Damn it California, will you just raise taxes already!!
 

There is no money for anything anywhere.. budget cuts budget cuts budget cuts..

Jesus California, if you must insist on not making appropriate cuts in over spending, would you at least raise taxes proportionately to generate the income necessary to sustain the millions of people in schools and colleges, and the millions of people dependent upon public services. It has been 17 years already, hey Republicans, you were wrong, get over it ;)

I called in a favor. Done.

thank you, are they going to fleece those rich bastards and close the prisons like I requested?

Para todos todo, para nosotros nada

We're just going to tax the fat white republican women. 100% sales tax on diet smoothies, bad Macy's sweaters, khakis, and door step delivered weight loss diets. 30% tax on spin class, yoga, and 'stripper fitness'.

excellent! what about the prisons though? Could we as a state perhaps shift our priorities so that we spend more money on schools than prisons, instead of the opposite?

The problem of California, the people want all their beneficial programs but without having to pay for them. It is a dazzling example of the innate shortcomings of democracy. Most people will never want to pay more taxes. The worst thing about California is that it is filled with Californians.

that is EXACTLY what I mean by this thread.

I think it's the same sentiment of any Californian that would think beyond their personal short-term interests, regardless of political affiliation.

It's like the state embodies the stereotype of a careless mall rat with a credit card. Have the spending and pay the taxes, kill the spending and don't pay the taxes, but this cake having/eating is killing us and it just avoids the greater political gap this state has.

lol brownouts

lol grandma millie

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOLNWF5QMxY

schools are prisons

I'm glad I'm not the only one who hates Californians. The state is beautiful, but the people are such douchebags.

there's a whole lotta douchebags out there. for sure. there's douchebags everywhere but cali douchebags are a special breed.

No see they make these budget cuts so then public programs go unfunded, then they have long pontifications on the inefficiency of the government and the gloriousness of the market and entrepreneurial spirit, then they shut down the government program.

How would you know? You bunked off school most of the time.

Now, now, its not just cali, NY is doing a real good job of emulating Cali--Guv is trying to prod the legislature but they are sitting on their asses.

But the larger picture is this: politicians pose sweet lies that the public wants to believe and they elect them--look at NJ and what was it, VA?

Giving back California to Mexico might help.

heh/

few people living there are actual natives.

we all left long ago.

only when they suck. they don't always suck.

yes, but they don't have to be.

Life itself is a prison if one does not embrace it.

That's the gayest thing I've ever read.

Am I treading on your style? Sorry 'bout that.

But kidding aside, yes, it's a tired existential sentiment but people do tend to forget it. I assume that's what you mean by 'gay' but I'm out of the loop on how you typically use that word.

I was more getting at 'embrace' being a curious rendition of Wilde's reading gaol; embrace suggests the heartless stasis of the Tory, no sense of looking to the stars, just a deathless eternal hinterland of misery to be rendered as neuter-God by the bleak embrace of the idiot.

That sense of gay.

Yeah, totally gay.

Only douche bags use the abbreviation "cali"

On another note, shit is going down at Berkeley right now. Students occupied a building earlier today, people were brutalized by police, etc.

http://twitpic.com/qb6qu

fee hikes suck.

Oh yeah, and the UCLA brutality was....uh, BRUTAL!

California is fucked.

That policeman should lose some weight.

I am glad the students of the UCs have finally bossed up. Raise your fists.. now the CSU students should follow suite, and if I get into UCLA next fall I'll be there in the mix as well. The movement only occurs when the people are moved and moving..

fucking shit, another year, another even worse budget crisis in California, sometimes I wonder if the sky really is falling around here..

$19.1 billion in hole, simple solution already proposed, temporary levy of $0.005 addition to the state sales tax to close the gap in under two years time instead, Republicans are pushing for a slash and burn cutting of essential services... my God what happened?

Are We are slowly turning into Somalia?
Somalia at 50: From heaven to hell

Page last updated at 09:32 GMT, Thursday, 1 July 2010 10:32 UK




Mogadishu's cathedral has seen better days Two Somalis look back on how life has changed during their country's 50 years of independence.
They recall their initial euphoria, reminisce about life during the "good old days" and lament their nation's deterioration, yet dream of hope for the future.
Dr Hussein Mursai

A long time ago, we used to boast that our country was the only one in Africa where the head of state, who had been elected democratically was defeated democratically and then continued living in his own country

Those were good times: boys, girls having a nice time

Dr Hussein Mursai =
That was in the 1970s.
Even when the military took over they only kept him [Aden Abdullah Osman Daar] for a night.
My generation grew up with nationalism and we had faith in good governance.
Education was outstanding. I was privileged.
I got the best quality of education I could've got at home. I was provided with accommodation and all my books.
Us students were even given extra pocket money and so on Thursday nights, we used to go to nightclubs and party. The beauty was that we were five minutes walk from the best club in the city - Jazira. You didn't even need a car.
Those were good times: Boys, girls having a nice time and there was always music playing, be it Western or Somali.
'Good old days' Fashion at the time was fantastic... dressing in summery clothes.
No-one noticed in the good old days.
I had four sisters and my father was a religious man but he never imposed anything on them. They could wear whatever they wished and were all educated.

Mogadishu used to be one of Africa's cleanest and safest capitals Fridays were family days.
We used to go about 15km outside Mogadishu to a restaurant we called Abukarow after the man who owned it.
He had a mosque built next door so that families could go to prayers and then come and eat. If you didn't get there early and reserve a table before prayers then you had no chance of being served a meal as it was so popular and always crowded.
We would feast on "dhaylo" - baby goat grilled on charcoal, with heaps of Somali rice all washed down with sour camel milk taken with a little bit of sugar.
But the landmark year for me was in 1976 when the country's focus was on raising our literacy rate. All the schools were closed for a year and instead everyone had to get together and those who knew how to read had to teach those who couldn't.
It was amazing.
By 1976, our literacy rate was 95% and the majority of those were women.
It was that generation who became the teachers and the doctors and the professionals.
'Such naivety' Somalia's health system was very good back then. There were many who like me became doctors.
During the war with Ethiopia, I was a student at medical school and we were sent to the frontline to help the wounded.
It was the first time for someone like myself, who grew up in the city, to see war.
Those times were filled with such naivety.
We thought we would win and we were winning - for a time - until the turning point.
That was when our naivety changed into maturity.
The refugees who came from the Ogaden changed everything.
Since then nothing was the same.

Central Mogadishu is now a war-zone Former Deputy Prime Minister Osman Jama

I want to pass my congratulations to all Somalis wherever they are.
I remember how we were all so excited.
I was at that time studying at secondary school and we all ran away from school and trekked to Hargeisa just to see the colonial flag pulled down and to watch the Somali flag rise.

No-one could ever imagine that it would become as bad as it has

Former Deputy PM Osman Jama
I was there and singing songs. Everybody was so happy. We were shouting two words: Independence and unity. Five days after northern Somalia was granted independence, the south and Mogadishu got their independence and we were united.
That time was euphoria.
But then I remember everybody was trying to unify Somalia - the territory that was given to Ethiopia by the British: We call it western Somalia. They call it the Ogaden.
We were all speaking together as one country but of course now it is not like that.
That war was the start of the decline.
But no-one could ever imagine that it would become as bad as it has.
'And so there was chaos' At independence everyone was hoping for something good - to get rid of colonialism and then to find freedom.

But unfortunately of our 123 ministers of parliament, only three had degrees - one from Britain and two from Italy. There was no experience of how to run a state.
So after the colonials left, corruption came and then the military took over to rectify the mistakes of the civilian government.
During the first seven or eight years of military rule, there was continuous development. Life was good.
But once we fought with Ethiopia, the regime became one of nepotism and corruption became rampant.
Everybody became clan-ish.
Clan-based origins took over every part of life - employment, promotions, social opportunities, health, education and so there was chaos.
And this is the result: Statelessness.
'Paradise' But now I believe everything is changing.
We came through clanism, and warlordism and now we have extremism. This is what we are going through now but it is getting weaker.
Religiously we are all Muslims and the same sect: Sunnis. This is what will hold people together. We have the same religion, language and culture.
This is our strength as a people and it will come.
There is hope.


Mogadishu was once an international city - now it is too dangerous for foreigners I was in our capital, Mogadishu for 28 years.
It was called the most beautiful city of Africa when I first moved there in 1968. It was the safest and the cleanest. We had the most beautiful beaches. Life was very pleasant.
We were global and developing - the Soviet Union gave us a lot of help.
Mogadishu was an international city.
It was really a paradise.
Now it is a disaster. It is rubbish.
No water, no electricity. Only fighting and war. It is very unfortunate.
It is very painful to see what has happened, what our country has become.

instead of raising taxes why doesn't California dole out funds appropriately?

So sad so so sad. My heart aches for you.

even if California were to fire EVERY SINGLE state and county employee there STILL would be a raging hole in the budget.. the stark reality in California is that it needs to raise taxes in combination with more strict fiscal reform and especially anti-corruption measures..

well what did you expect?

the way things are going lately, I expect another uprising..