News items not only tell a story but they are often symbols of larger issues. Considering the following from recent new stories:
- CalTrans that incompetent beast of a bureaucracy is closing down the only unpaved highway in California. Remember back when the California Department of Highways actually built highways? No consideration was given to paving the road which has served as not only access to remote mountains but has a major evacuation route for San Bernardino Mountain residents. Not only is small beautiful in modern California but apparently primitive is better.
- The Japanese people do not loot. Shocking to Americans, people in Japan are not taking criminal advantage of their neighbors property. While here in California looting the public treasury is a prime recreational sport. In one week CalPERS has heard how their executives steered investment money to friends for kickbacks, San Bernardino County Sheriff deputies falsified time cards to gain pay raises for classes they did not take, and San Bernardino County welfare workers steered welfare money to themselves and friends. Shameful behavior all around but it makes one wonder how much of this looting is not caught.
- Governor Jerry Brown is apparently threatening to close state parks if taxes are not increased. This is wrong on so many levels. Taxpayers are not the ones responsible for the excessive growth in spending that burden belongs to the Governor and the Legislature. State park spending is also not the smoking gun of excessive spending that is education, welfare, medi-cal, and prisons. California is now the symbol of the modern welfare state and it is ugly. By the way if parks are the problem then lets privatize or sell them. I know local businesses that would buy the state park in their community or I would love to see Disney, Knott’s, Universal and others bid to make our state parks fun.
- Licensing boards are another symbol of how little the government stamp of approval really means. Trade and professional associations can and do achieve better standards than these boards. Do not rely on someone merely because they hold a state license. That is essentially a meaningless piece of paper. The state licensing boards are further embarrassed (or should be) by the scam of continuing education. They insist that licensees keep on learning even as they struggle to find classes that are useful. Trade schools do a aggressive job of trying to increase these mandates and thus their revenue. Recently, the California Nursing Board was punked by a public interest group who submitted a totally made up class of pseudo-science. Yep, the class was approved. These boards now spend most of the licensing fee revenue going after unlicensed practitioners and never considering if either the licensed or unlicensed are actually competent.