Worse than that. You've got new college graduates who majored in human resources, or some such thing who were politically naive but loyal who are still trying to learn. You cite common sense as a standard. One: there's no such thing! Common sense is very uncommon. Common sense to a religious fundamentalist who draws most of his or her working knowledge of the world from one book (when it comes to problems) is often at a loss except to follow orders. Constant education is the watchword. When I was a kid growing up in California, it had one of the finest educational systems in the world, with all classes from kindergarten on geared to eventual possible college placement or industrial training., Girls could take shop specicalizing in sheet metal or wood, and boys could take cooking and home ec. I don't when it began dying out-- but it was some time around WWII with the loss of governor Earl Warren to the Supreme Court under Rooseve. Right now, Hispanic kids can't get necessary textbooks in elementary school in some parts of Los Angeles, and make do with as few as one book for 20 kids. This is not the fault of big government, but deliberate and systematized bureaucratic ignorance, and stupidity. This has nothing to do with irises? Oh yes, it does. How many women still call irises "blue flags"? And haven't learned much since their mothers got the vote and didn't use it? and can't understand why or how Obama got elected? It may seem inappropriate and not relevant , but how many African-Americans do we have as members in the AIS or ASI? C'mon guys--How many? More than 2? I'd be astounded if there were more than 5 in the entire AIS. And if anybody knows I'd like those persons to eMail me, or reply to this list. It's not a private matter, it's public and nobody looks at it? Yeah.... the gorilla in the room. (Our illegitimate relatives?) Our membership secretary/treasurer could get lists from nursery catalogs and maybe even invite some of those oddly- named people to join. I've never seen it as a suggestion, since 1958 when I think I joined-- so I'm offering it here. I was too long silent. Maybe I'm prompted by the resignation of Shaukat Chaudhary from our board. A great, great loss! Not mourned in print so far that I've seen . I think we might have about 5 Asian-Americans judging from names, but I haven't looked at a membership list in about 15 years when I think there were 2, (making allowances for my poor memory). Anybody want to do a count of the Yamagatas, Fujiis and Kawamotos, etc. And how about the Nguyens, the Changs, the Bhattacharyas, Shahs, Khans, Bashouras, Pangasinans, Surabanians, Joglekars, (Patels-- as common as Smith in New Delhi)? Japan has two members, but there are none in or from the USA that I could guess at from the names. Not too many Japanese-American kids named Smith, but maybe Jorgenson? If this group has not advanced or expanded its membership, it's perhaps because we don't have adequate representation of the gardening populations or iris fanciers from countries where irises come from. We have Rodionenko to take note of, but who's read any of his stuff in either English or Russian. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Hannon" <othonna@gmail.com> To: "Pacific Bulb Society" <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org> Sent: Sunday, February 01, 2009 2:39 PM Subject: Re: [pbs] Big Government > And California wonders why it can't reach a budget agreement, current > global > economy notwithstanding. I have a link somewhere that enumerates all of > the > branches of state government here. It is mind-boggling and ever-expanding. > > The fact that agencies at local and state levels are staffed by people who > are not directly accountable to the voters necessarily puts citizen and > business owner alike at a disadvantage. Same with USDA/DHS. Not that they > should be made directly accountable, but we could use a better system of > accountability for cases like this iris farm. Our elected representatives > are swamped. It is not like a shoe store where we can move on to the next > one if we don't like the service. Therefore they have a special obligation > to draw from common sense in applying the laws and regulations. I don't > think they get any training in the former. > > Dylan Hannon > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/