California has a $20 billion deficit, is releasing tens of thousands of hardcore felons early from prison, education funding is being slashed, public college tuitions are soaring, and unemployment is at 12 percent statewide.
It is against this backdrop that the California Legislature finally takes up a serious subject – cussing.
The Assembly, which has been known to do perverted and obscene things in the name of government has passed a resolution calling for the first week of March to be known as “Cuss Free Week.” If the State Senate agrees next week, California will have become the first state in the nation to take an official stance against cussing.
Now you’re probably asking yourself why are they spending time worrying about cussing when there are county hospitals ready to close, thousands of handicapped people posed to lose benefits, and the ranks of public safety being slashed because of the hi jinks the state has been pulling with our money over the past 20 years that’s finally catching up with Sacramento.
The answer is simple. The #!%&?# politicians are incapable of fixing the #*^%$#%! budget mess they’ve created.
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Grandstanding doesn’t really become Congressman Jerry McNerney.
What good does sending a letter now to Toyota to stop the pending closure of the NUMMI plant on March 31 and the ultimate loss of tens of thousands of jobs at the assembly plant, NUMMI’s suppliers, and others down the food chain?
Well, it makes it look like you’re doing something when in reality something should have been done months ago.
That brings us back to Disneyland North better known as the California Legislature.
They give away state money in the form of tax credits in enterprise zones up and down the state to generate new jobs but when it comes to being proactive to keep good paying jobs from disappearing in California they display the same competence they do in keeping state spending within its means.
Gee, what would have happened if the California Legislature after learning General Motors was pulling out last spring making NUMMI’s future questionable had stepped up to the plate then and offered tax credits based on employees who are actually still working?
The NUMMI plant has the best track record for producing quality vehicles than any Toyota plant in the United States. Toyota opted to pull the plug based on the fact it is cheaper to do business in other states.
A proactive and functional legislature more worried about California than their own re-election would have acted.
But all we get are politicians – including congressmen – who opt for the sound bites and to dash off letters of concern so they can show the people getting the shaft from their inaction that they are looking out for their best interests.
And for the record, you haven’t heard one Republican challenger of McNerney get specific about the NUMMI plant and what should have been done. Of course, that would take a working knowledge of the district and the understanding that NUMMI is arguably the largest non-health industry private sector employer for residents within the 11th District complete with a massive ripple effect. All the GOP folks are targeted on is Obama bashing and not trying to prove to folks how change they advocate will work in the real world of the 17 percent unemployment in Stockton.
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Funny thing about Anthem Blue Cross’ proposed rate hike on individual policy holders of up to 39 percent and the folks up in Sacramento: Why do they have to subpoena records to determine whether they are breaking state insurance laws? Attorney General Jerry Brown – who could be our next governor especially if Meg Whitman doesn’t gets a little bit more substance and personality in her TV commercials that are about as exciting as watching a snail slither over a wet sidewalk – is making a big deal about going after insurers to make sure that the insurers haven’t broken state laws.
If there are state laws on the books and we have these massive state agencies that are busting the budget that are supposedly monitoring compliance, why aren’t they getting those documents on a routine basis in exchange for granting an insurance company the privilege to do business in California?
The answer, of course, is the bloated bureaucracy that is doing more to hurt California’s economy than the feared “Next Big One” would ever do, could have 50 percent of its workforce disappear and no one would notice.
Actually that’s not true. You would notice because you’d probably end up being taxed less and seeing everything from public schools to local government services be more nimble
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And in the Be Careful What You Wish for Department, Alameda County Superior Court Judge Frank Roesch has ruled Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger had no legal authority to furlough state workers and that they should go back to 40 hours and get back pay.
He based the ruling on a state law that sets state employees’ work week at 40 hours.
Wouldn’t you like to have a law like that protecting you?
Of course, that only leaves Arnold and all those Girlie Men in the Assembly and Senate one real option to balance the budget –actually cutting state jobs.
