Quote of the Day

Here is the quote of the day Alan Grayson Epic Fail – Dumb Ad Ends His Own Political Career http://conservativeblogscentral.blogspot.com/2010/09/alan-grayson-epic-fail-dumb-ad-ends-his.html

If you’re dropping more than $100 million of your own scratch on a campaign, I wouldn’t sweat rhetorical overkill.

It’s a memorable line.

It’s a pretty lame line, actually.

I’d like Henry Calhoun for the block.

Memorable, Michael?
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Man, your standards are low…

As the old saying goes “If the shoe fits wear it”.
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I think it fit Jerry Brown to perfection.

“Putting Jerry Brown in charge of negotiating with labor unions around pensions, around how many people we have in state government, is like putting Count Dracula in charge of a blood bank.”
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That’s pretty poorly constructed.
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“Putting Jerry Brown in charge of negotiating with labor unions is like putting Count Dracula in charge of a blood bank”
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Was the delivery as clunky as the quote?

And the reverse of this would be layoffs and outsourcing of state government positions to foreign countries?

And how well do you know Jerry to make that determination, 3x?
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Or does the “D” after his name give you all the insight you need?

Remember, 3x, he’s the same age as you so that makes him wise and likeable, by your previously-stated guidelines..

Slam and dunk…………no matter how the little liberal twits on here try to spin it otherwise. Priceless!!

Meg Whitman casting aspersions on the character of Jerry Brown is like Meg Whitman complaining about illegal immigration.

In basketball parlance… more of a “brick” than a “slam dunk”.
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Try harder.

Ms Whitman’s problems with her fired maid (an undocumented worker) will surely trump any cute pre-fab quote she makes about Jerry Brown.

I watched the debate. Did you Michael? The line was hardly memorable. Now, Jerry had them laughing with him not against him. AG Brown was passionate. The Brown I remember from my youth. Whitman was like a dimpled automaton. She always reminds me of the dimpled, chubby little girl in school who took tap dancing lessons and loved to show off her skills. She also tried mighty hard to be the teacher’s pet but failed miserably. That may work in Whitman’s corporate world but in cut throat Sacramento politics she will be as helpless as Ahnold was.

I guess we will see whether it’s another desperate smear job by Democrats and that Gloria Allred is Chuck Schumer in drag.

“The documents, which Whitman claims Nicky filled out and signed back in 2000 during her application for employment, appear to show that the maid stated under the penalty of perjury that she was a “lawful permanent resident” of the United States.

Whitman also claims Nicky provided her with a social security card and valid California Driver’s License with her employment application”
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Yeah, don’t quit your day job, Crowley…oh, wait!

Yes what California desperately needs right now is another union lap dog like AG Moonbeam.

This is a non-partisan criticism here. Heck, I would say this even if you quoted my beloved and saintly mother saying this — the Dracula/Blood Bank line is almost as old and hackneyed as the Fox/Henhouse cliche it’s based on. Memorable? Really?

Thanks for the insight and the substance, Michael Crowley.
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You’re a credit to your profession.

Putting Jerry Brown in charge of anything is a stupid thing to do.

This guy’s whole philosophy is less, less, less for the residents of the state, more for the government.

Only in California could we have two dopes like this running for the top office. It happens every time. Both party’s political machines churn the least offensive candidates to the “top.” This state is doomed.

Here’s a math quiz: How can you afford to pay state employees retirement and benefits at 100% of their salary, retirement age 65, when you have an anti-business climate, employers fleeing the state, an unemployment rate of 12.3% and rising, and one of the highest tax rates in the country?

Come on you progressives, this is your testing ground. It’s working out so well here. In fact, I invite you to move here: I suggest East LA, or you might like the democrats swamp and murder capital of the US: San Bernardino. It’s where San Francisco sends its criminal illegal aliens via Greyhound.

“She always reminds me of the dimpled, chubby little girl in school who took tap dancing lessons and loved to show off her skills.”

. Pow! Smack! That’s rich – like Bette Davis’s Baby Jane. Whitman’s “maid” problem should just about do her in. All the Dems need to do is get out the vote in the barrios of LA and SF, and the eastern surburbs of LA County and Whitman is toast.

I’ve got kids living out there, meltdown.
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One’s an IT consultant. Haven’t heard him say he was either getting ready to move or slash his wrists over the state of the economy. Actually, he seems to be doing pretty well.
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Let me guess… your solution to CA’s problems would be to slash taxes to the upper-bracket earners, right? I’m sure Meg would appreciate it.

I for one am glad that he was here to tell me that Meg Whitman doesn’t think her opponent would make a very good governor. I was confused about it at first. I was all like, “I bet she even votes for him.” But now I know better.

Nah afguy, the state will continue down the same path. Nobody would dare cut taxes here. There would be blood in the streets.

Glad you kid is doing well for now. I’m sure he’s looking over his shoulder.

For the millions of out of work Californians, do you have a solution? Or, because your kid has a job, you don’t believe that there is a problem?

http://thebusinessrelocationcoach.blogspot.com/2010/09/144-companies-shrink-from-calif-this_21.html

The pace of businesses disinvesting in California has accelerated. In a period just shy of the first three quarters of this year, 144 companies have engaged in California Disinvestment Events – nearly three times the level detected for all of 2009.

Quite clearly, the exodus of businesses out of California continues. It makes sense for companies to reduce their California footprint considering the ample supply of attractive, lower-cost alternative locations. Unless California reduces its hostility toward business, we will see more commercial enterprises seeking friendlier locations in which to relocate entirely or at least place facilities there that used to be located here.

You don’t think some of their problems are associated with the ballot initiative process in Cali?

“Come on you progressives, this is your testing ground.”
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Oh, no. California is Ronald Reagan’s testing ground. He got to watch his scorched-earth tax dogma be implemented there before he went on to wreck the rest of the country. I say let Whitman have it. Thanks to “conservative” politicians and the free-lunch mentality they’ve inculcated in many California voters, the state is currently ungovernable.

…at the root of California’s misery lies Proposition 13, the antitax measure that ignited the Reagan Revolution and the conservative era. In Washington, the Reagan-Bush era is over. But in California, the conservative legacy lives on.

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1904938,00.html

You have to wonder why Brown is even or slightly ahead after she has spent nearly 120 million. Is it possible that she isn’t a very good candidate.

One of Jerry’s lines is something to the effect that she says we need a business person – we tried that last time and it hasn’t worked out very well.

shepherd, you must be kidding. One tax iniative that stopped the state from taxing old people out of their homes is the cause of all the ills in California. And Ronald Reagan was over thirty years ago. Since then, it’s been controlled by liberals who constantly raise taxes and push regulations that make California one of the most unfriendly states to business in the country.

Farmers have their water, needed for irrigation of some of the world’s richest farmland, turned off a judges, and the state does nothing. Well, it does do something, it files lawsuits to stop construction.

Since you don’t live here, you really don’t know. The state employee unions control the legislature.

Whitman spends $120 million on her campaign and that’s the best line her writers can come up with?

You know who should stay at home for this and every election cycle? The Political Pundits/Village Idiots.. the Michael Crowley’s and the Michael Scherer’s of the world.
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When will Village idiots ever suffer from “enthusiasm gap”?

No, I’m not kidding and neither was O’Leary, though I’m not the least bit surprised that it might appear that way to someone who doesn’t know what they’re talking about. Speaking of which, how do you know I don’t/didn’t live in California?

Your idea that the state be allowed to constantly raise property taxes and effectively tax senior citizens out of their homes, shows no compassion. It does shed light on how much you value government. Government ober alles.

California has one of the highest sales tax rates, personal income tax rate and tax on business, vehicle license fees.

But, you want to tax old people out of their homes. I’m speechless.

“Your idea that the state be allowed to constantly raise property taxes and effectively tax senior citizens out of their homes, shows no compassion…I’m speechless.”
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Good. That’s my favorite kind of idiot.

Say Whitman did everything by the book, as she claims.
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She kicked this “member of the family” out with no offer of help?
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The visuals are, what is the word, problematic?

Actually, he’s good enough to have customers in Indiana, Arizona and Tenn.
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I get to see him when he flies thru every once in a while.

It is possible to cut a tax break for old folks in their homes without giving the same tax break to corporations, who on average hold properties (and thus avoid re-assessment) years longer than individual homeowners. In my town, one with a very healthy employment base (near Silicon Valley), the corporate share of property taxes paid has fallen steadily since 1978, even as the number of jobs in the community has climbed exponentially in that time frame. It seems to be a right wing tenet to profess compassion for the old folks (or small businesses or other economically disadvantaged groups) while using them as cover for breaks for top bracket earners and corporations.

And I will say, our area is doing just fine. Real estate is suffering not because people don’t want to buy, but because they cannot obtain financing. Apart from that, Highway 85 is busier every week; a good indicator of local economic activity. California is hurting primarily in areas that more resemble Arizona or Florida (politically too, I must say) – the red parts of the state, where economic growth was being driven by the real estate bubble. I don’t think our tax policy should be driven by that.

That may be possible calkate, but liberals never proposed any tax break for anyone in regards to property taxes.

Do the rest of you have any ideas? Or, just more of the same? Tax, tax, tax, tax.

By the way afguy, what’s your son’s effective tax rate? Have him add them all up. Is it 50% 60% higher? How high do you think we should tax him? 90%? When does the title indentured servant become his reality?

I am well into the top marginal tax brackets in CA and Federally, and I am well below 45% including payroll taxes, in average rates. No one pays 60%. I paid higher taxes in the go-go years of the 90s, and boy let me tell you i would be happy to have those years and pay those taxes.

Just checked – 37% state and federal combined. And Republicans and blue dogs want to extend my tax cuts. I’d rather spend it on a little stimulus for my fellow Californians in the central valley.

calkate, I said all taxes. You forgot sales taxes, if you own a home property taxes, taxes on all utilities, vehicle license fees, any other licenses and fees, etc.

So with a 8.75% sales tax rate and property taxes etc, you are around 50%.

Oh, I forgot the hidden taxes on gasoline which is about 1/4 of the price per gallon. Taxes on liquor that make up the majority of the cost. You, of course, wouldn’t smoke.

Oh, and I almost forgot. Social Security & Medicare Taxes including those that your employers pays on your behalf. Those add up to 15.3% right off the top.

So, now your effective tax rate is 37 + 15.3 + 10% for all the miscellanous taxes and fees.

So your real tax rate is 62.3%. You must be rich. But isn’t it nice that the government lets you keep 37.7% of what you earn?

Let me go a little off topic:

You know what I am sick of?

I am sick of right wing policies being called “pro-business”.

In most cases, this is total propaganda.

For example, think of environmental laws. If the MMS would have required an off switch, it would have been pro-fisherman, pro-tourism, pro-real estate.

Here in NYC, the city council is debating requiring businesses to offer employees nine paid sick days per year. 88% of all businesses already offer such. Most of the remainder are in construction and low wage restaurant jobs.

First, there are 250 workdays in a year. If all employees took all nine days off, that would be 3.6% increase in labor costs in the lowest paying jobs in the city. If it is universal, rather than individual, no business will lose out due to being good to their workers.

Second, I don’t know about anybody else, but, if I catch the flu from somebody serving me a sandwich or a delivery driver, I am going to stop ordering from that place.

Third, there is a new term called preesnteeism. It is when a workplace has sick people coming into work contaminating everybody else and ruining productivity.

Fourth, even when I had a job I really, really disliked intensely (an administrative job for a private company) with unlimited paid sick time, for five months I didn’t even sneeze. Since I was healthy, out of an infinate number of sick days (I, also, had long term disability insurance through the job – so, int theory, a con artist could play sick for the rest of their life and still get paid) I took exactly 0 days off.

Yet, when NYC wants to make a copy and paste of this San Francisco law, it is being called “anti-business”.

How is it really anti-business?

I, mean, really. Do you want your food prepared by sneezey and pukey? I’ll happily pay – realistically (since labor costs are about one quarter of the cost of a restaurant sandwich) one quarter of one percent more for my sandwich just knowing that the guy making it is not ill.

Meg Whitman is, clearly, somebody who thinks of legislation as pro or anti business like a light switch – no imagination.

I’m self employed. Plus I pay the employer’s share of payroll taxes for my 2 PT employees. So I think my extra payroll taxes, which I DID include in my 37%, more than cover all those other taxes – which incidentally people in other states pay too – i thought we were on a discussion of how relatively awful california is. Oh, and I have owned my (modest) home for ever – so i pay almost nothing in property taxes. And I am not a big consumer, so i sure don’t pay 8.75 percent in sales tax on my INCOME. So, maybe 40%. And I am rich indeed and know it, relative to most other people, and i do not mind paying my fair share. I would like it if proportionally my flat broke sister did not pay more in taxes than i do, since she pays payroll taxes on every cent of her income, and sales tax on all the rest, since it too is a regressive tax for low income people who spend all their disposable income. See, I am in favor of progressive taxation, and 50% or more has never slowed an economy down yet.else.

She really just means pro-rich and anti-rich. “Business” is a euphemism.

So, 13.16 what your argument boils down to is: I got mine, I don’t pay that much, screw the rest of you.

I am paraphrasing what the progressives here say about those rich people. By the way, that would be you.

I don’t pay close to what you pay. I don’t make that much. If I did, I would find a worthy charity, a church, to donate to. Government wastes your money.

I attend a church in a poor neighborhood, you might call it a ghetto. We feed 750,000 people a year. No questions asked. We also give to people around the world. We not only feed them physically, but most importantly we feed their spirit.

Show me a government program that does that.

Average 2,055 people per day? That’s quite an operation. How many volunteers work at the program?

BTW, it should come as no surprise that Whitman’s line about putting Dracula in charge of the Blood Bank is not original to her. Here’s one precursor: http://www.selectsmart.com/DISCUSS/read.php?16,607734 and you can find many more by simply goodling the phrase.
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I do suspect that the Governator’s line about having Eva Braun write a kosher cookbook was original to him (or his speechwriter). Tastless, and perhaps even pointless (how many of his listeners knew who Eva Braun was?), but original.

No what it boils down to is: spare me the complaints about raising taxes – they will be raised on people like me, who actually are not paying that much. No progressive out there is trying to raise them for lower income brackets. I agree that churches and many other charities are fantastic and do a better job than government at certain functions. But government still builds our infrastructure, attempts to safeguard the public trust that is our environment, funds our public education, pays for our defense, and provides a social safety net that does not rely on charity. It should have sufficient revenue to perform those functions, even if it is not always perfect at performing them (and find me a business out there that is – waste occurs in every organization – they are all made of people). I don’t think we are really so opposed to each other – i just think you were wrong in saying that Californians are taxes to death – some of us are not taxed nearly as much as people like to claim we are.

Again you comments calkate, just say “I got mine, screw the rest of you.” I own my home forever…low property taxes.

I guess you really don’t care about young people, or someone trying to start a business. Go ahead, tax the crap out of them.

Who gives a sh@t if the line is original? None of these people are original. They’re all the same throughout history. Or, do you think that every generation reinvents the politician.

I know some of you do, ala Barrack Obama. How’s that Frankenstein working out for you?