Category — Current Events

You may remember me mentioning AB 2270, a bill that was passed by California legislators that would have allowed the government to confiscate a private citizen’s water softener if a non-elected board decided that local salinity was too high or harmful to the environment.

Well, fortunately our Governator thought that this was pretty stupid too.  He vetoed it, saying that the bill would “create a system that could unduly limit choices for consumers and small water systems, with potentially little positive impact given the relatively limited contribution of water softeners to our salinity problems.”   Find out a bit more at the Water Quality Association.

Score:

Common Sense: 1
California Legislators: 347828

Exactly why do I live in Kaliforniastan?

California Bill AB2270, Water Softener Ban

My brother wrote a very poignant post about 9/11 and the many repercussions of that day.

I started a comment that ballooned into a novel - I know, big surprise with me, right?  :)

Anyway, I wanted to post my comment here as it gets to a lot of things that I’ve been thinking about lately, and what else is a blog for other than that?

One of things that has been bothering me lately is my deep political disagreement with people that I greatly respect on a day to day basis.  This post about 9/11 finally allowed me the mental and emotional process to begin to articulate my position and support it with something other than just political haranguing.

Anyway, here’s my thoughts.  They will probably make more sense if you’ve read my brother’s post first.

CLAP CLAP CLAP…

I remember that morning, and how three months earlier I had taken AA Flight 11 from Boston to Los Angeles as I had done MANY times before.

I remember having a meeting in the towers 8 months prior to that.

I remember thinking that what Israel has had to deal with on a daily basis has finally come here. The big question was - was it going to stay?

People can argue all they want about Iraq and what the Bush administration has done. His leadership, and the war that his Administration has waged seems to be a lot of what makes people NOT proud to be an American.

How unfair. The fact of the matter is that we haven’t been attacked here since. Why? Because they are focused on attacking us there, and have vowed to focus all resources on expelling us. Call me callous, but I’d rather have al qaeda focused on our military instead of our malls and restaurants. For that reason alone, I hope its a very long time before we are totally out of Iraq. People here are “sick of the war”. How the hell do they think the Iraqis feel? We are so damn pampered.

I’ll tell you - I’m proud to be an American, but I’m frustrated with how shallow we can be as a nation. The country is poised to choose a man who, if elected, will be the least qualified person to ever hold the office of President. I’m not talking race, religion or even politics - just strict proven capability. Why? Because he sounds good. To me, that’s shallow. I don’t care if a person is black, white, brown, yellow, male, female - I want a President that will strengthen our country and make sure that my family is protected. Why? Because I REMEMBER 9/11 and it still scares the crap out of me. Mr. Obama may one day have done enough to prove that he is up to the job, but I don’t think that day is here today.

Many in this country want CHANGE because they are unhappy with how things are today. Maybe they should look back to the year after 9/11 and realize how bad it COULD be. These are the same people who said we went to war in Iraq because of oil. I guess they somehow missed me when the free tank of gas was given out? Did you get yours?

How bad would our economy be with suicide bombers hitting our malls during the Christmas shopping season? How bad would our jobless rate be if companies were too afraid to innovate and bring new products to market because the population at large is scared out of its mind? Nobody buys anything at times like that… How bad would it be for Los Angeles if the entertainment industry was again paralyzed by rampant uncertainty? How bad would the dollar be world-wide if our country was in the throws of real economic chaos, not just a downturn in growth?

We whine for change, why? Because the foam on the latte of our American lives has somehow been deflated? We should be thankful a hole hasn’t been punched in the cup.

Change is good if its toward something better. Better is always different, but different isn’t always better.

How many attacks will it take to bring out in our people the backbone of iron that you can see in places like Tel Aviv? Honestly, I hope we never have to find out… America largely doesn’t “remember” 9/11. We recall it. We recall it as what is hopefully the worst attack we will ever witness - and that from afar, for most of us.

I can tell you one thing - I’m sure John McCain doesn’t recall it that way. No, it’s not the worst thing that he’s ever seen. Not by a mile. I’d much rather go with a man who has clearly proven the quality of HIS backbone, thank you very much. I’m not even fond of his politics much, but I’m confidant of who he is and what he can do.

I’m proud to be an American because of the heritage of people like that.

No, really. They do. At least in California.

California legislators have passed AB 2270, a bill that basically allows the government to confiscate your water softener if a non-elected board decides that local salinity is too high or harmful to the environment.

You can read the amended text here.

The juicy part is here:

SEC. 4. Section 13148 is added to the
Water Code , to read:
13148. Notwithstanding Article 1 (commencing with Section 116775) of Chapter 5 of Part 12 of Division 104 of the Health and Safety Code, if the state board or a regional board makes a finding at a public hearing that the control of residential salinity input will contribute to achievement of water quality objectives, any local agency that maintains a community sewer system in an area affected by the finding may by ordinance take action to control residential salinity inputs, including those from water softeners, to protect the quality of the waters of the state.

So basically, after we have spent $2500 to make our water more normal for everyday use (we have 26 grains of hardness!), they can come in and simply remove my unit, without any compensation at all for my cost.  We bought the unit for medical reasons (my daughter has very dry skin), and yet there is no allowance even for that.

I swear our politicians are dead set on making the United States a modern Gulag.

While we did buy the unit to help my daughter’s dry skin, its a simple fact that hard water also costs a homeowner money by greatly damaging pipes and plumbing, increasing the cost to operate appliances and by making clothes wear out faster.

Hard water is also BAD for the environment, as it forces the use of more soap and detergent for all household and commercial cleaning applications.  That means that MORE, not less chemicals are introduced back into the environment when the entire goal of the proposed bill is to reduce environmental impact and to increase water serviceability through recycling.  Sacramento is sometimes nothing more than an expensive idiot farm.

Here’s an idea - why don’t we have a referendum to vote that next year, politicians can only REMOVE laws from the books - they can’t write new ones for a whole year.  Something tells me the benefit to society would be tremendous.

Please join me in telling the Governator to VETO this assinie bill.  Its easy to do - just go to: http://savemysoftener.com/ and follow the directions.

Water Softener Ban, AB 2270, Save My Softener

"Cheap" Gas

When I drove up to the pump today, I had this little thrill for a moment when I saw how “cheap” gas was!  Under $4 / gallon!  I haven’t seen that in over 6 months!

Then it occurred to me how bad that really was.  I’m “gladly” paying $3.99 a gallon and feeling like I got a deal.  Hmm..  Is this market psychology coming to the forefront?  I have to say that gas at $4.80 a gallon made me stop driving places, so maybe this is just real supply and demand taking hold.

I don’t know.  I know that supply has been up and down recently, but this all just feels like someone has been “testing the waters” to see just how high the price could go.  A juvenile analysis, many would say, but you know what else “they” say - “Out of the mouth of babes…”

gas prices, oil

Unretouched photos of famous political figures are extremely hard to find, BUT…

I did manage to finally get my hands on a few of the two presidential candidates.

Hmmm.   

I know, I know…  I’m a very bad man.

Seriously though, I mean no disrespect to these two gentlemen.  I just don’t want to vote for either of them and I’m taking out my political frustration on their digital effigies.

If Obama was at all conservative, had any real experience and wouldn’t tax us into being a third world country, I’d vote for him in a second.  He is a tremendously inspiring speaker.  I just don’t trust that his positions won’t change when he gets in office.

On the other hand, if McCain was at all inspiring as a candidate, I’d vote for him in a second, even though I disagree with a lot of his politics.  I respect his past tremendously, but he just makes me go "blah".

I never seriously considered using the write-in option on my voting ballot, but that choice is looking better and better the closer we get to November.

Hmm… I wonder!? Can someone vote for Reagan, even though he’s dead?

Obama, McCain, unretouched photos

Interesting, mortgage lenders are putting a 30 day hold on forclosure proceedings across the board.  They are trying to work things out with their customers rather than just throw them out.

This may sound "nice" - but really it is just good business.  Lenders don’t want the house, and in this slow market they REALLY don’t want the house.  The people living in it on the other hand really DO want the house, so usually there is some kind of middle ground.  Of course, that is really only if the interest rate is high and there is room for wiggle, and if the owners have steady income.

You can also thank the Federal Reserve for their 3/4 point cut a few weeks ago.  That figures heavily into the mix. 

Mortgage lending, ARM Mortgage, foreclosure