california
california: Page 2
Discussed in (click each link for the full post):
2006: Gil Cedillo supports illegal immigration boycott, shills for cheap labor employers - 09/18/11
The video below has a 2006 speech from California state Assemblyman Gil Cedillo in support of a resolution supporting the "Great American Boycott" immigration march.
Jorge Ramos: most Californians support Mexico over U.S. in soccer; US is "latinizing" - 06/26/11
Yesterday, the U.S. soccer team faced off against the Mexican soccer team in the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. The Los Angeles Times headline says it all: "In Gold Cup final, it's red, white and boo again/Mexico rallies for a 4-2 win over U.S. behind overwhelming support at Rose Bowl. In what other country would the visitors have home-field advantage?" [1].
Yolo Sheriff Ed Prieto consults with Mexican government and opposes Secure Communities; "our people" - 06/19/11
In May 2011, Yolo (California) County Sheriff Ed Prieto held a press conference with others [1] expressing his opposition to the Department of Homeland Security's Secure Communities immigration enforcement program.
Supreme Court lets states give in-state tuition to illegal aliens (California) - 06/06/11
A California law lets illegal aliens get in-state tuition rates which, as described on the DREAM Act page, allows illegal aliens to deprive some citizens of college or get a better rate on college than some citizens. The US Supreme Court earlier today refused to hear a challenge to California's law [1].
Supreme Court orders California to release >30,000 prisoners; how much overcrowding due to illegal immigration? (ACLU) - 05/23/11
The US Supreme Court has ordered the state of California to release at least 30,000 state prisoners in order to reduce overcrowding (link, excerpt at [1]). What you probably won't hear from many others is the role that massive immigration - especially of the illegal variety - has played in this matter.
According to a Public Policy Institute of California study, "[i]n 2005, there were 28,279 foreign born adults and 139,419 U.S.-born adults in California prisons". Not all of the former are illegal aliens; in fact, it appears that statistics on the numbers of illegal aliens in California prisons...
George Will misleads about a root cause of California problems - 05/21/11
Fiscal conservatives and libertarians have a cruel trick they like to play on the people of California: whine about the problems California faces in order to push one part of their agenda, while ignoring how another part of their agenda caused the problems in the first place. See the fiscal con page for a detailed description and several examples.
The latest pundit to pull the Fiscal Con is George Will of the Washington Post, who offers "Golden State blues", link. In the article, he misleads his readers by not revealing a major cause of high spending:
[California's supposedly high] tax levels...
Dan Walters, SacBee, 2001: "New data prove that two-tier society is a fact of California life" - 05/21/11
The August 12, 2001 article "New data prove that two-tier society is a fact of California life" by Dan Walters of the Sacramento Bee is apparently not on their site any more. I'm copying it from here because it needs to be preserved as an example of the California Establishment realizing the problems they helped create:
GOP politician's ad: non-Jewish white people "should stick together" (Dan Adler, Debra Bowen, Janice Hahn) - 05/12/11
The video below is a shocking new ad from a GOP politician in which an actress says "we in the majority - non-Jewish white people - should stick together". That's followed by the Republican politician chuckling in agreement. In fact, the politician even announces at the end that he strongly approves of the message, and the ad is entitled "Stick Together". This shocking new ad - reminiscent of ads put on by Strom Thurmond decades ago - has been condemned by nearly the entire establishment.
Gotcha!
Tom Ammiano tries to block Secure Communities in California; will Kamala Harris help? - 04/08/11
California state Assemblyman Tom Ammiano [1] has introduced a bill [2] that seeks to hamper the Department of Homeland Security's Secure Communities program in California.
CIS: Immigrants use welfare at higher rate than natives - 04/06/11
Some of the findings of a new study from the Center for Immigration Studies ("Welfare Use by Immigrant Households with Children: A Look at Cash, Medicaid, Housing, and Food Programs", link) include:
# In 2009 (based on data collected in 2010), 57 percent of households headed by an immigrant (legal and illegal) with children (under 18) used at least one welfare program, compared to 39 percent for native households with children.
# Immigrant households’ use of welfare tends to be much higher than natives for food assistance programs and Medicaid. Their use of cash and housing programs tends to...
Republican Liberty Caucus is a cruel joke on California - 03/16/11
The "Republican Liberty Caucus" ("RLC") is a nationwide, independent group of libertarians that present themselves as the "Conscience of the Republican Party". Think of them as a more established, slightly saner, slightly more principled, non-"NeoCon" version of the tea parties. Their policies - like those of other libertarians - are also a cruel joke, especially on California.
Like other libertarians, one of their policies - open borders [1] - renders all of their other policies moot. The loose/open borders they support sharply reduces the chances that we'll ever have limited government...
Anti-science, anti-American: Reason TV misleads, sticks up for illegal immigration (Delta Smelt, Paul Feine) - 01/13/11
Reason Magazine's TV unit offers the misleading, anti-science, and anti-American video "Delta Smelt & Undocumented Farm Workers: How Federal Policy Is Failing CA's Central Valley" (below and at peekURL.com/vfqmkCZ ). It begins with a sub-Sean Hannity discussion of the endangered Delta Smelt, but quickly becomes a plea for looser immigration policy and amnesty. As could be expected, Reason is either too intellectually dishonest or too dim to understand and admit the roles of externalities in what they promote.
For an example, they interview Robert Silva, the mayor of Mendota and allow him...
Community college budgets cut across U.S. & many turned away even as some want to give college slots to illegal aliens - 11/27/10
The Washington Post offers "Workers seek new skills at community colleges, but classes are full" (link) about the budget cuts that community colleges are making across the U.S. and focusing on Nevada. Needless to say, Peter Whoriskey of the WaPo doesn't reveal that even as Americans are being turned away from community colleges, Harry Reid wants to give limited college resources to foreign citizens who are here illegally with the DREAM Act.
In fact, those who'll probably complain the loudest about this situation will likely be DREAM Act supporters; they live in a fantasy world where we have...
Illegal aliens can get in-state college tuition, California Supreme Court says (ACLU, MALDEF) - 11/16/10
Yesterday the California Supreme Court ruled [1] that illegal aliens and others can receive the in-state tuition rate at California colleges provided that they've attended California high schools for three or more years. They thus upheld AB 540, also known as the "California DREAM Act".
Both of those are anti-American bills that allow illegal aliens to take college educations away from U.S. citizens. They're bad policy for other reasons too: they encourage illegal immigration and braindrain foreign countries. See the last link for the details.
All of this could have been prevented if people...
Why won't Roger Simon reveal his ideology's role in California's problems? - 11/05/10
Roger Simon of Pajamas Media offers "Is California Hopeless?" [1]. It's yet another article by fiscal conservatives and free market types in which they fail to account for the highly negative role that their support for massive immigration has played in bringing California to its current state. And, not only does he fail to reveal his ideology's role in heavily damaging California, but he even wants us to suffer:
The only solution is for California to suffer — and to suffer badly. The citizens of this state need a serious beat down. This was the place where Jane Fonda popularized “No gain...
Transcript: Jerry Brown / Meg Whitman debate October 2, 2010 - 10/08/10
The following is the transcript of the October 2, 2010 debate on Univision between Jerry Brown and Meg Whitman. It was originally at the Fresno Bee but they've since deleted it.
Brown-Whitman 10/02/10 debate: a very disturbing view of California's future - 10/05/10
It's a good thing I didn't watch Saturday's Jerry Brown / Meg Whitman debate in the California governor's race: I might have ended up defenestrating the TV. The debate provides a very disturbing preview of the Quebec-style future of California and ultimately the U.S.
Ask John Yoo about how to save California for real - 10/02/10
Torture memo author John Yoo offers "How to Save California: Outlaw Public Employee Unions" [1]. That's definitely an idea worth considering, but Yoo oddly enough is ignoring a more fundamental issue that would help California even more. That issue, of course, is immigration and specifically illegal immigration.
Can Meg Whitman answer questions on her own? And, does Chris Christie support open debate? - 09/23/10
The video at peekURL.com/vrdvsaj (or peekURL.com/vw65uvq ) shows New Jersey governor Chris Christie interrupting a heckler at a Meg Whitman event.
Ed Morrissey, Glenn Reynolds, Newsbusters don't tell whole truth about Bell, California - 09/22/10
Eight public officials in the city of Bell, California were recently arrested regarding the pay scandal in that city (link).
Allysia Finley doesn't tell whole truth about LAUSD spending binge (WSJ) - 09/04/10
Many fiscal conservatives live in a fantasy world where we can have massive immigration combined with low spending, despite there being absolutely no evidence of that ever happening and despite there being countless examples of how massive immigration leads to increased spending. The way many of those people get around this massive flaw in their policy proposals is to simply ignore immigration's impact.
Pew: illegal immigration inflow fell (Obama not involved; Bush responsible for 5 million; 60% from Mexico; 9.3% of CA's workforce) - 09/04/10
Pew Hispanic recently released a study entitled "U.S. Unauthorized Immigration Flows Are Down Sharply Since Mid-Decade" (link). There are links to two previous studies with similar findings by the Department of Homeland Security and the Center for Immigration Studies here.
According to Pew's study:
The annual inflow of unauthorized immigrants to the United States was nearly two-thirds smaller in the March 2007 to March 2009 period than it had been from March 2000 to March 2005...
...This sharp decline has contributed to an overall reduction of 8% in the number of unauthorized immigrants...
Bell, California: see who isn't telling you the whole truth (hint: libertarians) - 08/25/10
The city of Bell, California has been in the news lately due to exorbitant salaries that city officials voted to give themselves. Most of those using Bell as an example of failed policies have failed to note that they themselves support failed policies, and those failed policies have played a role in Bell's situation. Two examples will be provided below, and the reader is encouraged to add more in comments.
Meg Whitman highlights how much she agrees with Jerry Brown, still misleads about immigration - 07/16/10
Meg Whitman offers "Americans must come together to address the problem of illegal immigration" (meg4.me/hvud, [1]), which is basically a rewrite of the previous misleading Whitman editorial about immigration. Since the new editorial and the old one repeat the same lines, see that link for part of why she's misleading, and the below for additional reasons.
But, first, here's this admission that should be more than a bit shocking to many of the Republicans who chose her over Steve Poizner (bolding added):
In this race, my Democratic opponent, Jerry Brown, has said very little about most issues...
Meg Whitman backs off workplace inspections for illegal aliens - 07/16/10
From this:
As she campaigned this spring, (Meg Whitman) said she would send state and local officials into California businesses to look for illegal immigrants – her own version of federal immigration workplace inspections.
But her campaign now says she would wait to act until the federal government institutes a "fail-safe" way for employers to verify workers' status – an effort that has been more than a decade in the making.
The article has quotes promoting the program from a "glossy 48-page policy agenda book that Whitman mailed to hundreds of thousands of voters and posted on her campaign...
Did Proposition 187 irreparably damage the GOP in California? (No: just a myth spread by illegal immigration supporters) - 07/09/10
One of the oft-repeated claims by those who support illegal/massive immigration is that Proposition 187 irreparably damaged the Republican party in California. Those spreading that claim include many Democratic leaders but also Republicans such as frequent quote source Allan Hoffenblum.
Meg Whitman highlights opposition to Arizona immigration law on Spanish-language billboard - 07/08/10
The pandering by the Meg Whitman campaign has reached a new low, although I fully expect her to get even worse. The latest low is a billboard in Spanish (pictured right or below) which highlights her opposition to both the new Arizona immigration law and to Proposition 187.
The story about this (link) says that's a Whitman billboard and the picture is a screengrab of a video, so I'm assuming that it's been verified as coming from the campaign. And, it matches what she's said in previous pandering attempts, but somehow as a billboard it seems more in-your-face to the millions of Californians...
Gil Cedillo pushes California boycott of Arizona over immigration law - 06/21/10
California state senator Gil Cedillo - someone who occasionally acts more like an agent of the Mexican government than a U.S. official - is pushing a non-binding resolution in support of a boycott of Arizona over their new immigration law (link):
Some 40 state lawmakers, including members of the Latino Legislative Caucus, plan to introduce a resolution this week that urges the state to "cease California investments in Arizona" and calls for Major League Baseball to reconsider its decision to allow Arizona to host the 2011 All-Star Game.
The non-binding resolution also includes a "travel...
City ordinance on day laborers soliciting work is constitutional: appeals court - 06/10/10
From this:
A federal appeals court on Wednesday upheld the city of Redondo Beach's ordinance allowing for the arrest of day laborers who approach automobiles soliciting work.
A divided three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a lower-court decision.
The appeals court said the city's ordinance, modeled after a Phoenix law upheld by the same court, was a reasonable response to traffic problems that officials said day laborers soliciting work caused at two city intersections. The 2-1 majority noted that Redondo Beach allowed the day laborers an alternative forum to...
How immigration changed California for the worse (education, income inequality...) - 06/10/10
The Center for Immigration Studies has released a new report called "A State Transformed: Immigration and the New California" (link). To summarize, we're basically turning into Brazil:
Between 1970 and 2008 the share of California’s population comprised of immigrants (legal and illegal) tripled, growing from 9 percent to 27 percent... As a result of immigration, however, by 2008 California had the least-educated labor force in the nation in terms of the share its workers without a high school education...
* In 1970, California had the 7th most educated work force of the 50 states in terms of...
California primary: Meg Whitman, Carly Fiorina win; Gavin Newsom, Abel Maldonado? - 06/08/10
The results of the California primary are not at all pretty from a pro-American immigration position.
Mickey Kaus on immigration: not as bad as most Democratic Party leaders - 06/01/10
Mickey Kaus is challenging fellow Democrat Barbara Boxer in the California Senate primary; he realizes the futility of that effort and he's just doing it to raise certain issues including immigration.
Amy Chance of SacBee misleads about "amnesty" (Steve Poizner's anti-Meg Whitman ad) - 04/10/10
Sacramento Bee Political Editor Amy Chance offers "Ad Watch: Poizner launches largely misleading attack on Whitman" [1]. Referring to a recent anti-Meg Whitman ad from Steve Poizner which claims that Whitman "supports Obama's amnesty for illegal aliens", Chance writes:
"Amnesty" is a hot-button term that exaggerates Whitman's views on illegal immigration. She said in October she supports a policy "where people stand at the back of the line, they pay a fine, they do some things that would ultimately allow a path to legalization." Now she says she was referring to creating a guest worker...
Sam Aanestad for California Lt. Governor? (against Maldonado, Newsom, Hahn) - 03/15/10
Someone I've never heard of before and know little about - California state senator Sam Aanestad - might be the best choice (so far) for Lt. Governor. Based only on a quick glance, his immigration position seems acceptable [1], but the much more important factor is who else is vying for the job:
* Fellow Republican Abel Maldonado is his opponent in the primary. Maldonado is who Arnold Schwarzenegger wants for current Lt. Gov., which pretty much disqualifies him from consideration.
* One of the Democrats in the running is Los Angeles City councilwoman Janice Hahn. Back in 2004 she responded to...
Whatever else, Steve Poizner is better than Meg Whitman on immigration (California Republican governor candidates) - 03/11/10
Back in October, California gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman visited the border and spouted a series of "business-friendly" immigration talking points; it was like if you could find a Tamar Jacoby talking doll on eBay, but without the latter's self-awareness. Then, last month she gave in to the far-left and turned her back on a supporter who'd inartfully complained about being called a racist. So, if you care about the issues we cover here, she's not an option (unless she wins the primary and, say, her Democratic opponent is Nativo Lopez).
Whitman is competing with California insurance...
CIPC bogus immigration study: "immigrants" pay their way, more likely to be employed - 01/28/10
The California Immigrant Policy Center (see who they are below) has released a new and highly misleading immigration booster study purporting to claim that immigrants in California pay their way and that they're employed at a greater rate than non-immigrants. The second might be true, and in that case that's an argument against massive immigration since some or many are taking jobs that Americans could be doing. You can get the PDF at caimmigrant.org/contributions.html and an MSM report is here.
Regarding the first, their report is unreliable from the beginning, saying that "43% of California...
Schwarzenegger: build prisons in Mexico for illegal aliens - 01/26/10
From this month's candidate for a Rube Goldberg award (link):
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger floated a different approach to trimming down California's bloated prison budget on Monday: pay Mexico to build new prisons and ship off California’s incarcerated illegal immigrants south of the border.
..."We can do so much better in the prison system alone if we can go and take inmates, for instance the 20,000 inmates that are illegal immigrants that are here, and get them to Mexico... Think about it... We pay them to build the prison down in Mexico... ...Half the costs to build the prisons and half the...
George Will, blaming California's woes on liberalism, at least mentions role of massive immigration - 01/10/10
There have been a spate of recent articles in which conservatives have blamed all of California's problems on liberalism, with all of the ones I've seen almost completely ignoring the role that massive immigration has played. That massive immigration not only increased spending, but it gave more power to the free-spending far-left. Why they won't mention that isn't exactly clear, but it probably touches on political correctness, ignorance, or the fact that they fantastically think they can support massive immigration without increasing spending and giving more power to those on the far-left....
55% think California should file bankruptcy, not get bail out; CA pays more than gets back; "fiscal conservatives" ignore immigration - 01/06/10
According to this:
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows just 27% of voters nationwide believe the federal government should provide bailout funding for California. Fifty-five percent (55%) think the federal government should let the state go bankrupt instead. Seventeen percent (17%) are not sure.
That's good news for the "fiscal conservative" types, who think that California is getting its comeuppance for widespread liberalism (since some of them think of the market in near-religious terms, think of that as "Rand's wrath".) While they do have a point about out of control...
Ross Douthat's bogus "War Over California" (William Voegeli; immigration off establishment radar) - 12/24/09
Ross Douthat of the New York Times offers "The War Over California" (douthat.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/23/the-war-over-california). He gets the first sentence right and then goes sharply downhill, offering a false choice between conservative parsimony and liberal free-spending.