Where the Leftist Central Planners Want to Force Us To Go

While small businesses, including restaurants, were locked down by government force, Democratic California Governor Gavin Newsom partied with a group at an expensive restaurant. The California Democrats have decreed gasoline-powered automobiles won't be sold in California in a little over a decade from now, while the state's power infrastructure can't handle current demand for electricity. In the county of Los Angeles, freeways can't handle existing traffic, but the "road fund" is regularly spent on buses, rail, and non-transportation projects and programs.

What the Leftist Democrats are doing in California - which they'd love to take national - might not make sense to someone who has common sense, who doesn't seek to control others. But what the power-hungry social engineering central planners are doing makes sense when you realize what they want, and they've publicly said so and/or demonstrated, is to:

• Install most of our children into government-controlled institutions from six weeks of age into their twenties.
• Get those children dependent on government for most of their meals, served at or distributed by the schools.
• Move most of us into large apartment buildings, especially ones with commercial space on the first level or three.
• Ensure those apartment units will have water and power controlled and limited by remote, and waste (like the trash you throw away) controlled, limited, and analyzed.
• Force us out of automobiles we control into government-run mass transit.
• Discourage entrepreneurship and small businesses so that we're all working for government or large businesses, which can be more easily controlled by government, or dependent on government redistribution of money.
• Get most of us dependent on the state for health care.
• Disarm private citizens when it comes to defending themselves, their family, or their property.

We can see this at the state level and with the counties and cities of San Francisco and Los Angeles. They are constantly seeking to make government bigger, more intrusive, and more controlling, and get as many of us dependent on government as they can.

They hate liberty for anyone other than their own little clique.

Resist Leftism. Defeat Leftism. Defend Liberty.

Absurdities in California

Time for the March of the Criminals and Commies again, since it is May 1. And of course it is pure coincidence that the Caravan of Wannabe Invaders came all the way to the California portion of the border and arrived at this time. Riiiiiiight. What a bunch of stupid theatrics.

Someone forgot they were supposed to be in the shadows!

Speaking of stupid cultural appropriation of kabuki theater, Larry Lopez, appearing under his stage name Nativo, is still doing a very poor imitation of Jesse Jackson. Or maybe Gloria Alred? Whichever. Larry, whose attempt to beat a criminal prosecution had him either feigning dementia eight years ago, or making a miraculous recovery since, or perhaps is still demented (I'll let you decide), made it into the Orange County Register and either the reporter was too lazy or agenda-driven to note the paper's previous coverage of Larry, or the editors decided to cover for him. It even appears to me that they have prevented comments from being made on the article.

If you're not interested, at least scroll down for a reminder that rioting has lasting negative consequences.

The State of California

[I'm bumping this up because the new gasoline tax is about to take effect.]

I was born in California and have lived my entire life in California. The state has great climate and geography, natural resources, and human resources. Unfortunately, it is ruled unchallenged by gender-confused, big government, nanny state, unionist, environut reconquistadors, or, to be redundant, Leftists. Democrats have a supermajority in the state Senate and Assembly, and our Governor is a Democrat. These are not moderate Democrats, either. They are far on the Left. Not only is San Francisco city/county led by Leftists, but so is Los Angeles County and the City of Los Angeles. L.A.’s Mayor is itching to run for Governor or even President.

Illinois is having trouble and California isn't far behind. This is what the rest of the Union faces the more Left it goes.

Here are just some of the things going on in the state right now, that are getting closer and closer to driving me and my family from our home state.

The Stupidity of Identity Politics

If you would have asked me if the President of the California NAACP would be in favor of expanding the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors or against it, I would have guessed "in favor". And yet, Alice A. Huffman has a commentary in the Pink Transgender Lady (a.k.a. Los Angeles Times) advising against it, which means I agree Huffman!

State Constitutional Amendment 12, or SCA 12, would allow California voters to amend the state’s Constitution to require that L.A. County expand its Board of Supervisors from five to seven members and create an elected chief executive position with outsize powers and no accountability to the board.

That means voters all over California would get to decide the structure of the Los Angeles county leadership. The Amendment would not change things in any other county.

Currently, all legislative and executive power of the Los Angeles county government (other than whatever powers are retained by elected Department positions such as Sheriff) flows from the five-member board, and the last time an incumbent running for re-election was defeated was in 1980. Members of the board kept getting re-elected until they retired, until statewide term limits were put in place. It is those terms limits that have likely been a major inspiration for the proposed Amendment, as state legislators would very much like to have more elected positions in which to land when they are termed out of Sacramento. There are over ten million residents in the county of Los Angeles, so even if the board had two more members, each one would represent well over a million people, and there's no doubt that a new elected executive would be a Democrat staging position for Governor or President.

What caught my eye, though was that people are touting "diversity" to support and oppose the Amendment.

Twenty Five Years Since Infamous Murderous Riots in Los Angeles

I remember early 1990s Los Angeles well.

Rodney King was a criminal and druggie who was speeding and then attacked police officers. after his dangerous speeding drive finally ended. While the famous video looks bad, a jury in a state/county criminal trial found that the arresting officers did not violate the law (actually, they were split on one charge against one of the four officers). Having followed the trial closely, I didn't disagree with their verdicts. I do not believe the jury was racist. If there was a bias in the jury, it was probably a "pro police" bias.

You can disagree with me on that, and still agree with me on everything below.

Opportunists and murderous criminals subsequently rioted, doing far worse to innocent people than the officers ever did to King.

Under the guise of such things as "Rebuild LA" the response was to REWARD the neighborhoods where these rioters were raised and encouraged and defended with taxpayer money and money from businesses. Businesses can do whatever they want with their money; if I'm an investor I can object or pull out my money. If I'm an employee I can quit. If I'm a customer I can stop being one. Taxpayer money is another story. Large companies offered jobs to young people living in these neighborhoods, giving them preference over kids from neighborhoods that weren't full of rioters, making accommodations they'd never make for anyone else.

The way I see it, after riots, I'm willing to support residents and businesses seeking to relocate and rebuild elsewhere; the last thing I want is to reward rioters.

After the riots, the feds came in and did a "civil rights" trial against the police officers. Two of the four were subsequently convicted, and of course the jury couldn't possibly have had in their minds "We'd better convict or the city will burn," right???

I'm not aware of any of the convicted former officers subsequently beating up any people, regardless of skin color. But Rodney King kept committing crimes and being a danger to others, generally wasting his life and his sizable settlement check, and died relatively young. His autopsy results indicated he died from accidental drowning, and that a combination of alcohol, cocaine, marijuana, and PCP found in his system were contributing factors.

The officers who arrested him in the famous incident had said they suspected he was on PCP, based on his behavior (including being able to fight off the officers), so it was interesting that all those years later (and after rehab programs) it was still found in his system.

We're fortunate King didn't do more harm than he did. He easily could have killed people with his behavior.

There are still blighted areas in the rioter neighborhoods 25 years later. Of course there is! Even with incentives from misguided government, why would people rebuild a business or move their business in to a place where people burn businesses down, steal, assault, and murder?

Let People Break Laws Because: Lawbreakers

So much for hiding in the shadows. People who are breaking laws by coming or staying here illegally are again demanding we change how we do things to accommodate them. Look, pal, I welcome legal immigrants with open arms and a big smile and congratulations, but I still expect them to adapt to the Union, not have the USA adapt to them. We sure as heck shouldn't change a darn thing to make life any easier for someone who didn't follow the rules to begin with.

Kate Linthicum has the article at the Pink Transgendered Lady, which only allows you so many clicks per months before they want $. So keep that in mind if you are thinking about clicking through.

This is how the article is headlined:

Immigrants Rights Groups Urge Changes in Car Impound Policies
Activists persuaded the LAPD to amend its policy on unlicensed drivers, and the number of cars impounded last year fell 39%. They hope the Sheriff's Department and other police agencies follow suit.

An immigrant is someone who comes here and stays here legally. A foreigner who is here illegally is an illegal alien. Calling these people "Immigrants Rights Groups" is dishonest.

A 2011 state law requires police at drunk-driving checkpoints to give unlicensed drivers the chance to call someone with a license to take the car before it is towed.

They dropped the provision where the police were also required to offer them taxpayer-funded sex change operations.

But that law does not apply to routine traffic stops, and activists complain that unlicensed drivers across the county are losing their cars after being pulled over for minor infractions, such as making a wrong turn or driving without a seat belt. In many cases, the cars are impounded for 30 days at a fee of more than $1,000.

That's because they aren't supposed to be driving in the first place. What is the point of having a license if it doesn't allow you to do anything that someone without the license can do?

Activists say impound policies unfairly target immigrants here illegally, who cannot obtain licenses in California.

Yeah, you know those bank robbery laws unfairly target people who want money that isn't theirs.

At a news conference Wednesday held by a group called the Free Our Cars Coalition, Mexican immigrant Alma Castaneda said she and her husband have had their cars impounded five times for unlicensed driving. 

By "immigrant" the paper probably means illegal alien. In what other country would someone stand up at a press conference and admit to breaking federal law, and then complain that they were caught breaking state law five times?

That is how [whiny illegal aliens] persuaded the Los Angeles Police Department to make major changes to its impound policy, said Zach Hoover, a Baptist minister who leads an alliance of religious and community groups called LA Voice.

I won't hold my breath for the paper to run an editorial criticizing Hoover for trying to put religion into the law.

The new rules drew lawsuits from the Los Angeles Police Protective League, which represents rank-and-file officers, and from a national group called Judicial Watch that said the policy is unfair to taxpayers. California State Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris issued an opinion that the LAPD's impound policies were legal.

What does the law matter to Harris? She encourages lawbreaking.

If it is so difficult to live here as an illegal alien, then tough. I understand why people prefer the USA, especially over Mexico. However, they're going to have the deal with our laws, at least until they get as much political clout as marriage neutering advocates, who can simply ignore laws. We need to protect everyone, not just make things easier for illegal aliens.

Tony, Zev, Dick, and God

Poor Tony Villar.

Don't know who Tony Villar is? Just as Barry Soetoro became Barack Obama, Tony Villar became… Antonio Villaraigosa. Going by "Antonio" became politically advantageous, going by "Villaraigosa" became personally advantageous, as it is a combination of Villar's surname and his now ex-wife's surname. I wonder if he ever stands to urinate?

Villar was Speaker of California’s joke of an Assembly, City Councilmember in Los Angeles, and is now in the last lap of his term-limited reign as City of Los Angeles Mayor.

The political wonks/nerds in greater Los Angeles had expected County of Los Angeles Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, also a former City Councilmember, to run for Mayor and to get elected to follow Villar. Yaroslavsky, who is Left of center on much (he voted to remove a mission cross from the official county seal... one must wonder what would happen to the rosary beads on the city seal), is nonetheless no dummy. He's sharp and woe to anyone who gets into an argument with him, especially if they don't have their facts together.

The five-member County of Los Angeles Board of Supervisors governs the county, each member representing over 2 million people. They hold legislative, most executive, and a little judicial power. There are still many parts of the county that are unincorporated, and this the Board serves as the direct governing authority for those areas. In addition, many cities contract with the county government for certain services rather than hire their own staff, and there are some government functions generally retained at the county, rather than city, level. The County of Los Angeles, which is run much better than the City of Los Angeles (but that's not saying much), has to deal with raids of funds by the disastrously-run State of California as it has various disputes with the city.

The City of Los Angeles is so poorly run they can't even fix their sidewalks. The city's infrastructure is crumbling, and businesses find the climate there to be hostile.

While the City of Los Angeles has a Mayor and a 15-member City Council, The county does not have a Mayor or equivelant; not long ago the Board of Supervisors elevated the office of Chief Administrative Officer to Chief Executive Officer with some reorganizing, but the position is appointed by the Board. A slot of the five-member Board of Supervisors was essentially a lifetime position (the last time an incumbent was defeated was 1980), but now term limits are taking effect.

Yaroslavksy has long wanted to be City of Los Angeles Mayor. Term limits will remove him from his county position. So why wouldn't he go for it, and extend his political career longer than he could by staying on the County Board of Supervisors?

My guess is that he agrees with businessman Richard Riordan, the last good Mayor the city has had for at least 39 years. (It is no accident that Riordan is registered as a Republican.) Riordan predicts the city will declare bankruptcy in 2013. So it seems obvious to me that Yaroslavsky doesn't want that to stain his legacy. Why will the city go bankrupt? Well, eight years of Tony Villar hasn't helped matters.

Villar is infamous around southern California for his desperation to be on-camera as much as possible. To put it in crude terms, he's an attention whore. He's even ended up dating local news anchors/reporters, one such relationship coming at (or causing) the end of his marriage. At least one of these anchors reported on him and his marriage at the time. So it must have been a painful twist of fate for Villar to be given a prominent role at the Democratic National Convention, only to have the first moment in his entire life during which he regrets being on-camera.

The bogus "let's boo God" fraudulent vote must have been a very painful experience for Villar, who clearly had his marching orders of cleaning up what was either a botched piece of the Democrat platform or an intentionally set-up trial message to Lord-knows-who. But the delegates were not cooperating. Villar needed 2/3rds of them to approve. He got perhaps 1/2... far short of what he needed. He polled them twice more, which was a stupid move, and like Peter denying Jesus three times, at least half of the delegates present denied God three times, then some of them grumbled after the bogus vote, because Villar went ahead and declared the matter approved. One must wonder if Obama plans on having Villar count the votes in November?

Villar will probably be out of office by the time the City of Los Angeles has its fiscal collapse, but people should remember that the guy who did this slimy thing at the DNC had eight years to do something to prevent the collapse, and he failed. It's a shame Yaroslavsky won't be taking the Mayor's office. If it must be a Democrat, Yaroslavsky has at least some sense.

You can read more about the bogus DNC vote and see video:

http://finance.townhall.com/columnists/bobbeauprez/2012/09/06/act_of_god_jerusalem_a_disaster_for_dems

http://www.dailynews.com/columnists/ci_21498589/doug-mcintyre-los-angeles-mayor-antonio-villaraigosa-brings

http://townhall.com/tipsheet/leahbarkoukis/2012/09/08/villaraigosa_on_god_jerusalem_vote_i_definitely_heard_a_23_majority

http://townhall.com/columnists/derekhunter/2012/09/09/the_dnc_as_i_saw_it

Bagging on the City of LA

The highly disfunctional City of Los Angeles government, not to be confused with the somewhat less disfunctional Los Angeles County government, took up important issues facing the city, such as crumbling infrastructure. Oh, excuse me... I mean like... plastic shopping bags. Whiny loudmouth Hollywood types joined in the envirofascist call for further intruding into business and voluntary transactions, and now it looks lik the L.A. will be banning the use of plastic shopping bags.

Thank God I don't live in that city. It really is astounding how absurd the city government is, especially the city council.

I've already written about the banning of plastic bags:

http://playfulwalrus.blogspot.com/2011/08/i-love-plastic-shopping-bags.html
I Love Plastic Shopping Bags

http://walrus.blogtownhall.com/2010/06/03/bagging_california.thtml
Bagging California

http://walrus.blogtownhall.com/2010/06/24/its_my_bag,_baby.thtml
It's My Bag, Baby

http://walrus.blogtownhall.com/2010/06/29/defending_the_plastic_bag.thtml
Defending the Plastic Bag


And here's a good write up at Everything Must Go!
http://tunasafedolphin.blogspot.com/2008/01/heal-bag.html
Heal the Bag

Rodney and the Riots

In case you have missed all of the news outlets marking the event, it has been twenty years since thugs, opportunists, gangs, and general wastes of human potential rioted in Los Angeles, looting, burning down businesses, destroying property, assaulting, and murdering.

There are people who blame the acquittal verdict in the first trial of the officers who were simply doing their jobs, according the the law and department policy, when they apprehended unrepentant convict scum Rodeny King for driving like a maniac, which we know now is a habit of his, and then resisting arrest. (I know there were people who said their actions violated policy, but the only policy they seemed to have violated was "Don't give the anti-police circus fodder." Too may people were afraid to speak the truth.)

We know the acquittal wasn't the cause of the riots, because thugs riot when the Lakers win the NBA championship, and may riot when the Lakers lose. We have riots because we have people who want to riot. And because our leaders are too wimpy to do what should be done to quell riots. And because people sitting at home watching the news coverage think they can get away with it based on what they see on their TV. And because we reward rioters and their accomplices by offering them jobs and freebies.

Anyone who paid attention to the first trial of the officers who prevented Rodney King from killing himself or someone else could see that acquittal was a real possibility. I was not the least surprised when they were acquitted. The portion of the video that shows King getting hit with batons doesn't look good. But it never looks good when police have to apprehend a large, drugged ex-con who charged them (also caught on video, but you didn't see that nearly as often), is resisting arrest, and wasn't subdued by tasers.

People who make money off such claims played this arrest as a racist event. Which explains, of course, why his passenger, who claims the same racial identity, wasn't hit with batons, right? And of course, we know no white people were ever treated that way during an arrest, right?

What have the last twenty years shown about the people involved?

• Rodney King is a violent substance abuser who should not ever again be allowed to drive.
• One infamous attempted-murderer rioter with a sports nickname didn't learn his lesson after going to prison for a short sentence, and soon went back to prison again.
• The police officers are not troublemakers, as they have lived quiet lives ever since. It is a shame they lost their jobs and were prosecuted twice and spent any time in jail or prison.

We should never again reward rioters. Taxpayers and businesspeople threw money at the neighborhoods. How has that worked out? Oh sure, there's probably someone who is living a decent life now that got hired through the job offers... but those individuals would have made it anyway. Business owners should have been compensated (preferably with money intended for "community support") and given moving expenses under the condition that they not reward the rioters by reopening in those neighborhoods. I've already written what I think the response should be to riots:

http://walrus.blogtownhall.com/2009/01/08/not_one_cent_for_evil_rioting.thtml

Where the Sidewalk Ends

It's been an ongoing, well-documented problem that the Big Labor/Illegal Alien Democrat City of Los Angeles has crumbling infrastructure. A good example? The city has been unable to get the residential street sidewalks into shape. This is especially shameful in a city that takes money from drivers and uses that money to cajole people into not driving their automobiles, but rather take taxpayer-subsidized transit (which means walking), bicycling, and walking.

Not only do the crumbling sidewalks degrade neighborhoods, they open the city to personal injury claims and lawsuits by people taking full advantage of the Americans With Disabilities Act.

The solution, according to some? Abandon the public-property sidewalks to the nearby property owners, or at least "tax" the sale of property in order to fix the nearby sidewalk. After all of these years of neglecting the sidewalks despite taking money from taxpayers, property owners, and developer supposedly for the purpose of maintaining the sidewalks (along with the roads), the city leaders want to throw up their hands.

I support private roads maintained with private funds, with the understanding that there will either be some public roads or at least easements over private roads for the sake of defense, law enforcement, and emergency services. But if a street and its sidewalk is going to be government-owned, it should be maintained by that government.

But this is the dysfunction you get with a Democrat-controlled city in a Democrat-contolled county in a Democrat-controlled state.

So Predicatable - Licenses for Illegals

LAPD's honcho, Chief Charlie Beck, is now saying illegal aliens should have driver's licenses from the states. I saw this coming a mile away.

One obsessed state legislator has been pushing a bill to do just that for years now.

As for Beck, he's been feeling the heat from the public because of a proposal to change the policy of impounding the vehicles of unliscensed drivers for 30 days. The change would mean that a driver, pulled over by the police who is, during that process, determined to be unlicensed, would be able to keep his car as long as he could call someone with a license to drive it away. This change, of course, means the unlicensed driver would be back to driving that car ten minutes later.

Since illegal aliens can't legally get valid California driver's licenses, illegal alien advocates have been calling for this change.

The problem with changing the policy is that unlicensed drivers kill a disproporionate number of people, so the existing 30-day impound saves lives.

The logical solution? Keep in the impound policy as it is and tell the illegal aliens we're not going to do yet another thing to accommodate lawbreakers.

But... I just knew the response was not going to be that, but rather "This is why we need to give driver's licenses to illegal aliens." Grrrr. Yes, let's deal with a problem by heading further down the path that created that problem. Call me crazy (and many people do, especially people who claim there's no difference between men and women), but I don't think this is going to make illegal aliens safer drivers. If they don't pass the driving test, they will simply drive anyway. After all, they obviously don't care about breaking the law. And should they cause a serious accident, they can simply go home to avoid justice.

Say, how difficult would be it be for illegal aliens to take advantage of "motor voter" laws to fraudently vote? Hmmm.

Beck says the illegal alien driver's licenses should be different, so it is clear they are illegal aliens. But Beck doesn't get to make those decisions, and as we all know from our marriage neutering friends, you can't have different government documents for different behaviors. But if we can go through all of the trouble of licensing these people, why can't we, oh, deport them?!? Yes, I know one is a state matter and the other is a federal matter, but the state handles things for the federal government all of the time.

STOP with accommodating the lawbreakers at the expense of legal immigrants, citizens, and our guests.

The State of the City

Here's what we're dealing with the greater Los Angeles area, being part of the People's Republic of Alta California:

We're going to make it easier for people to commit fraud to get taxpayer-subsidized housing.

Some want to make it easier for unlicensed drivers who have been pulled over for traffic violations to keep driving. People who have been issued tickets and haven't paid a dime are going to be given amnesty, while people who have made some effort to pay won't.

Those of us who follow the law are being faced with being strongly limited in the automobiles we will be able to purchases due to an inherently flawed attempt to control climate.

Our utility bills are rising in a flawed attempt to control climate.

The largest port complex in the union wants to accommodate more traffic, but environmentalist whackos are just fine letting some other location in another country or state get those great jobs.

Crazy people are shouting at elected leaders to try to stop them from building new jails to replace overcrowded, aging jails, apparently preferring to let criminals and suspects run free.

Over 700 vicious first-degree murderers are being given shelter, health care, food, security, recreation, and other comforts of life on the taxpayer dime, with no execution date in sight, despite being sentenced to death.

The unemployment and underemployment rate is even worse than the national average.

The state and localities have many and high taxes, and there's a serious push for more.

We're running huge state budget deficits, but a 100,000,000,000-dollar boondoggle Unneeded Train-to-Nowhere that will be an ongoing drain on taxpayers is still being pushed.

Taxpayer-funded school teachers can tie up and blindfold elementary school kids and literally spoon-feed them Clinton-White-House-Intern-Blue-Dress-Staining Fluid, document their crime with pictures, and then resign and keep their pensions!

While all of this is going on, legislators are spending their time writing, discussing, and passing laws to make "adult video" performers wear condoms. Never mind everyone else, and the fact that the disease transmission rate through such performances has been close to zero.

You can't make this stuff up. This is what happens when Leftist Democrats are in control.

The Right to Crap in Open Spaces

No, this audio isn't a real Occupy LA guy, but he could be...

How's That Boycott Workin’ For Ya?

I haven't forgotten that millions of illegal aliens are still here, crowding our schools, jails, roads, and emergency rooms, and that many millions more will come here if we get shamnesty. But has the City of Los Angeles forgotten its boycott of Arizona, a lame attempt to punish a state for actually doing something about illegal aliens? Here's a Los Angeles Times story by Kate Linthicum from earlier this month.

In May 2010, Los Angeles was a part of wave of cities that voted to boycott Arizona after lawmakers in that state passed a controversial law targeting illegal [aliens].

City Hall staffers were ordered to review contracts with Arizona companies for possible termination, and official travel to Arizona was supposed to be suspended.

But a year later, little has changed in the way Los Angeles does business with the state next door.

Fail. And it isn't just the City of LA.

A similar pattern can be seen across California. Boycotts in Oakland, San Francisco and Los Angeles County made headlines last year but have since delivered little punch.

None of those jurisdictions has canceled a contract with an Arizona-based company because of the boycott — leading some [illegal alien] activists to dismiss the high-profile calls for economic sanctions as empty symbolism.

Suckers. Maybe they should wise up and stop being lackeys for the Democrats.

Councilman Ed Reyes, who wrote the boycott, voted to approve those exceptions. He said the deals were in the best interest of the city.

You know what else is in the best interest of the city? Discouraging uneducated, unskilled, and career-criminal illegal aliens from hanging around here.

Previously:

Illegal Aliens Are Not Immigrants


Securing the Border Will Hasten Immigration Reform


Illegal Aliens Violate Immigrant Rights


On Illegal Aliens