DEC. 29, 2011

We live in a state where neighbors rat-out neighbors at the behest of the government. California has turned into such a totalitarian state that friends, neighbors and family are encouraged to turn “violators” over to the cops.

People have been conditioned by the government to think they are doing the right thing.

California lawmakers and unelected bureaucrats seem to recognize no limit to their authority. Every aspect of public and private life is becoming regulated. Single-party rule came to power in California and remains, thanks to a compliant media, labor unions and liberal activism. Democrats have control over the state’s economy, as well as businesses in the state, through increasing strict regulations.

How Are We Regulated?

Think of the many areas of your home that you no longer have control of.  There are mandatory smoke alarms and fire sprinklers in homes and businesses, burning ordinances, building and remodeling restrictions, parking restrictions, watering regulations, mandatory pet licensing, dog-leash laws.

Residents who water the lawn on the wrong day, use the fireplace without approval from the county, have fat children, drive a gas guzzler, ride a bicycle without a helmet, eat shark fin soup, or violate the new Babysitter’s Bill of Rights, are all subjected to steep fines, or even arrest.

California lawmakers have not only become stark raving crazy, but the power they have granted unelected state officials has turned the Golden State into a state of Democratic Centralism, where all people have a duty to obey the government.

Ratting-Out Neighbors

Over the recent Christmas weekend, 400 people in the San Francisco Bay Area called the county and tattled on neighbors for the heinous crime of enjoying wood-burning fires on Christmas Day.

“But the Bay Area Air Quality Management District isn’t worried about coming off like a grinch — and doesn’t plan on showing any leniency just because it’s Christmas time. ‘People don’t get to take a break from breathing because it’s a holiday,’ said Lisa Fasano, an air district spokeswoman,” reported the San Jose Mercury News.

The Prius-driving air-quality police collected overtime pay driving around responding to complaints, and looking for chimney smoke on Christmas. Law-breakers could be fined $400 per offense for building a fire because bureaucrats and special interests have decided that California’s air is unhealthy, and can no longer enjoy the warmth from a wood-burning fire.

Were the Bay Area air-quality police issuing fines to the homeless on Christmas for building illegal fires, or to vagrants hovered over trash can fires in dark city alleys to keep warm? No. The only people subjected to the enforcement of air-quality laws are the employed, middle-class, taxpaying residents of the state.

Since Nov. 1, the air-quality police have received 2,200 complaints from neighbors in the San Francisco Bay Area about wood fires.

Watering the Lawn, And Other Punishable Offenses

*After putting in a new front yard two summers ago, my husband and I had to make sure that the new lawn received plenty of water for the first few weeks.  We did all of the work ourselves and didn’t want to see the new lawn shrivel up in the Sacramento heat. However, this meant that we had to sometimes water (gasp) on unauthorized watering days. And yes, we received a written violation from the city warning us that a neighbor had complained.

*A few years ago when my son was riding his bicycle home from the neighborhood school, he was stopped and ticketed by a city police officer for riding without a helmet.

*The city of Sacramento will not allow me to remove a 100-foot tall, 80-year-old tree from my property because they have designated it “historic.” It’s ugly, very large, and old. But it is leaning dangerously toward my home. Every winter during storms, branches the size of trees have broken off and fallen onto my house, my neighbor’s house, and one branch crushed a neighbor’s car.

*Not long ago, I caught a neighbor digging through my recycling and garbage cans, documenting whether I had properly sorted the recycling from the trash. It seems that I am not alone – Santa Cruz County is red-tagging residents’ garbage and recycling cans if the refuse is intermingled. “County and Waste Management have stepped up the monitoring, advertising the red tagging policy that results from garbage collectors inspections of personal waste for banned items,” the Aptos Times reported.

*A few years ago after I took in some goslings that had been abandoned by their goosey parents on my front porch, the city of Sacramento claimed that a neighbor had phoned in a complaint about the young waterfowl swimming in my side yard pond. It was apparently a violation of some city ordinance to have waterfowl residing at a residence within the city. Fortunately, I contacted a friendly animal control officer and explained that the birds were only staying until they were old enough to be moved back into the nearby park, where they had undoubtedly been hatched.

*The city of Sacramento now issues parking tickets to auto owners for parking over one hour in front of homes located within the city. At a recent neighborhood block-party wine and food tasting, the city parking enforcement ticketed more than 50 cars parked on nearby streets, even though the city had been properly notified prior to the event about the parking.

New Nanny Legislation

In California, tanning beds are now the forbidden fruit, but only for minors – apparently because parents are too stupid to notice that their daughters are unnaturally tan in the winter.

The California Legislature also recently passed an anti-bullying law requiring every school in California to implement anti-harassment and anti-discrimination policies and programs “that include actual or perceived sexual orientation and gender identity and expression, as well as race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, disability, and religion.”

Lawmakers created more firearms restriction laws, making it illegal to openly carry an unloaded handgun. While Californians can still obtain permits to carry concealed weapons, it’s probably not for long. Interestingly, the city of Sacramento requires photo identification and a fingerprint to purchase ammunition for personal, legally-owned firearms. But Sacramento County does not.

Legislators passed a law prohibiting the sale of alcoholic beverages at self-service checkout stands.

Even drivers are encouraged to “Report Drunk Drivers” and call 9-1-1 while driving on freeways. What qualifies the average driver to determine who is drunk and driving? Reckless driving may be an issue, but isn’t that in the the job-description of the California Highway Patrol?

California Law Books Are Growing

Gov. Jerry Brown signed 865 of these ridiculous bills into law in 2011. What could possibly be left unlegislated in this state besides our few remaining rights, civil liberties and even fewer economic freedoms?

For eight years in a row, a major survey of U.S. CEOs has ranked California as the worst state in America to do business. Businesses are fleeing the state but lawmakers don’t seem to care.

California unemployment remains at a hefty 12 percent. The state government is broke and drowning in debt, the state’s economy is in shambles, home prices continue to decline, traffic is worse than ever, roads are crumbling, schools are not focused on education, and crime is rising. But lawmakers continue to spend billions of dollars of other people’s money on frivolity and excessive remuneration, and on laws that violate basic rights and liberties.

And neighbors are tattling on neighbors over lawn watering and fireplaces. Aren’t the priorities in California just a little askew?

–Katy Grimes

CalWatchdog.com

http://www.calwatchdog.com/2011/12/29/beware-thy-nosy-neighbor/