Designed in California but made in Texas

“Designed By Apple in California,”

meet “Made By Motorola in Texas.”

(Editor  -  An interesting article about why businesses move jobs out of the People's Republic of California or never even consider California in the first place when opening a new business.  What the big government Democrat Socialists do not understand is a business can set up anywhere on earth.  California does not have to race to the bottom for the lowest tax rate, but we can streamline government to make us far more business friendly.)


“Designed By Apple in California,” meet “Made By Motorola in Texas.” Motorola Mobility, which is these days a division of Google, has begun turning out its new Moto X smartphone in its Fort Worth, Texas, factory. It is the only smartphone manufactured in the United States.

“Made in the USA” is a great marketing label, but it is almost meaningless. Like any other sophisticated product, the Moto X is the result of a global effort. In this case, a California-based company has contracted with scores of components suppliers.  Most of them are based in Asia and Europe, to provide the makings of a new smartphone, assembled in Texas by American workers at a factory operated by a Singapore-based concern called Flextronics, one of those ubiquitous contract-manufacturers that are the quiet titans of the new global economy reports the National Review.

The location was chosen for many reasons, one of them being that it is reasonably convenient to the design operations, based in California and Illinois, and to the service center, located in Mexico. But actually manufacturing the Moto X in California or Illinois apparently didn’t make sense.

Building new factories or, as in this case, retrofitting existing plants, requires serious investment. Making those investments in areas that are economically unstable must make sensible people nervous.


More American Workers Outsourcing Own Jobs Overseas
A new Department of Labor report finds personal outsourcing is revolutionizing how Americans dont do their own work.

 

 

Texas offers economic incentives to manufacturers and high-tech firms, but Motorola says that those were not a factor in this decision. Final assembly is a relatively small part of the cost of manufacturing a smartphone, and manufacturing in Texas adds only marginally to the expense of each handset, 100,000 of which the factory will ship out each week, a relatively small number in that handset market.

“Manufacturing employment in Texas has grown by 7.2 percent since 2010,” says Texas governor Rick Perry’s office. “The state leads the nation in the total value of shipments manufactured goods and comes in second for the total number of manufacturing jobs. In addition, computer and electronic product manufacturing is a top exporting industry in Texas, which has contributed to the Lone Star State being ranked as the number one exporting state for 11 years in a row by the U.S. Department of Commerce.”

So, another economy victory for Texas — nothing new in that. But it is worth considering: There is no such thing as an American smartphone, just as there is no such thing as an American car. Each is made out of components that come from far corners of the world, which are themselves made out of raw materials that come from producers that are still more dispersed.

In the case of Google, Apple, General Motors, or Ford, any profits derived from those global operations accrue to shareholders who also are distributed around the world. Chrysler, like Apple, has tried to capitalize on patriotic feelings with its “Imported from Detroit” campaign. But its flagship sedan is imported from Brampton, Canada. The word “imported” used to designate high quality, especially in things like food, wine, and textiles.

What it meant, in practice, was “European.” (Nobody in the 1960s bragged about owning a suit imported from Korea.) But Chrysler is a European firm, too, a subsidiary of Fiat that had previously been part of the Mercedes-Benz family. While those “Imported from Detroit” sedans are the Canadian work of a European company, Mercedes-Benz SUVs are made in Alabama by a company based in Stuttgart, Germany. Which one is the “American car”?

Too often, the “Made in the USA” tendency expresses an us-vs.-them view of the world economy — can’t have those nefarious Chinese stealing our jobs, etc. Politicians make that worse: The Democratic National Convention in 2012 was an anti-Asian hatefest, a shameful exercise in cheap jingoism.

As the California-Singapore-Illinois-Mexico-Texas project creating 2,500 new jobs in and around Fort Worth shows, it’s not us-vs.-them, it’s us-and-them, all of us in it together. Texas enjoys the benefits of those relationships, thanks largely to an economic edge that consists mainly of not punishing people for doing business in the state.

RIP - Cal Worthington (1920 – 2013)

Cal Worthington.  Anyone who grew up in Southern California grew up watching Cal and his dog Spot.  TV almost made him an uncle to us. 

The iconic California car dealer has passed away at the age of 92.

Cal was best known for his TV ads which proclaimed "Cal Worthington and his dog Spot", only, it was never a dog. It was a tiger or a lion or a bear or an elephant...anything but a dog!
.
Worthington, who estimated that he sold a million cars of various makes during a 65-year career that made him an icon of Southern California auto culture, died Sunday while watching football at his ranch in Orland, north of Sacramento, said his attorney, Larry Miles. He was 92. The cause has not been determined.

Worthington grew up in a family of nine children and dropped out of school at the age of 13. His first job was as a water boy on a road construction crew for 15 cents an hour. He joined the Civilian Conservation Corps at age 15.

A little known fact about Cal is that he joined the Air Force at age 21 to fly B-17s in WWII.  He was discharged after the war as a captain. Worthington was awarded the Air Medal five times, and received the Distinguished Flying Cross, which was presented to him by General Jimmy Doolittle.

According to a profile published in the Sacramento Bee in 1990, Worthington's car dealership grossed $316.8 million in 1988.

 Rest in peace, sir. And thank you for your service to our country!

(Cal Worthington)


Cal with his many "dogs spot"

Cal Worthington stands in front of one of his barns on his ranch in Orland, Calif. on
Thursday, May 2, 2013. Worthington, 92, made millions selling cars in California
making a name for himself with his witty car commercials which were live on
television starting in the 1950's.
.
He continued to produce his own television commercials for his car lots in Alaska and
Long Beach. He spent most of his time on his 24,000 acre ranch in Orland where he
grew olives, almonds and grazes 1,000 head of cattle. He still owned and flew his
Lear jet with his son Rod.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2013/05/06/5399352/92-year-old-cal-worthington-still.html#storylink=cpy

Cal Worthington checks over a small herd of cattle.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2013/05/06/5399352/92-year-old-cal-worthington-still.html#storylink=cpy

Cal Worthington drives his all terrain vehicle - a gift from his family -
which he used to check out his olive and almond trees on his ranch.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2013/05/06/5399352/92-year-old-cal-worthington-still.html#storylink=cpy



Cal Worthington is contrasted by a 'W' etched into a glass
door at his ranch in Orland, Calif.
(Sacramento Bee)

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2013/05/06/5399352/92-year-old-cal-worthington-still.html#storylink=cpy

San Francisco to Outlaw Detaining Illegal Immigrants

San Francisco - Loon Central

With massive under and unemployment you can always count

on liberals supporting illegals taking American jobs.

San Francisco is once again leading the way - this time with a proposal that would appear to make it the first county in the nation to unequivocally refuse to detain illegal immigrants.

After all, with food stamps out of control and massive under and unemployment why would we deport illegals.  Liberals feels they should stay and compete with American citizens for the limited number of available jobs.

The insane proposal is authored by Supervisor John Avalos and supported by a supermajority of his colleagues, would make it illegal for San Francisco law enforcement officials to detain someone solely on the basis of immigration status.

Currently, the Sheriff Department's policy states that only people suspected of serious or violent felonies, or those with a serious or violent felony in their past, will be held for immigration authorities. In 2012, 542 people were handed over to federal authorities by San Francisco officials; another 176 were transferred in the first six months of 2013 reports the San Francisco Chronicle.

The proposed law will be considered by a board committee made up of its supporters Thursday, where it is expected to be approved.

"The legislation is about due process against the arbitrary loss of liberty," Avalos said, arguing that the current situation has created a "dragnet" that is wrongfully sweeping up innocent people. "Right now ... there is no basic standard of proof to show that someone is undocumented and deserves to be detained."

While some other cities, including Berkeley and Richmond, have approved similar policies, they are largely symbolic, as county sheriffs handle the detentions of criminal suspects. Counties that have restricted their participation, including Santa Clara, have done so on the basis of money - that the federal government isn't reimbursing them for the cost of keeping such immigrants in jail.

And proposed statewide legislation, which is more similar to the city's current policy, was vetoed last year by Gov. Jerry Brown; a more limited version is now working its way through the legislative process.

 

While supporters currently have a veto-proof majority and support of Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi, concerns over the proposed law's broad brush strokes are being raised. Supervisor Katy Tang is considering amendments to the law, and Police Chief Greg Suhr said Wednesday that he wants to see convicted violent felons, sex offenders and those with prior weapons possession convictions exempted from the law.

If those people are exempted, Suhr said, he supports the legislation.

"The sheriff's office has discretion to report such people already, and I think that's important that he retain that discretion, because we certainly don't want to become a safe haven for everybody else's convicted violent felons, sex offenders or firearm possessors," he said.

"Black Americans need not apply."
The youth unemployment rate for African Americans is 28.2%.  But liberals ignore Blacks in favor of Hispanics who are citizens of foreign nations.
.
Looks like pro-Hispanic and anti-Black racism.
.
(bls.gov/news.release) 

Democrats and GOP join together to attack guns

Jackass of the Day Award

Democrat Senator Rod Wright wants to put gun owners in jail for crimes committed by others.  Republicans join in support.

A bill that appears headed to the governor would require gun owners to lock up their weapons if they live with a convicted felon or anyone else who is prohibited from owning a firearm.

The legislation from Jackass of the Day winner Sen. Rod Wright, D-Inglewood, expands the state's gun-storage law to those who know or should know they are living with someone who is not allowed to possess a firearm.

SB363 heads back to the Senate for a final vote after passing the Assembly on a 62-8 vote Tuesday, reports the Merced Sun Star.


The state's list of people who cannot legally own weapons includes those who have a felony or violent misdemeanor conviction; a determination that they are mentally unstable; or a domestic violence restraining order. The list is confidential and used for law-enforcement purposes.

If their weapon is used in a crime committed by a prohibited person, a gun owner could face fines and jail time.

The legislation is among a series of gun-control bills introduced this year in response to the mass shootings in Connecticut and Colorado. New York and other states also have approved tough firearms laws this year.

Supporters, including the California Police Chiefs Association, say the requirement would help prevent unlawful access to guns.

"When you take on the responsibility of owning pistols and rifles, you take on the responsibility of ensuring the safety of those weapons," said Assemblyman Rocky Chavez, R-Oceanside, who was among roughly a dozen Republicans supporting the bill.

But Assemblyman Tim Donnelly, R-Twin Peaks, said the bill would hold people accountable for crimes in which they had no direct involvement.

"If somebody drives drunk, you don't hold the spouse accountable for that which someone else has committed," Donnelly said. "It just doesn't make any sense."

Read more here: http://www.mercedsunstar.com/2013/09/03/3201696/bill-would-expand-states-gun-storage.html#storylink=cpy

GOP joins the attack on guns.
Assemblyman Rocky Chavez (Republican - Oceanside) urged lawmakers to approve a bill that would require gun owners to lock up their weapons if they live with someone who is legally prohibited from owning a firearm. It passed by a 62-8 vote the Assembly approved SB363, by Sen. Rod Wright, D-Inglewood, and sent it back to the Senate for a final vote.

Read more here: http://www.mercedsunstar.com/2013/09/03/3201696/bill-would-expand-states-gun-storage.html#storylink=cpy

Standing Tall for Freedom.
"If somebody drives drunk, you don't hold the spouse accountable for that which someone else has committed.  It just doesn't make any sense."
Assemblyman Tim Donnelly  (Republican - Twin Peaks)

Siskiyou County supports withdrawal from California

 

California is too big

Far northern rural California feels little to no connection with

the monster sized urban centers to the south.

(Times Standard)  -  The Siskiyou County Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 on Tuesday to support the county's split from the state of California.  It's the first in a long series of steps to form the proposed state of Jefferson, which proponents of the effort say would bring representation to rural North State counties that currently are beholden to the whims of representatives of the more heavily populated Southern California and free them from burdensome state regulations.   ”We have to have government that's local, understands our issues and has empathy” for those affected, said Mark Baird, a Scott Valley rancher who's also president for Scott Valley Protect Our Water and vice president of the Siskiyou Water User's Association.   Baird is leading the charge to form a new state from rural counties in Northern California and Southern Oregon, though he certainly wasn't the only voice in support of the move.


Siskiyou County

 More than 100 people packed the supervisors' chambers Tuesday for the discussion on whether the county should issue a declaration that it wants to secede from the state. Nearly all those in attendance appeared to be for the move and about a dozen spoke in support of it.   ”Many proposed laws are unconstitutional and deny us our God-given rights,” said Gabe Garrison of Happy Camp. “We need our own state so we can make laws that fit our way of life.”   Among those in attendance was Erin Ryan, field representative for Rep. Doug LaMalfa. When asked for the congressman's opinion, she said that she and other LaMalfa staff members supported the effort to secede, but she did not know LaMalfa's thoughts on it.   She also said there's support for the split in Sacramento.   The discussion also attracted members of groups from Shasta and Tehama counties who are looking for their own supervisors to pass similar declarations.   ”It would be the only way I could see everyone coming together in a positive manner,” said Tom Moller of Red Bluff.   Also there was Kayla Brown, a mother in her early 20s, who said she didn't want to raise her child in California.   ”The state of Jefferson is the place I want to raise my son,” she said.  At one point in the meeting a speaker asked for a show of hands from those in attendance who supported the split. Nearly every hand in the room was raised. And supervisors echoed much of that enthusiasm in their own comments. ”I haven't had one contact in regard to this issue, that's in opposition,” Supervisor Michael Kobseff said.  

Proposed map of the 51st state.

 

  Supervisor Marcia Armstrong said the issues were about regulation, restriction of rights, lack of representation, regionalism and restoration of limited government.   ”We also have this enormous bureaucracy of unelected officials making decisions for us,” she said. Board Chair Ed Valenzuela was the sole vote against the declaration. He said he was elected to solve problems within the system.   ”It comes down to because I took an oath. I took an oath when I ran for re-election, which I just did, and that was to uphold the Constitution, and uphold the constitution of the state of California,” he said. “And within that, and because knowing what it's like to be a minority, I know the value of having to work from the other side without the numbers and without support. I signed on to do that, I signed on to work within the system I know. I don't like it, I don't agree with it all the time but at the same token, I did sign up for that and I will continue to do so.”  

The movement to leave California goes back to the 1940s.

 In August, county residents lobbied the board to consider separating from the state over a laundry list of complaints including a lack of representation in Sacramento for the Republican-majority county, issues pertaining to water rights and the rural fire prevention fee.   If the county were to split from the state, any action taken today would be the first step in a long process that would require approval from the state Legislature and the U.S. Congress.   Siskiyou County would also invite other neighboring counties in California and Southern Oregon to join in the effort to create a new state.   The U.S. Constitution allows for the formation of new states, though land can't be taken from existing states without the consent of state and federal governments.   Humboldt County 1st District Supervisor Rex Bohn said he can understand the frustration in Siskiyou County and that he tends to agree with most of the issues that were brought up by the board.   ”I was one of the people who thinks the State of Jefferson wasn't a bad idea,” Bohn said. “There has been a total lack of respect in terms of our water rights and the fire fee. Those things may not be important to the rest of the state, but it's important to us. This is a major thing for everyone that lives rurally.”  

  Bohn said the problem is that only 16 percent of the state is rural, and decisions in Sacramento are sometimes based on the needs or realities of more urban areas.     ”It's kind of a drastic measure to get someone to listen to you, but I guess they feel like they're not getting heard,” he said.   Bohn added that the Humboldt County supervisors will likely meet to discuss the issue.   Humboldt County 3rd District Supervisor Mark Lovelace said he took the talk of secession as a statement of frustration.   ”There has to be basic economic underpinnings to make a state work,” Lovelace said. “There is a certain romantic appeal and allure to the state of Jefferson, this entire idea of what could have been, but in reality it would not be good economically.”   He said one of the problems with a rural county seceding is that the tax base starts small.   ”Siskiyou is one of the largest counties with one of the smallest populations,” he said. “It is also full of state roads that they won't be able to maintain, and federal land.”
Also see San Francisco Chronicle and Jefferson State.

California Economy - Ontartio airport down 40% in traffic

Ontario International Airport, about 39 miles east of Los Angeles, has experienced
a 40 percent drop in passenger traffic since its 2007 peak of 6.9 million.

Under and unemployment a drag on the economy

Obamacare capping workers at 29 hours a week only adds to the pain.

New York Times - Rolling into Ontario International Airport is a traveler’s delight.

The parking lots, across from either terminal, are mostly vacant. The spacious, tidy terminals are filled with natural light and few lines at the ticket counters. Jostling around the baggage carousel there is plenty of elbow room for everyone.
      

The greatest inconvenience awaits those who head to the taxi stand: sometimes there are no cabs. One has to be called.

      

“Truthfully, I love this,” Annette Long said as she prepared to check her bags for a recent flight, thrilled to be missing the freeway traffic and crowds she encounters flying out of Los Angeles International Airport. “It’s so easy.”

      

But what makes traveling so pleasant for passengers like Long also underscores the problem facing this regional airport, which, like the Inland Empire region that it serves, is still reeling from the devastating impact of the recession reports the New York Times.

      

As airports show slow but steady signs of recovery, with passenger traffic nearing pre-recession levels nationally, the passenger traffic at Ontario has plummeted 40 percent since its 2007 peak of 6.9 million, according to Federal Aviation Administration figures. The decline, fed by a confluence of economic misfortune, a change in airline business practices and local political turf wars, is projected to continue through the end of the year.

 

Room to Roam at the Ontario Airport
The liar politicians tell us the economy is better.  But if you are jobless or underemployed the last thing you do is buy airplane tickets, and passenger traffic at Ontario has plummeted 40 percent since its 2007 peak.

 

 

It has left Ontario with traffic levels around four million, about what they were in the mid-1980s, a decade before construction of two modern terminals that were supposed to make this airport a linchpin of the region’s economic growth.

       

But like the housing booms and busts that have driven the economic prospects of the area over the last 25 years, the airport’s plight has left some to wonder if such ideas were too speculative.

      

The Inland Empire, which includes San Bernardino and Riverside Counties, continues to be one of the fastest-growing regions in California, with more than four million residents, but the lure is affordable housing, not high-paying jobs. The region is projected to have a double-digit unemployment rate through 2015. And last week, a judge cleared the way for the city of San Bernardino to declare bankruptcy.

      

“With the benefit of hindsight, it might have been overreaching when they expanded,” said Sampath Rajagopala, a professor of data sciences and operations at the University of Southern California’s business school. “Airlines can never operate at a profit if they rely on consumer business. They need business passengers. Yes, there are a lot of people living there, but they are a lot more price-sensitive.”

      

It is not just the economy that has crippled the Ontario airport. There has been a change in how airlines operate, analysts say, prizing profitability now more than market share, which has driven airlines away from smaller airports to larger ones nearby.

      

 

Southwest Airlines, the main tenant at Ontario, began there in 1985 with five daily flights to Phoenix. It once flew 64 flights a day from Ontario in the late ’90s, but is now down to 35 flights a day. An additional reduction of 12 percent has been announced for January. At the same time, it has expanded service at Los Angeles International.

       

This has left Ontario with a conundrum: declining flights mean that airports must charge airlines higher fees per passenger to recoup expenses, and Ontario’s fee of $11.12 per passenger was close to the $12.18 that Los Angeles International charged in the 2012-13 fiscal year, according to airport officials who set the fees.

And with high fees, airlines are more likely to move flights elsewhere to lower those costs.

      

The belief that a return of local control will ultimately lead to the boom in economic development around the airport is embraced in the area. But a few voices warn that it would not be a panacea.

“Local control isn’t a magic wand,” said Janice Rutherford, the chairwoman of the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors.

      

This spiral is not unlike what many in the Inland Empire know about the housing market, how one foreclosure can unleash a chain of events that soon leaves an entire neighborhood half-vacant.

      

“I can’t think of another situation like it,” said Jan Brueckner, an economics professor at the University of California, Irvine’s Institute of Transportation Studies. “It’s a great airport with good facilities that’s underutilized in the middle of millions of people. It’s the strangest thing.”

 

Actor Rails Against Difficulty of Opening a Small Business in California

A Small Business fights the poor economy and Big Government

Longtime actor and entrepreneur Joseph C. Phillips, a man you might recognize from “The Cosby Show” or “General Hospital,” guest hosted the Glenn Beck Program Thursday night, where he discussed “the real” American dream and the difficulties of starting a small business in today’s economy — particularly in California.

 

The “unapologetic Christian and conservative” recently opened a restaurant called Daddy J’s Wingshack, so he has first-hand insight on the subject.

Given that small businesses represent the quest for the American dream, one might imagine that our governments, local and federal, would support and encourage those attempting to open small businesses. Well — one would be wrong, at least if you live in California,” he began.

“When we opened our doors a year and a half ago we were immediately beset by bureaucrats walking in carrying mountains of documents for us to read, lengthy rules, stuff for us to sign obligating us to this tax and that tax, writing check after check after check…” he continued.

 

Phillips said he has no problem with certain government regulations — he likes to know, for instance, that the health inspector has certified that an establishment is fit for service — but there is far more to deal with than the health inspector in today’s industry.

 

“My problem with bureaucrats is…the rules and guidelines and statutes that are enforced are often a matter of who you’re talking to — whether they stayed up too late the night before, whether they got some lovin’ from their spouse or their loved one, and quite frankly, whether or not they like the way you look!” he said. “The codes [are] written so that oftentimes they conflict with one another. You go down to the Health Department, the code says one thing, then you go down to the building safety department, the code says something completely different.”

 

 

All of which leads to a state of perpetual insecurity, he said, since everyone knows it’s impossible to be in a state of 100% compliance.

 

“If some bureaucrat wants to jam you up — if some guy who’s driving a city car, who’s never risked anything in his life, never built anything — if he wants to jam you up, wants to flex a little bit, you’re going to get jammed up,” he said. “And in the same way, if some inspector decides you look cool and wants to cut you some slack, you get to skate.”

 

As an example of just one of the many taxes and regulations he has do deal with, Phillips said the county of Los Angeles sends him a county assessment bill every year, which is “a tax on everything in the store” that he owns, from the friers to the chairs.

 

“Didn’t I already pay tax on all this stuff when I purchased it originally?” he asked, predicting the audience’s question. “The answer is yes. However, now I must pay a tax on those same items, an assessment, and that assessment is paid in perpetuity.”

 

And if that’s not enough, Phillips added that the county “assess the items as if they were new,” regardless of whether the refrigerator is eight years old or whether he bought the frier used.

 

“If my restaurant burned down my insurance company wouldn’t reimburse me at that rate,” he noted.  “If I tried to sell it on the open market not one person would pay that price…But what does that have to do with the county of Los Angeles? The county assess me at that rate every every single year.” 

 

“Welcome to entrepreneurship,” he said.

Story from The Blaze.com

California Democrats vote to kill more babies

Please don't kill me.

Why are Democrats obsessed with killing (aborting)

helpless children?

The State Senate of California's People's Republic on Monday approved legislation that would broaden the number of abortion providers.  Translation  -  more baby killers.

Democrats can't use their standard "Think of the Children" line, because in this case they want to kill the children.  So they switched to "Think of the women."  Of course, if you abort the female babies then in time you won't be able to think of the women.  There won't be any.

The 25-11 vote, with only Democrats in support, sends the measure back to the Assembly to approve amendments before it goes to fruitcake Comrade Governor Jerry Brown.

 

The bill would allow a nurse practitioner, certified nurse-midwife or physician assistant who completes specialized training to provide a common abortion procedure during the first trimester of pregnancy reports the San Diego Union Tribune.

Assemblywoman Toni Atkins, a San Diego Democrat carrying the measure, said many women must travel great distances or go without early pregnancy care because of the limited number of physicians who perform abortions.

 

“We need accessibility throughout the state — not just in urban centers,” Atkins said in an interview after the Senate vote.

 

Senate Republicans, however, say women already have access to abortion providers and that, by allowing professionals other than licensed physicians and surgeons to conduct the procedure, the measure could lead to more harm.

 

“The argument for abortions is we have got to get it out of the alleys. No more coat hangers. We need safe abortions for women. No woman should lose their life over this,” said Sen. Joel Anderson, R-La Mesa.

 

But “this bill puts women’s lives at risk,” he said.

 

Sen. Jim Nielsen, R-Gerber, called the bill “a dangerous direction.”

 

“I would urge caution — deep and profound thought and soul-searching. It is no light matter. Abortion is a serious medical procedure with vast complications,” he said.

 

 

 

Sen. Ted Gaines, R-El Dorado Hills, said he represents 11 counties, most of which are rural. “There is not an issue of access for an abortion to be performed by a doctor anywhere in my rural in my district,” he said.

 

That drew a rebuke from Sen. Noreen Evans, D-Santa Rosa, who represents rural north coast counties. “The women in those counties are entitled to access to the health care they need. Many women will require this procedure because their health is threatened,” she said.

 

Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson, D-Santa Barbara, said it is important for women to be able to obtain an abortion as early in a pregnancy as possible. With fewer providers, some in remote areas may have to wait longer, thus increasing complications, she said.

 

“This is not a complicated procedure in its earliest stages. It becomes more problematic the longer it is delayed. It is frequently delayed because women do not have access,” she said.

COMMUNISM - Calif. city to seize private property

Socialist Mayor Gayle McLaughlin raises the flag over what is left of Richmond, California.

The March of Communism

Richmond tries to invoke its power of imminent domain and

seize home mortgages and re-distribute that wealth

to government approved voters.

The People's Republic of California   -   Marxist Californians are on the march looking to seize the money, the private property, of banks and private individual lenders and re-distribute that wealth to voter home owners. Emphasis on the VOTER part please.

When you rob Peter and give the money to Paul, you will always get Paul's vote.

The Green Party Mayor of Democrat dominated Richmond, Calif., and a gaggle of activists and homeowners showed up at the Wells Fargo Bank headquarters in downtown San Francisco this month, they were on a mission to speak with the bank's chief executive.

They wanted the bank to drop a lawsuit aimed at stopping Richmond's first-in-the-nation plan to use the government's constitutional power of eminent domain to "seize" hundreds of mortgages from Wells Fargo and other financial institutions reports the San Francisco Chronicle.
 

As Mayor Gayle McLaughlin and the plan's backers approached the bank building, security guards locked the doors. After a bank official told her there would be no meeting then and that someone would call her later, she grabbed a bullhorn.
 

"I am absolutely not backing down," McLaughlin said, as curious tourists and lunching office workers milled about.
 

Wells Fargo, three other banks and even the Federal Housing Finance Agency think otherwise.
 

The banks have filed two lawsuits alleging that the plan is an illegal abuse of eminent domain, which allows governments to seize private property for public use — like a house in the path of a new highway or a piece of land needed for a new park.
 

The banks argue the plan would "severely disrupt the United States mortgage industry" because many other cities would likely adopt the same program to help homeowners who owe more on their mortgages than their houses are worth.
 

So far, Richmond has sent out more than 600 offers, but has not yet begun any eminent domain proceedings. Newark, N.J., North Las Vegas, Nev., El Monte, Calif., and Seattle are considering similar plans, according to Wells Fargo's lawsuit reports the San Francisco Chronicle.

 

McLaughlin said cities are considering the program because they are desperate. Nearly half the mortgages in Richmond, for example, are "underwater," the owner owes more than the house is worth.
 

Richmond, working with San Francisco-based Mortgage Resolution Partners, offers $150,000 to buy a $300,000 bank loan on a house that is now worth $200,000 and is in danger of foreclosure.
 

If the bank refuses to sell the loan to Richmond, then the city invokes its power of imminent domain and seizes the mortgage. It would then offer the bank a fair market value for the home.
 

Mortgage Resolution Partners, the company partnering with the city, puts up the money and had promised to pay all Richmond's legal costs. City officials have not said how many homes they hope to refinance through eminent domain.

This Green is Pure Red.
Gayle McLaughlin, the Green Party Mayor of Richmond, is quoting Karl Marx.  Working with the Democrat city council she wants to use city power (for example) to confiscate $300,000 home mortgages from banks and pay them only $150,000 for their home loans.
. 
Naturally the grateful home owners with the "magically" lower house payment reward the liar, stealing politicians with their votes in the next election.

 

McLaughlin is a Green Party candidate who beat back opposition from the city's police and fire unions to win a second term in 2010.
 

She said she fears homeowners will begin to abandon their homes, leading to blighted neighborhoods and the draining of public coffers to the point of municipal bankruptcy experienced by Stockton, Calif., and Detroit.
 

"The city is stepping in where Wall Street and where the federal government have been unable or unwilling to do so," she said.

 

Federal regulators said eminent domain isn't the answer. The Federal Housing Finance Agency said plans to seize loans "present a clear threat to the safe and sound operations Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Home Loan Banks."
 

Tim Cameron, a Washington, D.C., lobbyist with the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, said there is more at play than a single person's underwater loan.
 

Cameron said pension funds, banks and other groups that made loans in Richmond stand to lose millions of dollars if the city is allowed to use eminent domain to force lenders into accepting less than the original terms of the loan.
 

He also predicted that cities using eminent domain will make lenders wary of doing business there.

"There's a domino effect in play here," he said.

Democrats want non-citizens to judge Americans in court

"We the jury find the American guilty."

 

 The Inmates Are Running the Asylum

Idiot leftist legislators hate their country so much they want American citizens to be judged by citizens of foreign nations.

The People's Republic of California  -  The once Golden State would become the first state to allow non-citizens who are in the country legally to serve as jurors under a bill that cleared the Assembly on Thursday and heads to Gov. Jerry Brown's desk.

If signed into law, the legislation would make immigrants who are legal permanent residents eligible for jury duty.

It would not change other requirements for jurors, such as being at least 18 years old and having English proficiency. They also must live in the county making the summons reports the Associated Press.

Nutcase Leftist Assemblyman Bob Wieckowski, D-Fremont, said AB1401 would help California widen the pool of prospective jurors and help integrate immigrants into their community. Immigrants already can serve in other roles in the courts system, including working as judges, he said.

"Immigrants are our friends, immigrants are our neighbors, immigrants are our co-workers and immigrants are our family members," Wieckowski said. "They are part of the fabric of our community."

The Assembly passed AB1401 on Thursday on a largely party-line vote of 41-26. Three Democrats -Assemblymen Ken Cooley of Rancho Cordova, Adam Gray of Merced and Rudy Salas of Bakersfield - joined Republicans in opposing the measure.

Assemblyman Rocky Chavez, R-Oceanside, said during his floor comments that he does not see a shortage of potential jurors. He also said those accused of a crime have a right to a jury of peers who fully understand the country's laws and culture.

"I think that understanding only comes when an individual openly takes an oath to become a citizen of the country in which they live," Chavez said.

 

 

Welcome to the new California jury pool

You are to be judged by a jury of yours "peers".

 

 

"I vote the American guilty."

"We the jury find the American guilty."

  

"Guilty.  Guilty.  Guilty."

  

"What's a jury?"

"Da, the Americanski is guilty."