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  • Thirty Years with the Hensleys at Lakeside

    George Rebane

    Hensley30 

    John and Sandra Hensley again invited all of their friends to join them lakeside at Scotts Flat Lake to celebrate Labor Day.  John started these Memorial and Labor Day gatherings thirty years ago, and for many of us locals they mark the beginning and end of summer.

    Tonight the tradition continued and all felt privileged to be included in the congenial group of eaters and drinkers that usually number somewhere north of one hundred.  People come with food and drink and kids and dogs and chairs and … , you get the picture.  Everything is laid out on picnic tables for everyone to pile their plates high.  In addition to boating, swimming, and volleyball, there is usually at least one band that provides entertainment adding to the spontaneous guitar or two popping up here and there with a singer or two joining in.  Tonight we had two fine local bands that kept the spirits up and flowing until well after dark.

    Thank you John and Sandra for making this mountain hideaway that much more special year after year.  You truly are the gold of our Gold Country.

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  • Obamessiah Strikes

    George Rebane

    The word has come down from the mountain – ‘Destroy her, and do it quickly!’  Obamessiah knows that he will be facing a blizzard of blasphemous video clips from that Democratic trifecta of Hillary, Billary, and Biden. Each of them, with serious and sincere mien, will deconstruct his carefully camouflaged canton of leadership experience and expertise.  In short, the recorded campaign trail statements of these three will make a mockery of their own recent convention floor conversions – hallelujah!

    ObamascopeTo counter this tsunami of embarrassing assessments and contradictions from his now-allies, the Obama team has launched an email campaign to divert and diminish the damage from the Hillary, Billary, Biden videos.  A correspondent forwarded an email that has been sent to the alumni of the Citadel.  Presumably alumni from other schools are getting similarly composed exposes of ‘Sarah the Redneck’ to begin her political destruction.  Reading this “lengthy and emotional” Alaskan screed pretty much spells out what we will be hearing about McCain’s running mate until election day.

    (more…)

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  • Hello Governor Sarah Palin!

    George Rebane

    Sarahpalin The Democrats’ first attack on John McCain’s veep choice was that she didn’t have enough foreign affairs experience.  For some odd reason I thought that bringing that up would be the last thing Obama would want to do – sort of like the kettle calling the pot black.  Oh well, the silly season is in full swing.

    I was surprised like the rest of us by the pick and still don’t know the lady very well.  But hell, as a fellow NRA member and basketball player, she can’t be all bad.  And as a no-nonsense, corruption fighting, give-me-your-best-shot politician – who’s as far away from Washington as you can get and not have to learn Russian – she will be great.  Obama’s got himself a well-worn beltway insider to help “fix” Washington – a guy who spent the last thirty-plus years breaking it.  Go figger.

    Musings from a couple of correspondents in this election season are worth repeating.

    “My wife and I are thrilled about McCain’s choice for VP.  Our overwhelming belief is that she is as American as baseball (baseball before steroids) and apple pie.  She strikes us both as an unpolluted leader; she appears to hold values and ideals that have not been tainted by a life in politics.  She has fought corruption which we all know is rampant in the lives of today’s “leaders”, she backs the constitution, has deep experience dealing with energy, and most importantly to us appears to be the most grounded Christian of the bunch. I was planning on writing in Ron Paul or Mickey Mouse (like I did 4 years ago) until today’s nomination invigorated me.   Only in America. God Bless America.”

    ***

    Hillary “Have you ever noticed how Hillary, after being introduced, and while acknowledging applause, always acts pleasantly surprised to see someone she recognizes in the first few rows?

    Well, I think it’s fake! It’s a stage affectation to help her look animated. How many friends in the front rows can you be surprised to see? And she does it all the time.
    Perhaps other speakers do it too. I’ve just noticed her.

    On the other hand perhaps she’s especially acknowledging Mr/Mrs/Ms GottBucks (who else can afford first few rows?) who are flattered by the special recognition. Sort of like the stripper winking at the bald guy at the burlesque show.”

    And finally, Jo Ann and I picked up a little black kitty from the Animal Shelter this afternoon to give Leo, our old black cat, some social life and prepare for the advent of our new puppy sometime soon.  Driving home, we puzzled over what to name her.  Finally it hit us that it should be something relevant to this time in history.  Please welcome little Sarah.

    Sarah2

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  • Ruminations – 28aug08

    George Rebane

    *** Mitch Kapor, founder of Lotus and philanthropist, is an adviser to Obama on matters of technology.
    *** The county’s Fire Safe Plan (aka part of the Safety Element of the county’s General Plan) is a tough document to digest …
    *** Some facts matter, some don’t.
    *** Obama, the messiah of hope and change, promised us a new future …

    Mitch Kapor, founder of Lotus and philanthropist, is an adviser to Obama on matters of technology.  He is now advocating that the government should have a Chief Technical Officer, similar to corporate CTOs, to coordinate the creation of technology in the land.  Some people are concerned that this will be another layer of bureaucracy that will only do well what bureaucracies do.  Until we hear more about this CTO position, to me it seems like another rich guy from the business world who doesn’t think there will be any problems in scaling processes and procedures from the corporate world to the government.  There is a lot of central control in companies, and it seems to work; why don’t we just scale it up and make the whole country tow the line?  People like Buffett, Rubin, and, now, Gates agree.

    The county’s Fire Safe Plan (aka part of the Safety Element of the county’s General Plan) is a tough document to digest for those who don’t work with it regularly.  When it finishes the road to adoption, it will serve as the basis for regulations that tell us living in the unincorporated areas how we must prepare our properties for when wildfires come.  Few people really understand how the plan will affect them, therefore I suggested some time ago a simple summary of its mandates and recommendations.  If we know what’s in there, then we can tell our electeds what we like and don’t like, and we won’t waste time in meetings disagreeing on what’s really in there.  Well, one Supe thought this wasn’t really a hot idea and that things were good enough as is – after all, the county has gone through the pro forma period of public comment, etc.  A couple of other Supes are more receptive to the idea of clarifying the plan.  And Ted Owens, the current BoS chair, said that he would look into the matter with Steve DeCamp, our county’s able CDA director who is in charge of the final document, and who told me that he agrees that my one-pager idea would make it more understandable.  Here is my short statement to the BoS last Tuesday.  Download FireSafePlan080826.pdf

    Some facts matter, some don’t.  The economy has not “tanked” by any of the long-adopted measures, and the globe has been cooling for the last ten years.  What’s a one-world collectivist to do with such news?  Easy, lie.

    Obama, the messiah of hope and change, promised us a new future that leaves the business-as-usual Washington behind.  To make sure we all understand what he really meant by this, he picks Joe Biden as his VP.  Nuff said.

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  • Railroading of the County’s Fire Plan?

    George Rebane

    The CABPRO Letter alerts us to the next puzzling steps taken to hammer out an acceptable fire safety plan for Nevada County’s unincorporated areas.  The current plan going forward contains unchanged the 21dec07 draft of the plan.  This version co-mingled a mishmash of old and new requirements – some Train mandated by the state, and some mandated by local authorities.  Please read CABPRO’s assessment and consider going to the Planning Commission meeting this Thursday 1:30-5:00pm where they will push this thing forward as is, or … .

    Without rehashing the laborious pro and con arguments about the merits of each part, a number of us appealed to the BoS to clarify the plan.  I specifically went before the Board to 1) ask them whether it was their intent to one-up any of the requirements that came down to us from above, and 2) to please rewrite the 21dec07 draft, separating out the state mandates and the local mandates.  The sense of the BoS to the first question was that we didn’t want to make things more difficult for ourselves than they already are.  And everyone thought that clearly pointing out the source of the mandates was a good idea so that everyone could see who was doing what to us.

    I went away from the fire plan adoption process with the good feeling that the BoS would direct such a redrafting, and that we could all see what was coming down the pike when we next gathered to review and provide citizen input to our elected leaders.

    We now learn that the same undecipherable piece of …, I mean ‘plan’ has been repackaged and tied with a bright new ribbon as something that satisfies the sense of the BoS, and is ready for the next step in the adoption process.  If the Planning Commission passes the “GP08-001” document that does not reflect the direction of the BoS, then our electeds are being railroaded.  And if it does reflect their direction, and provides no further clarification to the people of the county, then we all are being railroaded.  If you listen carefully, you can hear the whistle blow.

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  • Ruminations – 23aug08

    George Rebane

    A correspondent of undeclared political bent sent me the following observation making the rounds. “The Democrats have suddenly developed a keen sense of morality.  John Edwards has been banned from making a speech at the Democratic National Convention for having an affair and lying about it.  In his place, Bill Clinton will be speaking.”

    Now with Biden in the ship
    with his voluminous flapping lip
    to contribute a bountiful trove
    of material for Karl Rove.

    McCain presents an acknowledged conundrum for the conservatives.  But, the Republicans don’t know how to handle their Congressional candidates either.  Those up for re-election promise that this time they will not behave like drunken sailors on shore leave with poker winnings in their pockets, while the new GOP hopefuls promise not to act like their veteran colleagues.  Tough to spin.  With or without their white hats, the Democrats have no such problems, since they have always known what to do with other people’s money.

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  • Ruminations – 21aug08

    George Rebane

    Some idle thoughts during a year of invasions, stimulus injections, climate change sacrifices, and elections promising hope-filled change.

    * A young Alan Greenspan made an audacious observation back in the early sixties.
    * Tonight PBS’s ‘Nightly Business Report’ again declared its true colors.
    * Today is the fortieth anniversary of the Soviets’ crushing of what has come to be known as the Prague Spring in 1968.

    A young Alan Greenspan made an audacious observation back in the early sixties.  He wrote, “Government regulation is not an alternative means of protecting the consumer. It does not build quality into goods, or accuracy into information. Its sole ”contribution” is to substitute force and fear Librarybook for incentive as the ”protector” of the consumer. The euphemism of government press releases to the contrary notwithstanding, the basis of regulation is armed force. At the bottom of the endless pile of paper work which characterizes all regulation lies a gun. . . .” (written during his Ayn Rand years).  When I remind my liberal friends of this notion, they condescendingly dismiss it as a typical overstatement by another libertarian over-wary of government excess.

    In a more recent example of Greenspan’s observation, Heidi Dalibor of Grafton, Wisconsin was arrested and booked for ignoring appeals by her local library.  It seems that the twenty-year-old was remiss in returning some books.  Now you would think that this is not cause for armed officers to show up at her door, cuff her, and cart her away.  But it happened and, somewhat incredulous, she paid her fines.  Here one immediately hearkens to Greenspan’s dictum to ask what would have come to pass if she had forcefully resisted arrest for such a seemingly minor infraction.  Those who think that the SWAT team would never have been called are in for a surprise.  Indeed, you can die for not returning books to a government library or refusing to put the government mandated lights into the ceiling of what you believe to be your very own remodeled kitchen.  And the collectivists will cheer your passing until the truck pulls up in front of their house.

    (more…)

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  • Peter and Paul Redux

    George Rebane

    ‘When you promise to rob Peter to pay Paul, you can always count on the full support of Paul.’

    In response to ‘Are you a Peter or a Paul?’, a correspondent sent me a copy of a recent article – ‘A Nation of Thieves’ – by syndicated columnist Walter Williams.  Dr. Williams is an economics professor at George Mason University and one of the Wwilliams_3 rare clear thinkers of our age; he also happens to be black.  He summarizes in this short piece a deep, profound, and, for our country, crucially important notion of ‘equal opportunity vs. equal outcome’. 

    I had the pleasure and honor of teaching on the same subject in a university course on critical thinking that was required for journalists and media producers.  The students’ (mostly working journalists’) ideologies ranged the spectrum of American political thought.  But in a free give and take classroom environment all reached a common consensus wherein they came to view enforced ‘equal outcome’ policies as inimical to a free and benevolent society.

    Walter Williams writes “Equality under the law and, within reason, equality of opportunity is consistent with a free society. Equality of results is an anathema to a free society and within it lie the seeds of tyranny.”

    Almost everyone graduated from our public schools now believes that liberty and equality are two superlative attributes of a just society that can be mutually increased without bound.  Sadly, they are wrong because liberty and equality are social qualities that sit on opposite ends of the see-saw.  The sheep never see that increasing the one, necessarily reduces the other.  And in their blindness they continue to celebrate and vote for politicians, perhaps equally ignorant, who promise to deliver both in abundant measure. 

    There is no issue more crucial to the survival of our republic than how we address the state’s involvement in the ability of its citizens to generate wealth, and the subsequent (re)distribution of that wealth.  The study of history and human nature should guide us.  Please read Williams’ short article and then puzzle on it in some quiet place.

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  • Are you a Peter or a Paul?

    George Rebane

    ‘When you promise to rob Peter to pay Paul, you can always count on the full support of Paul.’

    Obama has promised to launch one of the biggest tax increases in US history, and since the supportive MSM own the words, it is all being sold under the banner of “tax relief”.  The package is designed to bring the already faltering US economy firmly down to its knees so that no sheep in the flock will murmur opposition when the federal government makes its next moves to ‘save the economy and the American dream’.

    Obama

    We already have the second highest corporate tax rate in the world that is driving our businesses overseas.  Over half of our citizens pay no federal and state income taxes, and this fraction is about to increase when Obama’s scheme of rewarding government promoted behavior with “refundable” tax credits kicks in.  Get this, if the tax credit is $1,000 and you only pay $200 taxes, the government will send you a check for $800.  And if you pay no taxes at all, then you get a check for the full $1,000.  This will be a sinister and cynical re-ignition of the universal welfare programs that, along with the new strangle hold on the economy, will guarantee that the population of Pauls will surge to bolster the socialist agenda.

    In the meantime, enough Peters are seeing the writing on the wall that says the government intends to essentially take as much as possible – ‘everything’ comes to mind – of what you have through their one-two punch.  One – they’ll raise your income tax rates through the roof because the Pauls will demand it.  Two – and even if you try to minimize income, they’ll tax your assets through inflation by speeding up the money presses.  But now the feds, both parties voting unanimously, have added a kick to the groin for good measure.

    Ever hear of the Heroes Act – Heroes Earning Assistance and Relief Tax (HEART) Act, which provides tax relief for active duty military personnel and reservists – that the president signed into law on 17 June?  Well even if you did, I bet you didn’t know about the Exit Tax provision that was quietly taped to the back page.  It seems that enough Peters are beginning to leave the country that the government is now resorting to methods historically used by failed autocracies and creaking socialist states.

    The new Exit Tax will cost you one third of your assets in excess of $2 million if you decide to turn in your US passport and head over the horizon.  By laying down this foundation, the government admits that its policies of exacting tribute from its more productive citizens is at a level that requires the building of our own Berlin wall to keep the Peters in.  And the Pauls eagerly await their messiah.   

       

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  • Ruminations – 17aug08

    George Rebane

    *** Putin moves, Bush muddles …
    *** … thundering herd of lemmings heading for climate change cliff …
    *** Victor Davis Hanson, a quiet voice of reason

    T80u20firing20in20midair1 *** When he heard about the Russian tanks coming through the Roki Tunnel, Bush should have been on AF-1 within the hour heading back to the White House (or Tiblisi?).  Instead he hung around the Olympics soaking up photo ops with his arms draped around various athletes.  That act itself sent a clear message to Putin, Hu Jintao, Bin Laden, … .  Every pundit in the world now has three opinions as to what will happen.  And as we fondly look back on 2008, we will remember that day in August when the world again changed.

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