Brown Motion

I considered labeling this write up something more mundane like - Whose bag is it anyway?, or Plastic, a way of life.  But in the end the punny title won. Let me explain what this rant brings forth.  It is the whole notion of liberals gone wild.  California as blessed a state as any with its majestic mountains and stark deserts, its miles of scenic coastline and agrarian valleys is also home to the lefties.  Not the writers although we have our share but thinkers as in liberals or more accepting and broad minded folk that enact laws and legislation before the right side of our country does. For the most part this type of spurs in the human mind are beneficial to society at large but at times it goes off kilter.  Take the example of the Ban on Plastic Grocery Bags. The entire state essentially banned grocery and other retailers of everyday goods to stop carrying the ubiquitous and versatile plastic bags at the end of their checkout lines.  No more. ...

Saturday brought an early morning fog typical of late summer in Northern California and we decided to hit the road to take in sights in our neighborhood - that being something in a couple hundred mile radius.  Oh the joys of driving the American highways and byways.  After traveling for 10 km an hour on average for the last month in a cramped vehicle in the disaster that is India, I was itching to let the six cylinders of our mini SUV open up and take me for a ride. So we settled on several spots in Mendocino County (200 miles due north of us) to check out a few items not previously visited after hearing about it from some friends who recently did. Heading around 70 miles north out of San Francisco on the 101, you drive into the town of Ukiah.  Considered one of the most livable cities in America it is a town built on lumber - industry that is. We broke journey here to visit a Buddhist monastery called 'city of ten thousand Buddhas...