POST SCRIPTS

Lordy. Conservatism in the raw, we got here. No thought for the future. No willingness to put yourselves out, to give the matter some thought, even. You is just gonna plant your big butts behind the wheel, and you ain't gonna budge. How cute.

And disappointing ... because Chico, on account of it's climate and geography, has got an opportunity to make itself a sterling example of some progressive (shudder), real progressive (cringe), efforts to curb CO2 emissions. You know what's happened to your air quality just in the last twenty years. You want to dig your heels in for another twenty, so it can be three times as bad. Come on! Up off the butts! You really do have to!

The council members that voted against it, only did so because they wanted clarification on what exactly was in this proposal that potentially could obligate the city. Nobody was given a fair opportunity to review this or hear an opposing view. It was just rushed through, without the normal courtesy of a fair and open discussion.'

That's number 1. my dear Libby. Kinda nice to know that stuff isn't it? We might be all for it or then again we might not, but then we never really got a chance to find out because 4 liberal bullies forced the issue and won by 1 vote.

Number 2 reason - is a few years and you may remember this, t'was around election time and several Northern California cities, including Chico, got caught up in voting on partisan things that really had nothing to do with (non-partisan) City business. It was just a case of political grandstanding for personal gain and using the system for cheap publicity...like banning nuclear bombs in the city limits or voting against capital punishment or impeaching George Bush for war crimes.

Does any of this sound remotely familiar?

Well, it should, because the Chico City Council said something to the effect, "Dear Citizens and esteemed Council members, let us rise above all this pettiness and pass a resolution that henceforth the great City of Chico shall entertain no proposal, proposition or obligation of law, that exceeds the statutory limits of it's municipal authority. This shall also mean that no eleventh hour legislation shall be introduced that is of a highly partisan political nature, lest we be accused of trying to influence an election and thereby bring discredit upon ourselves!" And so they voted and approved by unanimous decision that it was for the good of the city no such activities should ever again occur....except they did occur, when some screwballs brought up a global warming agreement before the council and the liberals pressed it through without even knowing what it was all about...without even giving it a fair and open hearing and for those that may have been opposed for good cause to present their side. Nay, they just rammed it down our throats and said, tough - you lose. How rude!

I'm really glad you asked so I could add this important part of the discussion.

Nothing like a Bay Area Progressive schooling us poor country folk on the way to govern a city. After all look at the wonderful metropolis San Fran and Oakland are. I mean who wouldnt want to pull up stakes in our little conservative enclave and move right away to the golden streets of San Francisco.

Oh by the way, property values have gone up so steddily in the last five years that Chico was rated by the Wall Street Journal as the #1 most over valued real estate market in the country.

Why is it so "overvalued" well it seems that Chico doesnt have the industry to support inflated house prices. So how then did prices go up so much? Well it seems people from the Bay Area were selling their homes for a huge profit and moving away from the Progressive Mecca of the Bay Area!!!

And now that some of them have safely arrived they are all ready to tell us how we can turn Chico into the safe, secure, friendly, enviornmentally conciense place that San Fran and Oakland are!

Yeah.....I guess.

Hey but before we get all ahead of ourseves with green house gas emmissions that are set to ruin the world long after our great grand children are dead, maybe us poor uneducated hicks could show you guys how to simply pick up all the trash you guys seem to not be able to get off yor streets. And how to not have an excessivly high murder rate, or how about how not to waste city funds on providning vagrants with their very own shopping carts.

Jack: "... like banning nuclear bombs in the city limits or voting against capital punishment or impeaching George Bush for war crimes."

San Francisco North !! Any minute ... just you wait! (How do you spell a maniacal cackle?)

But seriously. It's just not arguable anymore: we're making a mess. And if we don't knock it off, large portions of the planet are going to become uninhabitable. And really all this multiple-munincipality-credo says is: "we commit ourselves to solving this problem." The discussion would be: "how are we going to do this." And there's lot's of time for that ... for persuading you that ... you're just going to have to get out of that car. Bummer.

Whoa, Nick's taking us off in six different directions, but they're all very interesting directions, opportunities for forward thinking.

What are you going to do with all those Bay Area retirees, when they get really old, and need really expensive attention, and you don't have either the youngsters or the economic intrastructure to support them? This is a big deal. Remember when that consultant guy was up there making his presentation about how "entitlements" constituted ... what was it? ... the fourth largest "industry" in Butte County. Scary. Especially if the Repugs are ever successful in demolishing this structure of entitlements, which could actually implode all by itself long before the Repugs are successful. Scary shit.

And I am shocked to find you have so little empathy for your Great-great-great-great-great-great grandchildren. Just goes to show how forward thinking the average conservative really is, that's what.

And Chico is gleaning more of vagrants and garbage than it has seen in the whole of it's history, I'll bet. Why do you suppose that is? (You better shut down the Jesus Center, or you're going to have a Mecca of your own.) Vagrants eat better in San Francisco, but there's a limit to how many even we can support. Where do they all come from?

Well if you look at the looming budget deficit for the City of Chico, its not likely there will be much funding available to pull any of this Global Warming initiative off anyway.

The City has started spending more than it takes in with tax revenue. Take the City Park Plaza overrun for example. For the whole City budget, there is a 1.5 million deficit for the budget year 2006/2007, and if revenue projections hold, that deficit may balloon over the next ten years for a net loss of 40-50 million.

Irregardless of whether you think this Global Warming initiative idea is a good one or not, the one immutable fact is that deficit spending in local government eventually creates a day of reckoning.

Living beyond your means to fund dreams, eventually causes nightmares, no matter what side of the political bed you wake up on.

We should elect people that get their financial house in order first. Lets hope that whomever gets elected on November 7th doesn't resort to creating new taxes as a way to correct past financial mistakes.

Jack, This is typical of the left...full of symbolism and "democracy" by elitist fiat:

Under the Agreement, participating cities commit to take following three actions:
• Strive to meet or beat the Kyoto Protocol targets in their own communities, through actions ranging from anti-sprawl land-use policies to urban forest restoration projects to public information campaigns;
• Urge their state governments, and the federal government, to enact policies and programs to meet or beat the greenhouse gas emission reduction target suggested for the United States in the Kyoto Protocol -- 7% reduction from 1990 levels by 2012; and
• Urge the U.S. Congress to pass the bipartisan greenhouse gas reduction legislation, which would establish a national emission trading system

Striving, enacting and urging...whoop D dooooo! That's the "symbolism" of the left. They go on to list things that ordinary human beings and business are already doing! Wow, I'm sure it "felt" really good... like they were actually doing something to "make a difference" to the environment.

It will be individual and corporate money, innovation and research that solves whatever problems there are. It would be nice if it could be based on solid research and findings rather than merely emotional hype and political posturing and forced legislation and policy.

The people of Chico have not been served by pushing this through and the unintended consequences will flow like "fruits from a jar"...

Do the words eminent domain ring in anyone else's ear? But these folks aren't about undermining the Constitution or anything.

Libby, I was present at the beginning of the "sustainable future" movement. Let that swirl in your brain for a nano or two.

The left is very good at calling attention to problems and concerns, I'll give them that. Trouble is they have no trust or faith in others. They have no idea how things get done. They are not equiped to solve problems and for these reasons and more they always go too far and they always look to government to FORCE the issue. This amounts to fascism and results in slavery and oppression. But they are so busy being important and "making a difference" and feeling superior that they don't see the distruction in their methods. When pertinent and reasonable questions and ojections are raised they say something like, " Conservatism in the raw, we got here. No thought for the future. No willingness to put yourselves out, to give the matter some thought, even. You is just gonna plant your big butts behind the wheel, and you ain't gonna budge. How cute." Intelligent!

And by the way, that "National emmisions trading system" is an international tax system...if you think the recent gas prices were ridiculous just wait, you ain't seen nothin' yet.

Great post, Jack

I am soooooo moved by all the steps YOU have taken to provide for the well being of our posterity Libby, truly, you are a saint...oops...sorry, what is a secular title you would find more appropriate.

Tina: "Trouble is they have no trust or faith in others. They have no idea how things get done. They are not equiped to solve problems and for these reasons and more they always go too far and they always look to government to FORCE the issue. This amounts to fascism and results in slavery and oppression."

And is this anything other than "bashing" the other side. I at least offered a suggestion: "get your butts out from behind the wheel." Something that the climate and geography in Chico make possible on a grand scale. But you won't even consider it. City planning for the last 20 years, and the rutted workings of your brain make the very idea out to be "oppression and slavery." Don't you think this is a little silly.

Come on. Three miles to the market and three miles back, on your feet, would it kill you? You'd have to slow the pace of your life one hell of a lot, but how would that be bad? Don't worry. For now, all you have to do is think about it. And don't get the 16-year-old a car. The 16-year-old doesn't need a car.

Nick: "I am soooooo moved by all the steps YOU have taken to provide for the well being of our posterity Libby, truly, you are a saint...oops...sorry, what is a secular title you would find more appropriate."

Hey, $100 a year to Planned Parenthood. We all do what we can.

I know I'm a meany, but you shouldn't leave yerself open like that. Cause, I mean, you did say it. And the whole point of California's new CO2 Initiative is NOT to make YOU happy and prosperous, but to see to it that your g,g,g,g,g,g-children don't have to live on a steamy, polluted, soup of a planet. I thought conservatives were supposed to be real big on frugal self-sacrifice?

Libby, "And is this anything other than "bashing" the other side. I at least offered a suggestion: 'get your butts out from behind the wheel.'"

Thank you for proving my point. People have very good reason's for not getting their butts from behind the wheel, as you so eloquently put it. The unintended consequence of your suggestion, taken to it's logical conclusion and should you be able to wave your magic wand, would be a total colapse of the economy. Thankfully we don't have to indulge in knee jerk solutions unless we choose to and/or are willing and able to.

I have already survived the "ice age" that was predicted way back when I was in my teens. I have also survived the population explosion that was predicted as well. 1984 even passed me by without Big Brother, at least to the horrifying degree it was portended to be. There are hundreds, possibly thousands, of "disasters" that never happened either because the "scientists" were touting "theories" as fact (often for bucks) or because circumstances have changed or, praise the Lord, because human beings are resourceful, curious, inventive and willing to invest in the future. Some, the "rich" ones, realize we have time enough to do the R & D needed to ensure that we actually solve the problem instead of wasting dollars on feel good bandaids and bric-a-brac...and they will take the risk when the research is sound.

People needed power and water and we built damns, they needed a way to travel faster across this vast land and we built the railroad. People were curious about space and we found a way to go there.

The LIE that conservatives aren't interested in a "sustainable future" is being perpetrated by political operatives, candidates, and zealots who believe they know so much they are unwilling to hear or dialogue reasonably or to engage in discussion and investigation that would include the real concerns and considerations that conservatives have. It's called "being right" and it is one of the main "roots" of divisiveness that plagues the nation.

"City planning for the last 20 years, and the rutted workings of your brain make the very idea out to be "oppression and slavery." Don't you think this is a little silly."

I don't know what city planning has to do with the rest of what you said but as to the rest...

I have observed the leftist global warming zealots for a number of years. The very action of the members of the city council in question demonstrates a dishonest and possibly underhanded approach that suggests distrust in the process and that shows unwillingness to consider other options, opinions and thoughts. It also seeks to undermine the process of this democratic republic we on the right have come to treasure....and for just this reason. I didn't make "the idea" out to be oppressive...I suggested that forcing (same root as enforcement) this idea through the city council was somewhat fascist and that does lead to oppression and slavery.

Bottom line...you don't believe that we can and will find solutions, whatever the real problems are, and I do...we all want the future to be bright, we all want "the world to work for everyone". As long as you on the left won't get that there really isn't any point in discussing it. But don't worry people are solving the problems even as we blog and they don't require pieces of paper that urge them to do it. They will do it for purely selfish reasons and because they care, they will do it because they are interested and curious...I've come full circle.

Wow, Libby is seems real concerned with our great, great, great, great grandchildren. And if you dont agree with the policys she supports, that means you want your kids to live in a polluted wasteland. Why is it, that if you dont agree with liberal policys, it is because you are an evil, heartless person?

Maybe, just maybe, I simply dont feel your solution for our future is what is best for my g,g,g,g grandchildren. I know thats completely presumptious of me, but hey, its worked for me in the past, so I guess Ill just take my own council when it comes to policy implementation.

Tina: "I don't know what city planning has to do with the rest of what you said but as to the rest..."

How can you not? Chico is infinitely more hostile to bicycle and pedestrian traffic than it was twenty years ago. It's a hardy soul who takes their bike over the 20th Street overpass. All the development east, west and north: are they putting in sidewalks, bike lanes? They are not.

Tina: "Thankfully we don't have to indulge in knee jerk solutions unless we choose to and/or are willing and able to."

Or: "Let somebody else fix it. I will not put myself out." And I'm gonna have to use that "s" word again, if you can't restrain yerself.

And as to the doom and gloom, nobody's saying we're going to be inundated tomorrow, but the ice is melting, very, very quickly. You can go see the pictures yourself.

Tina: "Bottom line...you don't believe that we can and will find solutions, whatever the real problems are, and I do..."

But Tina, you're turning your future over to whom? The government? General Electric? General Motors? They will make a magic bullet that will absolve you from personal responsibility? Tsk. We already know that General Motors won't make anything that doesn't turn them a buck in the next fiscal quarter. I'd look somewhere else for the savior.

Libby, it may please you to know that when gas price went over $2 a gallon the last time, I decided to fight back! So I did the following:

1. I tuned up my Mt. bike, it's great for rides in the park and to downtown for coffee at Starbucks. I have a home next to upper park so this works out really well. I have no problem riding my bike anywhere in Chico. Really bike friendly place I think, least compared to some other towns around here.

2. My 16 mpg -------- car went into the garage except for a few special occasions and now I mostly drive a Honda Civic. I altered the Honda slightly and now it gets 40 mpg hwy. That's about what my Harley gets! lol I love that little car and I didn't feel like I was sacrificing anything to drive it. Its all I need, save for the truck and that's almost exclusively for farm stuff now.

3. Bought a new energy efficient fridge, my old one was sucking up kilowatts like crazy. In the long run this fridge will pay for itself or says the salesman.

4. Ok, I have dual pane windows throughout my house and I upgraded the weather stripping on all doors. The sliding glass doors going out back are doubled. So, you have to open two doors to go in or out, but its great for insulation.

5. Heat and AC is a newer model...and about as efficient as anything else out here now.

6. My wood heat stove is super efficient. And even though my vaulted ceiling is 23 feet high in the entry and living room, it warms the whole house on the coldest winter nights. I also installed Hunter brand ceiling fan (oh, they are really good too). That big fan is super quiet and draws very little electricity.

7. TV's are all up dated to energy efficient models. Cut my electrical draw by 50% over older models.

8. Construction of this place was fairly modern so insulation was really pretty good. Didn't have to add any.

9. 90% of my lights are now fluorescent. Waiting for the last couple of bulbs to go out on the patio and then I have fluorescent replacements. Hardly ever use the patio anyway.

I used infra-red photography to detect heat leaks in winter a few years ago (Ever see that done? Pretty cool, shows up escaping heat from doors, windows, etc.) House was pretty darn efficient. PGE had no more suggestions for me, they said I did all that I could.

Now consider, I'm a rabid right-winger and I did all this on my own without a government Nanny telling me I had too. I just wanted to feel as though I am not consuming anymore than my fair share, oh and because I'm a cheapskate! This all saved me a ton of money....I felt it was very Republican of me to save my money too. Now if I could only get government to be as thrifty! lol

Libby made a comment thatI think is important to note.

She equated passing legistlation with taking "personal responsibility". Now I do agree with this to some degree. It is a personal responsibility to get out there and vote. But by the same degree voting is not the sole way to take responsibility for what you believe in. UNless your a democrat.

Their is a major difference between how Liberals and Conservatives think problems should be solved. Conservatives gennerally assosiate personal responsibility with action. Which is to say, that if you think hunger is aproblem in your area, than maybe YOU should volunteer at a soup kitchen, or maybe YOU should donate to that soup kitchen. Liberals seem to think that if there is a problem with hunger in their community that GOVERNMENT should take responsibility. GOVERNMENT should tax...the "rich"...to take care of the problems that liberals uncover.

And this logic works for a variety of issues. If a conservative thinks there is an issue with global warming, then they might see buying a more fuel efficent car or invest in an alternate fuel source company as the solution. A liberal will almost always feel that someone else should be put out to fund their policy objectives.

Now this is by no means a hard and fast rule. But it is something I have noticed about positions I commonly observe between the different political ideologies.

Touqville once said to the effect that one of the things that made America function better than Europe, was that when you came across a problem in Europe, if there was a solution for it, it was governmental in nature. But in America communities would bind together and form civil organoizations to address the problem. As a result the problems were handeled more efficently and the communities were stronger.

Now granted there are some problems which should be handled by the federal government, but thankfuly we have a Constitution which lays out what those things are. I think we have strayed a great deal from Touqville's observation to our discredit. And it seem to me that as long as people are willing to let the government take care of all problems, no matter how small, we will continue to see a demise in communities solving their own problems through civil organizations, clubs, etc, and a general demise of the true meaning of "personal responsibility".

Libby, See Nick's excellent post as an answer to most of what you said to me...all except this one:

Chico is infinitely more hostile to bicycle and pedestrian traffic than it was twenty years ago.

There is a very expensive street light on East Avenue just past White as you travel East. It was placed there, I am told, so bicyclists and joggers could safely cross the busy road. Interestingly, it is also too close to the light at Pillsbury according to the rules that govern such things, and still, the foot traffic and bikes got special treatment. Now I understand the Mom's out there that wanted to protect the kids but you can't tell me that Chico has been hostile to bicyclists. The thing that strikes me as interesting is the total disregard that joggers and bicyclist have for the situation. Traffic snarls and accident potential goes up just to save these folks from traveling an extra 20-40 feet to cross at the Pillsbury light. The city could have put up railing barriers to encourage the kids to cross at Pillsbury and the savings to the city would have been more than substantial.

Conservatives are willing to work with anyone about any problem when reason rules the day. But selfishly superior attitudes that leave little room for the concerns and needs of others will usually result in cold indifference. Your side is always touting itself as the sensitive group...could have fooled me.

And this: We already know that General Motors won't make anything that doesn't turn them a buck in the next fiscal quarter.

You think they can pay their employees with promises? Demand will bring us products that work...I believe we can, and will, solve the problemsand you don't. We will solve them with or without your whining...without government intervention and in spite of all the silly hatred, bigotry and lambasting by you sensitive types..

I'm very proud of you, Jack. But you have to remember that you are not in the majority. Enlightened self-interest only works if you've got an enlightened self to take interest in.