From outside the box

California is in trouble again. Woopdy effin do! I remember the last time we were in this same place, we kicked the governor out of office. Arnold came in on a white horse and saved us all from certain doom and gloom by doing what conservatives always do best....he barrowed our way out of the crisis. Grey Davis could have done that. So it was only a matter of time until we would be back at the same place, and the time has come. I don't really blame Arnold though, I think he has done the best he could, given all that he has to work with.

Personally, I think we need to do a little bit of everything to fix the problem....everything from raising taxes to budget trimming. But there would need to be a way to raise the taxes temporarily, until we get out of trouble, without them remaining permanent. I remember in 89, after the earth quake in the bay area, we raised sales taxes by .25% to pay for the damage and it was supposed to be a temporary tax. It's nineteen years later and we still got the .25% sales tax.

This is a great time, an excellent opportunity, for politicians to demonstrate some real leadership. I know that trimming their own perks will do little to fix the budget problem but it would be a great morale booster for the rest of the state. If we are going to be asked to sacrifice, the sacrifice needs to start at the top.

One of the governors proposals is to release thieves, scam artists, and non violent criminals out of prison early as well as to not send them to prison in the future. I'm having a problem with that idea. Most of us have been the victim of one kind of theft or another. Weather it was getting a purse or a bicycle stolen or getting scammed, there is something that really stings about getting ripped off. Now to me, and I don't think I'm alone on this, getting ripped off is just as bad as being a victim of violent crime, and in a way, worse. I know that you can recover from getting something stolen easier than you can from getting physically assaulted, but the anger is just as bad at the time it happens. Usually you want to kill them. I say that theft is worse than assault in the way that it is usually not a face to face crime. It is done behind your back and you may never know who did it. I would rather a guy try to hurt me face to face than steal something from me behind my back....but that's just me.

If we have to give thieves a get out of jail card then we should use this as an opportunity to explore other alternatives of punishment. I always believed that anybody who had 3 or more DUI's should have to stick something in the back window of any car they drive to let the public know who they are so that we can stay clear of them for our own safety or at least scrutinize their driving more so than we normally would with other drivers. Why can't we do that with thieves? If somebody is convicted of 3 or more crimes within say a five year period, they would have to wear a sign around their neck whenever they were out in public letting everybody else know what their crime was and how many times they have been convicted. If they get caught without their sign, they go straight to jail. If they go a certain period of time without being convicted of a crime, then they would no longer have to wear their sign. I know that public humiliation is nothing new nor is the idea of branding criminals. Maybe some of these concepts have worked in the past? Maybe they still could? Oh crap....never mind....can't do it. I forgot about the lawyers.