Creeping Totalitarianism

An unsightly gate was recently installed at the trailhead to Hot Springs Canyon with the given reason that the trail should be closed on days of high fire danger for safety reasons. This is the same canyon that was closed several months ago after heavy rains and where the authorities imposed draconian penalties of possible $5,000 fines or imprisonment for anyone caught in a closed section of national forest. Warning signs would be sufficient in either case. Draconian penalties and security gates serve another purpose – which is to intimidate the public. It is also the same canyon where several months ago hidden cameras with fake Santa Barbara County Department of Public Works id tags were found in an area where nudity is known to occur. The cameras were quickly removed after being discovered; a tacit acknowledgement they had no legitimate purpose. The public was offered nothing but an incredible explanation from local authorities that appeared in the MJ and the issue was soon dropped. 

This is a bad sign in my opinion. This all occurred in the same county where not long ago public health officials told us to stand six feet apart from one another and that we should be injected with an experimental substance for our own good and that you were a menace to society if you had doubts and did not obey them. Evidence mounts that many around the world were injured or killed by this experiment. Yet anyone who for any reason questioned these dictates was subject to government-encouraged ridicule and shame and it did not matter if the person was a distinguished scientist or one harmed by a previous medical procedure. This was also an act of intimidation of the public by the government. All this occurred during a time of rampant censorship, which is a defining characteristic of totalitarian government. It seems appropriate for the district attorney to investigate both the incident with the hidden cameras and the safety of the injections promoted by the health department. 

Clint Belkonen

A Bear’s COVID Conundrum

Carlos, The Bear, was dancing in his den, earbuds in listening to REM’s “The End of the World,” when he heard the mail mobile stop to deliver his post. He had been expecting a Vinyl record by his new, favorite band, from England, The Wild Things, but it hadn’t shown up yet. Nothing was going as planned since COVID. 

Grrr.

He scooped the box with his paw and found no 33 1/3 disc, only bills and junk mail.

Grrr.

Ever since his bout with COVID two months ago, it seemed all he ever got was medical bills. So many bills he could wallpaper his den with them. But that isn’t all, so many mailers from real estate agents, stacks of them stuffed in his mailbox every day. It was making him crazy, watching den prices skyrocket in his neighborhood while he recycled the trash. 

Grrr.

Carlos went to his laptop and tried signing in to pay his phone and doctor bills, but was asked to create an account to pay the doctor’s bill, he made password after password until finally one worked. The phone company website, notorious for being hard to access, even to pay a bill, rejected his saved password, twenty minutes later and they got the money. Carlos had a box full of passwords for this and passwords for that, he could never remember all of them!

Grrr. 

Last week he received his latest COVID booster shot. The pharmacy didn’t have Pfizer, only Moderna, with the Omicron buster. He was a basket bear for three days and his left shoulder hurt horrible.

Grrr. 

Being older, meant Carlos had to become a Medicare Bear. The website was not so difficult, but the Plan D choices were very confusing, and he picked a plan at random. Being frustrated, Carlos put his earbuds in and continued dancing, singing along to the lyrics of “It’s the End of the World,” until he felt fine.

Ahhh.

As Bob Marley sang: The one good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain!

Michael Edwards