California Keeps Whistling Past The Graveyard

San Bernardino joins the ranks of Stockton and Mammoth Lakes in filing for bankruptcy. 

San Bernardino on Tuesday became the third California city in less than a month to seek bankruptcy protection, with officials saying the financial situation had become so dire that it could not cover payroll through the summer.

The unexpected vote came at the suggestion of the interim city manager, who said the city faces a $46-million deficit and depleted coffers.

Six paragraphs into the story, you get to the reason why:

The city's fiscal crisis has been years in the making, compounded by the nation's crushing recession and exacerbated by escalating pension costs, lucrative labor agreements, Sacramento's raid on redevelopment funds and a city reserve that is tapped out, officials said.

Miller told the council that the city faced major deficits for the next five years.

The deficits remain even after the city negotiated $10 million in concessions from employees and slashed the workforce 20% over the last four years.

So having unfunded liabilities tied to lifelong pensions, catering to every public union demand and having a state government playing shell games with state finances drained whatever reserve the city had.

San Bernardino's tax revenues have declined by as much as $16 million annually over the last few years, primarily because of drops in sales and property taxes.

The end result of having progressive policies in place means people end up voting with their feet and leaving the state. 

Be sure to read the rest to find out about Stockton and Mammoth Lakes. 

Mayor McCheese 1, San Fransisco Board Of Supervisors 0

The government acts, the private industry reacts.

On Thursday, Dec. 1, the city's de facto ban of the Happy Meal commences. San Francisco has accomplished what the Hamburglar could not. Or has it?

In order to include a toy with a meal, restaurants must now comply with city-generated nutritional standards. Those are standards that even the "healthier" Happy Meals McDonald's introduced earlier this year don't come close to meeting.
[. . .]
It turns out San Francisco has not entirely vanquished the Happy Meal as we know it. Come Dec. 1, you can still buy the Happy Meal. But it doesn't come with a toy. For that, you'll have to pay an extra 10 cents.

Huh. That hardly seems to have solved the problem (though adults and children purchasing unhealthy food can at least take solace that the 10 cents is going to Ronald McDonald House charities).

Read the rest to see the obvious elephant in the room. Nothing is said about the parent's responsibility to say, "No" to their kids.

So that leaves only the city to look out for the kids who can't help but eat only at McDonalds. And if McDonalds is able to skirt the law and still offer a Happy Meal then there is only one thing (via Hot Air) to take left to do

Video: Reason TV And The California Open Carry Law

How Fear, Not Fact, Informs the Gun Rights Debate.

California has among the strictest gun laws in the country, and couple of local politicians are seizing the opportunity created by the Arizona shooting to make them even stricter.

While most states operate under a "shall-issue" concealed carry weapons (CCW) permitting regime, meaning that anyone who passes a basic background check can get a CCW, California uses the "may-issue" rule, which means the decision is left to the sole discretion of the county sheriff. The result? Approximately 0.1% of California citizens have CCWs, which is almost 20 times lower than in the average shall-issue state.
[. . .]
Open Carry advocate Sam Wolanyk, who once successfully sued San Diego county when police arrested him for open carrying, says that the focus on lawful gun owners is misguided.

"It doesn't matter if you stacked up 50,000 felonies," says Wolanyk of the Loughner situation. "You can't stop a crazy person from doing crazy things."

Be sure to read the rest

For Those Of You Who Live In CA-36, Don't Forget To Vote Tomorrrow

Unless you're planning on voting for Janice Hahn then her vote is Wednesday.

Turn Right has more of the details about Hahn and how she pissed away millions of tax dollars.

There is one day left before the special election runoff for the 36th California Congressional seat. Tomorrow, the people will vote.

We call on all members of the conservative media – local and national – to put aside, for just one day, their usual concerns to let their audiences know the following:

That Janice Hahn is another corruptocrat in the tradition of Bill Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, and the rear-guard of the Democrat Party – George Soros, Jane Harman, and others of such ilk.

That no one who believes in free speech should ever support a politician who resorts to purchasing the local media, death threats, hackers, “Cease and Desist” letters, intimidation, and thuggery to hide her sordid past and criminally incompetent mismanagement.

The more I find out about Janice Hahn, the more it's apparent that she needs to be kept out of office and away from any kind of political power.

Thanks to Stacy McCain who has more about the story.

Video: LA Teacher Unions Playing It Fast And Loose With The Facts During Protest

Via Prof. Reynolds.

Quite a few hippies-- not the traditional type that was explored earlier-- present, selling out for 'The Man' (and by extension, themselves) and not the other way around.

Teachers frequently claim, for example, that California is in either 49th or 50th place among the 50 states in per-pupil spending. In fact, the Golden State is 31st in per-pupil spending.

Teachers also say the Golden State could solve its chronic budget shortfalls by raising tax rates on the rich. But California is already unusually dependent on taxes collected from high earners. This is why revenue collections can drop sharply during recession, while spending -- which has increased 37 percent since 2001 -- continues to grow at rates exceeding inflation and population growth.

Video: The Moron Who Banned Happy Meals In San Fransisco

Swiped from Gator Bait-- Uh-- I mean The Daley Gator.

It's sad commentary for modern day journalism when The Daily Show is able to do a more probing and in depth story than the MFM where it's their job to dig abuses of power like this.

Stick with it towards the last half. The City Councilman can't quite square the circle of what he did when he was asked about making everyone else in San Fransisco to watch "Super Size Me".



There is an email going around (I'm pretty sure I've received close to a dozen copies of it from my parents alone) about how conservatives and liberals do things differently. If driving SUVs is hazardous, Conservatives don't drive or drive one with caution. Liberals want to ban them for everyone. Smoking tobacco? Conservatives don't smoke while Liberals want to ban it for everyone. Incandescent light bulbs not as efficient as fluorescent? Conservatives would let you chose to use whichever bulb you want while Liberals want to ban the incandescent bulbs. And fast food for kids is bad so, well, you get the idea.

Yes, he's not banning Happy Meals outright. He is, however, placing enough regulatory hurdles in front of McDonalds so that they won't offer Happy Meals anymore.

Worse yet, he's a busy body who is shocked to find out that fast food is unhealthy so what does he want to do? He tries to be the parent to the population.

He's a nanny stater type of liberal who believes that because his beliefs are supposedly the better than everyone, then everyone needs to follow his boneheaded philosophy. It's obviously not. Not when he's trying to regulate people's behavior through their lunch menus. He takes it upon himself that he knows better than the masses so he's telling them how and what to eat. He's smarter than you because he watched a movie.

I'm throwing in an obligatory "Yes, I know fast food is junk and not really good for you" here. Most everyone knows that. With moderation, it won't hurt to eat fast food once or twice a week. Check with your personal physician first but most diets are about calorie intake and exercise. And not treating diet as a noun but a verb.

The times I hit the McDonald's drive through with my kids, it's for convenience sake, not because I'm looking for a 'healthy meal' for them.

Besides. I hate McDonalds. Wendy's and Chick-Fil-A is a much better alternative.

Related enough: Very fat man is suing the National Health Service (NHS in England) for "letting him" blimp up to almost a thousand pounds.

At his heaviest Paul was eating 20,000 calories a day - ten times what a normal, healthy man should consume - and the cost of caring for him is thought to have hit £1million [Pounds Sterling, about $1,500,000 in US dollars] in 15 years.

If anyone, he needs to sue the person who brought him the food when he became bed bound. As it is, no accountability for his actions. Only blame for someone else.

Pretty Slick Ad Against Barbara Boxer: "Call me Senator"

Yeah, mining Ace again. This one was worth it.

Call Me Senator from RightChange on Vimeo.

This was directed by David Zucker of Airplane and Top Secret fame. If it wasn't obvious by the first viewing.

Video: Ladd Ehlinger Strikes Again

I'm going to owe Robert Stacy a pack of smokes for lifting one more video from him but this was worth it.



You can follow John Dennis on Twitter, Facebook and on his own website as he campaigns against the Crown Jewel of all liberals in Congress right now, Nancy Pelosi.

Cross posted at The Daley Gator.