Do you live in one of those Red States? Are you feeling down about the election? You think you’ve got it bad? Just be glad you don’t live in California!!!!
Here’s what “we” in the Golden State did on Tuesday:
Strike 1: Passed Prop 30 which is a tax on “The Rich” (also known as those making $250,000 a year) and raising the sales tax by 1/4% which, DUH, effects everyone. The purpose of this lovely tax is to give $6 billion to the schools, yes it’s for the children…OH wait, I forgot to mention, the Legislature & Governor can change where the money goes at any time and just use it in the general fund! And yes they asked for this money after commiting to spend $70-110 Billion on a high speed rail project that no one will ever ride (but will provide tons of money to unions through the construction contracts!)
Strike 2: Voted down Prop 32. Prop 32 would have taken some of the power away from the public sector unions in California by not allowing them to automatically take dues from members to use for political purposes. Seems pretty sensible to me, especially in light of the fact that the California Teachers Association. Don’t believe me? Here’s what the Ultra-Right Wing LA Times said about the CTA:
Last year, as Gov. Jerry Brown hammered out final details of the state budget, he huddled around a conference table with three of the most powerful people in state government: the Assembly speaker, the Senate leader — and Joe Nuñez, chief lobbyist for the California Teachers Assn.
California was on the edge of fiscal crisis. Negotiations had come down to one sticking point: Brown and the legislators would balance the books by assuming that billions of dollars in extra revenue would materialize, then cut deeply from schools if it didn’t.
Nuñez said no.
Opposition from the powerful union, which had just staged a week of public protests against budget cuts, could mean a costly legal challenge. So the group took a break, and the officials retired to another room to hash out something acceptable to CTA while Nuñez awaited their return.
It may seem unorthodox for an unelected citizen to sit with Sacramento’s elite as they pick winners and losers in the annual spending sweepstakes. But few major financial decisions in California are made without Nuñez, who represents what is arguably the most potent force in state politics.
The union views itself as “the co-equal fourth branch of government,” said Oakland Democrat Don Perata, a former teacher who crossed swords with the group when he was state Senate leader.
Yep, you read that right, “the co-equal fourth branch of government.” And here’s more:
Later that year, the Obama administration offered cash-strapped states billions of dollars in competitive grants to increase teacher accountability. Schwarzenegger asked lawmakers to pass several measures that could help the state get up to $700 million.
His list contained items the union had fought for years: merit pay for teachers, permission for students to change campuses, a requirement that student test scores be part of teachers’ evaluations.
Schwarzenegger found an ally in state Sen. Gloria Romero, a Democrat from East Los Angeles who chaired the Senate Education Committee. But few lawmakers came aboard.
“They didn’t want to know what the bills said,” Romero recalled. “The only question I was asked was, ‘Where is CTA on this?'”
CTA was opposed. Romero said her Democratic colleagues accused her of jeopardizing their careers by antagonizing the group.
In the end, parts of the package passed. But CTA had the final word.
The union urged its local affiliates not to support California’s application for the federal funds. Washington dinged the state for the lack of union buy-in, among other factors, and rejected its request.
Yep, so concerned about “the children” that they told Obama to go F himself and keep the money rather than make reforms! But California thinks that’s a good thing to let the unelected head of the CTA control the State.
Prop 32 lost because the Unions ran TONS of ads talking about how Prop 32 was thought up the the boogeymen: Big Oil, Karl Rove, the Koch Brother, Wall Street Bankers, Insurance Executives & Super Pacs. But the morons (I’d rather use a word that Ann Coulter recently got in trouble for using) here in California bought it.
Finally, Strike 3 (We’re Out): The worst calamity of them all: California Democrats now have a Super-Majority in both houses of the Legislature. Meaning the Democrsta in the California Legislature, some of the most crackpot, left wing nutjobs you’ve ever heard of, now have the ability to pass any tax increase, override any veto & freely place Constitutional Amendments on the ballot for the Morons…errr Citizens of California to pass (I use the term citizens loosely because, come on, there won’t be any citizens left pretty soon)!
What’s that really mean, well it means the CTA, the most powerful special interest in California, the Worst Union in America, now runs the state!!!
So to the rest of the 49 States, enjoy Obama, he’s a conservative compared to the nuts who run the “Golden State”
Let me ends with a little music video:
Or maybe this one:
Resist California Crazy 