Forget about the famed military-industrial complex of the Eisenhower years. It isn’t what it was. Yes, we have a military, but the industrial complex was shipped to China years ago. In current times, the political-media complex is the danger that we face.
Regionally, for instance, take Kevin Fixler, (media) who writes for the Press Democrat, partially owned by Doug Bosco (political). A few Sundays ago, Fixler reported that Jerry Brown and our one party-dominated legislature (Democrats) will soon be passing a bill that would take the North Pacific Railroad, partially owned by Doug Bosco, out of the hands of the North Coast Railroad Authority.
The North Coast Railroad Authority was created some years ago to transfer responsibility for the North Pacific railroad to the state—i.e. taxpayers. How this all works, does anybody really know? The state and private enterprise help each other out. And what railroad as a matter of fact? The tracks between Willits and Eureka are as serviceable as the tracks between Hamburg and Berlin during World War Two.
The sponsor of the current bill is Senator Smiling Mike McGuire whose political and financial puppet master just happens to be — you guessed it— Bosco. The takeover scheme is being hidden behind the green fog of righteous environmentalism. McGuire believes the NCR right-of-way between Willits and Eureka would make an excellent biking, hiking and riding trail — good for ATVs too. How much will this cost, both to buy out NCR and remove the tracks and ties, which do not make good biking unless you want to lose your teeth. And who cleans up the horseshit, and will the hikers be sucking exhaust from ATVs for two hundred miles and more? These are complications that Fixler (again, media) fails to note as he lobbed slow-pitch softball inquiries to both Bosco and McGuire. How much will McGuire’s pie-and-hiking boots-in-the-sky scheme actually cost after Bosco’s railroad is purchased by the state?
After Bosco is bought out, what’s left — a shovel and a pick to allow the trail to begin? California currently has the highest rate of poverty in of the United States. Do we need another hiking trail while people are sleeping on the streets?
Fixler (media) whose paycheck comes from Bosco, (political) made his boss look good when he asked him in his article: Would he (Bosco) actually sell his choo-choo trains? Bosco played it coy, stating: “Like anything else, I’d consider it (selling the NCR).... but it really isn’t our bill and we're not actively marketing the railroad at all. Our trains are running and we want to expand.”
Of course there’s nothing running between Willits and Eureka save for deer and slithering snakes. It’s a classic, Bosco, Bre’r Rabbit moment. “Please, Mr. Fox with your pockets full of taxpayer cash don’t throw me in the briar patch and make me sell my tracks.”
The political-media complex is thriving where we live.
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