Earlier this month, officials in the state of Mississippi took swift action to lure a California company to the Magnolia State.
Members of the Mississippi Legislature – Democrat and Republican alike – set aside partisan differences and joined together to pass a $75 million economic incentive package. The vote was nearly unanimous in both houses of the Mississippi Legislature. The bipartisan vote sealed the deal for San Jose-based Stion Corp. to agree to build a new factory in Hattiesburg.
Working side by side, Mississippi officials seized the opportunity to lure 1,000 jobs, with an average salary of roughly $43,000 per job, away from California, along with $500 million in economic investment. More…
Facts mean very little to government agents who love power and control.
“Meanwhile, back in the real world, the real threat is global cooling, which has occurred every several hundred years in recent earth history. Reported the Daily Mail Sunday, “The supposed ‘consensus’ on man-made global warming is facing an inconvenient challenge after the release of new temperature data showing the planet has not warmed for the past 15 years.
“The figures suggest that we could even be heading for a mini ice age to rival the 70-year temperature drop that saw frost fairs held on the Thames in the 17th Century.
“Based on readings from more than 30,000 measuring stations, the data was issued last week without fanfare by the Met Office and the University of East Anglia Climatic Research Unit. It confirms that the rising trend in world temperatures ended in 1997.”
Jerry, Barack, Arnold, Al all believe that government is smart and the people are dumb. They believe we can not tie our own shoes without government issuing regulations on how, and high taxes on the shoe laces.
Climate was not discovered by Gore and friends. It has been around since time began. Maybe they need remedial science to understand the climate, instead of reading “Inconvenient Lies”.
On Friday, the California Air Resources Board clicked its jackboots and ordered one in seven Calfornia cars to be “ultra clean” by 2025. That means “battery electric, hydrogen fuel cell and plug-in hybrid vehicles.”
It’s supposed to cut the greenhouse gases that supposedly cause global warming.
CARB Commissar Mary Nichols explained, “Today’s vote … represents a new chapter for clean cars in California and in the nation as a whole.” Of course, there was no vote by the people of California. They never would have done so. The vote was by the CARB Politburo. More…
news release (1/30/2012)
Senator Doug LaMalfa (R-Richvale) today introduced SB 985 that asks the voters if they want to proceed with California’s proposed $98.5 billion high speed rail project. The measure already has earned 31 co-sponsors. “Voters have… [more]
A part-time California Legislature with an 81 percent pay cut and a ban on lobbying could soon become a reality — and there’s already weeping and gnashing of teeth around Sacramento.
Introduced by Assemblywoman Shannon Grove (R-Bakersfield), a ballot initiative is developing to make the California Legislature part-time, permanently.
Here’s the big picture regarding proposed part-time lawmakers:
Annual salary slashed from $95,000 to $18,000. Staff and travel eliminated. Legislative sessions reduced to 90 days per year. 2-year state budgets. State government jobs and lobbying banned while in office (and for five years afterward).
“The bottom line is to return this California State Legislature back to the citizens of the state of California, reduce their time in office and make them live under the rules they create,” said Assemblywoman Grove.
Shannon Grove, 46, is a former employment agency CEO, experienced in negotiating salaries and benefits packages in the bottom-line business arena.
The latest study by the state Legislative Analyst’s Office shows that California could save tens of millions of tax dollars every year by slashing salaries and getting rid of staff and travel expenses.
Critics strongly object to the whole plan.
They say a part-time Legislature will just create a conflict of interest as a lawmaker would be more loyal to another full-time job that pays more than $18K. Plus, they question how a part-time Legislature could really work when the governor and lobbyists work full-time.
For all the tax dollars spent on current full-time legislators, their approval rating is at only 22 percent, according to the most recent Field Poll.
The 2012 Part-Time California Legislature initiative is expected to be ready for signature gathering in February in order to get the measure on the ballot this November.
California has a huge state debt and Washington has a huge national debt. But that does not discourage either Governor Jerry Brown or President Barack Obama from wanting to launch a very costly high-speed rail system.
Most of us might be a little skittish about spending money if we were teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. But the beauty of politics is that it is all other people’s money, including among those other people generations yet unborn.
The high-speed rail system proposed for California has been envisioned as a model for similar systems elsewhere in the United States. A recent story in the San Francisco Chronicle used the high-speed rail system in Spain as an analogy for California.
Spain is about the same size as California, and has a similar population density — and population density is the key to the economic viability of mass transportation, from subways to high-speed rail.
It so happens that I have ridden on Spain’s high-speed rail system. It was very nice, especially since I did not have to pay the full costs, which were subsidized by the Spanish taxpayers. More…
Gov. Jerry Brown said in an interview airing in Los Angeles today that California’s high-speed rail project will cost far less than the state’s current estimate of nearly $100 billion and that environmental fees paid by carbon producers will be a source of funding. Read More…
Segment #3 Former Deputy District Attorney Ernie Norris reveals the “Good Old Boy” network between the DA, criminal and defense attorneys and their role in selecting judges. In what appears to be a conspiracy of the legal community against the people who turn to the system for justice and resolution of serious problems and cirmes facing our society.
When a political party achieves dominance of any government, one expects that it would use its hegemony to enact its public policy agenda. That’s the way democracy is supposed to work. Read More…
This 9 segment (3 part) video series features Judicial Watch attorneys, Paul Orfanedes, Litigation Director and Sterling “Ernie” Norris, Lead Attorney discussing their mission, the Judiciary and their now famous litigation (Sturgeon v. County of L.A.) whereby County payments to State Superior Court Judges were found to be illegal and in-violation of the California Constitution. Also impact of Senate Bill SBX2 11 and the Commission of Judicial Performance. WATCH 9 segments (8 min each) HERE: http://www.fulldisclosure.net/Programs/614-616.php
The California Teachers Association officially agreed Sunday to back Gov. Jerry Brown’s multibillion-dollar tax plan, which should provide the governor hefty financial support for his fall campaign. Read More…
The state’s powerful labor groups have anxiously witnessed union rights and benefits being gutted in Wisconsin, Ohio and Indiana. Now, unions in California are girding for an all-out war over a ballot initiative that would curb their ability to raise political cash. Read More…
Judicial Watch Attorneys Paul Orfanedes and Sterling (Ernie) Norris, describe their mission to “open up” government by using FOIA ( Freedom of Information Act.) requests. They discuss the Sturgeon v County of L.A. lawsuit they won against the County of Los Angeles who had been paying State Superior Court Judges illegally. Citing how the court hired big law firms to fight for the county payments to judges. They describe efforts to learn who authorized the payments, hired and paid for the big law firms to defend the payments. A special appointment of temporary Chief Justice raised eyebrows during the court challenge and questioned the practice of the court hiring lobbyists that created suspicion.
California’s 425 redevelopment agencies will disband Wednesday in the wake of a state Supreme Court ruling. But dissolving a 62-year-old government institution deeply embedded into city and county governments won’t be easy. Read More…
For months, nobody figured California Republicans would have a say in picking their party’s 2012 presidential contender — the state’s June 5 primary was just too late to matter. Read More…
First Posted: 01/27/2012 7:20 pm Updated: 01/27/2012 7:24 pm
Nearly a decade after the city of Oakland was first threatened with losing control of its police force, Judge Thelton Henderson has severely curtailed the independence of the Oakland Police Department, saying that it could placed under federal receivership as soon as this March.
In 2000, a group rogue of Oakland police officers, calling themselves the “Rough Riders,” were found to have planted evidence, used excessive force and falsified police reports. As part of a negotiated settlement three years later, the city was ordered to take 51 specific steps toward reform or else lose operational control of the department. Despite numerous deadline extensions, Oakland has failed to make significant progress on said reforms.
“The court remains in disbelief that Defendants have yet–nine years later–to achieve what they themselves agreed was doable in no more than five years,” Henderson wrote in his decision earlier this week. More…
Cliff Kincaid — November 29, 2011
A campus conservative at UC Davis was so disgusted by slanted coverage of the Occupy movement that he reached out to Fox News and provided the channel a video showing police officers being surrounded by protesters after dismantling an illegal tent site. Marcus Shibler, chairman of Davis College Republicans, says the officers were met with chants of “F— the police.”
Marcus Shibler
Meanwhile, one of the UC Davis faculty members involved in leading the protests is scheduled to teach a course on Marxism and is now calling for the campus police to be completely evicted from the university.
A syllabus for Professor Nathan Brown’s course begins with a Karl Marx quote about communism being “the real movement which abolishes the present state of things.” The on-line course description is decorated with a hammer and sickle, the symbol of communism.
A spokesman for a growing number of students who want an educational atmosphere returned to campus, Shibler tells Accuracy in Media that the chancellor, Linda Katehi, is caving in to protesters’ demands, even ordering meals and portable toilets for those returning to campus. “She has done nothing but appease them now,” he said. More…
It has been a year since Nancy Pelosi surrendered her gavel and stepped down as speaker of the House as a result of the Republican mid-term tsunami. To help ensure that history is not repeated, and to underscore the importance of this year’s elections, we present the Top 10 Perils of Pelosi. Read more. . .
Bankruptcy is the boogeyman haunting governments across America. It’s not a question of whether more cities will file for bankruptcy, but how many.
The culprit is a decade of over-spending by governments, especially on pension guarantees, and an economic slowdown that refused to flip into a robust recovery. The money just isn’t there. And it’s not going to be there even if local governments raise taxes while cutting employees and services to the bone.
Things are just going to get worse for municipal finance. Most states, counties, cities and school districts have spent their cash reserves down to the legal minimum. And they have not made contingency plans for another 15 percent decline in revenue in the next year. Consequently, there is the potential for thousands of defaults in the 50,000 municipal bond issuers in the United States. Most cities can cut spending, but they cannot cut principal and interest payments without default and bankruptcy.
Unlike many cities facing bankruptcy, San Jose is well-off. It’s part of the prosperous, high-tech Silicon Valley. But San Jose officials have discussed bankruptcy as a possible option to over-spending. More…
Supervisors OK Two Ballot Measures for June Election
Placer County voters who live in the North Auburn, Ophir and Lone Star communities will have the opportunity in the June 5, 2012 presidential primary election to decide their level of fire and emergency medical service. On Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors approved a resolution that will put a measure on the ballot for an increase in taxes for the area. READ MORE
The Tehama County Tea Party Patriots began dialogue with water rights advocates during the group’s Tuesday night meeting.
More than 80 people edged onto folding chairs set up on the dance floor of the Red Bluff Grange Hall on Walnut Street, eager to share questions and concerns, after coffee and cookies.
The Patriots were ready to talk peacefully Tuesday evening, in contrast to a riled up group of individuals that stirred up conflict at a public meeting the week before.
Representatives of the group had made apologies to the Board of Supervisors Tuesday morning and through the Daily News’ opinion page about the actions of Tea Party affiliates from Redding and other towns at a water plan meeting Jan. 18.
Water rights were the topic of the night and many wanted to know more about the Jan. 18 meeting.
Del Reimers, an Orland rancher and landowner who has been fighting for agricultural water rights for decades, was invited to speak.
What started the discussion was a public outreach meeting of the Northern Sacramento Valley Integrated Regional Watershed Management Plan, a state grant-funded, six-county project established to create a water plan for the area.
Reimers and others who tried to speak at the water management plan meeting were interrupted and stalled by several boisterous guests, reportedly from Redding, who effectually halted any substantive discussion. Read More…
Gov. Jerry Brown pledges to cut spiraling costs, but key parts of his rollback plan apply mainly to future workers. Activists want quicker action. Read More…
A California Supreme Court ruling Friday significantly raised Democratic Party prospects of gaining the supermajority needed in the state Senate to pass tax or fee increases. Read More…
Friday’s California Supreme Court’s decision to use a citizens commission’s newly drawn state Senate district boundaries for the 2012 election was blasted by Republicans who had challenged the maps and were hoping to have a referendum on the November ballot. Read More…
High-speed passenger rail is a commendable public policy goal that can provide valuable benefits to the public, but should only be pursued where it makes economic sense. A project should move forward if the revenue from all sources is sufficient to cover operating costs while making a contribution to its capital costs, including paying off debt and providing its investors with an adequate return on their investment. That’s true regardless of whether the investors in question are private individuals or taxpayers. More…
On Hoos’gow Day in San Juan Capistrano, 50 people dressed as cowboys brandish guns loaded with blanks and roam the city center, throwing anyone who isn’t wearing Old West attire into a mock jail. The annual tradition is supposed to be harmless – and a new state law banning the open carry of handguns will make it even more so. The law, which took effect Jan. 1, means the antique pistols that members of the San Juan Capistrano Fiesta Association customarily carry on Hoos’gow Day can’t be used, said Steve Weekes, the association’s president. Read About It: The Orange County Register
Posted: 1/27/2012 9:49:56 AM
The Persistent Patriots 
Employers exit as Sacramento fiddles
By Brian Jones/midnight, Jan. 27, 2011
Earlier this month, officials in the state of Mississippi took swift action to
lure a California company to the Magnolia State.
Members of the Mississippi Legislature – Democrat and Republican alike – set aside partisan differences and joined together to pass a $75 million economic incentive package. The vote was nearly unanimous in both houses of the Mississippi Legislature. The bipartisan vote sealed the deal for San Jose-based Stion Corp. to agree to build a new factory in Hattiesburg.
Working side by side, Mississippi officials seized the opportunity to lure 1,000 jobs, with an average salary of roughly $43,000 per job, away from California, along with $500 million in economic investment. More…
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