...CA is downright DOOMED after 12/31/21!!!!!!!
...On 1/2/22, I will probably be putting out an all points request for bacon, ham, pork chops, and other meats that you get from a pig. New Ag Regulations will take effect next year, and CA farmers will probably not be raising market hogs anymore. One of the Regs requires farmers to greatly expand the room that market hogs have in their pens. Farmers have protested, saying that they will not be able to raise enough hogs to make a profit, since there will be much fewer hogs in a pen. I have toured a hog farm, when I was an accountant, and the pens are in a building, like a quonset hut, so the animals won't be exposed to the elements. (I had to throw away the jeans and flannel shirt I was wearing during the tour...I couldn't get the smell of the hogs out of them...a hog barn is quite 'fragrant'). So, the farmers can't just build more pens. Furthermore, the Regulation prohibits CA businesses from buying hog products from out of state facilities that don't comply with the CA Reg regarding pen size, and such. Farmers in Iowa, who provide a LOT of our pork products, have said that they will NOT comply with the CA Regs
, so they will not be able to sell pork in CA.
...When I heard of this, I researched where the Regs were developed, and what Law they were based upon. I figured that our 'brilliant legislators' had come up with the Law. But...I was WRONG!!!!
It was an Initiative, drafted by some citizens of CA, and it was passed by almost 2/3 of the CA voters. The Initiative was sold by the writer as being more 'humane' to meat animals, and so, every CA liberal signed onto it. Please don't get me wrong, I don't support cruelty to animals, but meat animals are not raised as if they are pets. The profit margin is very low, so farmers have to raise as many as they can, and keep the expense down.
...I did a little more research, and the proponents of the Initiative were PETA, and a group that wants all of us humans to become vegetarians. They figured that it would be good for pigs if we stopped eating them. I do recall voting against the Initiative, I am pro-business, and almost always vote against Laws that stifle business. A healthy, and vibrant economy helps everyone, Trump demonstrated that. Minorities got good paying jobs, and were buying houses and encouraging their kids to get educated. Now, under the current Democrat Governor, and Legislature, CA is going down the tubes. Taxes are being raised, and the wealthy and businesses are leaving the State. The Dems opened the Southern Border, and illegals from all over the World are coming in, and crime and murder rates are much higher than they were 2 years ago.
...My elderly mother and I are being very careful, we don't leave the house when it gets dark, and only leave when we have to buy groceries. My mother always enjoyed going to the Mall, or K Mart, just to shop, and get some exercise, and to just get out of the house. Certainly, COVID has been a factor, but not very much. I think that we are in a 'lockdown' right now, our beloved Governor has said that we all must stay at home, unless we REALLY have to get something. Well, I went out, today, to get some Mex Food, and there were cars ALL OVER THE ROADS. I asked the clerk how business was, and he just shrugged and said, "We can't have people sit inside to eat, but they can sit outside, and we do a lot of takeout and delivery."
...Now, I predict that the Dems will try to shut down the chicken farms, and the cattle feedlots.
...Mother is starting to talk about moving to another State, and I am cautiously showing that I would support such a decision, and would pay the costs of a move. I have to be careful, she is elderly, and in her mind she is still the 'Mother', and I still am the young, foolish 'Daughter'. She still lectures me on how to handle my finances, even though, as Treasurer of a construction company I approved bills, and placed my signature on checks with six, and seven, digits, (Not counting cents...
) and have some coin in the bank. I just nod, and say, "Yes Mom, you are right." If I tried to manipulate her into agreeing to a move, she would see what I was doing, and get stubborn. My brother and I talk, and agree that if she loses her cognitive abilities, that we will arrange to have her placed in a facility in another State, and I will move to be close with her, or have her live with me.
...OK, enough of my wandering thoughts for this evening. When December arrives, I will buy hams, and that pre-cooked bacon, that will last a few months. I will then make trips to Nevada, with the back of my SUV loaded with coolers, and return with more bacon and a some hams.
I will probably have to get in a long line of other Californians who are doing the same.
