Newsom is not on the regular ballot – so, if we get a majority of YES votes on the recall, he’s out, period

19 Aug

I got my recall ballot yesterday, it was most certainly a high point. I already knew what to do, but I’ve been hearing and reading a lot of confusing information about this recall.

My husband and I noticed right away – Gavin Newsom is not on this ballot. That is confusing, as we heard stories that he was indeed running, and that he had a little set-to with the Secretary of State over his party designation.

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-07-12/newsom-wont-get-democrat-beside-his-name-on-recall-ballot-says-judge

Apparently you will have to write him in at the bottom of the ballot if you want to vote for him (in the event that the recall is successful). And the right-in rules are weird.

https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2021-08-16/will-your-write-in-vote-in-californias-recall-election-count

Here’s something I didn’t know – only candidates who have applied for write-in status will be counted in this election. This article says that candidates have until August 31 to apply for write-in status. That means the full list of eligible write-in candidates will not appear until early September.

Here’s an August 4 article from CalMatters that adds more confusion:

https://calmatters.org/politics/2021/08/newsom-recall-how-to-vote/

“You can write in any name you want. But for your vote to count, it must be someone from the certified list. Write-in candidates have until Aug. 31 to file. Any write-in votes for Newsom also won’t be counted.“

So, I assume Newsom has not applied to be a certified write-in candidate. In fact, Newsom apparently is telling his supporters just to vote No on the first question and IGNORE the second question. Here’s a blurb from the Democrats’ Twitter page.

The weirdest thing I’ve seen so far are signs distributed by the local Chico Democrats. They are associating this recall with something called Q’Anon – devil worshipping child molesters. This reminds me of the totally weird door hangers they were distributing in the last election. I’m floored – what the hell is happening to Chico Democrats?

The disarray in the Democratic party is one more reason to vote YES on this recall. Newsom and his party are tanking our state with their very, very strange agenda.

I can’t guess what will happen, I just know I’m voting YES for the RECALL and Kevin Kiley for Governor.

Capitol Public Radio: Newsom overstated forest clearance by 80,000 acres

18 Aug

This morning the smoke is so bad I woke up thinking we’d inadvertently left a window open. No. We’d even reinforced the sliding glass door with masking tape. Since 3 am, we’ve been breathing acrid, toxic air, thanks to PG&E, Cal Fire, and the head of the whole stinking fish, Gavin Newsom.

“Dixie Fire: Containment to be determined...” is the official word out of Cal Fire. Meaning, it will go out with the first rains. As of yesterday the fire was bearing down on Susanville – is that their intention? Just burn out all the mountain dwellers, leave nothing but ski resorts? Really?

I received a survey from Doug LaMalfa’s office, asking me how I think they should handle these fires. One option was, don’t allow people to live in fire prone areas anymore. I’m sure LaMalfa’s staff included that option to piss people off, but I’ve heard that kind of talk from people like Jim, and I think it’s on the table.

My family landed in the Sierra Nevada in the 1840’s, my grandma Mahala brought three children in by mule train in 1849. At that time, that was where the jobs were, and that’s where you could get land. Those people built this state. Their descendants continue to live up there – with the exception of my cousin Janet, who lost her house in Greenville a couple of weeks ago.

Is this how Newsom intends to accomplish de-population? Just burn them out? It’s been done before – look up the history of Prattville – the original town burned down due to a suspicious fire in the early 1900’s, just as The Western Power Company (predecessor to PG&E) was attempting to buy up huge swaths of land to build dams and reservoirs. The people of Prattville didn’t want to sell. So, one day when most of the residents had travelled to a baseball tournament, the town burned to the ground. Today the ruins of the original town of Prattville are sunk under Lake Almanor.

Well, that might all be a specious conspiracy theory, but Dan Walters reports here

https://calmatters.org/commentary/2021/08/wildfires-newsom-recall-forest-service/

that promises Newsom made early in his term about fire prevention and suppression have not come to fruition.

“Everybody has had enough,” Newsom said, adding that the state’s approach “fundamentally has to change.”

Newsom said the state would clear underbrush and thin forests with prescribed burns and other techniques, emulating how nature and Native Americans dealt with fire for countless eons.“

“However, what seemed to be an innovative new state policy became an embarrassment when Capitol Public Radio reported in June that Newsom had hugely overstated what the state had done over the previous two years.” Capitol Public Radio  “found Newsom overstated, by an astounding 690%, the number of acres treated with fuel breaks and prescribed burns in the very forestry projects he said needed to be prioritized to protect the state’s most vulnerable communities. Newsom has claimed that 35 ‘priority projects’ carried out as a result of his executive order resulted in fire prevention work on 90,000 acres. But the state’s own data show the actual number is 11,399.“

So, here we are today. Between his refusal to hold PG&E responsible for mismanagement and lack of maintenance, and his failure to implement his own promises to manage our forest lands, Newsom has managed to burn down, what, a third of the state? More? How many left homeless, destitute?

So, watch for your recall ballot, clerks all over the state were supposed to be mailing those out Monday. Vote for RECALL, and then I hope you’ll fill in the bubble next to Kevin Kiley to take on the last year or so of Newsom’s term. Find out more here:

https://kileyforcalifornia.com/

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Do you feel like a turnip? Our public agencies are in it for whatever they can get, and they’re willing to squeeze us hard to get it

16 Aug

Yesterday was the worst day I’ve had all summer. A hundred and WHAT?!! And unbreathable air, it’s like being a cockroach. I grew up here People, and this is Bad.

I have the nicest neighbors, an older couple who moved out here from the mid west to be closer to their adult children, all over whom live out here on the coast. They’re really beautiful people, very easy-going, always cheerful. Well, I ran into them Friday as they hastily threw their travel gear into their car. They were disheveled and dis-coordinated, actually snapping at each other. The woman told me they had tried to stay in their tiny house, sitting under the air conditioner, for three days straight, and they started to go out of their minds. And, they realized, if this kept up, they would be getting a power bill and a half, as they were forced to run the ac night and day. So they were headed out to stay with friends in Southern California. “Anything for a change of scenery… ” she said, as they continued to load supplies into the hatchback.

We had our summer trip, even made it to the coast, but the money started to add up, so we came home.

I try to stay productive, but what is there to do? Feeling the cabin fever, I put on my last N-95 and go outside to rake up dead stuff, prune back dying shrubberies – it’s already fall at my house, stuff is dying fast. The water bill is frightening. I can’t cook because the house is too hot.

Our Australian cattle dog lays on his back with all four paws in the air, like road kill. His old mate is in her last days, and boy, would this ever suck for your last days. She spends the day arranging herself in front of this ginchee portable fan we found at Harbor Freight Tools. I swear, she holds her pee because it’s so nasty outside – we literally have to pick her up and drag her out. As soon as she’s out the door she stops, gives us “The Look”, and tries to turn back inside. Once she’s certain we’re not taking her back inside until she pees, she lets loose a yellow river that leaves a washout in the gravel. Then she turns around and full steam back to the house. For an old, saggy, bag of bones, she’s strong and determined.

So, when we feel like the walls are closing in, we load the dogs into the truck, ac blaring, Ron Woodward on the radio, and drive out to look for fruit stands. The Chico Farmer’s Market is too expensive – not to mention, HOT! – so we head out down Hwy 5 or 99, whichever way looks good. Last trip we ended up all the way past Williams. On Hwy 20 headed for the coast, we found a great stand with the best melons and corn we’ve had for a while. Corn is a good price indicator – 4 ears for a dollar is pretty good. And, get a load of this – CLEAN BATHROOM! Anybody seen a clean public toilet in Chico lately?

It’s the little things, don’t you agree?

It’s the little things that will drive you nuts, too. My friend’s car got stolen a week or so ago, and life has been pretty sucky for him. Just imagine being stuck on your bike right now, lugging your groceries home in three-digits and crap air quality. Chico PD have offered him no solace, even though they actually made contact with his car and the thieves inside. They chose not to pursue my friend’s car – we saw all this on BCFAC Facebook. Thanks for nothing, Chico PD. I felt his frustration, and dropped a note to my district supervisor, Kasey Reynolds. I asked her what she could do about this – it’s not just my friend, Chico has one of the highest car theft rates in the nation. Look at the police reports, also available on BCFAC, and you’ll see car theft is a common, every day occurrence in our nasty little town.

She told me to call her. I hate phone calls. Let me tell you something about talking to Kasey Reynolds on the phone – she won’t answer a direct question, talks rapid fire about everything under the sun except your questions, and then tells you she’ll get back to you with those answers, but never does. I’ve got a mailbox full of inquiries to her that were never answered.

She did tell me that she thought giving our new Chief Madden a higher salary than his predecessor was the only way they can “attract and keep talent”. But gee, crime continues to go up in Chico, how does that work?

Our public safety agencies are in it for what they can get, and it’s obvious to me, they’re willing to squeeze us pretty hard to get it.

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Why I signed the petition, will vote for the recall, and will vote to elect Kevin Kiley for Governor

15 Aug

How soon we forget – did you really expect the state or the governor to really do anything about PG&E mismanagement when Newsom took over $200,000 from PG&E in the wake of the Camp Fire? And then proceeded to personally broker a deal to mitigate PG&E bankruptcy? Here’s that story from November 2019.

https://www.abc10.com/article/news/politics/newsom-pge-broker-bankruptcy-deal/103-eab02ef6-d2c2-4977-b335-10461b0beea7

“‘If the suggestion is somehow I’m influenced by that, you’re wrong,’ Newsom said of the $208,400 PG&E donated to help him win office.”

“In announcing that his office would seek to “broker” a deal to end PG&E’s bankruptcy, Newsom has inserted himself into a massively complex fight that pits fire victims, governments, shareholders, and bondholders against each other. Tens of billions of dollars are at stake.”

“Some critics of PG&E believe the governor has given the company a gift in the form of this year’s hastily-passed legislation AB 1054, which is aimed at protecting power monopolies from financial trouble when they start future wildfires.“

Two years later, PG&E has started more fires, burned more towns, killed more people, but still continues business as usual with no consequences for bad behavior. They have even been allowed to raise rates substantially to cover their losses. Look at your damned bill! And now “flex time” – in the middle of a PG&E caused wildfire that forces us to shut our windows?

Oh well, geeshy sakes, what ya gonna do? Call Ghostbusters? Well, I’m voting to recall the asshole that has brought one of the most prosperous states in the union to a state of total dysfunction.

One concern I have about this recall is the number of candidates running in this circus. Most of them are completely unqualified, like Elder has admitted of himself, and some of them proven disasters, like Kevin Faulconer. Do we want the state of San Diego?

Cox is an obvious outsider who is not familiar with California’s economy or politics. He keeps citing the “train to nowhere” – the real issue right now is corruption. Here’s a recent article from ABC news about what was really going on at the French Laundry – it was a lot more than a bunch of elitist pigs having a high-end meal.

https://www.abc10.com/article/news/local/abc10-originals/pge-gavin-newsom-lobbiest/103-2fc7d4f4-a0e0-492d-ac1d-ec674e58a67b

“It was an unforced political error that immediately put Newsom on defense from the appearance of hypocrisy for going against his own COVID safety advice to Californians… Newsom apologized profusely for the dinner. He was only human, he said. And it was a birthday party for ‘a friend that I’ve known for almost 20 years’.”

People, including myself, were outraged over the hypocrisy, while we had no idea it was really about brokering a deal for PG&E. Boy do I feel dumb now!

“Newsom had inserted himself as ‘broker‘ of PG&E’s plan to exit bankruptcy. Bankruptcy documents show the company offered to support the plan only if its terms were ‘acceptable to the Governor’s Office.'”

After accepting campaign donations totaling $208,400 for his 2018 election. But he denies any influence? Why didn’t he just reject the money?

Here is candidate Kevin Kiley responded in 2020:

https://calmatters.org/commentary/2020/02/newsom-california-legislature-must-ban-pge-from-giving-campaign-contributions/

“For decades, Pacific Gas and Electric has methodically executed what the New York Times called its “political playbook”: giving millions and getting its way.

This continued after PG&E’s first bankruptcy in 2004. It persisted after six felony convictions in 2016. And now, even after catastrophic wildfires and devastating blackouts, the playbook is bound to remain the utility’s most valuable asset—unless we make them throw out that book.”

“I have introduced Assembly Bill 2079 to prohibit investor-owned utilities from donating to the campaigns of state politicians.”

Newsom, meanwhile, uses his position to influence California Public Utility Commission in favor of PG&E. From Kevin Kiley’s website,

Newsom’s Catastrophic Corruption

“Now, a whistleblower has come forward at the PUC. Former Executive Director Alice Stebbins says Newsom took ‘complete control’ over the agency’s oversight of PG&E and she was ordered to sign a safety certificate against her will. “

Here’s a week-old story from ABC News:

“SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Three days after Gov. Gavin Newsom celebrated his 2018 election victory, one of his major corporate campaign donors caused a mass killing.“

“The Pacific Gas and Electric Company pleaded guilty in June 2020 to felony involuntary manslaughter for killing 84 Californians in the 2018 Camp Fire.”

“PG&E’s officials walked out of court to go back to work on turning a profit, aided by state policies Newsom crafted to help the company.”

“In the months after the crime, Newsom not only signed new financial protections for PG&E into law, his office hired private lawyers in New York who wrote the legislative language.”

Please read that article further, you can read the actual court documents.

“The documents were obtained as part of ABC10’s news series FIRE – POWER – MONEY: How Governor Gavin Newsom Protected PG&E, which investigated how California gave financial protections to PG&E by the state government in the wake of crimes.  

“AB 1054 resulted in PG&E obtaining official state safety certificates for two fire seasons since the Camp Fire.

“The law was written by the lawyers under a contract to represent Newsom’s office in PG&E’s bankruptcy, state records show.”

And here we are, living with the consequences of corrupt government – after murdering 85 people in their homes, PG&E has been allowed to start a new fire at the same location, burning down more towns, 4 people missing as of now, and how many cancer victims to come in the future? We’re breathing wood smoke. People who never touched a cigarette in their lives will die from lung cancer because of a corrupt governor.

So, I signed the petition, and I’m going to vote for Kiley, who is the only candidate bringing real issues to the conversation.

Are COVID numbers being fudged for money?

13 Aug

Reader Stephen Jackson submitted the following comment, and I wanted to make sure people see this information.

Juanita, I visited the Butte County Board of Supervisors this last Tuesday to present them with their own county death statistics from 2014-2021. Interesting to note that for the years 2014-2019, there were an average of 61 diabetes, 29 hypertension, 52 liver disease, 26 nephritis, 32 Parkinson’s, 54 flu/pneumonia, and 44 suicide deaths each year. When we arrived at 2020, we no longer reported these deaths….now we simply have a pandemic that’s claimed 204 people over 20 months. COVID arrived and miraculously, all other diseases “went away”? In reality, we know what happened in 2020, all these deaths from all these previously mentioned causes were reported under the primary cause of morbidity as “Covid” instead of reporting that these were deaths from Parkinson’s disease, liver disease, or hypertension, with COVID listed as the “co-morbidity” or secondary cause of death. Why did our county do this? Because of the money the medical industry was paid to categorize them this way! If this doesn’t feel criminal, it should. County leadership is allowing the numbers to be played like this, because they like the ability to control a man-made epidemic and operate with the people “locked down” and “locked out” of the workings of local government, this must end!

This is something my husband and friends noticed immediately. Early in the pandemic, we had checked statistics that showed influenza killed as many as 150,000 people a year. Now all we can find are charts from the American Medical Association or the Center for Disease Control, and those are showing far lower numbers, all the way back to 2015. Look at this chart from the AMA.

https://cdn.jamanetwork.com/ama/content_public/journal/jama/938696/jvp210048t1_1620430592.92326.png?Expires=1631875613&Signature=3cX7jzuq08phxAdHFcxCSng63Za5Suvas2hJsK0b3
These numbers don’t match the numbers we were seeing early in the COVID pandemic.

This chart shows only about 50,000 deaths a year from influenze, while they have over 345,000 deaths from COVID in one year. Stephen Jackson has provided statistics from Butte County for the same period and asserts the numbers were fudged to get money. If you’ve kept up on the numbers, as I have, you might think so too.

The county board of supervisors just took $20 million in PG&E settlement money to pay down their pension deficit. I believe the board and their staffers in the Health Department are out of touch with their sense of morality, and yeah, I believe they would fudge numbers to get money.

Straight out of Orwell: Vaccine Influencer Training

12 Aug

I heard something so Orwellian on the news the other day, I had to google it just be sure.

https://www.kcra.com/article/thousands-without-power-elk-grove-after-vehicle-crashes-power-pole/37296304

Vaccine Influencers? I don’t know if that’s Orwellian or Pythonian.

First this article uses shaming, naming the zip code area that has the lowest rate of vaccination? How about the zip code area with the highest rate of smoking? Domestic violence? Obesity? Diabetes? Oh yeah – that’s all considered personal information.

In an effort to bring those numbers up, La Familia Counseling Center, a community-based organization, is hosting “Vaccine Influencer” trainings via Zoom.

Then concerns about the vaccine are belittled, they don’t even mention the side-effects that are listed on the CDC site. They offer one woman’s vague concern – “I’ve heard sometimes that people get worse when they get the vaccination and it concerns me a little bit to get it,” What does she mean by “get worse”? Does she mean blood clots? Heart inflammation? They don’t mention any of that.

And then this – “Vaccine Influencers who take people to receive their first dose will receive gift cards in exchange.“

That seems a little inappropriate to me – are you going to trust people who are motivated by the promise of a gift card? Is there a limit, or is this some kind of bonanza? They’re targeting non-English speaking groups – again, can we trust these “influencers” to be truthful? Is there any oversight?

The world gets weirder by the minute. Again, I’m not an “anti-vaxxer,” but I do believe in full disclosure and honest discussions. This report from the CDC (Center for Disease Control, the accepted authority on COVID) admits cases of myocarditis and pericarditis in adolescents, but seems more concerned with suppressing the news of the risk than truly educating folks about it. They don’t give actual numbers, they don’t explain why it happened, and there’s no promise that it won’t happen again. They are more interested in killing any conversation about it.

Click to access SoVC_myocarditis.pdf

The report details threats to COVID-19 vaccine confidence, content gaps and information voids, circulating mis- and disinformation, and action steps to take.

They just want to throw shit on people like me who want the real truth. We’re ” circulating mis- and disinformation ” just because we are asking questions.

How do you think most people would react if their neighbor came knocking on the door to tell them they are overweight and need to lose 20 or 30 pounds? How about a neighbor who wants to know what a single man is doing living in a three bedroom house when there’s a housing shortage? Should your neighbor be able to rifle through your grocery purchases and advise you as to your diet? Should they be able to look in your garbage? Come over to chide you about your smoking? Your porno collection? Your television habits? Arguments could easily be made that all those behaviors are bad for the community at large. How far are you willing to let other people “influence” your personal behavior?

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Steven Greenhut: “Frankly, union power drives state and local firefighting policies”

10 Aug
Environmentalists Destroyed California’s Forests

Thanks Cynthia for sharing this 2020 article from Ed Ring. Ring documents the 20 year decline in California forest management, citing both the Sierra Club and the firefighters unions as the problem.

I think the title is a little broad – “Environmentalists”? A word that has become just another slur for people you don’t agree with, like Tree Huggers? I consider myself an environmentalist. I believe in proper forest management, thinning of dead and dying fuel, raking and burning tree trash – “biochar”.

And yeah, if I see a good looking tree, I’m liable to hug it.

No, we’re talking about The Sierra Club, an organization made up of the rich and entitled, for the rich and entitled, and supported by the rich and entitled. They don’t represent “environmentalists” as a class of people. Hey, do you pick up litter? Do you turn off the hose when you’re not using it? Congratulations, you’re an environmentalist!

“Sen. Feinstein blames Sierra Club for blocking wildfire bill,” reads the provocative headline on a 2002 story in California’s Napa Valley Register. Feinstein had brokered a congressional consensus on legislation to thin “overstocked” forests close to homes and communities, but could not overcome the environmental lobby’s disagreement over expediting the permit process to thin forests everywhere else.

I don’t agree with Ring that the lawsuit brought us where we are today. Our courts and legislature allowed that to happen, they backed down to a PAC that also donates heavily at election time – what do you think?

In 2014, Republican members of Congress tried again to reduce the bureaucracy associated with “hazardous fuel projects” that thin out overgrown forests. True to form, the bill got nowhere thanks to environmental lobbyists who worried it would undermine the 1969 National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the law that requires thorough impact assessments ahead of government decisions on public lands.

Here’s what I think – as late as 2019, Feinstein bowed to pressure from the Sierra Club and the new Sunrise Movement, as well as her coworkers in the senate, and dropped her competing “more moderate” resolution on climate change.

The Viral Confrontation With Dianne Feinstein Had a Political Impact Most Pundits Missed

Her protest was weak, she really doesn’t want to go against these people. These PACs have a lot more influence than the average voter because of entrenched politicians like Dianne Feinstein. We need term limits as well as a limit on PAC contributions.

I have to agree with Ring’s friend Steven Greenhut, whom Ring quotes below – the firefighters’ unions are too powerful and they aren’t working for anybody but themselves:

Meanwhile, tragically, expect California’s politically powerful firefighters’ union to do little or nothing to support the timber industry or rural inhabitants who don’t want to move into urban condos.

As Steve Greenhut explained in a recent column in the Orange County Register: “Frankly, union power drives state and local firefighting policies. The median compensation package for firefighters has topped $240,000 a year in some locales. California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection firefighters earn less, but their packages still total nearly $150,000 a year. The number of California firefighters who receive compensation packages above $500,000 a year is mind-blowing.”

No wonder firefighters are overwhelmed during California’s wildfire season. The state can’t afford to hire enough of them.

As long as PACs like Sierra Club and the unions are allowed to make enormous contributions at election time we will continue to see fire policy failure from the State of California.

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Greenville has been “contained”! They call that “management”. New USFS chief says they will suppress fires in future – we’ll see if he can get that policy into place before Cal Fire burns down any more towns!

7 Aug

Enjoying the air quality? Smells like CANCER! Well, when you get your terminal lung cancer diagnosis, you can thank the US Forest Service and Cal Fire. It’s official – USFS policy is LET IT BURN. They call it “management”, which sounds appropriate, when you consider, they just MANAGED to burn down another town.

Greenville was a damned nice town. Not only did my husband lay a lot of flooring in that area, but I have relatives scattered all over the little towns between Chester and Quincy. What Cal Fire has done is criminal.

I’ve asked this question on various social media sites, but nobody ever comes back with an answer. If the Dixie Fire is growing by thousands of acres per day, how the hell can they say it’s “contained”? Well, my neighbor, who is retired law enforcement, told me, “that means, ‘burned’, it won’t burn again… not right away anyway…”

According to this article from Wildfire Today,

Forest Service Chief says wildfires will be suppressed, rather than “managed”, for now

our new USFS chief, Randy Moore, is going to change this policy.

“In an August 2 letter to the field, new US Forest Service Chief Randy Moore said that because there is in a “national crisis”, they will not “manage fires for resource benefit”. In other words, instead of allowing fires to burn in order to replicate natural conditions and improve the ecosystem, they will put them out — at least to the best of their ability. “

Given the resources, money, and manpower – including inmates from prisons – this fire should have been out already. They’ve admitted they are allowing it to burn, even increasing the burn area (and the toxic smoke) by setting “back fires”.

Another article on the same page says the vegetation in the Dixie Fire has not burned for over 40 years. I don’t know if that’s entirely true, but I know, when I was a kid, which was over 40 years ago, they did “controlled” burns in the winter, having cleared and stacked dead and diseased vegetation over the spring and summer. Who in their right mind would try to “control” or “manage” a fire in the conditions we’re facing right now, instead of during winter rains?

Apparently, USFS had a historic policy called the “10 am Rule” – meaning, put the fire out by 10 am on the second day. But every time there’s a new chief for USFS or Cal Fire, policy changes. In 2008, Cal Fire officially stopped doing fire prevention, saying this was up to the various counties and other local agencies. That was it, and now here we are.

I know, I’ll get some nasty comments on this one – go for it idiots. What the problem is right now, is all these cowboys are on overtime. They work 48 hour shifts, do the math. We’ve watched them pour in from departments all over the state, from as far away as Hawaii! It’s an overtime party, is all it is, and we’re paying for it in more ways than one.

RECALL NEWSOM!

Yes, both Newsom and Biden want a mileage tax to pay for roads – the question being, how will they do it?

6 Aug

I got a note from a friend of mine regarding a proposed federal mileage tax. I’d heard something about it, and yesterday I read that California is already working on it.

The hold-up is that they don’t know how to collect it. You know, our silly civil liberties. They aren’t allowed to track us, are they?

I hear you – silly Juanita! Just today I got an email from Google, a complete report as to where I had been on my vacation. Even a roadside produce shack. I suddenly realized – we’d used Google maps to get around to various destinations. That’s like putting a tracking device behind your tire!

So welcome to 1984, Big Brother is watching, and don’t trust Big Sis either. I’m going to assume new cars will have the same technology standard, if they don’t already.

State of California’s rationale for the mileage tax is pretty thin – proponents claim that as more people purchase electric cars, gas sales will go down and the Gas Tax will be moot. Then there won’t be any money for road maintenance. Again they throw that at us.

Here’s one problem with that line – gas and diesel are used well beyond cars. As for my family, all of our landscaping equipment, our tractor, our generator, and other items we need in our daily routine require gas. Big rigs that haul our goods, workers that haul their own tools and equipment all use gas. And how about those firefighters – I don’t see them driving electric vehicles in their daily migration between the Dixie fire front and their night quarters in Chico. Those giant bulldozers they tote back and forth all run on petroleum, as do the enormous rigs that haul them. And the planes that fly all the way to and from Sacramento and Chico all use gas.

Furthermore, instead of taxing people TWICE, why couldn’t electric car drivers make up the difference with higher registration fees? When I told a friend of mine that he reminded me that gas is over $4.50 a gallon right now, and over 50 cents of that is the gas tax. According to CBS News California has the highest gas tax in the country. And it goes up exponentially every January.

Powering California Network, “A Coalition of Californians Advocating for Economic Mobility for Working Families,” also points out that both the Gas Tax and this proposed mileage tax are both regressive, meaning, they hit working and poor people harder because they have to drive farther to work.

https://poweringcalifornia.com/powering-california-network/

https://poweringcalifornia.com/analysis-vehicle-miles-traveled-vmt-tax/

“California also has the highest housing costs in the country. California residents who cannot afford to live close to their work have to drive long distances to get to their place of employment, and as a result, they would have to pay more VMT taxes than those who can afford pricier homes near city centers. In many cases, these commuters driving longer distances are blue collar working families. And those working for minimum wage will be the most impacted. Many hardworking Californians living paycheck to paycheck cannot fill their tanks due to the high cost of fuel. The VMT would be an additional financial burden on them.“

Not all people work at the same location every day, some have to drive to various locations in one day. Public transportation is not an option. But, our gas taxes go to pay for trains, busses and bike trails that only serve a fraction of the population. Those people use the roads, but only those of us who buy gas pay for the maintenance? That’s whack.

Now Biden has a proposal for a national mileage tax. Both California proponents and national proponents are saying that a mileage tax could replace the gas taxes now in place, but there’s no guarantee.

It’s a good time to let your representatives know you’re paying attention.

Here comes the recall! Are you ready?

3 Aug

As you may know, proponents of the Recall Newsom group gathered enough signatures from registered voters to get a special election. Of course that doesn’t mean Newsom is out, that’s up to all the voters. Remember, there are two questions – do you vote to recall, and then, either way, who do you want for governor.  A majority vote (2/3) is required for Newsom to be recalled. The candidate with the most votes on the second question would win the election, no majority required.

Forty-six candidates, including nine Democrats and 24 Republicans, are running for Newsom’s seat in the event the recall is successful. Yep. Whomever you decide to take seriously, you can check the box. Don’t skip the second question, or make a facetious vote for some outrageous celebrity – just because you don’t want the recall to succeed, doesn’t mean you want to throw out your right to vote for a viable candidate to take his place.

I was pleased to see Kevin Kiley was running. I don’t agree with him on everything but he’s been pushing to reopen schools and businesses after the COVID closures. He’s made detailed charges of abuse of power by Newsom. I’ve seen him in the news for a year or more now, and I like the issues that he’s raising. I could live with him as Governor for the short remainder of Newsom’s term. It’s not a decision we have to live with forever, but it should send a message to politicians who think they can make up the rules as they go along.

Normally I wouldn’t support recalls, they seem like a waste of money and time. But the COVID shut-downs really hurt our schools and our economy, and left our communities ugly and divided. Want to find out how ugly – walk into a crowded bar and loudly ask if everybody has been vaccinated! Or mention it on your blog!

And Newsom’s blatant misbehavior – not just outrageous stuff like the French Laundry, but his abuse of power, making weird, subjective, often conflicting and short-lived rulings on everybody else’s behavior. It was like when the adults would go out and leave the kids under the iron thumb of the oldest sibling. A little bit of power can go to a person’s head. We need to let them know, they work for us, not the other way around. Hopefully the message will reverberate out of California all the way to Washington DC.

However you feel, get ready, because it’s coming up fast – September 14. Registered Butte County voters should have already got a notice from Candace Grubbs asking if they want to get their ballot electronically or through the mail. That is also your choice, go get ’em!

God Bless Us Every One.

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