Ruminations – 6sep16 (updated 10sep16)

George Rebane

Windpower works when energy markets are deregulated.  Texas continues to make news. “The roots of Texas’ renewables boom go back to 1999, when then-Gov. George W. Bush and a Republican-dominated legislature overhauled the Texas power market. The free market-oriented deregulation broke the grip of most monopoly utilities that controlled generation, transmission and retail sales of electricity and introduced competitive auctions for wholesale power.”  (more here)

China again snubs President Obama as it forces him to deplane from the utility exit on Air Force One as it arrives for the recent G-20 international conference on world economics.  Our president has become the most scorned and disrespected national leader in decades, a fact that is more and more difficult for the lamestream to cover up and deny.  National leaders from Russia, Turkey, Philippines, Iran, China, Great Britain, … have variously shown their disregard for our leadership and national interests as the true mettle of Obama became known over his terms in office.

If you want to persuade people, try ‘altercasting’ suggest modern psychologists and sociologists.  Altercasting is “a persuasion technique in which one person characterizes another as a certain type of person in order to encourage him or her to behave in a desired manner.”  In the modern manner, this new techniques was thought to have been developed recently.   Within a longer view altercasting people has been in constant practice since before biblical times, and since then it has been known by its more familiar name as bullshitting. (more here)

Education spending runs even more amuck if Obama has his way to rewrite law to increase federal control over education.  The US spends the most per pupil with absolutely dismal results – our bang per educational buck ranks last in the world among developed nations.  Part motivation for this is to make it more difficult to operate charter schools which continue to give union run schools a black eye.  And, of course, the whole thing is to do another end-run around Congress and the long established Title 1 funding in effect since 1970.  The details are bizarre. (here)

Nevada County government continues to gum up local development as reported by Ms Rachel Helm in the 3sep16 Union.  In her column (here) she takes us over the trail of tears she went through with the county to split her 10 acre parcel into two already zoned 5 acre parcels.  That little operation which should have taken less than a month actually took over two years and cost her over $43,000.  But the fun didn’t end there.  What the county then did to prospective buyers when she tried to sell it is another story that makes this saga worth a read, mostly because it gives us a look at what goes on with our Rood Center bureaucrats day in and day out.   “Is there any wonder that there’s a shortage of housing for buyers looking for a home in Nevada County that comes in under $500,000.”  Contrary to what our supervisors assure us about the ease of development in the county, the reality is quite different and we do it to ourselves.

[8sep16 update]  From investment pundit Bill Mauldin's current newsletter -

Thomas Jefferson once said, “I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical.” As a preview of next week’s letter, let me assert that current monetary policy is a tax on the middle class and retirees by unelected government officials. A relatively minor tax on tea was ostensibly the trigger for the American Revolution. Perhaps the Boomer generation should once again man the barricades, this time in protest of something really damaging to the future of the country.

[10sep16 update]  Blind to socialism.  Ever wonder why the Left does NOT wonder why socialism is such a disastrous form of governance wherever it is practiced, with the magnitude of delivered public pain corresponding directly to the scope and level of implemented socialist policies?  Beyond the historical examples now successfully kept from millenials’ education (‘capitalism is the cause of all the world’s ills’), we have the most recent examples of socialist disasters staring us in the face with Greece, Brazil, and Venezuela.  To that you could add Cuba since that island prison has again bloomed on the radar of public attention.  In the face of two centuries of damning evidence, the Left still insists on pursuing Mankind’s fulfillment down dark alleys seeking ever larger versions of the tentacled leviathan that can reach into every aspect of its citizens’ lives.  And to maintain this pursuit they need ever dumber constituencies to keep them in power.

Comments

[Gregory]

Regarding the Helm piece: That the Rude Center people extorted nearly 10K from a citizen to pay for a county road improvement many miles away before issuing a building permit was incredible. All fees paid by Helm in this extortion to should be refunded with interest.

[Walt]

The County is as crooked as the FED gov. Don't forget MY run-in with the County.... You know,, " You need a permit to replace one damned board",, and they are proud of that requirement.

[Bill Tozer]

Re: China again snubs President Obama:
Don't forget Israel. They cancelled the White House visit and let Obama know via the press reports.

http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2016/03/benjamin-netanyahu-obama-visit/472806/

China welcomes every world leader with a nice red carpet rolling stairway, a really really important top dog to greet the world leader, and the usual marching band or young singers. Not so with our Prez. He had to depart out of the belly of Air Force One and get greeted by some 5th tier bigwig wannabe. Oh, Obama waved to the non present lines of dignitaries, flashed a big smile, put a skip in his step, and pretended everything is cool. No Drama Obama looking good if you crop out the wide angles. To add insult to injury, there was a big important greeting over at another plane. As Obama waved from the vehicle he was in, he saw a lot of the back of people's heads. They didn't even turn to wave at our President. The action was over there where another world leader was departing.

http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2016/09/obama-snubbed-chinese-forced-exit-ass-air-force-one/

[Gregory]

Regarding charter schools giving "government run" schools a black eye, all the charters in Nevada County *are* government run and paid for, with arguably the best (Ghidotti) and the worst (hard to say which, there are so many) being charters. In the running for worst include Grass Valley Charter and Yuba River Charter elementaries, and all of the schools chartered by the County Orifice of Education.

And that best school, Ghidotti, should be shut down. Its existence has hollowed out the flagship comprehensive high school, Nevada Union, to the detriment to all the students there. It should, at the most, be a 'school within a school'.

[Don Bessee]

In the it was planned to fail category, 0 writes to the AMA that since everyone (ins. companies and citizens) is fleeing 0 care and its financial disaster shouldn't we just go to single payer? A bit of the truth from 0 on the way out the door. ;-)

[George Rebane]

DonB 854pm - Designed to fail, yes indeed. And Mrs Clinton will be just the one to bring us Obamacare's single-payer successor - it will be called Hillarycare, one more time with feeling.

[Patricia Smith]

I missed the Helm story but will go read it immediately. Housing shortages are a really big problem in Nevada County. The County is firmly against the "tiny house" movement that is sweeping the nation. These starter homes are perfect for young people, single people, and seniors looking to downsize.

And why are permits so expensive and come with so many strings attached? It sounds like the Helms have a case similar to the Visually Important Ridgeline case where the county placed undue restrictions on their property before they would issue them a building permit.

And no matter your feelings on MMJ, a $500/per day per plant fine is excessive and I believe it will be challenged in court sooner or later.

[Don Bessee]

I believe it will be challenged in court sooner or later.' Are we to be surprised and should we expect any different outcome Pattie?