The sun has set in California
By John Amato Wednesday Jul 29, 2009 10:00am
It really is time for a constitutional convention in California. We can't live in this great state with such a destructive legislative process that has finally run us into the ditch.
If you want to understand how much insanity Prop 13 has wreaked on the state's revenues, just think about DisneyLand:
It's no wonder Disneyland's owners call their amusement park the "happiest place on Earth." For much of its land, Disney pays only a nickel per square foot in property taxes.
In Hollywood, Capitol Records pays a dime per square foot in taxes on the land beneath its famous tower, which resembles a stack of records on a hi-fi. In downtown Los Angeles, owners of the Wells Fargo Center pay about $1.77 a square foot.
And then the problem is compounded by having a hack like Arnold in charge.
Today we witness the damage that the line-item veto causes in the hands of a right-wing governor bent on using it to achieve his long-desired destruction of public services. Arnold's vetoes include:
• An additional $6.2 million cut from state parks, which will likely cause as many as 50 more parks to be closed (potentially 1/3 of parks - 100 total - will now have to close)
• Elimination of state funding for community health clinic programs
• $80 million cut to child welfare services
• Total of about $400 million in health care cuts, including further Healthy Families cuts
• Elimination of funding for the Williamson Act programs to preserve farmland from development
• Deeper cuts to HIV/AIDS programs, as Brian noted.
• Cut 80% of funding for domestic violence shelters
• Elimination of funding for California Conservation Corps
• Cut half of Cal Grant funding, but could be restored "contingent upon enactment of legislation that authorizes the decentralization of the Cal Grant Program and other financial aid programs as warranted."
The state legislature could try and override these vetoes. But as we've seen time and again, this legislature appears to have forgotten that the override power actually exists. It would be a very good chance for Democrats to force Republicans to take a stand on these programs. Either they vote to restore the funding, or they vote to kick kids off of health care and close beaches and parks, giving Dems a set of issues to run on in 2010.
It seems doubtful that such an override will even be attempted. And so California slides deeper into ruin.
I have been considering a run at Jane Harman's seat, but seeing what's happening on the state level has really caused me many sleepless nights.
I sure hope the wealthy won't have reason to tread beyond their gated communities for the next few years because it's going to be a disease riddled, environmental hellhole out here for the rest of us. I suppose they can have supplies helicoptered in and bring their "concierge medicine" behind the fences. They're going to need to.
It's going to be expensive, but at least the losers won't be getting things they don't deserve.
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Here in Humboldt County we may see the closing of all of our state parks, we must have more than a half dozen or so.
I here the agriculture up there is quite nice.
Yes I happen to be smoking some of that Agriculture right now.
You lucky, lucky bastage.
it's "I HEAR..."; not "I HERE..."! think u may have indulged in the "agriculture" a little too often..not that that is a bad thing, mate! :)
And I used to be such a gud speeler two... ;)
I may have indulged a bit much...but I think I may be suffering from post cranial bang syndrome too...
Spell check does not help with the here hears.
We push out so many posts and information that mistakes get made sometimes...No biggie..
Spell check doesn't actually help with anything. It may seem convenient but in the long run it makes things worse.
for grow ops. No pesky hikers or campers or rangers around to make discoveries.
... drilling rights when you don't have to worry about cleaning up the state parks/beaches you closed along the Santa Barbara coast.
Were ANY rich businesses Gov't Assistance or Rich Persons' social perks "cut" at all?
then you don't live in California.
Dude! Your "agriculture" up there could probably save the state, or close to it, if only we could legalize it. I'm down in Los Angeles County, a hell hole if there ever was one...
then leave. The rest of us could use the pressure release.
Like many in L.A. county, I have a house that is worth less than what I owe. Can't sell. My entire family is here, and I've lived in L.A. county my entire life. I certainly do plan to leave when I can, and move somewhere cooler and without brown hills surrounding it.
I bet they're regretting that BS recall vote that got them the Governator.
I think the other guy..Gray Davis I think his name was...would not have let the state go completely down the shitter like Arnie.
Because Davis, was you know, and experienced politician...and Ahnuld...not so much...just a bad actor who wanted to be prez.
The bumper stickers at that time read,
"I'd rather get groped by Arnold than screwed by Davis"
Seems that Arnold did both.
Guess most of California didn't understand groping is foreplay for sex.
Another would be groping is Californian for governing through intiative and referendum.
I thought that was called rape.
masturbation.
Is that any different than mental masturbation?
a bit less messy?
I think you are exactly right. Whatever Gray Davis was or wasn;t... he was a smart guy and would have never let Cali fall to this level.
Last time we saved our a** by creating more gambling and lottery. This time it is strip clubs and pot. The great state of Calipornia
..I don't think Davis would have been able to wave a magic wand and generate more revenue for the state. Arnold may not be the best Governor but both he and Davis are faced with the "Prop 13" problem.
I have a cousin who has rubbed our noses in how wonderful CA was and then went and made a killing in real estate. I haven't heard yet whether she's bankrupt or not.
We regret the fucking asshat stupidity of passing Proposition 13 way back in 1973. If we hadn't been that stupid, Ahnult would not be able to do the damage he has. And with it, no one can fix the State, no matter who he is or how well-intentioned. The governor is a handy guy to throw rocks at, but he's not the worst part of our trouble.
with the particulars of your state, I'm an outside observer...one thing I DO know...is that the situation is awful, and I hope it's fixed very quickly...
California was a true test bed of Reaganomics and it has reached the final and planned stage.
Social Services gone. Now everyone is free and can breathe in the sweet smell of liberty and freedom!!
The shackles of wasteful government have been thrown off!
Halleluiah!!!
This is a libertarians wet dream...
but a nightmare for everyone else.
This is bad...really really bad.
... there are no roaming bands of road warriors fighting for oil up and down the 5 just yet.
Speaking of oil there is talk of drilling off our coast to raise revenues?!
Thought we dodged that bullet when we voted down Palin.
do you not see the master plan in all this.
Nothing happens that was not anticipated where politics is concerned.
is bullets.
... lord knows it makes complete sense to trash an entire coast line to get a few barrels of oil. Then again, I hear a lot of this crazy talk from a libertarian acquittance who is... get this; in disability. So I can't wait to hear him bitch when he gets them IOUs, he may have to get an actual job rather than tell other people to pull themselves by their bootstraps.
Speaking of which, I have never ever understood how one is supposed to pull themselves up using their bootstraps. Oh, well... their cognitive dissonance is glorious.
... close the state parks/beaches, sell drilling rights. Oil spill? What oil spill?
WHEN the Oil Spill happens, WHO will clean it up? Not the oil companies, not the CA gov't... who?
"yet"...
surely if all goes as plan the rapturing of California will take place and the good lord will send down that final earthquake that slides California off into the Pacific...thus freeing all her good Christian Americans from the shackles of their earthly bondage.
His will be done. Say Halleluiah...say AMEN!
... the quake severs California and sinks the midwest. I would love to see how the christofascist spin that one...
as one might think actually...
Of course...if the Yellowstone caldera goes boom...then none of this will matter.
... the San Andreas is a right lateral strike-slip, meaning the opposite side of the fault line appears to move to the right.
"Sitting in my car outside your house,
'Member when we spilled Coke all over your blouse"
It was fun while it lasted...
RIP California.
hey things are still pretty cool up here on the north coast.
You see, the economy this area failed over thirty years ago. Most people got used to it and adapted. Another thing that is unique is there is much less of a corporate presence here than in other parts of the state or country because there has been a grass roots effort to keep them out (ie, we have no wal marts, with a county population of over 100,000)
With all these problems california state parks see fit to crack down on nudity on california beaches. Where the hell are our priorities?
What's your problem? All priorities are in order. We can't have heathen nudity accosting our Christian sensibilities on our soon to be privatized beaches!!
Ain't freedom grand!!
Privatized beaches. Now that is scary and altogether possible.
Up here most of the beaches I go to are devoid of people. More likely to run into seals, elk or bears.
my partner and I wondered how they would even find people to police the nudists of San Onofre given all the budget cuts.
but i'm sure the prigs will find a way to ruin our good time. which consists of getting naked, reading a book, and swimming in the ocean.....
you think given Arnolds predilection for exercise he would be all over saving the parks (getting people out of the malls and onto the trails) but then things aren't always as they seem.
as bad as its about to get. there is a part of me thats happy for the coming nightmare. some of us deserve it, some of us californians are lazy and complacent and we fell for the lies of an austrian celebrity.
Maybe there will be enough of us poor, diseased MFer's standing in front of their gated communities, they may think twice about getting out for a bite to eat. And, if we're poor, diseased, and ARMED MFer's who have nothing to live for, they may never be able to leave without an escort from their private armies.
Are exactly what Califirnia is experiencing today. The voters were duped by the GOP and their phony tax cut syncophants into believing that something for nothing is a viable concept and that there were some magical waste somewhere in government that could be cut out. We can't identify the waste---bbbut it's there somewhere!
If private businesses used Prop 13 as their business model they would be filing Chapter 7 or 11. Small wonder CA is in such deep shit--they thought fraudsters like Howard Jarvis and Schwartzenegger were geniuses cutting back the evil government and their services. They are actually frauds that have deceived the public to serve their self-serving political ambitions.
Wake up California. Throw all these sleazeballs to the curb now before it's too late.
if a person were badly injured (even bleeding), or slightly ill (cold, flu) the doctor would "bleed" them, take a cup or so of blood. Sometimes they did this several times a day, or every day, until the patient died or by some miracle, recovered. Princess Caroline of England, who should have been Queen instead of Victoria, was starved (by doctors) during her pregnancy, and then "bled" after a difficult delivery...until she died.
Now California is being bled while the "doctors" claim it will cure Her. Well, miracles DO happen.
Moronic, unscientific, superstition-driven "medicine".
The California government, and the entire Western Economy to some extent is driven by similar ideas and beliefs.
Scientific Method and Rationality is The Enemy of Greed.
You mean like most of America? I mean Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Michigan... It's two Americas. First Class and left behind.
Just divide the state into thirds.
LA area CaliMexico
Agricultural Area in Center "Middle Calif"
and the Northern section with SFO, etc "North Calif"
What'cha Think ?
I say we pawn it off in sections. We sell the LA/San Diego part back to Mexico, let Oregon absorb the northern part and let Nevada have the agricultural part so they can make money off something other than gambling and toxic waste.
and all I can say is "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOES!! We've had enough californication up here.....maybe we should build a big ole fence...if it's good enough for Arizona, it should be good enough for us!! We've got enough problems (2nd in the nation in unemployment, cutting social services & school funding)---we don't need any of theirs!
We'll take the real Northern California and join it to Southern Oregon finally creating the State of Jefferson.
Ah, the State of Jefferson: travel our scenic byways; bring your own gravel.
Beat me to it on the State of Jefferson. That doesn't include my neck of the woods, but we have already declared ourselves "Humboldt Nation"
'Junk in the trunk'
I was going to take her to the clinic but it was closed by the budget cuts.
I believe Humboldt Nation has already been trademarked to a fine sativa blend.
we don't believe in trademarks, corporations or intellectual property
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gh6NS2D0pW8&fe...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTuPbJLqFKI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtwXlhU-J-c
CA doesn't sound like a socialist, liberal, hippy state at all, sounds more like a Rightwing Nazi Camp. Why does Bill o'riely keep saying CA is a liberal progressive state, when it does everything to apease the RIGHT WING. The cops beat you, the state starves you, corporations rob you, if thats Liberal I don't want any part of it.
i have no spell checker......
... O'reilly, Beck, Libaugh, Hannity, Pat Robertson, Buchanan, Coulter, Malkin, Hume, Cabuto, Savage, Scarborough, etc, etc, etc... bitch about the "liberal" media. When they actually make up most of the media, themselves right wing hacks and all.
They are simply following the playbook from their grandfather Goebbels: repeat one lie enough times and it will become true.
People have this idea that California is some liberal Disneyland. That's a crock made up by the media because it sounds good. I mean, Hollywood is in California, so it MUST be decadent, right?
Horseshit. Go thirty miles in from any point on the coast and you'll be in God's Country as surely as if you were in Texas. It's fucking rampant Republicanism. California is a Red State masquerading as a Blue State, and pretty successfully, too.
No bailout for California.
We need to given Ahnold the standard GOP response...go fuck yourself...you're on your own.
God bless America!!
Then have a Constitutional Convention subject to all the pressures of the Prop 13/Prop 8 haters, and see what happens.
Want to see a total clusterfuck? Subject the constitutional process to the tender mercies of multi-million-dollar propaganda. T. Jefferson couldn't get the US Constitution past Frank Luntz' paymasters today.
I don't know the solution, but if it comes to a ConCon, I dread the outcome if it is decided by plebiscite.
I think the other boys sent Jefferson overseas to France when the CC was going down back then because he was too liberal for them
And take Harmon's seat.
Go for Govenator.
Yes! I'd vote for you!
What would the idiotic electorate of CA (or any other state except Vermont, where they appear rational to a fault) do without Arnold? They wanted their terminator, they got him. The US is now world famous for drawing the dregs of the world to it. The best and brightest of those dregs flock to CA because it is the happening scene. You know, the American Dream? The greediest, most sociopathic perverts in the entire world love the concept that is America. The did them some Kalifornya too. It's what the rest of the US should be!
spose'd to say "they dig them some Kalyfornya"..... Sorry
I voted for the other guy.
I voted for the porn star.
...California's armageddon.
I remember my folks in WA state decrying the high sales tax in CA, about 3-4%. Of course in the 60s, CA had FREE COLLEGE for residents. But Ron Reagan destroyed that.
I live in Seattle, where the sales tax is something like 10% now, a good 8% going to the state (No state income tax).
Between you and Curtilingus I'm starting to think moving from the Northwest to NYC where we have ridiculous income tax, high sales tax... actually, pretty much high everything tax except for the ultra-rich because that'd scare away those all important Wall Street people.
:(
is that backwards? Actually, Oregon has a state income tax, no sales tax. Much more progressive. And it's illegal to pump your own gas. :)
Yup. Central Oregon for my young years, northern Washington for a brief bit and I actually lived in Vancouver BC for a year too. Then I shipped out to NYC over a decade ago. Our roads might explode, have trashbags stacked on the sidewalks, cops might shoot first and plant evidence later, we might be almost entirely responsible for the financial meltdown thanks to Wall Street and be a target of terrorists - But we've got the best deli sandwiches and public transportation. Not to mention we just spent almost a billion dollars on the new Yankees and Mets stadiums which was totally worth it! Can't think of a better use of my tax dollars especially since they jacked up the price of tickets so I can't afford to even go to the games now.
I went to the mini sprint car races in cottage grove, or, for $5 and was more satisfied than I would have been at Yankee stadium thank you.
Have you seen the luxury boxes at the new Yankee Stadium? From the pictures and TV news stories about them I've seen it was well worth every tax dollar I spent on 'em! I hope the Investment bankers, media moguls and elected officials enjoy them as much as I enjoyed paying for them. Go Yanks!
So you might recognize that the picture on this post is from San Juan Island, not CA...
(from San Juan State Park, looking across Haro Straight to Vancouver Island...)
I was going to comment on that (not the location, it's news to me, eagle-eyed snowgeek) but the colour seemed like here is right now. Which is crazy, given the variations in colour-rendering.
..WTF?
an attendant must pump your gas. You should see them run out to the cars when WA plates pull in.
That it rains everyday, traffics horrible etc.
the traffic is a fat lazy whore. And we have no capacity to withstand the heat. Hardly any home AC.
and right now it is approaching 105...was 106 yesterday.
And the sales tax went from 4% to 6% in, iirc, '94.
It would be wonderful if you would run against Harmon. All of left blogosphere would support you!
I'm muling it over...
Lake Tahoe is beautiful this time of year.
There is no time of the year when Lake Tahoe is not beautiful ;-)
no doubt i'll be trailing it today looking down on the lake from 8000 ft. doesn't suck.
grrrrrrrrrr
about how beautiful the Keys are!
And our agriculture here is pretty darn good too!
http://reno.craigslist.org/apa/1295371199.html
How far is the nuclear waste dump from there? I'm trying to make a funny...
But when you compare California's budget shortfall ($22 billion - right?) it is CHUMP CHANGE compared to the bailout of the financial sector (how many trillions?) or the cost of the Iraq War (how many trillions?) or the yearly "defense" budget (about $1 trillion a year).
And even if EVERY state in the union had a $20 billion budget shortfall (and none other than CA does) - it would take ONLY one of those trillions to fix it.
INSANITY
... when a lot of the shortfall would be literally completely eliminated if Cali would get a 1:1 return from the Federal government in the tax dollars we pay.
It is going to be a hoot, to be lectured about fiscal responsibility from the red states who are getting significantly more money from their federal taxes, than we get in Cali. In other words, we're going to be lecture on how to be fiscally responsible by the same people who are being literally subsidized by states like California.
Also it is a hoot to hear from the same banking institutions who just got trillions in cash from the government, that they are not going to honor California's IOUs because, get this: they want to teach the state to be fiscally responsible.
Sometimes, one can't just make some of this shit up...
States - ALL states - could set up their own banks.
Bank On It: How Cash-Starved States Can Create Their Own Credit
could/should do the same thing --- dump the Fed and follow the Constitution.
Why should we fix Cali when we get to have fun fixing Iraq after arming them and Iran in a war through the '80's (so much fun to play both sides), bombing them into the stone age and sanctioning them into starvation in the '90's, and then bombing them even more this decade just so we could have fun building them back up again?
Before we fix Cali, we get to bomb the crap out of them first! Otherwise, where's the fun in it?
when trying to reinstitute civilized western governance to a people who have demonstrated their incapacity to govern themselves?
Nothing motivates like a good "Shock & Awe".
Maybe Geithner should talk to the DoD and see if they can fix the finance sector that way too.
.
Heck, I pay a fee to get my own money from an ATM, I'd easily pay a fee for that.
paid by the rest of America for use of ATM's with software invented in Califonia, their whole problem would be solved.
We here in the lower 48 abhor such Socialist ideas. Not like those commie Alaskans.
"Sunset on California." I prefer the Sideways 45.
Those to the north and west are stuck with 'em.
Their leader is a despot who inflicts untold harm on his own populace, including cuts to healthcare. My God! The man kills his own people!
don't forget the rape rooms where he attacks tiny starlets.
while his people suffer.
He is Ted Kennedy's 'nephew-in-law'?
Always wondered of her love for the man. Has her heart been principally embedded within and guided by the man's loins?
of a very dysfunctional family. Walked up to the future m-i-l and told her "Your daughter has a nice ahhhsss." First meeting.
Mrs Gropenator [insensitively and revealingly] told a rape victim [she was interviewing] that she was lucky that her husband was working things out with her. Because, she explained, Ahnuld would leave her in a second if she were ever raped.
If this guy showed a scintilla of class or empathy, then I would be surprised.
(I flush)
Ahnold is a goddamn monster...
there may be some residual third-reich influence upon the native Austrian's outlook- (Just grasping at straws at this point)?
that he'd consider her 'damaged goods,' which in effect was telling her interview subject that she herself was...
Yikes and Jimeney Be! Nuff said then (can you point me to that interview on the 'nets'?)
And I will, as well.
http://www.buzzflash.com/interviews/03/10/06_...
And totally disgusting- to boot!
denies this, according to buzzflash. I was surprised to find a link, because I remember when I first heard of this, I had no computer. There was no denial issued when Ms Pomer was first telling of the incident.
But I see Ms Pomer has become very outspoken about the Groper, so that may have spurred Shriver into the denialfest. I don't trust Shriver. She's married to Ahnuld, after all.
If he did we could be positive he wasn't acting.
But why would we want someone with "empathy" anyway? That's just liberal code for terrorist-loving, commie, baby-killing, latte-sipping, atheist, reverse-racist, intellectual activism.
Scintilla sounds like a brand of celebrity endorsed vanity perfume from Godzilla.
wee little bottles that designer perfumes come in? :P
Have you seen those atrociously bad propaganda films he's made? So vain, always the savior of the world.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSz4jOGior8
.
Arnold pandder to the pro-life and multi-sexual community at the same time.
Hollywood is a lot like the Republican Party. Just when you think they've reached the bottom of the barrel they go and make a movie about dancing chihuahuas... then one about special forces rodents... Of course, I'll take those any day over George Walker Bush: Texas Ranger or Legally Blonde for VP.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ol6nHSZZD_8
Scary shit here. :( I'm probably going to find out sooner or later what will happen to the community mental health clinic I go to....
I've always idealized and revered ye- yet you've always seemed to me a beautiful contradiction in terms. Where have so many progressive ideas flourished, and so much natural resource and potential been developed, yet squandered and mismanaged? Go there, John- my support (tho my vote is moot from out of state) is strongly with you!
the Mexican border? Sounds like we folks in the sideways 45 are about to be overrun by folks fleeing self inflicted governance.
wealthy areas.
If they aren't prepared they were irresponsible to begin with.
God I miss Humboldt county. Had to move when Yakima tanked. Enjoy your agriculture bro. It's the only real economy left there.
I know there's nothing to do here except be a nature boy.
to "Private Management Firms"
Califone In.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K217GdcrWvc
Saw Jello Biafra in concert with the Melvins a few years ago. Great show.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPs6NBXLjIo&fe...
I bet that show was friggin AWESOME!
But you ain't accusing him of suckin' Curt now, are you? ;) ;)
Who? What?
Naw...ain't none of my business who sucks who. };)>
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