Monday, June 18, 2012

Senator Lieu -- Did You Really?

Senator Lieu, I cannot believe that you passed another budget in Sacramento filled with "borrowing and gimmicks".

Give me a break!

Enough with the "Give Me's", please! The governor wants to enact sweeping cuts to welfare, which would actually improve the welfare of everyone in the state. Why should we burden hard-on-their-luck individuals with long-lines and dehumanizing bureaucracy just so they can get a "hand-out" from the state? All of this money just pushes up inflation, which makes it hard for anyone to buy anything, which makes it harder for businesses to open up, expand, and hire.

There is plenty of work, of money, of opportunity, Senator, but you need to leave well enough alone and stop making it easier for people not to live by the means and the talents which they possess in greater number.

Do you really believe that the majority of voters are going to support a tax increase this November? A Higher sales tax will mean fewer sales. A higher percentage of taxes on the wealthy will scare the wealth out of the state and into tax shelters, with neither the business class of the unemployed seeing any benefit.

The November tax increase will not do any good, even if it does pass. The state will not collect any more revenues. The political class has no more money to play with. They cannot keep passing around air and IOUs, hoping that some fairy will touch down and transform every redwood into easy green for us to spend.

I have to ask you, Senator. . ."What the hell are we paying you for?"

A better question. . .What they hell are we going to pay you with?"

There is no budgeting with thin air. There is no budgeting if the lawmakers are depending on initiatives months from now that may or may not pass. This kind of billing and passing is a bill of goods that simply does not pass the scratch and sniff test.

If you have to cut everything, then so be it. I see no purpose in a legislature that sits around and speculates on how much to spend when the money to speculate with is all gone. All gone.

Lawmakers Pass a "Budget" on Time

Whatever the Sacramento legislators cobbled together and rushed to Governor Brown's desk, that is not a budget, neither reasonable nor respectable.

The Sacramento political class rushes these bills through Congress, as if the State Controller will just look a glance as say, "Pass!" They ram their bills through like lazy students who have partied all month on Mom and Dad's dole, only to buckle down the night before to finish the research paper that would take a reasonable man a week to prepare.

The 2012-2013 budget is full of the same hype and tripe which floats around on easy gimmicks, rosy predictions growing cloudier by the minute, and minimized cuts which will not end the dominance of the state at the expense of the individual or small businesses.

Senate budget committee chairman Mark Leno of San Francisco described the budget passed from the Senate as "a budget which is painful yet hopeful, sobering yet with vision.""

I think these legislators need to sober up and give up the kool-aid "hope" which has drugged them to ignoring the increased pain weighing on the state.

The voters in California demand a responsible budget, not a hodge-podge of failures which tie together less money for the same number of services, like pouring a bathtub of red ink into a thimble and believing that nothing will spill out.

The deluge is upon us. The state is broke, and no one wants to fix it.

The Republicans are on call demanding that Governor Brown veto this sad attempt to prepare for the fiscal year.

"The bill is filled with borrowing and gimmicks," said State Senator Bill Emmerson of Riverside. How many of us are tired of hearing about "borrowing" and "gimmicks"? When will this insanity cease?

Perhaps Michigan Governor Rich Snyder should nominate one of his independent auditors to take over and cut what is bleeding over the rim of fiscal solvency.

No one in the majority will touch anything deep enough to enact the necessary austerity measures. The time has come to put an end to this fussy nonsense. Austerity is the word that we must get used to, or we can be sure that there will be nothing left to cut.

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Apology to the Napa and Solano Counties

As an unwilling constituent of Senator Ted Lieu in the South Bay region of Southern California, I want to apologize to all the Napa and Solano country rural residents who enjoy hunting and trapping. I never voted for the state senate who ended up on the state "Legislators to Watch" list. Watching him debate and promote the most inane and inappropriate of causes has created quite a stir.

Unless Senator Lieu has a soft spot for Winnie the Pooh, or he happens to be an avid Yogi Bear fan, I still fail to the see the force and fancy for banning the use of hunting dogs to track down bears.

I for one regret that the decisions of a suburban media hound has decided to hunt and kill the rights of hunters to hunt for game with their own hounds.

State Senator Ted Lieu has been micromanaging the most picky and picayune of issues during his tenure in the California legislature, from microchipping pets to banning the private sale of domestic animals. Instead of speaking up for more pressing and meaningful causes, like the dwindling business sector, the rise of unemployment, and the lack of opportunity for young people seeking and education and seeking work, Senator Lieu has also found time to attack landlords who want electronic rental payment as well as tanning salons and buy-here-pay-here car loans. We all would like to see our politicians care about the here and now as well as the far and away future of this state.

I believe that state legislators like Senator Lieu belong in a zoo, along with all the other odd-ball colleagues and odd pieces of legislation which are eating away at the individual liberties of Californians when our politicians could be implementing Governor Brown's 12-point pension reform, eliminating the waste, fraud, and redundant bureaucracy in our state, and providing a well-financed future based on lower taxes, more stable revenue streams, and greater autonomy for citizens and local office holders.

Once, I express my profound regret that a legislator from my district is causing so much trouble for rural residents who want to see less government, and would like to see government doing much less.

Thursday, June 7, 2012

Reinstate Prop 75

In 2005 with Proposition 75, Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger tried to put a cap on the easy political contributions that Democratic party operatives were receiving from public sector unions, including teachers. Early polling had suggested that the measure was going to pass, but when the votes were collected, the measure failed by six points, most likely due to last-minute union propagandizing.

Public sector workers collect union dues from their employees by force. Individuals employees have no power to protect where their dues go, and neither can they prevent the local union from taking their dues.

The whole arrangement is corrupt and unjust.

Senator Lieu, instead of protecting the collective bargaining rights of entire employee associations, why not protect the individual employee and permit him to choose whether he joins the union or not, and whether he chooses to offer union dues or not?

I believe that California voters must consider permitting the Golden State to become a "Right to Work" state as well, where the individual work can stand up to union leaders and choose not to join, not to donate, and therefore not to support the liberal cabal of Democratic-Unionist statism.

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

If Walker Did it, Why Won't You?

Senator Lieu, I believe that one of the largest and most protracted obstacles to budget reform in the state of California is the public sector union lobby. Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin, with his determined party caucus, passed budget reform and limits to public sector unions' collective bargaining rights. The state of California must invest in implementing similar measures quickly if the state every hopes to recover from the economic malaise sickening the state.

I am aware that service unions, public works associations, and peace officer unions have quite a strong hold on the levers of power in Sacramento.

I am also well aware that the number one goal of a legislator is to get reelected. The voters in this state are growing tired of legislators who pay attention to interest groups, not the best interests of the state and her citizens.

The taxpayers in the state of California deserve a legislature that responds to the needs of everyone, born and naturalized. The votes, the committees, the money that goes into Sacramento must be diverted to supplying the well-being of everyone.

We have schools in disrepair, we have roads crumbling under the weight of increasing traffic without proper reparation, and we see the business climate improving at an anemic pace, too slow to generate adequate job growth.

The power of the public unions has frozen the freedom of the legislature to enact fiscally responsible decisions which would benefit everyone in the State of California. The time is now for the legislature to begin enacting right to work laws, voluntary dues for union members, and an end to the power to strike during labor disagreements.

The public employees in this state have every right to form associations and discuss the needs of their members. However, the union leadership and the Establishment elements in the Democratic party have betrayed a blatant disregard for the growing issues except sound fiscal policy and limited government.

California was the golden state when miners streamed across the country looking for wealth. She can be a prosperous state again, but not if one section of the public sector is permitted to live without reason or regard off of the rest of the state and her residents. If the leadership in the Dairy State could pull off the necessary limits on state power, then what is preventing you and your progressive minded colleagues in Sacramento from pursuing the same policies?

On Lieu's Support for Crime Victims

Democratic state Sens. Ted Lieu of Redondo Beach and Fran Pavley of Agoura Hills this week introduced a bill aimed at providing support to victimized children who must testify in court.
Current laws allow trial assistance to be provided for youth who testify in homicide, dependent abuse and rape cases. Senate Bill 1091 calls for extending support to minors who are victims of sex crimes, including child pornography, pimping, pandering and sex trafficking.
"It makes no sense for children who are victims of sexually related crimes to not have the same right to confront their perpetrators without fear of retaliation that others have," Lieu said in a written statement.
---Art Marroquin, Daily Breeze, February 17, 2012


I do not know what to make of this bill.

Certainly, the trauma of a young victim to face accusers is a great strain, but how many individuals have been acquitted following false accusations from suggestive interviews which inadvertently prompted children to implicate others who had done nothing wrong?

The high incidence of accusations for sexual perversion are alarming, enough that the court system should enter heedlessly into preventing the testimony of young accusers from a proper cross examination.

If the state is concerned about the welfare of a young person following their testimony in court, then they deserve the most rigorous protections available under a witness protection program. Otherwise, to prevent the accused from facing the accuser would compromise the essential standard of equality under the law as well as frustrate the protections guaranteed in the Sixth Amendment of the United States Constitution.

Dangers of Reparative Therapy

May 29. 2012, a day that will live in invasive infamy for the residents of the state of California.

SB 1172, the prohibition against "gay aversion" therapy, was sponsored, supported, and sent through on a passing vote in the state Senate.

Senator Ted Lieu referred to dated and outdated data to shoot down conversion therapy for individuals who seek are who are sought to change their sexual preferences.

These matters do not belong in the halls of a state legislature.

The dangers posed by therapies of all sorts stem from greater issues, far beyond anything that politicians or legislators can debate in camera.

I am appalled at the extent to which nanny-state liberalism is creeping up and across the country. We need less government, we need politicians who will do as little as possible, and when they are done ensure that there is less for the government to do beyond protecting our rights and our borders, as well providing a sound fiscal future for the residents of the State of California.

The sexual preferences of individuals is the most inane of policy issues. Most families are too busy trying to pay off mortgages, most youth are too caught up in wondering whether they will be able to enroll in an acceptable college after graduating from high school, and that there will be an adequate job waiting for them when they receive a diploma. The rising cost of student loan debt, coupled with a sluggish economy and a fraying and failing infrastructure is more certainly weighing on people's minds far more than which sex someone wants to sleep with or marry.

The social issues are distracting us from the financial and structural problems which are eroding the best of what is left in the state of California. This "gay aversion" bill is just a stray diversion for Senator Lieu, who should be spending more time protecting taxpayers from paying out the bankrupt state and providing adequate public school reforms so that the youth of today will have an adulthood of tomorrow to look forward to.

Saturday, June 2, 2012

Buy Here, Pay Here Car Sales

Lieu bill regulating 'buy here, pay here' car loans passes state Senate State Senate voted 23-12 on Thursday to approve a South Bay lawmaker's bill aimed at regulating car dealers who offer "buy here, pay here" installment loans.

Senate Bill 956, introduced by state Sen. Ted Lieu, D-Redondo Beach, would require dealers to obtain a state lender's license so consumers are better protected when purchasing vehicles.
The bill now goes to the Assembly for consideration.
In some cases, consumers pay thousands of dollars more for a vehicle than it's worth while also paying high interest rates, Lieu said. The move sometimes leads to repossession, while the dealer keeps the down payment and resells the same vehicle.
The measure also would limit used-car installment loans to a maximum of 17.2 percent interest. The bill also calls for providing grace periods before a used car is repossessed.
"These buy-here, pay-here used-car dealers take advantage of our lack of laws to prey on desperate workers, low-income families and members of the military by pushing unregulated loans to sell cars for far beyond market value," Lieu said.
- Art Marroquin, Daily Breeze -- June 1, 2012

Senator Lieu wants to protect consumers from predatory car lenders. We would be better served if government would protect us from government mandates attempting to protect us.

How many of us have forgotten Reagan's nine most dangerous words in the English language: "I'm from the government, and I'm here to help."
If consumers are paying far more money at a higher interest rate for a car, then the responsibility for this financial decision lies with the consumer. Every individual purchasing a car must make the necessary effort to shop around and find the best price.

The more that government regulates the sale of automobiles, the fewer options there will be available for individuals when purchasing anything, including cars. Some individuals consumers settle for a higher interest rate because of previous purchase and banking choices. Some people simply have bad credit, and car salesmen should not have to shoulder the risk of selling a vehicle to someone who cannot afford it, or who does not have a record of timely repayment.

This country has already witnessed the massive failure of regulation and subsidy from the government in the housing market. There is no justifiable reason for Sacramento to get involved in the sale of used cars. The market system, left to itself, provides better mechanisms for punishing bad businesses than government ever can provide.

Our legislators need to get out of the way. Senator Lieu, the state of California does not need a lemon law. We need a government that does as little as possible.

Lieu Loses Pay From the Citizens' Compensation Commission

The Citizens' Compensation Commission just issued a 5% pay cut to the political class in Sacramento.

Senator Lieu, I do not object to your collecting a salary for serving as a state senator.

I do object to your using your time so poorly authoring and cosponsoring inane, frivolous, and irrelevant legislation which does not protect the rights of California, secure California's borders, or discharges the immense debt and yearly budget deficits which discourage investment and waste revenue on rising interest rates.

I am saddened that the Compensation Commission attacked so slight an expenditure as lawmakers' salaries. I would prefer a Commission which targeted and eliminated boards, agencies, and state departments which offer redundant, unnecessary,  and overlapping services, all at great cost to taxpayers without providing even the modicum of service.

I believe that a bipartisan commission which identified flippant and frivolous liscensure and permit issuances would serve the state better as well. The Governor of Michigan, Rick Snyder, had no choice but to institute private ombudsmen to implement necessary yet politically unpopular budget cuts in communities where local leadership refused to undertake the necessary reforms. Perhaps instituting this revival of the Roman Proconsul would permit the political class to instigate necessary budget cuts, but would shield them from the certain political fallout from affected interest groups.

Senator Lieu, when will you take charge for your district and your state and demand major deficit and spending reductions in the state capital? Your leadership on these matters would command a great deal more respect than piecemeal bills that protect pets, wild animals, and sharks.