Rebane's Ruminations

Responding to Mr Fred Perry (updated 24jan2012)

George Rebane

Too bad that The Union has erected a paywall around its online edition that also includes their op-ed pages.  Usually newspapers going to that source of revenue leave their op-ed pieces as free content so that it will attract more eyeballs, and in the process help sell 'premium content' that’s behind the paywall.  In any case, more people would see some ads on the newspaper’s startpage.  But I’m sure that publisher Jeff Ackerman and the people at Swift Communications used some pretty sharp pencils to puzzle out the net dollars and cents of this decision.  In any event, I hope it works out well for their bottom line.

Nevertheless, I have a lament about that paywall.  You see a Penn Valley gentleman named Fred Perry wrote an Other Voices piece – Re: ‘Devil in democracy', by George Rebane – in today’s (21jan12) Union.  And I’d like all RR readers to be able to read Mr Perry’s contribution.  I was intrigued that his response to my 14jan12 column ‘The Devil in Democracy’ called for an even longer reply.  But its reading made clear that the response could be construed to also support the upcoming ‘teach-in’ against the ‘Citizens United’ ruling by SCOTUS.  The Union has recently been giving that event all the support they could wish for.

Reading Mr Perry’s tortured arguments to counter what he thought I had said is in itself an education in miscommunications and who knows what else.  (Made doubly difficult for the Union reader due to no link to my original piece.)  For example the man completely missed my strong commendation of our republic and Constitution, as off the starting blocks he criticizes my offering no alternatives to naked democracy.  From there he departs on a meandering journey of fabricating propositions not raised in my piece, to which he then proceeds to offer disjointed counter arguments.  While I am pleased that his reading of my piece motivated such a literary outpouring, perhaps a rereading would have better focused his objections onto the topic that I discussed.  Then again, maybe not.

[24jan2012 update]  For the record I make available here a more detailed response to Mr Perry's energetic attempt at criticizing my Union column.  The pdf is Mr Perry's article annotated with my comments.

Our Mobile Politicians

George Rebane

Our California Assemblyman Dan Logue just announced that he “changed his mind” and will no longer represent us.  He is moving out of our community – into which he moved just last year – to another city in another assembly district.  This makes sense for him when he considers his longer term prospects in politics.  Politicians make these moves on a regular basis.  Our congressman Tom McClintock is a transplant from southern California where it was harder for him to get into Congress.  And our state senator Doug LaMalfa is abandoning his California seat for a try at the House of Representatives this November.  Musical chairs to the max.

Now I’m not against anyone trying to make a good living and seek advancement in their profession.  No shame, no blame in all these moves.  But it does occur to me that we should bear such machinations in mind when we encounter and then decide to support our elected politicians.  Traditionally, since our school days these people have been presented to us as individuals of extraordinary abilities and character.  After all, when elected they become explicitly honorable and indicate that by appending ‘The Honorable …’ to their titles and names.

This feeling, or should I say aura, comes from our democratic roots.  In thousands of communities across the country, we imagine ourselves having always gathered together to discuss our local concerns, and then joining to select ‘one of us’ to run for high office.  And then, with our blessings and good wishes, to go off into some capitol to do battle in our behalf.  Those elected have always been viewed as ‘our people’ with roots that entwine with ours,  roots that go deeper into our soil and past than the new comer just off the stage upon whom we instinctively fix our gimlet eye.  But this is far from today’s reality as defined by ever shifting district lines, mass communications, rapid travel, multiple residences, and easy moves.

Here today, they all promise to bear our standard into the long fight – we must recall that every politician heralds intimate knowledge of our community and long tenure in complex legislatures as a part his strong suit for re-election – you just can’t send anyone ‘up there’.  But tomorrow better opportunity beckons, and off they go.  So in this day and age, how are we supposed to deport ourselves as we nervously finger our checkbooks when deciding whether to put our money where their mouths are?

Log entry on the road to ruin (aka fundamental transformation)

George Rebane

As usual I woke up to National Propaganda Radio and heard a mind-numbing hit piece on income inequality that for openers confused tax fraction, tax rate, paid taxes beyond any means of recovery.  But they did manage not to mangle the message that rich people should not make so much money, and most certainly they should pay more taxes than they already are.

From there we went to the California Capitol where Governor Moonbeam ‘California is on the mend’ Brown gave his state of the state address demonstrating that his head is still firmly planted where the sun don’t shine.  To a state in a permanent downward spiral, he proposed raising sales taxes and income taxes on the ‘rich’ (those who already pay the elephant’s share of state taxes), giving a go-ahead on the fast rail to nowhere, abetting CARB’s green regulations, and proposing less testing in California’s schools that already pump more students into our prison system than it can handle.  And the list of inanities and insanities goes on.

On the national scene we heard that Obama in his fervent desire to promote Agenda21 (shhh!) nixed providing for America’s energy security and gave a pass to China by turning down the Keystone XL pipeline project.  Too many jobs would be created, while too many core constituent environmentalists would be pissed off if the pipeline brought Canadian oil down to Texas refineries.  Much better to take it across the Canadian Rockies to a Pacific port and ship it to Asia.  Every vote counts.

And locally we have the Nevada County loonies (aka Occupiers) looking forward to a massive ‘teach in’ (wasn’t that what Göbbels called those little gatherings in Nürnberg and the Reichstag?) about corporate political contributions (unions too?) and the taxing of assets.  It turns out that a new tenet in the occupier mantra is that you shouldn’t “hoard” the stuff that belongs to you.  That is socially unfair and irresponsible.  And, of course, the state should step in and make sure that every year another piece of what you thought you had bought and paid taxes on would be turned over to the government.  Why? because it has allowed you to live and breathe air (which privileges will be taken away promptly if you resist remittance of that last little joy of property ownership).  Also see 'Taxing Your Assets Off'.

Another day on the march to a socially just world.

Ruminations – 17jan2012 [updated]

George Rebane

We have long heard that ‘stupid is forever’, and now we have indelible proof of that proposition.  Moonbeam has no clue that California has a systemic fiscal disaster on its hands.  His proposed budget for FY2013 is $95.4B when he adds up all the transfers to the general fund from raiding every other kind of account imaginable.  But the pinhead’s piece de resistance is the brilliant idea of taxing the bejeezus out of the upcoming stock cash-ins resulting from recent IPOs that he projects the fortunate employees of those companies will exercise.  His own Legislative Analyst’s Office is telling him not to hold his breath until he collects all those one-time state income taxes.

But what really frosts me is the depth of ignorance that progressives have about what has been going on in the state.  We already depend on a small cohort - the top tenth - of wage earners to pony up almost 75% of the state’s budgets, and almost every 3-digit type knows that continuing on this policy is sheer lunacy.  So what does Moonbeam do?  He doubles down on stupid, and is now trying to convince everyone that he’s solving California’s long-term crisis with a one-off short-term tax bounce that itself is based on la-la land accounting.  Meanwhile, he's driving more companies out the state with economy killing green initiatives that seem to multiply like weeds.  And our liberal neighbors are cheering him on as they continue sending to Sacramento people with big bulbous red noses wearing funny looking large shoes.  (There’s more, and the details are here.)

‘Can a Nonexistent Congress Issue $1.2T in Debt?’ asks Daniel Horwitz of RS Redstate.  While contemplating this, we recall that through an historic decision by the Chief Community Organizer, this same Congress was made “non-existent” through the claim that it is reposing in blissful recess.  The CCO then rushed through a recess appointment on another czar whose job is to keep the promised fundamental transformation on schedule.  So, without even so much as a wink-wink from behind the teleprompter, our fearless leader brazenly plays the game from both sides of Recess Street.

[update] You remember CALPERS, the California state employees pension outfit that was supposed go forward making 7.5% on its portfolio to work off its members' hundreds of billions of unfunded liabilities.  Well, it seems that reality is striking home and things are going the other way (as CALPERS was warned by all).  The funds manager has just decided to write down one fifth of its real estate portfolio taking a haircut that will range between 30% and 50%, not counting the appreciation it could have had on the initially invested monies.  The investments were made during the real estate bubble for which government employee pension funds, along with Fannie and Freddie, were somehow left out of the fulminations and fury that unions and occupiers continue to heap on “the banks”.

Science still says, ‘Creation occurred.’

George Rebane

The best brains in cosmology ranging from Stephen Hawking of Cambridge to Alan Guth of MIT have been trying to munge the equations and the data to come up with some/any kind of support for the proposition that the universe did not have a beginning.

NewScientist.com reports in ‘Why physicists can’t avoid a creation event’ -

YOU could call them the worst birthday presents ever. At the meeting of minds convened last week to honour Stephen Hawking's 70th birthday - loftily titled "State of the Universe" - two bold proposals posed serious threats to our existing understanding of the cosmos.

One shows that a problematic object called a naked singularity is a lot more likely to exist than previously assumed (see "Naked black-hole hearts live in the fifth dimension"). The other suggests that the universe is not eternal, resurrecting the thorny question of how to kick-start the cosmos without the hand of a supernatural creator.

While many of us may be OK with the idea of the big bang simply starting everything, physicists, including Hawking, tend to shy away from cosmic genesis. "A point of creation would be a place where science broke down. One would have to appeal to religion and the hand of God," Hawking told the meeting, at the University of Cambridge, in a pre-recorded speech.

After looking under every theoretical rock available today, and then some, the bottom line is that “all these theories still demand a beginning.”

As a proponent of Intelligent Design (not to be confused with Creationism), I continue to celebrate such corroborative reports as satisfying Occam’s razor to the max.

The Devil in Democracy

George Rebane

[This is the linked form of my regular Union column which is published in the newspaper’s 14jan12 edition.]

When progressives start to talk about democracy again, it is time to get a real firm grip on your wallet and your liberties.  Democracy is now the watchword that echoes across the occupied streets, and also the revived cry of the labor unions.  What could be a more appropriate and compelling message during an election year?  Aren’t we a democracy, and haven’t we been taught that democracy is the best for everyone?

Actually, ‘democracy’ has always wound up as the first stepping stone to autocracy.   The guiles of democracy as a form of governance were understood by the Greeks over two thousand years ago.  And since then writers and historians over the ages have documented the steady progression of suicides committed by democracies.  Our Founders were well-read men of intellect and learning, they were not about to risk their lives, fortunes, and honor in backing a revolution that would leave a short-lived democracy as their legacy.  Today, our poorly educated of all creeds and colors believe that America once was a democracy that has been subverted by the greedy rich – it is time to revolt and again return the country to a democracy.

The problem is that democracy’s sweet spot is small.  It works primarily within groups that have a common culture, a common understanding of the situation, and a desire for fairly similar outcomes.  In such fortunate populations there are no sizeable contending factions whose victory would impose a long lasting cost on the others.  So since there may be more than one way to get to such a mutually beneficial outcome, a democratic vote as to which path to pursue is proper.  But remove one or more of these ingredients from the mix, and you are soon boiling a bitter brew.

Taxing Your Assets Off

George Rebane

[This is the transcript of my regular KVMR commentary broadcast on 13 January 2012.]

Most people know that governments fund themselves by taxing income, profits, consumption, and assets.  The first three we have become used to at least to a degree where we now debate how much higher or lower such taxes should be.  It’s the tax on assets that causes pupils to dilate and blood pressures to rise – well, at least on those who have assets.  All countries have a natural division between their makers and takers, the latter being reliable backers of any and all taxes on the makers, because that’s where the money is.

But asset taxes are somehow different.  Maybe one reason is that many takers also own assets.  Almost everyone instinctively knows that an assets tax (aka ‘wealth tax’) allows the state to take what you have already worked for, have already paid taxes on, and put aside to support your way of life.  Your assets - like your house, land, car, collectibles, business, and bank account – are part of the extended you, part of the established perpetuity that you want your kids to have.  It is for that reason that you belong to a culture, a society, and a sovereign nation-state, because they claim to provide an environment for guaranteeing your security, property, and liberty.  And it is for that reason that you will man the ramparts, and put your life on the line when your country is in danger.

With the discussion of a new assets tax, all things become possible.  In a recent issue of the Wall Street Journal, Stanford economics professor Ronald McKinnon argues for an add-on assets tax for the purpose of – seatbelts fastened? – for the purpose of mollifying the street occupiers.  He even sprinkles sugar on his proposal by claiming to make “the conservative case” for such a tax.  The example he presents is that the government would annually confiscate 3% of your accumulated wealth in excess of $3M.  And that means everything you own, including the “imputed rental value of owner-occupied homes”.

The World’s Economic Freedom Stats for 2012 – America’s slide continues

George Rebane

On our way to a socialist state we are leaving stark signposts of economic decline.  Among the most important is our relative ratings and rankings over the years.  Such data explain away why jobs are leaving these shores, and why they will not come back.

In the meanwhile, we are proud to announce that on 1 January 2012 the country added over 40,000 new laws and regulations to further corral our liberties, and our government’s spending now amounts to about 40% of GDP.  The Left has plans to drive this wealth killing percentage even higher as the economy declines.  A summary of the Economic Freedom Index is found in the 12jan12 WSJ (source of filched table above), and an excellent interactive report on the rankings and ratings is available on the Heritage website here.  WSJ and the Heritage Foundation generate this index annually.

Attending yesterday’s Nevada County Tea Party Patriots luncheon and talk by Rep Tom McClintock (see NC2012 report here), we heard another stirring report of how some in the country are trying to get things back on the right track (pun intended).  But we’ve been hearing these huuraahs now for some years (decades?).  I would like to see a metric established by some conservative organization that tracks how many laws and regs got sunsetted during the last year, and how our Liberty Index has started climbing back up again.  The rest of the podium bull pucky really doesn’t matter.  For without knowing what's really happening, it just bandaids our growing misery.  Let’s see if we can work on a new concept of what is a ‘productive legislature’ – and it ain’t one that every year papers the walls with more rules about things we can’t and must do.

Mark Meckler's CCW "Disorderly Conduct" (updated 13jan2012)

George Rebane

Mark Meckler's gun charge at La Guardia airport was disposed of as a "disorderly conduct" today.  He had to pay a small fine and his gun was confiscated.  The story made national headlines a few weeks ago when NYC applied its widely-acknowledged insane CCW law on a citizen exercising his 2nd Amendment rights (reported here).  To show the perverse state of our local and national justice system, Mark was initially charged with 'felony possession with intent to do harm' as he tried to check his firearm that was inside a TSA approved locked box.  This case is so ridiculous that reportedly the district attorney asked Mark not to speak to the media about it.  On the other hand, I hope that this matter will be brought up again in a wider scope as the dust settles and Mark puts his life back together.  Neil Cavuto on Fox News will interview Mark today during his 1pm program.

[update 1100am]  Just received this forwarded email statement by Mark Meckler.

On December 15, 2011 at approximately 5:15 a.m., I was at LaGuardia International airport preparing to check in for a flight out of the city.  During a routine check-in, I requested a firearms declaration form from the ticket agent.  It was my intent to declare and check my unloaded firearm. 
 
I purchased this firearm legally, and I have a valid concealed carry permit for it issued in California.  The unloaded gun was locked inside a TSA-approved travel case, and the case was locked inside my checked luggage.  I carry the firearm for my personal safety, having received numerous threats due to my role in the Tea Party Patriots.  I have checked this firearm at airports dozens of times before, all across the country.

Ruminations - 10jan2012

George Rebane

Barry Pruett reports that Doug LaMalfa will run for retiring Wally Herger’s seat.  I never got to know Rep Herger, but I do know and am a long time supporter of Senator LaMalfa.  California’s legislature is a notorious socialist railroad where Republicans have had scant influence in stopping the economic and social destruction of our once Golden State.  Perhaps Doug can join Rep Tom McClintock in Congress and do more from there to fight the ongoing fundamental transformation.

AB32’s teeth have been tearing at the fabric of California’s economy and, as reported on NC2012, are about to take an even bigger bite.  I have to remind readers of the big progressive hullabaloo a couple of years ago (also documented on RR) about the coming glories of this oh-so green legislation.  The useful idiots of the time were touting that the ‘Global Warming Solutions Act’ would create an economic surge of jobs in the state guaranteed to cure everything from ozone pollution to the heartbreak of psoriasis.  As predicted by the state’s sane contingent, it has done nothing of the sort, and under the corrupt CARB continues to be a prime factor in driving business from the state.  Oh yes, have you noticed that someone from the state’s leftwing leadership has told the local loonies to cool it.  No sense in continuing to draw attention to yet another collectivist catastrophe.

We immigrated to California from Indiana in 1957.  It was there as a young Hoosier that I learned the meaning of labor, working as a farm laborer and then in an industrial machine shop.  In both workplaces my employer did not require me to join a union.  My labor was valuable because it was affordable.  This policy changed when Indiana became a forced-union state and began an economic slide as a result, now ranking 34th in business climate and 44th in labor ‘supply’ due to unionization.  Under Governor Mitch Daniels the state is trying to right itself this very day as Indiana again attempts to become the nation’s 23rd right-to-work state.  Democrat legislators have been delaying the vote on this legislation through mass sabbaticals to neighboring states in order to deny the legislature a quorum.  President Obama could revive our manufacturing industry and exports by leading the charge to make all of America a right-to-work country.  The chances of that happening give new meaning to ‘slim and none’.

Jeff Ackerman in today's Union speaks for many of us about the fire that took away the Humpty Dumpty (affectionately 'The Dump') restaurant.  Never thought I'd feel such a sudden hole in my sentiments about our community.  The Dump was one of few local places for meetings that required a hearty reliable lunch.  It was there where a group of us would gather after a morning handgun competition at The Range (loser buys).  It was a part of our lives that we want returned as quickly as possible.  And I hope that Grass Valley puts its reconstruction planning and permitting on a fast track, even if it has to come up with a brand new one in a city not always known for being builder friendly.