Steveo,
That’s more like it. Finally a cogent remark. I don’t disagree with at least part of what you said. However, I guess we will have to agree to disagree on the proper role of government.

My opinion is that government should properly be working their a##es off planning and implementing ways to provide us ABUNDANT electricity at cheaper rates. This would actually contribute something to the economy of the state.

Instead they just pass an amendment that says I can only install 1 flat screen tv for every 2 people in my house or some such garbage, or fine me for having an incandescent bulb on my front porch, or….

In spite of what some have whined about in this thread, these issues are totally relevant to the continued survival of companies who make their living supplying the latest and greatest electronic components for people who can afford them.

John, you seemed to miss the point and made a good one. Our legislators are as a whole an embarassment. I don’t pay that much attention, but enough to know ignorance and hysteria pointed at CA is no argument at all.
Someone else is complaining about the politics on this, and all forums.  I was offering an explanation why this is happening.  And yes, I am biased, very biased. I just happen to think it’s biased to the side of logic, discussion and sensibility.  I personally no longer find a “moral equivalency” between the left and the right as it pertains to the flow of information raining upon us.  There is an equivalency in the context of intelligent discussion - not usually seen in the anonymous forums. The “right” I have such distate for, and is typically bombing the forums,  being those who spit key words (like liberal, fascist, socialist etc.), obliviously and hysterically parrot the talking points of the neo-con talk show hosts and their keepers the big think tanks of the corporatist-oligarchs.  If you don’t see this, then read “Parliment of Whores” or similar.  If you don’t see it, my label is you (the general you) is you are either hypnotized, oblivious, or insane.  I have Republican friends, but they are thinking human beings with good argument. The rest I just won’t waste my time with except in the very rare case like here, where they need to be pushed back, and it is not a massive free for all - cases can be made.
If I have used the word fascist, it is in the context of the likes of Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and the military industrial complex and all their combined inabilities to control themselves and inability to not defraud us, commit war crimes, undermine the constitutional aspects that have made us a free country. (and then of course go the Big Lie to spit it upon the “liberals” to hide the truths).

That I participated in this manner in this forum is as I said in my previous post.  And the basis off this forum the article comming from the right wing rag from our Bircher homeland in southern cal, the Orange County Register. This was obviously a yellow article meant to scare people into thinking their rights were being taken away from - when it is nothing more than good sense to push the suppliers into making better choices, and turn down the freekin brightness. (I just got a new monitor yesterday, Samsung….brightness 100%. After adjustment, 20%).
We have a government for the common good, and for the most part we all have supported that. We don’t like particulars and we discuss them. It works.
John, you seem to have good arguments in your list, I will honor that and read up. But, I am going to presuppose that there are lots of sides to some of this. I mean at least, I too would not want a power plant in my back yard.

Steveo,
If you want to complain about the quality of the posts here, look inward. Your responses didn’t contribute anything material to the discussion. All you seem able to do is attack the people making the comments rather than address the issues. By labeling them Fascists and idiots all you achieve is to clearly reveal your own bias.

My point is that the California government is totally impotent and unable to see the big picture that you mention. All they are able to do is to allocate billions upon billions of dollars on studies and environmental impact reports which ultimately recommend against any action that would provide solutions to the real problems of this state.

In my opinion there is ample justification for the all time low approval rating of our legislators.

As being the major politician in this thread….but from the left, and defensive of Ca., I’d like to point out that the first batch of comments was mostly from from those reactionaries who think everything positive is stupid, everyone else is stupid, and California is a natural disaster, global warming is a game and so on. 

In otherwords, typical of almost all forums, the right wingers, (and the immature, and mentally ill), jump in and spew their delivered tag lines. Personally I think they are all hypnotized and have just lost their minds. I mean, I am no genius and have found it incredibly easy to shoot down all their invalid points. (most were just fraud to begin with)

Problem is, with the bulk of the population believing politics is not their problem, there is a danger in being suckered into the fraud and fantasy of the right - and getting hypnotized. So…occasionally for me, and more often for others, as the right wing Brown Shirts stomp their way into forums, some of us fight back and expose them for the thugs they are.

John, it is easy to pour out complaints as if they are valid and simple. The problem is to understand the big picture. Yes, there are nimbys causing havoc, just as there are profiteers attempting to run everyone down. For example, I am not a desert guy, but I appreciate that Diane has called for an examination of where we are dropping plants, vs. just mow down everything mindlessly.  There is more than enough land, why be stupid?

Typical California activism:
1. Ban the building of new power plants for over 20 years on environmental grounds.
2. Stop plans for building solar energy installations in the Mojave desert because it could damage the fragile ecosystem in a barren desert region (thank you Diane Feinstein).
3. Block the building of hydroelectric plants such as the one in Auburn CA even though it could provide critical flood control for Sacramento valley and provide electricity for a million homes.
4. Complain that California electricity rates are among the highest in the country.
5. Ban the sale of flat screen TVs on the grounds that they are non-essential and use too much electricity.