Clive Bundy and my grandchildren

Clive Bundy, the southern Nevada rancher and self-styled, mouse that roared, is a classic example of a beneficiary of regulatory capture (see definition below). Years ago someone in the Las Vegas District office or Nevada State Office of the BLM was seduced into being an active participant, as a regulator, in regulatory capture. That person, probably a manager, chose to ignore Bundy's repeated refusal to pay for grazing fees. The fees, fines, and interest grew until Clive owes over a million dollars. He refuses to pay the government. BLM seems to have backed off. Now he and his likewise arrogant and misinformed followers want to pull federal ownership of public lands and put them in the hands of the State. The same movement is occurring in Utah and other western states.

The term public lands implies ownership by all American citizens therefore Clive doesn't have any more right to  lay claim to ownership of public land as do any of my grandchildren. He and they are just joint share-holders in public land ownership. Clearly, leadership in our state does not understand the concept, understand that they must have the other millions of share-holders in the rest of the country, vote yes to the proposal to give federal public land to the states. A part of revenue produced by the federal government (BLM and possibly the USFS) comes back to the states in the form of PILT--Payment in Lieu of Taxes. Millions of dollars, annually, more than could be produced by states managing public lands.

It is easy to point to countless examples of regulatory capture in federal agencies. The most visible are the BLM and the USFS, at least in the west. These agencies have been co-opted by special interests to the point that public participation is an exercise in futility. The agencies follow the regulations as written, including the part about public participation. The time that citizens can participate in the process is almost after the fact. It should be upfront, not after draft documents are prepared. The agencies are puzzled by the lack of participation and the intensity and frequency of adverse legal actions by the public.
But regulatory capture is not just a federal issue, it occurs in all levels of government, including the smallest of communities. The net result is frustration about the waste of public tax dollars, poor products (roads, bridges, etc) produced by contractors, overgrazing, and increased cynicism by the public.


“Regulatory capture” occurs when special interests co-opt policymakers or political bodies — regulatory agencies, in particular — to further their own ends. Technology Liberation Front http://techliberation.com/about/

But before I'm branded as a card carrying libertarian, because I use this site as a reference, it is only because the site has the best definition of Regulatory Capture AKA Capture Theory. 

Woodrow Wilson, The New Freedom: A Call For the Emancipation of the Generous Energies of a People (1913) at 201-202:

“If the government is to tell big business men how to run their business, then don’t you see that big business men have to get closer to the government even than they are now? Don’t you see that they must capture the government, in order not to be restrained too much by it? Must capture the government? They have already captured it. Are you going to invite those inside to stay? They don’t have to get there. They are there.”

Drano showers

I was in Washington DC March 9th through the 13th to attend the National Bike Summit. The Summit itself could have been better organized but I suppose one could say that conferences I've helped put together could have been better organized. The best part of any conference is generally the kibitzing with other attendees between sessions, at meals, and of course at the beer bar!

One of the most interesting breakouts I attended was one about an initiative from Sweden called Vision Zero. It has been implemented in the US in LA, San Fran, Seattle, Portland, NY, and Chicago. In Sweden it is a collaborative plan by government and business leaders to reduce fatalities inside a city's (could be a State or County) infrastructure.
The Salt Lake County Mayor is interested in the concept and I have pulled some information to share with him. Visit:www.visionzeroinitiative.com/  

A part of the trip to DC was to visit the Hill, as conference attendees, and talk with our delegation trying to garner support for funding of TAP and Vision Zero. Having worked on the Hill in the Senate, during a time when Congress was not mired down in partisan crap, I knew how to approach staffers. The chances of actually speaking to a Member is poor unless you have considerable stroke, influence, and of course money. Our delegation staffers were friendly as only members of the Utah Big Business Bureau (religion) can be.

Being in DC brought back memories of living in the area when I worked as a Senate staff (environmental staffer to Bennett), worked at CEQ, and in the Department of the Interior.  Most of my blended family of seven children experienced DC in ways that most families can't. I had recollections of visiting museums, seeing the cherry trees in full bloom, going to civil war sites, peering from the octagonal window in the capital that looks down the mall at the Washington Monument (this is not in the regular tour package), and being inside the Jefferson memorial late at night when it was struck by lightning.

You can't just walk into the Capital to look at the art work anymore. It is in lock down. You have to be a part of a tour group!  Paranoia and capitalism have conspired to take away access by citizens to the symbol of, one could argue, the most powerful building in the world.

Every American should visit the capital and be in the gallery of the Senate or House when they are in session. The capital will inspire you,sitting in the gallery will probably bore you to death, but it will change your perspective of government in action!

But being in DC also brought back memories of late night deal-making (I was successful in getting Bennett to support a wilderness bill for Utah that later got him pooped on by the rest of the Utah delegation), and the sliminess of dealing with the influence peddlers (lobbyists). When I left DC after my Hill job I had serious power withdrawal! No one person should have that kind of power.

So, remembering my own experience in navigating on the hill and the Interior Dept, and how that memory made me feel, this March, I came home and took an hour long metaphorical shower in Drano!

Goggle Cars

Self-driving Google cars are fairly common in Mountain View CA. I assume they are test cars. Other than a revolving thing on top that looks like a spinning 2 pound coffee can, devices on each corner of the car, and cameras, it looks like a small SUV. The car is remarkable in that it drives the speed limit, stops at stop signs and red lights, doesn't poach left turn signals (running the red arrow), and it appears not to be texting or calling on the cell phone or running over bicyclists or pedestrians. And the driver has her/his hands in his lap.
Of course my only reference is drivers in Salt Lake City who routinely speed, run red lights, ignore stop signs, text, phone, and sadly, on occasion, run into or over a pedestrian or bicyclist. Some Utah drivers also don't have their hands on the wheel, usually holding a phone, toothbrush, or a bag of fries. The most remarkable thing about the Goggle car is that it doesn't cut off bicyclists and when a stupid bicyclist cuts off the car, the car doesn't honk and flip off the idiot on the bike.

I'm back!

One of Albert Einstein's greatest insights was realizing that time is relative. It speeds up or slows down depending on how fast one thing is moving relative to something else.

As I get older, time seems to accelerate as my body slows down. My time is no longer infinite or limitless--like it was when I was young--it is not a commodity to squander. A lifetime of squandering is hard to change. But living my life, even the way I did it, has resulted in experiences that are of limitless value to me and usually boring to anyone around me. 

It seems like just last week I posted to this blog but in reality it has been several years since I last posted. A lot has happened to me environmentally, physically, emotionally, and mentally since 2011. We now have eight grand children and one on the way: three girls and five boys. The expected baby is supposed to be a girl. All, of course, are special. And each are individually unique, with their own personalities, preferences, smiles, and temperaments. Three have their own bicycle helmets!

Physically I'm aging like all of us tend to do as we get older. Last December (on December 2, 2014) both knees were replaced. Two weeks before the surgery, the surgeon had me quit analgesics, especially Ibuprofen. My liver, after years of filtering these chemicals out, rejoiced, but I couldn't walk the round trip of thirty meters from the front door of our house to the mail box, without serious pain. It was amazing how much pain those little brown pills were able to mask. But even without chemical assistance, once I got on my bike, I was still able to go on fairly long rides. The day before the surgery I rode about fifteen miles through an oddly sunny, slightly chilly first day of December. On the day of my surgery (the day after) it snowed almost a foot in Salt Lake! I didn't ride again for almost four months but I did do hours of rehab, cursing both to myself and out loud the entire time. The first bike ride after was amazing!

How did my knees get so messed up? The answer is: years of running, hiking, skiing, jumping out of perfectly good airplanes, rock climbing, and falling off of an occasional bar stool. Having a couple of motorcycle wrecks didn't help and living an unforgiving wild and reckless first 45 years of my life just exacerbated the condition of my mind and body. But being in rehab, especially the inpatient rehab, gave me time to think about the changes I had been making prior to the surgery. My will to get back on my bicycle and my desire to continue to make emotional and mental changes drove me.

The rehab and my stubbornness fixed my knees and I have worked hard on my temper, my braggadocio, insecurity, and most of all my penchant for trying to fix everyone around me. This came from a realization that all of this behavior had resulted in losing friends, alienating some family members, appearing to be an unreliable narrator, and worst of all losing what little self-esteem all of the poor behavior seemed to give me. I no longer think for others, try to save them from themselves, nor do I point out their faults or make unsolicited recommendations! I have come to recognize my own limitations, foibles, strengths and weaknesses. Some of this introspection came from mental therapy, both individual and couples, but much of it, after I learned what to look for, came while riding my bicycle.

Riding my bicycle is my idea of a zen experience. It is a time when I can keep my mouth shut and mull things over. My senses sharpen  breathing becomes regulated to the amount of caloric need, and I can find time to forgive myself and to build a different tool kit for living out the rest of my life. Plus I get to see lots of great things. Today for example, I saw rafts of Phalaropes on a salt march east of Palo Alto. I was riding a rental bicycle over the Dumbarton bridge. We are visiting my daughter, the OB-GYN, and her husband who is some sort of mystic for Goggle, and more importantly their five and a half month old daughter.

It was standing at the top of the crest of the bridge looking at down at San Francisco Bay beneath me thinking about the process of aging. Bicycling may not keep me young but it will help me live longer or if not, at least I will have a better quality of life. So this meditation led me to think that I should kick-start my blog. Having two artificial hips (2007?) and two new hips will improve my quality of life but it's my brain pushing my body to stay healthy that will keep me alive long enough to give my grandchildren good memories of a happy, if not eccentric Aguelo.

Getting old should not be memories of past conflict or regret of lost time but rather it should be filled with the laughter of grandchildren, the joy of sharing a bottle of great wine with good friends, and watching the miles unwinding beneath my bicycle tires.