Watching non-American news media respond with puzzled bemusement at the hysteria and rampant fawning adulation being heaped on His Obamaness sharpened my eye for some way to explain what was happening, when just now I chanced to read this comment on another blog, by someone nicknamed Eon:

I will make one prediction, though. Namely, that it will be a long time before the MFM criticize The One’s policies, if ever, no matter how badly they founder on the rocks and shoals of reality. Because the media put him in that office. And to criticize him, they would have to acknowledge that they made a mistake- in fact, that they were factually wrong, and philosophically invested in a man, a party, and a worldview that is intellectually bankrupt. And that just isn’t going to happen anytime soon, if ever.

If this is anywhere NEAR accurate, American media only need fear ONE HONEST REPORTER, who takes a stand in the desert of their malfeasance and pours out the water of truth…

For such HONEST REPORTERS are still alive in America, and they will find both their backbones and their voices in the days to come!

In the meantime, Onward! On to the Rocky Shoals of Reality!

Voters may be asked to end state budget impasse

If Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger calls a special election this year, California voters might be forced to make the hard choices on the budget and taxes that the Legislature won’t.

State Controller John Chiang said in an interview that he would support putting a tax increase package to voters in an effort to break the long-running legislative stalemate that has left California with a $42 billion deficit and weeks away from delaying refunds to taxpayers and grants to college students and low-income and disabled residents.

WHY do we keep re-electing these incompetents who can’t make the hard choices or compromise on anything??

The last special election cost the taxpayers of California about $50 million. If we have to pay a similar amount again how about taking it straight out of the legislature’s funding?

The commenters on the article at SFGate have some interesting ideas as well:

monet2u
If I have to vote to resolve these budget issues, then I want them to relinquish their titles, salaries, etc. Apparently, I could easily do their jobs.

bigwhitedog
So while we are voting on this mess, lets recall everyone of them and start over!

looktoplanb
I’d guess that the State of CA would be better served not having a special election. I’m no Carnac, but I think any tax increase proposal would go down to defeat by probably historic percentages. Save the money and work with the Republicans. It’s pretty obvious at this point that there needs to be severe cuts in benefits, workforce and programs on a permanent basis for California to survive and eventually prosper going forward.

lamont_cranston
We need to fire all these people. We keep re-electing them and then whine when we have the same results. Fire all of them, particularly if we have to pay for a special election to fix what we ‘hired’ them to.

drumstick
Why are we paying the members of the CA legislature when they pass their duties back to the voters!? I thought this country was a republic, not a democracy! Oh well, I can make the difficult decisions for you very quickly: Postpone rail, 20% pay cuts to state employees, stop payments to welfare recipients, raise the sales tax by 1%, raise car registration fees, and fire the CA legislature. That wasn’t so hard, was it?

firstand3
Lets vote. And while we are at it also vote on making the legislature part-time and set their salary at minimum wage.

qawagstaff
Let’s bring back the poll tax! It isn’t that outrageous! The original purpose wasn’t to discriminate, that only came in the South post Civil War. The founders put it in the constitution as a protection against the populace voting themselves money and as a way of raising taxes. If you wanted to vote, you paid a tax, and the money the Government spent was from poll taxes and tariffs. Those Founders were pretty smart.

gojira
According to the nonpartisan California State Legislative Analysts’ Office, the state will spend on education in fiscal 2008-09, per K-12 pupil, $11,626. That’s really the elephant in the room. The past 20 years have seen a massive influx of immigrants, most of them poor and unskilled, and of rabbitlike fertility. But the children of those immigrants, the “anchor babies”, are citizens the second they pop out on U.S. soil — entitled to a free public education. And as soon as they are old enough to hit kindergarten, one of those anchor babies costs the rest of us more than eleven and a half grand per year, each. And will continue to cost that each year through 12th grade. There’s no way that the small amount of taxes their parents typically pay will ever come anywhere close to offsetting that huge educational bill. And if we don’t do something about this, the financial future of the state is pointed straight down the toilet.

fatboy_baxter
I am OK with deciding what to keep and what to cut. Just put every single budget line item on the ballot with its budget for 2008 right next to it. In my infinite uninformed wisdom, I’ll make the decisions the nincompoops we elected cannot. Of course, one of those budget lines will be for legislative salary expense. Hmmm, now how should I vote on that…..???

From DoctorHousingBubble we get a clear picture of California’s problem:

Total Revenues and Transfers - 2008-09
*Dollars in Millions

Personal Income Tax $58,023

Sales Tax $35,093

Corporation Tax $11,937

Other $11,490

Motor Vehicle Fees $5,966

Highway Users Taxes $3,565

Insurance Tax $2,276

Tobacco Taxes $1,096

Liquor Tax $341

Note item #1 - personal income tax. This is where the state gets most of its money…and that number is going to sink like a stone this year, as is item #2 because people are losing their jobs.

Total Expenditures (Including Selected Bond Funds)
*Dollars in Millions

K-12 Education $43,710

Health and Human Services $35,687

Higher Education $14,567

Business Transportation & Housing $13,406

Corrections and Rehabilitation $10,290

General Government $7,749

Legislative, Judicial, Executive $6,358

Resources $5,707

Environmental Protection $1,582

State and Consumer Services $1,555

Labor and Workforce Development $427

Note item #1 - the biggest cut of our expenses goes to a failing public education system. A system that “educates” students who then need remedial classes just to attend community college. A system that educates all children, including illegal immigrants, at taxpayer expense. A system that fights school vouchers tooth and nail even though vouchers would ultimately save taxpayer money. A system that spends most of its resources on administration and not on students.

Note item #2 - the second biggest share of our taxes goes to welfare. In an economy where people are losing jobs and losing the health insurance that is tied to employment, that number is going to go UP.

What the hell is “general government” that it’s a separate category from the three legal branches, legislative, judicial and executive AND gets a bigger budget than the Big 3? Put together (as it should be, not divided up to move it farther down the list) government comes in at #4, just barely beat out by higher education. Can you say “bloated?”

Note the item dead last on the list - labor and workforce development. That which we need MOST right now is dead last.

Really, if they go forward with a special election I hope and pray that an initiative goes on it that kicks every last one of our state legislators out of office. We can carry the load until replacements are elected. We’re doing that anyway.

by Christian Lowe

The head of counterterrorism operations for the U.S. Department of State said the al-Qaeda network is largely broken and has lost the ability to conduct large-scale terrorist operations.

While the U.S. has still been unable to kill or capture the organization’s top leaders, they have nevertheless been “beaten back into a hole” by relentless pressure from special operations, law enforcement and drone attacks.

By PATRICK WALTERS, Associated Press Writer

Artist Andrew Wyeth, who portrayed the hidden melancholy of the people and landscapes of Pennsylvania’s Brandywine Valley and coastal Maine in works such as “Christina’s World,” died early Friday. He was 91.

Wyeth died in his sleep at his home in the Philadelphia suburb of Chadds Ford, according to Hillary Holland, a spokeswoman for the Brandywine River Museum.

The son of famed painter and book illustrator N.C. Wyeth, Andrew Wyeth gained wealth, acclaim and tremendous popularity. But he chafed under criticism from some experts who regarded him as a facile realist, not an artist but merely an illustrator.

California’s budget deficit is well known by now, an estimated $40 billion dollars (yes, that’s billion, with a b). In spite of having known about this gap for months the state legislature and governor have failed to agree on a revised budget. This after a record-breaking late budget for this fiscal year in the first place - due by June 15, 2008 it was signed into law on September 23, 2008. Now, just a few months later, the state executive and legislative branches are haggling over the budget - again - and failing to reach an agreement - again. Meanwhile it is estimated that the state will run out of cash in late February.

The situation is so dire that the state controller has warned he will have to delay payments to taxpayers, businesses, social service programs and student aid to conserve money in the state’s checking account. Finance officials project the state will run out of cash in late February, but the state controller will have to make a decision by Feb. 1.

They ignore how their inaction could actually make the situation worse.

In just a few weeks, California is expected to begin issuing state refunds to more than 10 million taxpayers — a welcome injection of cash into the ailing economy.

There’s just one catch: The state may delay the checks or issue IOUs instead…

…According to the Franchise Tax Board, the state returned $10.7 billion to individuals and businesses last year. The average state refund was $853 for individuals and $13,284 for businesses.

Almost $11 billion that will NOT help revive the economy due to the inaction of politician. Politicians who don’t take unpaid furloughs to help ease the budget crunch or have to fear layoffs.

But it’s not just the governor and the legislators. California’s government is full of people who think that someone else should make the sacrifice:

After Schwarzenegger’s announcement of the furloughs, it took just one working day for six statewide elected officials to say the furloughs shouldn’t apply to their minions. Yep, six Democrats denounced the hardship it would create and said they didn’t have to abide by the governor’s order. They include Treasurer Bill Lockyer, Secretary of State Debra Bowen, Attorney General Jerry Brown, Lt. Gov. John Garamendi, Controller John Chiang and schools chief Jack O’Connell.

But there’s good news, if karma can be considered good news:

State Controller John Chiang has said the first group to receive IOUS is likely to include legislators.