Touring CA in a near depression - part 2

The second installment post of my recent 7 day CA road trip starts at Tioga Pass eastern entrance to Yosemite Park. Please see previous post for trip introduction and background.

I payed the $20 entrance fee at Yosemite entrance station and proceed down Tioga Pass Road. It was late in day and as i was trarveling without a reserved camping permit on a busy labor day weekend i needed to find an available campsite before dark. So i quickly passed thru Yosemite Park late in the afternoon. After a long descent down route 120 I lucked out and found a rarely used National Forest campsite. Poor, flat and dusty but available. So bad is was I decided not to even pitch my tent but set up a tarp cover over my pickup truck bed to make a sheltered sleeping spot . Drank lots of liquor to sleep quick and forget i was on that poor site. Up early and got out quick. It is Sunday Sept 4 mid-labor day weekend. Continued along route 120 and passed thru Groveland, a picturesque mt community which appeared to be one of the few CA Mt villages riding along ok in the CA great depression 2

Right after passing thru Groveland i got onto route 49 and went north thru the fabled CA gold rush country. There are lots of CA historical markers dotting the countryside- stone basilisks with a bronze plaque description of some historical event at a nearby site/ place of interest. Passed thru Chinese Camp and got to Sonora. Stopped to chomp down on a Carls Jr burger ( i had a discount coupon), then went to pick up supplies at a nearby Sonora discount mart. Surprized that Sonora population was almost entirely Caucasian.

Rushed thru at a rapid pace thru an area of California rich with historic gold rush sites but i had to go quick as i had only a week to do my trip and was only 1/3 way thru the journey which i had to finish on Sept 7.
Went into Columbia State Historic Park, which had a re-creation of a gold rush town/old west village. Good crowd activity here as it was Sunday on a labor day holiday weekend but mostly locals. There was evidence of poverty as i was passing thru here ; closed/shuttered shops, idle teens, yard sales, and foreclosed properties. No surprise as unemployment rates in Tuolumne & Calveras Counties are 13.5 % and 17.3 % respectively.

Went on to small, tidy Angels Camp, which appears kept up despite my seeing few tourists. Not much historical stuff to see here and town too gentrified so i got some info from the local tourst center/ rest stop and went returned back along 49 route in late afternoon.

It is Sunday September 4 late in the afternoon and i am passing thru sparsely populated Sierra foothill open oak woodland/grassland areas. Very empty of travelers. Stopped briefly at the route 49 hwy bridge span over an arm of the Don Pedro Reservoir. Lots of dammed up rivers and backed-up reservoir lakes in this part of CA, a feature alien to my Southern California/ Los Angeles experence

Passed thru tiny mountain community of Coulterville, which was decked out in full labor day regalia, complete with flags and bunting, but was completely empty of tourists. Even the locals at the old west style saloon looked bewildered when i passed thru.

Arrived at an undistinguished little campsite sited along an arm of Lake Mcclure, in the Bagby Recreation Area. I was lucky to find last worst available campsite( notorious site 18). Horrible privacy and little space but no matter. All i needed was a picnic bench table and space for a single vehicle so i snatched it. Talked that evening with a friendly neighboring camper about bad state of CA(in both senses).
After a few drinks i slept well, woke up early and got out quick from that forgettable site 18 and that dismal barren lake, which was geared toward large RV's and power boat lake recreationists.

Drove thru some fine oak/grassland rolling foothill country(California's version of the African Savanna without the wildlife). Passed thru Bear Valley, which had signs of great recession deterioration with abandoned properties galore before reaching Mariposa. Stopped at Mariposa visitor center at intersection of hwy 49 and hwy 140, which issues direct from Yosemite Valley and heads southwest, passing thru Mariposa. Very few tourists and day trippers at this main city junction on a Monday Sept 5, offical labor day. Maybe because Mariposa offers little worth seeing.

Leaving Mariposa I headed south/southeast-bound along route 49, passing thru deteriorated foreclosure-racked tiny mountain communities like Nipinnawasee and Ahwahnee before arriving at the built-up, suburbanized mountain community of Oakhurst. This southern gateway into Yosemite appears to have collected every major CA fast food franchise, and here was the first sign of heavy latino presence in a CA foothill/ mountain community. I stopped at a nearly empty Carls Jr. Like Marioposa, Oakhurst was virtually without tourists on a Monday the 5th, labor day. Saw only one at Carls - a couple pulling a powerboat thru the parking lot. Leaving Oakhurst i headed southbound along route 41. I passed thru Coarsegold, which was absolutely bustling and bursting from RE runup back in 2006 when i last passed thru there. Now it was less crowded and only activity was a town farmers flea market, which looked only half full on Sept 5th, labor day.


This completes the second installment of my CA trip log. I am now heading south along CA hwy route 41 on way to Fresno. It is Monday Sept 5th midday, temps are over 100% , and I am entering the CA Central Valley farmbelt.

Touring California in midst of a severe economic collapse

Intro to my California travelog,

This is first installment post of my recent week-long car camping trip thru some of best wild remote sections of California(CA). It basically circles the Sierra Mountain range, which i have hiked, camped, and backpacked since the late 80's. I wanted to do this trip to find out how the four-year deep recession has affected CA Auto and recreational vehicle touring during the year 2011 labor day holiday, and because it is my first excursion into Sierras since late 2007. I have been quite devastated by this recession as has a lot of CA folks, which has kept me from my beloved Sierras. In late 80's and all 90's during better times I did a lot of long CA road trips, hiking trips, desert trips, and long backpack trips all over south half of State, usually in remote desert and mountain areas. Have camped all over California State Parks, USA National Forest and Park areas. Did 7 long backpacks into remotest areas of hi-sierras.
I Managed to scrounge up a bit of money to do this trip, as i expect California/USA economy will worsen and i may not do this again for a long time. I went on the cheap, staying at $20 per nite Nat Forest/ Nat Park campsites entire time, and cooked all my meals. My total outlay was under $500, a miserly sum for a week long 1200 mile trip. Surprised that gas prices were constant $4 per gallon in every part of state and even deep in mountains, which kept my gas budget reasonable. Basically I threw all my camping stuff into my Tacoma ex-cab pickup and took off, a regular habit of mine. My 2002 Tacoma, with 184,000 miles on it, performed superbly without a glitch, a tribute to Japanese engineering and dedicated auto craftsmanship.

Now to the post:

I start my trip log from Lancaster on Thursday Sept 1. Not much to see in this forlorn outlier LA County hi-desert community so i got gas and quickly left. lots of inner LA Ghetto expats here in the CA hi-desert. Went on to Mohave, which appeared rather deserted late afternoon. Quickly passed thru this gritty tiny hi-desert railroad junction & crossroads connecting 58 and 14 hi-ways. Very few travelers on the road.


After a 1.5 hour long lonely drive thru mostly barren rocky CA desert I reached Lone Pine, passing thru numerous isolated desert roadstops/townships with lots of abandoned shuttered bldgs and shuttered businesses in such desolate map dots as Haiwee, Olancha, Cartago. ect. Lone Pine, the gateway into Eastern Sierra and Mt Whitney, seems in any economic climate to be always functioning. It is my 20th trip thru here. Still small and charming and has outstanding views of Mt Whitney and Eastern Sierra Wall. Camped in Lone Pine Campsite a bit up the slope at 6500 elevation. Campsite sited along a tree-lined stream gushing from the sierras, a tiny green pleasant seam amidst a desolate rocky/sagebrush-scattered desertscape.


Got an unreserved site Thursday Sept 1st and camped for the night. Woke up on Friday, Sept 2nd and decided to stay for a 2nd nite here. First day of Labor Day holiday weekend and half of reserved sites were no- shows. After Friday sleepover i awoke on Saturday Sept 3. Continued north along route 395 thru Owens River Valley. Few travelers on road the second day of labor day weekend. In fact i saw very few travelers period in this majestic east sierra vacation playground. Perhaps $4.00 gas prices and near-great depression level CA unemployment cut the flow of travelers. Got to motel/lodge-overrun Bishop, which normally is packed with tourists, backpackers, RV'ers, campers, fisherman, but was errily quiet as i passed thru Sat mid-morning smack in middle of labor day weekend. Continued on route 395 northbound, bypassing built-up condo-crazy Mammoth lakes area and continued on thru magnificent long Valley, which is the site of a long extinct supervolcano eruption/caldera collapse. Passed by Toms Place where there was a classic car show. Toms Place a very popular stopover and entry point for hikers and backpackers bound for Rock Creek and the sierra back country via Mono Pass. Did not see a whole lot of of folks heading up to Rock Creek today however.


Went on to June lakes loop and stopped at June lake, the main showcase lake along loop. It is a large roadside-accessible hi-sierra lake with a stunning mountain backdrop and a very swimmable beach. There was a light to medium crowd at the lake and most visitors appeared to be local day trippers. After a nice refreshing swim i continued around loop and got to Silver Lake. Another fabulous road-accessible sierra mt lake. There was a dedicated group of kayakers on the water and made me regret not packing my own 10-ft mini-kayak. I needed to save weight to reduce gas consumption but maybe it was unwise to leave the yak. It would have been an entire new experience to kayak a hi-mountain lake. Silver lake is a nice small gem of a lake. I have been to 200 plus remote hi-country sierra lakes on my numerous backpack trips but haven't visited a pine tree enveloped deep blue hi-sierra mountain lake in some time. Noticed that there were numerous lakeside lodges here but all of them had vacancy signs, a key indication of CA economic collapse. On this entire loop i saw few travelers, only a bit of activity at aformentioned June Lake swim beach. Last lake on loop was Grant Lake, completely barren.

left June Lakes loop and got back on and continued along route 395. Stopped at Tioga Gas Mart, a renowned popular stopover on way over Tioga Pass . After a brief rest I continued on over route 120, the Tioga Pass Road, which climbs up and over the 400- mile long Sierra Mountains at its mid-section. After a short distance along road i paid my $20 Yosemite Park entrance fee and 7-day park pass. Route 120 is the best way to see the real hi-sierra backcountry via auto touring as it ascends to 10,000 ft and skirts some fine hi-sierra lakes and meadows. I stopped at Lembert Dome, a road-assessible granite monolith towering 800 ft above the road. The dome base and parking area was jammed with cars, visitors, tourists, and would-be dome climbers. It was the first really big labor day holiday crowd i saw in the mountains since i left LA.

Too bad i was not going to use my Yosemite 7-day pass. I needed to find an unreserved campsite way outside the park because all park sites would be reserved and filled during this last holiday weekend of summer. I had to drive clear out of park to get an available campsite and the day was getting late so i left Yosemite for good. Anyway Yosemite Park is not my favorite place to be during labor day holiday weekend , when the showcase Yosemite Valley would be packed wall-to-wall with camera-clicking casual tourists. Even in a deep recession brand name world-renown parks like Yosemite, Yellowstone, and Grand Canyon always get the crowds. They are too much like Disneyland for my remote wilderness-craving sensibilities.

This completes the first part of my CA trip log, which will likely encompass 4 or 5 blog postings. I Am about 1/4 way thru my CA trip. Notes: from Lancaster all way to Yosemite Park entrance i saw few road travelers and virtually no large recreational vehicles in the somewhat remote Eastern Sierra Region. The four year long USA great recession/near depression, CA 20-25% REAL unemployment rate ,and near $4 per gallon gas prices all summer appeared to have reduced CA road travel significantly. Saw many abandoned roadside bldgs,shuttered businesses & hollowed-out gas station marts in isolated settlements along route 395, especially between Mohave and Lone Pine.

Proposal for CA high speed rail flawed - why?

California does not need high speed rail. It is simply a big MASSIVE FED/ STATE Spending boondoogle which may temporarily put to work 10,000-20,000 highly paid union construction workers( most of the work will be done by digging/other earth mover equipment). After that rail system is completed and the jobs are drastically reduced, say the proposed line from LA to San Francisco, there will not be much demand for the service at normal free-market rail rates.
There is not much demand in CA for rail service anywhere in CA. Amtrak trains are little-used in CA, as is the Greyhound buses. CA folks are wedded to their cars and simply will not take the time, planning, and effort to take a bus or their autos to the rail station at union station in LA, have the cars kept there in a paid garage or fee parking lot, and hop on a train to Frisco. Unless it is deeply discounted at gov-subsidized rates. Therefore if the public is only beguiled into taking these high speed trains by subsided cheap rates then these rails will end up being public financial disasters and money-losing drains upon the taxpayers.
I know for a fact that the money-losing heavily subsidized Amtrak railways are rarely used here in LA/SoCal due to folks here being addicted to their cars. I have only used Amtrak 2-3 times in my 45 years here in los Angeles. Why? I like my auto as it is quick, convenient, and as long as gas is priced at under 3.00-3.50/gal it is reasonably priced transport to go anywhere in CA.
Only if gas prices shoot up to $4-5.00/gal, and even approach the rates paid by Europeans, and stay there for a long time you may see a dramatic shift in demand for Local, regional, and interstate rail service. LA has a halfway-decent network Of CITY METRO RAIL BUT MOST FOLK DO NOT USE THEM. THEY ARE ONLY USED BY POOR INNER CITY PPL/RECENT IMMIGRANTS, TEENS, AND BY A VERY FEW MIDDLE CLASS COMMUTERS. I live a 20 minite walk from the blue line metro station(long Beach to DTWN Los Angeles) but have only used it 10 times in my life(5 of those times my truck was in the shop).

I simply prefer the ease and convenience of getting into my pickup and swiftly traveling anywhere in SoCal, using the famous(and often jammed) SoCal freeway arteries, and being able to go directly to my destination. And i am not alone. Every SoCal household has 2-4 autos, perhaps one for every family member, and this fact means that CA rail service, at least from a SoCAL standpoint, will never be popular.

Beach parking lot being given back to the ocean in Ventura | L.A. NOW | Los Angeles Times

Beach parking lot being given back to the ocean in Ventura | L.A. NOW | Los Angeles Times

I am responding to an article posted in LA Times Sunday on the Pacific Ocean inundating/taking back beach/shoreline structures in the coastal city of Ventura, located 50 miles NW of LA. The writer is using this article to shill for the global warming alarmists/rising sea calamity doomsayers, which despite the collapse of the 'CAGW is all due to man-caused CO2 levels in the air calamity theory' are still out in force purveying their psuedo-science fallacies of the imminent global inundation of our cities by a 100 ft '2012/day after tomorrow' horrifying tsunami wall of water inundating New York & los Angeles:

Here's the problem. Folks in CA insist upon building parking structures, bikepaths, homes, highways right at waters edge. Highway 1/ PCH often winds along the coast at stones throw of CA coastal beaches/rocky headlands. Why? Because CA PPL want to enjoy California's world famous beaches/coastal scenic vistas from the vantage point of their cars, a lazy way to see the coasts. Same with building highways thru wilderness park/forests/ mt areas. It is for the PPL to tour the mts the lazy way, from their autos.
If natures erodes or washes away streets and other shoreside infrastructures built so close to the shoreline that is man's fault. Do not blame it on global warming/ rising sea level or other pseudo-science BS. Maybe we need to let the ocean take back the CA shore, bit by bit. If private multi-million $ beach /bluffside homes are threatened that is their problem: they will either protect their precious parcels with sand berms/seawalls/sandbags, or give up their parcels to the sea and nature.

The picture you see of deteriorated Ventura shoreside public infrastructures is partly due to the BK-broke status of CA state & municipal gov'ts. It takes huge amts of public $/public funding to shore up/maintain seaside recreational structures such as public parking, seawalls, piers, roads, ect. I see parts of Alamitos bay & belmont shore - Long beach's aquatic watersports/boating mecca- being eroded & neglected due in part to the dire fiscal straights of the Local/State gov'ts. Seawalls, roads, berms, pavement, BBQ pits, ect., are chipped, rutted w potholes, even revealing popped- out iron rods. The state public parks are little better; Bolsa Chica State Beach is kept withered and unirrigated in large parts, though it does receive basic minimal maintenance(bathrooms are regularly cleaned) from its reduced park service staff.

The picture reveals the stark nature of CAs' dire fiscal condition-the deterioration/neglect of public parks shoreside infrastructures , particulartly in the less well- off areas like Ventura.

I frequent the Long Beach and Huntington Beach coasts and if there was alarming global warming-caused rise in sea levels the 5000-5500 block of Ocean Ave & pennisula in East LB Alamitos Bay would be frequently flooded. Huntington beach seems to be seeing an increase in sand buildup/accretion and parts of the sandy beaches are now at least 1/4 mile wide. During heavy winter storms there is severe temporary erosion but the sands only shift and are redeposited further down the beach. Seal beach/Sunset beach residents have homes right along the beach a few ft above sea level and are sometimes buffeted by winter waves but have been there for 60-80 years and will still be there for another 60-80 years. The United Nations climate science organization and most reasonable sane scientists calculate the rise in sea level, in worst case, to be 2 feet by end of this century, or over nxt 100 yrs , which assumes unprovable assumptions about global climate change and relys on questionable computer models. Even granted this 2 ft rise that is no reason for hysteria.

BTW the global warming mongers are just as motivated by greed/profits via cap & trade and getting artificial high Gov-subsidized energy rates as are the fossel fuel companies.

Here is the most recent article printed by LA Times on supposed rising sea levels dooming CA coasts unless CA and US take step to deal with global warming. Much speculative soothsayer stuff here without scientific merit

http://t.co/JNp14B0

1x.com - Best photos on the web

1x.com - Best photos on the web: "Best photos on the web. 1x.com is an online gallery with the best photos on the web."

How to Save California: Outlaw Public Employee Unions - Ricochet.com

How to Save California: Outlaw Public Employee Unions - Ricochet.com

'Like everyone else in California, I'm dismayed at the state of the state. The massive budget deficit, high taxes and runaway government spending, spreading unemployment, a hostile business climate, and unfunded future pensions are ruining a state that has every natural gift and advantage in resources, both human and natural. Everyone seems to agree that the way the state government works has a lot to do with these problems, but no one is sure how to fix it. I even taught a seminar last semester on reforming the California constitution to explore solutions (more on that another time)....

'Earlier this week, I was lucky to go to the annual dinner of the Lincoln Club of northern California, which is made up of Republican leaders in the San Francisco area. The Club was awarding its lifetime achievement award to Pete Wilson, the last governor who made state government work (and a proud alum of my law school) -- believe it or not, but when Wilson left office, the state had a budget surplus. Ricochet's very own Peter Robinson interviewed Wilson on how to save California. It was an amazing night: Wilson displayed an encyclopedic command of the policy challenges facing the state.'

'The one change that he said could restore the state's fortunes wasn't lowering taxes, cutting spending, or eliminating excessive regulations -- though these were all important. He said there was a deeper root cause: the power of the public employees unions. According to Wilson, public employee unions trigger a destructive dynamic. Public employee unions take money from their members and use them for partisan political purposes. They pressure government officials to cut them sweetheart deals, especially through things like job protections and pensions, that don't show up on the bottom line for years. They create a larger and larger interest group that demands more government spending and higher taxes, which drives out private entrepreneurship and swells their ranks even more. Reduce the power of the public employee unions, and you lower the size of government, reduce the costs of the state, and fix the looming pension problem.'

'So here's my idea, and it applies beyond California. There is no constitutional right for public employees to form a union and to use their dues to pressure the government for more spending and benefits. As Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes once wrote while a state judge, a policeman "may have the right to talk politics but he has no constitutional right to be a policeman." Unions only have this right because state government has granted it to them. So how about a one sentence ballot initiative, to amend the California constitution, that simply says that public employees cannot form unions -- and why not do this state by state.'

Top scientists debunk global warming theories and AGW alarmists

Global warming is dead. Long live, er, 'Global climate disruption'! – Telegraph Blogs

Here are more top scientists commenting on global warning farce:

Dr. Dennis Jensen (Nuclear Physicist), a PhD-trained scientist and a former researcher for Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Organization (CSIRO) and the Defense Science and Technology Organization (DSTO), questioned man-made climate fears:

"It has been found that warming is occurring on Pluto, Mars, Jupiter and Triton."

"The last time I looked, there were no evil greenhouse gas belching industries on those planets, sub-planets and moons," he said, which clearly indicated that increased solar activity was a significant factor," Jensen explained. He also noted that studies of ice core data reveals that warming precedes rising CO2 levels in the atmosphere. "In other words, it would be more correct to say that temperature changes cause CO2 concentration changes."
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UK - Dr. John Brignell is Emeritus Engineering Professor, University of Southampton who held the Chair in Industrial Instrumentation at Southampton and was awarded the Calendar Silver Medal by InstMC. He also served on a committee of the Institute of Physics and currently publishes the website http://www.numberwatch.co.uk/ with the mission to expose "scares, scams, junk, panics and flummery cooked up by the media, politicians, bureaucrats and so-called scientists and others that try to confuse the public with wrong numbers."

His motto is "Working to Combat Math Hysteria."

"Global warming is a new phenomenon in human affairs. Not only is it now a major religion, but it has an associated industrial complex of a wealth sufficient to give it unheard of political power throughout the world. It presides over a virtual monopoly of research funding," Brignell wrote in July 2007. (LINK) "Clearly, global warming is anthropogenic (man-made). It exists mainly in the human mind and is manufactured from two sources - careless data acquisition and dubious data processing," Brignell wrote. In November 2007, Brignell, who wrote a book entitled Sorry, Wrong Number: The Abuse of Measurement, compiled a list of over 600 things allegedly caused by global warming.

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USA - Dr. Edward F Blick, Professor of Meteorology and Engineering at University of Oklahoma retired Air Force atmospheric scientist, rejected man-made climate fears in 2007.

"Is their any solid evidence the earth is warming due to man's use of fossil fuels transferring excessive amounts of CO2 in our atmosphere? The answer is NO!" Blick wrote on June 17, 2007 in an article titled "The Religions of Global Warming."

"The amount of CO2 that man puts into the atmosphere each year is about 3 billion tons per year. But this is insignificant compared to the 39,000 billion tons in our oceans, 2,200 billion tons in our vegetation and soils, and 750 billion tons in our atmosphere. Much of the CO2 generated by man is consumed by vegetation," Blick explained. "Man cannot control the weather, but he can kill millions of people in his vain attempt to control it, by limiting or eliminating the fuel that we use,"

He also questioned the accuracy of temperature gathering. "At the time of the collapse of the Soviet Union (around 1990), they could not afford their weather stations in Siberia, so they were closed. Hence, with the loss of the cooler temperature data from Siberia and rural stations in other countries, coupled with the heat island effects of the large city stations, and errors in thermometers of the 1800's, any increase in the average earth temperature in the past may be an illusion," he wrote. "CO2 is not poison and it is not our enemy. CO2 and oxygen are the twin gases of life. Humans and animals breathe in oxygen and exhale CO2. Plants breathe in CO2, make carbohydrates, and breathe out oxygen. We feed the plants and they feed us."

Finnish environmental guru calls for totalitarian eco- fascist regime to preserve mother earth

http://ht.ly/2GVQd

A Finnish environmentalist guru has gone further than any other global warming alarmist in openly calling for fascism as a necessary step to save the planet from ecological destruction, demanding that climate change deniers be “re-educated” in eco-gulags and that the vast majority of humans be killed with the rest enslaved and controlled by a green police state, with people forcibly sterilized, cars confiscated and travel restricted to members of the elite.

Philosopher Pentti Linkola has built an enthusiastic following of self-described “eco-fascists” receptive to his message that the state should enact draconian measures of “discipline, prohibition, enforcement and oppression” in order to make people comply with environmental dictates.

Linkola’s barbaric and dictatorial philosophy has remained relatively obscure but is now gaining traction as the mask of environmentalism is lifted to unveil its true nature – a justification for 21st century tyranny on a grand scale, characterized by eugenics, sterilization, gulags, police states, and total government control over every aspect of our existence.

Linkola’s doctrine is more extreme, repulsive, and threatening to liberty than anything carried out by history’s worst dictators, Hitler, Stalin and Mao – combined. Indeed, Linkola laments that such monsters didn’t go far enough in wiping out many more millions of people.

Under Linkola’s proposal to save earth from man-made climate change, “only a few million people would work as farmers and fishermen, without modern conveniences such as the automobile.” This system would be enforced by the creation of a “Green Police” who would abandon “the syrup of ethics” that governs human behavior to completely dominate the population.

Linkola calls for forced abortions, while also adding that another world war would be “a happy occasion for the planet” because it would eradicate tens of millions of people. The environmentalist believes that only jackbooted tyranny can help to save mother earth from “the worst ideologies in the world” which he defines as “growth and freedom”.

“Any dictatorship would be better than modern democracy,” he writes. “There cannot be so incompetent dictator, that he would show more stupidity than a majority of the people. Best dictatorship would be one where lots of heads would roll and government would prevent any economical growth.”

Those who refuse to be enslaved by Linkola’s new eco-tyranny would be abducted and sent to the mountains for “re-education” in eco-gulags, according to the environmentalist, who says that the only solution “lies in a centralised government and the tireless control of citizens.”

As part of his eco-fascist hell, Linkola calls for ‘killing defectives’ by means of sterilization, licenses for births, tight regulation of electricity, forcing humans to eat rats, the confiscation of private cars, travel to be restricted to members of the elite only, and businesses to be terminated as the economy is entirely handed over to the control of the state.

The heart of Linkola’s dark philosophy revolves around the need to slaughter masses of humans. “If there were a button I could press, I would sacrifice myself without hesitating if it meant millions of people would die,” he writes.........

CA reliance on wind power for renewable energy is a costly mirage

Brown presses Whitman on Prop. 23

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-11395964

http://bbc.in/bTtE0h

http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thegwpf.org%2Fnews%2F1593-thanet-wind-farm-will-milk-britions-of-billions.html&sa=D&usg=AFQjCNGJebjtnyvSwhl4AAtcAI5-syrN7A

I am posting a brief review of Britain's aggressive push into wind energy by focusing on this just completed offshore ocean wind farm, 7 miles out from coastal Kent. I may be biased but it seems to be a colossal offshore scenic eyesore, at least from this Californian's viewpoint, an automatic reflex action against any offshore energy generation sites which are not oil platforms( I live within 20 miles of 11 offshore oil platforms). I am also comparing Britain's wind farms push to CA's current obsession with renewable energy and it's plans to put up 1000's of these 400 ft. tall obscene erector sets out in CA's precious Mohave desert.




Britain has 3000+ wind turbines and is siting more and more turbines offshore. They currently account for 2.5% of that country's total energy needs. 100 new offshore turbines just went up 7 miles off Kent coast. They are 380 ft high and cover 35 square miles of ocean. The greens there actually approve offshore wind turbines. CA will not do this so we will site wind towers in the remote Mohave desert. It will take 10-20,000 wind towers covering 300-500 square miles of desert to supply perhaps 5-10 % of CA total energy needs. That will deface an area of desert bigger than los Angeles. But who cares about the barren CA desert right!

both wind and solar requires large amts of land area, not to mention the additional 100+ sq miles needed for new transmission lines. These projects will cost 10's of billions of dollars, most of it heavily subsidized by the government.

Who will ultimately pay for them. The CA consumer of course, in higher electric bills. Also, wind is not constant in the high desert and very unsteady. It can blow 50-70 MPH for a few days(turbines will automatically shut down at these high wind speeds)but half the year there is little or no wind. The siting and placement of these enormous towers and turbines will entail colossal costs.

I have been out to both the San Gorgonio and Lancaster wind turbine sites, and almost every time i pass the blades are still, or moving at snails pace. The promise of wind energy as cheap reliable abundant source of renewable energy is a costly mirage and massive wasteful government- subsidized energy boondoggle.

A hypothetical conjecture( hopefully wrong) of LA Dem voter fraud in Nov elections

california is a third world cesspool: A hypothetical conjecture( hopefully wrong) of LA Dem voter fraud in Nov elections

I AM MAKING A PERHAPS WILD SPECULATION HERE AND IT MAY PERHAPS BE A BIT OVER THE TOP BUT NOT ENTIRELY REMOTE. NONE OF YOU KNOW THE ILLEGAL ALIEN/GREEN CARD COMMUNITY OF LA AS WELL AS I DO, AS I HAD BEEN DEEPLY INVOLVED AND SUBMERSED IN IT IN THE 80'S AND 90'S AS A FORMER LA BUSINESS OWNER/OPERATOR HAVING DEALINGS IN THE VAST LA IMMIGRANT COMMUNITY. NOW TO MY RANT:

The key for the Dems to win the CA Governor and Senate races in Nov is getting the Hispanic vote in LA County. They need at least one 1 million Hispanics to vote Democrat in LA County to counteract the rest of state(Excluding Alameda County), which will vote majority Republican.

Look for Acorn-type activist groups to register fake ID illegal voters in LA's vast ghetto districts. There will be at least 1/2 million illegal immigrant fraudulent votes dredged up from the murkey LA Barrios. It is far easier to register fake ID hispanic non-citizens to vote illegally than to use Chicago-style cemetary voter rolls. As the immigrant LA Hispanic population has long experience in using fake ID's, and a complete ready-made setup in LA for fake ID doc mills, transferring this knowhow over to LA voter registration fraud should be a piece of cake.

Even if most of these fraudulent votes are actually thrown out we may still end up with 1000's of illegally cast votes by LA non-citizens in the final tally. We all know that the Dems have a history of using fraudulent vote tactics in dense inner city urban areas. LA City is overwhelmingly minority and Democrat. Since most of them depend on welfare freebies they will go to any lengths to defraud the electoral process to retain CA for the Dems, who are the party of welfare handouts to illegals and the lazy shiftless classes.

If election is real close in CA Gov and Senate races the outcome may come hinge on a few 1000 or more likely 10,000+ illegally cast votes in LA City/county. Republicans are nearly non existence in over half of LA county's 270 zip codes so it would not be out of question for the voting process to be corrupted and defrauded on a large scale in those 100+ LA zips in which Dems are 70-90% of registered voters.

This IS not a preposterous scenario. I live in long beach(LA COUNTY) and when i go to vote the voter booth never asks me for voter or picture ID. LA HAS MILLiONS OF NON-CITIZEN GREEN CARDERS AND ILLEGALS AND IT WOULD BE A PIECE OF CAKE FOR THEM TO USE FAKE ID's AND FAKE INFO TO REGISTER TO VOTE.

THE HUGE IMMIGRANT LA POPULATION HAS LOTS OF EXPERIENCE AND EXPERTISE IN USING FAKE ID DOCS, STOLEN SS NUMBERS, AND ALL OTHER FORMS OF FAKE ID'S SO IT WOULD BE AS EASY FOR THEM TO USE FRAUD DOC'S TO VOTE ILLEGALLY IN LA AS IT IS FOR CHICAGO/MISSOURI DEMS TO USE CEMETERY AND FELON VOTES.

THE FRAUD MACHINERY IN LA IS IN PLACE TO REGISTER AS MANY AS 1/2 MILLION ILLEGAL VOTERS, ALL DEMS. AND THE STATE OF CA PUBLIC EMPLOYEES WHO RUN THE STATE ARE MOSTLY DEM HACKS AND WILL IN A CLOSE ELECTION DEFRAUD THE REPUBLICAN VOTERS IN LA. THAT IS WHY CA HAS SEEN LANDSLIDE ELECTORAL VICTORIES FOR DEMS LAST 1/2 DOZEN ELECTION CYCLES.

LOOK FOR FRAUDULENT ACORN/SEIU-TYPE VOTER FRAUD IN LA IF THE BROWN/WHITMAN AND BOXER/FIORINA VOTES ARE CLOSE.

That is why the LA County SEIU/AFL-CIO are launching a huge drive to register LA voters and get Hispanics to the polls. That is why LA keeps funding welfare to illegals and their anchors at cost of 2 billion/yr for schools, health care, policing, and other welfare payouts. Obama adm knows this and that is why he injected 60 million for bolstering medicare to LA County. The welfare payouts to illegals is the bribe paid to the LA Hispanic voter block to keep them in the Dem column

Ray Stevens - Come to the USA

Good music video by Ray Stevens which pokes satirical sarcastic funny jab at our stupid illegal immigration problem. Entirely anti-illegal immigration and pro-USA but done in a humorous vein. I personally think that Genesis's 'illegal immigration song' should be resurrected, reissued and made into a video.

Why CA AB32 global warming solutions act needs to be suspended/delayed/halted?

Why CA AB32 global warming act needs to be suspended/delayed/halted

The only thing CA leads in is not landmark green laws but in being a 15-20% high unemployment 3rd world bankrupt entity, a beggar state which has driven out productive tax-paying businesses and citizens and replaced them with a hoard of 3rd world uneducated welfare leeches, who pack the ghettos which encompass wide swathes of the greater LA basin region.

I say pull back/delay implementation of restrictive environmental job-killing acts such as AB32, and get CA moving again with high-paying blue-collar traditional power industry construction trades jobs. Put our vast numbers of unemployed/underemployed/idle construction workers into high-paying trades jobs such as the oil and traditional power energy industries can provide. We do not need anymore obama stimulus road construction projects, which only add to our already catastrophic debt loads, and all other large-scale infrastructure building projects will also add to our crushing debt.

The millions of promised green jobs are a mirage. The only 'green jobs' i see in CA are the 1/4 million immigrant(illegal) landscapers/gardeners driving around in beaten-up old polluting pickups. Putting 10,000-20,000 300 ft- high wind towers in the Mohave creates massive unsightly steel towers in the desert, besides killing birds. Installing solar panels can only be afforded by rich, well-off progressive limousine libs dwelling in exclusive seaside enclaves. CA cannot create enough jobs in home weatherization because of our mild weather and because property values will remain stagnant for another 5-10 years

The eco-nuts who passed AB32 are a tiny, wealthy elite based in their eco-enclaves along the coasts or in walled off exclusive suburbs, while the 90% of less-well-off CA plebians suffer from 20-25% real U-6 EU

I blasted this Sept 8 all over LATimes on their pro-AB32/ Pro-boxer diatribes

Global warming bill a lose-lose issue for GOP candidates

The Liberal factions which run CA deliberately want as many illegals and their anchor spawn jammed into CA for one reason: POWER. They want and need the votes of the Hispanics and it matters little to them if much of SCal/LA have become vast illegal-alien spawned filthy polluted ghettos infested with illegal-alien spawned gangs and graffiti..The leftist ,radical 'progressive' state employee public sector unions and their congressional puppets have caused the bankruptcy of Ca., They only stay in power because they have allowed the massive infiltration of illegals into CA in order to court the hispanic vote, which allows the Sacto/San Francisco-based leftist progressives & state public sector unions in power to stay in power, dominate CA politics and maintain their inflated pensions, which are a prime reason that CA is reeling and bankrupt.The lying Lib 'progressives' could care less about the SoCal/LA environment with it's 1000+ square miles of filthy polluted 3rd world ghettos, as along as they can confine them to LA's immigrant barrios, as a regime would wall off a ghetto. Meanwhile they make rest of CA a pollution-free/jobless state with a few fabricated scam green jobs at cost of 1 miilion 'polluting' blue collar jobs.

My response to LA Times pro-AB32 article

Global warming bill a lose-lose issue for GOP candidates

First response:
Global warming is fraud science and the global warming eco-nuts are extreme nutbags. Cap and trade is dead at the national level and China pollutes at 10,000 times the rate of CA. Go ahead environmental wingnuts- make CA a job dead state with your job killer AB32. What CA does has no impact upon rest of world which will go ahead with max resource extraction and spew out those greenhouse gasses. Meahwhile CA will 'import' 10 million more illegals(carbon polluters) who may actually need blue collar jobs like workin on offshore oil rigs. Environmental extremism is good if one can ignore the 1000+ sq miles of polluting 3rd world ghettos spread all over the LA Basin, filled with inconvenient immigrants who may actually need work in blue collar/trades jobs in 'dirty'smokestack industries.Global climate warming is a massive scam based on misleading, even fraud science, like Piltdown man. So what if a few glaciers are melting and the oceans rise 1-2 ft in 100 years. Earth has had violent geologic/climatic upheavels all its history without man's impact--review the Little Ice Age.

Second Response:

“A Sacramento State University Study and other studies say there’s likely to be a cost of $50,000 per small business and up to $4,000 per family in increased costs related to housing, transportation, energy and food,” said Eric Eisenhammer, spokesman for the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association." The Cap and Trade of carbon credits appears to be a massive revenue windfall for the state of CA which they can then use to invest and subsidize green energy technologies. It make the state of CA/gov bureaucrats the innovator and investor in GTech instead of private enterprize.
It will also lead to higher energy prices to families and business. I think it needs to be rolled back and delayed. It is environmental extremism gone amuck, based upon unproven scientific assumptions about global warming. It is a CA environmental government boondoogle which gives gov scientists/bureaucrats soviet style centralized command/ control over green tech/energy technological developments.

» Boxer Tied to Dubious Waters Cash-for-Endorsement Scheme - Big Government

» Boxer Tied to Dubious Waters Cash-for-Endorsement Scheme - Big Government

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Chair of the Senate Ethics Committee, has paid some $30,000 since 2004 for the endorsement of embattled Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) in the context of a scheme that critics charge is unethical and amounts to Waters using her political station to benefit her family members.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/sep/1/waters-mailers-a-family-business/

According to the Washington Times, Waters “has turned political endorsements into a family business, using federal election laws to charge California candidates and political causes to include their names as her personal picks on a sample ballot, or ‘slate mailer,’ she sends to as many as 200,000 South Central Los Angeles voters.”

The slate mailer business, it turns out, is run by Waters’ daughter, Karen, via her public relations firm. Records show that Karen Waters’ firm has been paid more than $350,000 since 2004, and has billed a further $82,000 since California’s June primary, for its services in this regard.

It is a scheme that has been criticized by good governance groups including the Sunlight Foundation and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW).


The Sunlight Foundation, in a blog post last month, equated the scheme to Waters “selling” her endorsement and noted that the amounts of money being paid to Waters’ own campaign committee in exchange for her endorsement often exceed the federal limit applicable to campaign donations.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) meanwhile cited Waters as one of the most corrupt members of Congress in both 2005 and 2006 for operating the scheme. In both years, CREW noted that Waters’ “ethics issues stem from the exercise of [her] power to financially benefit her daughter, husband and son.” The 2005 rating placed Waters in the company of figures like former Reps. Randy “Duke” Cunningham and Bob Ney—both subsequently convicted of corruption-related offenses—and was directly connected to the operation of the political endorsement scheme.
http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?articleId=9711

Critics charge that Boxer has actively aided and abetted this scheme, both in the context of her 2004 and 2010 re-election campaigns.

In 2004, Boxer paid $25,000 for Waters’ endorsement. But ahead of this year’s California primary—in which Boxer faced no serious competition– and when it was well-known that Waters was under investigation by the House Ethics Committee, Boxer paid Waters $5,000 for her backing. It is this later payment that those monitoring Waters’ ethical woes say could act as an anchor tied to Boxer’s ankle, as she heads towards November.

“The amount is lower than what Boxer paid in 2004, yes,” said one Republican operative with whom we spoke. “But the Chair of the Senate Ethics Committee paying for an endorsement of an official under investigation for ethics infractions connected to her using her standing to benefit her family when that fact has been widely reported presents a major optics problem, to say the least. Ethics are already something of a surprise Achilles Heel for Boxer. Her committee let Chris Dodd off the hook, and she’s been criticized for using her repeat candidacies for the financial benefit of her family, too.” Added that operative, “This is an attack ad waiting to happen.”

Indeed, Boxer has been called out for steering about $500,000 in contributions made to her political action committee to her son’s consulting firm between 2001 and 2009. Like Waters’ scheme, this arrangement has attracted the attention of CREW, which focused on Boxer in a 2007 exposé entitled “Family Affair.” “Waters’ problems run far deeper, of course,” said the same operative. “But there are some interesting parallels here, to be sure.”

Boxer is facing what some observers say is her toughest political contest in a career that spans three decades, facing off against former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina. The three-term Senator has previously said that she does not expect Democratic ethics scandals, including that of Waters, to affect the race.

( Of course not! high- profile Dem senators and legislators always get away with shady financial deals involving family members, at least with the MSM, but not Republicans)


Real Clear Politics’ polling average places Boxer about 4 points ahead of Fiorina, with recent SurveyUSA polling showing Fiorina ahead. The race has been rated a “toss-up” by numerous pollsters and analysts.

charles hugh smith-Action List for the Newly Unemployed

charles hugh smith-Action List for the Newly Unemployed

As people who reckoned their job was relatively secure discover it isn't, a new cadre of shell-shocked unemployed will have to deal with unemployment and poor prospects for permanent employment. Here is a basic, common-sense list of actions to consider should your household income fall drastically for any reason. It is based on the concepts I laid out in Survival+.

1. Cut expenses immediately. Middle-class households seem especially prone to thinking they can weather a radical drop in income without any real change in lifestyle until a new job appears. Some even resort to pulling money out of IRAs and retirement accounts (and paying penalties to do so) to maintain the lifestyle to which they have grown accustomed.

The better strategy is to perform immediate triage on the household budget and eliminate all extraneous spending. Cut expenses in every way: unplug zombie appliances and chargers, stop buying snacks and convenience food, stop going to high-priced yuppie markets, borrow films from your library rather then rent them, etc.

Write the budget down and track your actual expenses monthly. Reward yourself with a small treat if you stay within the new budget.

2. Look at your biggest expenses and reduce them to your "new normal" income by whatever means are necessary. Typically, the biggest expenses are housing, healthcare and perhaps education.

There is abundant evidence that when it comes to unsustainable mortgages, The wealthy strategically default as a business decision. If a mortgage is completely out of line with the household's reduced income, then the wealthy may have the right idea: it's just business. Anyone considering defaulting on debt should of course do what the wealthy do and consult experienced, licensed real estate and tax attorneys before making any decisions.

Some people have found that renting out rooms in their house allows them to align their income with their mortgage costs. Either expenses must be cut or income increased, or both. Hoping to find a high-paying job in the near future is not a strategy, it is just a form of denial.

Many people we know who have seen their small business income suffer have already cancelled their health insurance--$1,000+ a month is a lot of money. There may be professional organizations which offer cheaper catastrophic-type insurance to members; those seeking to slash their health insurance costs will have to look around for creative ways to do so.

3. Keep productive. All work has dignity. Base your pride in being productive, not on your position or title. It is very easy to fall into feeling lousy about oneself when unemployed, and the best way to counteract that natural diminishment is to stay productive. Find an organization who needs your energy and skills; yes it is "working for free" but you get value for your efforts: you keep your skills sharp and maybe add new ones, you have self-worth by contributing to a worthy organization, and you network with others in ways which might lead to some paying work.

One value we have lost in the U.S. is the inherent value and dignity of all work. Too many people feel that all sorts of work is "beneath them." No wonder, perhaps, given that our popular culture worships at the altar of narcissism, self-glorification, indulgence and victimhood.

I personally consider picking up trash around my neighborhood a highly valuable form of unpaid labor. There is nothing lowly about work performed with care, attention and impeccability.

4. Work to establish multiple sources of household income. If there are potentially employable members of the household earning nothing, then get them out there making some sort of income, even if it is informal, sporadic and low-paying. Something is better than nothing.

5. Think like an employer. The attitude built up by 60 years of prosperity is generally "give me a job and I'll do good work." That was no hindrance in decades of rising employment but now there is a new reality: a thousand other people will also do good work when given a job.

The key word here is "given." If you think like an employer, then you realize that doing good work is the minimum baseline. You have to provide additional value that gives the employer/supervisor some hope that you will bring a much-needed spark to the enterprise. That could be a cheery, generous nature; it could be a can-do attitude of wanting to learn new things. It could be a willingess to be flexible in hours worked.

This is not a suggestion to work for free for an enterprise which pays others to do similar work. But even in this recessionary environment, all too many people expect to work according to their own requirements rather than the needs of the enterprise. This difference in baseline assumptions is most visible between native-born Americans and recent "green card" immigrants, who typically will do whatever it takes to get ahead.

6. Beware the illusion of incremental change. Sustained effort brings results, but within this common-sense approach is a pernicious trap I call The Seductive Illusion of Incremental Change (May 13, 2008). Picking the "low hanging fruit" produces significant improvements, and with that the illusion is formed: if we just keep doing what we've been doing, little by little the problem will be chipped away to zero.

For example, in the first round of household budget cuts, it's not too difficult to pare away a few hundred dollars (travel, eating out, unlimited texting phone plans, etc.). That initial success can lead to a false confidence that such cuts can be continued to the point that income and expenses are actually aligned.

But incremental change often starts yielding diminishing returns. Are the changes being made fundamental, or are they essentially tweaks to a system heading toward collapse?

Weight loss is an example many of us can relate to. A pound of human fat contains 3,500 calories. To lose a pound of fat you need to burn 3,500 calories in excess of what you eat. To lose five pounds, you must burn 17,500 calories more than you eat. If you ramp up your exercise program and burn 500 more calories a day, then in 35 days you will lose the five pounds. Alternatively, you can cut 250 calories from your intake and expend 250 calories in additional exercise.

This sort of sustained effort will produce fundamental results, but anything less will not. Just sending out 10 resumes a week may not produce any job offers, and cutting marginal expenses rather than making the deep cuts needed to re-align income and expenses will only set aside the day of reckoning.

7. Preserve capital. Pulling money out of savings, IRAs and 401Ks to maintain a giant mortgage or an unsustainable lifestyle is unwise; that savings might be needed down the road for a really important emergency such as getting a knee replacement (paid in cash).

Given the likelihood that the stock market will eventually reflect the weakness of the real economy, then keeping IRAs and 401K capital in cash rather than stock mutual funds is a form of capital preservation.

8. Become fluid and flexible. Someone to whom various kinds of work is "beneath them" is like the person who has no interest in learning new skills; their inflexibility dooms them by reducing their adaptability. The living branch bends in the wind, the dead branch snaps off.

9. Accept the new reality. If someone offers you four hours of work, take it. It might lead to something else, and if not, at least you made a few bucks. Clinging to past paradigms is a dead-end.

10. Get healthy, stay healthy. Losing status, income, security, etc. are wounds to self-worth and the soul. Increased stress and anxiety are not healthy. Exercise and productive work/learning are important ways to reduce stress and build a positive response to unwanted change. Walk a quarter mile; when that's easy, walk a half-mile. When that's easy, walk a mile, and so on. Seek respite and renewal in Nature.

Your body is a temple; don't feed it crap.

11. Think entrepreneurally. The basics of entrepreneurism are simple: seek out unfilled needs, or offer a service/product which offers customers faster, better, cheaper. Identify what you like doing even if it's unpaid (at first) and pursue that line.

If you don't want to slog your way into the ranks of Corporate America or work for somebody else (possibly a tyrant/sociopath), then create your own job by making customers/clients your boss.

12. Create value before asking for something in return. One of the key values in Survival+ is reciprocity. If you want ten people to help you find some paying work, then you need to offer them something of value that is meaningful to them. The world does not owe any of us a living.

13. Add some beauty to your world. Our culture glorifies ugliness, aggressiveness, self-centeredness and psychoses of power. Planting some flowers that can be viewed by passerby, keeping your block trash-free, creating some art or craft, repainting a fence with bright colors--anything which adds vibrancy, color and creativity to a small corner of the world is a blow against degradation, aggressiveness, ugliness, squalor and surrender.

14. Become politically active. There are larger forces at work behind the media facades and facsimiles. Our society focuses on self-help rather than on the darker forces of Empire, Power Elites, etc. In other words, the Powers That Be support a politics of experience in which we each blame ourselves for our inability to find paying work, etc. rather than seek out the financial and political roots of our common crisis.

The Power Elites and its Mainstream Media work tirelessly to depoliticize our understanding of the world around us. They present us with a false political choice (Republican or Democrat, as if it really makes a difference to the running of the Global Empire or the concentrated power and wealth of cartels and Financial Elites), religious rabble-rousing and plentiful "entertainment" distractions-- anything to suppress or marginalize our understanding of just how distorted our economy and society have become.

Derangement is normalized though a relentless barrage of imagery, "news" and commentary which cements a depoliticized politics of experience: if you can't find work, it's your personal failings that are the "problem." It's all the Demopublicans or Republicrats fault, these reforms have "fixed" the system, etc.

Ask cui bono--to whose benefit?--of everything.

15. If there is no work in your area due to declining wealth, move to a place where wealth is still being created. Moving is both frightening and exciting; it's always been one path out of poverty into new opportunity.

16. Failure is how we learn; embrace it. One reason Silicon Valley continues to spin out innovation is that failure is not just grimly accepted but celebrated. You haven't really "earned your stripes" if you haven't had a start-up go under or equivalent (your company coming within an inch of going under qualifies). Natural selection is all about constant innovation and failure.

Bonus point:

17. Do more of what's working and less of what's not.

california is a third world cesspool: Deporting Illegals- a look back at 1954 operation wetback, when we had in President Eisenhower a real American patriot

california is a third world cesspool: Deporting Illegals- a look back at 1954 operation wetback, when we had in President Eisenhower a real American patriot

Long Beach dwtn shoreline, harborwalk and marina

I have posted these beautiful pictures of dtwn long beach harbor shoreline amusement walkable zone. I took them with my cell phone. I posted these pics to illustrate a point. Notice the scarcity of visitors/tourist in these pics. They were taken on Sunday, August 1st on a warm, balmy, hot summer day at peak of summer tourist season. Yet from the pics it is evident that our beautiful scenic shoreline harborwalk is having a severe drastic reduction in tourists and local visitors. This has to be due to the effects of our severe recession/depression. And it was the same the previous Sunday.
I have been here a 1000 times and i have never seen it this slow in August at peak of summer tourist season. Even the local Long beach visitors were scarce.

rules for avoiding a shark attack when kayaking

Re: Shark Shield...a Follow-up

After my initial reply to Paul I put out a series of queries to everyone I know in "the shark biz" and looked at the database of shark attacks to kayaks again in order to address the implied protection of the Shark Shield device.

In general, the following are true the world over as of today:

1. sea kayaks over 15 feet do not get attacked by large apex predator sharks such as white sharks or tigers.
2. in South Africa surf-skis have been hit by white sharks which then left after the initial strike and circle.
3. a tiger shark apparently "mouthed" the stern a sea kayak of 14-16 feet in the Gulf of Mexico (anyone know the exact number, color and model please reply with this information)

In terms of the Shark Shield's effectivness, there is good information from around the world (including our personal experiences at Guadalupe Island, Mexico that a cruising, passive shark is kept at a distance by the Shark Shield.

The Shark Shield is NOT effective when a white shark makes a sudden rushing attack. There has been several bites and one fatality (paradoxically, the brother of the fatality endorsed Shark Shield) with the Shark Shield operating when a white struck from below, rapidly entering both the effective field of the device and hitting the victim at nearly the same moment.

There is no way to increase the field strength without affecting the user.

Is the Shark Shield something to have for sea kayakers? In my opinion, no. It's a total waste of money:
1. white sharks do not attack (as of today) sea kayaks of 5+ meters.
2. a deteremined, rushing hit is not prevented in any case by the Shark Shield
3. a cruising white shark will look at a sea kayak, even approach one closely, but inevitably will cruise away minutes later.
4. the Shark Shield will not stop a shark from checking you out, it will only move the distance away a few neters away from the kayak. Personally, I like the white shark to come as close as possible so it can really check me and the kayak out and learn what it is, as well as that I can check out the shark close up. (Whites don't scare me, tigers do)

Now is the Shark Shield something for surf kayakers and kayak fishing? Maybe so. They are smaller and pinniped-shaped and for surf kayakers, act a lot like pinnipeds panicked in the surf. Maybe it would be something to have running but again, an attacking white is not stpped by the electrical field at all.

Some very important shark encounter rules, read and memorize:
1. do NOT hang around rookeries and haul-outs
2. do NOT ever approach within 200 meters (the Death Zone) of a rookery or haul-out. Not only are there rules protecting marine mammals but that distance around the rookery is where the white shark preferentially prowls and strikes.
3. observe the life around you for indications of a predator...sea birds suddenly flying over a small area, nervous seals or sea lions on the rocks looking at the water and occasionally at you, seals and sealions side-by-side on the same rocks, get the hell out of there (occasionally bang your bow a few times with your paddle just to reinforce the idea that you are not a sealion or seal.
4. do NOT ever approach a shark kill in the water, or a blood plume in the water (a shark hit underwater, or it's prey dragged under). Paddle as fast as you can away and keep paddling for a kilometer, the shark is close by and will defend its kill by utterly destroying your kayak, leaving you in the water, and I will gurantee the shark will then return to hit you fatally.
5. if you see a sudden huge disturbance in the water, paddle as fast as you can away for a kilometer. That's most likely a shark hitting its prey. If it missed it's prei it's still on strike mode, you want to leave the area as fast as you can paddle. You may want to bang away at your bow a couple times just to reinforce the idea that your aren't food escaping.
6. when checked out by a cruising white shark do NOT poke at it with anything. If you do this that slow moving shark will defend itself with an overwhelming attack that will end up with you in the water and bit. Enjoy the shark visit and when it's cruising away, you might want to then bang bow of your kayak a few times hard with your paddle. It's a good idea to reinforce the artificial nature of kayaks to the shark.

A word in banging the bow of the kayak with the paddle. This makes an unnatural sound in the air and water that seems to reinforce the idea that the kayak is big as the shark and something it doesn't know and should avoid, or at least puts you into the not-food/waste-of-time-and-energy category decision byu the shark. I have personally used this on several white shark encounters while paddling (Pt. Arena, California; Gaviota, California; twice off Guadalupe Island, Mexico). In each and every case the shark swam off a minute later.

Glenn Beck Clips July 19, 2010

This video is awesome! No comment needed, just watch it.

Glenn Beck Clips July 19, 2010http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVAhr4hZDJE&feature=player_embedded