Rep. McClintock favors 1D and 1E. I can buy that, though I disagree with giving the Democrats cover right now.
He agrees with me on the rest, it seems, and even makes another point against 1F though: 1F gives legislators incentive to raise taxes to raise their own salaries.
The California Constitution requires that our state government’s budget be balanced every year. Having a RiNO* in the Governor’s chair and Democrats controlling the entire legislature make that a fantasy though. They spend, and spend, and when tax revenues fall, they cry about Republican failures to approve tax increases.
Thanks to the Governor and a few other turncoats, they got a sales tax increase this year, but even that’s not enough to balance the budget. So now the Democrats turn to the voters to approve of a massive shell game that will let them tax and spend without consequence. I ask Red State readers to join me in opposing the entire slate, forcing us to live within our means, and giving our Republicans in Sacramento support in fighting runaway spending.
Proposition 1A (on Ballotpedia) is being sold with the most conservative-sounding rhetoric, when it is the most unfriendly of the lot. Both Ballotpedia and the state Legislative Analyst concur that the primary effect of the measure is a $16 billion ($16,000,000,000) tax increase, which will be used to fund our current ridiculous spending levels, which are far beyond anything ever countenanced by Governor Davis.
It also calls for a token “rainy day fund,” but that rainy day fund only prevents spending of up to 3% of revenue in years with extraordinary revenue growth, and even then only after certain spending is allocated (such as the NEA’s pet Proposition 98 fund). The tax increase is what the purpose of 1A is, and so it must be defeated.
Proposition 1B (on Ballotpedia) is the first of a number of shell-game propositions on the ballot. As 1A only raises taxes in future years, spending must be shifted this year in order to pretend we’ve met our Constitutional requirement of a balanced budget. Proposition 1B moves money in future years to the Proposition 98 school budget, in exchange for money moved from it to the General Fund this year. No spending is cut or limited, and no revenue is raised. Money is shifted around. As I said, it’s just a shell game, and 1B pays off the NEA for going along with it.
Proposition 1C (on Ballotpedia) shifts more money around. This time, we borrow against projected future lottery revenue to balance this year’s budget to feed the beast of radical left-wing spending. It would also allow further borrowing in the future! Ballotpedia points out that this effectively would allow the state to deficit spend indefinitely.
Proposition 1D (on Ballotpedia) continues the shell game. It takes money to fund this year’s spending from Rob “Meathead” Reiner’s tobacco tax revenue, which ordinarily is mandated to go to county programs which serve little kids. Democrats would rather keep more union jobs alive, than help poor children whom they constantly harangue us about. It’s all about the unions in the California Legislature.
Proposition 1E (on Ballotpedia) plays the same game as 1D, only instead of taking money from little kids, it shifts money from the “millionaire’s tax” that was sold to California voters as being necessary to fund “mental health” programs. The money instead goes to a program that, surprise, is funded from the fungible General Fund.
Proposition 1F (on Ballotpedia) is the last, and least, of the six. It doesn’t do anything about taxes or spending. It just promises to prohibit automatic pay increases to state elected officials when the budget isn’t balanced. It sounds great, except that it’s only being used to sell the above scams, and the above scams would ensure that we’ll be deficit spending without technically doing so, thus defeating the measure anyway. It’s meaningless except as a propaganda tool, so I urge a vote against it.
So in conclusion, please join me in opposing this entire slate, and tell your friends and family to do the same. Especially mention to them the secret tax increases, and how the Democrats are taking money from little kids and the mentally ill in order to keep fatcat union bosses happy.
* I don’t say RiNO because the Governor is to the left of the party mainstream. He is, but I say he’s a RiNO because he joins Democrats to attack our legislative caucii, he appoints Democrats to the bench and as his Chief of Staff, and already sees himself as an independent.
Moe’s already discussed this, but I think it bears more scrutiny.
My four year registration anniversary is coming up next month, so I remember when RedState was a tiny site. It felt like there were only a handful of us commenters, and we all knew each other. Of course this was long before I was an editor.
There were so few of us that the war against Daily Kos trolls felt like a war of survival. There was a reason for that: If the communities from similar sites on the left piled on over here, they’d overwhelm us. Their traffic was so far out of our league that the sites barely seemed comparable.
Not so today.
Take MyDD. According to compete.com, a year ago they were ‘down to’ getting 25% more visitors than we had. Now? We’ve increased our traffic 150%, while they’ve lost almost 50%, leaving us with nearly 150% the traffic they get.
But they split, you say? Fair enough, Let’s add in Talk Left. A year ago they, too, were getting 25% more traffic than we were, so combined the sites were getting 250% the traffic we were. Now? We’re getting the same number of visitors that both sites combined were getting a year ago, 50% above their current total. RedState now has the combined weight of Talk Left and MyDD before the election, while they’re both losing readers by the month.
They’re not the only sites cratering while we’re growing, either. Look at “Screw ’em” Kos’s site. Year-to-Year they’re down 12%. We’re still up 150%. What was once a 9:1 advantage is now a 3:1 advantage.
We’re no longer at risk of being squashed when they roll over. If President Obama keeps embarrassing himself and his nation whilst betraying the Netroots, we just might hit parity. They know it, too. That’s why threw a royal flaming tantrum at Moe’s post, and I’m daring them to do the same now.
You are crumbling, Netroots. We are rising. Stay the course, RedStaters. 2010 beckons.
Turned on the Wii to clear out this month’s Mario Kart tournament blinky light, and decided to visit the Shop. What do I see the but Gradius Rebirth?
Interesting game. It’s not a straight NES-style game, as the graphics are SNES style and the sounds and music are a hybrid. The game play is so much like the original though. In fact the first stage is a direct tribute to the first stage ofthe original, down to the volcanoes.
No saving options like Gradius V let you though, but it seems an enjoyable game.
It’s official: I’ve ordered a Blackberry Bold, dock, and holster today. $390 for the Bold with standard accessories, $25 or so for the other two bits.
I’ll give all of that time to get here, and then I will plan my escape from Verizon. Toward the end of my current billing period I’ll head on over to AT&T to get service for my Bold, as well as move my phone number from my Curve. Then I’ll buy out my Verizon contract, and that will be that.
I shall have a bigger screen, better keyboard, no contract, and a flexible, portable GSM Blackberry.
Oh, and after the initial investment of all this hardware (which is a tax writeoff), the AT&T service is $10/mo cheaper anyway. Win, win, win.
Almost forgot why I posted that to begin with: Now that I’m back on the elliptical every day (A bad back tweak took me off it for weeks and I just got out of the habit until about a weekago), I’m actually doing it for an hour now instead of a half hour. Playing Civilization Revolution DS helps, as long as I don’t play on the highest levels, get frustrated, and quit, leaving me to quit after a half hour of exercise.
So an hour at high resistance of course leaves me sweating profusely, and I’m enjoying having an Arizona with the exercise. But I ran out today. So I carted home nine, plus two Rockstars in case I need them, and some donuts just because. That combined is heavy.
So in high school, the beverage I guzzled was Pepsi, with some Wild Cherry Pepsi when I could get it. I normally had to settle for Cherry Coke out of the machine though.
In college, that got supplemented by Starbucks Frappucinos. Mocha with three shots by the time I left school.
I cut back on the coffee after school, and Pepsi returned to the norm. But then I cut further and eliminated caffeine completely, taking me to today when my staple has been Caffeine Free Pepsi. I gained weight in the short run but I probably sleep better. Plus caffeine works better when I want it.
That’s fine for at home though, but out and about it’s harder to bet the caffeine-free stuff. So now recently I’ve developed a taste for Arizona fruit punches. Well, not just the fruit punch flavor, but also the orange and watermelon. I wish I’d noticed this brand before, but my eyes glazed over assuming they were all teas, since that’s what the brand apparently started out as.
But business is business, and these days sometimes I stay up, and want caffeine. For that, I right now drink the Rockstar Mocha drinks. They taste better than the Starbucks Doubleshot cans, as the Starbucks are a bit overloaded with milk and sugar, leaving them too sweet. The Rockstar has less milk and tastes better.
And so that takes care of that. Except that 10 cans of Arizona and 2 cans of Rockstar are a lot to carry home, so I’m tired!
Just a reminder to the left: You are no longer authorized to use the term ‘truth to power’ to refer to anything you say or do. You got your choice of President, your choice of House Speaker, and your party controls the Senate. You are the power now. It is especially forbidden to defend the President of the United States or his preferred policies with the phrase.
Only we may say “truth to power,” especially in criticism of the President. Generally we will only say so ironically, though, because to do otherwise would be silly. No serious person genuinely uses that phrase, after all.
Update: Democrats using ‘truth to power’ is even more inappropiate after Specter gives Democrats yet another caucus member in the Senate.