Author: Patrick Dorinson

If State Senator Carol Migden has her way we could one day see a story like this one.

State Food and Product Police Smash Illegal Can and Plastic Bottle Smuggling Ring – Special Agents of the California Regulatory and Police Division (CRAP) of the Department of Consumer Affairs, arrested 100 suspects and seized 4 tons of illegal cans of vegetables and baby bottles when they busted a BPA smuggling ring outside of Barstow. “We will hunt down these criminals who are trying to poison our kids wherever they might hide”, said Consumer Affairs Director Jack “Nosy” Snoopington.

What is BPA you might ask? Bisphenol-A or BPA, is a common chemical used to make polycarbonate, a rigid clear plastic for everything from baby bottles to bicycle helmets. It is also an ingredient in resins that are used to coat the inside of food and drink cans. BPA has been used successfully since the early 1950s. Chances are that by the time you have read this article you will have come in contact with some product that contains BPA.

If you are a baby boomer you have probably ingested over your lifetime a lot of BPA. Anyone feel sick?

On June 18, 2008 Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois, Democratic Party Whip in the U.S. Senate, told Chicago Public Radio, “Our energy policy is not going to be solved by drilling”.

Upon returning from his Fourth of July holiday he told the media, "I’m open to drilling and responsible production," Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin told The Wall Street Journal, adding that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid could also support the move.

Freshman Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri must have fallen off her Democratic donkey and had a conversion as well on her way to the Drilling Damascus, when she said last week that she too could now support new drilling. Only weeks before she had denounced it.

Democrats in the U.S. Senate must have gotten an earful from their angry constituents over the holiday weekend regarding the price of gasoline. What else would cause Senators Dick Durbin of Illinois, Harry Reid of Nevada, and Claire McCaskill of Missouri to have the epiphany they seem to have had on supporting new oil and natural gas exploration here at home.

As I was driving to the Capitol in Sacramento from my home in Folsom the other morning, I heard yet another radio commercial from the Education Coalition. Now if you go their website you will see that it is a collection of unions and associations who have a vested interest in education funding and not necessarily for the benefit of the kids, although that is their stated goal.

For my money they are all looking for more funding from the Legislature to maintain their stranglehold on how and what California’s school kids are learning. And judging by the product they are pushing out into society we should all demand our money back.

In their radio ad they use the old arguments of classroom size and cuts to art and music programs. I’m all for arts and music and smaller classes, but what the hell else are they learning? Can they count and do arithmetic at grade level without a calculator? Can they write a cogent essay? Can they spell without Microsoft Spellcheck? And most importantly, have they learned the most basic thing that a well rounded education should provide—the ability to think for themselves.

Thomas Jefferson kept a weather diary. In it he noted the unseasonably cool temperatures for a summer’s day in Philadelphia on July 4, 1776. But inside Independence Hall, the debate was anything but cool.

There were heated exchanges between the delegates of the Second Continental Congress as they debated whether or not to declare independence from Great Britain, severing forever the political ties to the mother country and taking a giant leap of faith into the unknown.

In the end, after months of arguing the merits of the issue and after much deliberation, the vote was taken and late in the evening the die was cast as the thirteen colonies became the United States of America. A nation had been born.

I don’t know about you but I can’t wait until January 20, 2009 and Barack Obama is sworn in as the 44th President of the United States. That is the day when all will be right with the world again as we shed the dark and evil Bush Administration for the enlightened and visionary Obama Administration. Imagine the breathless pronouncements we will hear from the media as all things are made right in the First 100 Days of the return to Camelot.

Iran Drops Nuclear Program – Iranian President Ahmadinejad today announced that Iran will halt its nuclear program and dismantle all its facilities. The announcement was made after President Obama called the Iranian leader and requested that it be done. Ahmadinejad also said he wants to go to Israel so he can participate in Israeli Independence Day festivities in May. “I love the Jews. It was Bush who made me say all those crazy things. I am getting counseling now and it has really helped.” Secretary of State Joseph Biden hailed the news as the “beginning of a beautiful friendship between the Mullahs of Iran and the U.S”. The Mullahs have also agreed to take anger management courses to better cope with their “inner demons” and their “feelings” about Israel. In a related development, Hezbollah and Hamas laid down their weapons and recognized Israel, saying in a prepared statement that the last 60 years of terrorism against the Jewish state was all a “misunderstanding”.

Bin Laden Surrenders to U.S. Forces in Afghanistan – Public enemy Number One quietly walked into a U.S. Army Ranger base near Kandahar and gave himself up today.

The other day President Bush called for more exploration of America’s domestic oil reserves including off the coast of California and ANWR in Alaska. In my opinion this was long overdue but better late than never.

Our esteemed Senator Feinstein immediately went before the cameras waving the “bloody shirt” of the 1969 Santa Barbara Oil Spill saying to the Associated Press,"Californians are all too familiar with the consequences of offshore drilling," Feinstein said. "An oil spill in 1969 off the coast of Santa Barbara killed thousands of birds, as well as dolphins, seals and other marine animals. And we know this could happen again."

That spill happened almost 40 years ago and there have been no major spills from oil platforms off the coast of California since that time. During Hurricanes Rita and Katrina in 2005 the almost 4,000 oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico reported some major damage and many rigs were lost, but there were no major spills.

For those of us who believe that the Constitution of the State of California means what it says and is not just a set of suggestions, yesterday June 15th was the constitutionally mandated date that the state budget was due. As of this writing it remains overdue and according to Senate President Pro Tem Perata will not be done for quite awhile.

To quote a story from last week by veteran Capitol reporter Timm Herdt of the Ventura Star, “Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland, said a long, hot summer lies ahead. He said there is no chance that the state will have a budget in place by the beginning of a new fiscal year July 1, but that negotiators will be focused on meeting a more meaningful deadline of Aug. 1.”

"If Saudi Arabia were to increase its production by 1 million barrels per day that translates to a reduction of 20 percent to 25 percent in the world price of crude oil, and crude oil prices could fall by more than $25 dollar per barrel from its current level of $126 per barrel. In turn, that would lower the price of gasoline between 13 percent and 17 percent, or by more than 62 cents off the expected summer regular-grade price – offering much needed relief to struggling families. "

So said Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat from New York recently at a hearing designed to embarrass, berate and attack the oil industry and not to find real solutions to our energy problems. This ersatz oil industry expert knows as much about energy markets as I do about brain surgery.  Schumer reminds me of Blanche DuBois in "A Streetcar Named Desire" who breathlessly stated as she was led to a mental institution, "I have always depended on the kindness of strangers." In this case the strangers are the Saudis.

There is an old story that used to be told that defined the differences between the two major political parties, Republican and Democrat. It goes something like this.

There is a person drowning in a lake 30 feet from shore. A Democrat walks by and throws him 60 feet of rope, drops his end to go do another good deed and wishes him luck. A Republican then walks by, throws 25 feet of rope, tells him to swim 5 feet to grab it because it is good for his character and then considers further assistance.

But America has a growing bunch of voters who ascribe to a different theory. They will throw you 30 feet of rope and they will pull to help you out of your predicament, but you had better be helping yourself by kicking like hell on your end. Americans are willing to help, but they refuse to haul dead weight. These voters have abandoned both parties because playing for partisan advantage has trumped solving the country’s problems.