California Gov. Jerry Brown was on “60 Minutes” last night. As with all public servants, I honor their time and efforts to provide good government for citizens, but as with most Liberals, Gov. “Moonbeam” hasn’t really matured from the 1970s when he was in office the first time.
I love how he tells Californians to pay more in taxes, drive underpowered electric cars, use solar and wind power, and pay for carbon footprints. All the time increasing their taxes on fuel and sin taxes on smokes, liquor, and sugary drinks and food. It is one of the highest taxed states in the Union.
He fails to mention the mass exodus of business (Toyota, Nissan, Nestle, Carl’s Jr. Occidental Petroleum, etc.) and citizens to other states with less taxes and better environments to do business and in which to live. As I always say, money goes where it is treated best – if you can’t make money to pay expenses and make a reasonable profit, you move where you can.
Many are finding out living outside of California suits them just fine.
In their place have come illegal immigrants and the load on the welfare state has grown to more than what they contribute. Legal immigration allows “chain immigration” where other family members may join the legal immigrant in the country. While the legal immigrant does not claim welfare, others in the family do. The state has 25% of the total homeless people population in the country. Drug addicts litter the streets encouraged by legal drugs and free needles to help them shoot up.
Gov. Brown, while on his farm showing the interviewer his place, jumps in a gasoline powered utility vehicle (like most radical lefties, they want you to do what they say and not do what they do) to take the interviewer on a drive around the farm. Of course he shows off the elaborate construction of a new farm house and a large solar field to power his house and outbuildings. I wonder if he has electricity from public utilities in case the sun doesn’t shine for a while? His place is in the hills not far from Sacramento, on land his ancestors farmed years ago, a beautiful piece of land.
Of course, no interview about California right now would be complete if not to speak of the wildfires out of control burning now. Being a believer in global warming, climate change, or whatever it is called now (even though it stopped warming 17 years ago), Gov. Brown believes the fires are caused by excessive heat and dry conditions and the out of control President disavowing climate change.
To those of you ever in California and driving up the coast from Los Angeles to where the fires are now burning, the houses are built on top of each other on hillsides and in canyons. Many houses are “green,” the space around the house was not disturbed and the old brush and debris left as is. Last year, California received more snowfall and rainfall than ever, the reservoirs are full, but there should have been more reservoirs built to service the growing population (doubled since 1970) to store excess water for dry periods. Most of that excess water is now in the ocean.
With all the fuel for fires lying about and the Santa Ana winds (those desert winds blowing from the east to west at unusually high velocity), this is an arsonist’s dream. How did all those fires start? Some say it was lightning, some say it was power lines, some say arson. So far, one person was arrested for arson.
I know this area engulfed in flames. Very beautiful country – hillsides rising from the ocean. The oceanfront is home after home right next to each other. Over the years, the same building techniques and practices have transferred to hillsides and canyons. However, the brush and undergrowth is left alone, as “green” advocates produce regulations to leave the land as it was. Year after year, more brush and undergrowth die and are deposited, fuel for future fires. You see those hills close to the ocean engulfed in flame looking like Hell on Earth? That’s what you get when you listen to experts not allowing disturbance of brush and undergrowth to be removed.
Now those hillsides are denuded of growth and will become mudslides when the winter and spring rains come and another disaster will arise. The coastal highway will become impassable as well as many feeder roads coming from canyons and hills
California is a beautiful state with many fine attributes. Too bad it is populated by hippies and would-be hippies; those liberal pot-smoking weirdos from the 1960s now in local and state offices, media and education. Jerry Brown is a prime example of the “educated idiots” populating California in places of power – he was a terrible governor in the 1970s and not much has changed.
Governor “Moonbeam” is aptly named.
Ranger Rick’s characterization of “Governor Moonbeam” needs some down to earth facts. California’s economy ranked sixth in the world in 2016. That’s the same as the year before, when California overtook France and Brazil. But the state’s economy isn’t stagnating; California’s economy is growing so quickly that by the state may overtake the United Kingdom this year for No. 5. Under the previous (very liberal for a Republican) governor, the state had fallen to 10th in the rankings. Jerry Brown has matured greatly since his first two terms as Governor. He is still a dreamer, but his dreams are coming true. He is making California even greater.
Errata on comment about Jerry Brown ,whose name should start with a capital J and omit an extra “by” between “that and “the”