CA: Senators' pipe dreams add up to $27.9 billion

Mercury News ^ | 5/31/03 | Ann E. Marimow

[NormsRevenge]

SACRAMENTO - The state's dreary fiscal forecast hasn't dampened the enthusiasm of some lawmakers for a little California dreaming.

If they had their way, the state would spend millions to change the date of the statewide primary election, $1.3 million to protect coho salmon and $300,000 to study the effectiveness of HOV lanes.

[NormsRevenge]

Mr. FRugal 8-) .. Tom McClintock

[NormsRevenge]

Ping

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

I think a gold mine needs to be legislated. That might make better sense, and California has some gold!

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[Grampa Dave]

Good news.

More insanity like these Tax more and Spend more proposals just moves us closer to Wall Sreet taking over Kalifornia's budget process.

The lunatic rats in the Kali legislature are in denial like drugn addicts. They are so addicted to raising taxes and spending more for their voting cults, they can't do anything else.

[InterceptPoint]

$300,000 to study the effectiveness of HOV lanes

If this was an honest study then it would be well worth the $300,000 and I would gladly pay my fair share. The problem with Diamond Lanes (California's version of HOV lanes) is that:

1. They Are Dangerous How would you like to drive 85-90 miles an hour in the left (Diamond) lane with traffic crawling along at 20 MHP or dead stopped one lane over? What happens is that some jerk decides he will jump into the Diamond lane and won't see you closing on him. Result: Unexpected and instant death for both of you. Happens all the time in LA

2.They Make Traffic Worse, Not Better. The reason is that for most of the day they are hardly used and the space allocated to them is as much as 40 percent of the highway in places where that one Diamond lane consumes the equivalent of two and half lanes. Check out the 55 Freeway in LA and you will see what I mean.

$300,000 is cheap to get rid of the mess that Diamond Lanes have made of Southern California driving.

[John Jorsett]

A lot of measures like this are just for grandstanding purposes. When election time rolls around, the politician's literature can say, "sponsored bill to save the ring-tailed mud-wallowing barnacle duck." The gullible voter thinks what a great thing the representative did, not realizing that the bill died in committee and was doomed at birth.

[Mister Baredog]

Self-described tight-wad Tom McClintock, R-Thousand Oaks, thinks he has a solution to the state's crisis. He wants to create a commission to trim bureaucratic fat.

The cost? $250,000.

I'll bet it would be well worth it, they spill that much before breakfast in Sacramento.

[SierraWasp]

First... Suppose we were getting all the government we've been paying for...

Second... Suppose we get all the government that Democrats are now borrowing for...

Do you suppose we'll be better off four years from now than we were four years ago?

That is the question each Californian needs to ask themselves... Right NOW!!!

[Goreknowshowtocheat]

Unfortunately, it looks like California is toast. We can only wait until the moving vans have completely loaded up the businesses and taken them to Nevada, then we can have our real estate bubble burst. Already the high end real estate is moving like a turtle, I guess the executives can read the tea leaves. The inviting weather may not leave (it can't schedule a moving van?) but shortly there will not be much left to recommend CA unless, of course, you love commies.

[Flashman_at_the_charge]

Nice how they include a dig at Tom McClintock. I was at a local Vons today and there was a recall Governor Davis stand outside and let me tell you there was a steady stream of people signing the petition.

[goldstategop]

Was that in a suburb?

[budwiesest]

Do you suppose we'll be better off four years from now than we were four years ago?

Heck no. After Savage's show the other day where he questioned how both NY and CA could have elected radical leftist senators given the 'moderate' nature of the working folks from each state, I'm inclined to agree that the voting process has been corrupted and we are indeed living with totalitarianism.

In my daily activities I've yet to meet anyone as radical and leftist as our two senators Feinstein and Boxer. And I get around.

From soapbox to ballotbox to cartridge box seems very feasible these days. From messing with their businesses to messing with their cars to just plain messing up what might otherwise have been a good day, my impression is that those elected and legislating might just as well have come from Cuba or some such place.

The will of the people has been usurped by an elitest group of cronies who have figured out a way to dupe the rest into thinking the system still works. Liberty has been defiled and no more so than in California.

[SierraWasp]

Thanks to you two FReepers for your somewhat hopeless sounding answers.

Now, my next question is... Since politics seems to be the only way we can change things without killing each other, what specifically should be the plan of attack after the recoil/recall to take CA back from these Commonista tyrants?

Then, even more important, how do we hold them off, unlike our last failed attempt in 1995-1996? I hope anyone reading this really thinks hard and sticks their neck out with a two-part plan outline to take the State back and hold it.

If that stupid Demo Senator can pipedream, so can we in a productive/effective way, right?

[marsh2]

Our coho has been delayed from listing while a multi-interest team has been assembled to work out a recovery strategy. The California Endangered Species Act has "no kill" standard (unlike the federal standard which includes prohibitions on habitat degredation.) "Recovery" of the species is a higher goal, therefore the strategies to do this would be incentive- based and supported by public funds.

Locally, we have a separate state endorsed process to design a recovery plan for both of our agricultural valleys.

The newest push by the enviros is to block any public funds from going to recovery projects unless they are specifically approved by the petitioners for coho listing. It looks from the article above that there may be plans to pull the funding altogether.

This reflects a view by many enviros that all resources, including wildlife, are Public Trust resources. That when a landowner uses his property or develops his resources, he is taking from this Public Trust and should fully mitigate the impact at his own expense.

The enviros at the table want the recovery plan to be funded by the landowner as a privilege he is receiving. We tell them (1) No one would want to go to a higher than necessary recovery stadard unless there was an incentive - permit waiver and grant funding; (2) That putting the burden on local agriculture's back will only render operations no longer viable. There will be challenges to the General Plan and development will move in. This is not good for the coho.

My opinion is if they want to cut coho funding, withdraw the state listing as a threatened species. Can't have it both ways.

[Goreknowshowtocheat]

We have the chance of the referendum(initiative) vote, but how do we get a majority? It takes a monumental amount of money to get a restrictive initiative on the ballot. The Pubbies are worse than weak. All governor Davis has to do is call the new taxes fees and the Pubbies rollover and say he can do that (requires only a majority). If it is a tax it requires 2/3. The pubbies can appeal to the courts staffed by commies ready to rubber stamp the Democrat position. It does not look good. I wish I could be hopeful, but the Pubbies have limited leadership and money.

[sixgunjer]

Agree on your two points on HOV lanes.

HOV lanes are nothing more than social-engineering by the ageing hippies running the state. I'm surprized the signs describing the fines aren't tie-dyed.

Not only are they dangerous for the reasons you described, they are frustrating because you are trapped by the double-yellow lines whilst a '65 Datsun pickup with 4 "gardners," (ahem) and 6 lawnmowers plugs along at 45 mph.

I suspect that a good portion of our traffic problems would be solved by erasing the HOV lanes and opening them up to all traffic.

Let the Datsun drive on the shoulder where it belongs.

[Flashman_at_the_charge]

It was in Lawndale which I suppose you could class as suburbia.