Well folks, it’s that time of the year again. No, not the holiday season, not Halloween, nor any of your weirdo pagan holidays pushed on us to sell candy and poorly made horror films.

It’s the time of year where our great and beautiful state goes up in flames, choking our already smog-ridden cities in a thick blanket of ash as we helplessly watch the pillars of smoke creep menacingly towards our neighborhoods. The neighborhoods of the common man, anyway; the rich and powerful never seem to be in the way of the flames.

It’s enough to make you wonder, what are our elected officials doing about the problem? Are they using our tax dollars to control the dry brush and fund the firehouses? Not quite. 

The powers that be, in their infinite wisdom, have decided the best way to combat this ‘natural’ disaster is to…shut off our power.

Now, you all know me. I’m no conspiracy theorist. I don’t walk around mumbling about aliens and Nessie all day. 

What I do walk around thinking is, “Hey, wouldn’t it be nice if we had power right now so cell phone towers worked and we could tell where the best evacuation routes were?” If I were a state government looking at an ever-worsening population problem, what would be the best way to snuff out some of those pesky moaning peasants that demand I do my ‘job’ all day?

While I’m at it, why have those fire-starting winds seem to have gotten worse since they installed all those “wind power” generators in the desert?! Sure seems convenient they’re all pointed west towards civilization.

Just sayin’!

Anyway, we can speculate on who started the fires and why it was clearly the government all we want, it’s not going to make us and our homes any safer. We need concrete, actionable steps that will allow us to both physically and financially protect ourselves from disasters, whether they’re man made or natural.

When it comes to financially protecting ourselves, there’s nothing quite like insurance, especially in a state as disaster prone as California. If you’re in Southern California (land of giant earthquakes, fires, and dumb, aggressive drivers), insurance can be the deciding factor in whether you’re able to pick yourself up and dust yourself off once the Big One comes and goes.

That’s why I’m spotlighting Galindo Insurance today, a local agent with some serious chops and none of the usual hocus pocus jibber jabber that you get with the typical broker. He can help set you up with auto, home, business, property, life, and health insurance, and if your needs aren’t covered under those, his network of contacts from working under Statefarm will get you to the right person.

We live in some strange times, folks. You can feel the shifts in the winds of the world as it changes around us. They howl now, dry leaves skittering across the pavement sounding like bones being scraped of meat. The normal greyish brown L.A. haze has turned into a sickly orange as the flames engulf the hills. The licking flames seem to reach farther towards the city every year.

There’s only one thing you can count on as stable and unchanging: the Dover Street Examiner’s coverage of the failings of our so-called “leaders” and local businesses that can actually make a difference. 

For everything else, there’s Galindo Insurance. Give them a call:

Galindo Insurance

(310) 823-5073

214 Pier Ave, Santa Monica, CA 90405