California Roundup: Troubled Waters, Movie Bombs, and Why Free Speech Shouldn't Apply To Twitter

* I know this little girl, her name is Maxine: What will Rep. Maxine Waters' (D-California) decision to face trial for fencing TARP funds mean? MinnPost.com's Patrik Jonsson considers the danger for Democrats as Waters fights the white power structure that has oppressed her through all ten of her Congressional terms. At FlashReport, Shawn Steel reports on Waters' political challengers and recalls how the pride of the 35th District has been fighting the power since before the "rebellion" of 1992.

* Can you help out a guidance counsellor who's down on his luck? Ed Mendel at CalPensions.com continues his excellent how-we-got-here work on the Golden State's pension apocalypse, and comes up with a telling factoid: The largest bloc of workers -- 38 percent -- in the California Public Employee Retirement System (CalPERS) are non-teaching education employees. That's more than 600,000 of the most useless human beings on this planet, eligible for 100 percent-plus pensions, with at best token employee contribution demands.

* Schnook looks at pols' books: Who needs free speech when you've got Dan Schnur? The head of California's Fair Political Practices Commission is soliciting new methods for suppressing speech on Facebook, Twitter and other social media.

* Movie pooper: At Fox & Hounds Daily, the Milken Institute's Kevin Klowden looks at the hemmorhaging of film production jobs and draws the wrong conclusion: that California needs to provide more incentives to keep production in state. These incentives have proven to be losers for every state that provides them. Given that Southern California already has an immense infrastructure around production, it makes less than no sense for Sacramento to get any further into what is a mug's game for both taxpayers and producers. (I've been in the Motor City this weekend starting production on a movie, and it sure looks to me like the unions are able to cornhole producers with abandon, no matter where production runs away to.)

* And another offer we should refuse: San Diego Union-Trib's Michael Gardner reports on the one attractive thing in the EZ-Tax ballot initiatve Prop 25. The measure would suspend pay for lawmakers when they're late on a budget. It's an attractive gimmick, but it's still a gimmick: The thrust of Prop 25 is to eliminate the two-thirds requirement to pass a budget, one of the few protections for taxpayers the state still has. And ultimately, no productive citizen has ever missed any sleep or eaten a bite less because of a stalled budget.

Comments

[sage]

Movie pooper

I think that guy was in the last theater I saw a movie in. I had to move like four rows upwind.

[Ragin Cajun]

that California needs to provide to provide more incentives

Whoa, a little of the Max Headroom there.

[J sub D]

Movie pooper: At Fox & Hounds Daily, the Milken Institute's Kevin Klowden looks at the hemmorhaging of film production jobs and draws the wrong conclusion: that California needs to provide to provide more incentives to keep production in state. These incentives have proven to be losers for every state that provides them. Given that Southern California already has an immense infrastructure around production, it makes less than no sense for Sacramento to get any further into what is a mug's game for both taxpayers and producers. (I've been in the Motor City this weekend starting production on a movie, and it sure looks to me like the unions are able to cornhole producers with abandon, no matter where production runs away to.)

Let's do for movie production what we've done with professional sports! We could even start levying special taxes to build their sets for them.

After all, all those new stadiums have done miracles for economic development in distressed areas.

[Jeffersonian]

It's true. The one that they built here for the Rams is chock-a-block with millionaires. Maybe they should bulldoze North St. Louis and build a gigantic stadium for everyone there to live in so they can be millionaires, too.

[P Brooks]

California needs to provide to provide more incentives to keep production in state.

Maybe if they just stopped piling on disincentivatiousnesses...

[Apogee]

This

[P Brooks]

ultimately, no productive citizen has ever missed any sleep or eaten a bite less because of a stalled budget.

Hater.

[Man]

Can't the San Andreas fault break off already?

[WTF]

Fuck retro anything
Fuck your tattoos
Fuck all these gun-toting hip gangster wannabes

...

Learn to swim

[sage]

Heh. See you all in Arizona Bay.

[S]

Any fucking time. Any fucking day.

[The rest of the union]

We want a divorce!

[skr]

So CA HSR has requested another $1b from the feds.

http://cbs5.com/local/high.speed.rail.2.1836903.html

[John Thacker]

Only $1B? That'll hardly get them much. The FRA did ask for applications for about $2.5B for this round (due August 7); I'm surprised CA didn't ask for it all.

[skr]

Yeah, but it's like a spoiled brat hipster kid that keeps asking his parents to cover rent again this month. You know that he will show up again next month with his hand out.

[skr]

But but but, movie production is the largest industry in Los Angeles. Oh wait, no it's not. And it never has been. It's amazing how full of themselves Hollywood douchebags are.

[SugarFree]

I have never pooped in a movie theater.

[The Gobbler]

You're missing out.

[SugarFree]

I know, I know. I'm no spring chicken. If I want to do all the things I've dreamed of doing, I better get going.

[CoyoteBlue]

Bring a bucket.

[Almanian]

The head of California's Fair Political Practices Commission is soliciting new methods for suppressing speech on Facebook, Twitter and other social media.

I am overcome with a sense of relief that Mr. Schnur is out there on Californian's behalf.

Oh, also, fuck California.

[Mad Max]

I must confess that I experience a certain Pharisaical pride, as a non-Californian, when I hear of the stuff that goes on in that unfortunate state. It's not particularly virtuous of me, I will admit, since my own state is certainly trying to catch up to California in the corruption department, and may succeed in doing so. In that case, I will have to make fun of New York instead.

Anyway, it seems the latest political wisdom out of California is:

a) California's problem is not enough taxes. Of course! It's so obvious! Just get out of the way and let the tax-raising branch of government do its thing.

b) With all the new free money from the new taxes, California can subsidize the crappy-movie industry, meaning that Californians will pay twice for their movies - once in tax season and again at the box office.

Or else they could excuse themselves from going to movies. Instead of saying, "already seen it, and it sucked" they can say, "already paid for it, and it sucked."

[Mad Max]

And California has been diagnosed as having a surplus of free expression.

All these selfish taxpayers, not paying their fair share! All these selfish communicators, not saying what the government wants!

[Old Mexican]

The largest bloc of workers -- 38 percent -- in the California Public Employee Retirement System (CalPERS) are non-teaching education employees. That's more than 600,000 of the most useless human beings on this planet[...]

I have my doubts about the usefulness of the other 62%...

[Jack Waters]

OH wow, you did indeed pick some winners.

Lou
http://www.real-privacy.at.tc

[Spiny Norman]

Geez, anon-bot, you could at least pretend to be relevant. It's like you're not even trying anymore.

[Gene Berkman]

Yea, Maxine Waters is a crook, and her latest manipulation of the TARP scam hit the taxpayers for $12 million.

But George W Bush is a bigger crook, who pushed through a $700 billion hit on the taxpayers with TARP in the first place. And John McCain (along with Barack Obama) backed up Bush in scamming the taxpayers in 2008.

Shawn Steel raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for the Scamster in chief, so bear that in mind when you think about who has hit the taxpayers worse.

[melman]

Uh, no, most of the TARP money has been repaid. It is the democrat's $787 billion "stimulus" package money which is gone baby gone.

"Originally expected to cost the U.S. Government $356 billion, the most recent estimates of the cost, as of April 12, 2010, is down to $89 billion, which is 42% less than the taxpayers' cost of the Savings and loan crisis of the late 1980s.[1] The cost of that crisis amounted to 3.2% of GDP during the Reagan/Bush era, while the GDP percentage of the current crisis' cost is estimated at less than 1%.[2] While it was once feared the government would be holding companies like GM, AIG and Citigroup for several years, those companies are preparing to buy back the Treasury's stake and emerge from TARP within a year.[3] Of the $245 billion invested in U.S. banks, over $169 billion has been paid back, including $13.7 billion in dividends, interest and other income, along with $4 billion in warrant proceeds as of April 2010. AIG is considered "on track" to pay back $51 billion from divestitures of two units and another $32 billion in securities.[4] In March 2010, GM repaid more than $2 billion to the U.S. and Canadian governments and on April 21 GM announced the entire loan portion of the U.S. and Canadian governments' investments had been paid back in full, with interest, for a total of $8.1 billion. [5] This was however subject to contention because it was argued that the automaker simply shuffled federal bailout funds to pay back taxpayers. [6]"

[The Libertarian Guy]

Two wrongs just make a shitload of wrongs.

[jtuf]

Wow. The Iranian dictatorship couldn't suppresses the tweets, but California's government might.

[anony]

I've been in the Motor City this weekend starting production on a movie, and it sure looks to me like the unions are able to cornhole producers with abandon, no matter where production runs away to.

Um, Michigan is not a good place to run away from unions. Now, in right to work states, big budget movies can be made without union participation with 3 exceptions. You pretty much have to deal with the Director's Guild, the Screen Actor's Guild, and the Teamsters. It's possible to make a movie without the first two, but you can't get by without the Teamsters unless you are doing a movie with your friends.

I have family in the business, one of whom is union. His union allows him to work on non-union shoots, where he negotiates his own compensation package with the producers. Interestingly enough, they make payments to the union health fund and pension fund for him, so that he never touches the money. It's almost like the libertarian ideal where benefits are a worker responsibility, not the employers. His union acts as a collective bargainer with the insurance company and a place to park his 401k money.

[The Libertarian Guy]

If he mows his neighbors' lawn, does the neighbor have to go through all that negotiating shit as well?

Fuck, that could be a thousand bucks just to get a fresh-cut yard. T'hell with that.

[fuzzi]

I live in Washington state my grand parents lived in the beautiful state of California but they gone to heaven they were sweet people.I lived in L.A. but the crime was too much and I couldn't ink out a living.
Joke is all the good god fearing cops here have made it impossible to work.....58yrs. old and ready to see my grandma