Nothingshort of a massive dose of retroactive common sense -- not to mention ashot of banking industry regulation -- could have stopped theforeclosure crisis that's been the nuclear reactor in California'sbudget meltdown. Nothing short of a sprinkling of pixie dust that woulderase the state's onerous two-thirds approval requirement for budgets will loosen the current legislative long-jam.
In the recent blockbuster The Dark Knight,the by-this-point infamous Joker sidles up to the permanently scarredHarvey Dent and expresses his hope that "There won't be any hardfeelings between us, Harvey." The Joker's reasoning for why Dent shouldnot blame him for the mutilation of Dent's face and the death of Dent'sgirlfriend is that the Joker was "sitting in [Police Commissioner]Gordon's cage" and "didn't rig those charges" at the time it happened.The defense is laughable, and Dent makes as much clear.
It's a strange world when a Democratic president does in six days what Republican governor could not convince a Republican president to do in four years of letter-writing, lawsuits and international embarrassment.
Yet, that's happening today, as President Barack Obama lowers the Environmental Protection Agency's long-standing blockade of California's tough automobile emissions standards.
As the hand-wringing over California's budget crisis inSacramento continues, the hard truth that the world's 8th economicpower is sliding into fiscal insolvency is finally starting to hit hometo rank and file Californians.
The Golden State is at the leading edge of the most recent recession. The national unemployment has risen to at least 7.2 percent, and the rate is much higher (8.4 percent) here in California. Unfortunately, things will continue to get worse before they get worse before they get better.
As California headsthrough January, ever closer to the magical date of February 1, allCalifornia citizens face a startling truth: the state is rapidlyheading toward becoming, for lack of a better word, broke.
In the classic MelBrooks film "Young Frankenstein," Baron Beaufort Von Frankenstein'slast will and testament loudly bemoans the fact that "there was a timewhen the name Frankenstein conjured dreams of virtue." The implicationis that Baron Von Frankenstein's name now conjures the opposite, andindeed, given what we all know of Mary Shelley's novel, this would be arealistic implication.
The Los Angeles Times reportsthat recently, in response to the firing of a popular math teacher, SanFrancisco voters have attempted to recall not just one or two membersof the local school board, but the entire school board. It may be thefirst time that such a large recall measure has been put forward, andcertainly bespeaks the tense air of the moment, which makes the phrase"winter of discontent" look positively optimistic.
The new year is only two weeks old, and it appears the Democratshave already released a new book of talking points. At least, that'stheimpression one gets if one looks at the prevailing attitude towardRepublicansboth at the national level and in Californiaherself. Now that the old method of calling Republican tax andbudget policy "heartless", "soulless", "callous","cruel" and cut from the same cloth of Ebenezer Scrooge no longer hasthe same kick, the Left and its fellow travelers are trotting out a newtrope:small government individualism is racist.