Spare Me Please

I have a unique perspective on the environment. I have seen things that would make most of you cringe. Walking to school in the first grade, I smelled nasty fumes from a chemical plant over 20 miles away which made me puke. I remember being in a car driving past a steel mill in the late 60's and my aunt having to turn the car lights on during the day as flakes of ash fell as a black snow. I saw salt water pumped out of oil and gas wells into creeks and rivers killing what few fish lived in them.

Later on I lived in the Four-Corners area and saw power plants in Arizona burning coal with no pollution equipment. This had the unexpected effect of providing the most beautiful sunsets I have ever seen. Finally, I settled in the golden state of CA and remember seeing the black dirty haze of smog as you flew over the mountains at San Bernadino on your way to LAX airport.

We have come a long way and things are much better then they used to be. I live in a small house that is very energy efficient and even have solar panels on my roof. I practice organic gardening and, for the most part, have driven economy cars. Am I trying to save the planet? No, I am just frugal and try to make choices based on common sense.

I want to run my own life. I like to set my thermostat where I am comfortable. That means the air conditioner at 68 and heat at 72 . I also love to BBQ and burn my charcoal grill at least one day a week for 9 months out the year. But now I have a problem. There is a governmental agency called the Bay Area Air Quality Management District and they have, for many years, established what are called "Spare the Air Days". The intent of these is to make people aware of high air pollution days. Theoretically upon the announcement of one of these days you are supposed to to take a rickshaw to work or better yet become hunter-gatherer vegans. To be honest, the announcement of these days to most of us has been a complete joke. Our lives proceed as normal as we go to work ,school and the doctor and we drive in our cars to do the mundane things that need doing.

But bureaucrats have one thing in common; they want power and when they get their way they enact regulations. These in turn become law. Now when there is a WINTER spare the air day, no fires are allowed. That means you, as a homeowner, can not burn a log in your fireplace . The smog police literally tour neighborhoods via car and helicopter looking for violators of the law. I have a problem with that. With the current economy many families are stretching their budget any way they can and I have no doubt that families are shivering in the cold.

You may say "Who was stupid enough to gave these regulators that kind of power?" All you have to do is look at the typical San Francisco Bay Area voter. They vote 85% Democrat of which 100% of those elected are liberal. The liberals in turn appoint people to commissions and governmental boards who share the view that "you are too ignorant to run your own affairs and the government most be brought in to protect you." Throw in the fantasies of the new modern Earth worship or "global warming" and you have a recipe for tyranny.

Spare Me From This Insanity

A Voice Crying In the Wilderness