I am getting more and more discouraged with politicians in general. I
know that there are good and decent men and women who honestly serve the
public, but good grief, there seem to be more of them who lie, cheat and steal
their way through the taxpayers’ hard-earned dollars. Not only are they
self-serving but they also are bought and paid for by special interests.
Furthermore, any remnant of common sense seems to be overshadowed by political
correctness and partisanship.
The latest outrage is the situation of Rep. William Jefferson who was
allegedly caught with $90,000 in cash in his freezer at his home. He has now
been indicted with 15 counts of misdeeds and, thankfully, he had the sense to
resign his position on the Small Business Committee because the leadership of
the Senate is apparently so blinded by their party affiliation that they cannot
see their way clear to remove him from anything. If he were Republican rather
than Democrat, I honestly believe there would have been an immediate cry for
his resignation. I cannot for the life of me understand why these people
(Senators and Representatives) when they reach this level of political office
take leave of their senses and behave like two-year-olds (no offense meant to
two-year-olds)!
It runs the gamut from Federal people to Governors right down to the
local level. I wrote a letter to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger recently to
implore him to continue the Williamson Act Subvention Funding, which helps keep
agricultural land from being developed.
I explained why it was so important to the state as well as the
individual counties to maintain that funding as new farm ground is currently
not being made anywhere except in Hawaii. Yesterday I received a form e-mail
from the Governor’s office thanking me for my opinion and telling me that
because of a myriad of reasons (most of which he could do something about if he
had the political will to do so), the subvention funding was going to be
continued, but the counties would have to shoulder a larger part of the
financial burden.
Well, that was not very comforting since I know that Santa Barbara
County is not going to be interested in picking up that bill. I’m not even sure
if they could afford it, what with the $155 million in infrastructure backlog.
The agricultural community was told the last time this scenario played
out that if the state did not pay for this program, it was going to disappear.
My common sense tells me that if a county’s largest financial contributor is a
particular industry, I would conclude that the county would want to do whatever
it could to help support that industry. My mistake!
A huge concern that has received a bit of press recently is the
enormous financial influence of the Indian tribes, not just in California, but
throughout the United States. Rather than spending the huge amounts of money
gained through the gambling establishments to offset the negative impacts of
the casinos on the surrounding rural areas, they prefer to spend their millions
on buying legislators who can influence legislation to their personal benefit.
Now, the legislators, including the Governor of California, are going to
balance their bloated budget on the backs of rural Californians when they, as
rumored, approve compacts with several tribes to increase slot machines by the
thousands.
I find it rather pathetic that the tribes continue to worry about their
“sovereignty” while they are systematically, perhaps unwittingly, destroying
the sovereignty of the rest of the country’s citizens. It is very similar to
the stand some people take regarding illegal immigrants saying that they
“deserve” to have citizenship since they have been here so long. The fact that
these people have broken the law and continue to do so every day they are here
and that they clearly have no respect for our laws or our sovereignty is really
disheartening.
I have a real problem with politicians who cater to this way of
thinking because they are participating in tearing down those values that made
this country great and so desirable to escape to in the first place. It is not,
in my opinion, acceptable to pander to a group of people who so obviously hold
our laws, our sovereignty and our citizens in contempt. They don’t want to be part
of our society; they apparently don’t even want to learn our language. They
only want to take what is here and send it back to their legal country. They
have no interest in giving anything extra to the U.S. like their loyalty, so
why are we so afraid to enforce our laws?
Nature
Continues
In the last two weeks, I have been thrilled to notice that this year’s
crop of fawns and baby turkeys are appearing, literally, on our doorstop. Every
year, residents wait to see the little spotted fawns loping along after mama,
stopping to take their first look at us. I always try to stop wherever I am so
that I don’t frighten them into moving out of sight too quickly. Sometimes I
stop soon enough and sometimes I’m too absorbed in my thoughts to notice them
until it’s too late. I watch sadly as they scamper off into the brush out of
sight and promise to be more aware next time.
I have many wild turkeys around where I live, male and female, so I am
privy to the annual mating rituals, among other behaviors. It is pretty entertaining
to watch. At a certain time of the year, the females gather together and refuse
to pay any attention to the males who, at the same time, are now starting their
courting behavior. This includes numerous loud conversations, flapping of
feathers and chasing each other around. I’m not sure whether all the
conflagration has to do with just the other males, with their conflicts over a
particular female, their efforts to show how superior they are to other males,
or some combination of all these behaviors, but it is pretty funny.
They start with unfurling all of their feathers on their tail and
blowing up their feathers all over their chest. They dance around, turning this
way and that, until the red appendage hanging from around their beak inflates like
a balloon. They then emit a very strange sound which is like blowing a bugle
without the horn. I know this for a fact only because last year, as I was
exiting my office, a male turkey who was passing by at the same time, started
performing this ritual. I wasn’t really clear what his intentions were and I,
of course, wasn’t interested since he was the wrong species and I was married,
so after enduring his advances for a few minutes, I shooed him away and told
him to look for something more suitable.
He readily agreed and we both went our separate ways.
Enjoying the wildlife that abounds on the ranch is something that gives
all of us, residents, employees, visitors and driving by people, a great deal
of pleasure. I take great pride in being the third generation here, having the
responsibility of maintaining the landscape you see before you. It isn’t always
an easy job, sometimes requiring calling out the sheriff to cite a trespasser
even if they happen to be a federal government employee such as happened this
week. There is so much misinformation that has been promoted by the news media
and so-called environmental organizations that the beautiful landscapes we all
enjoy are in danger of being destroyed by the very people who claim to know how
to save them.
There are a couple of myths to watch out for and if someone uses these
terms, you can be fairly sure that they have been convinced of its truth. The
first is the concept of open space. When you drive through the Valley and don’t
see any houses, you might have thought that this was open space. You would be
wrong. What you are looking at is active agriculture. While you may not see any
animals right next to the road, there are surely some in the shade under the
trees or up around the corner you cannot see past from the road. Open space is
that land owned by the government, specifically designed to provide a sense of
being away from any developed area for the general public to enjoy.
When government officials refer to land as open space, they are merely
trying to take control of how the land is used from the property owner. There
is also no reduction in taxes when your property is devalued by rezoning or
restrictions on its’ use.
The second big myth is that “cattle grazing” is bad for the land. It
has been asserted for many years that cattle in some way ruin the land by
creating erosion, eating oak trees and spoiling the soil with their manure.
What the uninformed people believed was actually the opposite from the truth,
although getting people to know the facts is very difficult to accomplish.
There are a group of surely well-meaning folks in Oregon right now suing to try
to stop grazing on all public lands in that state. Similar efforts have been
going on elsewhere for the past 20 years.
Here’s why this is a myth. Taking cattle off grasslands has failed to
restore native species of plants; in fact, it results in many undesirable
plants taking over. This has been proven time and time again, although it has
not been reported to the public. Without cattle grazing, the fuel load for
fires explodes, creating a very dangerous situation for all areas nearby. Finally, perhaps one of the most overlooked
benefits of grazing is that it improves the land for all species, including
threatened and endangered types as well as all other wildlife.
Developed areas do not enjoy the variety of animals that ranches and
farms do. When areas were specifically set up for conservation and cattle
removed, the Bay checkerspot butterfly left and set up a new home on grazed
land. These are the only remaining populations.
So the next time you are driving down Highways 154 or 246, please thank
those people who work so hard seven days a week to preserve the productive land
you see before you. Think about how they are keeping this land in a state so
that wildlife is comfortable here with feed, water, shade and protection from
development.
Not only do these people create food, fiber and medicine for you, but
they provide the environment for all other species. This is environmentalism at
its best.