At College Insurrection, I recently covered a West Virginia professor who ranted that his state was a “national laughingstock” while deeming NRA members traitors.

The presumption!

California is the nation’s laughingstock!

And to prove my point, here is a story about one of our most powerful bureaucratic bodies prohibiting a classic Californian summer tradition. Lorraine Yapps Cohen of the San Diego Examiner reports:

Southern California beachgoers will soon say goodbye to their beloved fire pits. Yes, California is now about to ban fire. Washington Times reports that South Coast Air Quality Management District will soon decide whether fire is bad enough for the environment that beach fire pits should be banned. The decision will require the removal of fire pits from Los Angeles and Orange County beaches. As if considering such a ban were not enough, the Air Quality agency arranged an analysis of pit fire particulates. The beloved barbecues are said to emit as much particulate matter as a diesel truck does in 564 miles. Such “arranged analyses” fly in the face of scientific studies that say otherwise. Dr. James Enstrom showed that the risk to human health from diesel exhaust is seriously overstated. Letting that diesel truck travel a mere 564 miles—the equivalent of an evening pit fire barbecue —lowers the risk to negligible, if any at all.

I just reported that our politicos are complaining because Texas Governor Rick Perry is poaching business from this state. It seems that another governor is looking to raid even more enterprises.

Florida may post billboards in California in a bid to convince businesses there to relocate here. Gov. Rick Scott, a former CEO, sees California and other states as competitors, much as he saw other businesses when he was in the corporate world. His goal now, he said, is to lure business from other states to the Sunshine State. His top target: the Golden State and balding California Gov. Jerry Brown, a Democrat. “I’m working on putting up a billboard out there that has Jerry Brown’s picture and mine. We both have the same haircut,” said the similarly hair-challenged Scott at a Republican Party meeting in Sarasota County last week. “It’s going to say: ‘Same haircut, no income taxes. No. 1 in teacher quality. Move to Florida.'”

If Scott’s team were smart, the billboards would be posted by beaches and picture a family gathered around a roaring fire in a pit. The thought of having a regular life with traditional American activities would be a tempting lure.



