Category Archives: California

Rich People Can Be Really Stupid

Marin County, California is one of the country’s wealthiest counties.  It also has one of the lowest rates of childhood vaccinations.

Which is probably why it has the second highest rate of whooping cough (a disease which should no longer exist in the U. S.) in California.  Ten babies died of whooping cough in California in 2010.

But these same people have no qualms about stuffing their kids full of ADHD drugs, because no one in this county can accept that their kid isn’t just average in school.  Lake Wobegon on the Pacific.

Between the crazy bible people and the crazy new age people, this country is going to hell.

Well, That Explains It

Now that we know the IRS was scrutinizing the entire political spectrum, looking for a level of political activity that would disqualify groups from a 501(c)(4) tax exemption with key words like “progressive” as well as words like “Tea Party,” I was wondering why the original Inspector General report that triggered this whole BS “scandal” mentioned only conservative groups.

It’s because Congressman Darrell Issa (R-CA), the ringmaster of this circus, asked for an audit limited to targeting of conservative groups.

So we’ve come full circle.  He’s an even bigger piece of shit than I thought.

For more, see “Sander Levin:  IRS tea party probe ‘flawed in a fundamental way,’ Lauren French, Politico; “Darrell Issa’s credibility is over,” Alex Seitz-Wald, Salon.com; “Documents Show Liberals in I.R.S. Dragnet,” Jonathan Weisman, NYT

Jindal Popular With His Party, But Not His People

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal has backed away from his budget plan to eliminate the state’s income and corporate taxes while raising the sales tax and heavily cutting health care and education.  Jindal’s approval rating has dropped to 38%, while support for his plan was at 27%.

Jindal is also one of the GOP governors refusing to expand Medicaid under Obamacare, even though the federal government initially pays for the entire expansion and subsequently pays for almost all of it.  Businesses support the expansion — why wouldn’t they want a healthier work force?

Jindal’s failed budget in some ways makes him a canary in the coal mine for GOP policies.  He’s very much in line with his party and groups like the Club for Growth, but not so much with his red state’s voters, who saw his budget as giving to the rich at the expense of the poor and middle class.

If Jindal really hopes to run in 2016, he needs to thread the needle of re-gaining his popularity at home while hewing to GOP orthodoxy.

The GOP seems to think its hope come from its governors, but when you try to enact its principles in the states, people don’t like the results.  It’s much easier for a congressman like Paul Ryan or senator like Rand Paul to spout this inequality-extending stuff in theory than to live with its unfair consequences in practice.