Post Scripts

by Tina Grazier

One of the big issues for the sustainable crowd is URBAN SPRAWL. They hate it! Urban sprawl is said to create a blight on the landscape…the word is issued as if spit from the mouth. We are supposed to cringe at the very thought. Urban sprawl, they say, is responsible for the excessive use of cars…and cars, as we are told again and again, are responsible for THE deadly greenhouse gas emissions that are causing the entire planet to die. And there is only one thing to do…change everything and of course, do without!

Most who follow this line of thinking offer a twofold solution. First get folks to stop driving and take the bus or train. Next, in order to put a halt to the sprawl, we must give up our sprawling yards, sprawling houses and sprawling malls with their sprawling parkinglots. We must move into little boxes built one on top of the othersitting right next to another stack of boxesand another and on down the street. We wont mind, they say, because we’ll be able to walk or cycle to shopping, doctors, schools and jobs. (Rarely a mention of churches, but we wont nit pick.) Some of the people who push this agenda are so bold as to tell us that since this plan is for our own good we will be forced into adopting it whether we like it or notwe might as well just give in and take our medicinehmph!

Continue reading “<strong>Urban Sprawl Aint Bad</strong>” »

Posted by Tina

The battle over fixing the problems in our schools continues as the numbers of kids dropping out continues to be way too high. Until now statistics regarding dropout rates were the product of guestimates. As the Los Angeles Times reports today the new numbers are accurate because they are based on individual pupil records and they are “dismal”:

Californias dropout count – LA Times

California finally has a realistic picture of its high-school dropout rate, and it isn’t pretty. Close to a fourth of our students fail to graduate, far more than the state has been reporting to the federal government. The number for Latino students rises to 30%, and for African American youngsters, it’s nothing less than dismal: 41.6%. The figures make clear that the dropout problem isn’t limited to pockets of the state; it is a cloud over all of California that threatens our civic and economic future. *** This year, for the first time, the state used student identification numbers to track those who went missing. And as unhappy as we are with the resulting figures, the state Department of Education deserves credit for ferreting out the truth. *** The data are available online. Dropouts are defined as students who left school and are not known to be enrolled in other programs that lead to a diploma. Not counted are those who can’t be tracked, such as students who say they’re leaving the state or attending a private school. *** Teachers cannot put an end to gangs or mend troubled families or solve poverty; yet all of these are elements of academic failure. *** But schools can and in some cases do make a big difference. San Jose Unified School District, for example, is an urban district with a 13% dropout rate. Yet despite the common wisdom that higher standards prompt more teenagers to drop out, San Jose pushes all of its students to complete a college-prep curriculum. Its Latino students are nearly twice as likely to do so as their counterparts across California, and their dropout rate, at 19.5%, is more than 10 points lower than the statewide figure and 15 points lower than L.A. Unified’s.

Posted by Tina

Another costly, good intentioned, government idea…in the toilet:

SEATTLE After spending $5 million on its five automated public toilets, Seattle is calling it quits. In the end, the restrooms, installed in early 2004, had become so filthy, so overrun with drug abusers and prostitutes, that although use was free of charge, even some of the citys most destitute people refused to step inside them. The units were put up for sale Wednesday afternoon on eBay – NY Times

by Jack Lee

(Remember the Everly brothers singing, “Bye bye, love, bye bye, happiness, hello, loneliness, I think I’m a-gonna cry-y. I think this should be adopted as our new State song.).

We all know about the big deficit in our fair state…15 billion and climbing. This is what happens when you bet on tax revenues to keep up with gluttonous spending. In the real world business ebbs and flows and families live on real income, not on what they think they will earn next year. So naturally when California businesses stumble and real estate taxes take a dive tax revenues are going to drop…uh, does this shock any of you? No, because you live in the real world, unlike those in Sacramento.

So what do democrats in the legislature propose doing about the budget shortfall?

Surely not cutting back on spending??? Nay! They are proposing a time tested method for certain failure with real bad side effects. They are going to do the most unenlightened, unimaginative thing once again….raise taxes.

First, they are going to raise 9.7 billion with a tax hike on business aka the rich. This will increase the top marginal rate from 10.3% to 12% and that would make us #1 in the nation for high state income tax, twice the average state’s rate. Now that is a plan sure to encourage more of our rich (aka business) to seek out more friendly states! Then they follow this up with a 9 billion dollar water bond and a 14 billion dollar state run health insurance plan along with the most expensive anti-global warming plan in the country.

Continue reading “Destroying the State the Democratic Way” »

by Jack

Well well, well, it seems 5 council members made a real big mistake and now it’s going to cost the City of Chico and it’s insurer at least $9.5 million bucks that it doesn’t have to spare! According to the ER story, “The Chico City Council approved the $9.5 million payout to developer Tom Fogarty Tuesday night, ending his $48 million lawsuit against the city. Burkland said the settlement $7.5 of which will come from city Redevelopment Agency money and $1.6 of which the city’s insurers will chip in”

At the time this BAD decision was made all the liberal council members lined up against the two conservatives who were trying to tell them what they were doing was illegal and for their efforts the liberals more or less told them to shove it! Now their BAD decision has come back to haunt them…and the taxpayers. Think of what the City could have done with those millions and instead it’s going to pay off a lawsuit? Voters in Chico better wake up and vote smart at the next election, we can’t afford anymore lawsuits like this one that was so preventable!

Councilman Bertagna agreed settling the lawsuit was the best decision, but said he could not support the vote “based on such ill feelings to the decision made in the past.” Councilman Wahl said the council had to choose between two bad choices: risking a $48 million lawsuit or forking over $9.5 million. “I think it’s outrageous that we’re even here,” he said.

For more on this story click here.

by Nick

After spending a great deal of time arguing with Libby on these pages I have noticed something, there appears to be a fundamental difference in how each side presents their positions. I dont mean style, both of us are very sarcastic and downright mean at times. The difference to which I am referring, is how contradictions are dealt with. Contradictions are pesky things, because they demand an answer. Something you believe doesnt jive with reality, so what do you do?

Well if you are intellectually honest you are forced to give up old delusions in favor of a position which better reflects reality. If intellectual honesty is not your thing, then you simply gloss over the contradiction, or as many on the left tend to do now a days, claim that contradictions are perfectly fine, and should not cause the slightest bit of introspection. It is Post Modernism philosophy applied to political policy. The intellectually honest person finds a contradiction and changes their views to best reflect reality. The intellectually dishonest person demands that reality change to correspond to their views.

Continue reading “A Point of Contention!” »

On Fannie, Freddie, and the candidates during this economically challenging election season.

Posted by Tina

Things economic are not always easily understood. So when I found an article that I just got it was like breathing fresh air after a couple of weeks of smoke! Mr. Rove has written such a piece, Voters Want Economic Leadership, in the online version of the Wall Street Journal.

If you crave some insight into the Fannie/Freddie mess, particularly in light of the coming election, I urge you to breath in the very readable and fair minded, Karl Rove:

Now with Fannie and Freddie at greater risk, Messrs. McCain and Obama need to think like would-be presidents instead of senators. That starts with ignoring former Fannie CEO Franklin Raines, who says reform isn’t needed this from a CEO who couldn’t produce accurate accounting statements. The goal has to be to force the GSEs (gov. sponsored enterprises) into a position where they can no longer put taxpayer dollars at risk. *** A wag once said that Fannie and Freddie were political organizations masquerading as mortgage providers. They donate heavily to politicians who can shield them from regulation. This election the GSEs have given more than $800,000 to congressmen and senators who oversee legislation that affects them. They have also snapped up dozens of retiring lawmakers and staff as lobbyists and pay them lucrative salaries. Not bad for part-time, indoor work. *** Over the past decade, the GSEs spent at least $171 million on lobbying, which combined would make Fannie and Freddie the third-biggest lobby. This has fostered a network of co-conspirators, including the liberal low-income advocacy group Acorn, big-city mayors and some lenders. Any reform must avoid creating more slush funds for the GSEs to reward political allies at taxpayer expense, and prevent them from investing in “jumbo” mortgages on expensive houses. After all, these GSEs were created to help lower- and middle-income homebuyers, not the rich and famous.

You may recall my postings about the liberal organization ACORN. Community service work is supposed to be their thing but they have also been investigated for voter fraud. Some of these investigations have resulted in guilty verdicts.

from INVESTORS BUSINESS DAILY…

No one likes war. War is a horrific affair, bloody and expensive. Sending our men and women into battle to perhaps die or be maimed is an unconscionable thought.

Yet some wars need to be waged, and someone needs to lead. The citizenry and Congress are often ambivalent or largely opposed to any given war. It’s up to our leader to convince them. That’s why we call the leader the Commander in Chief.

Continue reading “War Weary American’s Want to Bail on “W”” »

From the Wall Street Journal one hour ago….

The 1.1% monthly increase in the consumer price index for June was the fastest pace since a surge in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, due in large part to energy prices, while the core rate excluding food and energy came in at 0.3%. The year-over-year increase was 5%, the highest since 1991 when inflation was easing with that economic downturn.

The Fed braced for a summer surge in headline inflation due to rising commodity prices. Its policy statement after the June meeting indicated that officials expected inflation to moderate later this year and next year. That cast attention to the post-summer period, unlike the April statement that said inflation was expected to moderate in coming quarters. That suggested Fed officials would be holding their breath on inflation, hoping it comes down as expected due to slower growth creating slack in the economy. END

Editor’s note: You know inflation has arrived when a Nobby burger, fries and a large coke costs $10!

by Jack

According to the latest Gallop poll Congress has 14% approval amongst voters. This is a new record low for Congress. In fact it is even lower than the low approval rating of former Czar Nicolas jprior to the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917.

In contrast Bush gets a 34% approval rating, which means Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid have made George Bush twice as popular as Congress! A remarkable feat that points to even more remarkable events to follow under an Obama presidency.