“Now I’ve seen fire and I’ve seen rain…”

Pretty exciting events the last three days. Might even get to have some more storms. This is so much fun.

Our great and wonderful leader of our formerly great and wonderful state of California has found yet another way to increase taxes. This time he wants to reduce gasoline and other fuel consumption, and if he follows previous methods, that means more taxes. That is all he seems to know how to do. Gotta love Jerry.

If gas taxes go up, he can spend it on the train. And still save the Delta smelt. This way even if farmers had water, they couldn’t afford the fuel to plow the fields. Being a farmer in California these days must be just about the worst job you could have. Use too much water and you’re in trouble. Soon it will be the same for fuel.

I guess we will all learn to eat dirt. Shouldn’t be too hard for us to do. We’ve been eating that line of BS from Moonbeam for so long, I think we like the taste.

If the weather forecasters are just a little correct about the El Nino forming to our west, we are in for a lot more flooding. The washed-out bridge on I-10 is just a sample of what might come. We need the rain. We need the snow. We don’t need more gas taxes.

I wonder if there is a use for all of the hot air generated by politicians. We could solve all kinds of problems. But I don’t think it is of a quality sufficient to power an engine or even fill a balloon. It is just loud, smelly and usually incoherent.

The Great and Wonderful Governor fits that quite well. And when we’re not looking, he has his hands deep in the pockets of Californians. Very deep. Trouble for him is that many of us are now looking behind the curtain and don’t see the “Great and Wonderful.” We see, as the movie would say, a “Humbug.”

He has and is doing a pretty good sales job, convincing the most car-loving and car-dependent state in the union that we’ve don’t like our cars. It must be true. Didn’t you hear that even Cal Worthington is worried about selling cars? Not really. Cal has passed to that big car show in Heaven, and car sales keep climbing.

So back to the weather guessers. If they are right, there will be lots of jobs created come winter. It appears they will be “shovel ready” jobs. We’re going to need lots of shovels. I know just whom to hire for the head shoveling job. I know, he holds the position already. He shovels it to us all the time. Yes, it is the Great and Wonderful “Oz” – er, Governor Jerry.

Carbon tax. Gas tax. Water tax. Income tax. Spending tax. Estate tax. All to the max a tax for each and everyone. Heck – we even have a group that attempts to control air quality. They even tax our air.

When are we going to come together and say we’ve had enough? When is that going to happen?

Sometimes I think the Founding Fathers could see this coming. Taxation without representation. Folks hired by the highest bidders and placed in office. Maybe we can say “no” to the sales job.

I ask each and every one of you reading this. Please think about where California is heading. If you don’t like it, let the folks you elected know how you feel.

I, for one, found a nice rail and some tar and feathers. I don’t know if we can use those items today. The state and federal EPA might have problems with tar dripping on the ground, along with feathers flying all over the place. But I’m willing to risk having an infraction cited from the state of California if we can live again. I just want to smear a little tar and add some feathers. I can even get some fresh all natural tar. Just go to Carpinteria. It seeps out of the ground. As for feathers, I’m sure a pillow will have some.

So there is another fine problem we can fix. We can fix it better in the voting booth.

Think about that, next election.

While I think of it, I want to start a contest of sorts. I’d like every one of you to write me what your favorite part of the Declaration of Independence is. Winners will be picked based on your explanation of why you like that line or paragraph so much.

Mr. Sims would be proud of my efforts just now. I could be elevated to being a “Charles.” A “Ronald” no longer will I be.

I’d like that. The winner, too, can be a Charles.

I’ll explain that in another missive. If you know, tell me so.

Darryl Manzer grew up in the Pico Canyon oil town of Mentryville in the 1960s and attended Hart High School. After a career in the U.S. Navy he returned to live in the Santa Clarita Valley, where he serves as executive director of the SCV Historical Society. He can be reached at dmanzer@scvhistory.com. His older commentaries are archived atDManzer.com; his newer commentaries can be accessed [here]. Watch his walking tour of Mentryville [here].