CONSTITUTION, PETITION, JOBS.

 I love this country and sometimes think we forget about the fundamental purpose of our government as outlined in the guiding principles of the Preamble to the United States Constitution. I’m going to Print that preamble. Sometimes we  need to refresh our memory.

  I’ve had comments about my rail against the government shutdown. Most of my friends are Republicans. I don’t hate them nor anybody else. Like many of you, I’d like to do something about the situation, so I did. I signed a petition stating the Congress should have to give up their pay during the government shutdown. If you agree, go to this address. Not that a petition can make it happen, but it sends a sharp message.

http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/no-barilla-pasta-for?id=-492306-LhMpGw&source=share_chain&fwd=1

Now, for the preamble:

We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

What a beautiful document our forefathers left us. Simple enough for a fifth grader to understand.

I also talked about jobs, and suggested an alternative view of the problems we face by watching the movie,  Heist. Who Stole The American Dream.  

The Millions  Of Jobs Group has put out a video about job creation that also gives an understandable presentation about job creation. You can view it at the following link:

https://youtube.googleapis.com/v/4FrGxO2Fn_M

Food for thought. And, now I must get back to my plums and apples.

A TEST OF LEGAL MARIJUANA

The legal marijuana law went into effect in Washington State today. Being in possession of  an ounce of marijuana is no longer unlawful. The new law has been crafted rather carefully.

For at least a year, Washingtonians won’t be able to legally grow or sell the pot they can now legally buy.
And, hanging over it all, federal authorities still won’t say whether they’ll play ball as state leaders in Olympia attempt to put in place the truly revolutionary piece of I-502 – a state system which licenses growers and dealers while taxing the heck out of pot.

I hate the stuff and don’t like the smell of someone smoking it. The bill makes it illegal to smoke in public places. Illegal on college campuses. Illegal to drive under the influence and a test for marijuana can now qualify over use. Occupations that involve driving can still screen for marijuana and randomly drug test employees for use just like alcohol.  Factories where people use precision equipment can choose not to hire marijuana users and can screen potential employees. It can’t be sold near schools or to teens and the usual education against smoking cigarettes of any kind will apply to marijuana.

While I hate it, I absolutely defend and approve of decriminalizing weed. In my community where medical marijuana is legal and the people dependent on it for pain are legitimate users of a drug that helps people tremendously without having to depend on a constipating and addictive narcotic drug. Ingesting it, instead of smoking it, should also be part of the medical package.

And, while I hate it, I hate even more seeing our prisons fill up with young people who now have a criminal record for carrying a relatively harmless substance. Some of those young men and women, have families and could be supporting their families instead of filling up the jails.

And, I hate the idea that the South American drug cartels smuggle tons of the stuff into the U.S. and have their slimy fingers all over ghetto neighborhoods recruiting young kids to peddle an un-taxable substance that should be grown right here, regulated and taxed.

It will be interesting to watch and see how it works out in Washington State before the legalize marijuana initiative comes up again in California and other places. Obviously, after all this time, pot use isn’t going away on its own. I think it will be a good thing if raw marijuana can be possessed and sold, but not in cigarette form for commercial manufacture. I’d hate to see a whole new population of people  stopping into their 7-11 and bringing it home along with their nicotine before more testing of marijuana is done.  Kids will steal cigarettes at a young age in a heartbeat.

RUNNING FOR CONGRESS

I’m still in the aftermath of my yard sale, but life is always full of interesting side trails, doncha know. My brother Will Moore is running for Congress in the newly drawn Sierra Foothills (CD-4) Congressional District. I frankly think he is crazy. You have to be crazy to run for any torture chamber, oops, I mean public office, especially in this devisive, vicious climate. Oh, well. He is 73 years old, not married, his kids are all grown and his Grandchildren, too. He has the time and the fortitude. Not that he hasn’t filled his retired life with work. He has. All volunteer. He has never held a public office, but he has been  politically involved all of his adult life. And like so many of us, disgusted with the way our Congress is going.
He is a member of the World Affairs Council, a think group that gathers people from all walks of life, from every ethnic derivation, to discuss and propose solutions to global problems. He has worked construction most of his life from the State of California, and his platform is about jobs in this country. He worked the politically controversial Alaskan Pipeline and he can tell you some hair-raising  stories about “cost overruns” or skimming, as he prefers to call it. He wants to stop that type of thing and get real people, not corporate executives, back to real work. He did a stint as a Fisherman in Alaska, one of the most dangerous professions on the planet. He lives on a pension, and his T-Party Opponent, McClintock, has never held a real job other than hopping from one legislative position to another, and McClintock doesn’t live in the district. Politics is such a crazy institution. Sometimes being mad as hell works. But, it is a tough run without big money.  Will  doesn’t intend to beholden himself to donations from Halliburton and the like as McClintock does.  No PACs. Well, I spent my morning working on his brochure so I’m all fired up. I’m biased, I love him, he is and always has been a hard-working individual. I still think he is crazy.

I’ll have to clean up the residue of my yard sale today, since I didn’t do anything productive yesterday. Just rested.

LOGGING TRUCKS ARE ROLLIN'

At one time, gigantic logging trucks like this one rumbled right through downtown Murphys. Officially rerouted in the 1990′s,  they can no longer do that. They roll down the mountain and keep to Highway 4 on their way to the mill. Loggers can still plow right through  downtown  Angels Camp on Highway 49.  I must admit to a bit of joy at seeing them. In the 80′s I rode with a logger to the woods and photographed  the complete operation from cutting, skidding,  loading, chaining up and delivering them to the mill. In fact, the driver pulled over to tighten his chains once we left  the rugged logging road and I got out  to take the big behemoth’s picture.  A guy backing out of his driveway, without looking, backed into me with his pick-up. I was unhurt, thankfully.  I wish I had those pictures in digital format.

Today’s logs, compared to logging in the seventies and eighties look like toothpicks. I’ve seen two or three or four logs fill one of these trucks. A tree trunk riding high half above the cab made you fear a slipping chain would allow a log to  smash through the cab and kill anybody inside.  The weight of the load was especially noticeable on Murphys Grade from Forest Meadows to Murphys with the driver managing the winding road, his jake brake scudding.  The memories, the sights and smells are great and I’m glad for the truck owners and loggers who have work again. Standard recently opened their mill in Sonora and I followed three trucks down to the river, and across the other side over Parrots Ferry Bridge on my way to the dentist. I returned by way of Stevenot Bridge on 49 through Angels Camp. I counted, coming toward me, four logging trucks which means a full truck was moving through town every five minutes on both highways.  As I did some errands,  I saw two more pass. Sure enough, I waited and caught this one moving through town.  While the jobs are great, they are most likely clear cutting for Sierra Pacific. SP refuses to compromise and do select cuts. They clear huge swaths of land and destroy the beauty and ecology of our area in the Sierra Nevadas. SP owns over a million acres above us, and young trees are falling to the axe.  A local group, Forest Watch, has photographed and protested their business practices, but the best way to make them accountable to the local community is to refuse to buy Sierra Pacific Lumber. I recommend you  buy certified lumber that is sustainably cut. It is stamped on the end of each board. It is possible to log without desecrating the land and habitat, but the bottom line for corporations  is people, nature, and animals last and money first. When I saw that logging had resumed, I speculated on the recent appearance of bear and feral pigs at our elevation and wonder if clear cutting could be upsetting the balance?