Category: California

Calling A Policy ‘Smart’ Does Not Impart Intelligence

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by Smitty

Are California’s marijuana dispensaries putting out some great product, or what?

Smart growth on steroids, or the radical densification policy of California, was the subject of my recent commentary in The Wall Street Journal — “California Declares War on Suburbia”. Regional transportation plans in the San Francisco Bay Area, the Los Angeles area and the San Diego area seek to force the vast majority of new residents in future decades into multi-family housing. Under the state’s greenhouse gas emissions reduction law (Assembly Bill 32) and its companion urban planning law (Senate Bill 375), it will be nearly impossible to build new detached housing. This is despite the fact that 80 percent additions to the housing stock in California’s major metropolitan areas was detached between 2000 and 2010.

Read the whole Orwellian thing.

My guess is that California’s powers-that-snort have determined that having privacy encourages subversive thoughts of liberty, maturity, and independence among residents. What a failed state.

Also, what an opportunity. Our country, if American Exceptionalism is more than a mere catchphrase, is going to demonstrate for the world and history how to face the music on failed policy, peacefully eject a failed political class, and restore a vital, capitalistic economy. Or perish in the effort.

Update: linked at The Daley Gator and Daily Pundit.

The Riot Ideology

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Yesterday, I mentioned Fred Siegel’s The Future Once Happened Here in connection with the Trayvon Martin case. Siegel’s book is one of those timeless classics — like Christopher Lasch’s The Culture of Narcissism and Thomas Sowell’s The Vision of the Anointed — that I frequently recommend as guides to understanding important social phenomena more deeply.

The Future Once Happened Here recounts how liberal policy turned three once-great American cities — New York, D.C. and L.A. — into dangerous urban nightmares, and one of the things Siegel describes is the “riot ideology” whereby organized violence (or the threat thereof) is used to intimidate officials into doing the bidding of “community leaders.”

Having recently begun re-reading Siegel’s book, the latest news in the Trayvon Martin case is both familiar and disturbing:

The feet of thousands pounded the cracked pavement of Sanford’s 13th street . . . to reiterate that apathy won’t be an option for those moved and outraged by the shooting death of an unarmed black teenager.
The Goldsboro community played host to a march and rally Saturday organized by the NAACP that brought together a coalition of national civil-rights organizers, community leaders, clergymen and droves of local residents who joined the chants demanding the arrest of George Zimmerman for Trayvon Martin’s death.
The Rev. Al Sharpton came to a podium outside Sanford Police Department headquarters amid raucous cheers from many of the roughly 1,000 participants. But he revealed few details about a plan he unveiled Friday for economic sanctions to force authorities to arrest Zimmerman.
Instead, he talked generally about sanctions against corporations that support and fund stand-your-ground laws, but didn’t name specific entities or outline strategies.
Everything is on the table for the nonviolent civil disobedience that could come in the coming days, he said. . . .
A special prosecutor has been assigned to the case and the U.S. Department of Justice has launched an investigation.
“We want an arrest. Shot in the chest,” marchers said Saturday en route to Sanford Police Department headquarters. “I am Trayvon Martin.”

Wait: A special prosecutor? A USDOJ investigation?

Why not wait and see what happens with the investigation? Why this idiotic talk of “economic sanctions” and lynch-mob mentality toward Zimmerman? Why is MSNBC letting one its on-air personalities engage in such demagogic nonsense?

If George Zimmerman is not arrested in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin soon, the Rev. Al Sharpton will call for an escalation in peaceful civil disobedience and economic sanctions.

Civil disobedience toward whom? Economic sanctions where? In Sanford? A town of 53,570 people, 45% white, 30% black and 20% Hispanic? What possible good can Sharpton’s incendiary demagoguery accomplish for the people of Sanford? And isn’t it possible that, by purposefully inflaming racial animosity, Sharpton will make matters much worse for the people of Sanford?

If you’ve read The Future Once Happened Here, you likely suspect that Sharpton’s “activism” will produce only harm for those whose cause he claims to advocate. The consequences of the “riot ideology” are sadly predictable. Meanwhile, on the other coast:

Seven black teens have been arrested on suspicion that they committed a hate crime when they attacked a 15-year-old Hispanic boy while he was walking home from school in Southern California, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
The March 14 beating in Palmdale was captured on video and posted on YouTube . . .
During the beating, the teens made racially derogatory statements that were captured on the video . . .

Perhaps Al Sharpton will call for “civil disobedience” there, too.

 

‘Due to Her Excellent Reputation Among California Democrats …’

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This was what you might call “a clue”:

Kinde Durkee, once a trusted treasurer to dozens of California Democrats, pleaded guilty in the biggest campaign embezzlement case ever to hit U.S. politics.
In a federal court in Sacramento, Durkee admitted to stealing more than $7 million from roughly 50 clients during an 11-year period from Jan. 2000 to Sept. 2011. . . .
Federal officials said Durkee’s motivation was simply “greed.” Durkee used the millions she stole from lawmakers such as Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) to pay for a variety of personal expenses, including mortgage payments, American Express bills, her mother’s retirement home, payroll for her company, even tickets to the Los Angeles Dodgers and Disneyland.
Due to her excellent reputation among California Democrats, Durkee had easy access to as many as 700 campaign bank accounts. When California state election monitors began looking into funds missing from the campaign account of a local politician, Durkee simply moved money from other lawmakers’ campaigns to cover up her theft.
Feinstein and other California Democrats — including Reps. Loretta and Linda Sanchez and Rep. Susan Davis — have sued her for millions in lost campaign donations.

Are we shocked to learn that having an “excellent reputation among California Democrats” is not a recommendation of good character?

Honest people are despised by California Democrats.

Update (Smitty): linked at The Lonely Conservative.

Update II (Smitty): linked at The Temple of MUT.

 

Middle School Teacher Named ‘Stacie’ Caught in Perhaps Predictable Scandal

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Let’s face it: If you ever hire somebody with a name like that, you can generally expect trouble to result:

Stacie Halas, a 31-year-old science teacher at Richard B. Haydock Intermediate School in Oxnard, was removed from the classroom Monday, three days after pupils reported spotting her in a series of X-rated clips.
“Maybe it’s not a crime as far as the penal code is concerned, but we feel it’s a crime as far as moral turpitude is concerned,” said Jeff Chancer, superintendent of the Oxnard school district. . . .
Halas . . . uses the stage name “Tiffany Six.”

What sort of “science” was Miss Halas teaching those kids? Did her duties include teaching the sex education classes that are now mandatory in California public schools? The question must also be asked why, if there was “moral turpitude” in Miss Halas performing as “Tiffany Six,” there was no criminal complaint against whichever Web site operator exposed her X-rated performances to her middle-school students?

Isn’t it illegal to show that stuff to kids? So why aren’t the proprietors of these sites held legally responsible for ensuring that kids don’t have access to these sites? But these are not the only serious questions raised by this disturbing news story.

How and where did these students see “Tiffany Six” in action? Did they volunteer this information to school officials? How much time elapsed between (a) when the students first figured out that their science teacher was “Tiffany Six” and (b) when students first made school officials aware of their employee’s extracurricular activities?

Am I the only one who suspects that Miss Halas’s video performance career may have been something of an “open secret” among her students for many weeks or months before somebody brought this to the attention of administration officials? How many of her students had seen these videos during whatever period of time it took for officials to become aware of this and take action?

Such questions are very important, because this isn’t the first time there has been a sex scandal at this Oxnard school:

Back in 2010, the very same Richard B. Haydock Intermediate School where Halas worked was in the news for a similar scandal, when two middle school students were caught videotaping themselves having oral sex in a classroom. . . .
According to ABC News, officials were notified that two junior-high school students, a boy and a girl, engaged in oral sex during class time. Even worse, some of the students were said to have started recording the two minors going at it on their cell phone cameras.

The kids got in trouble for producing their own amateur version of exactly what science teacher Stacie Halas allegedly did in her career as the professional performer “Tiffany Six.” Some people might think the following quote is slightly relevant:

“For more than a decade, California’s dedication to teaching comprehensive sex education has made the state a national leader . . .”
— Lauren Shaw-Stryker, Planned Parenthood

A national leader! And “dedication to teaching,” indeed!

Certainly, public schools around the country must be struggling to keep pace with the cutting-edge “comprehensive sex education” offered in California, where middle-school students watch videos of their teachers having sex and make their own sex videos in class.

Of course, this story doesn’t involve a Catholic priest or a radio talk-show host, or else the media might think it was a real scandal.

Possibly related: Is pornography really harmless? And finally: Would it be OK for Rush Limbaugh to call “Tiffany Six” a slut?

UPDATE: Conservative Hideout offers thoughts on moral relativism and Cultural Marxism in “Calipornia.”

Welcome, Instapundit readers! At least one of the commenters didn’t get the humor of the first line about why it’s always trouble to hire someone with a name like “Stacie.” Would it help to explain that this is self-deprecating humor?

But if you have to explain a joke . . .


I Guess Alameda County Supervisor Nadia Lockyer Is A Democrat?

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by Smitty

When you’ve been this craven and this biased for this long, the default assumption is that any public figure experiencing ‘life difficulties’ must be a Democrat. Bill Lockyer is listed as a Democrat on Wikipedia. I guess the picture caption on SF Gate mentions them at a DP fundraiser. Then again, this is ‘Frisco, so the point that Nadia and hubby are Democrats is somewhere beyond no-brainer, clocking in around “brain in formaldehyde jar on some union boss’s desk”.

Now, if Nadia was evangelical, Tea Party, or otherwise a brain-toting conservative, this story:

We’re told that a sex tape of Nadia Lockyer and the man was given to her husband, state Treasurer Bill Lockyer, about six weeks before the Newark incident. The treasurer believed that the man, who has a history of arrests for alleged methamphetamine use, might make the tape public if forced to break off a romantic relationship with the supervisor.

. . .would have the prurient Lefty media discussing the incident with faux-Puritanical disgust. Or maybe actual disgust; the whole thing sounds bizarre.

And yet, I really don’t care. I’ve never watched a single one of these celebrity sex tapes. The only mildly interesting point is the media double-standard on reporting them.

via Insty

Is Ian Masters Looking For A Job In, I Don’t Know, Say, Tennessee?

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by Smitty

Valley of the Shadow points out Ian Masters, an LA radio personality of some note, who really seems to dig him some anti-Semitism. Read all of Joe Fein’s debunking of a sad situation in LA.  It brings to mind Charlotte Bergmann, whom I saw cruise through the blogger lounge at CPAC, but had no time to hail. These Lefty radio personalities seem to have problems with raaaaacism. Do they get that in their broadcasting school?

It used to seem strange and paradoxical that the Left, purporting to be all about fairness and decency, stand revealed as the least fair and decent upon serious analysis. But that seems to be their point: there is no ‘serious analysis’ on a societal scale. It’s really all about power, isn’t it? Especially if you have no moral center to explain why this is a violation of Matt 4:8-10.

And, speaking of those who apparently lack a moral center, Sean Penn continues to pal around with anti-Semites and those who hate America. Gotta love Sean’s approach to free speech: his is consistant in his mis-application thereof.

California Broke, Blames Redmond, Threatens #Occupy Road Trip In The Name Of ‘Fairness’

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by Smitty

The state of California woke up in a gutter after a two-week bender, to discover that there isn’t enough room left on the plastic to make it to the end of the fiscal year.

“It’s not fair,” said California. “2011 really sucked, and so I partied a little bit over the MLK weekend. Is that really so wrong?

Oh, it’s February? No waaaay! How could all that time have been slipping, slipping, slipping. . .into the future? It’s that evil Bill Gates’ fault: I heard there was a Windows bug that, like, let’s some dude in Bulgaronia hack your computer’s clock, and stuff.

Killer idea, man–road trip! We can go #OccupyRedmond, and show that evil Bill Gates that we’re not putting up with his 1% software oppression.

It’s really not fair that those little computer dweebs who sat at their keyboards all day have managed to bogart all the money, anyway. They should be fair and share.”

Then Oregon said to California: “You know, there sure are a lot of Second Amendment fanatics with an amount of ammunition that some might consider excessive living in the woods here. Not to dissuade you, mind, but I just thought you might find the data point helpful as you consider your options.”

via Gateway Pundit

Great News! John Dennis Undeterred In The Anti-Pelosi Struggle

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by Smitty

Do you remember John Dennis, brought to national attention by this Ladd Ehlinger outing?

I just got a phone call from his campaign, and he’s running in 2012. Granted, his numbers are even rougher than Patrick Murray’s against Jim Moran, but the struggle against the Ruling Class Overlords permits no rest.

John Dennis on FaceBook