Voters have no say as Jerry Brown drains the Sacramento Delta

Owens "Lake"
Los Angeles drained the Eastern Sierra Nevada lake dry and created a dust bowl environmental disaster as part the city's endless quest to suck down every drop of water.  Now the political hacks are leering at the beautiful Sacramento River Delta.

 

Northern California House members slam Delta plan

Read more here: http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2013/03/northern-california-lawmakers-slam-newest-part-of-delta-plan.html#storylink=cpy

• The politicians could build desalinization plants on the ocean and pump that water into the aqueduct system.  But there would not be enough graft tax money to steal and stuff into the pockets of businessmen and unions. 

Soon after People's Republic of California Governor Jerry Brown unveiled more details of his draft plan to "restore" the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, members of Congress from Northern California reacted no differently than they had earlier this month when the first part of it became public - they threw cold water on it.

The lawmakers called Brown's $23 billion Bay Delta Conservation Plan "flawed," "rushed," "reckless" and "expensive."

They questioned the science behind the proposal, as well as its environmental impact. But the lawmakers' core concern appeared to be that the plan diverts too much water from the Delta through twin 35-mile tunnels to supply Central and Southern California says the Sacramento Bee.


The Bessie Brady steamship on Owens Lake.

In Owens Valley on the east side of the Sierra Nevada Range, desert steamers once served the silver mining boom of the 1870’s. This curious maritime history began in 1872 when the first steamboat was christened on the saline waters of Owens Lake. The pioneer steamer, the Bessie Brady, proudly proclaimed to be "The Pioneer inland steamer of the Pacific Coast.” Though this was untrue, as steamers had already been used in Lake Tahoe in 1864, in Meadow Lake in 1866, and Donner Lake a few years later, the sight of a steamboat in the midst of Death Valley must have been a strange site.    (legendsofamerica.com)

"To solve California's water situation, we must find an approach that doesn't take the problems of one half of the state and lay them at the feet of the other half," said. Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Sacramento.
.
"This is simply an expensive plumbing system that doesn't add a single drop to the state's water supply," said Rep. John Garamendi, D-Walnut Grove.

"Moving forward could cause permanent harm to wildlife and devastate farmers, fishers and small business owners who depend on the Delta for their livelihoods," said Rep. Mike Thompson, D-Napa.

"Continuing with this plan, without getting input from all stakeholders, without considering other alternatives, and without specifying how the project will be paid for is a bad idea," said Rep. Ami Bera, D-Elk Grove.

In contrast, the Southern California Water Committee, which represents businesses, agricultural interests and water districts from roughly Bakersfield south, have praised the plan.

"Businesses, farmers, local elected leaders and public water agencies are all stepping up to support the Bay Delta Conservation Plan," said Charles Wilson, the committee's chairman, earlier this month.

The California Delta
One of the most beautiful places on earth

Save the Sacramento Delta
Don't let the political hacks destroy it.

California voters, lawmakers have no say in OK of major river diversion plan

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2013/03/24/5288162/california-voters-lawmakers-have.html#storylink=cpy

• Appointed political hacks will carve up the Delta to pay off Big Money campaign contributors from businesses to unions all looking to suck on the government treasury.

The Bay Delta Conservation Plan proposes to "restore" one of every five acres in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, breaching levees on some of the estuary's 70 islands to create tidal wetlands and marshes. 


The Delta belongs to everyone.

Somehow Jerry Brown "restores" the Delta while sending the water south.  Yeah I believe that Bullshit if you do.

It also proposes diverting the Sacramento River through two massive tunnels, 35 miles long, using three new intakes near Courtland, each nearly a half-mile square.

The idea is to revive native fish species that are drifting toward extinction and protect a freshwater supply essential to the world's eighth-largest economy.

No one knows for sure if it will work. Or if the estimated $23 billion cost will seem like a fantasy decades from now, when construction is projected to be done.

Despite these high stakes, as the process now stands California voters will have no formal say in approving the plan. Nor will the state Legislature.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2013/03/24/5288162/california-voters-lawmakers-have.html#storylink=cpy

The transformation of the largest estuary on the West Coast of the Americas is slated to be shaped and approved by a handful of appointed government officials.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2013/03/24/5288162/california-voters-lawmakers-have.html#storylink=cpy

For more on this story:  Sacramento Bee.

Drain the Delta Dry
With one hand the liar political hacks claim they want to "save" the Sacramento Delta.  Then with the other hand they plan to send the Delta's water south to use on Southern California front lawns, crops and golf courses.

California's High-Speed Rail Authority sues everybody

You have been served.

Comrade Governor Jerry Brown wants a single judge to decide the entire corrupt high speed rail program

• The Leftist Democrats are desperate to make sure the corrupt unions and businesses sucking on the Bullet Train money are protected from the people.

(San Jose Mercury News)  -   If you're reading this, consider yourself served.

The People's Republic of California has filed a civil case against everyone -- literally, the whole world -- seeking to validate $8.6 billion in voter-approved bonds for its $69 billion high-speed rail project.

The lawsuit, titled "High-Speed Rail Authority v. All Persons Interested," is meant as a pre-emptive strike so the state can confirm that it's definitely legal to issue some of the bonds needed to begin bullet train construction this summer. By citing a somewhat obscure California civil code, the state can use the "sue now or forever hold your peace" strategy to prevent a string of future lawsuits and, instead, deal with the legal issues in one fell swoop.

Anyone interested in trying to block the project can sign up with the court, put their endless hours of "Law & Order" watching to use, wear their best suit and show up at a hearing to argue their case. They would join lawyers who are already suing the rail authority in other cases and go toe-to-toe with the state Attorney General's Office, which is representing the rail authority.

The state's biggest-ever project is also one of its most controversial, which has led the rail authority to swat away lawsuit after lawsuit since California voters approved the bullet train in November 2008.

"You might as well do it for the whole shebang," said Oakland-based attorney Stuart Flashman, one of the lawyers already suing the rail authority. He will join this new case, too, and expects at least a half-dozen people to join him.


"It says you've got the court's stamp of approval," he said. "Nobody can come back and say, 'You shouldn't issue these bonds.' "

Lawyers say this "validation" process, while not well known, isn't necessarily uncommon among public agencies that want to create a legal shield against future lawsuits to calm investors interested in their bonds.

The city of San Jose did it in 2009, for example, before issuing bonds to expand its convention center. Even then, that case ended up being tied up for a year because a gadfly signed up to challenge it, before the city won, said City Attorney Rick Doyle.

"You never know what you're going to get," he said. "You could get a crazy person filing something."

Riverside attorney Danielle Sakai, who has represented clients in several similar cases for the law firm Best Best & Krieger, said, "It could take years to work its way through the courts, but once that's done, it's done, and it can't be challenged."

The rail authority released a statement saying the attorney general's strategy, unveiled in Sacramento County Superior Court last week, "promotes judicial economy" by combining all potential lawsuits into one.

.
Government Insanity
The stupidity and corruption of the insane Bullet Train crowd is off the charts.  In the empty agricultural Central Valley the government wants to run the train through the most expensive and densely populated areas.  In the above case millions will be spent to move the 99 freeway 100 feet for the train.

$413,000 pension for life to government worker

Meet the Looter and Moocher of the Month
County Administrator Susan Muranishi

Alameda County rewards boss: $400k…for life

• Socialist Democrats demand more and more taxes to line the pockets of crooked government workers who are looting the treasury.

Alameda County supervisors have really taken to heart the adage that government should run like a business — rewarding County Administrator Susan Muranishi with the Wall Street-like wage of $423,664 a year reports the San Francisco Chronicle.

For the rest of her life.

According to county pay records, in addition to her $301,000 base salary, Muranishi receives:

– $24,000, plus change, in “equity pay’’ to guarantee that she makes at least 10 percent more than anyone else in the county.

– About $54,000 a year in “longevity” pay for having stayed with the county for more than 30 years.

– An annual performance bonus of $24,000.

– And another $9,000 a year for serving on the county’s three-member Surplus Property Authority, an ad hoc committee of the Board of Supervisors that oversees the sale of excess land.

Like other county executives, Muranishi also gets an $8,292-a-year car allowance.

Muranishi has been with the county for 38 years, and she’s 63. When retirement day comes, she’ll be getting a lot more than a gold watch.

That’s because, according to the county auditor’s office, Muranishi’s annual pension will be equal to the dollar total of her entire yearly package — $413,000.

She also has a separate executive private pension plan, for which the county chips in $46,500 a year.


(San Francisco Chronicle)

California unemployment keeps increasing

Southern and Central California regions see job losses

• The one-party Socialist Democrat People's Republic of California does everything in its power to slow down, drive out and tax those "evil" capitalists who create jobs and wealth. 
• Socialist Democrats subsidize the Looter and Moocher class with endless welfare, food stamps, corrupt union contracts and a Bullet Train teat for the business community and unions to suck on.
• No sane businessman would start a brand new company in the People's Republic when they can go to tax and regulation friendly Nevada, Texas or Florida.

Unemployment rates rose in Los Angeles County and the Inland Empire in January and both regions posted significant job losses, the state Employment Development Department reported Friday.

L.A. County's unemployment rate hit 10.4 percent in January. That was up from 10.3 percent the previous month but well below the year-ago rate of 11.6 percent.

Total nonfarm employment fell by 81,000 jobs in January, although the region posted a 2 percent year-over-year gain of 73,800 jobs reports the Los Angeles Daily News.



The Inland Empire saw a bigger rise in unemployment. Its jobless rate jumped to 11.5 percent in January compared with 11 percent the previous month. But that was still significantly lower than 12.7 a year earlier.

Los Angeles County's biggest declines for January were in trade, transportation and utilities, which lost 25,900 jobs - mostly in the retail trade sector.

The information sector suffered the second biggest decline with 15,400 jobs lost, and 14,000 of those jobs were in motion picture and sound recording.

Other significant job losses occurred in accommodation and food services (down 6,300), leisure and hospitality (down 9,900), educational and health services (down 7,000) and government (down 6,300).

The county's construction sector lost 800 jobs.

The Inland Empire's biggest employment decline for January also came in trade, transportation and utilities with 10,900 jobs lost.

Other notable losses occurred in educational and health services (down 3,200), construction (down 2,400), government (down 1,900) and professional and business services (down 1,500).

Here are the JANUARY 2013 Central Valley unemployment rates, followed by those from December 2012, which are in parentheses. All are estimates:

• Butte County, 12.7 percent; (11.6 percent)

• Fresno County, 16.0 percent; (14.9 percent)

• Kern County, 14.1 percent; (13.5 percent)

• Kings County, 16.7 percent; (14.4 percent)

• Madera County, 13.6 percent; (13.9 percent)

• Merced County, 18.4 percent; (17.2 percent)

• Sacramento County, 10.3 percent; (9.9 percent)

• San Joaquin County, 15.5 percent; (14.5 percent)

• Stanislaus County, 15.6 percent; (15.0 percent)

• Tulare County, 16.8 percent; (15.7 percent)

• Yolo County, 12.7 percent; (11.7 percent)

• Yuba County, 16.6 percent; (15.8 percent)

The state’s highest unemployment rate in JANUARY was 27.7 percent in Colusa County. The lowest JANUARY jobless rate was in Marin County at 5.5 percent.

(Central Valley Business Times)

 

Campaigns for California House seats start early

Freshman Socialist Democrat Congressman Ami Bera of Elk Grove
is high on the target list of the GOP. 

Here come the 2014 Congressional campaigns

• Both parties are positioning themselves to pick off each other's seats.

Freshman Rep. Ami Bera's packed schedule Tuesday included hearings on Afghanistan and asteroids, floor votes and an evening meet-and-greet with a group of California business leaders.

But first, the Elk Grove Democrat had to head to a private club just blocks from the Capitol at 8:30 a.m. to raise money for his next campaign. Less than three months into his first term, Bera is readying for a race 594 days away.

Potential rivals and political attacks are already popping up in the east Sacramento County swing seat he won last year. The National Republican Congressional Committee has fired off at least 18 emails blasting him in his first 10 weeks in office.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2013/03/21/5282823/competition-means-an-early-start.html#storylink=cpy

The unusually high level of turnover in California last year and the number of close races caused by changes in the state's political district drawing and election rules mean more races are starting early this year reports the Sacramento Bee.

California's 7th congressional district election, 2012
Primary election
Party		Candidate	Votes	Percentage
	Republican	Dan Lungren (incumbent)	63,586	52.7%
	Democratic	Ami Bera	49,433	41.0%
	No party preference	Curt Taras	3,854	3.2%
	Libertarian	Douglas Arthur Tuma	3,707	3.1%
Totals			120,580	100.0%
General election
	Democratic	Ami Bera	141,241	51.7%
	Republican	Dan Lungren (incumbent)	132,050	48.3%
Totals			273,291	100.0%
	Democratic gain from Republican

Target District

A very close election means both Democrats and Republicans are putting

the 7th District high up on their target list.  With Comrade Obama not on the

2014 ballot GOP candidates are hoping to win back seats they lost in 2012.

After suffering a net loss of four California House seats last year, Republicans are embarking on a "very major push to win back those districts we lost in 2012," GOP consultant Dave Gilliard said.

"Looking around the country, I think California is going to have more congressional action than any other state, simply because we have those seats that Republicans lost and many of us feel we shouldn't have lost," he said.

That list of seats includes the 7th Congressional District that Bera won in a close race against GOP Rep. Dan Lungren that cost more than $10 million.

Republicans hope to capitalize on lower, traditionally less heavy Democratic turnout in a nonpresidential year to win back the district, where Republicans trail Democrats by a narrow margin in voter registration.

2012 GOP U.S. Senate candidate
Elizabeth Emken is considering running
against the Leftist Bera.

Former Rep. Doug Ose, R-Sacramento, state Sen. Ted Gaines, R-Rocklin, and Elizabeth Emken, a Bay Area Republican who lost to Democratic U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein in 2012, are all weighing taking on Bera next year.

None of the three has formally declared a candidacy, but that hasn't stopped the House GOP's political arm from going on the offensive. In addition to the email releases, the NRCC put up its first online advertisements criticizing Bera on across-the-board federal budget cuts that took effect this month.

The banner ad says Bera is allowing the sequester to continue, "but won't cut $1.6 million to fund new video games." The claim, a reference to a NASA program aimed at getting more young people involved in science and math, refers to a budget decision made before Bera arrived.

Democratic Reps. John Garamendi, Raul Ruiz and Scott Peters are among the members getting similar treatment. Like Bera, Ruiz and Peters are freshman, a designation that makes them especially vulnerable heading into the midterm election.

Read more here: http://www.sacDemocrats are also already active in key seats they hope to pick up this time around.
At the top of that list is an Inland Empire seat represented by GOP Rep. Gary Miller.
Voters in the swing district chose Miller over former state Senate GOP leader Bob Dutton last fall, after a Democrat failed to make the runoff in a seat some observers projected would give them a win.
Registered Democrats outnumber Republicans in the district by more than 20,000 voters. That seven-point registration edge makes Miller one of the most vulnerable incumbents in California, if not the country, in next year's election. Pete Aguilar, the Redlands mayor who failed to make the runoff last year, is considering a rematch.
That race has already made its way onto the San Bernardino County airwaves. An ad campaign paid for by a coalition of labor unions hits Miller on this month's federal budget cuts, saying he could be remembered for "inflicting pain on millions, just to protect tax loopholes for corporations and the richest few."
The unions aired identical ads against incumbent GOP Rep. Jeff Denham, R-Turlock, who represents a Central Valley district with high numbers of Democratic and Latino voters.
Miller has also been named a top target by Emily's List, a national political organization that seeks to elect Democratic women who support abortion rights, and a Democratic super PAC that spent $4.2 million on California races in 2012.
House Majority PAC Communications Director Andy Stone said starting early is especially important in districts in major media markets, where TV ad costs run high during the election season. It also gives groups a head start in defining the narrative surrounding an incumbent or a candidate.
"It's important to get in there when there's not a bevy of communications, tons of ads on TV, phone calls being made," Stone said. "House Majority PAC can go in now and communicate with voters about what's going on without that sort of cloud of distraction that might take voters' attention closer to Election Day."
While building political and financial support is an important component of any campaign, the early salvos are unlikely to make much of an impact with the voters who will decide the candidate's fate next year.
"Voters don't generally pay attention until just before the election, and any ads or anything they see very early is going to be gone from their head within weeks," said Eric McGhee, research fellow with the Public Policy Institute of California. "You're not likely to see a lot of impact from much that would go on now."
But the fundraising blitzes, political attacks and endorsement rollouts are part of what political observers and operatives call the "invisible primary," the process of raising money and laying groundwork for a campaign as a signal to donors and potential challenges.
"Any incumbent is going to want to raise money to fend off any kind of challenge, but the ones in the competitive races are going to be more concerned," McGhee said. "There are some very key (House) races ... and those are all going to be up next year, so there's a real need to look tough as an incumbent and to be prepared."

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2013/03/21/5282823/competition-means-an-early-start.html#storylink=cpy

bee.com/2013/03/21/5282823/competition-means-an-early-start.html#storylink=cpy

Democrats are also already active in key seats they hope to pick up this time around.

At the top of that list is an Inland Empire seat represented by GOP Rep. Gary Miller.

Voters in the swing district chose Miller over former state Senate GOP leader Bob Dutton last fall, after a Democrat failed to make the runoff in a seat some observers projected would give them a win.

Registered Democrats outnumber Republicans in the district by more than 20,000 voters. That seven-point registration edge makes Miller one of the most vulnerable incumbents in California, if not the country, in next year's election. Pete Aguilar, the Redlands mayor who failed to make the runoff last year, is considering a rematch.

That race has already made its way onto the San Bernardino County airwaves. An ad campaign paid for by a coalition of labor unions hits Miller on this month's federal budget cuts, saying he could be remembered for "inflicting pain on millions, just to protect tax loopholes for corporations and the richest few."

Congressman Jeff Denham (R–Atwater)
is being targeted by the Socialists.

The unions aired identical ads against incumbent GOP Rep. Jeff Denham, R-Turlock, who represents a Central Valley district with high numbers of Democratic and Latino voters.

Miller has also been named a top target by Emily's List, a national political organization that seeks to elect Democratic women who support abortion rights, and a Democratic super PAC that spent $4.2 million on California races in 2012.

House Majority PAC Communications Director Andy Stone said starting early is especially important in districts in major media markets, where TV ad costs run high during the election season. It also gives groups a head start in defining the narrative surrounding an incumbent or a candidate.

"It's important to get in there when there's not a bevy of communications, tons of ads on TV, phone calls being made," Stone said. "House Majority PAC can go in now and communicate with voters about what's going on without that sort of cloud of distraction that might take voters' attention closer to Election Day."

While building political and financial support is an important component of any campaign, the early salvos are unlikely to make much of an impact with the voters who will decide the candidate's fate next year.

"Voters don't generally pay attention until just before the election, and any ads or anything they see very early is going to be gone from their head within weeks," said Eric McGhee, research fellow with the Public Policy Institute of California. "You're not likely to see a lot of impact from much that would go on now."

But the fundraising blitzes, political attacks and endorsement rollouts are part of what political observers and operatives call the "invisible primary," the process of raising money and laying groundwork for a campaign as a signal to donors and potential challenges.

"Any incumbent is going to want to raise money to fend off any kind of challenge, but the ones in the competitive races are going to be more concerned," McGhee said. "There are some very key (House) races ... and those are all going to be up next year, so there's a real need to look tough as an incumbent and to be prepared."

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2013/03/21/5282823/competition-means-an-early-start.html#storylink=cpy

Democrats are looking to target GOP Rep. Gary Miller of Rancho Cucamonga

Crooks & Foster Children to get Bullet Train Jobs

An orgy of insane liberal political correctness

• Moron Liberals want 30% of Bullet Train jobs filled by former foster children, single parents, the homeless and convicted criminals.
• Everyone from businesses to unions are furiously sucking on the teat of high speed rail.

The prospect of construction jobs in the recession-weary Central Valley has long been a selling point for proponents of California's $68 billion high-speed rail project.

A controversy has arisen, however, since officials pledged in December to reserve a portion of those jobs for certain disadvantaged people.

In addition to veterans, former foster children and single parents, the classification includes high school dropouts, the homeless and people who have been convicted of a crime.

"There's another chapter in the high-speed fail saga, and I almost can't do this one with a straight face," Assemblyman Brian Jones, R-Santee, said in a recent installment of "Are You Kidding Me?" a video series in which Jones vents political frustrations.  

"What a social engineering disaster this is going to be, and add to California's laughingstock reputation," he told the Sacramento Bee..The rail policy, contained in a request for proposals issued to contractors, calls for at least 30 percent of project labor to be done by people who live in low-income areas, with at least 10 percent of that work going to disadvantaged workers.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2013/03/04/5233285/high-speed-rail-project-targets.html#storylink=cpy

 

The rail policy, contained in a request for proposals issued to contractors, calls for at least 30 percent of project labor to be done by people who live in low-income areas, with at least 10 percent of that work going to disadvantaged workers.

Liberals lobbied rail officials for a "disadvantaged-worker" program for two years before its approval.

"The notion that this buffet of employment could go through this community, and we've got unemployed people who are starving …," said one activist, "I knew we'd get it right because this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for us, for the workers."

Opposition to the rail authority's new hiring policy is partly ideological. Jones scoffed last week at "some of the liberals up here in Sacramento" and said that "when you're building a high-technology system like this … you should be hiring the people that are most qualified, not the most disadvantaged."


California bullet train insanity -  John and Ken

Another criticism has nothing to do with the policy itself, but with its inclusion in a broader agreement that even rail officials acknowledge is a form of Project Labor Agreement negotiated with labor organizers.

Under the broader Community Benefits Agreement, non-union subcontractors could work on the project, but only if they agree to wage and working conditions typically afforded union workers.

Kevin Dayton, a former lobbyist for Associated Builders and Contractors Inc., which represents non-union contractors, said the Community Benefits Agreement is exclusionary and that the authority promoted its "disadvantaged worker" program only to divert attention from it.

"I believe that that particular policy was simply a front for what they really wanted to do, which was to require all of the contractors working on it to sign a Project Labor Agreement," said Dayton, who is now an independent consultant.

Rail officials are reviewing proposals from five consortiums seeking to build the first section of the rail line, a 30-mile stretch from Madera to Fresno costing as much as $1.8 billion.

But Nicole Goehring, government affairs director of the Associated Builders and Contractors' Northern California chapter, said many non-union contractors won't bid under restrictive conditions of the agreement.

"For your qualified, skilled workers who might be able to bid it but don't happen to be in the union," she said, "they now have to, their employers have to sign on to these union workforce rules in order to be able to have an opportunity to work on the job."

The rail authority's hiring policy is one of several policies designed to keep project money in California. Gov. Jerry Brown, a Democrat, signed legislation last year requiring the rail authority to "make every effort" to buy trains and related equipment from manufacturers in California.

Such policies, Morales said, could lure engineering and manufacturing firms to California, creating "a rail industry similar to the way aerospace was such an important driver of the state's economy in the '50s and '60s."

The rail line is proposed to begin in June or July in the Central Valley and expand outward, connecting Los Angeles and San Francisco within 15 years. The authority still must acquire land for the project, and long-term financing remains uncertain.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2013/03/04/5233285/high-speed-rail-project-targets.html#storylink=cpy

Bullet Train Insanity

In the empty, agricultural Central Valley, the morons running the Bullet Train selected the most densely populated areas to build.  Homes and businesses up and down the Valley would be torn out driving up already high costs.

About 40 Fresno business owners and employees rallied against California's proposed high-speed rail project at the former Klein's Truck Stop.
.
The Central Valley Tea Party organized the event, which drew dozens of other opponents, in advance of meetings the state High-Speed Rail Authority in Fresno.
.
Tea Party activist Steve Brandau said that 106 business owners along the path of the high-speed trains have signed and sent letters to the Fresno City Council and the Fresno County Board of Supervisors opposing the project.
.
"Our chief concern is that there's no viable funding stream for this project," Brandau said. The organization's message to Gov. Jerry Brown and the state's rail authority, he added, is "What part of 'We are broke' don't you understand?"
.
A large sign at the rally proclaimed, "100 Businesses against High Speed Rail," and declared that rail money would be better spent on water, roads and jails. (Fresno Bee)

Read more here: http://www.fresnobee.com/2012/05/01/2820794/local-tea-party-to-host-high-speed.html#storylink=cpy

CRAIG KOHLRUSS/THE FRESNO BEE - Local veterans advocate Charlie Waters speaks out against the High Speed Rail project during a Tea Party rally at Klein's truck stop in northwest Fresno.

Read more here: http://www.fresnobee.com/2012/05/01/2820794/local-tea-party-to-host-high-speed.html#storylink=cpy

The California GOP is run by idiots and fools

Democrat stratigest Garry South
The morons in charge of a collapsing Republican Party invite
a Democrat campaign manager to talk to them.

Republican Idiots on Parade

• The mentally challenged state GOP Chairman invites a liberal Democrat to speak with party leaders.
• Republicans get to hear "pointers" from a liberal piece of trash who worked to elect Leftist whack-a-loons like Jimmy Carter, Al Gore, Gray Davis and more.

The desperate and mentally challenged "leaders" of the California Republican Party have invited a Democratic strategist to a retreat this weekend to tell them, more or less, how bad they are.

GOP State Chairman Jim Brulte
You deserve the "leadership" that
you vote for.
(AP File Photo)

The strategist, Garry South, has been highly critical of the Republican Party's inability to adapt to California's changing demographics, among other failures.

Republicans hold no statewide office, and party registration has fallen below 30 percent statewide reports the Sacramento Bee.

"It's a pretty depressing presentation if you're a Republican," South said. "So I may have a doctor on hand to issue Prozac prescriptions."

South and former Senate Republican leader Jim Brulte, the new chairman of the state Republican Party, are colleagues (buddies) at the government affairs firm California Strategies, and for several years they have made joint presentations to various groups about politics in California.

"For years, I've read and listened to Garry South's diatribes against Republicans, sometimes when he was sitting at my elbow on panels," Brulte said in an emailed statement.

"I thought I would put him to the test and see if he would be willing to say the same things in a room full of Republicans, to their faces. To my surprise, he agreed."

Read more here: http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2013/03/california-republicans-invite-democrat-garry-south-to-assess-state-of-gop.html#storylink=cpy

The GOP deer in the headlights.
A political animal with no clue what to do.

Residents of California gather around to view the corpse of the rare
and almost never seen GOP elephant.

Democrats starve the California court system

California Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye (Republican) speaks
out against the starvation of the courts by the Democrat controlled legislature.

Democrats STARVE the court system of money

• The Leftist and Socialist Democrat Party finds endless money to spend to line the pockets of union hacks, illegal aliens, welfare recipients or corrupt businessmen who give big campaign contributions to their party. . . . but no money for courts to dispense justice. 

California Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye outlined the decimation of funding for state courts during the annual State of the Judiciary address.

"Justice requires a court," she said, lamenting the closures of courts up and down the state because of budget cuts. "But what we once counted on — that courts would be open, available and ready to dispense prompt justice — no longer exists in California."

During the last five years, California's courts have lost 65% of their general funding. Many courts have closed. Hours have been cut, and court fees have skyrocketed. Only 1% of the general fund goes to California's judicial branch, the largest court system in the nation, reports the Los Angeles Times.

"I submit to you that equal access to justice for 38 million Californians cannot be had for a penny on the dollar," the chief justice said in the televised address.

Because of court closures, some residents of San Bernardino County must drive two hours to get to a court, she said. Kings County resorted to holding a garage sale to try to raise money, she said. In Los Angeles, 67 courtrooms have been closed, and 500 court jobs have been lost.

The result has been "unconscionable delays" in getting a court date in civil matters, including divorce, contract disputes and discrimination cases, she said.

The situation is so dire that California, "normally a leader in social justice, may now be facing a civil rights crisis," she said.

Comrade Governor Jerry Brown's proposed budget does not restore any of the lost funding, and the court system has had to postpone rebuilding dilapidated and unsafe courthouses. Rising fines and fees for filings threaten to make California's court system "a user-fee institution" that particularly hurts those with lower incomes, she said.

Arnold Schwarzenegger was a really crappy Governor.  But his appointment of Tani Cantil-Sakauye as Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court was a good one.

A labor "shortage" while we pay people not to work

Americans could learn from China
Somehow the Chinese (as well as Russians, Egyptians, Turks & Scots) have managed to harvest their crops for thousands of years without importing Mexican labor.

Racism  -  It is official government policy that only Hispanics should get their hands dirty with hard work

• Both Liberals and Conservatives in California feel hard work is beneath the dignity of "modern" Americans.  About 33% of everyone on welfare in the U.S. is in California.
• Democrats and Republicans have agreed to take taxpayer money and pay Americans to do nothing.  There is an implied racism, Americans are too good to work at hard jobs.

 

The American work ethic is nearly dead.  There is a massive shortage of farm workers in California and other states.  But those jobs go unfilled while Americans are paid not to work for a living.

Tighter U.S. immigration enforcement, as well as brutal cartel-driven violence along the Mexican border, have deterred many potential workers from attempting to cross.

Amid a rebounding economy in Mexico, Mexican farms are facing their own labor shortage and have plenty of work to offer at home.

The upshot, according to the California Farm Bureau Federation, is that more than 70 percent of state agricultural producers anticipate a worker shortage starting this spring and worsening though the growing season.

Some officials estimate the labor force could fall by more than 80,000 farmworkers – down from the 450,000 workers whom farmers have come to rely on for the peak harvest of late summer reports the Miami Herald.

SHOCK  -  African Americans can be farmers.
But California welfare pays African Americans to do nothing and be the helpless, apathetic
wards of the state instead of learning jobs skills.

SHOCK  -  European Americans can work in the farming industry.
But California welfare pays European Americans to do nothing and be the helpless, apathetic
wards of the state instead of learning jobs skills. 
.

MIRACLE PEARS: Two women agricultural workers packing pears in Littlerock, Calif.  Beverly Balmer, foreground, and Hulda Hamm sort pears in Bones & Son packinghouse, Littlerock, where packers were promised 25 cents of for each "wormy" pear.
Date 24 August 1946
Los Angeles Times photographic archive, UCLA Library

"Basically, we're running out of low-skilled workers. People simply are not doing farm work to the extent they were doing before," said J. Edward Taylor, a University of California, Davis, economist who has studied the migration of farmworkers from Mexico.

Farm lobbyists and elected officials are discussing remedies that include granting legal status to more than 1 million undocumented farmworkers in the United States and establishing an expanded guest worker visa program for agriculture to ensure a steady supply of laborers.

Amid intensifying debate over U.S. immigration policy, agricultural interests, a bipartisan congressional panel is calling for changes in farm labor policies that range from detailed proposals to more generalized statements.

Agricultural Workforce Coalition, includes the Agricultural Council of California, the California Grape and Tree Fruit League and the Western Growers Association propose:

• Create two guest worker programs: one for seasonal laborers who could work up to 11 months before returning to home countries for 30 days; another for laborers working one-year renewable contracts with provisions to return home for 30 days over a three-year period.
• Grant legal work status for experienced undocumented farmworkers living in the United States in exchange for their agreeing to a multiyear obligation to work in agriculture.

 

 

Up to the middle of the 20th Century Americans of all racial backgrounds somehow managed to plant and harvest their own crops without importing labor.

 

America the Lazy.
Big Government has told Americans not to worry about working or learning.  The Marxist Welfare State will provide for your wants and government will dumb down the schools so you will "feel better" and not be challenged.

 



Los Angeles - of, by and for the labor unions

Bought and paid for by labor unions
The two Democrat finalists for the Los Angeles mayor's race, City Controller Wendy Greuel and Councilman Eric Garcetti, both are backed by labor union money.

Corruption  -  Unions pour millions into Los Angeles races to buy protection from budget cuts

• Endless phony Federal printing press money given to cities and states allows insane spending on outrageous union contracts.

Mayoral hopeful Wendy Greuel won the support of yet another labor union Wednesday – just a day after securing a spot in the runoff against Los Angeles City Councilman Eric Garcetti.

“Wendy is the right candidate for the job in these challenging times,” said Bob Schoonover, president of Service Employees International Union, Local 721. The union represents more than 10,000 trash truck drivers, tree trimmers, sewer workers and other city employees. The union also represents 85,000 other government workers in Southern California.

"I really appreciate the support of SEIU,” Greuel said in a statement. “Today's endorsements, less than 24 hours after polls closed for the primary election, sends a tremendous message to working people all across Los Angeles.”

All three of the city’s biggest labor unions now support Greuel – the unions representing Department of Water and Power workers and LAPD officers spent nearly $3 million dollars on her behalf during the primary reports KKPC Public Radio.


Buying a City Council for Unions

• Labor unions recycle Democrat Sacramento political hacks to be their flunkies at city hall. 

Organized labor succeeded in sending three of its chosen candidates to the Los Angeles City Council and reelecting a fourth in Tuesday's election, allowing unions to retain their firm hold on the lawmaking body.

Assemblyman Bob Blumenfield (Socialist Democrat - Woodland Hills) and former Assemblyman Felipe Fuentes won seats in the San Fernando Valley and Mike Bonin prevailed in the race to replace Councilman Bill Rosendahl on the Westside. Union groups, including the county Federation of Labor, provided financial support for all three — and for Councilman Paul Koretz, who was reelected to a second four-year term.

Leftist Assemblyman Bob Blumenfield
has been a paid off lackey for the unions in
Sacramento and now in L.A.

The council is going through its biggest transformation since 2001, with six incumbents stepping down June 30. The labor federation, which represents 600,000 workers, is playing an influential role in that process, helping three other candidates make a May 21 runoff in districts near downtown Los Angeles reports the Los Angeles Times.

In each of those contests, a longtime council aide will face off against a well-financed candidate backed by the federation.

Mitch O'Farrell, a longtime aide to Councilman Eric Garcetti, came in first in the race to represent an Echo Park-to-Hollywood district, even though he was outspent more than 4 to 1 by former city commissioner John Choi and his union backers. He and Choi will square off in a district that had been represented by Garcetti, now a candidate for mayor, for 12 years.

O'Farrell, who had so little money he did not conduct a single poll, said neighborhood issues, not special interests, won the day. Choi, who benefited from more than $209,000 in union support, said he was proud of the backing he had received amid a crowded 12-person race.

"I think [the runoff election] will be a different type of campaign where we're not just trying to make our voice heard," he said.

On the Eastside, Jose Gardea, chief of staff to Councilman Ed Reyes, appeared to be pushing former Assemblyman Gil Cedillo into a runoff. Tuesday's results showed Cedillo fell just below the 50% plus one vote needed to win outright. But with as many as 90,000 late absentee and provisional ballots still to be counted, Cedillo was not yet prepared to say there would be a runoff.

Recycled political hack former
Assemblyman Felipe Fuentes makes
himself a union tool.  Taxpayers have
no meaning to him.

Gardea, for his part, said he plans on a runoff campaign that shows the contrasts between himself and Cedillo, who served in both the state Assembly and State Senate over the last decade. "We're going to talk about … Sacramento values versus local values," he said.

In South Los Angeles, former council aide Ana Cubas will face off against state Sen. Curren Price (Socialist Democrat - Los Angeles), who benefited from $400,000 in unlimited "independent" expenditures by labor unions and others. Cubas, who would be the first Latino to represent the district in 50 years, said she is not worried about the money for Price, which came from such sources as the state's medical lobby and a union that represents prison guards.

"All of these Sacramento special interests that poured money into the race, they don't understand the needs of the city. They don't understand that people care about clean alleys, clean streets, stray dogs and helping with people's problems," she said.

Maria Elena Durazo, who heads the federation, did not respond to requests for an interview.

However, her group reported that it had organized 4,300 phone banking and precinct walking shifts and had conversations with nearly 67,000 voters over the course of the campaign. "Today's results show that the candidates who stand closest to working families are preferred by voters throughout the city," Durazo said in a statement.

Union officials are expected to play a key role over the next two years as city leaders negotiate new employee contracts. They are also expected to press for a living wage at hotels and new regulations on commercial trash companies that operate in the city.

Wendy Greuel  -  Tool of the unions

She has been endoresed by:

Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 721
SEIU United Long Term Care Workers
Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 1277
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 11
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 18
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 45

International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 63- Marine Clerks Association
International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Southern California District Council
International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Moving Picture Technicians, Artists and Allied Crafts (IATSE)
Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) District Lodge 947
Operating Engineers Local 12
Operating Engineers (I.U.O.E.) Local 501
Painters and Allied Trades District Council 36
Southern California Pipe Trades District Council #16
Teamsters Local 911
Teamsters Local 399
Transportation Communications Union Local 1315
UA Plumbers Local 78
UA Pipefitters Local 250
United Steel Workers (USW)
Utility Workers Union of America Local 132
Los Angeles Police Protective League (LAPPL)
United Firefighters of Los Angeles City (UFLAC) Local 112
Association for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs
Los Angeles Fire Chief Officers' Association
Professional Peace Officers Association (PPOA)
Law Enforcement Association of Asian Pacifics (LEAAP)
Los Angeles County Firefighters Local 1014
Los Angeles School Police Officers Association (LASPOA