The Governor has pledged to sign one of the FR ‘TWENTY WORST BILLS’ TODAY! SAY IT ISN’T SO!

The Governor has announced that today he is going to sign legislation to stiffen the regulation that the State of California imposes on businesses, large and small, mandating that they pay their employees more money.

This is a bad idea for so many reasons, but given the fact that state government finances are precariously tied to the health of the California economy, this kind of regulation is exactly what we DON’T NEED. Hiking the wage mandate on employers causes employers to have to let some employees go, and increases their costs which will lead to some businesses that are on the edge to shut down or move their operations out of the state.

Yes, it is true that if Angelides were Governor, we would be looking at the larger increase in the wage mandate, and an indexing of the wage to the rate of inflation (making it automatically increase in the future).

I will end on this sobering note:… Read More

[I don’t know if Joe J. knows movieslike he knows music, but the title presumes he does. This blog post is slightly more than a restatement of my comments to Jon’s commentary below.]

I think it may be a tad bit hasty to accuse the Angelides camp of theft at this point in time. From what I’ve read, the Governor’s staff (or someone on the Governor’s staff) may have saved files in an incorrect location – like… Read More

SHAME ON PHIL ANGELIDES!

Dictionary.com defines ethics as:

SHAME ON PHIL ANGELIDES!

Dictionary.com defines ethics as:

View the lead in to last night’s opening of Monday Night Football. Now close your eyes and try to imagine Phil Angelides doing this. OK, that is nearly impossible to visualize.

And how much do you think GMC paid for "placement" of their trucks and SUVs in the opening, I counted 5 logos and they were the only brand.

Sweet hit for the Governor.… Read More

September 11 is here. The MSM continue to ask if we are safer than fiver years earlier. The answer is of course yes. Until then many didn’t know we faced an enemy. Today most Americans do, while some still hide.

One issue facing us is port security. There is no doubt port security needs to be addressed. Long Beach Democratic State Senator Alan Lowenthal managed to get SB 927 passed. This bill puts a a tax (fee) on users of the port to pay for port security.

The blog LBReport reports that the Long Beach Chamber opposes the bill because of the $500 million in extra taxes passed on to consumers. LB Report discusses the hisory of the idea and the federal role in it. Good info.

The Chamber of course really isn’t in a place to lecture about the costs. My solution would be simple. Lets use the interest payments that will be used for the massive bond debt the chamber wants us to approve. How about that instead.… Read More

If yesterday’s post wasn’t enough…

I received an email from a reader as follows:

I’m not yet decided on the airport issue, but it is persuasive that all of the region’s delegation is against the proposal.I really wonder if the argument that somehow not having the Marine Air Station here weakens national defense is really sound. The presupposition is that to relocate the base would therefore weaken us as a country, and I just find that a "stretch" of logic. Arguments that it might be expensive to relocate the base, or that we might be negatively impacted by the loss of this government facility may be sound, but that our national defense posture would suffer is just not convincing.

It just seems to me that the real issue is who needs the location the most, assuming that the existing airport will not meet our needs indefinitely. It’s a very complex matter with lots of considerations that "cut both ways." I just sincerely question the national defense argument.… Read More

Today being a landmark anniversary, I thought there shouldbe a fewthoughts on 9/11 on this most patriotic sight, so here’s what this post-er came up with. Doug

5years after 9/11 2001, those unbelievable images are still vivid in my mind.AsI recall Ihad been out earlier with our harvest crew readying our combines for the days rice harvest. Having stopped by at home to grab my lunch box, my wife called my attention to the television and the unreal things that were happening. What we did know was that we didn’t know much. Is this World War III? Who is attacking and to what extent? Should we fill our SUV with food, drinks and ammo, gas up, load up the kids and head even farther away from any urban centers, keeping an eye in the mirror to the south for a bright flashand mushroom cloud over theBay Area or even Sacramento? Or take amorerational approach andsee how things play out during the short term and plan mentally for more worst case scenarios. We decided that the info… Read More