The one thing about California -- there's a whole lot of it. And infrastructure
is a big problem:
At least 188,000 people remain under evacuation orders after Northern California authorities warned an emergency spillway in the country's tallest dam was in danger of failing Sunday and unleashing uncontrolled flood waters on towns below.
About 150 miles northeast of San Francisco, Lake Oroville is one of California's largest man-made lakes, and the 770-foot-tall Oroville Dam is the nation's tallest.
The evacuation was ordered Sunday afternoon after engineers spotted erosion on the dam's secondary spillway. Hours later, panicked and angry people were sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic trying to leave the area.
One of the primary reasons I'm skeptical of California's talk of secession is that the infrastructure problems are so varied and vast. This dam is just one of them, as Victor Davis Hanson
points out:
The income of California’s wealthy seems to make them immune from the effects of the highest basket of sales, income, and gas taxes in the nation. The poor look to subsidies and social services to get by. Over the last 30 years, California’s middle classes have increasingly fled the state.
Gone With the Wind–like wealth disparity in California is shocking to the naked eye. Mostly poor Redwood City looks like it’s on a different planet from tony nearby Atherton or Woodside. California is becoming a reactionary two-tier state of masters and serfs whose culture is as peculiar and out of step with the rest of the country as was the antebellum South’s.
The California elite, wishing to keep the natural environment unchanged, opposes internal improvements and sues to stop pipelines, aqueducts, reservoirs, freeways, and affordable housing for the coastal poor.
California’s crumbling roads and bridges sometimes resemble those of the old rural South. The state’s public schools remain among the nation’s poorest. Private academies are booming for the offspring of the coastal privileged, just as they did among the plantation class of the South.
There's a whole lot of Oroville out there. And it's going to continue to get worse.
6 comments:
There are certainly some peculiar trends in the news lately. For example, the Star Tribune has taken to reporting the most recent Saturday Night Live skits on the front page. I've also noted the grammatical construction "Trump White House" when reporting on this administration. I don't remember habitual references to the "Obama White House". It's not scientific, but I googled Trump White House in quotes and found 3.97 million references. When I googled Obama White House, the total was 546,000. That is after 8 years of the latter administration, and one month of the present one.
the disolution of the republic begins with CA secession. and yes, they are serious.
oh, and as for media you can trust: stay off drudge and ignore their headlines. the oroville dam is not failing. the dam was never in question.
Gino, maybe you should have said the /salvation/ of the republic begins with CA secession. See how quickly they become Venezuela.
oh, and as for media you can trust: stay off drudge and ignore their headlines. the oroville dam is not failing. the dam was never in question.
I know -- the article I pulled is from the local rag, although it's the same article as ran elsewhere. There's a reason I've never had Drudge on my sidebar.
Because half the stories link to breitbart? Lol we need another site like Drudge used to be 15-20 yrs ago..
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