Comments on: Deep Thought

By: DirtCrashr

DirtCrashr — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 15:20:38 +0000

Ballot initiatives are the only way effective means for local citizens to get any traction in Sacramento. Since the time of Jerrry Brown’s dad and Jesse Unruh there has been little real distinguishable difference between Republican and Democrat trough-feeders and dealmakers who feather their own nest or populate a “commission” with their friends and relatives.
And there are countless astrotuf ballot initiatives that are bought and paid-for by special interests too, so fraught with legalese loophole-language and trickery that you could read a newspaper through them. At least the whole bill is presented for everyone to read in the Ballot, as much mumbo-jumbo and fine-print as it is, so a lot of them get shot-down in flames – which is part of the fun and entertainment of politics here. Seldom does anybody vote for something as much as against it.

By: smijer

smijer — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 22:37:27 +0000

I’ll pass on being like California – but get rid of your constitutional provision for ballot initiatives before you start holding your elected officials up for scorn. Y’all have no one to blame but yourselves.

By: DirtCrashr

DirtCrashr — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 22:28:11 +0000

California has been run by Democrats for ages, and since 1990 gerrymandered too – and it’s working GREAT, dotnthcha think?!
We even produce some stellar girl politicians at the National level, like Babs and Nancy and Dianne. Arnold is pretty much just a figurehead and semi-Kennedy-relative, and he came to realize he had to adopt the “moderate” agenda when his own was crushed by The Central Committee. The SEIU and various Unions run the state with the help of tireless-serving Democrat legislatures who receive their union cadre wages and carefully spend them to the benefit and betterment of all, citizen and non-citizen alike. Be like us! Become Californian!

By: SayUncle » On nationalized health care

SayUncle » On nationalized health care — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 12:55:03 +0000

[...] I’ve often said I don’t want the people who spend $900 on a hammer anywhere near my medical decisions. Smijer points out other great moments in government intervention. [...]

By: alice

alice — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 02:27:29 +0000

<<>>.

But then again, I wouldn’t necessarily be all that much worse off than I am now (with the state’s United Health Care “coverage”), and I’m one of the lucky ones who HAS private “coverage.”

By: smijer

smijer — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 21:02:14 +0000

Ok – I don’t mean to minimize anything that happened to southern MSippians. I’m just saying that you could have put everyone that lives on the southern MS coast into the cheap seats of the Superdome. The challenges in MS and rural LA were nothing compared to New Orleans. It’s such a different scenario, that I can’t think of a way to make a meaningful comparison.

By: Patrick Murfin

Patrick Murfin — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 21:00:41 +0000

It’s time for some one to get out of the blog and start walking. Just saying.

By: RW

RW — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 20:51:48 +0000

BTW, please don’t pull the blog over.

By: RW

RW — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 20:50:54 +0000

Dude, I know some folks in MS that lost everything. It wasn’t a ‘nothing’ just because Geraldo was covering the Super Dome, instead. Entire neighborhoods were wiped clean. Not trying to correlate it or anything, just sayin that belief in lower taxes and a stronger local versus centralized government isn’t conducive towards a higher or lower competency level in management.

After all, if we were to poll the successful business (large and small) in the country & ask if they were being run by Republicans or Democrats, I’m not so sure that the answer would be to the liking of your premise.

Haley Barbour really rose to the challenge, didn’t he?

If Mike Brown, Ray Nagin and Kathleen Blanco had risen on a par with Barbour, LA would’ve been a lot better off. It just wasn’t as newsworthy. Like Cindy Sheehan isn’t as newsworthy….

By: smijer

smijer — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 20:43:54 +0000

Worked just fine in Mississippi, though.

Yeah, I used to travel US 90 and I-10 from Mobile to New Orleans a lot. I enjoyed taking in the huge population centers that dotted the southern Mississippi landscape. Pascagoula, Moss Point, …. Logtown.

Haley Barbour really rose to the challenge, didn’t he?