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Old 04-09-2010, 04:41 PM
 
Location: South Bay
7,226 posts, read 22,097,607 times
Reputation: 3626

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Quote:
Originally Posted by mysticaltyger View Post
Agreed. Just one thing I would add. California should figure out a way to reduce costs for the MediCal program. We blow so much money on medical care in this country!!! IMO, if we could still insure all the poor people and have money left over if we foucused on prevention and more efficient delivery of care.
isn't obama taking care of this for us?
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Old 04-09-2010, 06:08 PM
 
6,497 posts, read 11,768,838 times
Reputation: 11122
Quote:
Originally Posted by BRinSM View Post
isn't obama taking care of this for us?
Not in time for CA.
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Old 04-09-2010, 08:45 PM
 
61 posts, read 127,937 times
Reputation: 46
Quote:
Originally Posted by californio sur View Post
Gross exaggerations don't make you correct. California is easily considered the most admired state in the nation & a major global destination. But if you prefer to focus on your grievances with California that is your choice but I don't think you are convincing anyone else except those who have left California still nursing their wounds. There are 49 other states you know?
You are so out of touch with reality , there is no point in discussing this with you . None of my statements are gross exaggerations there are hard cold fact , you can't disprove anything I have said . You are just a blind ideologue and California is not the most admired state in the union by a long shot , in fact right now it is the laughing stock of the country and the butt of late night comedy , just watch Jay Leno sometimes from L.A. It once was the most admired state in the country and could be once again but if California does not get away from this tax and spend culture it will continue to slid into the abyss .
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Old 04-09-2010, 10:33 PM
 
30,855 posts, read 36,746,227 times
Reputation: 34384
Quote:
Originally Posted by californio sur View Post
There's no room in the nation for racists and if the Republican party wants them than they also need to take the scorn of Americans. You can't cater to bigots & expect to be called civilized. The GOP cake is hate [anti-gay included] yet they don't want to eat it in the end when rejected over & over in California.
My point is, the Southern Democrats did, indeed cater to bigots in the not all too distant past, but that fact is conveniently forgotten by todays liberals and ignored by the liberal media. The Dems were never tarnished with the "racist" label during the civil rights era, even though many Southern Democrats were, indeed, racist.
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Old 04-09-2010, 10:50 PM
 
30,855 posts, read 36,746,227 times
Reputation: 34384
Quote:
Originally Posted by californio sur View Post
That's another reason I believe makes Brown a better pick for governor. He is old enough to care less about polls or how much fellow politicians hate him. Whitman would probably cave in the first time she would have to make an unpopular decision. Frankly, I don't think she knows what kind of snake pit California government is. Are other states like this? Is this the way it is & we either accept it or ignore it?
I see your point on this. I agree about Whitman not knowing how to deal with state government. The way to get things done in government is often not the same as it is in private industry.

I have to say I DO think Brown was a decent mayor of Oakland, especially compared with the laughingstock they have now. If he's elected, I hope he'll make the tough & pragmatic reforms that are necessary. He'd certainly be better than that our last Dem. governor, Gray Davis, who was an incompetent hack. Maybe the Dems will be willing to take action on the tough reforms that are needed from Brown where they wouldn't with a Republican Gov.

But that seems like a longshot to me, especially since Brown allowed for changes in the law when he was governor that allowed the greed of public sector unions to run unchecked.
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Old 04-09-2010, 10:56 PM
 
30,855 posts, read 36,746,227 times
Reputation: 34384
Quote:
Originally Posted by BRinSM View Post
isn't obama taking care of this for us?
Almost no one with any degree of objectivity thinks the health care bill is going to do anything to reign in costs. Even Obama enthusiast Warren Buffet said as much in a recent interview.
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Old 04-09-2010, 11:14 PM
 
Location: Pasadena
7,411 posts, read 10,319,435 times
Reputation: 1802
Quote:
Originally Posted by mysticaltyger View Post
I see your point on this. I agree about Whitman not knowing how to deal with state government. The way to get things done in government is often not the same as it is in private industry.

I have to say I DO think Brown was a decent mayor of Oakland, especially compared with the laughingstock they have now. If he's elected, I hope he'll make the tough & pragmatic reforms that are necessary. He'd certainly be better than that our last Dem. governor, Gray Davis, who was an incompetent hack. Maybe the Dems will be willing to take action on the tough reforms that are needed from Brown where they wouldn't with a Republican Gov.

But that seems like a longshot to me, especially since Brown allowed for changes in the law when he was governor that allowed the greed of public sector unions to run unchecked.
Maybe it is me but I don't get too excited about the prospects for change in California. Schwarzenegger was as accommodating to the legislature as any previous governor yet very little has been accomplished. Or perhaps we will see improvement when the economy recovers. Part of the reason some other states are less in debt than California is because they don't care if the air & water is bad so they let industry do whatever they want. Houston Texas has air quality similar to Los Angeles & has none of the geographic variables [no mountains surrounding Houston, frequent coastal fog, very low wind speeds\ air inversions] yet smog is almost as bad as California's Central valley. People in California refuse to compromise on health issues over individual prosperity. There is a price we pay to live in California & some people will never understand or accept that fact. That's why they are miserable & rag on California non-stop.
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Old 04-11-2010, 11:13 AM
 
30,855 posts, read 36,746,227 times
Reputation: 34384
Quote:
Originally Posted by californio sur View Post
Maybe it is me but I don't get too excited about the prospects for change in California. Schwarzenegger was as accommodating to the legislature as any previous governor yet very little has been accomplished. Or perhaps we will see improvement when the economy recovers. Part of the reason some other states are less in debt than California is because they don't care if the air & water is bad so they let industry do whatever they want. Houston Texas has air quality similar to Los Angeles & has none of the geographic variables [no mountains surrounding Houston, frequent coastal fog, very low wind speeds\ air inversions] yet smog is almost as bad as California's Central valley. People in California refuse to compromise on health issues over individual prosperity. There is a price we pay to live in California & some people will never understand or accept that fact. That's why they are miserable & rag on California non-stop.
I agree with you on Arnold. He did try to accommodate the legislature and accomplished little. It didn't help that he alienated them during his election campaign and immediately after he got elected. But I think the real problem with the legislature is there are too many "safe seats" because of gerrymandered district boundaries. It allows Dems to go far to the left and Reps to go far to the right.

I think if California were ONLY strict about the air and water quality, then it might not be so bad. However, the state carries this mindset of needing more, more, more regulations over to everything. At some point, the cost of regulations outweighs the benefit. I think it's fair to say we've probably hit that point in many areas of regulation. But bad regulations have a way of staying on the books whether they are useful or not.

By the way, it's true that Houston doesn't have great air. That said, did you know that air quality is actually IMPROVING ALMOST EVERYWHERE in the US (including Houston)??? You wouldn't know that from the media reports but it's true. (They never read: "Los Angeles Air Quality Improves Faster than Houston's" They almost always read "Houston Overtakes Los Angeles for Nation's Worst Air Quality"). So, it's more accurate to say the air quality in Los Angeles is improving at a faster rate than it is in Houston. Since today's cars emit less pollution than cars made 10 years ago, that trend will continue. Same story for other sources of emissions.

By the way, I'm generally in favor of strong environmental legislation. But it is possible to overdo it on anything. Do we really need to siphon off water for agriculture (that is, food for humans!!!) to save some obscure fish named the Delta Smelt? Furthermore, much of the stuff done in the name of environmentalism is really done to protect the interests of the upper middle class & wealthy. A perfect example: The Bay Area fights new development and so the development occurs out in the Central Valley where people commute to the Bay Area in their cars for many miles, creating the same kind of traffic and pollution that people in the Bay Area say they're against. It's that kind of short sightedness that is very prevalent in California. We protect ourselves on one hand while shooting ourselves in the foot on the other because we look at issues so narrowly, often passing off our own selfish interests as being for the common good.

And even some left leaning people, like Joel Kotkin, are saying the same kind of thing:

http://www.newsweek.com/id/185791

Health issues are yet another example. While, air pollution, of course, is a threat to human health, it is not the most important factor at all. The 4 factors that are within our control that have a much bigger impact on our collective health are:

1. Maintaining a healthy weight
2. Exercising regularly
3. Not smoking
4. Eating a healthy diet.

If we all did these 4 things:

Diabetes risk would drop by 93%.
Heart disease risk would drop by 81%
Cancer risk would drop by 36%.

Key to Affordable Health Care: Healthier Lifestyles | LiveScience

So, people will complain about the government not controlling air pollution (some truth there) but ignoring the much more important facts that they're not eating right and not exercising.

By the way, here's a very good short book on eating right, since a lot of us have lost sight of how to do that:

Amazon.com: Food Rules: An Eater's Manual (9780143116387): Michael Pollan: Books

Last edited by mysticaltyger; 04-11-2010 at 11:25 AM..
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