[alan]

Re the above speculation, other states are having financial troubles too, though the budgetary problems of California seem to stand out, like the proverbial sore thumb. I note that even Pennsylvania, my current state of residence, has come up with a budget, sort of.

In any event, while it appears, once again, that California pols will not meet the annual state budget deadline, the state legislature seems to have absolutely no problems with proposing ever more ridiculous and draconian "gun laws".

Given the state of things, what with budgets being a necessity, while other forms of legislation are "optional", at the risk of doing California and it's legislature, it's government an injustice, the choices taken between necessary and optional items do seem to be somewhat strange, don't they?

[Cal4D4]

Our politicos never make the budget deadline. Our debt problems are temporary, solved by our massive tax revenues. As soon as the rate of increase in spending is adjusted for current economics the problem will be solved. Tons of new spending (which we had somehow managed to survive without) came about during the IT boom. News of some sort reported our population has tripled in 50 years and spending has gone up 100x. Sure are alot of give aways here.

As for our laws, I don't see that we are so different from what's reported from any other populous state. I think the pendulum is swinging conservative, but liberal and oppressive special interest groups have flourished in our permissive Kali environment.

Edited to add... No legislative body state or federal is giving any serious Constitutional test to the laws they propose and pass. Same for SCOTUS.

[swifter]

We're seeing what happens to a state with the politics dominated by leftist democRats. :barf: This used to be a nice place to live.:cuss:
Tom

[Cal4D4]

I think it goes beyond just the democrat/republican labels. Nobody is controlling the acts of the legislators and judges. Add in the control of teacher's unions, police unions and gov't corrupted by all the other power players and you have the convoluted playing field we see today.

[Tamara]

Let's not forget that the state.gov got addicted to mainlining pure, uncut tax revenues during the tech boom of the '80s and '90s. With the bubble burst and the survivors migrating to other states, the goose that laid the golden eggs is gone, but the egg habit lingers on.

[wingman]

Calif. for me has been an cultural experiment went bad. At this point I believe the only answer would be too cut off all welfare/social programs now. I also fear so goes CA. the rest of the country may follow.

I must admit I have not read the following author however some articles on his book gives good answers on calif. problems.





Independence Day 2002 comes with the threat of terrorism, but there is another threat that many Americans still have not fully comprehended. They would do well to consider the way their nation is being transformed by a virtual torrent of illegal aliens from Mexico. The issue is not that they are Mexicans, but the sheer volume of their numbers. America has become a nation that cannot maintain its borders, nor manage immigration that is three times higher than the next highest receiving nation.

In the first six months of this year, the US Border Patrol apprehended
176,655 illegal aliens in just the 21-mile Douglas, Arizona, section alone! The same individual may be apprehended more than once and the Border Patrol estimates that, for every one that is caught, three to five are not! Since 1983, at least a half-million illegal aliens have entered the US from our southern border.

According to a study commissioned by Americans for Immigration Control, Inc., 58% of Mexican respondents said that the US Southwest "belonged" to Mexico, while 28% disagreed. Asked if Mexicans should have the right to enter the US without permission, 57% agreed. By contrast, fully 65% of Americans asked whether illegal aliens should be granted amnesty and allowed to stay said no.

A study by the non-profit Center for Immigration Studies confirms that "annual immigration in 2030 will still approach 400,000 a year, 8.3 to 11.4 percent higher than the 370,000 estimated for 2000." The Mexican-born population of the United States will double to 18 million by the year 2030. There is a powerful incentive for this because, in the last decade, Mexican immigrants sent more than $45 billion to their relatives. In 2000, they sent $6 billion or about $17 million a day!

Are there elements of the Mexican government carrying out a strategic depopulation program, centered around approximately ninety communities within central and southern Mexico? Some informed sources believe this to be the case. Making matters worse, according to Rep. Tom Tancredo (CO-R), since 1996, there have been 118 incursions across the border into the US, 61 by Mexican military and 57 by Mexican law enforcement. At least 60% of the time, the Mexicans were armed. Sometimes US Border guards come under fire.

President Bush's enthusiastic support for yet another amnesty program for illegal aliens is just wrong, wrong, wrong. The entire population of illegal aliens granted amnesty in 1986 have been replaced by new ones. This is why, at current rates, between legal and illegal immigration into this nation, we will double our population within the lifetimes of today's college students.

In the last decade, the 11.2 million immigrants who arrived, plus the 6.4 million children born to immigrants living here, equal 70% of the nation's population growth. That's just flat-out too much, too fast.

Alan Caruba is the author of "America: A Nation Without Borders", available exclusively from www.anxietycenter.com, the Internet site of The National AnxietyCenter.

[alan]

Cal4D4:

How about a French to English translation of your closing.

Thank you.

[Cal4D4]

Alan...

Another THR'r translated "Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me" into French about the time Chirac was stabbing Colin Powell in the back. If the translation is inaccurate or ribald, I appologize!

[4570Rick]

The only bright spot as I see it is, for a short time, they can't spend any of my money.:rolleyes:

[Standing Wolf]

I miss the People's Republic of California about 1% as much as I'd miss a dose of some wretched venereal disease.

[alan]

Cal4D4:

Thanks for the translation. At one time I could read some French, alas time surely has passed.

Nothing "ribald" about it, rather there is a great deal of common sense inherent in the thought it presents.