The luncheon takes place at the Orinda Country Club, 315 Camino Sobrante, Orinda, CA 94563. Price and Reservations: $25 luncheon; $15 program only (no lunch) For reservations call 925-254-8617 on or before January 12.

In 2010 there will be an election to elect a new governor and Arnold will be Termed out. On the Democratic side there are loads of characters vying for the job. Gavin Newsome(San Francisco mayor)  and Jerry Brown (Ex-Governor from the 70’s) are raising money. The Republicans are rallying around their own cash cow, Steve Poizner, to give us that moderate Republican candidate who will appeal to moderate Republicans (if there are any left in the state) and independent voters who are repulsed by the California State GOP’s brand of conservatism.

The time has come to think outside the box. To that extent it is time to find a leader who will fit into the values of  Sacramento. Californians need to look to the land of Lincoln. That’s right, Illinois. Take a deep breath and visualize Governor Blago in Sacramento. By 2010, if he’s not in a federal penitentiary he will be looking for a job.

Say it again Governor Rod Blagojevichas, California Governor. Slips right off the tongue, doesn’t it! Even better he could run as a Republican. Who better to take up the GOP banner. Who better to cut a deals in Sacramento. A place where deals are sorely lacking.

We would have to mandate that Governor Blago tape record all budget negotiations to be broadcast over the internet so that, for once, Californians can get some entertainment value from their politicians. Anyone who watched Governor Blagojevich appoint Barrack Obama’s replacement understands his ability to create political drama and lead while the castle is burning. Compare that to the hapless action figure portrayed by Governor Arnold.

So I say give them hell while you are in Springfield Governor Blago. Then pack up the wife and come to California and run for Governor as a Republican!!

This event is FREE; however, RESERVATIONS ARE REQUIRED as space is limited. YOU NEED A TICKET TO GET IN.

The event begins January 20 at 7:30 a.m. PDST at the Lesher Center for the Arts, located in Walnut Creek at 2602 Civic Drive. Call the Chamber of Commerce at 925-934-2007 if website is unavailable.

In reponse (I believe) to Speaker Karen Bass’s explanation that “legislative leaders have compromised,” Cheslog writes, “The Democrats have been compromising with themselves on the state budget crisis. The Democrats have agreed to horrible spending cuts and other measures that go against their interest groups…The myth of bipartisan intransigence may be a more interesting story for state pundits to tell, but this fiction does nothing to move the state towards a solution to this problem.”

Here is the Bloomberg report on the plan Governor “blow the box up” Schwarzenegger proposed on December 31.

Here is the transcript of Speaker Bass’s reactions to the Governor’s proposed budget plan

Will the last sane adult leaving California please remember to turn out the lights?

That said, I was struck by the shoe throwing incident. Where was the secret service? I was inspired by the  courage of the Iraqi journalist to do what many of us would like to do or have done to our TVs at the sight of President George W. Bush or other stupid politicians in general.

So if you burn to throw a shoe at W. but you don’t want to break your plamsa, click to the new Sock and Awe online game and have at it :

www.sockandawe.com

Let us know your high score!

AP ran a story that details the problems Antioch home owners face as Section 8 renters trash their middle class suburban neighborhoods with loud parties, mean pit bulls, blaring car radios, prostitution, drug dealing and muggings of schoolchildren.

Antioch tried to help beleaguered homeowners but got sued. The AP writer, Paul Elias, says, “City Attorney Lynn Tracy Nerland denied any discrimination on the part of police and said officers were responding to crime reports in troubled neighborhoods when they discovered that a large number of the troublemakers were receiving federal subsidies.”

Richard Soderholm, notes this breathtaking quote from Joseph Villareal, Contra Costa County’s Housing Chief, “One of the goals of the programs is to de-concentrate poverty,” Villarreal said. “There are just some people who don’t want to spend public money that way.”

Here’s how the NY Times covered the same Section 8 housing problem in August 2008.

One observer responded to the AP story this way:

Jane Byrne, Dailey-I’s secretary and later mayor herself, moved into Cabrini Green to show it (subsidized housing) worked. Even though she had police protection 24- 7, she moved back out 90 days or so later. It doesn’t work.

Even (especially) the people who live there know it doesn’t work and suffer most. Look up Cabrini Green (Chicago Housing Development) on Wickipedia. Enjoy the picture of one of their high rises wrapped in chain link fabric in response to the tenants throwing each other off the balconies. Ho Ho Ho - what fun! What social justice!

The long term solution is cultural change. Tom Sowell, Walter Williams, Shelby Steele, etc. should lead the way with lots of authority to get stuff done, change law and kick activists out of the process. Ultimately, such persons should be called on to account for their chronic opposition - reconsile it to the results they achieve.
Short term solution is to recognize chronic assailants, criminals, gangs, etc. as seditious to our government and treat them as treasoners attempting to ovrthrow it.

Change the rules to match the problem. Tell them the freight train is coming - that second offenses will get them free room and board on labor gangs for long enough that they’ll be too old to make trouble by the time they get out - then keep the promise.

But therein is our problem. We can’t discuss it and take effective action because of the large foundation of activists and obstructionists that confound our society at every turn - just to make themselves felt.

If you want to read up on this problem that is poking the eyes of middle class neighborhoods around the country, read Howard Husock’s “America’s Trillion-Dollar Housing Mistake: The Failure of American Housing Policy.”

Husock argues that what we are really talking about is the impact of broken single-parent families, illegitamcy addiction, and generations of welfare culture dependent on government handouts instead of a culture of work and abstinence. Plainly, the values of Section 8 renters do do match up with the values of middle class homeowners with a culture of work, family, and responsibility. Hence the friction.

But government over regulation leads to constraints on better housing that only creates further subsidies that exacerbate the problems. Best to wean poor communities out of false escape from the ghetto that Section 8 provides.

City and County officials along with Congressman Miller, and state representatives Hancock, DeSaulnier and Torlakson ought to put time limits on Section 8 rental vouchers to stem this epidemic. Instead they ought to encourage and help cities by providing safe streets, effective schools, attractive recreation, and work-oriented, value-laden social programs. Cities and the County can further help by controlling their own costs, lowering taxes, minimizing regulation, and encouraging private housing and commercial development in blown out areas. Government ought to encourage area Congregations to get out of the pews and help the neediest with literacy, job training, and family support.

We’ve proven Section 8 does not work in Contra Costa. Let’s try something better.

Lately it is looking more and more like the latter; especially when you have a potential Republican National Committee (RNC) Chair sending out racist parodies of the president elect as Christmas gifts. Chip Saltsman, distributed a CD containing “Barack the Magic Negro” as part of his campaign to be elected chairman of the Republican National Committee.

There were the usual repudiations from the usual suspects. RNC chair Mike Duncan issued a statement Saturday distancing the party’s leadership from Saltsman and Newt Gingrich wrote an article in the Washington Times. The larger question is how long is this sort of self inflicted damage going to continue? I don’t know, but one thing I do know it will many wilderness years until the Republican Party recovers!

We’re not really sure Kelly’s campaign spam will end up in your mailbox or not, but being mentioned as having anything to do with “Internet Security” is akin to being appointed Fairy Dust Dispenser General. So this supposedly hot Internet background isn’t necessarily all that reassuring. This is especially true if your PR people yakking to Michael Arrington at TechCrunch can’t get your opponents’ names straight. Wait till Kelly gets in the ring with Hardworking Joe.