Erstwhile Urban Wanderer

July 31, 2009 – Sometimes I feel like one of the few remaining uninfected people in a land overtaken by pod people.

By Dave Eriqat

The other day I overhead a detailed recitation by some parents to their children of the “official” 9/11 narrative. It was like witnessing an age-old fable being handed down from one generation to the next. I listened silently as it was somberly explained in rich detail how the passengers of the one plane that “crashed” prematurely had heroically sabotaged the plans of the hijackers. When one child astutely asked how the people on the plane knew all that was happening elsewhere, the parents deftly explained that as well, attributing the omniscience of the passengers to cell phone conversations with people on the ground, never wondering if cell phone conversations would even be feasible from an airplane, let alone whether the passengers could have gleaned sufficient and accurate information from such brief and confused conversations to have made the momentous decision to immolate themselves.

No question was raised about the minimal quantity of debris on the ground from that “crashed” airplane, nor the absence of a satisfactory impact crater in the ground, both of which suggest the plane was actually shot down in midair, a fact that would completely demolish the official narrative of what happened aboard that flight.

And although the parents described the impact into the Pentagon, once again no question was raised about the lack of sufficient debris to indicate that a large aircraft had crashed into the building. Nor did anyone wonder how an amateur pilot of a small, single engine plane could navigate a huge, ponderous jet airplane in a sharp, 270 degree turn around the Pentagon and then fly it close enough to the ground to clip off lampposts before slamming it into the side of the building.

Nor did any questions arise about how three steel-framed skyscrapers could perform the unprecedented and unrepeated feat of collapsing into a nice neat pile, all due to fire. Nor were any questions raised about all the records pertaining to financial wrongdoing that were conveniently destroyed in the Pentagon and the World Trade Center, one day after the Defense Secretary admitted in front of cameras that $2.3 trillion dollars had gone missing.

It was as if the fable tellers had swallowed the entire “official” narrative, hook, line and sinker.

Yesterday I needed to buy some groceries for a family dinner. I went to my usual small stores first, but still needed a couple of more esoteric items, so I reluctantly went to a nearby major grocery store. From the moment I walked into the place I felt uncomfortable. Aside from the chic, dimly-lit, bar-like ambiance and decorator-designed interior, the more disturbing aspect was the people in the place. Shoppers blithely walked around with an unnerving, perpetually ebullient, Stepford-like demeanor, happily stuffing items costing double or triple what they should cost into their carts. For instance, avocados in this avocado-growing region were being sold for $2.49 each, when they ought to be selling for less than a dollar, and do elsewhere.

Then there was the staff. The checkout clerk finally took time out of her conversation with a customer to notice my exasperated expression at the line that was not moving. Instead of making an effort to move the line forward, she simply directed me with an eerie cheerfulness to the automated checkout machine before resuming her conversation with the customer. Quipping, “You’re talking yourself out of a job,” I picked up my basket of two items and went to the automated machine, bewildered at her apparent eagerness to undermine her own future welfare. Were I in her position, I would never usher people to my robotic replacement.

I hear repeatedly on the mainstream media how the “recession” is over. Hooray! Sales of everything are down; corporate income is falling; personal income is falling; tax revenue is falling; houses and commercial buildings are being boarded up; real unemployment is in the neighborhood of 20%; the stock market is showing signs of being in a wishful thinking bubble again; the U.S. dollar is on the precipice of collapse; industry is still fleeing this country at a torrid pace; the government is doing everything it can (e.g. “Health Care Reform”) to undermine any prospect for a “recovery.” These cheerleaders must be seeing a tiny bounce in a single data point and declaring the “recession” to be over. I take a broader view. On the other hand, witnessing people the other day spending money at Legoland as if it were board game money, maybe they are buying all this “ding, dong, the recession is over” spin. I myself would never have paid even the half price for admission I did pay were it not for the supplications of my eight year old nephew. Who can resist such an appeal? But the still outrageous, half price sum of $32.50 I spent to get in was small change compared to the hundreds of dollars spent by some of the families visiting the park for a single day’s amusement.

Despite the crippling cost, Legoland does have some worthwhile charms, such as these detailed and accurate models of cities made entirely of Legos

Imagine my astonishment today at being characterized as insane in this video produced by the very same mainstream media that promotes the fantasy that the “recession” is over. The above video succinctly underscores the chasm that separates me and others like me from the pod people. Instead of debating the facts, these pod people simply dismiss us free thinkers as lunatics for not embracing the official story lines.

Does anyone think anymore? Are people in denial, as if pretending that all is normal will make it so? Have drugs, legal and illegal, processed food, materialism, consumerism, crappy entertainment and a gutted “educational system,” all promoted by a fascist duopoly of corporations and government finally succeeded in creating nation of brain-dead sheep? I have little doubt – and considerable fear for myself – that these pod people will happily and dutifully extend their arms when ordered to submit to the government’s coming mandatory flu vaccination program.

As Oscar Wilde put it, “A man who does not think for himself does not think at all.”

Update – 2 August 2009

I ran across this quotation that seems so appropriate for this post.

We’ll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false. – William Casey, CIA Director (from first staff meeting, 1981) [Source]

Most of the people I interact with on a daily basis have a world view that’s 180 degrees opposite my own. Either they are wrong, or I am. Obviously, I think I’m right.

Update – 4 August 2009

This magazine cover succinctly summarizes the concerted opinion of the mainstream media. I hope the pod people aren’t buying it, but I suspect that if the MSM continues to browbeat them with this drivel the pod people will succumb to it and do something stupid, like borrow more money in order to “consume” something they don’t need, such as their next “clunker” automobile.

In all fairness, the cover does include a fine-print caveat which reads, “Good luck surviving the recovery,” but the primary message is “The recession is over!” I wonder how they’ll spin this absurdity a couple of years from now. Perhaps they’ll attribute the error of their wishful optimism to a “double-dip recession,” which, of course, nobody saw coming. For more honest insight on today’s economy, read this article.

July 22, 2009 – The government finally does it: It establishes a tax on being alive.

By Dave Eriqat

Tax On Being Alive

This morning I skimmed through the entire 1017-page bill known as H.R. 3200, which I’m sure is more than did most of the congress people who voted for the bill. All I can say is, oh my god! This is a sweeping, disastrous piece of legislation that is more appropriately described as a back door route to totalitarian dictatorship!

What they failed to achieve with the two Patriot Acts, they will accomplish under the guise of “health care reform,” and that’s what I call “change you can be terrified of.” Yet, while the Patriot Acts were ostensibly aimed at terrorists, this new law is aimed squarely at U.S. citizens who have done nothing wrong, transforming those citizens who don’t wish to participate in this totalitarian health care regime into de-facto criminals.

This new law essentially establishes for the first time, a tax on being alive, as those individuals who refuse to purchase health insurance that meets with the government’s approval will have to pay a tax equal to 2.5% of their income. Section titled “Subpart A—Tax on Individuals Without Acceptable Health Care Coverage” [page 167, line 16] reads,

TAX IMPOSED.—In the case of any individual who does not meet the requirements of subsection (d) at any time during the taxable year, there is hereby imposed a tax equal to 2.5 percent of the excess of— [page 167, line 20] [All highlighting here and below is my own.]

Opting Out Is Not An Option

Although titled “America’s Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009,” the bill does not offer the “choice” to not participate, which is the most “affordable” choice for me. I have utterly no desire to have anything to do with the for-profit medical establishment. Should I not have that right in a supposedly “free” country that boasts a supposed “free” market economy? Not according to this bill. Participation is mandatory whether you need or want the health care it offers.

The bill “initiates shared responsibility” [page 5, line 11]. Frankly, I don’t want to be “responsible” for anyone else, only myself. I take care of myself so I don’t require health care, and that’s my version of being “responsible.” The authors of this bill should be more honest and simply say that we are being forced to be responsible for other peoples’ health care expenses, as well as the compensation packages of health insurance industry executives.

New Burdens For Individuals

The bill imposes staggering new information reporting requirements on individuals, businesses and health care providers, such as:

The Commissioner shall establish rules under which an individual determined to be an affordable credit eligible individual would be required to inform the Commissioner when there is a significant change in the family income of the individual (expressed as a percentage of the FPL for a family of the size involved) and of the information regarding such change [page 141, line 2].

In other words, if you are a poor person who starts earning more money, you will be required to notify the government of your increase in income, so that the government can increase your health care premiums. And should you fail to notify the government of such a change, you will be liable for back payment of any premiums you should have paid.

In the case of an individual intentionally misrepresents family income or the individual fails (without regard to intent) to disclose to the Commissioner a significant change in family income under subsection (c) in a manner that results in the individual becoming an affordable credit eligible individual when the individual is not or in the amount of the affordability credit exceeding the correct amount— [page 142, line 14]

This is going to be a bureaucratic nightmare for poor people and a powerful disincentive to working, not to mention hiring. One will be better off becoming, and remaining a ward of the state under this new law. We’re going to have to provide the government with extensive details about our personal lives and finances in order to implement this law. Section titled “SEC. 1173A. STANDARDIZE ELECTRONIC ADMINISTRATIVE TRANSACTIONS” [page 57, line 10] reads,

(D) enable the real-time (or near real-time) determination of an individual’s financial responsibility at the point of service and, to the extent possible, prior to service, including whether the individual is eligible for a specific service with a specific physician at a specific facility, which may include utilization of a machine-readable health plan beneficiary identification card; [page 58, line 5]

…

(C) enable electronic funds transfers, in order to allow automated reconciliation with the related health care payment and remittance advice; [page 59, line 21]

The above goals simply cannot be accomplished without massive, detailed databases and individual identification schemes. We will inevitably be issued ID cards, which like our social security numbers have become, will become de-facto national ID cards. We will no doubt also be required to provide our bank account information, both to determine our “financial responsibility” for this health care monster, and to automate payments.

Section titled “TITLE VIII—REVENUE-RELATED PROVISIONS” [page 819, line 1] provides for extensive disclosure of income tax filing data to the new health administration for the purpose of determining one’s “financial responsibility,” or tax on being alive.

Moreover, we are ultimately responsible for the accuracy of the information provided to the government on our behalf. The bill contains numerous provisions for punitive fines in the event that any of the information on file is incorrect. The bill contains so many paragraphs pertaining to enforcement, audits and penalties on those who fail to pay sufficient premiums, that the primary focus of this bill is clearly on generating revenue. In other words, it’s little more than a massive, across the board tax increase.

The bill weds “health care reform” to the income tax system. We will presumably be required to prove compliance with this foul new law or add the appropriate tax to our income tax return.

Reduced Access To Health Care And Higher Prices

Under this bill, the government will dictate the medical care received and collect premiums (taxes), literally from cradle to grave. Private health care is effectively being outlawed. No longer will a person be able to walk into a clinic, pay a reasonable fee and receive treatment. From now on, all health care providers will have to check with the government first to determine what services a patient may receive and how that person will pay for those services.

The Commissioner shall specify the benefits to be made available under Exchange-participating health benefits plans during each plan year, consistent with subtitle C of title I and this section [page 84, line 5].

There is no possible way the onerous requirements this bill imposes on health care providers can increase the number of such providers, even though increased competition is precisely the prescription called for in order to reduce health care costs, the fundamental problem we face. This bill will accomplish the opposite: fewer health care providers, poorer quality and higher costs.

“Building on current system” [page 4, line 10]. The current system is totally broken. The current system consists of patients who have no incentive to shop around for a good value or regulate their use of health care services, and health care providers who have no incentive to be competitive, all because the insurance companies and governments act as middlemen, paying much of the cost. That is a totally broken model, which this new legislation seeks to enlarge! Since this bill vastly increases the size of the middleman bureaucracy, there is no possible way it can lower costs, since all those additional bureaucrats aren’t going to be working for free.

Ask yourself, since when has any government program failed to achieve the exact opposite of its purported goal? The “war on poverty” launched during the Johnson years has produced more poverty; the “war on drugs” launched during the Nixon years has produced more drugs; the “war on terror” launched during the Bush years has produced more war and terror; no doubt, this bill to improve the health care system will accomplish the exact opposite.

Among other things, this bill is a wet dream piece of legislation for the health insurance industry (see Industry Cash Flowed To Drafters of Reform) by mandating an increase in the number of customers, especially healthy customers who don’t need health care and won’t be filing claims, but will be paying extorted premiums. Yet, as with mandatory automobile insurance, not only will the cost of health insurance increase, but coverage and the quality of customer service will decrease, which is to be expected when a monopoly has a captive customer base and no meaningful competition.

Additional Objectives

The subtitle of this bill reads,

To provide affordable, quality health care for all Americans and reduce the growth in health care spending, and for other purposes [page 1].

“And for other purposes” is the exact same wording that appeared in an ominous bill passed a few years ago to build detention camps capable of housing millions of people. I wonder what “other purposes” the government has in mind.

Perhaps a clue lies in a several-page section titled “SEC. 1310. EXPANDING ACCESS TO VACCINES” [page 498, line 16]. It’s curious that this should be emphasized at a time when there’s so much impetus to inject the entire population with vaccines in order to ward off the hyperbolic threat from bird flu or swine flu, or whatever they’re trying to scare us with. It’s difficult to ascertain exactly what all these revisions pertaining to vaccines actually say because they amend existing laws. My suspicion, however, is that the provisions of H.R. 3200 pertaining to vaccines are aimed at giving the government the authority to force people to take them, while indemnifying the government and its corporate partners from any legal claims made by victims harmed by those vaccines.

In addition, this bill gives the government massive new surveillance authority over peoples’ medical and financial records, while also giving the government the authority to decide what health care we are entitled to receive, regardless of our means to pay for it.

And people thought the recent push to computerize medical records was a benign effort to improve the quality of health care. It was, in fact, a vital prerequisite to the government taking total control over everyone’s health destiny.

Like all other government initiatives, this is a foot in the door to more control in the future. The present bill already contains hints about governing peoples’ lifestyles. No doubt, future versions of it will intensify those intrusions into our personal lives, giving the government the authority to dictate what we eat, how we exercise and who knows what else, all in the name of “health care reform.”

Conclusion

I merely skimmed through the legislation over a period of a couple of hours. I can only assume that there are numerous vile gotchas buried in that tome of a document (see Shock: Check out what’s INSIDE the Healthcare Bill), which seems to be the modus operandi of government today: create legislation so vast, complex and obfuscated that nobody will actually read it word for word, in order to conceal vital details. That was the procedure for the Patriot Acts, the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act (H.R. 1424) and now the “health care reform” bill, all of which taken as a whole place the entire population in a totalitarian headlock.

There is no worse time than right now to impose such an ill-conceived, burdensome bill on the nation. If the intent is to fiscally hobble this country so that economic “recovery” is impossible, this bill will achieve that goal. While this bill might increase access to health care for a tiny segment of the population, it will do so by reducing access to, and the quality of health care for the vast majority of the population, while substantially increasing the cost to them, which is the exact opposite of the purported goal of the bill, which is “To provide affordable, quality health care for all Americans and reduce the growth in health care spending, and for other purposes.”

Update – 22 July 2009

The always awe-inspiring Catherine Austin Fitts has just written a piece that I sense is related to the health care reform initiative passing through Congress. As I mentioned above, the bill seeks to increase accessibility to vaccines. Moreover, the threat from [fill in the blank] flu is being hyped beyond all sanity in order to scare people into submitting to vaccination. Finally, I have long believed that there is a desire among the global elite to reduce the global population and that disease and/or “treatment” for such disease would be an ideal and concealed means by which to accomplish that goal. And as Ms. Fitts points out, if the depopulation process is carried out slowly, it can be profitable as people pay money in a vain quest for a remedy for their terminal disease.

While such a plan sounds utterly preposterous to normal people, the people running the world are by no means normal. They are psychopaths, pure and simple. They would exterminate their entire families without a shred of remorse if it would profit them in some way. Once one understands that fact, nefarious schemes such as described in Ms. Fitts’ piece aren’t so preposterous.

July 19, 2009 – … with no particular destination in mind, sort of like my life. (There are a huge number of photos here, so it may take a while to load.)

By Dave Eriqat

Introduction

I’m not sure if anyone will find this interesting or not. It may be as boring as watching someone’s slide show of photos from their trip, or it may be of interest to people planning a trip to any of these places. I don’t know. It was fun for me to compile, however, because even though I’ve taken many such long trips, I’ve never attempted to document any of them. So this is sort of an exercise for me, which unintentionally sort of morphed into a photographic journal. Finally, all these small photos have larger siblings. Just click on any of the small ones to see the larger version.

Day 1 – June 29

Photos from the San Diego Zoo – I love that rainbow colored lizard. He spends his whole day chasing other lizards off his rock.

I embarked on a little road trip today. Even in this day of dwindling energy and prosperity, I still find it refreshing to take to the road, aimlessly and carefree. Departing San Diego around noon, I felt I’d be able to skate through Los Angeles between the lunchtime and evening rush hours. What a fantasy! I should have recalled that rush hour in Los Angeles runs all day and all night long, merely segueing from intolerable to sanity-taxing during the barely discernible “rush hours.” The only time I can recall getting through Los Angeles without coming to numerous complete stops on the freeway was once about fifteen years ago around three in the morning.

Inching along ten lanes of parking lot for an hour or so gives one plenty of time to ponder some of life’s weighty questions, such as what good is the $300,000 sports car to my left, capable of going 200 MPH, in a mess like this? Or the utility of the gargantuan SUV on my other side, preposterously jacked up three feet off the ground, apparently so it can drive right over mountains. Its dust-free, sparkling detail job belies such speculation, however, suggesting instead that about the closest that hulking SUV will ever get to climbing over a mountain is cresting the Mulholland grade, many miles ahead yet. Then there’s the unfinished skeleton of a massive new building smooshed right up against the jam-packed freeway, so close it could literally topple onto the freeway in a strong earthquake. The irony of more development beside an already over-congested freeway evidently escapes those responsible for such development.

The worst thing about driving through Los Angeles in heavy traffic is the uncertainty of it all. Is the stop-and-go ride going to last just a few miles, or will it persist for sixty miles? Not that one really has any alternatives if they are simply passing through like me. In an effort to address this uncertainty the city has installed computerized displays along the freeway, which kindly inform drivers how many minutes it will take to reach a particular landmark ahead. The only trouble is that they are spaced so far apart that in heavy traffic like this one only passes one of these signs every half hour or so, which doesn’t do much to ameliorate one’s uncertainty. One would think that a city known for glitz, glamor and the movies could come up with a snazzier, more entertaining system for keeping drivers informed, especially since drivers here spend so much time sitting in their idling cars with nothing to do except inhale exhaust fumes. The advertising potential with such a captive audience would easily pay for the capital investment required!

Gaviota rest stop – notice the fog creeping over the tops of the hills

Once one finally emerges from the traffic nightmare, well north of Los Angeles, they find their self in a world that’s almost diametrically opposed to that which they just left, a world of pacific shores, laid back beach living, fog and cool, fresh air. One can feel the stress of the prior madness melting away, even more so after passing the first sign indicating the distance to San Francisco: 394 miles. I’ve always loved this stretch of coast, up around Ventura. I love seeing the signs announcing the distance to San Francisco appearing with increasing frequency, while simultaneously the roads narrow and become less congested, as if inviting one to a special place. Of course, since I lived in San Francisco for many years, those road signs were like welcome home signs to me.

I love the way the oak trees carpet the summer-brown grass hills of central California

Finally able to use the car’s cruise control, I set the speed, leaned back and listened to music as I continued heading north. As the highway zigzags back and forth between the coast and the inland, the temperatures zigzag in concert, from 67 F along the coast, to 95 inland, back to 65 along the coast, back to 85 inland, and finally a cool 64 along the coast again, all the way to San Luis Obispo, my stopping point for the night.

Day 2 – June 30

Departing mid-morning – unlike me, my companion is not an early morning person – we embarked on the long drive east from San Luis Obispo to the eastern side of Yosemite park. It was a scenic drive all the way through the park, save for the haziness in much of Yosemite valley, largely due to deliberate controlled burns of the forest! The myriad tourists, mostly from Europe, didn’t seem to object to the hazy conditions, however. My companion and I, however, were miffed at the lack of picture-perfect crystal clarity, which is possible, especially because the smoke filling the valley was caused deliberately. In the photo below one can barely discern a diminutive Half Dome in the distance.

Water and smoke haze fills Yosemite Valley

I’ve hiked to the top of pretty much all these peaks over the years, including Half Dome. I remember one such hike, when my companion and I were burdened down with heavy backpacks full of food and water, and we saw this ancient guy carrying nothing but a plastic cup. Not only did the guy look to be about a century old, he looked like he was going to keel over any minute. Nevertheless, as we were coming down from Half Dome, here comes this old guy, determinedly trudging up the hill, with his cup. We couldn’t help but admire his fortitude, so we talked to him briefly and he informed us he’d been climbing Half Dome every year for decades, since the 1930s if I recall correctly, using his cup to fish water from whatever stream he happened to encounter. I guess that just goes to show that one cannot judge a book from its cover!

Vernal Fall as seen from the bridge over the river

Seeking to maximize the use of our time, my companion and I took our time driving through Yosemite, stopping frequently to take photographs, even though the conditions were poor for that. We even took a brief walk to Vernal Fall, which is worthwhile – we’ve done it before – but which pales in comparison to the falls we would see the next day. Also, it’s far more enjoyable to hike to the top of Vernal Fall instead of just the base, if one has the time. It’s a scenic hike and there’s a nice pool at the top in which people swim – foolish people, that is. The placidity of the pool above is deceptive, as all one needs to do is get caught up in a little water current, and before they know it they’ll be slipping over the smooth rock edge of the falls.

Our motel in the town of Lee Vining closes its office at 8 PM, after which time I guess one is out of luck with respect to getting into their motel room which they have reserved and paid for. Our dallying in Yosemite valley caused us to arrive in Lee Vining at 7:30 PM, which sounds as though we arrived with time to spare, except that according to the map provided by an online mapping service, our motel was on the opposite side of Mono Lake, almost a half-hour drive from Lee Vining. So we blindly headed off in the direction shown on the map printout, increasingly perplexed and concerned by the steadily diminishing signs of civilization. When we saw a sign announcing the distance to the Nevada border we finally allowed our evidently not-so-common sense to overrule the computer’s map and headed back the way we came. After several failed attempts to call the motel for directions, we finally got close enough for one of our cell phones to operate and got hold of the motel manager, two minutes before the office was to close. The manager sounded amused at our folly, informing us that the motel is right in town, which, as she bemusedly put it, “is only two blocks long.” (I could picture her muttering “Stupid tourists” to herself after hanging up the phone.) Indeed, when we got back to town, there was the motel, plain as day! Our experience demonstrates the peril of blindly relying on a computer for directions.

Day 3 – July 1

Today is the day of our planned twelve mile hike near Tuolumne Meadows. Before heading out, and since my companion was still sleeping, I decided to take a stroll around this town of three hundred some odd people. Away from the highway that passes through town is a serene, pleasant community, which reminds me of so many small towns across America.

The town of Lee Vining is situated at an elevation of around 6,000 feet and overlooks the desolate Mono Lake. Quite honestly, I don’t understand why people think Mono Lake is so interesting, as it is barren and otherworldly. June Lake, a few miles south, is far more beautiful, reminiscent of a miniature Lake Tahoe.

Power shovel from the 1920s

The town of Lee Vining boasts a museum of sorts. Since it was early in the morning and the museum wasn’t open, I didn’t bother to ascertain what kind of museum it was. Besides, I was intrigued by the outdoor displays of ancient mining equipment, especially this power shovel dating from the 1920s. In real life it’s larger than it looks in the photo, as the treads are waist high.

The most moving aspect of this outdoor display was its depiction of a bygone era. Every piece of equipment was proudly emblazoned with the name and place of its manufacture, in most cases cast right into the metal itself: a large cast steel box made by Union Iron Works, San Francisco, 1911; an air compressor made by Ingersoll-Rand, New York; another cast steel box of some sort made by B. F. Sturtevant Co., Boston, sometime after 1901; a motorized pump assembly made by Woodin & Little, San Francisco. Looking at these bygone relics of American industrial strength one could almost hear the din and feel the heat of the steel mills and forges, which, as indicated by the labels on the equipment, resided in the heart of America’s greatest cities. I happen to believe that exciting confluence of blue collar industriousness and white collar culture is what made those cities great to begin with. In place of the wealth producing factories that once existed in our great cities, today we have shopping malls and condo blocks.

Perfectly clear and still conditions – great for photos and hiking

After my wistful tour down America’s past we embarked on our hike, and the conditions could not have been better. The air at the roughly 9,000 foot elevation was cool and still and crystal clear, as evidenced by these photos of a reflective lake, which is actually at an elevation of about 9,500 feet.

Another photo of the same lake

There’s something alluring about water, especially on a long, hot hike. I’ve hiked in places where there was no water to be seen, and one was constantly aware of their declining provision of water in their backpack, always wondering if it would last the entire hike. On this hike, however, we were beside a copious river the entire way, and any concern about having sufficient water for the duration of the trip was nonexistent. We stopped a few times and waded into the water, still somewhat icy even in July. We refilled our water bottles from the river. It was comforting and carefree to know that water was always readily available to us.

River along the trail to Glen Aulin – trees grow on rock islands in the middle of the river

I remember another hike, a 17 mile trek to the top of El Capitan, when I was young and foolish. Between me and my hiking companion we had one apple and one bottle of water each, so by the time we got back from the hike, we were exhausted, dehydrated and starving. It’s a miracle that there wasn’t a Donner Party-type incident during that hike!

Day 4 – July 2

Still weary from the hike the day before, my companion and I decided to forgo another strenuous hike and take it easy. So we rented a motorboat and putted around June Lake, just south of Lee Vining. After returning the motorboat we learned that kayaks were also available and I wished we had rented those instead because they would have complemented the serene ambiance of the lake. Nevertheless, we turned off the motorboat engine periodically and floated placidly in the center of the lake, marveling at the serenity of the place. June Lake is like a little emerald jewel nestled in between a bunch of mountains. While picturesque to the eye, I didn’t feel I could photograph it satisfactorily, so I have no photos of it.

Day 5 – July 3

Leaving my hiking companion behind, I drove from San Luis Obispo to San Francisco, a city I called home for more than a decade. Sadly, the place has changed for the worse. When I moved there in the 1980s it still possessed a funky, friendly, festive yet mellow character. Following the twin housing bubbles of the late 1990s and early 2000s, the place became cold and sterile and clonish, and to a large extent so have the people. Sad to say, the place has lost its unique charm and now it’s just like any other city, or suburb for that matter, the familiar corporate logos just as prominent in San Francisco as in Temecula, a suburban bedroom community where I once lived. The shallow, trendy, materialistic clones one finds in San Francisco today are no different from those one finds in Los Angeles, although today’s San Franciscans would be loathe to admit that. Most of the artists, the musicians, the “different” people that once made the city interesting, have long since departed for cheaper locales.

The huge Morro Rock in the distance – unfortunately, one is not allowed to climb the rock

If one wants a town along the California coast with a bit more character, in terms of both people and architecture, smaller towns like Morro Bay are still appealing. As shown above, Morro Bay is landmarked by the massive Morro Rock guarding the entrance to the bay.

A couple of seals sunning themselves in the weak, fog-filtered sunlight, availing themselves of the convenient sun deck provided by humans

Further up the coast, a few miles north of Hearst Castle is a stretch of beach that the elephant seals are fond of. These creatures can weigh over 10,000 pounds! A decade ago one could walk right down to the beach and sit a few feet from the seals, but I guess the tourist crowds grew to unwieldy dimensions, so now the people are cordoned off with fences, well away from the seals.

Elephant seals napping on the beach, north of San Simeon

Still further north, all signs of human development except the highway disappear, leaving only nature’s beauty to enjoy. Driving along the famous California Highway 1, one feels like they are driving along the edge of the continent, and they are, as shown in the photo below!

California Highway 1 skirts along the edge of the continent

Day 6 – July 4

A town with even more character, Eureka, lies about 250 miles up the coast from San Francisco. It’s a town of about 28,000 people, but feels much larger, similar to the way that Paducah, Kentucky, which has about the same population feels much larger. Eureka has thankfully mostly escaped the curse of redevelopment and still retains a 19^th century feel. Its Victorian style and cool, foggy perch on the Pacific coast always reminds me of a miniature San Francisco. For all these reasons Eureka is perhaps my favorite town in all of California.

The drive from San Francisco to Eureka was exceedingly pleasant, except for a detour around the town of Willits, which was hosting a perfunctory Forth of July parade. Frankly, in the 95 degree heat, the people attending the parade didn’t seem terribly jovial, one of them hurling some sort of epithet at me for attempting to drive through an intersection without stopping, which apparently interfered with his navigating his hulking pickup truck through the same congested intersection from the crossing direction. Evidently he didn’t realize that the highway had been detoured along the route I was driving and the stop signs facing me were covered up, meaning I did not have to stop. I stopped anyway, unwilling to let his less than fraternal attitude and barbed tongue spoil an otherwise pleasant drive.

Further on I stopped at perhaps the most beautiful highway rest stop I’ve ever stopped at, a quiet, heavily shaded, grassy spot, dotted with widely spaced picnic benches. I sat there in the cool shade for an hour, eating lunch, feeding bits of my sandwich bread to the birds and taking photos. Even though it was over 90 degrees outside the rest stop, it was perhaps ten degrees cooler and totally comfortable under the shade of the dense oak and pine trees.

Beautiful, shady rest stop on the way to Eureka

Reluctantly, I departed the rest stop and proceeded toward Eureka. Along the way I happened upon another tree-infested stopping point, Humboldt Redwoods State Park. Standing among these indescribably massive and ancient trees, some of which probably exceed 12 feet in trunk diameter, 200 feet in height and 2,000 years in age, one feels a sense of majestic awe, not to mention insignificance. Think about that, some of these trees – if not these, then certainly the ones in Sequoia National Park – have been around since the birth of Christ. Consider how much human history has elapsed during the reign of these trees.

A medium sized redwood tree along the Avenue of the Giants

It’s impossible to capture in a photograph the massive size of these trees, or the eerily quiet, yet comforting ambiance of being surrounded by them. To provide some scale, I parked my car beside one tree along the aptly named Avenue of the Giants. This tree is actually just a medium sized one; others have trunks nearly twice the width of this one! The branches of these suckers don’t even emerge until at least fifty feet above the ground.

Day 7 – July 5

In my many travels I’ve stayed in a lot of cheap motels, so I’ve come to recognize some common characteristics of them.

Indian-owned motels, which seem to be growing in number, are generally pretty shabby but have good Internet access. Chinese-owned motels are generally well maintained but seem to have poor Internet access. Caucasian-owned motels, which are dwindling in number, tend to be well maintained and have good Internet access, but are pricier. I’m staying in a Chinese-owned motel in Eureka right now and I have to move the table around the room to obtain a wireless Internet connection, which is then spotty at best, sometimes requiring me to tilt the computer on its corner, a form of geek acrobatics.

I mentioned above that Eureka, California and Paducah, Kentucky feel like larger towns than their populations would suggest. Of the two, however, Paducah is the classier town! Ignorant people mis-characterize people from Kentucky as backwoods “rednecks,” but let me tell you, you haven’t seen rednecks until you’ve seen some of the feral dudes around Eureka. Don’t get me wrong, I harbor no ill will toward “rednecks,” whether they hail from Kentucky or California. Actually, I think I’m one at heart, so I feel right at home here.

In a previous post I lamented about the poor kids in Kentucky wasting their money on fireworks the last Fourth of July. Well, while having breakfast in a restaurant this morning I couldn’t help but overhear the guy at the next table talking about how he and his neighbor spent $1,000 on fireworks. Between the two of them they blew up $1,000 of their money! Never mind the questionable wisdom of detonating fireworks over the course of three hours in a densely wooded area such as this. Fortunately, the weather here is almost perpetually cool, damp and overcast, so the vegetation is probably not too combustible.

This afternoon I went on a boat cruise around Humboldt Bay. While I love being on the water under any circumstances, there wasn’t a whole lot to see, especially since the heavy overcast gave everything a dull, gray pallor. It was so cold that when I returned to my motel room I turned the heater on! In July! And don’t think that’s an anomaly either, because I did the same in San Francisco a couple of days ago.

Eureka as seen from Humboldt Bay

Eureka, pleasant though it is, lacks an attractive skyline such as San Francisco’s. Eureka is a working class town, where until quite recently fishing and lumber mills were big business around the area, but those are dwindling today.

Incredibly ornate Carson House in Eureka

As I said earlier, there are a lot of really nice Victorian houses in Eureka, the green one pictured above undoubtedly the finest. It was built by a lumber magnate in 1885 to give his workers something to do during an economic downturn. Supposedly, it took 100 carpenters an entire year to build the house pictured above. Across the street is this fine pink house, also apparently owned by the same man.

Another Carson House

A couple of blocks away is this massive and intriguing yellow house. All of these fine houses are within a few blocks of one another and also near the few blocks of the old downtown that is being gentrified, complete with horse-drawn carriage rides [gag]. Fortunately, our contemporary economic downturn seems to have stalled progress toward gentrifying Eureka, as if we need more art galleries and high end clothing stores anyway. Do people really think such stores improve a town? What is so wrong with keeping things the same?

Magnificent old house

I think our zeal to “redevelop” and “improve” everything is related to our zeal for perpetual economic growth. After all, when people “redevelop” and “improve” towns, what they are really aiming at is increasing revenues, either for their businesses or their government, or increasing asset values, or providing busy work for contractors. One way or another it boils down to increasing wealth, denominated in money terms. People seem only able to think in terms of money anymore, unable to appreciate the value of a town with a unique character, or the value of a place that dependably remains the same, or the value of a quiet place to live, a place that doesn’t constantly beckon money-laden tourists to come for weekend visits. I so love places that shun change and instead strive to remain the same.

Day 8 – July 6

Today I departed Eureka, destined for Yreka. Although the two towns are perhaps only a couple of hundred miles apart, it took me the whole day to drive from one to the other! Aside from my notorious slow driving pace, I deliberately took the slowest but most scenic route and stopped frequently along the way to take in the scenery, smell the fresh air, eat under a shady tree or take photographs.

Road wide enough for about one car, with rock face on one side (left) and sheer cliff on the other (right). Notice the absence of any painted dividing lines. That’s because the road is too narrow for two lanes.

One noteworthy aspect of this drive is the incredibly narrow, windy and treacherous road one has to navigate. As shown in the photo above, much of the road along a fifty mile stretch is wide enough for a single car. Fortunately, however, there’s not a lot of traffic, and one doesn’t see another car for twenty minutes or more.

Chasm along narrow road, river at bottom. It really is as straight down as it appears!

The road is so narrow and riddled with blind curves that one must often slow down to as little as 10 miles per hour when rounding some curves. The average speed along this stretch of road is only about 20 miles per hour. Should two approaching cars meet – it is actually a two directional road – one must find a wide spot and pull over so the other can pass. On one side is a rock face, but on the other side is a chasm varying from 100 to 400 feet deep, straight down to the river below (see photo above). This is sure not a road on which to swerve to avoid hitting a squirrel!

The nicest thing about this route is that it follows the Salmon River most of the time, affording plenty of opportunities to stop under a shady canopy of trees and walk down to the river’s edge.

Salmon River running a bit low

I’ve seen this river higher on previous visits. Perhaps it’s running low because it’s summer. Another appealing feature of this drive is the immense, steep mountains and the dense forests that carpet them.

Dense, lush forests cover the immense mountains of the Klamath Forest

Shortly before stopping at this spot, where ten minutes elapsed before another car came by, I dropped off a hitchhiker that I had picked up. When I picked him up he asked me if he could drink his beer in the car. I said I didn’t care but should a cop come along he’d better hide it. He replied that should a cop come along he was going to jump out of the car! He didn’t elaborate and I didn’t ask him to, but he turned out to be an intelligent and polite person with some interesting knowledge, and was genuinely appreciative of my giving him a ride.

Along the way he regaled me with stories about one friend who went over the edge and survived, floating down the river with a broken leg until he could land; about another friend who went over the edge and wasn’t so lucky; about an entire family that went over the edge and perished, their car still stuck on the rocks somewhere. I must say, his stories helped me focus my attention on the road! He also told me about a hippie commune in the area, which I might actually investigate. I could see myself living in a commune.

Day 9 – July 7

Today I set out to drive from Yreka to Oregon. I had a full itinerary of things to see along the way, including a stop at some property I own in Northern California and a stop at Crater Lake in Oregon, before reaching my destination. Unsurprisingly, I went slower than expected, taking all day to travel some 200 miles.

Iron Gate Lake reservoir

Iron Gate Lake is a water reservoir and the site of a power plant, hydroelectric I presume, and a fish hatchery. It’s about 25 miles northeast of Yreka. Back in the 1970s somebody got the bright idea of carving up the property surrounding the reservoir into large residential lots and selling them. They build dirt roads, put in street signs and lot markers, called the whole thing Iron Gate Lake Estates and waited for the buyers to come. For some reason, however, the place has remained largely undeveloped all these decades, and even today there are only a handful of houses on the hundreds of lots. It almost seems frozen in time, unchanged since it was built, yet it is a remarkably beautiful and serene spot, with a huge reservoir nearby that I believe people can take boats on.

I bought one of these lots back in 2001 and have gone up there about once a year ever since, always marveling at the serenity of the place and longing to build a house there for me to live in. I also thought it would be a good place to grow crops, what with the temperate climate and flat land with soil that looks pretty rich. There’s also a ton of large rocks in the soil – well, actually many tens of tons – that could be used to build a house. Imagine a house built entirely of rocks collected from the land.

View south, my lot in the foreground

From my lot, which resides on the plateau of a good sized hill, I have nearly a 360 degree view of the valley below and the surrounding mountains, including even Mount Shasta to the south.

14,000 foot high Mount Shasta looming behind some nearby mountains

Today it occurred to me for the first time that my own property, which is totally undeveloped, would be a fantastic place to camp! It’s remote, serene, flat, and the climate is temperate. And I could bring my kayak along and go kayaking on the reservoir. So I think before this summer is out I’ll be back up here, camping.

The reservoir is filled by the Klamath River, which looks sort of diminutive as it trickles out of the reservoir, as shown below.

Klamath River as it departs Iron Gate Lake

Although the Klamath River looks diminutive here, up north in Oregon before it enters Iron Gate Lake it looks rather impressive, as shown below.

Klamath River in Oregon

Since it was clearly impossible for me to get to both Crater Lake and my friends today, I decided to stop for the night in the interesting looking town of Klamath Falls, Oregon. The town has a nifty little downtown dotted with fine old buildings dating from at least the 1930s.

Klamath Falls architecture

The town seems like it would be an exceedingly pleasant place to live, offering a mixture of laid back, quiet living, nearby outdoor recreational venues, and some of the trappings of city life. To me, this community design, which prevailed throughout much of America until the advent of the automobile and suburbia in the 1950s, is the most ideal.

Day 10 – July 8

I finally headed toward my friends’ house, two days later than originally planned. I’m normally a punctual person, but when it comes to traveling I have no itinerary – I just go where and when my whim takes me – so scheduling an arrival date in advance is nearly impossible.

Along the way to my friends’ house I stopped at Crater Lake National Park in Oregon. As the name suggests, the lake was created when a volcano erupted 7,700 years ago, hurling almost one hundred times as much matter into the sky as Mount St. Helens – also in Oregon – did in 1980. The resulting caldera of what today is called Crater Lake filled up with water, the most astonishingly blue and clear water imaginable.

Crater Lake, Oregon. Dark patches are from clouds in the sky.

Apparently, the deep, brilliant blue color of the water is due to its clarity and its impressive depth, which averages 1,100 feet, with a maximum depth of 1,900 feet, making it the deepest lake in the U.S. The photo below more accurately depicts the blue color of the water.

Crater Lake shoreline, 1,000 feet below

Even though I spent a couple of hours at the lake, admiring it and relaxing at a lovely, secluded picnic area populated with deer, I could easily have spent several more hours there!

Deer relaxing beside a fallen tree at Crater Lake – the pair I saw seemed unconcerned about my presence

There is a route that leads down to the water’s edge that I would have liked to have taken, and there is also a boat that tours the lake, which I would have enjoyed as well, but it was time to get to my friends’ house. Maybe on the return trip.

My friends live in a rural part of Oregon at a moderately high elevation where the temperature is cool even in the summer. Actually, they live right beside the Deschutes National Forest, where one of my favorite western movies was filmed. I’m hoping to finally see the Rogue River, so beautifully filmed in that movie.

I was disappointed to learn from my friends that they’ve been in a multi-year battle against the local county government – I thought government was supposed to represent the people – which is trying to make life untenable for “poor” people so that it can redevelop the area with high priced homes and tourist resorts. It’s all about money and as far as the government is concerned, better heeled people pay higher property taxes to the government. I really hope we can somehow find our way back to a way of life in which people relearn to value what’s truly important, government represents the people and we all stop worshiping the false idol of money.

Day 11,12 – July 9,10

After spending the night in my friends’ travel trailer – they have no accommodations in their house – they took me out for some sightseeing. They wanted to visit a new archaeological museum that sounded not too far away. So we headed off in the proper direction with little idea how far away it really was. After fifty miles of driving we stopped for lunch and then discovered that the museum was another sixty miles away! I guess we should have carefully consulted the map before departing. Since none of us were all that keen on spending another two hours round trip getting to this museum, we turned around and headed back home.

The trip wasn’t a total bust, however, because on the way back we stopped at Lava Lands National Park, which is pretty interesting. Although the photo below doesn’t adequately capture the scene, the park is a vast landscape of ancient lava flows.

Lava Lands National Park, Oregon – the black stuff is lava

This entire area for a hundred miles around seems to have been a location of considerable volcanic activity. In fact, my friends informed me that they live atop 35 feet of ancient volcanic ash, rendering their soil pretty poor for growing much besides pine trees and scrub brush. Nevertheless, after years of soil augmentation, they now have one of the most impressive vegetable gardens in their area.

The day after our aborted trip to the archaeological museum, we went on another sightseeing trip, this time to the Deschutes River. One appealing thing about this part of Oregon is the abundance of large parks, many along rivers or lakes. There are tons of places to camp and fish and recreate on the water, hungry, aggressive mosquitoes notwithstanding.

Deschutes River, Oregon

While we were enjoying the scenery, my friends decided to try their luck at a little fly casting, hoping to catch some dinner. But not only did we go home empty handed, one of them had their hook snag on an underwater log and lost the hook and lure.

Day 13 – July 11

Getting itchy feet, I reluctantly departed my friends, not entirely sure where I was headed. Staying with my friends – whom I had previously known only via the Internet – for three days I discovered some surprising things about them, and that we had a great deal in common, including a fondness for movies (we even have many of the same movies!), for watching Internet, and even for playing the card game of bridge. Their big dog is just the sweetest creature ever. Besides keeping an eye on my friends’ flock of chickens and rabbits, she loves to give people big hugs and juicy kisses, and most surprising of all, she likes watching movies! She really watches movies, longing for the appearance of canine kin, whereupon she leaps to her feet and attempts to nip at the two-dimensional dogs. It’s terribly amusing to watch, especially since I’m not the one who has to clean all her slobber off the television screen!

After some indecisiveness I decided to revisit Crater Lake because I really want to take the boat tour out to the little island and hike to its peak. But when I arrived at the entrance to the park, without a minute to spare, there was an unexpected fifteen minute line of cars waiting to enter. I expected the weekend to be busier, but I could not afford to wait in this line, so I headed off to find a motel for the night, perhaps to try Crater Lake the next day when I would have more time.

Along the way to my stopping point for the night I happened upon a lovely and fascinating Oregon state park, named Collier State Park. What drew me to the park was its Logging Museum. Now, usually, these roadside “museums” are pathetic, featuring a couple of displays and charging an admission fee to boot. This museum, however, has a hundred or more huge pieces of logging equipment, much of it in good condition and spanning over one hundred years of logging history, from the nineteenth century to the present. It’s utterly fascinating, and totally free! Nevertheless, I gave a $5 donation because it’s such a fine museum.

These enormous wheels, standing as much as 12 feet high were placed under one end of a massive log so it could be more easily dragged by horses, and later by powered tractors. The axle of this one is roughly at eye level.

Some might decry the rapacious practice of logging that we witness today, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Logging can be a totally sustainable activity, as sustainable as growing any other crop, providing us with a steady stream of useful lumber. We simply have to resist the temptation to extract more lumber than nature is capable of replacing. It also seems quite unnecessary to fall old growth trees when several younger trees can provide just as much lumber. Surely we can afford to protect some forests and trees from being logged, if only so we can gape in awe at their majesty.

Tractor that replaced horses. Notice that it’s attached to one of those 12-foot high wheels. Also notice the tractor’s stylish name plate.

One striking thing about this museum, as with the minuscule “museum” in Lee Vining that I talked about above, is that all this equipment was made right here in the U.S. Even though heavy equipment manufacture happens to be one of the few remaining industries in the U.S., I still cannot help but wonder how much of this kind of equipment is made here today. One of the earliest products made by Caterpillar was the tractor shown above.

Collier State Park, Oregon

In addition to the fascinating museum, where I spent over two hours walking around and visualizing these machines operating in the field a hundred years ago, there is a stunning recreational area in the same park right along a river. Unfortunately, Oregon seems to have the worst mosquito problem of any place I’ve ever been! One dare not stand idly in the shade for more than a few seconds, lest they be besieged by not one, but several hungry mosquitoes. One often isn’t even safe in the sunshine because apparently not all the mosquitoes have been taught to respect the “sunshine is off limits” rule.

Day 14 – July 12

I just couldn’t resist the opportunity to explore Crater Lake in Oregon once more. The place is magnificent and that little island in the middle, Wizard Island, is so compelling I just had to visit it. So I departed my motel at seven in the morning and arrived at the parking lot above the boat launch at 8:30. By the time I hiked down to the water’s edge, a steep, one-mile hike down the inside face of the caldera, it was about 9:30, twenty five minutes before the boat was to depart.

I was surprised that there were so many people heading to the island. Our boat, which looked like a small motorboat from the rim of the caldera, was in fact, a 40-foot open boat with a capacity for about fifty people, and it was largely full when we headed for Wizard Island!

View of Crater Lake from the top of Wizard Island. Notice the red volcanic rock in the foreground. The entire island is comprised of various types and colors of volcanic rock.

The peak of Wizard Island even harbors a small caldera of its own! I suppose the island itself was formed from the residual lava spewing from bottom of the surrounding caldera, and when that lava flow ceased, the island developed its own caldera.

This desolate scene is not representative of Wizard Island, which is actually heavily forested. I just liked the starkness of this weathered, dead tree against the lake.

Standing on the peak of the island it’s awe inspiring to realize that just 7,700 years ago the peak of Mount Mazama soared five thousand feet above the rim of the caldera. Today, in place of that towering mountain lies a crater almost four thousand feet below the rim of the caldera. The cataclysmic event that removed roughly nine thousand feet of Mount Mazama, leaving behind a six-mile wide caldera, is impossible to imagine.

After descending from the peak, I took another “trail” to Fumarole Bay. I quote the word trail because practically the entire route was over black volcanic rocks. Any “trail” was difficult to discern, which I proved by losing the trail on the way back. Since I knew the direction to the dock, I simply clambered over huge hills of volcanic rock in the direction of the dock. On the way I stepped on a wobbly rock and sat down most ungracefully, my body coming to rest contorted around a large rock and my camera swinging violently around behind me, but fortunately not striking anything. Even more fortunate, since I was off the “trail” nobody witnessed my clumsiness, so in a sense it never happened.

Incredible blue water of Crater Lake. It really looks like this up close. The astonishing blue color is due to the phenomenal clarity of the water, the clearest of any lake in the world.

Besides the island itself, the boat ride is fantastic, assuming one likes boats, as I do. There are two places I feel truly at home: on a mountain and on the sea, even if it’s just a lake. Today’s trip was doubly appealing, for it involved a boat ride on a lake in the mountains!

It was amusing to watch the people dressed in light clothing – shorts and t-shirts – don more and more clothing throughout the day. Although the hike down the inside of the caldera was pretty hot, the boat ride to the island was cool. Then the hike to the top of the peak on Wizard Island was hot, while the subsequent boat ride was cold, especially since the wind kicked up because of a threatening storm, covering the lake with large swells and white caps. On the speedy ride back to the boat dock – these boats, even though they are forty feet long, can really cook through the water – we were splashing through the swells, the boat was pitching roughly from side to side and the water spray was drenching the passengers. But for the fresh water spray in lieu of salt water, I felt like I was in a Herman Melville novel. By the time we got to shore, most of the passengers had donned all the foul weather gear they had brought along and most seemed frozen from the cold.

After disembarking from the boat we had another hot hike back up the caldera face to the parking lot. I have to say, as one who has hiked hundreds of miles of rugged trails, the trail from the lake back up the caldera face was one of the steepest I’ve ever hiked. In all I hiked only about six miles today and this final leg was only a mile long, but it sure was steep.

It was well worth the time, effort and expense to undertake this mission. It cost $10 to enter the park and another $37 to take the boat to the island, and it took the entire day, but it was well worth it. The island is fascinating, beautiful, quite large and affords fantastic views of the inside of the caldera and the lake that fills it. There is also an interesting Galapagos-type evolutionary phenomenon on the island, a variety of Garter snake that has lost its stripes so that it blends into the black volcanic rock that covers much of the island, thus concealing the snake from the sharp eyes of the bald eagles that also inhabit the caldera.

Picturesque little bay on Wizard Island

There is a surprising amount of flora on the island, considering its isolation. There are relatively dense forests which shade much of the hike to the summit, plus lots of low-lying bushes and colorful flowers. There are birds, squirrels, chipmunks, snakes, a multitude of ants and even spiders. Pretty impressive when one considers that this is an island in the middle of a lake, which is itself totally encircled by the remains of a mountain, and that this ecosystem is only a few thousand years old. I guess it underscores the determination of life to implant itself in every available niche.

The rangers kept positing complicated explanations for the various kinds of animal life on the island. Observing all the trees laying beside the water around the lake it seemed to me that perhaps the animals simply floated over on a fallen tree trunk. Surely that happens at least once every few hundred years, which is all it would take to populate the island.

Day 15 – July 13

Today was pretty uneventful, just a simple drive back to California. I stopped in Susanville for the night, a nice little town of hundred year old buildings and inviting shady, tree lined residential streets. I drove through the Modoc National Forest, which, while not especially pretty, is rugged and remote, situated in the less traveled and drier northeastern corner of California. I did pass the delightful Eagle Lake, about thirty miles northwest of Susanville.

Eagle Lake, California, situated at an elevation of about 5,000 feet

Eagle Lake is not a very large lake – perhaps three miles across – but it looks tranquil and inviting. Unlike Crater Lake, Oregon, which is completely surrounded by formidable walls, one can walk right down to the edge of Eagle Lake and take a swim.

From Eagle Lake I proceeded on to Susanville, but not without a jolt of excitement to rouse me from my late afternoon lethargy. I was driving along admiring the scenery when all of a sudden this large, boneheaded deer runs right out into the middle of he highway and stands there, not fifty feet in front of me. I started to swerve around it when I realized that it was utterly indecisive about which way it was going to run next, so instead I hit the brakes hard. Fortunately, the car stopped on a dime, otherwise, that deer would have been toast and so would my car. I’ll tell you, there is nothing more spooky that those darned deer along the highway.

One of myriad dilapidated houses one sees along these lonely highways

Day 16 – July 14

Today was a torturous drive from Susanville to Bridgeport at elevations ranging from about 5,000 to 7,500 feet.. While I began today’s journey on U.S. Highway 395, I departed that highway pretty early for California Highway 89, on which I drove most of the day. The reason I took Highway 89 was to avoid driving through Nevada, which is the route Highway 395 takes.

Highway 89 winds through innumerable small towns with double-digit populations, which dot the Sierra Nevada Mountains. It also happens to be one of the steepest highways I’ve ever driven, going over several rugged mountains, sometimes seemingly straight over the top when the highway is relentlessly steep for miles at a time. Despite the steep, narrow, windy highway, however, there was no shortage of grotesquely large vehicles, often towing things, plugging it up. How do these people afford the gasoline?

Although scenic, Highway 89 is a maddeningly slow alternative to Highway 395, especially around Lake Tahoe, which used to be a pleasant place to visit, but now, thanks to gentrification, is a human-made hell in a natural paradise. Despite the glorious views of the lake, I did not stop and couldn’t wait to speed past the place and its overabundance of crowds and absurdly large vehicles clogging the roads.

View from the top of Highway 89 – the ridge of the mountain range I just crossed is visible on the right side of the photo

Upon reaching the southern end of Highway 89 I rejoined U.S. Highway 395 and proceeded to Bridgeport, situated in the mountains at an elevation of about 6,400 feet. Since I’m planning to hike in Yosemite again – this time solo – I chose to stay in Bridgeport instead of Lee Vining again for variety and because I thought it might be cheaper. Unfortunately, Bridgeport, like Lee Vining, is desperately trying to turn itself into some sort of chichi tourist destination, complete with “museums,” kitschy hotels and social events geared to attract tourists, so it’s not all that cheap anymore unless one is willing to spend the night in a real dive, like I am tonight. The room I’m staying in is entirely paneled in termite-eaten lumber, has a mirror made from a horse yoke, a rusty can hanging on the wall for decor, and with the exception of a tiny bathroom, lacks any modern conveniences, including a telephone. Were it not for the bathroom, the room, furnished with antiques, looks like one of those depicted in so many western movies, only not quite as nice!

Day 17 – July 15

Today I decided to hike to Mono Pass in Yosemite. It seemed like a pleasant, relatively easy hike and promised to be scenic. I was miffed that the first three miles of the hike were through a dense forest. It might sound perverse to say that because forests are universally appealing, but if one is hiking to see the scenery, having the view totally obscured by a bunch of bloody trees is no fun at all, not to mention all the hungry mosquitoes lurking in the shady forest. I was surprised, also, that the mountain was so heavily forested at this high altitude of 10,000 feet. I’ve hiked other trails in the area at this elevation and the terrain was pretty barren, certainly not densely forested.

After the first three miles, however, the forest gave way to magnificent views, which just kept getting better and better the farther I walked.

Small lake near Mono Pass, Yosemite

The little lake above is one of the first pleasing sights one sees after emerging from the forest. The water, of course, is crystal clear and this particular lake even had easy access and a sandy bottom – most have a rocky bottom. I was so tempted to get in it on the way back, but I figured it would be too cold and I was too weary to go to the trouble. Sigh.

Oddly enough, at Mono Pass itself, 10,599 feet above sea level, one cannot see Mono Lake to the east. One must walk at least another half mile east to see Mono Lake. In addition to seeing Mono Lake, one will also see a beautiful lake, which I believe is called Sardine Lake. It’s an incredibly picturesque scene, the little lake below and Mono Lake in the distance. However, if one proceeds still further east, there are even more lakes, a staircase of them leading down the mountain. All these lakes look so inviting to swim in, but I’m sure the water is cold and most of them don’t have easy access, or they have formidable rocky slopes leading into the water.

View from Mono Pass, Mono Lake on the horizon

The photo above shows what lies beyond Sardine Lake, two more lakes, each lower than the previous one, with Mono Lake about 4,000 feet below, barely visible on the horizon. Looking down from this height, one feels like they are at the top of the world. I can only imagine what it must be like to be atop one of the mountains of the Himalayas.

Despite the crowds, relatively speaking, for this is not a well known trail, this was a fantastic hike, an unexpected jewel. Even the walk back through the forest was better on the way down because I was hot and the shade provided by the forest was welcome. Even the mosquitoes were absent, apparently taking their afternoon naps following their morning feeding frenzy.

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust – notice the young trees growing where the one died

I love the scene of the tree above gradually decomposing back into life-giving nutrients. It makes one appreciate the perpetual cycle of birth, death and rebirth. I wonder how long that dead tree has been laying there decomposing.

Ancient miner’s log cabin

There are a few of these miner’s cabins up here. I guess they mined for gold mainly. I could see me living in such a place. I wonder how difficult it would be to renovate this cabin. Not only is the location pleasant, but look at the view below from this cabin’s front door.

View from miner’s log cabin

This was a most satisfying hike, so much so that I didn’t even mind returning to my hovel back in Bridgeport. It ended up being about ten miles in length and without any severe elevation changes.

Day 18 – July 16

Since I was going to drive right past Yosemite again, and since I was pretty well recovered from yesterday’s hike, I figured I might as well take another hike on my way. So I decided to revisit a hike I took about ten years ago, not actually inside Yosemite park, but sort of “across the street.” Today’s hike, like yesterday’s, would be at elevations of 10,000 feet and above. Besides the thin air at these elevations, the sun seems more intense, a fact I forgot about yesterday and ended up getting a little barbecued.

My first impression upon arriving at Saddlebag Lake, where I was to begin my hike, was that it was immensely more popular than the last time I was here, thronging with tourists. Nevertheless, I embarked on my hike, walking the first mile beside the lake over hard rocks. It was punishing to the feet and the mountain to my side was intensely reflecting the hot morning sunshine. Needless to say, it wasn’t a very pleasant hike, just like the last time I did it.

When I got to the other end of the lake, I ran into my first conundrum, a fork in the road. Taking the left fork I proceeded across this incredibly wet, marshy area and was absolutely besieged by mosquitoes. I take back all the bad things I’ve said about mosquitoes everywhere else I’ve been because these were by far the worst. Every couple of seconds, three or four would land on me to partake of my blood. My hands were constantly flailing about shooing off the mosquitoes. Every once in a while one would hit paydirt as I felt his little sucking nozzle penetrate my skin. I really hate mosquitoes – they remind me so much of politicians. Along the way I ran into a couple of seasoned fishermen who were bugging out of the area on account of the mosquitoes.

As I got nearly to the other side of the marshy area I decided I was going the wrong way. The route the trail was taking me didn’t look promising, nor did it look like the trail I took once before. So I turned around and made my way back across mosquito marsh! By the time I got back to the fork in the road, I was about ready to call it quits, solely on account of the mosquitoes, but I thought that if the trail dried out some, maybe the problem would be mitigated. So I took the right fork this time and immediately proceeded up to a drier part of the trail. Actually, “drier” is relative because the entire trail was remarkably wet. Much of the trail was muddy or marshy and there was flowing water everywhere. In addition, in one place a fresh pond blocked the trail, forcing a detour around the pond. In two other places, several hundred foot long patches of snow, five feet deep or more, blocked the trail and one had no choice but to walk across the slippery snow, with sharp rocks waiting eagerly below. And then there were lakes everywhere. I don’t think I was ever out of sight of some lake. Needless to say, all this abundant water was heaven to the mosquitoes, which continued to hound me the entire day, although not as badly as at mosquito marsh.

Even though winter ended over two months ago, all the leftover snow is producing tremendous water flows as it melts, feeding the small brooks crisscrossing the landscape on their way to filling the abundant lakes. Most of the snow will probably be melted by October, just in time for winter to begin anew.

Small pond along the Saddlebag Lake trail

All the lakes and rivers and streams were quite scenic, but the entire hike was diminished because of the mosquitoes. I barely stopped along the trail because if I stopped moving they would pounce on me. By comparison, yesterday’s hike was so pleasant. I stopped here and there for long periods of time, never worried about the darned mosquitoes.

Look at all the water, flowing, standing

The photo above shows a fairly typical scene along this hike, with water everywhere – flowing water, standing water. It’s no wonder the place is so green and infested with mosquitoes. I must have seen fifteen lakes, some as large as half a mile long, and I never even saw the lakes I came to see.

That was the most disappointing thing about his hike. I could not find the trail I took a decade ago. The route I took today was much more rugged and steep than the trail I took long ago, especially near the end where one has to climb more than 500 feet up a steep, totally rock-covered slope. Moreover, the trail I took today didn’t lead me to the lakes I specifically wanted to see, which was extremely disappointing. I don’t know where I went wrong. Yosemite trails usually have good signs pointing the way to places. This hike today, however, was not in Yosemite and definitely suffered in the signage department. It’s also possible that the trail I took once before was submerged under so many lakes, because I don’t recall seeing anywhere near as many lakes then as I did today. Who knows, maybe I’ll go back someday and try again.

There were an astonishing variety of tiny, colorful flowers along the trail, frequently found valiantly protruding from a little crack in a rock. Looking at the broader landscape, one does not see flowers. However, if one looks closely along the sides of the trail, brilliant, hardy little flowers become apparent.

Incredible variety of tiny, hardy, colorful flowers

All in all, today’s hike was a disappointment, at least compared to the other two stunning hikes I took recently in Yosemite. I did end today’s hike on a positive note, however, by taking the boat instead of hiking! After a disappointing day, I did not relish the final mile long walk back over the rocks beside Saddlebag Lake, so I took the water taxi instead, which zips back and forth between the ends of the lake. It was a most enjoyable way to end the hike.

Day 19 – July 17

After my hike at Saddlebag Lake yesterday, I drove to Pig Pine, California, in preparation for a stopover in Las Vegas today. The lady at the motel asked me if I was planning to visit the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest, residing within the Inyo National Forest. I said I was not, but when I found out it was on my way to Las Vegas, I decided to stop there after all.

The drive along California Highway 168 is one of the most grueling, steep and winding drives I’ve ever been on. One can only travel about 30 miles per hour on that highway, unless a huge tractor-trailer rig going 15-20 miles per hour is in one’s way. Fortunately, it’s only about twelve miles until one reaches a plateau where one leaves the highway to head to the Bristlecone pine forest, another ten or more miles of steep climbing ahead! The rate of ascent up this mountain is simply astounding, the 1,000 foot elevation markers passing by every few minutes, taking one from the 4,000 or so foot elevation of the valley up to the 10,000 foot summit of the mountain where the Bristlecone pines live. One feels as if they are ascending Mount Olympus. The decrease in temperature as one goes up in elevation is most welcome as well.

View from about 9,000 feet elevation – I believe the dark green patch on the valley floor to the right is Bishop, California, about a mile below

Even though these mountains are nearly as high as those I hiked in Yosemite, the terrain is markedly drier and harsher, showing no trace of water on the ground, save the green vegetation.

Arriving at the top of the mountain, driving in second gear (out of six) most of the way because of the steepness, I parked and walked briefly through the Bristlecone Pine Forest. I would have walked the entire loop mapped out, but I didn’t want to spend the two hours it would have taken. Plus, I was concerned by a warning sign taped to the temporary visitor center. It said marmots had recently chewed up the hoses and belts of a parked car, necessitating its being towed for repairs, whereupon marmots were discovered hiding under the hood! I know from past experience that critters – particularly rats – really do like to chew on hoses and belts and wires, so I took that warning quite seriously, especially since I have frequently seen marmots in these mountains. So I didn’t want to leave my car unattended for several hours on account of the threat of marmot vandalism.

Bristlecone Pine Forest

The Bristlecone pine trees are somewhat distinct from other pine trees, with long, slender, needle-covered branches, reminiscent of bottle brushes, if one knows what one of those looks like anymore. And these needle-covered branches are surprisingly soft and supple to the touch. What distinguishes these trees above all is their incredible longevity of over 4,000 years. That’s even older than the giant Sequoias, which are as much as 3,000 years old. Some of these Bristlecone pine trees are older than the pyramids in Egypt, and still alive. It’s truly humbling to be in the presence of such old creatures. Bristlecone pines are among the few plants that seem to thrive in this rugged and dry climate, which I suppose explains why they live so long. They are hardy plants.

After checking my car’s belts and hoses for marmot teeth marks, I drove back down the mountain, still in second gear to avoid picking up speed. The way up isn’t as menacing as the way down because on the way down one travels right along the edge of the mountain, where a single second of inattention could send one plummeting many hundreds of feet down the steep mountainside. I would like to return to this place and hike some of its lengthy, rugged trails. I just didn’t have time today.

On the east side of the mountain the terrain and climate become considerably less hospitable. The conditions are noticeably more barren and hot and dry. Along the lonely highway in Nevada I ran across some honest-to-goodness archaeological ruins, the former silver mining town of Palmetto.

Palmetto ruins in Nevada

Established in 1860s, the town was disbanded in 1906 when the silver mines were played out. At its peak the thriving town boasted 200 miner’s tents.

A bit further on, about 30 miles north of Las Vegas, the hot, barren, inhospitable landscape was strikingly different from the lush, water-covered landscape I was used to in Yosemite.

Rugged and dry Nevada desert

Where I stopped to take the above photo it was 112 degrees Fahrenheit, which I thought was unbearably hot. I didn’t know the meaning of the word ‘unbearable’ until I reached Las Vegas, where it was 123 degrees in places! I didn’t think Las Vegas could get that hot, but here’s a photo I took while sitting in Las Vegas’ gridlocked traffic. It’s my car’s dashboard information display, showing the outside temperature at 121 degrees!

Now that’s what I call hot!

Between the unbearable heat and the more unbearable traffic, I aborted my plans to linger in Las Vegas for a couple of days, and instead headed to San Diego. Along the way I performed my good deed for the day by picking up a guy who ran out of gas on the freeway, driving him to the next town, giving him a bottle for gas, buying him some gas and driving him back to his car. The whole thing cost me an hour and a few bucks, but I hope he got his act together.

The temperature remained well over 100 degrees until I stopped for the night at about 10 PM near Victorville, California, where my maternal grandparents lived for many years and are now buried.

When I was a kid we used to travel there every few months and it was a dusty backwater of a town. For kicks we used to play along the railroad tracks, waiting for a train to come along so we could have it smash a penny for us. Today the town is a victim of the contagious growth disease affecting most towns, with shopping malls and housing developments sprouting up everywhere, along with the concomitant traffic nightmares. Incredibly enough, many of the people who bought houses in Victorville recently actually work in, and commute to Los Angeles, over a hundred miles away! I suppose, given the state of the economy and the housing industry, that trend here in California has been mostly arrested.

Upon entering my motel room, pretty weary after driving twice as far as I had planned, I had to don another cap, that of bug exterminator. Small beetles, about half an inch long, were pouring through the gap between the door and the door jamb as if I were in some sort of horror movie. I sent 50 or so of the buggers to the happy hunting ground in the toilet, but they just kept coming. So I stuffed towels under the door and toilet paper into the gap between the door and the door jamb. That at least prevented more beetles from coming into the room, but there were still a few dozen beetles unaccounted for and hiding in the room. Every now and then one would foolishly poke its head up from its hiding place, usually a piece of electronic equipment, and then it was off to the “pool” for a final swim. I even woke up in the morning with one sleeping next to me in bed. (I didn’t ask whether it was male or female.) When I checked out, the staff asked me how was my stay. I replied that it was fine except for the beetle infestation. The staff shrugged and said, “Oh, that’s normal for this time of year.” It’s not normal for me.

Day 20 – July 18

I arrived in San Diego midday, sad that my trip was over, as I could do this forever. In all I traveled 3800 miles – less than some past trips – and spent about $1,600 for everything, not bad for nearly three weeks of travel.

I went on this trip looking for some sort of divine inspiration, which I failed to find. However, the trip was very enjoyable and relaxing, and I did have a revelation of sorts, that I would love to be a park ranger. Spending my days up in the rugged mountains, among forests and rivers, helping people to enjoy their visits sounds like a most satisfying occupation. I would do it for room and board alone.

One observation that kept baffling me was the large number of people eager to part with considerable sums of money: on gasoline while driving their huge vehicles and towing their enormous toys; on overpriced hotel rooms and overpriced restaurants; and on high entrance fees to attractions. I know the state of the economy from the numerical data and simple empirical observation of all the boarded up and “for sale” businesses I saw everywhere, and it’s bad, yet one would not get that sense from the bustling crowds of people everywhere.

What I concluded is that while demand for such recreational diversions may have fallen as the economy has deteriorated, so has the supply – exemplified by all the boarded up businesses – so the smaller number of remaining businesses are doing just as much business as before, if not more. Another observation was that most of the tourists going to places such as Yosemite were foreigners who benefit from the low value of the U.S. dollar relative to their own currencies. Sitting in a restaurant in Lee Vining, for instance, I thought I was in Europe, as European languages were being spoken at every single table around ours.

I suppose not everyone can take a trip like I took, totally free to go where they want, when they want, with no preplanned agenda. It requires a certain freedom from responsibility, which I happen to enjoy at the moment, as well as a willingness to be flexible and adaptable, unless one is willing to spend a ton of money, which I am not. However, I highly recommend such trips – I’ve taken many, and for longer lengths of time than this – because they are immensely relaxing and rejuvenating.

July 7, 2009 – The answer is emphatically YES!

By Dave Eriqat

I’m sort of on vacation at the moment, which ought to be a time for discarding one’s cares and relaxing. Yet things are happening around us at a frightening pace and weighing heavily on my mind, even high up in the mountains.

What I’m seeing is a seemingly organized, determined push by the powers-that-be to tighten the noose around all our necks. And I’m not talking about some date in the future. I’m talking about right now! Today!

Control Over Our Movements

The TSA already controls our movements via airplanes, whether our destination is an international or domestic one. There is a general trend toward implementing the same sort of controls used in air travel in other forms of travel, including trains, ships and buses.

Consider, too, that our ability to travel by private automobile (or motorcycle) is, and has long been tightly controlled by the government. But that control over automobile transit is about to become even more oppressive with the Real ID Act, slyly reincarnated as the PASS ID Act. This act will turn driver’s licenses into national ID cards and give the government and its myriad “terrorist” databases a say over who can drive a car.

Recently, too, it has become necessary to present a passport to cross the borders with Mexico and Canada, after many decades of being able to cross those borders relatively freely. Oddly enough, there seems to be little enforcement against Mexicans crossing into the U.S.; only of American citizens leaving the U.S.

Our movements are constantly monitored, by various means. Anyone who travels by air surely has database records created in their name recording their every movement by air. All those fast-pass devices people use to expedite crossing bridges and utilizing carpool lanes also generate database records of peoples’ movements. Cell phones can apparently be used to track people. And, of course, there is increasing pressure to use RFID chips to tag pets and people, and supposedly these chips can assist in tracking peoples’ movements. Then there are the automobile license plate cameras which are being employed in some places, notably New York City, which also create database records of peoples’ movements.

Control Over Our Food and Water

There is a bill pending in Congress to give the federal government control over all the water in the United States, states’ rights and property rights be damned. Judging from its wording, this bill would even give the federal government control over private drinking water wells and ponds.

Then there are two draconian bills pending in Congress related to controlling our food supply, in addition to the already implemented National Animal Identification System (NAIS).

Control Over Our Health

There is an effort underway to move everybody’s medical records into computerized databases, accessible nationally. In all likelihood, the primary impetus for this effort is not patient care, but surveillance, for it gives the government and its corporate partners a peep hole into the intimate details of one’s health.

In order to control peoples’ health, there is a simultaneous effort underway to establish a national health care system. However, the proposed approach – forcing everyone to purchase health insurance – does nothing to address the root cause of the health care problem, which is high health care costs. What mandatory insurance does is generate profits for the government’s fascist business partners in the health care sector. What this proposed new system also does is give government control over peoples’ access to health care, which meshes neatly with the proposed surveillance system mentioned above.

Going forward, the government will be able to see every medical procedure a person has had, how much they’ve paid, whether they are voluntarily paying a stipend to the health insurance industry or they are recalcitrantly submitting to the government’s penalty for not buying such insurance, and decide what sort of care to mete out to the patient.

I also happen to think one of the reasons the government wants to establish this nationwide database of medical records is to be able to easily survey the entire populace in the event of some sort of health crisis, such as a “swine flu” pandemic, and observe the health reaction to the government’s mandatory vaccine regime.

That’s another aspect of this national health care push: to establish a framework in which to administer mandatory vaccines to the populace, regardless of whether those vaccines are effective, safe or even necessary. Why? To produce profits for the pharmaceutical firms that manufacture vaccines. And also to induce illness in healthy people – and I really do believe that’s one of the objectives behind mandatory vaccinations. How ironic that the same government that prohibits us from taking certain drugs will end up forcing us to take other drugs.

Control Over Our Money

For a long time the government has spied on our purchasing habits. The explosive growth in the use of credit cards has greatly simplified this surveillance. But in addition to simply spying on our spending habits, the government also determines whether we can even open a bank account. When one attempts to open a bank account today, the clerk setting up the new account has to check with the government for permission. This check is done online and right in front of the customer, who is probably unaware that it’s being done. And even after one has obtained permission to set up a bank account, the government can easily freeze the funds in it or even withdraw money from the account!

The government, in conjunction with the Federal Reserve, controls the value of the money itself. Even if one is a frugal saver, the value of their money is under the control of the government.

Should the economic problems grow so severe that the government cannot cope with them any longer, as a last resort it can easily impose capital controls to prevent the movement of money in or out of the country.

Finally, it’s routine today for government to simply confiscate money from people whom it deems have “too much” money on their person or even in their own home. It is simply presumed that the money is ill-gotten (such as through dealing drugs) and confiscated.

Control Over Our Communications

Many forms of communications, especially telephone, e-mail and even postal mail, are routinely spied on by the government. How is it that all these uppity politicians are “taken down” at opportune times when they become too much of a threat to the government? Isn’t it possible that politicians are frequent targets of the surveillance people, precisely to accumulate “dirt” on them for later use? And what about the rest of us? It has recently been admitted that the “illegal” NSA surveillance of telephone calls and e-mails was much more widespread than previously admitted, even encompassing purely domestic communications. Well, duh! Did anyone ever believe that they confined their activities only to communications between “terrorists”? One of the problems with government, one that naive people cannot seem to wrap their brains around, is that if government has toys and laws, it uses them, legally or otherwise. Government does not create laws and toys and then fail to make use of them.

The Internet, the most free and egalitarian communication system ever devised, has been under increasingly frequent assault, both from the government and from its corporate partners. It’s only a matter of time before the Internet becomes heavily controlled on a daily basis, but should an acute need arise to shut it down entirely, it can easily be done. In fact, another law giving the president the legal authority – the technical means already exists – to do just that is also pending.

Similarly, if need be, the entire cell phone network can be shut down with the flick of a switch, which is also under government control. Ditto for the land line telephone system. The government also controls the television and radio broadcasting systems, primarily through regulatory agencies such as the FCC, and can shut down those systems instantly if it desires to.

Interestingly, the FCC recently published a statement asserting its right to inspect anyone’s radio equipment, including the radio devices we use every day, such as wireless networking in our homes, cell phones, garage door openers, even automobile remote door locks. Anything pertaining to radio transmission is under the purview of the FCC, according to it. Personally, I think this is a thinly veiled end run around the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution. One reason I say this is that firefighters are also being trained to be the eyes and ears of the DHS, another quasi-violation of the Fourth Amendment, especially in cases where firemen insist on inspecting a home or business to ensure it’s up to code.

Control Over Our Houses

As if all the above weren’t enough, now the government is proposing to take even more control over our very houses. The climate bill being digested by Congress would apparently give the government control over whether people can even sell their house. If their house doesn’t measure up to the government’s energy efficiency standard, then it cannot be sold until it’s brought into compliance. Frankly, I think this provision violates the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution.

Of course, the government won’t stop there. Government power works on the principle of incremental advancement, sometimes called mission creep. Once the government establishes the precedent of deciding whether one’s house is energy efficient when it’s being sold, it will expand that control over the house while it’s being occupied. In other words, we’ll have to submit to annual inspections of our homes and comply with the government’s demands to make improvements. But why stop there? Why not an annual environmental impact audit by the government? Too many old cars on your property? They gotta go. Too many animals? Too much hardscape? Too much grass? You get the idea.

I believe this home energy efficiency inspection is secretly intended to benefit the housing industry. There are many, many old houses that cannot possibly be brought into compliance cost effectively. (I used to own one that was over a hundred years old.) Since they cannot be sold, they will simply be torn down, decreasing the supply of houses and driving more people to the home builders to buy a new house, which will undoubtedly pass the inspection, at least until the buyer attempts to sell it. Then a whole slew of new appliances will have to be purchased to bring it into compliance. How fortunate for the appliance industry.

If this sounds overly cynical, consider that we don’t have “free” markets anymore, if we ever did. Every single market in this country is either dominated by monopoly interests or manipulated by them or the government, as if there is much distinction between the two anymore. We have contrived markets in this country, contrived to encourage consumption, the lifeblood of our economy. (Where is the “free” in a health care system that forces people to buy health insurance? That’s neither a free market nor a free political system.)

And not to forget the elephant in the room, the government is now the owner of roughly half the houses in the country that have a mortgage. Since Fannie and Freddie own about half the mortgages in the country, and since the government now effectively owns Fannie and Freddie, the government in effect owns half the houses in the country with a mortgage.

Control Over Our Thoughts

One more disgusting bill moving through Congress’ digestive tract is the odious hate (thought) crimes bill, which lays the foundation for increasing control over our very thoughts. Of course, since Americans are the most heavily medicated, fluoridated, and fast food intoxicated people on the planet, it could be argued that they are already under a form of pharmacological thought control. And don’t overlook the abysmal public school system, which despite spending more money per pupil than any other school system on earth, still manages to produce some of the most ignorant students on earth. Needless to say, people cannot think properly can hardly lay claim to controlling their thoughts.

It’s no wonder that the government keeps releasing report after report describing the people who constitute a terrorist threat, or as the government has taken to calling such people, an “extremist.” Anyone who thinks for their self is a grave threat to any tyrannical government. Don’t believe me? Will you believe the consummate tyrant, Joseph Stalin, who said,

Ideas are more powerful than guns. We would not let our enemies have guns, why should we let them have ideas.

Control Over Our Guns

The last resort for people wishing to resist government tyranny is armed rebellion. That is the very reason for the existence of the Second Amendment of the Constitution, and why the government is so intent on taking away all our guns. At first it will target only “assault rifles,” but over time – remember, mission creep – the list of banned guns will be steadily expanded until all guns are on the list. Right now there are half a dozen initiatives aimed at controlling our access to guns. The writing is clearly on the wall. Knife control is next and already begun.

Conclusion

Every single aspect of being alive as a sentient being is under the control of the government. Today! Right now! We are living under an increasingly oppressive, tyrannical, totalitarian dictatorship, right now!

As I see it we have three choices right now: 1) leave the country for one less tyrannical; 2) revolt against the government; or 3) curl up in a ball and submit to the government’s will.

I suppose a case could be made that there’s a fourth option: that the economic collapse heading toward us – we’re in its incipient stages right now – will be so disruptive that the government’s best laid plans will not be enforceable. Time will tell.