California Burning! Repent!
OK, I admit it. I’ve been procrastinating writing this piece. Now I’m, ironically, getting around to it on Thanksgiving Day. I have a lot to be grateful for – life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. President Trump. This great country. The U. S. Constitution. But not liberals and their crazy policies. No, those can take away the pursuit of happiness, liberty and, yes, even, life.
Many, many people have died in recent California wildfires.
Yesterday lifesaving rain came to California after many days of drought. Due to ardent firefighting and the merciful rains, the fires in California are nearly contained. There were recently three major ones – the Camp Fire in Northern California and the Woolsey Fire and Hill Fire in the southern part of the state. Even though the fires are largely contained, the search for victims continues. Worry about mud slides and drinking water contamination are on our minds.
The fires began two weeks ago, about November 8, 2018. Acres and acres have burned and many people have lost their lives. For example, according to the official California State web site, the Camp Fire is 90% contained and has burned 153,336 acres. Over 80 people have been identified who died in the Camp Fire. With nearly 1000 listed as missing, the search continues for any remains that may be found in the ashes. The town of Paradise in Butte County in northern California was largely destroyed.
Uncharacteristic of me, I found myself binge-watching news about the fires. I live in the San Francisco Bay Area and, although we are some 180 miles southwest of Butte County, we suffered unhealthy air for 13 days. My throat was always dry and the sky was gray. We topped the world’s list of unhealthy air quality worldwide, even finding ourselves ranking above Beijing, China in poor air quality.
Of course, I watched the news when President Trump visited California. He met with outgoing governor Jerry Brown and newly-elected Gavin Newsom. Jerry Brown and the president shook hands. They were civil to each other. Governor Brown even seemed grateful for President Trump’s promise that the federal government would do all they could to help.
But, after a few days of this binge-watching, I began to wonder something. Was Jerry Brown even sorry about the fires? Admittedly, I wasn’t with him the entire time. There may have been something he said that I missed. But he didn’t seem to be sorry.
President Trump is no scientist. He was poor at explaining that he saw the need for better forest management. He compared California to Finland, which may not be the best comparison. He suggested we needed to rake the forest floors, which would be an impossible task, basically. Thinking about raking California’s forest floors is funny. So, of course, Donald Trump was ridiculed and teased for his comments. But the idea of forest management is sound. California used to manage its forest, cutting swaths of fire roads through forests and taking other precautionary measures.
I consider myself an environmentalist. But there are crazy environmentalists. They have California by the throat. California has been under the leadership of leftwing politicians, progressives and irrational environmentalists for years now and it’s definitely having its toll on our state. The sensible well-run state of Ronald Reagan is no more.
I blame the crazy leftists. But what did cause the fires? I am a teacher, so I decided to write down all the causes that people mentioned during my binge-watching days. I decided it would be educational to have the students reason through the accusations to determine what they thought. The blame went to forest mismanagement, Pacific Gas and Electric, careless people, winds, arsonists, global warming, air temperature, drought, environmentalists and beetles. The federal government was blamed because part of California’s forests are on federal land. California leaders were blamed for policies that lead to mis-management. Lots of finger-pointing was going on.
I even laughed at myself when I realized I could blame God for punishing California. I haven’t actually read about that blame theory, but I can’t be the only one thinking this story has Biblical scale.
I grew up in the same city as Jerry Brown. I was born in Sacramento. One day, years ago, when I was on a tour of the Governor’s Mansion with my students, I saw some antique toys Jerry and Maureen had played with when they lived there when their father, Pat Brown, was governor. Their toys were my toys. My mother had the same ones saved in her basement. Yes, Jerry and I had a lot in common. I even used to be a liberal. But, at some point in my life, I started to see through the progressive haze to the truth, and I converted to being a staunch and centered constitutional conservative. Whew! I found my way to conservative principles. I made it. But some of my fellow Californians have not. My husband never did. My children haven’t yet and, because I still live in California, I find I am more and more surrounded by the clueless. They have either been lied to or they lie to themselves. I have to just go along to get along. That’s actually why I have a blog. I have to have an outlet somewhere, or I’ll burst!
So, thanks for listening!
Jerry Brown never grew up. He just grew old. He still clings to the fantasies and myths of the liberal left.
So, I started to wonder what was really going on inside Jerry Brown’s mind. We’d had to put up with two terms of Pat brown (which weren’t good) and then two terms from the son Jerry and then, even though a law had been passed that a person could serve no more than two terms, Jerry Brown served another two! He announced that the law didn’t apply to him and I remember thinking that day that he was crowning himself. So, no, I haven’t been happy he was the governor. And it’s gone on and on and on. It’s finally at an end, but Gavin Newson is horrible, so (probably) here we go again.
Back to Jerry. What really makes him tick? I know he wants his highspeed rail even though it’s unaffordable and ridiculous. He probably thinks it’s some kind of legacy. I know he believes in global warming because he’s said so. So, let’s take a look at now. What is he saying now, in real fire time?
He seems smug as if to say, “I told you so.” Deadline Hollywood reported that Brown said we need to adjust to things the way they are and that we will be experiencing a “new abnormal.” Has he decided to settle for this extreme situation where towns burn and lives and homes are lost? What!? And he wants us to settle for that, too?
I found an article that talks about something Brown said last year. “Last year, as California residents were burned out of their towns, homes, neighborhoods . . . hospitals and businesses, Gov. Jerry Brown was jetting around the world spouting climate change propaganda . . . “(Grimes, paragraph 2). He then referred to massive wildfires as the new normal. Does Jerry Brown have the mindset of a pyromaniac? Is he predicting that California will burn and finding satisfaction in knowing he was right?
Most shocking to me was Jerry Brown said that in five years we’ll all believe in global warming.
Suddenly, I connected some dots in my own mind and my own life. Years and years ago my mother took me to see the movie Ben Hur. It was an amazing movie. I enjoyed it immensely. But when Mom picked me up outside the theater, she said something jarring. She said, “Now do you believe in God?”
Well, I did believe in God but not because of some Hollywood movie. What strange things had gone on in my mother’s mind to make her make such a statement? I knew she wasn’t smart. She could manage her life all right but, when it came to anything abstract, she was done. She had no idea what higher mathematics was all about or chemistry or anything that would take deep thinking or abstract reasoning.
I, on the other hand, am good at thinking about difficult things. I have degrees in mathematics and science. Math and science make sense to me.
Growing up with my mother, I knew she was kind of stupid. I had learned to accept it. I did my own thing.
But now Jerry Brown is asking us to believe in global warming. So, was Jerry Brown this same kind of stupid?
I think so.
I’ve taken the time over the last couple weeks to really focus on what comes out of our governor’s mouth.
It isn’t pretty.
And it’s pretty stupid.
So, seems Jerry Brown is ok with the concept of letting things burn. And, oh no, now we have Gavin Newsom. He may want to continue Brown’s leftwing lunacy.
Should I consider moving away from my home state? I never thought I wanted to before.
Wake up Californians. Even if you’re an immigrant, if you are voting, for Heaven’s sake educate yourselves and vote conservative. Even if you’re not voting, educate yourselves. Time is running out!
Save California from further destruction!
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References:
1. Grimes, Katy. CA Gov. Jerry Brown Vetoed 2016 Wildfire Management Bill While CA Burning
Bio and Archives — November 17, 2018 |American Politics, News, Opinion | https://canadafreepress.com/article/ca-gov.-jerry-brown-vetoed-2016-wildfire-management-bill-while-ca-burned retrieved on November 22, 2018.
2. Investors. California Gov. Jerry Brown Issues Another Bogus Global Warming Prediction
https://deadline.com/2018/11/california-governor-jerry-brown-donald-trump-woolsey-fire-camp-fire-hill-fire-southern-california-1202499873/ retrieved on Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, November 22, 2018.
3. Ramos, Dino-Ray. Deadline Hollywood.
https://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/california-wildfires-jerry-brown-climate-change/ retrieved on November 22, 2018.
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