
mage toon - 1st fnn 2010 libs = Oby = pick up truck blocking his agenda
A sampling of news & views available from the New Media likely to be ignored by the Old.
As if taking Ted Kennedy’s seat for the Republicans wasn’t enough of a feat, it appears that newly elected Senator Scott Brown (R-Mass.) has sold a lot of GMC Canyon pickup trucks. Politico reports, “Bay State auto dealers are seeing an increased interest in pickup trucks like the one belonging to the newly-elected senator.
A large majority of Americans are glad that Democrats lost their 60 seat supermajority in the Senate, according to a new CNN poll.
On the list of insane public policy moves we have come to expect from the current administration, Cap and Tax, Obamacare and Union Card Check, a fourth has garnered relatively little attention, although the implications for all Americans may be among the most far-reaching. The recurring theme is centralized control.“Potentially over $20 billion of California’s $43 billion of agricultural revenue could be decimated in America’s greatest breadbasket as farmers lose their farms and residents are forced to import food from China. While the solutions are not simple, local government officials are not even able to attempt them.”

"There was a time when government work offered lower salaries than comparable jobs in the private sector but more security and somewhat better benefits. These days, government workers fare better than private-sector workers in almost every area-pay, benefits, time off, and job security.
And not just in California."
"Such talk of competition and choice is exactly what will help pull California's government out of its budget plight. But privatizing prisons is only half of the equation. If competition leads to lower costs in the prison system, why not privatize a whole slew of other similarly poorly-run government programs?"
Sacramento - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has put organized labor squarely in his cross-hairs in 2010, opening a fight that will largely determine the shape of his final year in office. Schwarzenegger's proposals would cut the size of the union workforce, reduce pay, shrink future pensions and roll back job protections... [snip]"This budget isn't about attacking any specific group," ... "Its about trying to fix what's broken in this state and prioritize the funding we have so we can make the hard but necessary choices to address our $20-billion deficit."


“With unemployment running over 12 percent, the state has already borrowed more than $6 billion from the federal government to keep unemployment insurance checks flowing. That's nearly three times as much as New York, the second biggest borrower of UI funds.”
Since it became law in 2006, AB 32, the Global Warming Solutions Act, has had a detrimental impact on the state’s economy. Responsible state legislators seek to suspend AB 32 until the unemployment level retreats to 5.5% for four years.“In his budget proposal, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has assumed that the state will get $6.9 billion in federal aid for health care, incarcerating undocumented felons and special education, among other requests."
“Last year, as the state's fiscal noose tightened again,Schwarzenegger and the Legislature exercised their option to borrow local funds – albeit with a complex scheme under which the locals could still get their money through bonds that the state would issue and repay. The state also raided local redevelopment agency funds and dipped into transportation accounts, running the total shift to some $5 billion"

“For Boxer, a favorite Republican target, the GOP win in Massachusetts is a particularly dark sign representing ‘not just the canary in the coal mine,’ said Wade Randlett, a leading Silicon Valley fundraiser for Obama. ‘It's the flock of dead ravens landing on the lawn.’”[One can hope]
An overwhelming 94% of California voters regard the state's budget crisis as very serious, but most oppose raising taxes as a solution to the problem.The regulations will require that patients be treated by HMO doctors within 10 business days of requesting an appointment, and by specialists within 15.
Patients seeking urgent care that does not require prior authorization must be seen within 48 hours.
Telephone calls to doctors' offices will have to be returned within 30 minutes, and physicians or other health professionals will have to be available 24 hours a day.
But some doctors say the plan could compromise medical care by forcing them to hustle more patients through their offices, a problem that is already expected to grow as millions of uninsured Californians sign up for insurance under the national healthcare overhaul in Washington.
Regulations cannot create new doctors out of thin air.
California ACORN has broken away from its embattled parent organization to form a new nonprofit group, a move that observers say might foreshadow other defections that would seriously undermine one of the nation's largest and most politically powerful community organizations.
[Just what our economy needs. From every conceivable angle, our government is at war with our liberties and prosperity.]“I left Europe four decades ago because socialism has killed opportunities there,”

“But the real significance of Northrop's move isn't that it marks the end of an era for aerospace -- only 300 top executives are leaving, after all, and Northrop will continue to employ 21,000 people in Los Angeles County. It's that Northrop is only the latest large company to pack up and leave, a trend that hurts L.A.'s cultural, philanthropic and economic interests.”
[AUSTERE? The 'proposed expenditures' for current, 'austere' budget for 2010 is "$102,591" - "dollars in millions"."Only when we expose the lack of common sense in Sacramento and then demand accountability can we take back the Golden State."