butchered again this month!”

How about a monthly media dose of “600 women raped in February alone!” Or try 600 violent robberies ands assaults in March, with no end in sight!” Those do not even make up al of the state’s yearly 200,000 violent acts that law enforcement KNOWS about.

Iraq's judicial system seems a mess. On the eve of the war, Saddam let out 100,000 inmates from his vast prison archipelago. But imagine an Iraq with a penal system like California’s with 170,000 criminals – an inmate population larger than those of Germany, France and the Netherlands, and Singapore combined.

Some of California’s most recent prison scandals would be easy to sensationalize: “Guard watch as inmates are raped!” Or “Correction officer is accused of having sex with underage detainee!” And apropos of Saddam’s sluggish trial, remember that our home state multiple murders, Tookie Williams, was finally executed in December 2005 – 26 years after he was originally sentenced.

.Much is made of the inability to patrol Iraq’s borders with Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Turkey. But California has only one border with a foreign nation, not 6. Yet over 3 million foreigners who snuck in illegally now live in our state. Worse, there are about 15,000 convicted alien felons incarcerated in our penal system costing about half a billion dollars a year. Imagine the potential headlines: “Illegal aliens in state comprise population larger than San Francisco!” Or “Drugs, criminals, and smugglers given free pass into California!”

Every year, over 4000 Californian’s die in car crashes – more than the number of American’s lost so far in Iraq. My comments- (they are dying for a cause which most “get out of Iraq now” pacifist couch viewers of sitcom, Liberal medias, and CNN, to name a few, can’t seem to understand in their numbed brains.) In some sense, then your badly maintained roads (and bridges) and other poorly trained and sometimes intoxicated driver, are even more lethal than Improvised Explosive Devices. Perhaps tomorrow’s headline might scream out at us: 300 Californians to perish this month on state highways! Hundreds more will be maimed and crippled!”

In 2001, California had 32 days of power outages, despite paying nearly the highest rates for electricity in the U.S. Before complaining about the smoke in Baghdad rising from private generators, think back to the run on generators in California when they contemplated as a future part of every household’s line of defense.

We're told that Iraq’s finances are a mess. Yet until recently, so were California’s. Governor Schwarzenegger inherited a $38 billion annual budget shortfall. That could have made for another newscast teaser: “Another $100 million borrowed today - $3 billion more in red ink to pile up by month’s end!”

So is California comparable to Iraqi? Hardly, yet it could be easily sketched by a reporter intent on doing so a bankrupt, crime-ridden den with murderous highways, ten’s of thousands of inmates, with wide-open borders.

I myself returned home to California, without incident, from a visit to Iraqi’s notorious Sunni Triangle. While I was gone, a drug-addicted criminal with a long list of convictions broke into our kitchen at 4 a.m., was surprised by my wife and daughter, and fled with our credit cards, cash, keys and cell phones.

Sometimes I wonder who really was safer last week.”

If you read this whole article, you are a regular of mine. I am neither the typical blogger nor the typical politician. I won my last election by spending less than $900 and that was given by friends seeking no political gain. Only in my run for Park board President, did I solicit OPM. I listen to all special interest groups but make my decisions based on facts known and researched by myself and others I respect.

Keep reading my columns. If you don’t agree, fine just be civil. If you want to personally attack me like AdamP whose real name is Adam Bee, son of Lori, be prepared for me to attack back. I don’t suffer fools gladly, even those with college degrees from a liberal college (but then many of them are from liberal colleges) and no one will ever accuse me of being a bleeding liberal pacifist. I can also tolerate the attacks by my socialist relative who takes care of her long time woman friend who is in dementia. I can only imagine how those things can affect one’s mind.

I agree with almost every position that Victor Davis Hanson has ever taken. Those who like to read me might want to subscribe to Perkins Capital Management, 730 East Lake Street, Wayzata, Mn. whose newsletter provided me with this intelligent article.

If my readers believe that I don’t realize the mistakes made by top Republicans and their advisors, some military leaders and planners, a goodly number of Democrats including the messes left by Bill Clinton; if you feel I excuse any of them, you are wrong. I also blame a goodly number of career bureaucrats who have probably more influence as to how our governments are run then the average citizens knows.

In 2008 I will vote again for the best, hard nosed realistic leader with the least charm. I was once fooled by Clinton’s charm but George’s persona never really fooled me, I studied his background, there just wasn’t a better choice. Then again, I may not have a better choice in 2008 than I had in 2004. I see this country leaning more and more to being dominated by the socialistic and populist voter.

I am just as disappointed in a very large number of our leaders as many in this country are. However, I would never do or write anything to give encouragement to the Islamic, Fascist Terrorist, both abroad and in our country many for more than 2 decades. Neither would I leave those Iraqi’s that supported our troops to die at the hand of fundamentalist and cunning idiots.