It's tricky. When your dog shits on and chews up your property so much you have to send the little monster to the pound, you want to be fair to the next dog and give him the benefit of the doubt. You'd rather mistrust him before you distrust him. But face it, he's a dog. He may only gnaw on the stray paper towel, may run up to the freeway or eat cat shit only occassionally. But he'll still do it. In the end, he cannot be trusted to volunteer to be good and do the right thing. He needs outside control that only you can provide. You must train, set boundaries -- you must regulate.
Energy companies are like dogs. And the bigger the dog, the bigger and nastier the potential mess. You really have to keep an eye on them.
But goddamn, Prop. 80 was a headache to get through. I was leery of going by only the information printed in my sample ballot, which made 80 sound really nifty. Naturally, I was suspicious -- it sounded too good to be true.
So first thing, I took a look at the opposition. Right away, one thing popped out -- the tip-off being in reading between the lines in the NoProp80 spiel...
Proposition 80 is an anti-consumer, anti-environmental, high-risk approach to California's energy policy.
Yes, I hear you, but what have you to support this assertion? Oh, nothing, really. A closer look at their supporters (listed in a hard to read and to reproduce .jpeg format, waaaay at the bottom of their site, natch) clearly indicated to me that these were the kind of people who regularly define as small businesses multi-billion dollar corporations.
Yeah, those kind of people.
One reason their pitch almost caught me was because it was so weak and phoned-in. And then I remembered why: after that socking-it-to-grandmas call was made public, the corporatist right's agenda for privatizing everything under the fucking sun was severely hobbled. Nowadays, they know they can't work the arguments that in other parts of the country real wingnuts (all the way up to the White House) are entirely brazen enough to forward: That big business can be trusted to regulate itself. The free market will save us all. The private sector serves the public better than the public can serve itself via the agency of government. They are cognizant of the fact that California's electorate knows better.
No, on Nov. 8 (tomorrow!!!), they are relying, as with their other propositions, not so much on savvy marketing and promotion as on low voter turn-out and muddying the waters.
The fact is, you should vote yes on 80. We need to stop the deregulation juggernaut that started with Reagan and is threatening to throw us back to a Sinclairian -- if not a Dickensian -- standard of living.
That is, of course, unless you enjoy living at the mercy of feral canines...
[ back home ]
Comments for Nov. 8, Pt. IV: Neuter 'Em
I'd never send a dog to the pound. It's the owner who needs work, if the dog has problems. Dogs are too good and noble to ever face a fate like the pound.
Energy companies, on the other hand, often deserve such treatment. Putting a few money-grubbing friends of W to sleep might be a proper response to their gouging.
Energy companies, on the other hand, often deserve such treatment. Putting a few money-grubbing friends of W to sleep might be a proper response to their gouging.
Point taken, Jess. My metaphor was clumsy at best, but I'm on a deadline here (election tomorrow). Please forgive!
In the immortal words of bob Barker, don't forget to get your dog or cat spayed or neutered.
And I'm pretty sure that advice can be extended to energy conglomerates.
My gas company, Questar, is raising prices exponentially this X-mas. They blame the price hike on hurricane Katrina yet there is no reportable shortage in GAS whatsoever... this is GAS we're talking about here, not Gumbo or Jazz. Katrina is completely irrevelant... it's not part of the equation.
Simple, unadulterated GREED. Capitalizing on a national tragedy, oh and the fact they're a god-damned Monopoly.
Where are the trust busters of old?
Simple, unadulterated GREED. Capitalizing on a national tragedy, oh and the fact they're a god-damned Monopoly.
Where are the trust busters of old?
Rotting in their graves while the rest of us get the shaft from the sons of robber barons.
You had to ask? :(
You had to ask? :(
I am a big fan of getting my puppies and men neuutered. Preferably by the same doctor.
- Posted at 5:29 AM | By
I DON'T LIKE THE WAY THIS CONVERSATIONS IS GOING!!
Word Verification: mgifauwk (ha ha!)
Word Verification: mgifauwk (ha ha!)
- Posted at 8:55 AM | By
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