Really Right

I’ve been paying close attention to the on going budget discussions as the California legislature gear-up for the annual budget fight. I would like to take the occasion of this blog entry to summarize my solution for this situation.

First, the estimates in the range of 14 billion dollars are lower than the actual numbers. If nothing changes this debt will expand exponentially. Structurally, the debt is much closer to 100 billion without any reforms. The lawmakers have so much automatic growth build into retirement, healthcare, education and other programs that the economy of the State cannot support the promises made thus far let alone deal with infrastructure and other needs created by neglect of elected officials.

While the legislature’s problems are all self inflicted, they are made even worse by the multitude of ballot measures passes in the last two decades that attempt to fix issues for which lawmakers have failed to provide leadership. Term limits and safe seats created by gerrymandered districts have also made the problem more pronounced.

Republican proposals offered this week to shift blame onto illegal aliens are a diversion that only nibbles at the edge of the fiscal mess. These ideas will not fix the fiscal mess we are in.

There is a large gap between what should happen and what is actually achievable in the current climate. I would like to deal with what is achievable. My idea is both a face-saving measure for the current leadership in both parties and also provides political cover from the political fall-out that will result.

The creator of the Dilbert comic strip wrote that there is a right way, a wrong way and the weasel way. I am skipping the other two options and heading straight for the weasel way.

The legislative leadership and the governor need to do the same thing the Congress did many years ago when Congress decided to start closing military bases; namely, they need to create a “Blue Ribbon” commission to craft an omnibus fix for the mess. It will be a combination of closing tax loopholes, instituting cost of living increases for departments of government not automatic double-digit increases (kill zero based budgeting), undoing budget allocations via previously passed ballot initiatives, raising voter threshold to enact any new budget mandates to a supermajority, restructuring state employee benefits and reforming the budget process to a two-year budget not an annual one.

The legislature will then need to swallow their pride and pass this thing before it gets too hot to handle. In military jargon, pull the pin, throw the grenade and run like hell the other direction. If this idea works take credit for it, if it blows-up in your face, blame to other guys. Remember, failure is an orphan but success has many fathers.

This fix will probably require a set of ballot measures to be fully enacted.

After everything is back on track, the people should enact a part-time legislature; after all, I did say the budget was every two years.

Hillary Clinton is in trouble with children five and under for ripping-off the animated series Bob the Builder. As a parent of a small child, I know this to be true because Bob’s motto is “Can we build it? Yes we can!”

A central part of Hillary’s campaign is her theme that America is broken and only she can fix the ills of our country. Hillary is ambitious to do an extreme makeover of the United States. Hence her motto of “Yes we can!” This is obviously a rip-off of Bob the Builder. Where is Paul Shanklin when you need him?

A few years ago, Hugh Hewitt wrote a book entitled “If its not Close, They Can’t Cheat.” Well, the Democrat Primary is close, so the question is how will Hillary Clinton snatch the nomination from upstart Barack Obama? I have given it some thought and would like to propose two tactics that she could employ.

First, it is clear that only the “super delegates” can elect the next nominee. Neither Clinton nor Obama can win on the basis of pledged delegates from the state primary process. If, as I maintain, Obama has peaked in his support and the current downturn in his popularity will stabilize at a lower level of support, some Democrats will have “buyers remorse” and want to support Hillary. So what can Hillary do to capitalize on this change? Simple, she gets the “super delegates” to sit out the first ballot at the convention. This allows the delegates selected by the primary process to vote as pledged and results in no candidate selected. Once this vote is cast, delegates will be free to vote as their conscience dictates. These newly freed delegates and super delegates will then rally around Clinton and anoint her as the nominee.

However, why wait for the convention to get the nomination? Once the Rezko trial is over, Hillary can pull strings with the Daily operation in Chicago and get Barack indicted. With the speed of justice these days measured in years and not weeks, Obama will be damaged and have to withdraw due to this black cloud over his candidacy. If this tactic is employed, look for it to come from an African-American judge in the Windy City.

The proof that the Clintons undermined Obama will be almost untraceable except for the gnawing feeling in the pit of your stomach that this worked out just swell for Hillary.

Senator Barack Obama is in the news for his association with Rev Jeremiah Wright. The sermon audio that has been featured on talk radio over the past few days is disturbing. It is racist and hate filled. It sounds like much of the lunacy that you would expect from Louis Farrakhan or other radical Muslims. While described as a Christian Church, Rev Wright seems to advocate another Jesus and another gospel.

The absurdity of Wright’s sermon claiming that Jesus was a black man who lived in a land that was under the oppressive thumb of the white Roman oppressors sound like Carl Marx or Louis Farrakhan not apostles like Peter, James and John. It is no more rational than if David Duke or some Clan member claimed that whites are superior because Jesus was white guy. Both are nonsense. Jesus was neither white nor black but somewhere in between. If Rev Wright should learn anything from the gospel it is that there is neither male nor female or Jew or Greek in Christ. We all enter the Church by adoption not by race or heritage. We are all equal before God and all enter his presence through the completed work of Jesus Christ.

Other quotes heard on talk radio speak about the evils of rich whites and the struggles of poor blacks. Then Rev Wright invokes than name of Hilary Clinton as an example of a rich white woman and Barack Obama as an example of a poor black man. Hey Rev try again. Barack is the one that earned over a million dollars a year while the Clintons were trying to get by on Bill’s 35K salary in Arkansas. Which family had more time in Ivy League schools? I don’t think it was the Clintons.

If Rev Wright is really so concerned about the rights of those that many consider non-persons then what is he doing to halt the genocide against blacks called abortion? What is he doing to strengthen black families and keep them gainfully employed? What is he doing to stop gangs, drugs and prostitution in his community? It seems that his answer is more big government and blaming white folks.

Rev Wright laments in his sermons about the number of blacks in prison. How many times has he taught his flock about the Ten Commandments? Oh, he probably can’t teach those because they are Jewish.

Rev Wright also says many outrageous things from his pulpit about the United States. While he has the freedom to do so in this country, his comments show a lack of respect for both Scripture and fact.

How such a man ever got ordained is a mystery to me. It is even more of a mystery why Obama stayed in this church for twenty years. Evidently, Obama agrees with much of the teaching he receives at the feet of Rev Wright. The only thing this whole episode does explain is the lunatic statements made by Obama’s wife.

Rev Wright is more proof that Obama is wrong.

I know the election cycle is just getting organized for most political races lower down on the ticket, but even before the filing deadline for the June Primary Election, I am getting tired of RINOs invoking the claim that they are Reagan Republicans. The most recent example that I saw was earlier this week when a candidate dropped in to a meeting that I was attending. She had really slick literature and a boatload of endorsements. It even said that she was a Reagan Republican. As proof she even managed to have a photo of her shaking the Gipper’s hand.

However, her presentation let you know that she was cozy with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bob Dole. In fact she even got Dole’s endorsement for a California Assembly seat!? Go figure!  In addition, it was clear that she had insider ties to the “bill mill” in Sacramento.

A friend of mine looked over her endorsement list and was convinced that every Republican leader in the San Francisco Eastbay that tried to thwart Conservatives was on the endorsement list. He then asked her the only question worth asking a Republican legislative candidate in California. There are slight variations but the question goes like this; “If elected, you will be a member of the minority party in Sacramento. What will you be able to accomplish in the midst of an overwhelmingly Democrat majority?” One implication of this question is will you be the weak knee Republican that sells us out and sides with Democrats to get the budget passed in exchange for some pork in your district? Will you crack under pressure or stand for fiscal responsibility in light of the 16 billion dollar budget shortfall?

Her response was that due to her extensive federal experience, she wanted to make smart cuts so she would not cause the state of California to loose matching federal funds. She assured us that she could win the game because she knew how the game was played.

I was disappointed at this response because she was already giving away the premise that the government should be involved in all these programs to start with. If she was truly a Reagan disciple, she was want the government out of many of the things that it has injected itself into that are not proper areas of jurisdiction. Where was the application of smaller government and more individual freedom? If a politician starts advocating “smarter government” or “more efficient government” then you’d better hold on to your wallet.

Within the next two weeks I will be seeing this woman again at another function that should be more interesting. This more conservative group will get to ask her about social issues and that will prove to be fun.