Calif. Senators Giving Floor Speeches Before High-Speed Rail Vote (UPDATE: Vote passes 21-16)

This is just a quickie for those interested in the sausage-grinding of California's high-speed rail politics. The state senate is in session and speeches are underway. You can watch the live stream here (I am having problems with buffering and it frequently cuts off for me.) Media members in attendance are using the hashtag #hsr on Twitter.

Of note, Democratic Sen. Joe Simitian has announced he will be voting against the funding. He was one of the state senators who was on the fence on the project. If four more Democrats vote no, the funding will fail.

Update: Democratic Sen. Mark DeSaulnier has also voted no.

Update: Democratic Sen. Alan Lowenthal (of Long Beach) has also voted no. So much for the bribe to LA. One Tweeter though says Dem. Sen. Mark Leno knows they have the votes to get it through.

Final Update: The final vote passes 21-16. Let's all go to Fresno!

Comments

[Brutus]

If we all hold hands and jump at once, it'll be okay!

[Suki]

Jazz hands can't hold.

[mr lizard]

Come on Cali, I'm just waiting for you to out-stoopid Florida.

[Chupacabra]

Florida? We're trying to out-stupid Spain and Greece at this point.

[mr lizard]

Well I was just referring to HSR. Putting the sack on the orlando to Tampa line is governor Scott's only highlight reel.

[fish]

Oh I imagine that Mr. Simitian will come around once they find his price.

This thing will pass....it's California, ground zero for stupid!

[fishfry]

I want the HSR to pass today. Because if it does, then Jerry Brown's tax measures will certainly go down to defeat! And the HSR will clearly never get built anyway. So it's a double win.

[H. Protagonist]

The audio stream seems fine, as long as you ignore that it's just audio of self-important douchebags bloviating.

[Scott S.]

Yeah, the problem appears to be here. I don't watch much livestreaming, but then the one time I need to...

[sage]

That's just it: you don't need to. There are no winners in this death match of stupid. You know they will keep trying until they get their way.

[H. Protagonist]

Sounds like we're up to 3 Democratic defections. I refuse to get my hopes up.

[wareagle]

The state senate is in session and speeches are underway.

what good has ever come of that sentence?

[Suki]

+ a really whole lot

[joshua corning]

Sentor one: it was my turn to vote down a provision that was going to pass anyway.

Senator two: Ok you and Senator three can vote no on this one but we will need your vote on the next measure that screws over tax payers.

Senators one and three: Agreed.

[Banjos]

I hope it passes. This place couldn't burn down fast enough. We need a quick, spectacular death.

[fish]

You aren't supposed to get worked up in your condition....press a cold cloth to your forehead and lie down for a while.

[Banjos]

"Sorry. We're not allowed to read newspapers. They angry up the blood."

[fish]

Wait...I thought you were in Pregnancy Castle not Retirement Castle?

[Gojira]

Jeez, just push the bastard out and put him in an incubator, so you can start drinking (and apparently reading newspapers) again.

[mr simple]

I'll keep it short and sweet. Family, religion, friendship. These are the three demons you must slay if you wish to succeed in business. When opportunity knocks, you don't want to be driving to a maternity hospital or sitting in some phony-baloney church. Or synagogue.

[joshua corning]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGUYOy_DSdk

[A Serious Man]

I dunno, we've been doubling down on stupid for years now and nothing seems to wake the voters up. I can't imagine any other polity as large as California being so mismanaged by one ideology and one party and the people still voting for the same politicians.

Two generations of Californians voted for Brown, for crying out loud!

[Anacreon]

I spent July 4 with some local pals who are lefties, and they can't be told the argument that "why do you keep voting for the same people and ideology, look what it has done." To them, every problem in the state is still the fault of Republicans (all half-dozen of them in office in CA) who won't advocate for higher taxes on "the rich" , as well as the Bush tax cuts, in fact anything that sounds like or rhymes with "Bush". "The rich", of course, is anyone who makes more money than they do.

[James Anderson Merritt]

What's worse, I always used to blame the sad state of our sad State on the mass influx of collectivist transplants and transients from parts East and North. But Brown is a local product (albeit from the SF Bay Area, which is about as collectivist as you can get in this part of the world). There are actually quite a few clear thinkers in California. Huge crowds of them, in fact. But the stupid crowds are, sadly, even bigger. I wish the lemmings would just keep on going into the ocean; I'm sure that is what is drawing them.

[Sudden]

I remember looking at the county by county voter breakdown on Prop 27. Virtually every county in California rejected it, but it passed with sweeping margins in every county of the Bay Area, plus Santa Barbara.

[Paul.]

Virtually every county in California rejected it, but it passed with sweeping margins in every county of the Bay Area, plus Santa Barbara

We have the same anomaly here in Washington. There's an old political adage for Washington Politics: Just carry everything you can see from the top of the Space Needle, and you'll win.

Basically two urbanized counties (King and Snohomish) drive every piece of state legislation. You can have every damned county in the state vote "No", but if the Everett/Seattle/Bellevue/Tacoma metro areas vote "yes", it's yes.

[John Thacker]

Hence this polling result:

"Seattle most popular city in the US but not in WA."

[joshua corning]

There are actually quite a few clear thinkers in California. Huge crowds of them, in fact.

Yeah but why the fuck don;t the clear thinkers run the state?

They run silicon valley...Some of the smartest poeple on the entire planet and yet they support the same idiotic crap that the masses do.

Hey can you make and run millions of computers all set out to search the biggest library ever in existence in the world namely the internet?

Yeah sure no problem.

Hey can you solve an overspending problem for the richest state in the richest country in the world?

Herpy derp derp I derpy don't herpy derpy know. I herpy derp just vote derpy derp for the derpy derp Democrat.

[Anacreon]

The problem is that in CA people only know about the SoCon policies of Team Red. They think they can't vote R because then no one can get an abortion, blacks will be hanged, and Latino kids will have to hide from the "papers" people. They don't know about any math thing so they don't worry about the other stuff.

[The Heresiarch]

If it weren't for the higher taxes that I'll inevitably end up paying, I would generally welcome things like this. Whatever brings the end nigh(er). Come, cleansing fire, I await you! Consume California in the ekpyrosis!

[joshua corning]

final vote 21 -16

WTF?!?!

Why all the suspense? This wasn't down to the wire, not one bit.

I am guessing that either the reporters covering this don't know jack shit about what is going on or the California senate is tighter then 007's bucket list.

[Scott S.]

They needed 20 yes to win, so that is pretty close (there were a couple of no-shows)

[Suki]

Or Scott knows how to keep you reloading 😉

[joshua corning]

Lies!!

I reloaded hoping for a Cavanaugh balls out weekend closer.

[Paul.]

This. Where the fuck is Cavanaugh Lately? I sent him a major fucking hat tip last week, and he's not even returning my calls. If he doesn't do the hat tip by Monday, I'm OT'ing it on a thread on Monday afternoon.

[Suki]

So you are doing a different sort of reloading?

[Lyle]

I mock and laugh at California tonight. Hahahahahahahaha!!!

[Sevo]

"Final Update: The final vote passes 21-16. Let's all go to Fresno!"

From Bakersfield! All five of us!
Moonbeam is as moonbeam does.

[daveInAustin]

This Fresno-Bakersfield thing is the saddest part of it for me. If you really thought this was a good idea, build the SF to San Jose leg first. That way there would at least be some residual value. They they are doing it, they may as well paying people to dig holes in the morning shift, then pay people to fill them back up in the afternoon.

[John Thacker]

Hey, how many of you who sit and judge them ever walked the streets of Bakersfield, huh?

[Paul.]

Leftists achieve final stage of grief with Obama: Acceptance.

http://videoshare.politico.com.....8299229001

Note the graph which shows the voter enthusiasm gap between Democrats and Republicans.

If you look carefully, the GOP voter enthusiasm is in the crapper, but Dem enthusiasm has merely dropped to meet it.

[GettiYetti]

Gotta love them bought and paid for politicians lol.

http://www.Peoples-Privacy.tk