Recycle until it hurts

First let me make it clear I occasionally, as opposed to religiously, recycle and think its a good idea in many situations (e.g. recycling old cars and turning them into shopping carts). But the situations in which I favor recycling fall mainly in the area of those making good economic as well as political or self esteem sense. Recycling cars saves energy and materials costs and thus needs no nanny state intimidation to be adopted and effective. However California, as it does in almost every governmental sphere imaginable, one ups this economic justification for recycling by mandating, through the use of fines and fees, the recycling of most everything to the nth degree. The smiley faced fascism that has become the new state seal of California applies most religiously to recycling and is proving to be effective as large numbers of carbon emitting life forms are leaving the state to find a better environment.

Just as California raises the ante for entitlement programs by surpassing the national average for unemployment and disability insurance, Medicare/Medicaid, and outright grants-in-aid to non residents of the United States let alone California it has raised the bar for recycling not just natural resources but politicians as well. As if two terms with Governor Moonbeam (aka Jerry Brown) were not enough, the voters of the Golden State decided to further tarnish their national image by recycling him for another term. Brown, the epicenter of tree huggers, alleged eco friendly but economically disastrous policy, and the fountainhead of pension deficits and massive state debt due to the egregious sell-out through the approval into law of collective bargaining to public employee unions has come back by popular demand.

California residents are charged a fee (the CRV) for, as an example, bottles and cans of beer and soda. This fee is rebated to them should they or independent recyclers (aka dumpster diving homeless people) choose to turn their bottles and cans into their local materials recovery facility (aka dump). California residents have also been charged for recycling their governor. One of these charges is cost of the recent deal the Governor struck with the California prison guard union. As if one of the sweetest deals in the country was not good enough, they were able to "extract" through painful and transparent negotiation (not so much) the ability to accumulate unlimited hours of unused vacation leave to apply towards an early retirement.

The California prison guard union paid their CRV in the form of a big contribution to Brown's election costs. They have received much more than their rebate. The rest of California is left holding the bag. And the bag, even a Brown paper tiger bag cannot be redeemed as no materials recovery facility or independent recycler is in the market for second hand moonbeams.

The Cost of Inexperience

President Obama and his coterie of academics and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke remind me of the Johnson Administration. LBJ turned over the implementation of his benighted concept of exercising military power as a means of achieving domestic economic growth to Robert McNamara and his Whiz Kids. As a result thousands of American soldiers were wounded or killed in southeast Asia.

In turn the current administration has, in furtherance of benighted economic philosophy implemented by those with no practical experience, wounded or killed the dreams of a better life for thousands of American citizens. A lifetime based on books is no substitute for even a small amount of actual experience in the trenches whether those trenches be located on the battlefield or in the marketplace.

Politically Incorrect Gesture

With the manner of the passing of Osama Bin Laden the Obama regime has made several statements to the world. Nearly all of these were motivated by the murky ill-defined rubric of political correctness. In the P.C. alternate view of reality everything is about intent and meaning rather than outcome. Rationality rather than patriotism or fidelity to ones country are the order of the day. As such all is relative and "living". All is rationalized and made nuanced. Nothing is absolute or lasting.

In his own words Bin Laden believed in death over life. As such he had nothing but contempt for those who held strong faith and optimism about the world we live in. His lifework flowed from this belief that death triumphs over life.

It is therefor odd that Obama on one hand did not want to give the supporters of death a shrine to worship their perversion yet on the other gave Bin Laden some semblance of Muslim legitimacy by burying him at sea within 24 hours of his death. In so doing Obama conflates Bin Laden as being representative of the Muslim faith. Thus he furthers the view of many that Islam is in fact the religion of, not peace, but violence and death. This was done with the best of intentions as the motivation apparently was to avoid further provocation of the millions of Muslims. If in fact if Muslims stand with Bin Laden they would be provoked regardless of best intentions. If Muslims do not stand with Bin Laden they would not.

For a President who sees social justice, black liberation theology, and collective salvation as pillars rather than perversions of Christianity it is not much of a stretch to come to the conclusion he also sees the culture of death being central to Islam. A more forceful repudiation of the philosophy of Bin Laden, which also would have affirmed an alliance with a more moderate Islam, would have been to wait more than 24 hours, burn Bin Laden's body, and spread the ashes over the nearest pig sty.

What do you do on a rainy Monday?

You start a business.

Having just picked up my order in a local fast food restaurant I regularly patronize (not eating healthy here so sorry Mrs. Obama) I sat down to enjoy it. At a nearby table I hear four guys talking about setting up of all things a holding company and a Subchapter S Corporation. Pretty heady stuff and not just because the meeting wasn't in some corporate lawyer's office. Turns out this was the first corporate board meeting of a new business incorporated just last week. Imagine that, new commerce in the state, California, with arguably the worst business climate in the nation. Appropriately the weather climate was dismal as well.

The CEO, CFO, COO, and Secretary were all at the table signing various legal documents formalizing the new business. These titles, meaningless as they are, are required by the government. The business listed it's address as the home of the CEO. Discussions ensued and the acronyms flew. There was SDI (not Strategic Defense Initiative or Starwars) because California, among many other things has a mandated State Disability Insurance program. There also was the alphabet soup of withholdings from payroll. On it went.

I left but the meeting was still going on. What I witnessed was, if you are a far left zealot, the birth of an evil corporation. After all, regardless of size, corporations are viewed by the left as actually being living, breathing entities sucking the life force from the poor oppressed masses and being aided and abetted by corporate greed heads.

Some may say this is a "fools rush in" moment. I view it as a pocket of resistance to the many Mubarack moments that have come over government at all levels for so many years. As the Federal Government considers a $3.6 trillion budget it would do well to think about these fat cat corporate types who end up paying for the waste and inefficiency of a government addicted to unhealthy spending. Mrs. O should spend more time being a deficit hawk urging Mr. O to trim the fat from the Fed waistline and not worry so much about being a calorie hawk and nannying the American public to distraction.

Four guys starting a business in California. I admire their courage. Let freedom ring.

PC and a stunted culture

We see everywhere the results of the Politically Correct Imams fatwas issued against American culture and values. As a consequence the PC theocracy, in the form of local, state and federal government, assumes more control over the lives of ordinary Americans. The control they take ranges from nudges ("suggestions" from a first lady as to what to eat because we the people are deemed obese and unable to tend to ourselves) to outright strangulation (from town ordinances regarding regulation of where one can smoke and how one wears their jeans to where one can drill or not drill for oil because we the people have no judgment and must, as a vegetable, be tended to by others).

These fatwas show that once given the opportunity, there are no limits to where a government can go to restrict people's behavior. And they also show how easily freedom can be lost when people give up their personal responsibility and allow government overseers to run their lives. Is living on the plantation where "security" is gained and risk is minimized better than living the rough and tumble life in a democratic society? In the real world, outside of the plantation, people interact and things happen. Feelings get hurt. Not everyone gets their way. The people establish norms for behavior for what is acceptable and what is not. Those who ignore these norms are marginalized or ignored unless they can convince the society that their ideas and views have merit. Like the financial economy, the marketplace of ideas that underlies and supports it must be free, vibrant and unfettered to the greatest extent possible.

So we have public service announcements, congressional finger wagging, and nit picking rules administered by nanny state bureaucrats in place of the wisdom of groups based on common experience and a common constitution. The efforts to dumb down of the public by the government continues well after one escapes from public schools and institutes of higher indoctrination. Each time we feel there "ought to be a law" we need to realize that law will bring another coven of apparatchiks and will restrict freedom. We get this now without laws being enacted. The courts impose "case law" and unelected bureaucrats impose "regulations". We need to take a stand and at least nullify the existence of these pseudo laws and rely only on the Constitution and those laws enacted by a legislative body and affirmed by an executive signature.

"Made" in Detroit

With the passing of another American icon in Chrysler we witness instead of the receding into fond memories as occurred with a Packard or Deusenberg something more akin to a celebrity going into rehab for the umpteenth time. A middle aged balding and boozing has-been who was once handsome, virile and successful now grasps at reality shows and other carnival distractions in a vain attempt to remain relevant.

The den of sniveling crony capitalists which serves as Shyster "management" and its counterpart den of blood sucking weasels that are called "union leaders" grasp for taxpayer infusions of cash to feed their feckless appearance of productivity and customer service. That they would betray their own family of bond holders and car dealers by throwing in with the corruptocrats currently infesting Washington D.C. shows the extent of their addiction.

It seems appropriate then, having reamed these bond holders and car dealers, they would chose a coarse and self-centered Enema M to be their latest spokesperson. That the City of Detroit should be collateral damage in such a public display of bad taste is also in keeping with their pattern. Way to kick a city when it's down.

Instead of remembering a once great actor or athlete who inspired us with great performances, we now have just another personality who hung on one game or one year too long. Now all we have is the unrepentant whore that did not have the good sense to leave the stage when their curtain call was at hand. That this whore was pimped out by Washington just demonstrates how far a corporation can fall. To be as reviled as politicians is not easily achieved. These politicians must be proud that Chrysler is now a made man in their racketeering image.

Apparatchik in Chief

Amoral, asocial, and apolitical combined. Obama is so disconnected from reality it is hard to describe. Terms like "politically tone deaf", "staged", "Teleprompter in Chief", and "robotic" describe only subsets of his separation from the hopes (ironically enough), dreams, and life experiences of the American people. He is the political insider to the extreme except his reality is even further removed from the real world than that of a Beltway politician. Thus he is Progressivism perfected.

So his personality leads inevitably to his policy - Uncertainty and unpredictability combined with Progressive sterility designed to purify America by burning it from the inside out thus creating a nation designed to do only one thing, serve his, as the rightful Progressive leader, nihilist purposes. That is the present attitude in America and the face the Federal government will continue to present to us as long as he is in power.

Many more books than those already published will be written about the psychological anatomy of this President. It doesn't take a genius to see this is fertile ground for pundits of all stripes. The question of the future is whether there will be anyone allowed to possess and read those books.