By John Seiler

In a column, George Will waxes nostalgic about the Golden State of the 1960s, whose theme song was the Beach Boys’ “Good Vibrations.”

We’re long past that and need a new theme song for the rapidly decomposing Pyrite State. Here it is, from another great California band, Metallica. Turn up the volume.

I haven’t noticed the earth quaking. Or thousands of Californians being washed out to drown in the Pacific Ocean, the way Japanese were after their recent earthquake-tsunami.

But just a couple of weeks ago Gov. Jerry Brown was demanding that, if his $12 billion in tax increases wasn’t put before voters in June, California would suffer disaster.

Here’s government cheerleader/tax obsessive/columnist George Skelton writing on March 10:

Gov. Jerry Brown has a scenario for what happens if Republicans refuse to place his tax proposal on a June ballot: California becomes Armageddon.

That’s my word, not his. His characterization is uttered first in Latin, then translated: “It’ll be a war of all against all.”

Well, here we are and I haven’t noticed even one Californian fighting a war against me, let alone “all” 37 million Californians.

The dirty little secret government functionaries like Brown and their hangers-on like Skelton won’t tell you is this: Government apparachiks can’t survive without us, but we can survive quite nicely without them.

It’s the taxpayers who are the host for the parasite government. Without us, they would shrivel and die.

But if we get rid of the government, we would feel as good as a man ridding himself of a tapeworm.

There is nothing government does that couldn’t be done better — and much, much cheaper — by the private sector: schools, firefighting, water, charity for the poor (which the government brands “welfare”), health care, even police protection.

Without government, we would all be as happy as the Beach Boys singing “Good Vibrations”:
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— “Sweet Virginia,” by The Rolling Stones

NOV. 23, 2010

By JOHN SEILER

California has a lot of problems, with the budget, unemployment and all. But with Thanksgiving this week, I thought I’d list some of the things to be thankful for living in California.

* Weather. I’ve lived in a number of other states and visited Europe and Mexico, and no place has weather as good as California . I’ve also talked to airline pilots who fly all over the globe, and they say the same thing. Even other areas with a similar Mediterranean climate, such as Chile, Southern France, Greece, and parts of Australia, while close to the balmy weather of California, don’t match it.

* Almost no hurricanes. If you live in Florida, New Orleans or one of those places over there, every couple of years a hurricane destroys your house. California does have hurricanes, but not many.

* Celebrities. Ellie May of The Beverly Hillbillies was standing outside my Church in Huntington Beach a couple years ago, but left before I could get her autograph. In real life she’s the beauteous Donna Douglass. You don’t see stars like that back in Bug Tussle.

Other celebrities I’ve seen in Southern California include Bo Derek and Jane Russell, a 10 and an 11. They were at Republican functions I reported on.

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Where was I? Oh yeah.

And when I was working at the Orange County Register, we met Arnold Schwarzenegger, who certainly had star power, although even back then in 2002 and 2003 I disagreed with his policies.

A special treat was when Moses stopped by the Register for a long chat about anything — Charlton Heston, that is. It was before he got involved with the NRA. He liked our editorial page and wanted to talk to us. I got an autograph for my Mom, which she really enjoyed.

* Cutting-edge industries. Silicon Valley still propels the computer world. And the area around Irvine is the world’s creative center for medical devices.
Here’s that great 1984 ad introducing the Macintosh and which typified Apple’s, and California’s, creative spirit:

* Great technical universities. As with most schools in America, the humanities departments at most universities and colleges have been destroyed by “deconstructionism,” cultural Marxism and other anti-human fads. But the technical departments — biology, physics, medical school, computers, etc. —  are among the best in the world. Competition is tough and tuition is rising. But if your kid is smart enough, he doesn’t have to go out of state to get a great education.

Some economics departments, like that at Chapman University, also are excellent.

* Wine. Nowadays you can get California wine in many areas of the world. Gotta love that global economy. But many of our 1,200 wineries distribute only locally; or it’s hard to get them elsewhere. And in California, you can visit the local wineries that keep dropping like ripe grapes from a vine.

The Wine Country is the most famous. But I recently enjoyed a tour of the wineries in Temecula Valley, just an hour east of Orange County. Cheers!

* Beaches. That’s why we’re here, isn’t it? Beach Boys, Frankie and Annette, California Girls in the surf, a stroll along the surf at sunset.

* Monterey Peninsula. This is my favorite place in the world. I spent a year there back in 1978-79 attending the Defense Language Institute to learn Russian. Quite a change from boot camp at frozen Ft. Leonard Wood, Mo. a few weeks before.

* Guitars. Rickenbacker, based in Santa Ana, put the twang in the Beatles’ early records. With a Stratocaster, by Fender in Fullerton (now, Corona), Jimi Hendrix people believe me set the world on fire (to quote the Animals) at Monterey. Then there are Gretsch, B.C. Rich, Carvin and others. (A lot of these guitars now are made in China or Korea; but many still are built right here in California.)

Here’s John with a Rick and George with a Gretsch, both made in California:

And here’s Jimi with his Strat at Monterey, still insane after all these 43 years:

* Culture: The Getty Museum is a favorite. And there are world-class orchestras, including the L.A. Philharmonic, the Pacific Symphony and the San Francisco Symphony.

Here’s the Getty Villa:

* Restaurants. In many places in America your choice of international food is Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, Wienerschnitzel and the International House of Pancakes. We have those too in California, but you also can get authentic Mexican, Italian, German, Persian, Indian, Afghan, and dozens more — just down the street.

* Fewer bugs. Florida has pretty nice weather most of the time, but the place is infested with a large number of bugs from the swamps. California is largely an irrigated desert, so we don’t have that many bugs. I also grew up in Michigan, which can be nice in the summer, but is infested with so many mosquitoes you feel you’re on a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier in 1945 fighting off kamikazes.

* Thanksgiving in shorts. Where else can you have your Turkey and stuffing outside with family and friends, wearing shorts while sipping your favorite cocktail?

Happy Thanksgiving everybody.

John Seiler is a reporter and analyst for CalWatchDog.com. His email: writejohnseiler@gmail.com

I finally got my first Meg mailer today. As I wrote earlier, my first two Jerry mailers came a week ago, just as I got my absentee ballot. Who knows why it took her so long.

On the front is her slogan, “A New California.” Which annoys me. I want to go back to the old California, the one I visited in 1964 when I was 9 years old, when my family drove out here from Michigan: Disneyland with the long-gone submarine ride, the Beach Boys, Annette Funicello, close to zero unemployment, a decent house that cost $20,000, 25-cent gas, California Girls, swimming pools, movie stars, M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E.

On the back of Meg’s mailer — or maybe it’s the front — is a fork in the road. The signs above read, on the left, “ROAD TO ECONOMIC PROSPERITY,” and on the right, “ROAD TO NOWHERE.”

You mean to tell me that, having spent $140 million (so far) on her campaign, nobody pointed out to her that “right” is the side of free markets and “left” is the side of socialism, ever since the National Assembly during the French Revolution? (Meg, that’s the one that started in 1789.)

Inside, it continues: There’s a picture of Meg, on the left page, smiling, and this: “Less Spending, Lower Taxes, More Jobs.” On the right is a picture of a dour-looking Jerry, and this: “More Spending, More Taxes, Fewer Jobs.”

Back to the Fork in the Road: Actually, because Meg opposes Prop. 23, which really would save our jobs by suspending the jobs-killing AB 32, there really isn’t a fork in the road. There’s only Depression Detour, which is named both Meg Highway and Jerry Causeway.

Enough. I’m going back to 1964:

Oct. 15, 2010