California – Page 14

#rsrh CA air board welcomes Gov. Brown…

I know that the title sounds kind of… apocalyptic, but really: how else can you describe it? The short version: California’s unelected Air Resources Board has decided to cater to left-wing religious fundamentalism by arbitrarily imposing artificial and annually-diminishing limits on energy production (the so-called ‘cap-and-trade’ scheme). These limits, when mixed with eye of newt, toe of dog, and powered unicorn breath, will magically transform into the coveted and rare substance known as ‘new green jobs’ – which are just like regular jobs, except that they also heal Mother Earth, cure scrofula, and freshen your breath. Unless, of course, there’s a mocker and unbeliever in the audience who will wreck the entire process with the weight of his disbelief; fie on those detestable eco-traitors! Fie, fie!

…More seriously; why anybody out there still thinks that you can get more productive by arbitrarily taking energy out of a system is beyond me completely. I’m also grimly aware that the idiots on the California Air Resources Board are all there because the soon-to-be-gone Republican* governor put them there. If there’s a silver lining, it’s that we’re going to see very, very quickly whether or not the Democratic governor coming in to replace him is going to be able to do any better.

Outcome… dubious.

Via Hot Air and Blue Collar Philosophy.

Moe Lane

Continue reading #rsrh CA air board welcomes Gov. Brown…

#rsrh Break up bankrupted states?

Like Glenn Reynolds, I’m sure that there are all sorts of reasons that argue against this Volokh Conspiracy commenter’s position that if we do allow states to go bankrupt then we should also require them to lose their state status and be bounced back down to territorial status again. But the idea of taking say, California, yanking it out of statehood for ten years… then readmitting it as the three or so states that it should be appeals.

Hoo, boy, yes, it appeals.

Moe Lane

PS: Texas should also probably be about three states or so, but Texas is also not in imminent danger of default.

Boxer’s Indian casino ties.

Oddly, the original story about Senator Barbara Boxer (D, CA), Boxer’s son, a regenerated Native American tribe, and a rapidly-looming San Franciscan casino seems to have disappeared from The Hill’s site, but a copy can be found here. It’s fascinating reading.

The short version: back in the 1990s, Rep Lynn Woolsey introduced legislation that would reinstate an officially defunct Native American tribe (the Miwoks), with the explicit restriction that said tribe would not be permitted to build a casino (which is a standard revenue generator for Native American tribes, thanks to various federal regulations and exemptions). When the bill came over to the Senate’s side, however, Senator Barbara Boxer changed the legislation to both remove that restriction and to make the land owned by the Miwoks a reservation. This was supposedly done without the knowledge of either Rep. Woolsey, or Senator Dianne Feinstein.

Then – shock and surprise! – the Miwoks decided that they wanted to generate a revenue by building a casino. Just outside of San Francisco. As The Sacramento Bee glumly notes, the Miwoks can get away with quite a lot along those lines because they have a reservation – including essentially ignoring state environmental laws – and they’ve been pursuing the construction of a casino ever since. In fact, they’ve just recently finally jumped through the appropriate federal hoops – and if Jerry Brown is governor next year the tribe expects more help on the state level from him than, say, Arnold Schwarzenegger (taking over 700K in campaign contributions from tribal sources can produce that kind of expectation). Continue reading Boxer’s Indian casino ties.

#rsrh The ‘Stache showing support for Mattie Fein.

Just got the word today. Mattie Fein is, of course, the Republican candidate in CA-36; the ‘Stache is, of course, John Bolton, who is probably the only US Ambassador to the UN who ever wanted to start his tenure there by dousing the foundations with gasoline, then lighting a match*. At any rate, he’ll be there next week to do a campaign breakfast for Mattie**… and possibly cause Jane Harman to implode in pure shame for how far she has fallen from the high places of the Earth.

Moe Lane

*Personally, I’d use a professional demolition crew and make a proper job of it. Which would include a camera crew to go through the place and show 9/11 Troofers what a building wired for controlled demolition looks like on the inside.

**Not exactly sure how this works; you can contact the Fein campaign here if you have any questions.

Democrats: Foreclosure crisis due to banker conspiracy.

I really, really wish that I was making this up, actually:

For those without video, it shows Rep. Maxine Waters (D, CA-35) of the House Financial Services Committee… actually, summarizing this piece is almost impossible. The CNBC folks try their best to get some sort of coherent information out of Rep. Waters, and this is what they gleaned: Continue reading Democrats: Foreclosure crisis due to banker conspiracy.

Lt. Col. Orson Swindle on the VFW-PAC endorsements.

I spoke with Lt. Colonel Swindle yesterday on the subject, mostly in terms of Senator Barbara Boxer’s surprising pickup of the PAC’s (NOT the parent organization’s) endorsement. Swindle was not, shall we say, particularly pleased that the PAC (which he is not a representative of) did this:

The very short version: the VFW membership didn’t authorize this, they are ticked off about this, and the VFW-PAC may not survive. As Ed Morrissey notes, plans are already underway to review the need for a VFW-PAC at next August’s national convention: three guesses how that’s going to turn out, and the first two don’t count.

At any rate, Lt. Col. Swindle would like my readers to check out Combat Veterans for Congress. He also specifically recommended Carly Fiorina, Allen West, and Patrick Murray for anyone looking to make tangible their disapproval of the VFW-PAC’s actions; I’m not sure that Jim Moran (Murray’s opponent) got the endorsement, actually – but Moran’s a Jew-hating son of a… person, so donate to Murray anyway.

Moe Lane (crosspost) Continue reading Lt. Col. Orson Swindle on the VFW-PAC endorsements.

CA GOV: Moonbeam COULDN’T fire aide making ‘whore’ comment…

…because the technical term here would be ‘divorce.’

Yes. Fox News reports that the source of the misogynist attack is now alleged to be no less than Anne Gust Brown herself, who is both wife and campaign aide to Jerry Brown. This is ‘alleged’ because there is some indication that this may be, of all things, a deliberate attempt by the Brown campaign to fix blame on the one person that cannot be fired or reprimanded by the candidate… because how can somebody go after one’s own wife*? And what makes this so stereotypically… well, Democratic… is that there’s a hint – just a hint – that Moonbeam himself may have uttered (or at least repeated) the slur in the confusion. Which, if true, means that Brown is making his wife take the fall for his own vicious, anti-woman attitudes.

Yeah. That’s one big hero that the Democrats have running over there in California. I’d suggest that Californians ask him about this, but Brown’s reportedly canceled all of his public appearances until the next debate.

As I said: one big hero.

Moe Lane (crosspost)

PS: Yes, definitely, Meg Whitman for Governor. Aren’t you tired of THOSE PEOPLE yet?

*Although Sanford Bishop (D, GA-02) certainly managed. Relatedly: Mike Keown for Congress.

#rsrh Moonbeam Brown: cops can’t read!

Legal Insurrection noted this little detail from Brown’s Whore Incident, and it’s well worth noting: Brown doesn’t like him the police departments very much.

Beginning at 3:10 of the audio, Brown and his aides begin a discussion of Whitman’s proposed budget cuts. A female voice says “Yeah, Jerry, we’ve got to focus on the police chiefs, we got to get them [inaudible].” Another female voice in the background says “[Inaudible] I just want to make sure we talk about this.” Brown then says (at 3:20):

“I’m going to hit that out of the park, not that they read.”

Charming guy, huh? And by ‘charming’ I mean ‘sneering elitist who probably looks down on any person who voluntarily agrees to risk taking a bullet in the pursuit of protecting society.’ Hey, I like to pack a lot of meaning into my words…

Moe Lane

PS: Whitman for Governor.

Ami Bera (D CAND, CA-03) covering up sex offender tenants?

There are two parts to this: what is known, and what was reported.

It is known that the aforementioned Bera owned a transient hotel in California that had a registered sex offender (case involved a minor) living there in April of 2010. It is also known that living at the location in question would be effectively banned for sex offenders under the California Penal Code, as it is too close to both a playground and a high school. Lastly, it is known that the property was sold in December of 2009. These things are all known.

It has been reported to RedState that in April of 2010 an agent of the Bera campaign ran a focus group on Bera’s ownership of this hotel and the residency of the sex offender. If the information provided to RedState is as reported, then the Bera campaign was both aware and actively worried about the possible implications of it being revealed that their candidate was renting to sex offenders (the information provided to RedState used the plural). It also indicates that at least one sex offender was living on the premises when Bera owned it; obviously, it would hardly reflect badly on the candidate if a pedophile moved in after Bera sold the property.
. In short, there seems to be a bit of potentially-disturbing development going on here.

Now, it is entirely possible that the answer to the question Did Ami Bera knowingly violate the California Penal Code by renting to a pedophile? could be ‘no.’ However, given that this was apparently important enough for his campaign that Bera had an outside group focus test it among voters, it seems clear that the question should be asked. If it turns out that the candidate had merely not done due diligence as per the law… well, that’s bad, but it’s not really nasty. But regardless of whatever is going on here, it certainly needs to be resolved.

Moe Lane (crosspost)

PS: Dan Lungren for CA-03.

#rsrh Gloria Allred: long-time Brown supporter.

I can’t read the linked article, but California Watch (H/T Chaos Party) can – and they report that Allred was involved with Jerry Brown’s first gubernatorial bid, too. CW also reports that Allred has a history of relatively small but consistent contributions to Brown and other Democratic candidates over the years. Judging from the Whitman thing, I suppose that means that Allred prefers to donate time and labor instead of money.

Moe Lane

PS: Meg Whitman for Governor.