Agitprop: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Propaganda

It's Getting Harder and Harder to Mock A Process That is Already A Big Fat Joke

Californians, like always, continue to pave the roads with good intentions:

Simmons, a 67-year-old San Clemente retiree, has invested $200 to file a proposed ballot initiative that would make it a crime for politicians or the mass media to twist the truth to influence an election or affect public employment.

Simmon's initiative proposes a sentence of up to 10 years in prison and a $500,000 fine for members of the public trust who intentionally deceive in providing "material facts" to sway the public.

"If we could just get the people who serve in the public trust to tell us the truth, I think there's enough collective wisdom in the hearts and minds of Americans to do what's right," he said.

This is so absurd that if it did manage to get on the November 2010 ballot I just might vote for it, you know, for kicks. Sure, my standing policy is to vote No on Everything - but just imagine the giant clusterfuck that would ensue if this thing were to pass (which it wouldn't).

• California would have its very own Ministry of Truth.
• All cable news channels would be outlawed. 
• The fines collected by the state would solve the budget crisis within three fiscal quarters. 
• Political discourse would devolve into an endless argument over what is or is not true, leading to the ultimate realization that there is no such thing as objective truth.

The postmodernist in me would love to see this happen. But no, we'll be forced to vote on stupid bond measures while the state continues to sink into the ocean.

UCAIG

Oh, happy day!

On the same July day that the UC Board of Regents cut $813 million from UC budgets - setting in motion pay cuts, layoffs and campus cutbacks - the board quietly approved pay raises, stipends and other benefits for more than two dozen executives.

University officials were quick to characterize the increased pay in a positive light.

"It's really a story about cost savings," said Barbara French, a UCSF spokeswoman, adding that three people on her campus who won hefty pay increases took on new duties and deserved to be compensated.

No one could have imagined that the upstanding drivers of the UC system would take advantage of the state's fiscal crisis to line their own pockets!

(via Stop Me Before I Vote Again)

Thanks A Lot, Fuckwad

The LA Times is right to place the blame for California's lack of governability on the structural barriers erected by Howard Jarvis and his tax revolters almost 31 years ago. For those of you wondering why my state's government is prepared to issue IOUs next week, this op-ed breaks it down into six easy pieces.

But then they have to go and make it sound all hopey at the end:

So what can be done about the dysfunction? In the next few weeks, a blue-ribbon commission is set to recommend sweeping changes in the tax system to stabilize revenue collections. Voters last fall approved Proposition 11, which takes away the Legislature's power to draw its own districts in favor of an independent commission. Next year, as they elect a new governor, Californians also will vote on a system of "open primary" elections aimed at aiding moderates, and they also will probably decide on one or more initiatives to dump the two-thirds budget vote requirement.

California Forward, a bipartisan good government group financed by major foundations, is crafting proposals to conform government systems and processes to modern management methods. And the business-oriented Bay Area Council is pushing initiatives for a state constitutional convention, the first since 1879, to wipe the slate clean and build a new, rational structure for state government.

Ooh - a blue ribbon commission! What was that, President Camacho?

Now I understand everyone's shit's emotional right now. But I've got a 3 point plan that's going to fix EVERYTHING. Number 1: We've got this guy Not Sure. Number 2: He's got a higher IQ than ANY MAN ALIVE. and Number 3: He's going to fix EVERYTHING.

So the solution to California's woes is electrolytes...or Jerry Brown.

Mark Your Calendars

July 28 is Californian Fiscal Meltdown Day.

Where Do We Go From Here?

Yesterday John Cole wanted us to burn. Then he re-evaluated his position on my dear state after learning that things aren't always what they seem.

We don't need no water let the motherfucker burn.
Burn, motherfucker. Burn.

Oh yes, I'm a fan of Jimmy Pop. Click here for the song.

Tuesday's failure of the band-aid-on-a-volcano style reforms was a fantastic thing. I actually have some hope (me? hope? really?) that bringing the system to the very edge will demonstrate the necessity of radically changing course.

Already, people have begun actually thinking.

Michael Hiltzik argues in the LA Times - in the business section nonetheless - for the following three changes:

1. Repeal the 2/3 budget rule
2. Remove legislative terms limits
3. Revise Prop 13 (the third rail of California politics)

The one thing he forgets to mention is my number one issue - eliminating the dreaded ballot initiative process.

The ballot initiative process — in which legislators or independent groups ask voters to mandate how the state’s money is spent or not spent — has become at times an exercise in fiscal self defeat, with voters moving to earmark money for one special program one year, only to contemplate undoing their own will a few elections later.

Or as Bill Maher puts it...

California used to be like the rest of the country, following the instructions in the Constitution and everything. But then we chucked that, and now our state is governed not by elected representatives but by special-interest people standing in front of the supermarket with clipboards asking,

"Would you like to sign a petition to cut your taxes?"

And then that becomes law. Proposition 14C: Two weeks paid leave for hangovers and universal teeth whitening, paid for by Central Valley cow gas.

"Vote 'yes' on gain, 'no' on pain."

How are our elected representatives supposed to do their jobs when their hands are tied by a million propositions on the books that either contradict each other or already allot funds before legislators can craft a budget? It's called Fail.

Obi Wan, the constitutional convention is our only hope. Gavin Newsom says he's on board.  Maybe I'll get on board too, for a change.

The NRA Took My Baby Away

So I lied. I ended up voting after all. That explains the "I Voted" sticker you see above. Mi esposa drove me - said it was my civic duty.

I voted "No" on everything.

To answer this question - yes, California is ungovernable.

Crusader Axe mused on this topic the other day.

I think of this as the state faces a fairly devastating mess. I have thought since coming down here that there was something critically wrong with the state's fiscal situation. I grew up in the NE, where we had high taxes and excellent services. I spent a lot of my life in Germany, where they had high taxes and marvelous, cutting edge, state services. I've lived in states with moderate taxes (Washington, Arizona) and low taxes (Texas) and basically, you get what you pay for. However, in California, you face a combo of very high taxes (how exactly is my state taxable income higher than my federal?) and really fucked up services.

He continued...

Since California's odd governance( budgets require 2/3 majorities to pass as do new taxes!) combined with a bewildering inability to see further than the end of the dick of the governator, which is not so great after all the steroids, are condemning it to something other than greatness. California is the new West Virginia because of the inability of politicians to say no to their core constituencies. Soon, everybody will be saying no to everything. Jerry Brown and Bob Guccione and Tom Cruise are slouching toward Bethlehem, like a bizarre two-thirds (cause that's all we can afford!) of Dorothy and the gang on the way to OZ.

About the NRA sticker...I found it stuck to the inside of mi esposa's rear passenger window. She said her gun-toting co-worker stuck it there just to piss her off. I don't have anything against gun ownership, per se - but I ripped it off anyways. It totally ruined the aesthetic of the window.

The Never Ending Campaign

California rest in peace.
Simultaneous release.
- Red Hot Chili Peppers

Whether or not you’ve recovered from the 2008 election season - aptly dubbed The Two Year Root Canal by The CultureGhost - there’s a special election next Tuesday May 19 here in the great state of California. Six ballot measures promise to save the state from fiscal armageddon.

Here's the latest:

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger told legislative leaders Monday the state's annual income tax collections are expected to fall this year for the first time since 1938, punctuating a budget shortfall that he said will reach $21.3 billion if voters reject a slate of ballot measures next week.

With passage of the measures appearing unlikely, Schwarzenegger announced that he would release plans Thursday -- five days before the May 19 special election -- to show Californians the devastating consequences for government if the propositions fail.

When an authority figure comes to you and says “We must do this now or else [fill in the blank]” it’s best to question their motives.

Think back to fall 2002…Iraq has weapons of mass destruction and is determined to annihilate U.S. cities! We must take out Saddam before he and his Al Qaeda friends attack us with unmanned aerial drones and anthrax-tipped pen guns! Or just last fall…Henry Paulson needs $700 billion or else the entire global economy will collapse and we’ll have human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together...mass hysteria!

This is all so comical. Californians seem to have forgotten that six years ago we recalled our former governor due to a $30 billion deficit. Budget deficits are an annual thing in this state. Get over it. Gray Davis must be laughing his ass off, as his successor has been unable to tame the spending beast.

So the Democrat-controlled legislature and Republican governor created our fiscal mess. Now they want Californians to fix it. Fuck that. I’m not voting in your stupid election. Fix your own damn problems. I’m not going to buy into your shock doctrine electioneering tactics. 

Typically, my disdain for ballot measures leads me to vote “No” on everything. But next Tuesday I’m going to sit this one out. My wife’s union, the CTA, is pushing hard for “Yes” on everything. She already told me she will do as her union commandeth. More power to 'em.

Good ol' Progressive Governor Hiram Johnson instituted California’s ballot initiative process. These were the same Progressives who advocated eugenics. Today, ballot measures waste millions of dollars in ad campaigns and are often hijacked by out-of-state special interests. Proposition 13 has been bankrupting the state since 1978. Last year's Proposition 8 gave the general public the power to decide who gets constitutional rights and who doesn't...and they voted to deny constitutional rights! American Idol has better standards than this shit.

Direct Democracy is impractical - not to mention a failure. It may have worked in 5th century B.C. Athens but it can't work in a state with over 40 million people, let alone a country as large as the United States.

As The Great IOZ summed up recently:

One could make the case, perhaps, that elections are a reasonable scheme for a city-state somewhere, but a hundred million harried citizens making hazy decisions after two years of propaganda isn’t qualitatively different from the happenstance of heredity or the rolling of dice. And George W. Bush, god bless him, is the proof.

California legislators are representatives. We live in a representative democracy, remember? They are paid over $116,00 per year (the highest in the nation) to write legislation and agree on an annual budget. Instead, they have decided to foist their workload onto the California voter. The good news is that polls show all of these ballot measures headed for defeat.

Whatever It Is, I'm Against It has a nice rundown of ballot measures for any Californians that will be voting next Tuesday. So does the LA Times, for what it's worth.

The only solution for this insanity is to 1) vote out every single incumbent in the CA State Senate and Assembly and 2) campaign to repeal the 2/3 rule. Being able to pass a budget with a simple majority would alleviate the annual song-and-dance between the governor and legislature on crafting a budget. Hmm, perhaps I should write Mark Leno’s office if I really care about this.

Number 3 would be campaigning for a ballot measure to end all ballot measures. Hell, I would devote my time to gathering signatures for that.

Democracy is a failure! Repeal the ballot initiative process! Vote "yes" to repeal your suffrage!

Ok, who's with me? Any takers?

Kafka and the Classroom

Guess what New York?

Los Angeles Unified has rubber rooms too!