California News
California Teachers Prompted with Simple Questions (My favorite is when the old lady says of herself~I Sucked!~)
Do you know wher your tax money is going? Californians Don’t
Californias Battle for Normalcy (SB48)
Here is another example of the left in California, which is effectively in control of the body-politic. Older battles include SB777 and the like. Fox News reports on this newer challenge:
The California Legislature could soon pass a bill that would require school textbooks and teachers to incorporate information on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) Americans into their curriculum.
The Fair, Accurate, Inclusive and Respectful Education Act, or SB48, which mimics a bill previously vetoed by then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, made it one step closer to becoming law Tuesday after being approved by the state’s Senate Judiciary Committee.
The bill, introduced by state Sen. Mark Leno, could have a nationwide impact if passed because California is such a big buyer of textbooks that publishers often incorporate the state’s standards into books distributed to other states.
Supporters say that’s a good thing because it will help prevent gay students from being harassed or bullied by their classmates.
But critics say SB48 is just an attempt to brainwash students into becoming pro-gay political activists and ensure that government, not parents, has the final word on teaching kids about moral values.
[….]
Critics object to the bill on several accounts, saying it undermines parental authority, promotes gender confusion and experimentation, inappropriately classifies LGBT as a cultural ethnic group, and aims to brainwash children into adopting the LGBT community’s political agenda.
“This is teaching children from kindergarten on up that the homosexual, bisexual, transsexual lifestyle is something to admire and consider for themselves,” Randy Thomasson, president of SaveCalifornia.com, a group advocating against the bill, told FoxNews.com.
Thomasson said teachers should teach about homosexuals’ historical accomplishments but should not be forced to mention their sexual orientation.
“Teach them about the good behavior, the noble things that people have done, but you don’t have to go into what they do sexually… True history focuses on the accomplishments of people; it doesn’t talk about what they did in the bedroom.”
[….]
Leno said the SB48 “will get to the floor of the Senate by late May; we hope that it will make its way to the assembly for similar review and to the governor’s desk by late summer.”
The Pacific Justice Institute adds some clarifying thoughts to the goal of the bill:
A bill recently introduced in the California senate seeks to mandate that all public schools in California teach history and social studies with a deliberate slant toward lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons (LGBT).
The bill, SB 48, was introduced in the new legislative session by longtime LGBT activist Sen. Mark Leno (D-San Francisco), who has also authored a number of bills in past sessions designed to attack traditional marriage. Among other things, SB 48 states, “Instruction in social sciences shall include the early history of California and a study of the role and contributions of … lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans, and members of other ethnic and cultural groups, to the economic, political, and social development of California and the United States of America, with particular emphasis on portraying the role of these groups in contemporary society.”
Most California schools teach California history in the fourth grade. Current law points students to the contributions of “both men and women, black Americans, American Indians, Mexicans, and Pacific Island people.” SB 48 adds LGBT and changes the names of most of the other ethnic groups to sound more politically correct, although it eliminates “Mexicans” entirely, without adding back in any other Latino designation.
Pacific Justice Institute will be officially opposing SB 48. PJI president Brad Dacus commented, “Increasingly, we are seeing bills like SB 48 disguised as anti-bullying measures, when in reality they do not even mention bullying. Instead, SB 48 mandates that history be sexualized for elementary-age children, to please a special interest group. At a time when our students are falling behind their peers from other countries, more political correctness is not the answer.”
And SaveCalifornia.com mentions these two quotes:
- “California government schools are no longer morally safe for impressionable children,” Thomasson said. “Because of the raft of sexual indoctrination laws already in force, promoting homosexuality, bisexuality, and transsexuality under the guise of ‘discrimination’ and ‘harassment,’ the social engineers are already having their way with more than six million boys and girls, with or without SB 48. That’s why we strongly urge parents to rescue their children by permanently removing them from government schools and placing them in the safe havens of church schools or homeschooling.” (Source: RescueYourChild.com)
- “This week Governor Jerry Brown turns 73 years old,” Thomasson concluded. “When he was a boy, public schools were good and didn’t push sexual indoctrination. Now public schools aren’t so good, yet homosexual activists are pushing their non-academic agenda without regard to parents or logic or the best interests of children. We call on Governor Brown to prepare to veto this bad bill that greatly disturbs parents, confuses kids, and would flush public schools farther down the toilet.”
(Emphasis Added)
More Businesses Leave California ~ Carl’s Jr. (UPDATED)
This story comes from the Orange County Register and documents yet another company leaving the sunshine state:
California has changed dramatically since 1941, when Carl and Margaret Karcher scraped together about 325 bucks to start a hot dog cart in Los Angeles – a precursor to a drive-through restaurant they opened in Anaheim and which grew into the Carl’s Jr. fast-food empire. The Karchers were household names in Southern California, not just for their restaurants but for their activism in conservative politics and Catholic charities.
Whatever you think of the Karchers’ politics, you’ve got to love the entrepreneurial story that surrounds their success and what it said about California in its heyday. The Karchers – he died in 2008 and she in 2006 – came to the Land of Opportunity from the staid backwater of Upper Sandusky, Ohio.
California has beckoned many Midwesterners – and people from every part of America and the globe – not just because of its pleasant weather, but because of a culture of openness that allowed creative people to go as far as their ideas would take them. Unfortunately, people with energy and creativity are now likely to go elsewhere, to places where the state government has different attitudes toward the private sector.
Indeed, CKE Restaurants, parent of Carl’s Jr., is likely to move its headquarters from Carpinteria, near Ventura, to Texas and is undergoing a rapid expansion of restaurants in the Lone Star State. Right before the budget circus got going Wednesday, CKE CEO Andrew Puzder spoke at the California Chamber of Commerce, blocks from the Capitol dome. Like most of us, Puzder loves California and has no interest in leaving it, but he told harrowing tales about doing business in a state that has gone from an entrepreneurial heaven to a bureaucratic nightmare.
“It costs us $250,000 more to build one California restaurant than in Texas,” he said. “And once it is opened, we’re not allowed to run it.” This explains why Carl’s is opening 300 restaurants in Texas and only maintaining its presence in California. Texas has lower taxes than California, but the reason for the shift has more to do with regulation and with the attitude of the respective governments.
Puzder complained about the permitting process here, where it takes eight months to two years to open a new restaurant compared to an average of 1 1/2 months in Texas. In California, restaurants have to provide new curb cuts, new traffic lights, you name it. The company must endure so many requirements and must submit to so many inspections that it becomes excessively costly – and the bureaucrats are in charge of the project.
Once the restaurant is open, Puzder said, the store’s general managers are not allowed to run the business as if they own it. That’s the key to the company’s customer service approach – allowing general managers to do whatever it takes to make customers happy. But California’s inflexible, union-designed work rules, for instance, classify general managers as regular employees. They must be paid overtime for any work beyond an eight-hour day. They must take mandated breaks at specified times.
The Carl’s Jr. CEO notes some of his reasoning in this decision that should alert Californian’s to the problems in creating a robust economy… or in killing it:
…“It costs us $250,000 more to build one California restaurant than in Texas,” he said. “And once it is opened, we’re not allowed to run it.” This explains why Carl’s is opening 300 restaurants in Texas and only maintaining its presence in California. Texas has lower taxes than California, but the reason for the shift has more to do with regulation and with the attitude of the respective governments.
Puzder complained about the permitting process here, where it takes eight months to two years to open a new restaurant compared to an average of 1 1/2 months in Texas. In California, restaurants have to provide new curb cuts, new traffic lights, you name it. The company must endure so many requirements and must submit to so many inspections that it becomes excessively costly – and the bureaucrats are in charge of the project.
Once the restaurant is open, Puzder said, the store’s general managers are not allowed to run the business as if they own it. That’s the key to the company’s customer service approach – allowing general managers to do whatever it takes to make customers happy. But California’s inflexible, union-designed work rules, for instance, classify general managers as regular employees. They must be paid overtime for any work beyond an eight-hour day. They must take mandated breaks at specified times.
If a busload of customers comes to a store, these general managers must sit back and do nothing if they are on a break period. Most states have 40-hour workweek rules, meaning employees are paid overtime after exceeding 40 hours of work in a single week. In California it is based on the day, which limits the ability of managers to work, say, six hours one day and 10 hours the next day. Puzder complains about these industrial-era requirements that impede flexibility and harm customer service.
And California law encourages “private attorney general” lawsuits against private businesses over overtime and other regulatory rules, which has created a huge financial incentive for attorneys to file questionable legal actions against restaurants.
“It’s not like we have kids working in coal mines or women working in sweatshops,” Puzder said. It’s not as if his workers in other states, where these regulatory rules don’t exist, are oppressed, he added. “How does this help us instill entrepreneurial values?” He wonders how all these nonsensical rules teach people about being independent from the government rather than dependent on it….
California-Losing Jobs Because of Unfounded Legislation by Eco-Fascists
This story comes from Big Government and made my jaw drop:
When Dwayne Whitney started his trucking business decades ago he had only one truck. Today he has eighteen and 20 employees. But that’s about to change.
“The State of California says my trucks are killing people,” says Whitney. “What do you say to that?”
In a few years, new air quality regulations approved by the California Air Resources Board will render Whitney’s entire fleet illegal.
“New CARB rules are putting me out of business,” he says.
CARB claims that diesel particulates, a type of pollution emitted from buses and trucks, contributes to 2,000 premature deaths in California each year. But UCLA epidemiologist Dr. James Enstrom says the number should be closer to zero.
In 2005 Enstrom authored an extensive study that found no relationship between diesel particulates and premature deaths. He says his study, as well as other evidence that agrees with it, have been ignored by an agency bent on passing ever more stringent regulations regardless of their effect on California’s economy.
Enstrom blew the whistle on CARB for, among other things, failing to publicize that the lead author of the study that was used to justify the new regulations falsified his education history (he purchased his PhD from an online diploma mill).
But UCLA didn’t come to Enstrom’s defense. In fact, officials informed him that, after 34 years at the university, he was out of a job.
“The environmental regulation machine in powerful in California,” says Adam Kissel of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, which is defending Enstrom in the fight to keep his job. “When Dr. Enstrom went up against that machine he was retaliated against.”
A hearing that begins on April 4 will determine whether Dr. Enstrom keeps his job, and the final decision rests with UCLA Chancellor Gene Block.
Says Kissel, “If Dr. Enstrom loses his job because he exercised his academic freedom, then it’s a message to other researchers that you’d better not rock the boat because you might be next.”
Temp Hold On Same-Sex Marriage Stays
One News Now has this updated story to the saga known as Prop 8:
A federal court ruled Wednesday it will enforce Proposition 8, the California law passed in November 2008 that defines marriage between a man and a woman, as the state’s highest court weighs the law’s constitutionality.
On Wednesday, the San Francisco-based Ninth U.S. Court of Appeals announced it will not lift a temporary ban on same-sex “marriages,” despite pressure from lawyers arguing against Prop. 8. Proponents of same-gender marriage had been joined by California Attorney General Kamala Harris, a Democrat, in urging that the ban be lifted.
But the Ninth Circuit’s three-judge panel noted that the order to pave the way for homosexuals to marry in California was rejected “at this time” as the state Supreme Court deliberates whether initiative proponents have the right under state law to defend the law. The state’s highest court announced it will not begin hearing oral arguments until September, further delaying the decision on Prop. 8.
Matt Staver of Liberty Counsel tells OneNewsNow while he is pleased with the Ninth Circuit’s decision to uphold Prop. 8 for now, marriage traditionalists cannot let up.
“This is very good news,” says the Christian attorney. “We can’t simply take for granted, however, that this will be the ultimate outcome of this Ninth Circuit because they’re not at a point where they’ve ruled on the merits. But at least they have not decided to torpedo the law at this point.”
A SoCal eminent-domain Story
Some Updated Footage of Japanese Earthquake-California Included
(The below video is old and is prior to the explosion at Fukushima, Japan, Nuclear Power Plant Explosion)
(Santa Cruz)
(Sendai Airport)
Racist Leader-David Lynch-Shot Dead
Some California news that affects the world of cults, racist cults:
Lynch was a well-known power player in the white supremacy movement and has been active for decades, organizing a number of protests across the country.
Local law enforcement officers have known Lynch for years and say his absence will be a blow to many white supremacy groups.
“He’s probably one of the most well-known, influential figures in the movement,” said Sacramento County Sheriff’s Lt. Milo Fitch. “This is absolutely a significant event… it will send shockwaves.”
Friends and members of various groups said Lynch was capable of bringing together various organizations that were at odds with each other.
“He was the kind of guy who could and did get along with everyone,” said Bill Roper, head of Arkansas-based White Revolution.
Roper said Lynch’s racist activism began in the national skinhead coalition American Front, and he later became leader of the Sacto Skins, one of the oldest skinhead gangs in the country.
Randal Krager (L) with (L-R, foreground) other neo-Nazi leaders Del O’Connor (Blood & Honour America), David Lynch (American Front), and Mike Lawrence (Volksfront) circa 2009. (Picture Source)
WMDs in San Diego!?
California Nanny State Begins Anew
Libertarian Republican has this update on California and its role in limiting business, jobs, and freedom.
New Regs: Ban on Trans-Fats; Mandatory Food Hand-outs at Farmers Markets; strict “Green” Building Codes; Prison sentence for Parents who school kids at Home; Rapists, Murderers, Child Molesters set free if they have a “disability.”
[….]
■AB 97 bans the use of trans-fats in food facilities.
■AB 537 will make food stamps an acceptable form of payment at farmers markets through an EBT process.
■SB 1317 allows the state to slap parents with a $2,000 fine if their K-8 child misses more than 10 percent of the school year without a valid excuse. It also allows the state to punish parents with up to a year in prison for the misdemeanor.
■AB 715 makes a change to the California Green Building Standards code. The change will require new California buildings to be energy efficient.
■SB 1399 allows California to medically parole state prison inmates with physical incapacitating conditions and ultimately shifts some of the cost of care to the federal government.
Liberals seem to be at a loss in regards to what are freedoms worth mandating. They outlaw clove cigarettes but SB 1449 makes the possession of up to one ounce of marijuana an infraction with a penalty of a $100 fine.