Do police and firefighters (who, oddly enough, have almost the same chance of dying on the job) really have higher workplace fatality rates than other occupations? Yes. And no. Check out the 2006 fatality statistics published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor. The national average mortality rate on the job for all occupations is 4 deaths per 100,000 workers. Police …
Johnny Carson skit as politico hooked to lie detector
Revisit this fine example of political humor. When you say the word ‘timeless,’ you have to agree this clip from Johnny Carson is just that. It was originally broadcast in 1982, but is as accurate today as it was then. Watch as Johnny plays a politician who has agreed to be hooked up to a lie detector for his press …
Mayor willing to let some die to get his tax increase
Here is a detailed story concerning the “town hall meetings” currently being staged by San Diego’s Mayor Jerry Sanders. These show trials would bring a smile to the face of any veteran commie reeducation camp commandant. Who is on trial, you ask? The taxpayers of San Diego, that’s who! The message is simple — if you simpletons don’t vote for …
Beating a dead Golden Bear — California vs. Texas
California is the benchmark that every state west of the Mississippi loves to compare itself to. Probably every one of these states’ business development agencies has a chart with “California vs. us” criteria. Guess who wins every time? Here’s a detailed study that just came out comparing CA with TX. The research firm is headed by Arthur Laffer. The results? …
The breathtaking dishonesty of the NY TIMES
The blatantly liberal bias of the NEW YORK TIMES is universally recognized — except, of course, by liberals. It’s a great mystery to the TIMES why it is losing readership at such a rapid rate — the editors fail to connect the dots. Over the years, I’ve learned how useless and indeed dishonest the TIMES is when reporting on political …
Govt employee clueless on private sector salaries
To see how out of touch government employees are with the private sector, consider this quote from a KPBS article on San Diego County pay raises (I’m quoted in the article as well): Michelle Bush of the District Attorney’s Office . . . : “Our DDA1’s start out around $55,000 to $60,000 a year,” she said. “We’re talking about an …
Richard Rider in Prop 21 “debate” on KUSI
Here’s a video of a KUSI TV “debate” I did 9/27/10. The proponents sent a high government parks employee, doubtless ON THE CLOCK (complete with ranger uniform and Smokey the Bear hat), to give an “informational” presentation — but NOT an ADVOCACY presentation. Uh huh. RIGHT! He wouldn’t face me in a debate, so he went first by himself. He …
Prop Recommendations — San Diego Tax Fighters
California State Propositions — Nov. 2010 Prop Vote Description 19 Yes Legalize and tax marijuana 20 Yes Congressional district re-drawn by a committee 21 No $18 vehicle fee a year to fund state parks 22 Yes State government prohibited from taking local funds 23 Yes Suspend AB 32, the “Global Warming Solutions Act” 24 No Eliminates three business tax breaks …
Private library company in San Diego
With our San Diego city council slashing local library hours and services — cutting the library budget 24% — perhaps it’s time for our wise leaders to look at what Riverside County did over a decade ago. The county, with 34 branches, contracted out the operation of their libraries to a private firm (LSSI), and today the county supervisors are …
Jerry Brown pension may cost him the election
The story below could cost Jerry Brown the election this November. Brown gets a lucrative state pension for his relatively short time in state government. No surprise there. But what IS scandalous is that the state’s secrecy over such pensions. More important for Brown, he is credited with MANY more years’ state service than he seems to have earned, boosting …
Evidence the SD sales tax is doomed
When the San Diego city sales tax was first agreed to this week by the city council, there was a short “Breaking News” piece on the U-T website. The next day there were over 200 comments. But what struck me was the OVERWHELMING rejection of the tax by commenters. Normally there is a hyperactive cadre of government employees commenting away …
The perfect candidate for Congress — or whatever
This campaign ad could work for a candidate in either party! It should be shown in our schools. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQ5cGYBV2TQ
CalPERS complicit in Bell scandal — they lied
Recently CalPERS expressed shock and surprise at the huge public administrator salaries in the small, poor city of Bell. But they lied. Turns out that FOUR YEARS AGO internal memos at CalPERS expressed concerns about this rip-off — but no action was taken. Even more outrageous, CalPERS stated that while it was a problem to give huge pay increases (and …
City of Bell scandal continues to grow
The scandal in the city of Bell continues to grow — and to toll the death knell for runaway government pay and benefits. It’s hard to imagine that this raped city will not declare bankruptcy shortly. Breaking News: More Bell City Employees Were Receiving Big-Time Salaries Written by James Spencer August 6, 2010 The phone still rings in the city …
How Bell got poor taxpayers to unwittingly pay for their huge salaries
The outrageous story of the hapless city of Bell, California is now widely known across the nation. A group of city politicians led by City Manager Rizzo allegedly colluded to pay themselves obscene salaries in a poor city of under 40,000 residents. The disgraced city manager has resigned, losing his $790,000 salary. But not to worry — he’ll get by …
ZOMBIE SALES TAX RETURNS YET AGAIN
SALES TAX IS NOT DEAD YET! We enjoyed some brief success yesterday (Monday, 26 July, 2010) when Donna Frye threw a monkey wrench into the San Diego City Council majority’s plan to put a sales tax on the ballot. As you probably all know by now, she joined with Carl DeMaio and Kevin Faulconer to torpedo a sales tax increase …
Don’t pay ANY benefits to city managers
There’s an interesting ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER story about a San Juan city manager who draws two salaries. Of course, the reader indignation abounds, and not without good reason. But there’s an intriguing, positive aspect of the story that has been largely ignored. The city manager is doing his job WITHOUT A PENSION or other benefits. He’s on contract — his …
From get-go, Petco Park study is bogus
This is a bogus study, from a group that quite likely is PAID to provide bogus studies. If I get the time, I’ll later run through some of the fatuous assumptions they used to reach their fatuous conclusions. This preordained result “consulting” is standard practice in politics. We’ve seen this with compromised actuaries providing skewed data to help approve foolish …
Obama’s hubris drives his drop in polls
President Obama’s popularity continues to head south. Explanations abound. Here’s mine. Obama’s problem is that, as the quintessential central planner, he had every confidence he could “make it all work” — what Nobel Economist Friedrich Hayek called “the fatal conceit.” Obama made scores of performance promises, and delivered on almost none of them — while screwing things up royally because …
Steve Rosen’s opponent makes convincing case for voting for Rosen for SDUSD
The item below is a compelling “Exhibit A” for convincing Republicans, Libertarians, and perhaps many “Decline to State” and AIP voters to support and contribute to the Steve Rosen campaign for the San Diego Unified School District Board. http://www.rosenforschools.com/ (As the San Diego political cognizanti know, Steve made the runoff by a tight margin, beating the complacent incumbent for the …
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