RedMango's blog

 Where are my nexter's at?  As you already know, your city will not get stimulus money if your city doesn't have a flag.  Post yours below.  

My county's population > yours

City of Los Angeles

 Today the LA Times' homepage blares a seemingly inoccuous headline, in fact, it sounds like good news:  State's in a drought, but it's not the worst ever

Hot-diggity-damn, ain't that swell?  However, this being LA Times, a seemingly harmless story turned into needless GOP-bashing.  Reporter Bettina Boxall weaves a conspiracy by anti-environmentalists concocting this drought myth to advance a radical right-wing agenda of building levees, reservoirs, and dams in the state's agricultural Central Valley.  And I quote:

"Those who would like to build new reservoirs and canals and to weaken environmental regulations have invoked the drought like a mantra in recent weeks.

A recently introduced congressional bill that would allow federal officials to relax endangered-species protections in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta is titled "The California Drought Alleviation Act."

...Sen. Dave Cogdill, a Republican who represents agriculture-dependent Modesto, called the drought "epic" when he introduced a $10-billion water bond package last week that includes funding for new reservoirs and other infrastructure.State and federal water managers earlier this year sought to relax delta water quality standards, arguing that because of the drought, it needed to hold more water in upstream reservoirs to preserve cold water flows for salmon in coming months."

BOO!  Her words in bold.  

If the drought is a myth, then the LA Times contradicts its self for printing several stories just DAYS before this one saying that the drought is indeed one of the worst in state history.

2/28/2009 (written by Boxall):  Schwarzenegger proclaims statewide drought emergency

"The proclamation amplifies a drought emergency that Schwarzenegger declared last year in several agricultural counties, where more than 100,000 acres of farmland have gone unplanted for lack of water."

2/27/09:  Lawmakers seek billions to expand, improve California's water supply

"With California's budget crisis resolved for the moment, state lawmakers Thursday turned their attention to another emergency: a three-year drought that has left key reservoirs at 35% of capacity."

2/21/2009:  U.S. to tighten tap for farmers

"In a blow to the state's producers of almonds and other crops, federal officials announced Friday that they may not be able to provide water for the upcoming growing season in parts of the Central Valley.

To cope with the continuing drought, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation will not provide water for agriculture beginning in March to at least 200 local water districts in that region, agency spokeswoman Lynnette Wirth said. Municipalities and industrial customers will receive half of their allotments."

2/18/2009:  Storm didn't help California drought conditions 

"“You have to understand we are coming off of two dry years to begin with,” said Cynthia Palmer, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Sacramento. “We’re still playing catch-up, but every little bit helps.”

Rainfall levels in Southern California are running at about 80% to just-under-100% of normal levels, but the statewide snowpack is only at 71% of the norm, Palmer said."

 This all just from last month.

Report: AIG bailout to add on billions more

$30 billion in government loan guarantees; fourth time to receive aid

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29455792

It

needs

to

die

It's killing the taxpayer.   

From the LAT 1/31/09:

"The State Personnel Board’s website lists 2,975 current vacancies. Of those, 1,172 were posted in the last two weeks. One local entrepreneur, Ken Mandler, continues to hold popular workshops on how to get a state job. He said he was too busy in meetings with clients to be interviewed."

WTF is wrong with my state?

It took almost 150 years, but finally a non-Southern state can claim to be the shittiest state in America.  Michigan, a state's whose idea of setting economic trends is to be in a recession seven years before everyone else, capped off a craptacular year with the Detroit Lions being the first NFL team to not win a game in a single season.  To rub it in, Georgia has overtaken Michigan in median household income, the first southern state outside Virginia to do so.  By next year, Texas and Florida will almost certainly surpass Michigan.  In a generation, Ohioans would be heard saying "Thank God for Michigan, or we'd be last in everything". 

You think a state cratering so fast would be enough to jolt the voters in to critical thinking, but the lamentable loyalty to the corrupt ineffectual Democrat-rule this decade started is a self-inflicted wound that the country is now being forced to pay the medication for.  The failure of Michigan Democrats and assorted constituencies to govern Michigan has given us the another Detroit mayor in the slammer, a $17 billion bailout (with more to come), record homicide rate, budget deficit, continued job losses, Detroit, Detroit, Detroit.  Mitten's mitten-shaped home state needs conservative leadership NOW!  Unfortunately, Michigan voters can't be helped if it doesn't want to be saved. 

From new Rasmussen poll 12/16/08:

But two-thirds of U.S. voters (66%) say the teachers’ unions – the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers – are more interested in protecting their members’ jobs than in the quality of education.

Only 23% of voters say educational quality comes first for the unions, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. Twelve percent (12%) are undecided.

....

While 78% of Republicans and 66% of unaffiliated voters say teachers’ jobs are the chief focus of the unions, only 55% of Democrats agree.

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/issues2/articles/most_voters_say_teachers_unions_more_focused_on_jobs_than_education

I have teachers and school administrators in my family and judging from their antipathy towards their own unions, I still can't imagine how extremely powerful the unions are here in California. 

The Illinois Republican Party is a joke of a joke of a party.  It is bar-none, the worst state party out of 100 in existence.  Pussified beyond belief, it rolls over for the Dems more often than Lassie did for her owners.  So it is to my surprise to read this article and learn that Lincoln's great-grand bastards are, gulp, OBJECTING to the monstrously corrupt Illinois Dems for backtracking on holding a special election for Obama's senate seat. 

"David Dring, spokesman for House Minority Leader Tom Cross, R-Oswego, said Republicans will step up the pressure on Democrats to remove Blagojevich.

"If they won't work with us, you'll probably see some good theater," Dring said.

The GOP also plans to run television ads pressuring Democrats to approve a special election to replace Obama. Blagojevich still holds the power to appoint a new senator, and if he resigned, that power would go to Democratic Lt. Gov. Patrick Quinn.

Illinois Republican Party chairman Andy McKenna told reporters the ads will "make the point that this is the people's seat, and the people deserve a special election."

A spokesman said Madigan, who has often clashed with Blagojevich, will discuss impeachment with Cross on Monday.

Franks said Madigan — a methodical man who never rushes decisions — listens to House members and will probably respond to public cries for impeachment. But Franks also said members will not be satisfied with a wait-and-see response."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081215/ap_on_re_us/illinois_governor

I know that there are many paths for the GOP to reform like changing its message to not scaring people, but first and foremost, ALL should be busy in making sure others know that they exist. 

Congratulations to Congressman-elect Joseph Cao, who sent Dollar Bill Jefferson packing tonight, in a D+28 seat. The GOP can win when it runs everywhere. -Patrick

Louisiana's penchant for electing minority Republicans gains steam as Joseph Cao is projected to defeat Rep. William Jefferson in the New-Orleans based 2nd district.  With 391 out of 492 precincts reporting, Cao is comfortably ahead 53-43.  Cao will be the first Vietnamese-American elected to Congress.  He is the third Asian-American Republican elected to the House (Saiki-HI, Kim-CA preceeded him). 

http://www400.sos.louisiana.gov:8090/cgibin/?rqstyp=elcms2&rqsdta=120608

www.nola.com

Conservatives are carrying the water for one of the more enduring myths in American politics:  Economic malaise under Carter gave us Reagan and it stands to reason that a bad economy will bring in another GOP president.  As much as I'd like to strangle anyone hoping for a sustained FOUR YEARS worth of recession because it's not only your pocketbook being decimated, but also how such an event would eradicate the Republican Party as well.

Forget about the 1980 election for a moment, and think of other momentous elections in US history.  While Democrats win elections under different kinds of economic environment, Republicans only win during a sustained economic recovery.  By the time the 1994 Republican Revolution came around, the economy had been expanding since 1991 and held on to it during the subsequent boom years.  Bush I win in 1988 was also helped by the Reagan boom.  The oncoming recession of 2000 when the tech  bubble popped, Republicans saw its first losses in the Senate since 1994 and Bush losing the popular vote.  Recessions in the 1950s whittled the ranks of GOP congressional members despite Eisenhower's victories.  Richard Nixon's victories was brought in part by the fact that there were no recessions in the US from 1957-1973.  The sick economy brought on by the oil crisis in 1973 probably exacerbated his declining popularity.  By 1976, the expected happened with a Democrat being elected to take care of runaway inflation. 

What makes 1980 standout is that Reagan carried the election despite the fact that the economy was tanking.  Maybe this was one of the signs that a political realignment was finally complete that voters have abandoned the idea for the time-being that Democrats will protect Americans from tough economic times.

"Protect".  I think that's the reason why voters would rather have Democrats during tough economic times.  At the first appearance of economic downturn, the reaction is to hunker down and look for protection.  The first shock to come in during a recession is unemployment and the lack of future prospects of employment.  Democrats (and to be honest, Bush) will promote policies that are not growth-oriented but protection-oriented such as higher entitlment spending, bailouts, stimulus packages, trade protectionism, stronger union powers, and tax increases for the "rich".  The GOP is stuck with responding with policies that is too future-oriented to resonate with the voting public.  The GOP is there to promote policies to sustain an economic recovery  and to prevent the state from interfering in the people's consumption of the fruits of economic growth (e.g., entitlement reforms, reversal of statist policies, tax cuts, pro-business regulations, free trade). 

I know not to get carried away in using economic graphs to determine people's voting intentions.  Look what happened to all the silly predictions of Gore winning in 2000 and Bush losing in 2004 just because of economic performance.  However, we (conservatives) can not wish for an economic catastrophe under this administration.  It won't bring us a Reagan, just widespread poverty and international embarassment.  It's hard to argue for tax cuts when people are not making enough money to tax. 

You woudn't believe it, but McCain/Palin was able to attract more gay votes this year than in 2004.  Twenty-seven percent of gays voted the GOP ticket compared to 23% for Bush.  Dem's gay vote fell pretty significantly, going from 77% Kerry to just 70% this year for Obama. 

But is it really an incredible result?  McCain is one of the more pro-gay politicians out there (at least for his generation).  The gay blogs were atwitter with gossip when it was found out this summer that McCain's staff chief was gay with some...controversial sexual practices.  Other reasons for this result?  Some of Hillary's gay base (see hillbuzz.wordpress.com) are PUMAs.  McCain also opposed the Defense of Marriage Act and has a long history of fighting GOP homophobia. Tongue-in-cheek, but not unbelievable, Sarah Palin as VP.  She is BUTCH.  A moving roving Subaru Outback from Alaska.  I have a lesbian friend who ADORES her and have become a fierce conservative in little more than two months because of her selection. 

More discussion at Ace.