"While Rome burned, Nero fiddled"...

Playing for keeps...

 California Gov. Jerry Brown (in the Rec Room at the home?)...

California's next gold rush?

Depending on who you listen to, if California allows "fracking" (hydrological fracturing for petroleum extraction), the state will give into energy companies that will trash the beauty of the Golden State...or it will enrich California's public coffers and help drive America toward greater energy independence. (Some even claim it could make California "like Texas...or even Saudi Arabia.")

According to experts, there could be as much as 15 billion barrels of oil in the state's massive Monterey Shale formation that could be accessed by fracking. Even California's green-leaning Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown has said, "the potential is extraordinary" for the state.

Opponents claim that the chemicals used to frack contribute to polluted water and a variety of toxic waste products. Pro-fracking groups, however, maintain that safety and environmental protection are paramount (and being continuously improved on).

At one point, there were as many as 10 anti-fracking bills in Sacramento, but that has now been whittled down to just one piece of legislation. The surviving (proposed) law, Senate Bill 4 by Sen. Fran Pavley (D-Agoura Hills), "would set up a permitting system, require energy companies to share more information with the state and with property owners and have the California Natural Resources Agency commission a study on the environmental repercussions of fracking."

Read more here: http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2013/06/single-fracking-bill-remains-before-california-legislature.html#storylink=cpy

It's hardly a millstone around the necks of energy producers, considering the value of the state's natural resources and concerns over earthquakes. As with most legislatures, California's one-party lawmaking club has a tendency toward mission creep. In other words, regardless of how seemingly insignificant the burdens are now, everyone knows they will grow.

The question is, will California exploit one of this nation's greatest energy reserves -- cleanly and responsibly -- or will it follow the path it's become accustomed to? Namely, a path that leads to greater dependency, fewer jobs, and a treasury that is further diminished?

Read more here: http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2013/06/single-fracking-bill-remains-before-california-legislature.html#storylink=cpy

The New Yorker Magazine

Forward?

Here comes the boom? - Dear Mr. President and Vice President: Remember when you poo-poo'd Iran's nuclear build-up? Check out this nifty little graph --

So what does it mean? It means, "Iranian scientists have run computer simulations for a nuclear weapon that would produce more than triple the explosive force of the World War II bomb that destroyed Hiroshima, according to a diagram obtained by The Associated Press." So, yeah...nothing to worry about here.

More great news from The Recovery! - "The median wealth of U.S. households is the lowest since 1969: 
New research found that while median wealth plummeted, the top 1 percent increased wealth by 71 percent."

Your tax dollars at work! - "Head of Fed Dept. Wasted Thousands in SUV Rental for Three Block Drive." Apparently, a big wig over at the Federal Maritime Commission spent more than $1,600 a month for a 2011 Chevy Tahoe, fully loaded with leather seats and GPS. The agency also spent up to $75 an hour for a staff member to drive the vehicle in the nation's capital -- to avoid a three block walk. (Video below.)

"California's economy remains shaky" -- Let's see...higher taxes, burdensome regulations, a lawsuit happy state...gee, ya think?

Fiscal "cliff" or "iceberg?"

O', Cyber Monday...

The long weekend is over -- welcome back to reality.

So who was he thanking? - "Yet again, President Obama’s Thanksgiving message eschewed any direct reference to thanking God, making this the fourth straight year in which the President of the United States has ignored the central message of the holiday in favor of political grandstanding."

Just a photo opp?


From NorthJersey.com: Donna Vanzant struggled through flooded streets and downed power lines two days after superstorm Sandy to reach the ravaged marina she owns in Brigantine [NJ]. Secret Service agents were combing the area when she finally arrived, and by the time the afternoon was over, she had met President Obama and shared an emotional hug with him. The following morning, the image of that embrace, [above], was published and broadcast by news outlets around the world. [The photographer] returned to Brigantine last week to see how she was doing.

All but one of the boats in her North Point Marina that were pushed as far as three blocks away by the storm surge have now been recovered, but there is much left to do. Vanzant estimates that her business losses will amount to at least $500,000, including the cost of repairing the marina. Her son Stephen, 26, took a two-week leave from the Navy to come home to help out. He has started a Facebook page called Rebuild North Point Marina to seek contributions. Vanzant has been moved by the many kindnesses she received from friends, family and customers. She heard from countless people after the photograph of her hug with the president was published, including from strangers as far away as Vietnam who wished her well.

She said she was honored to meet Obama, but she is also frustrated that she has yet to receive help from either her insurance companies or the government. "The president told me I would get immediate help," she said.

"Looking back on it, it wasted a lot of people’s time," she said of the visit.

Regarding our economic predicaments...




Do you live in a "death spiral" state? - "Thinking about buying a house? Or a municipal bond? Be careful where you put your capital. Don’t put it in a state at high risk of a fiscal tailspin." 

Wanna guess which states are the worst? Here's a hint: they're "blue states." 


California Gov. Jerry Brown: killing it...

It pays to know the right people: "Obama Donors Got $21,000 in Government Money for Every $1 They Gave." There is a "recovery"...for some folks.


"What's in your wallet?"


"Lord and Savior?" Really? - Actor/comedian Jamie Foxx (at the BET Awards) praises Barack Obama...



Yes, Virginia, there is a liar: Disagreeing with Obama can ruin Christmas, says White House report.

So much for that "civility" thing...

California Democratic Party Chairman John Burton...

Remember when U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) was nearly killed by a crazed gunman (who murdered and wounded more than a dozen other people?

Remember how it occurred in January -- not long after the contentious November elections -- and how the still-smarting Left used it as an opportunity to cut into GOP momentum by calling for "civility?"

Remember how pundit after pundit called for nicey-nicey in American politics and decried anyone who didn't sign up for the newest version of political kumbaya?

Remember how long it lasted? Yep. Not long at all.

Oh, sure, members of Congress sat next to each other at the State of the Union speech, but that was about as long as it lasted.

Gabrielle Giffords...

Since those golden days of our refreshed democracy, a virtual laundry list of less than civil comments (read: downright ugly/violent) have been made by Democratic politicians and pundits about their opponents. The latest: John Burton, California's Democratic Party chairman, who -- according to The Contra Costa Times -- "came under fire Friday for suggesting Gov. Jerry Brown "try shooting" a Republican to persuade them to vote for taxes."

The story continues: "In an interview with Bay Area News Group this week, Burton said Brown 'can try shooting somebody and tell the next guy, 'You don't want that to happen to you, you better step up and vote.' "... What's Jerry going to do unless he took out a gun?'"

As the story points out, "Sensitivity over violence-laden political remarks has come under scrutiny since the assassination attempt on U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, an Arizona Democrat, that some believe was incited by heated political rhetoric."

So how does Team Burton respond?

"A spokesman for Burton said Republicans are in no position to criticize Democrats for using violent political metaphors."

That sounds like a very civil response...

From the days after the Giffords shooting...

Public Pensions Are Killing The Golden Goose/State...

California, like most of the other states, has a bevy of problems/issues making the possibility of economic recovery look dimmer and dimmer each day.

One thing that does separate California from the rest - besides its huge economy (about the eighth largest in the world) - is the dark and expanding cloud representing “unfunded liabilities.” These are currently estimated to be somewhere between $100 billion and $650 billion-plus. In other words, that’s money the state doesn’t have yet will be obligated to pay out. (And let’s not forget - unlike the federal government, states can’t print money they don’t have.)

Most of these unfunded liabilities are (state) public employee pensions and benefits, long-promised to hundreds of thousands of retirees and their survivors. Promised by law.

So what is a state like California to do?

Calls have been going out, near and far, for the governor and legislature to cut spending. But the truth is, the huge Democratic majority - and chief executive - are beholden to so many groups benefiting from entitlement programs and what can be considered “earmarks” of sorts, that any cutting that’s being done is superficial...at best. (Governor Jerry Brown is pushing a tax increase on coming special ballot in June, which if passed will cement California’s claim as the most-taxed state in the nation. The money will help pay-down the annual debt - about $25 billion - but it won’t make a dent in the unfunded liabilities column.)

Reason has a new piece up, “Farewell, My Lovely: How public pensions killed progressive California,” which explains why all the planning, light-handed cutting and increased taxation aren’t the true solutions to the state’s fiscal woes.

“As 72-year-old Jerry Brown enters his second governorship, he has an agenda to match that power, with visions even greater than those that haunted his two-term administration of the 1970s and ’80s: building 20,000 megawatts of renewable power, laying a new high-speed rail network that will connect the state’s major cities, forging a statewide infrastructure for alternative energy, hiring thousands of green employees,” author Tim Cavanaugh, writes at Reason. “The new governor’s environmental agenda is ambitious, untenably expensive, and indelibly popular with voters and lawmakers. Yet when Brown looks out on Democrat-controlled California, he seems less like Caesar at the Rubicon than Wojciech Jaruzelski at the Gdansk Shipyard. Brown is champion of a workers’ party with monopoly control, yet all his plans are being derailed by a labor movement nobody can harness.”

And therein lies the problem.

If California ever has any hope of digging out of the mess it’s now in, everyone is going to have to feel the pinch...make sacrifices. Even groups the Democratic party is beholden to.
Especially the public employees unions.

Read the whole article here.

Bonus graphic: If you don't live in California, you can see (from the chart below) how your state's fiscal situation stacks-up against the Golden State's.

Farewell, Joe Cerrell...

Joseph R. Cerrell, 1935-2010

The sun shines a little less bright on the American political landscape right now, especially in Los Angeles. Public policy, publicity, politics and punditry lost a pioneer and a real pro on Friday.

Joseph R. Cerrell, "a legendary political consultant and consummate schmoozer whose unrelenting but principled style won respect from allies and opponents, died of complications related to pneumonia at St. John's Pleasant Valley Hospital in Camarillo, Calif. He was 75."

Cerrell’s roster of clients and friends read like an almanac of U.S., California and Los Angeles politics: "from the 1950s forward — [including] John F. Kennedy, Hubert Humphrey, Al Gore, Dianne Feinstein, Willie Brown, Jesse Unruh and both Pat Brown and his son, Gov.-elect Jerry Brown."

I was fortunate to have interacted a number of occasions with Joe and his colleagues at Cerrell Associates - the vaunted political consulting and public relations firm he founded in 1967. During the times I worked with Cerrell, I was lucky enough to not only hear his stories of great historical/political figures and events, but I also had numerous opportunities to learn from one of the best.

While he was a lifelong Democrat, the man they called "the Dean of LA political consultants," also counted well-known and powerful Republicans among his many friends. He and his firm had a solid reputation for integrity, diligence and smarts. He did politics the way it should be done.

In a LA Daily News obituary for Cerrell, remarks from two prominent California politicians said it all:

• Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-California, called him a "true California legend. He was the indefatigable wise man of California politics. You could always count on Joe to give it to you straight."
• County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky said Cerrell was "a legend and giant in the world of politics and public affairs...Joe gave politics a good name. He loved the game and we has a master of it."

Amen.

Cerrell, with his hands on the car's windshield, was a force behind many major politicians' campaigns. Cerrell served as the youngest-ever chairman of the California Democratic Party. That experience caught the eye of John F. Kennedy’s presidential campaign in 1960, and he became Kennedy’s California campaign manager.

(Photos: Cerrell Associates)

For information regarding the memorial service for Joseph R. Cerrell, go here...

In Jerry's own words...

"I didn't have a plan."

The first time he was governor, Jerry Brown (by his own admission) didn't have a plan - but he did have a party. Here he gets his groove on with then-pop star Linda Ronstadt...

Former two-time California governor (and current Democratic gubernatorial candidate) Jerry Brown on "the differences between what he said to get elected and the realities of what happened when he was in office: 'You say you're going to lower taxes, you're going to put people to work, you're gonna improve the schools, you're going to stop crime... crime is up, schools are worse, taxes are higher.'"

He didn't have a plan, but he did lie.

(h/t: breitbart.tv - the clip is from CNN, circa 1992.)

Jerry flop

Last night's third and final California gubernatorial debate between Meg Whitman (R) and Jerry Brown (D) had its highs and lows -- for both candidates.

The 800-lb. gorilla that everyone knew would be in the room did rear its head: Brown's campaign calling Whitman a "whore." (See last week's Bliss Index post...) Veteran television journalist Tom Brokaw, the debate's moderator, put the question to Brown about the slur.

The Los Angeles Times reports that Whitman answered a related question on the matter during a post-debate news conference. "Meg Whitman said she was 'stunned' by Jerry Brown's nonchalance when asked about someone close to Brown being caught on tape using the word 'whore.' 'The first thing I need to say is I was stunned by Gov. Brown's insensitivity to what that word means to women,' she said. 'Boy, all Californians, and especially women, know exactly what's going on here. When you use that term about women, that's highly insensitive.' Whitman's comments came in a brief question-and-answer session with reporters after the debate."

Below is a clip featuring that segment of the debate. Watch and decide...

This was not Brown's finest hour...

Jerry Brown takes another hit...with women

On the heels of California gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown (D) and/or the Brown campaign calling his opponent, Meg Whitman, a "whore" comes this clip - below - from the archives.

Reported on by Politico, "The comment about mammograms came during an episode of 'Firing Line' in October 1995, when Brown was a guest on the William F. Buckley Jr. show. He sat alongside feminist and commentator Susan Estrich during a discussion about government regulations that dealt with the death of the Clinton administration health reform proposal. Estrich discussed the component of the plan that had dealt with mammograms.

'Can we get off of mammograms?' Brown interjected. 'I mean, first of all, if you read the Lancet Magazine in July, there's no statistical evidence that mammograms help anyone at any age. 'So it's July 1995, Lancet Magazine. Okay? It's there. Now I don't want to argue that case,' he added, as Estrich started to object. 'I just want to throw it out there.'

Former Delaware Gov. Pete du Pont interrupted, 'But you ought to have the option — if you think they're going to help you, if you think they're going to help you, you ought to have the option of having one.'

Brown replied, 'Ten thousand women, three women will be saved for one year.'

The abstract from the Lancet Magazine article Brown mentioned discussed a study questioning the efficacy of mammograms, mostly in the context of a push for public funding."

As Politico points out, this "comes as Whitman is making an aggressive play for the female vote, who some of her supporters see as turned off by the 'whore' flap."

So two major hits against the Brown campaign within one week, both touching on issues likely to resonate with women voters. It might do Jerry Brown well to remember that larger percentages of women vote in most California elections.

P.S. A bit of advice/perspective from Mrs. Bliss Index: "Apparently, Jerry has never had a woman in his life who has suffered from or died as a result of breast cancer."

SNL gets Gloria...

In all her Gloria...

Last night during its opening skit, "Saturday Night Live" lampooned the ambulance-chasing, attention-craving political operative Gloria Allred.

It says a lot about the awareness of California's gubernatorial race - outside the state's borders - and the (correct) perception of Allred...everywhere.

To paraphrase a famous quote, "If Jerry Brown and Gloria Allred have lost "SNL," then they've lost the middle."

(The clip begins after a brief/random commercial message...)

You stay classy, Jerry Brown...

The latest chapter in the fun that is known as the California gubernatorial race, Democratic candidate Jerry Brown has been tagged with another gaffe. How it will register with voters is anyone's guess, but it will serve to take the former two-time governor and current state attorney general off-message for a bit.

According to the Los Angeles Times, "In a private conversation that was inadvertently taped by a voicemail machine, an associate of Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown can be heard referring to his Republican opponent Meg Whitman as a 'whore' for cutting a deal protecting law enforcement pensions as the two candidates competed for police endorsements."

The tape, released by the Los Angeles Police Union, is here.

The Times continues: "The comment came after Brown called the Los Angeles Police Protective League in early September to ask for its endorsement. He left a voicemail message for Scott Rate, a union official. Brown apparently believed he had hung up the phone, but the connection remained intact and the voice mail machine captured an ensuing conversation between Brown and his aides. With evident frustration, Brown discussed the pressure he was under to refuse to reduce public safety pensions or lose law enforcement endorsements to Whitman. Months earlier, Whitman had agreed to exempt public safety officials from key parts of her pension reform plan."

“Do we want to put an ad out? … That I have been warned if I crack down on pensions, I will be – that they’ll go to Whitman, and that’s where they’ll go because they know Whitman will give ‘em, will cut them a deal, but I won’t,” Brown said.

At that point, what appears to be a second voice interjects: “What about saying she’s a whore?”

“Well, I’m going to use that,” Brown responds. “It proves you’ve cut a secret deal to protect the pensions.”

The campaign has confirmed that is the Democratic candidate's voice on the tape, but said it is still trying to ascertain who the staff member was on the tape with Brown.

The early days...

Getting "barbecued"...

The illegal alien and the ambulance chaser... (photo: San Francisco Sentinel)

A round-up of "Meg Whitman-employed-an-illegal-alien-as-a-housekeeper"-related stories...

How quickly things change: Here's a strategy: Tear apart the candidate on the front page and then bury the exculpatory follow-up on page 11. How's that unbiased journalism working for you? Bonus quote: "In fact, had she gone ahead and fired Nicandra Diaz Santillan based on such a letter, she would have exposed herself to potential anti-discrimination violations, lawyers said."

Why all the fuss? "Why Meg v Maid Saga Is a Big Deal: The Latino Vote" That explains a lot...(h/t: Calbuzz)

From Gateway Pundit: "This [below] was beautiful. Greta Van Susteren destroyed far left hack and attorney Gloria Allred on her show tonight. Great blasted Allred for her despicable hit on Meg Whitman and for using an illegal alien to smear the Whitman family. Greta ate her lunch. Gloria Allred did not see this coming– watch Gloria’s smile melt away about 15 seconds into the segment. 'Gloria, this is almost delusional!'”

"CNN reporting on Gloria Allred reads like a press release - an embarrassingly written press release: Apparently, CNN is shameless. Its headline is 'Gloria Allred is a girl's best friend.'" (h/t: Althouse)

From the esteemed blog, Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion, "Gloria Allred is doing more to drive illegal immigrants underground and to target Latinos for racial profiling than anything the State of Arizona has even thought of doing."

Nailing it (as usual): Debra Saunders at the San Francisco Chronicle calls the accusations (a) "Campaign stunt: a bunch of garbage"...

The story doesn't stop with Meg, Jerry, Gloria and the housekeeper: "Fiorina, Boxer both say they never hired domestic help" (SJ Mercury News)

So, how is this (meaning smears) and all of the other "the GOP hate Spanish-speaking folks" efforts playing with Hispanic voters? Put it this way, the dial is moving - in the wrong direction for Democrats. A recent Gallup Poll finds "Hispanic voters' support for Democratic candidates waned in August and September. As a result, Hispanics in September favored Democrats by a 13-point margin (51% to 38%), compared with 32-point margins in June and July."

Meg vs. the Attention-Hungry Ambulance Chaser...

How do you handle a problem like Nicandra?

Sure, it's a cheap play on the old "Sound of Music" number, but things could have been much worse for Meg Whitman today when legal beagle/(insert derogatory adjectives here) Gloria Allred trotted out Whitman's former housekeeper...who just happens to be an illegal alien.

According to the Los Angeles Times, "Flanked by attorney Gloria Allred, former Whitman employee Nicandra Diaz made the accusations at a tearful Los Angeles press conference Wednesday. Diaz said she asked Whitman for help with her immigration status in 2009 and Whitman refused. 'I felt like she was throwing me away like a piece of garbage,' Diaz said."

Gloria Allred: she never met a camera she didn't like...(photo: rybanz.blogspot.com)

Ben Smith at Politico observes, "Allred said her client 'alleges that Ms. Whitman was aware of her status.' She provided no direct evidence for that but suggested Whitman should have known because of the nanny's references to her inability to travel outside the country and by alleged letters from the Social Security Administration reporting that her social security number did not match her name. Her employment and firing were a 'nightmare' said Allred, who cast the case in the most politically inflammatory terms possible, and said her client had been 'exploited, disrespected, humiliated, and emotionally and financially abused' and that she was filing a claim in state court for damages included unreimbursed mileage on the nanny's car. Allred then coached the nanny through a tearful press conference in which she recounted an argument between Whitman and her husband when they learned that she was in the country illegally, in which -- she claimed -- Whitman said the family was 'at fault' because they 'never asked' if she was in the country legally. 'I hope no one else has to suffer the way that I did,' she said. 'She treated me as if I was not a human being.'"

Below is video from an impromptu Q&A Whitman had following an appearance at Cisco today. (h/t: Shaky Hand Productions/SF Gate). The former eBay CEO does a credible - and very humane - job of explaining what happened.

From Politico: "Whitman said in a statement that she's 'worried' about Diaz and that she is being 'manipulated' by Allred. 'Nicky told me that she was admitting her deception now because she was aware that her lie might come out during the campaign. Nicky said she was concerned about hurting my family and me,' Whitman said. 'As required by law, once we learned she was an illegal worker, I immediately terminated Nicky’s employment. It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. I considered Nicky a friend and a part of our extended family.'"

The GOP/Whitman mailer on illegal immigration: Dems were hoping to hit an artery today...

Considering Whitman's quick, clear and strong denial of wrongdoing, it doesn't seem that this episode is likely to cut into her efforts. If anything - if what she asserts is true - it could even show that she "walks the walk." As Whitman and her team noted, the timing of Allred's allegations were suspicious. Any bets on who Allred works for? Who she's voting for?

Back to the original question: How do you handle a problem like Nicandra? Exactly the way Meg Whitman did today...