John here: A brief respite today from the midday "30 days 30 Deceptions" series. Certainly not because there is any break in the deceptions. But just because...well...i love these pics from Tamerlane and I love the redwoods.
If anyone thought the big banks were grateful for the massive bailouts they received from the American taxpayer - and the American taxpayers' grandchildren - look no further than California.
"We don't want acceptance (of IOUs) to deter the state from a budget agreement," bank spokeswoman Julie Westermann said.
Oh really, Julie.
Ms. Westermann has taken on the job of fiscal disciplinarian. Funny. Her company, after going on an obscene sub prime lending spree, came begging to the U.S. Government for billions just a few months ago. Bank of America and Citigroup each received $45 billion in multiple installments between October and January. Each also benefits from guarantees against losses -$7.5 billion for Bank of America and $5 billion for Citi.
To put it succinctly: Ms. Westermann has a job because you and I and our descendants propped up her employer.
I do not know at what point seething anger at banks and their criminality will boil over into rage - but that point will come. The hypocrisy here is too hard to stomach. When they are about to fail the Feds must bail them out - or "the entire economy will sink." When people need what amounts to an extension - Wells Fargo, Citi, and BoA tell them to go to hell.
Don't get me wrong. There is much blame to go around. The California state government is utterly dysfunctional. Californians have made matters worse by voting for unfunded mandate after unfunded mandate, dependant on a pie in the sky economic model that was, in turn, gamed for profit - and later tax payer bailouts - by unscrupulous bankers. Everyone was in on this circle jerk.
Nevertheless major banks refusing to take IOUs from the state so soon after the rest of the country saved their butts is petulant and arrogant almost beyond comprehension.
The economic system we are currently watch fail in slow motion promotes amorality. More than that it deifies amorality. A very small portion of the population continues to loot the majority.
How long can go one before the blow back becomes a firestorm? It is, indeed...a time for vivid outrage.
(The GOP needs to ditch the social conservatives by the side of the road. ASAP. There is a libertarian streak out that that the GOP is missing out on...Why aren't the libertarians taking advantage either???)
Two dipshits, one DEM one GOP:Two state senators refuse to take pay cuts - and my favorite part - one state senator actually said this about his pay:"What I get paid is personal. I don't discuss what I do personally. I don't choose to make anything I do on my personal side public."
No dude - what you get paid as a state senator is PUBLIC because it is our money that pays you, numbnuts.
Music - this week my favorite Independence Day /patriotic themed songs:
An interesting and provocative post by Tamerlane coming in about an hour. The rector of the parish where I am a member sent out an email letter after today's calif. court ruling. I am posting it without permission - but it is also on their - very good - website here so will take the risk. It's worth it to me.
Dear Friends,
Today's ruling by the California Supreme Court does not only affect the rights of same sex couples, it sets a terrible precedent that a simple majority of voters can deny millions of citizens fundamental rights and relegate those citizens to second class status. Today's decision is not only antithetical to the core American values of liberty and justice for all, it flies in the face of the core Christian commitment to love our neighbors as ourselves. The message we at All Saints Church in Pasadena want to send to the California Supreme Court is that today justice has been both delayed and denied - and our hearts and prayers go out to those couples who have seen their dreams of marriage to the love of their life dashed on the rocks of discrimination.
Nevertheless, All Saints Church will continue to receive all couples, wherever they find themselves on their journey of love, commitment and faith, as we continue to treat all couples equally for the purposes of ceremonies and sacraments. All Saints Church will also continue to stand with our California Faith for Equality allies to support actions and policies that will once again bring full equality to all people under the law of the State of California. We know that the arc of history is long but we also know that it bends toward justice - and we look forward to the day we will stand on the right side of that history on the issue of marriage equality. So today we recommit ourselves as a peace & justice church to work without ceasing toward that day when all of God's people will be treated with equality, dignity and respect.
With love, Ed Bacon Rector, All Saints Church, Pasadena
Gays told to go to hell. My feeling on the appropriate response is here. After watching the the news today tell me - am I right or wrong? Do this: focus on coverage of reaction in the gay community today, then tell me -would non violent, calm, stoic, non compliant protest be better or not? Is it time or not? Will another round of marches and candlelight vigils make on damn bit of difference? I think not. We need a visionary, brave new voice in this debate. A grown up. Is another ballot fight worth it? It is a must to repeal prop 8. but unless combined with consistent moral action it is dangerous, expensive and may well fail. 2010 will be a conservative year. Those who are on the wrong side of this issue have piles of money. I will support the Prop when it comes , but unless the campaign is smart and can tap a big cash flow- it will go down. The Mormon church and many others are perfectly willing to spend huge amounts to make sure gays remain second class, degraded citizens.
I don't believe in "too big to fail". The smart person who said "If it is too big to fail it is too big to exist" was right on target. Of course, he was talking about banks, not a state. Now we are hearing that California is "too big to fail." Nonsense. California may well "fail." Maybe it should.
I live here. I am a California partisan so to speak. Maybe it is just habit, or a natural reaction to being a native. Maybe it's sloth. Other than New York City I can't yet imagine where else I'd be as at home as I am in LA. Don't misread me. I have great affection for much of the rest of the country and Americans in general. I am one.
Let me be clear though. California is not too big to fail. It is failing. Right now. There are many reasons. Neither party has been responsible in the last 30 years. For all the yelping about how "blue" California is - in the years 27 since 1982 a Democrat has been governor for exactly 5 years.
Much as it pains me to say it: If California is a "failure" it ought to be allowed to fail. Because of Prop 13, it is nearly impossible to raise taxes. Yet, no one is willing to see services cut either. The wheels where bound to come off. A day of reckoning is here. So be it.
It will be interesting to see how Obama responds. One could presume that he can't allow California to "fail" and will ride in at the last minute with some of that money he's been printing for Goldman Sachs and company. If California sinks into misery by 2012 it will go flashing GOP red...regardless of who is on the ballot. No Cali. No second term.
The Democratic ascendancy in California is very recent and confined to the coast. As I have said before the "nocal/socal" divide is largely a concoction of Marin county granola types who look down on LA....often while enjoying a TV show or movie produced in socal....The real divide here is between West and East. Except for San Diego and southern Orange county (northern Orange county as been blue for a while now) the coast is blue. The closer one gets to Nevada and Arizona the more GOP it becomes. California votes for Republicans routinely. Bill Clinton changed the presidential voting trend blue. Before that one has to go back to 1964 and before that 1948 to find Dems taking the state. Los Angeles elected a GOP mayor for two terms in the 90s. No small feat for this very blue town. Since 1942 a Democrat have been governor for all of 21 years. Since 1942 a Democrat not named Brown has been governor once. He was recalled.
Obama should not assume California is in the bag in 2012.
Then again he says he won't bailout California. (Like what he says matters! Ha!) The state probably only needs 15 billion more to fill the gap...and what is 15 billion now anyway? Chump change.
We shall see.
Finally, let me say I think Arnold is okay. I did not support the recall of Gray Davis. What the fervent Arnold recall army ought to remember though - is that he has proven to be no better and is probably a bit worse than Davis.
This month, we Californians celebrate one of our traditional cultural events. No, not Cinco de Mayo. On May 19th, we're holding one of our special Special Elections.
California is pretty much run by ballot measures these days. Our May 19th ballot has five propositions, labeled 1A through 1E, all related to solving our budget crisis. I won't bore you with details, but they call for shuffling funds & raiding earmarks-essentially robbing Peter to pay Paul. A sixth, Prop 1F, which prevents the legislature from giving itself a raise during a deficit, was added as a sweetener.
To persuade us that these measures are required to escape this mess, the normally neutral voter's guide contains a multi-page editorial with a table showing how all five measures neatly add up to balance the budget-in the short run. In ads, firemen and policemen warn that if we don't pilfer the funds reserved for education and mental health, they might...Gasp...stop protecting and serving us!
Despite the heavy propaganda and the ominous threats, all the measures look to lose except 1F, the salary cap. If they fail to pass, the state legislature will be forced to do the unthinkable: agree on a budget.
But we've made that nearly impossible. California is one of only three states that require a 2/3 majority to change any tax or budget laws. The idea was to force compromise, but in reality it causes perpetual stalemate. You can't get a 2/3 majority on where to go for lunch! The anti-tax anarchists love this rule. It means no budget ever gets passed, no taxes ever get raised, and the government slowly starves to death.
Like true Californians, we put ourselves on an unhealthy, fad diet. Passed in 1978, Prop 13 limited property taxes to 1%. A handful of measures followed in quick succession that severely hampered the state's ability to raise revenue. Ever since, we've been scrounging for calories- ratcheting up sales taxes, floating bonds, jacking up licensing fees. Then we binge on propositions that earmark specific revenues for specific programs: lottery profits for K-thru-12, DMV fees for public transit. Government by ad hoc ballot measure hasn't worked, and is a major reason we're in this mess. Now the state's trying to get us out of that mess with more ballot measures.
On my summer vacations as a kid, my mom used to grant me & my sister one visit to the penny candy store. We were given a dollar, and set loose. This was a wonderful didactic exercise- what mix of 3 cent taffies, 5 cent gum drops and 10 cent peppermint sticks could we acquire with our 100 cents?
With our ballot measures, Californians are like kids who can't pass up a single piece of candy in the store, yet balk at forking over the dollar. We gleefully pass props for children's hospitals, mass transit, college campuses and prisons, but never, ever raise our taxes. When we want something we can't afford, we take out a loan.
California is a really big state - 37 million people, with a diverse economy of agriculture, tourism & entertainment, traditional & high tech industry. We ought to be able to afford all the components of a prosperous society. Yet we skimp on vital investments for our continued prosperity. Take education. Where California once ranked first in the nation, we're now 47th, just ahead of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama.
So how to fix this mess? The anarchists say: reduce the state government to highway patrol and pothole crews, and sauve qui peut on the rest. They'll decry your tax dollars going to cover 19 different ESL programs, then auger you with sales tax and obscene vehicle registration fees.
The sane solution is to elect moderate representatives who aren't afraid to make hard choices on wish-list programs or to raise direct taxes. We voters must also repeal Prop 13 et al., and the 2/3 rule, then delegate budget authority to the statehouse instead of micro-managing through ballot measures.
False dilemmas like 'it's either policemen or school teachers, pick one' are fatuous. But we voters need to apply the lessons of the penny candy store to our state. We can't have everything that catches our eye, but we must budget to meet the mix of items we do select. And after our purchase has been rung up, we have to pull that crumpled dollar from the back pocket of our cutoffs and plunk it down on the counter.
California is one of the bread baskets of the world. Half the fruits, vegetable and nut crops in the U.S. come from California. (insert joke here) California is the 5th largest agriculture producer on earth. California is the largest dairy state...and yet with all the farm wealth here....the number one cash crop in California is....wait for it....Pot! There is some debate on this point but it hardly matters. That fact is that pot sells and a lot of it is grown and sold in the Golden (baked) State. We are in a major budget crunch here in California. Legalizing and taxing pot would be a windfall. I don't know why it isn't legal actually. It is less corrosive on society than liquor - and the ban on that failed too. Legalize it. Regulate it. Tax it. (And no, I'm not a pot head. I don't like pot and haven't had a drink or a drug in 21 years...which explains my crankiness!)
L.R. (that would be me) is a big supporter of Obama's high speed trains initiative. Big Big. Big. It is wise and forward looking to connect parts of the country via modern high speed rail.
We can use energy that is actually from here. Commercial airline trips of less than 800 miles are polluting, and frankly, arrogant. Rail is civilized.
Plus, I just love trains.
Check out my country's plans here....(uh...i mean my state...sort of....). Bonus: the site if fun.
Living as I do in the second largest Spanish speaking city on earth, Los Angeles, I interact and live with many Mexican-Americans and Mexicans. Rather happily, I'll add. Mexican cultural contributions to my city are incalculable, and probably the largest influence - more so than "North American" influence. Not to mention the backbone. Until the recent crash one could, quite truthfully, state that many of the jobs held by the Hispanic underclass would not be done by others. This is not new in the American experience. Immigrants, legal or not, grab the low rung.
I no longer think others are not be available for the low rung labor jobs. Everyone is spooked. The shift in my neighborhood, Koreatown, in the last 6 months is palpable. Not long ago I never heard English in the neighborhood markets, only Korean and Spanish. Now English is as normal as Spanish. No, all the second language graduates did not suddenly invade. English speakers have been priced out of richer parts of town. (Mostly white, but not all. Black Americans are rolling downhill, too.)
I don't participate in the immigration wars much. Both the Conservatives and the Liberals have it wrong. Conservatives demonize Mexicans and Mexican culture in a way I find reprehensible. Fear of the "other" oozes whenever I hear a talking head pop off about "illegals". From my observation, few cultures have a work ethic as embedded as Mexican culture. Certainly American culture is much more beholden to the "something for nothing" ethic now, bromides about the Puritans not withstanding.
Liberals are, as usual, in their own sort of denial. A victim is found (immigrants)- and all rational thought leaves the discussion. Of course, sovereign nations have the duty to protect their borders. Duh.
Further, Mexican migrants in the Southwest are not at all the same as Irish migrants during the potato famine. Yelping "We are a nation of immigrants" is...well...dumb and beside the point. Mexico is different from Ireland for the most obvious reason - Mexico is right there. There is no ocean between us and them. An immigrant is not cut off from the homeland in the same sense. Certainly a migrant is a foreigner here. But vast swatches of Los Angeles are, for all intents and purposes, Mexican. People and commerce move back and forth in a kind of nether land. Mexifornia. Irish, German, Indian, Italian immigrants had no such experience. When they left their homelands, THEY LEFT.
That's a weather report, not a judgement. It is what is. Which is why I find the implosion of Mexico the most under reported story of the new year. The collapse of Mexico is a real possibility and not one American leader (including my favorite, SOS Clinton) seems remotely concerned with it. Northern Mexico is a few steps this side of civil war. A breakdown of Mexico would unleash a "humanitarian disaster" to use the hackneyed phrase. And not on our doorstep - in our living rooms. Why is next to no one discussing this?
On a local note - for me at least - California will form the nucleus of what he calls "The Californian Republic," which always feel just under the surface to me anyway. California, a nation-state, has a specific identity - that most residents ignore. Ignoring this identity is part of the identity. We would be upfront about it like Texans but to be like Texans would not be Californian.
Alas, Igor goes on to say: and will be part of China or under Chinese influence.
Uh,no, Igor. I think not. Like Obama, I am not an actual professor, but Igor clearly has no concept of the Californian-American identity. We might get in bed with Mexico if it were not a worse basket case, but not China. I don't care how many dollars they are holding.
Even the Mexico scenario is suspect. In the 25 years California was a part of Mexico (Yes, it was only 25 years.) Californios didn't much acknowledge or like their overlords in Mexico City. California was a backwater - which is why the Spanish built "missions" up the coast. The nation Cali most mimics is Australia. So the Risk Game scenario lends itself more to a California/Australia alliance. Crazed surfers and outback rednecks fighting off the Commie hordes. Communication will be difficult as Cali surfers and Aussies both speak an incomprehensible English - but we'll figure it out.
I am being silly.
However, the potential for large scale social disruption in this country in the short term is real. We are not prepared for another Great Depression. The societal glue of 1932 is not nearly as strong now. Entitled brats were confined to a few rich families on the Eastern Seaboard then. Now, it's the national disease up to and including the current and next President. And I do not see a unifying American leader on the horizon. As I said last night, I could be wrong. Mr. Obama looks more like Neville Chamberlain than FDR. His soaring rhetoric could morph into "Can't we all just get along?" pleading if the breadlines get long enough.
The answer, to him in particular, is going to be a resounding "No".
Obama still strikes me as "the other". An interloper. This sense I have has nothing to do with race. Colin Powell feels American. As does Jesse Jackson. Whatever one thinks of Jackson he emerged fromhere. His American bonefides are not in question. He exists in the part of the house most of us ignore - but he is still in the house. Regardless, Obama is a concoction, a creation (a confection to many) whose history has largely been blotted out, Soviet style.
Obama has alight here...there...and everywhere. He is a man of the world (or rather, he plays one on TV) coming to power at the precise moment globalization is cratering. The "America as lone superpower" Neo-Con project is snapping back. We are entering an inward looking time.
Diversity is only a strength if all agree to a final answer. If not - it's just a bunch of fraternities partying in a nice mansion - libel to disintegrate into a fracas when the Bud runs out. The great American ideals have been subsumed into a "consumer culture" now apparently on the verge of collapse. I consume, therefore I am does have an answer: Okay, then you're not.
To paraphrase James Howard Kunstler: An endless string of strip malls, Walmarts, and drive thru windows won't be fought for because they are not worth fighting for. Even the most TV addled American knows this. An eruption of regionalism that shoves aside nationalism is a real possibility in this mix, if not quite yet a probability. I can see people circling the wagons to protect actual places say Asheville, North Carolina, much of New England, or the California central and northern coast. In other words: places built with citizens in mind, not consumers, that are worth protecting.
Further, I can see people ditching those places thatrepresent the height of post war American civilization - like Plano, Texas or Peoria, Arizona - "towns" built for cars to easily shuttle consumers whose lone purpose is to ingest something at all times. Soulless Walmart horizons, with nothing in the middle distance except parking spaces.
BUT underneath the thick layer of post moon landing American lard there still lives a "Live Free or Die" attitude. Like the Japanese on December 6th 1941, Mr. Panarin neglects to add this into the equation. It remains to be seen if that impulse will unify the nation or result in a bunch of dudes with shotguns screaming "Get the hell out of New Hampshire"...or Texas... or Biloxi...
READER ALERT! THIS IS A THIRD STAGE SMUG ALERT! I intend to link to a piece on the Huffington Post. Should you decide to click it is entirely possible your head will be filled with gooey, drippy, condescension. You are warned!
Onward. A few weeks ago I expressed some interest in what would happen to Obamites as their leader was slowly stripped of his messianic veneer. Both the facts of his life and his campaign's conduct and dissembling would lead inevitably to some rough cognitive dissonance and the most delusional would have to make mental room for the truth, or splinter. Marcy Winograd is having her breakdown moment now.
One the main pillars of the BIG OBAMA LIE was that he was RFK redux: a great hope for expansion and inclusion. The facts, told a another tale: looking at how he's won previous campaigns and his attitude toward Florida and action in Michigan were and are decidedly exclusionary and anti-democratic. This week Obama's peeps purged a whopping 900 people from the California delegate candidates list. That is the list of folks who put their name in the hat to be elected as Obama delegates. This has a left a rump group of candidates that do not include many of Obama's most committed volunteers - including poor Ms. Winograd. Whose left? The biggest bundlers (people who collect a lot of dough). Ms. Marcy expresses surprise at this action. Of course, if she had actually judged the man by his actions and not been sucker punched by the Mystery Date Tiger Beat bandwagon she would not be surprised at all. Obama heaving the phone bankers, precinct walkers, and Farmer's Market tablers overboard is the opposite of surprising. The man's "grass roots" campaign is funded largely by corporate donors. Most of his victories took place in caucuses that are inherently exclusionary.
She's not quite to anger at her messiah yet - but she'll get there. She's "sad": How very sad, indeed, that the Obama campaign has chosen to slash and burn its list of supporters, as this purging policy projects the wrong image,
Notice here that the concern is with the "image" this projects. Odd that this should surprise her. Image being all that has ever mattered to the Obama campaign.
Yes, Marcy, Obama is just another politician rewarding his biggest money grabbers. To the living - that's us out here in the real world - this has been obvious for quite some time, sort of like "the sun is in the sky" and "Dinner is a meal".
Oh poor Marcy. See she: picketed a Hillary Clinton fundraiser in Hancock Park and was quoted telling the Los Angeles Times. "Hillary Clinton led us to war. She is not the kind of leader we need."
Ah yes, the deconstruction of this gem is too easy.
She "picketed" - read: I am committed, darn it! I remember the 60's! That's the time before the 70's when Bobby Kennedy ran!"
"Hillary Clinton fundraiser in Hancock Park." Read: Clinton had a fundraiser in a RICH neighborhood. See! I am not afraid to picket the rich!
And the kicker: was quoted telling the Los Angeles Times. "Hillary Clinton led us to war. Read: I am important and willing to lie. That might just be the Obamite tag-line. It has the added benefit of being shameless. See in the real world Clinton voted for the authorization to use force after bring briefed by military and civilian officials who lied. But who cares if one can't name a war Clinton "lead us into." Facts, like fleas, are annoyances.
She ends before lilting into her self made abyss with this doozy: Perhaps there's still time for the Obama campaign to reverse itself... She can't quite let go of her fantasy candidate. That would mean actually seeing the pile of deceit she has supported so fervently.
Ah, these folks are in for it. The turbulence as they land back in reality is going to be rough.
P.S. I see on this page a story headlined: Richardson Almost Backed Clinton, But Campaign "Really Ticked Me Off".
Do we really need to read more? Governor Toad went against the majority in his state, refused a call from the President who made him, and chose a Presidential candidate because he was "ticked off."
