HardDrive:
Bravo! That was quite a rant.
I am a SoCal native. In fact, I am a 3rd generation Californian. I live in a foothill community that is right below the big "station fire". The smoke, ash, and orangey haze of the sun is starting to get a little old right now. My brother-in-law and his two brothers are all firefighters and have been putting their lives on the line to fight these fires over the past 5 or 6 days.
Perhaps the smoke and ash have weakend my constitution a little or maybe the Petite Syrah gave your rant that little extra ooomph, because I just can't seem to come up with a good response to your argument right now. You win
Here is a photo from my front yard taken yesterday afternoon. There is no more blue sky. It is solid smoke here and the sound of water dropping aircraft overhead is non-stop. I love LA!
Mike