Re-distribution of wealth. Socialism. We in the Bureaucrat Beat newsroom have taken note of these phrases and words lately spattered about political rhetoric. We gave it a lot of thought – possibly an hour-long discussion about this and that. The high price of you-name-it, and who gets all our dollars. We decided at the end of the talk that re-distribution of wealth has gone on now for some time. What we mean by that is the re-direction of money belonging to guys like us into the hands of rich fat cats. Where do we think the record oil profits come from? From each one of us who drives a car, dollar by dollar by dollar. Same holds true for many other goods and services.

The other thing – remember Joe McCarthy? He was the one in the 50s who accused just about everybody of being a Communist. Turned out he was just a bully and his finger pointing amounted to mostly lies. We feel this way about those who spout “socialism.” The ultimate hypocrisy lies in a $700 billion bail out for Wall Street. Certainly re-distribution of our tax dollars, wouldn’t you say? Socialism?

We get weary of the wordsmithisms that twist the truth for personal gain. There was a time, long ago, when officialdom would call that Black Magic. We call it dirty pool.

Want to experience gratitude. How about this one? What if Congress had gone along with President Bush and cronies who wanted to invest Social Security in the stock market?!?! Double ouch!

And, in the Thank God For Small Favors Department, Seems the California Public Utilities Commission has restricted personal use of cell phones and other communication devices for railroad and transit workers. The engineer of the crashed Metrolink may have been distracted by his cell phone prior to the accident.

That was a good move, but we just have to say Triple Ouch! to the PUC for overlaying our 760 Area Code. Next year, we’ll have to start dialing the area code and phone number of even our next door neighbors. Seems goofy. Why couldn’t the phone company just let us keep 760 and make all the burgeoning urban areas take a new number. They’re the ones who are growing and using up phone numbers. Oh, wait a minute. That would mean help for the little guy with no political power. Why bother, eh Verizon?!

Under the Political Activism Department, Byron Fry of Mammoth Lakes called to let us know that between 75 and 100 locals have volunteered for the Eastern Sierra for Barak Obama organization. So, what has he learned from local folks? Fry said he was “flabbergasted” at how many just don’t want to vote. Fry said, “As Americans we can’t let things go on like this.”

Here’s a postal and election question. One woman wrote to us to ask how much postage she should put on her mail-in ballot. We called the Bishop Post Office for an answer. They said most are either 42 cents or 59 cents. So, put two regular stamps on just in case. However, the postal worker said that ballots are guaranteed to be delivered even if they’re short of postage. Good deal!

We still like the quote for the day sent out in bills by Mary Dawn Dean at Deans Plumbing. The last one we got said, “There is only one way to happiness, and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power of our will.” Wow. Wisdom.

So, all the people we hear about who are yelling and screaming at morning coffee spots – mostly over the Presidential election – cool it, and just vote your will. We’re sorry to hear about threats and destruction of political signs in citizens’ yards. It’s still a free country. So, we support respect for the other guy even if he thinks differently than we do. We in the Bureaucrat Beat Newsroom have found, over the years, that we, ourselves, tend to march to the beat of a different bongo. Can you dig it, Maynard?

Hey, Arnold, what’s up with Proposition 11? When bureaucrats try to regulate other bureaucrats, we do get suspicious, but perhaps our Governor has a point on this measure. The Gov and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg appeared on Los Angeles television together. They pushed Prop. 11 which would take the formation of legislative districts out of the hands of the legislators and into the hands of a separate, bi-partisan commission. Arnold said that incumbents almost always get re-elected because they have gerrymandered the districts to favor their political persuasion.

This one’s not about spending money but about good representation of the people. We think we’ll give this one the positive nod.

Speaking of dogs, we took a trip to the Animal Shelter in Big Pine the other day. Got some pictures of pets to pass on to the public. We just want to say that the folks at the pound along with the folks at ICARE have done a miraculous job to reduce the number of pets killed every year. There are still some wonderful cats and dogs who need homes. If you have any inclination toward a pet, please go to the animal shelters in our two counties. All you need is love.