larger view

It came as no surprise to anyone that propositions 1A through 1E were shot down in flames by angry voters in California.  "No more taxes, get out the axes!"

That's why they were put there.  Easy targets!

At the end of 2008, the politicians in Sacramento had no clue what to do about the impending budget disaster.  They pondered, they fretted, they pointed fingers at the opposing party, and they did nothing.  Finally, someone figured out that if they weren't intelligent enough to fix the system, and they weren't courageous enough to make the really difficult cuts, they could pass it on to the people of the state:  set up "straw men" propositions that the voters could vent their anger on, rant about, and then, soundly defeat.

The voters feel empowered, the governor and legislature can say, "The people have spoken," and they can now make all of the draconian cuts to education, health services, police protection and fire protection with a clear conscience and flawless voting records (except Roy Ashburn, of course).

If you think voting down the propositions and passing 1F hurt Sacramento, think again.  The force field surrounding the legislature, their aides, lobbyists, and the status quo in the capital is still functioning and they still haven't a clue as to how to fix anything.  The unprotected people outside the "golden dome" will quickly feel the effects of the governor's May Revise Budget Bomb.

In 2004, two citizens of an average town in America made major purchases. Joe put $10,000 down on a $100,000 house for his family; Tom put an equal amount of money down on 20 acres of undeveloped property on the outskirts of the city for $100,000. Both men were now saddled with basically the same mortgage amount owed to Megafund Bank. Megafund’s CEO was more than happy to collect their loan origination fees and interest while vacationing in the Bahamas.

By 2006, the borrowers were amazed by their financial good fortune. Houses like Joe’s were selling for five times what he had paid and Tom’s land, thanks to housing developments springing up near his land, was appraised at 3 million dollars.

Joe went to Megafund and took out an equity loan of $50,000 to supplement his son’s college education. Tom also went to Megafund and negotiated an equity loan of $300,000 which he used for a down payment on an office building in the commercial center of the city.

Joe now owed Megafund $140,000 and Tom was indebted by $390,000. Joe’s collateral was his home and Tom now had the land and a building.

After another inflationary period, Tom arranged another equity loan for $500,000 on the land and the building. This money he wisely used to buy a home next door to Joe - free and clear with no mortgage. Megafund Bank was doing so well, the board of directors gave the CEO a 15 million dollar raise.

In July of 2008, foreign imports had so undercut the domestic market that Joe’s company had to downsize and he was fired. He went through his meager savings, his son was forced to quit college and came home to work a minimum wage job to help the family, and finally, Megafund foreclosed on his mortgage and Joe’s family had to leave the home. The family moved in with relatives and prayed that it would only be temporary.

In the same month, Tom heard on the golf course that the growing economic crisis was expected to be so bad that the government would have to step in and do something. There was speculation of a “bailout” of the banking system. He stopped making mortgage payments on his land and building - both of which were rapidly depreciating. The Megafund men threatened foreclosure and Tom said, “Fine!”

The Megafund CEO shrugged his shoulders when the board of directors asked him what the company should do with all of the land, houses, and buildings they now owned but which were not worth what they had loaned on them. He quickly excused himself from the meeting to deposit this month’s salary check for 5 million dollars.

During the last weekend in September 2008, the Megafund Bank CEO and board of directors held an unprecedented three-day session. They phoned lobbyists, Senators, Representatives, and Washington D.C. madams. They waited with baited breath as Congress hammered out an economic plan that would be “fair and just.” And then, they popped open the imported French Champagne.

Congress would sign a check in the name of the American People (and probably the next four or five unborn generations) to bail out Megafund Bank.

Joe’s family still doesn’t have a house and even though Megafund Bank will be able to stay afloat and begin making loans again, there’s no way Joe will qualify - he still doesn’t have a job - he will in no way benefit from the “bailout“ even though he and his family will continue to pay for it in the future.

Tom has a free-and-clear home to use as collateral for a loan to start his speculation cycle all over again.

And the Megafund Bank CEO and directors? We don’t know yet. They’re all aboard the company jet flying to Tahiti for a well-earned and deserved vacation.

Any question as to whether this is a nation “Of the people, by the people, and for the people” or a nation “Of the corporations, by the corporations, and for the corporations?”

On July 3, TBC ran an article regarding Ann Barnett, Kern County Auditor-Controller in which it was pointed out that she stated that by ending civil marriage ceremonies, the county would save $18,000.  Later, it was determined by Ron Errea, CAO for the BoS, that figure was more like $171.  Regardless of where you stand on the issue of same-sex marriage, that's a whopping error of $17,829.  Ann Barnett took the heat for her personal stand as well as that "error."

In today's paper, on page B3 - the continuation of "Supervisors hash out budget plan" article - it states that Ann Barnett "discovered" an additional $3.2 million that had been "accidentally counted as an expense twice" in the budget.

This information brings a few questions to mind:  This year is unquestionably a lean one for the county budget and by necessity supervisors, the CAO, and the County Auditor-controller are going over it with a finetooth comb.  But what of the years fat with taxpayer dollars?  Any "accidental" double expenses sneak through then?

Who made the error?  $3,2 million is not cookie jar cash.  Shouldn't that person be reprmanded and encouraged to enroll in one of the new Algebra classes being mandated by the State School Board for all eighth grade students?

And finally.  Is anyone going to congratulate Ann Barnett for discovering the error?  Seems like regardless of her personal beliefs, she did save the BoS from making some very difficult cuts.

The Editorial Board of the Bakersfield Californian, anticipating a very busy upcoming political season, must have started interviewing early to avoid a last minute rush. Apparently, they have already chosen to recommend a candidate for the Bakersfield City School District Board of Education. Why else would they have chosen to print the Community Voice article penned by Mr. Don Vereen in Saturday’s paper?

If you missed it, here is a summary:

In the first three paragraphs, Mr. Vereen campaigns for office. He lists all of the things he has done in the past seventeen months in preparation for having to actually seek the votes of the public. He uses the word “I” six times. The only words missing are “Vote for me.”

Next two paragraphs - he praises the Stand Strong Academy, which, although touted to be a good program, is primarily funded by the Stand Strong Foundation, Inc. and therefore is not dependent upon the budget of the BCSD. Although in the next two paragraphs, he attempts to imply that it is.

Finally comes the theme paragraph. He thinks it would be a good idea for the governor to cut other areas instead of education. Wow! An afflatus! Why didn’t anyone else come up with that?

But then, in the rest of the letter he proposes his ill-conceived plan. Based on “interviewing several prison staff nurses,” (How he got from providing vital services to the school district to talking to prison nurses, I’ve no idea) he determined that prisoners are “enjoying” too many benefits, especially free health care. I wonder if in doing his probing and extensive research on this topic, Mr. Vereen came across the fact that one state prison inmate dies each week due to poor or untimely medical care? Anyway, he proposes taking the funds for all of those prison perks and giving those savings to the schools.

I know hard times call for hard decisions but that’s absurd. Budget cuts are being made “across the board” and that includes funding for prisons. To think that there is a funding panacea for education hidden somewhere in the state budget is inane and naïve.

To emphasize their selection of Mr. Vereen, the editors then print in bold italics that “Don Vereen is an elected Bakersfield City School District trustee.”

Perhaps a review of past events would serve to refresh the memory of the Californian’s editors.

Word on the street is that Mr. Vereen is being groomed for a run at Irma Carson’s City Council Seat. In light of the fact that the BCSD School Board has always been a springboard for higher office, that scenario is not far-fetched.

The Bakersfield City School District Board of Education meets in an advantageous location: Just a few steps away from their regular board meeting room, which seats about a hundred people, is the BCSD auditorium which seats probably three or four times that many. But the BCSD Board is rather selective in taking the opportunity to utilize the larger, available meeting area. As an example, take one board meeting early in 2007 and contrast it to the last board meeting of that same year.

First, here are the words of an individual who attended the board meeting at a time when teacher contracts were being renegotiated with the district and transfer policy was being hotly debated.

Now, fast forward to the end of the year and a meeting at which nothing was hotly debated and students were entertaining the members of the Board.

When vital issues are to be discussed, it’s too much trouble for the Board to move to the larger venue to accommodate the public for a PUBLIC MEETING. However, to move into the larger auditorium to watch children tap dance requires only a “short recess.”

I’m all for allowing children to perform for the Board - that’s great. But at the same time I am for the Board to “perform” for the people. The people elected them and they should do whatever is necessary to accommodate the taxpayers - even when board members really don’t want to hear what they have to say.

I read the article in the Bakersfield Californian about the young man who was shot for giving the "wrong" response to the question, "Watts up?"    I imagine he thought they asked, "What's up" and was trying to be friendly by returning their question.  I have also read most of the blog comments regarding that senseless killing on bakersfield.com.

Today, I read about a twelve-year-old girl who was shot in the ankle as she sat outside her apartment by a gang member who yelled a challenge to someone sitting near her.

A gang member was found guilty of shooting a man while he was sleeping in the back seat of a car at a gas station in the southeast.  He wasn't even a resident of Bakersfield and was on his way to Las Vegas to get married.  His mistake?  He was wearing a shirt in the color of a rival gang.

A young man is gunned down in his van as he is leaving for work.  The reason he was riddled with bullets?  He lived on the wrong side of Union avenue and was "suspected" of being in the "wrong" gang.

A high school senior from Arizona was visiting family in Los Angeles.  He was sitting on a bus bench waiting to go downtown and see the city.  A car drove up and the passenger unloaded a 9 mm clip into the young man's chest.  What had he done to deserve such a cruel and painful demise?  He was wearing a "Raiders" jacket - the color and sign of a rival gang.

I could go on with more examples but I don't need to - you know what is happening as well as I do.  Gangs are taking our lifestyle away.  People say that they are afraid to say anything to someone who even looks like they might be in a gang.  Children in certain neighborhoods can no longer play in parks or even in their own yards.  Gangbangers, who prefer a nocturnal lifestyle, crank rap music up in the middle of the night and the residents they intentionally disturb are too afraid to call police.  They label private property with spray cans claiming territory and bragging of crimes.  They control our prisons and prevent prosecution by threatening witnesses.

EACH and EVERY victim of a gang-related crime (or their relatives if the victim has been killed) should sue the United States Government.  We the people were promised that the government would "provide for the common defense" and "insure domestic tranquillity."  As far as gangs are concerned, the government has provided neither.

If we were not wasting our resources and money in Iraq, the government could spend that money and devote those resources to eradicating the gangs.  Since it choses not to, then it is up to the individual citizen by a process of suing through the courts to force our government to take action with sufficient strength to remove the threat of street gangs.  Our local police can't do it alone.  Only with the federal government's intervention can we restore a lifestyle in which children can play without fear, people can go about their daily lives without intimidation and a young man can respond to the question, "What's up" without losing his life. 

In reading comments on the various postings in regard to the recent woes of Councilman Weir, I have been surprised at seeing Michael Turnipseed's name listed among the group with purported special interests in the Canyons Project.  I can't lend any credence to that; however, I do still hold a grudge (admittedly) against Mr. Turnipseed for what I consider a duplicitous action during the last election.

When the Bakersfield City School District was organizing its campaign to put a $100 million bond before the voters, Mr. Turnipseed lent his name to the effort and was listed as a member of the Bond Oversight Committee.  As Executive Director of the Kern County Taxpayers Association, his appointment to the committee lent confidence to voters who were concerned about who would be holding the purse strings on the bond money if they voted for it.

Immediately after Measure G was passed, Mr. Turnipseed resigned from the Oversight Committee.  It was reported to me (hearsay evidence, I know) that he stated that he had never even intended to serve on that committee - that he knew he didn't have the time due to all the other meetings he has to attend.

The bond may have passed anyway without the influence of his name and the reputation of his organization but if he had no intent to represent the voters by serving on the Oversight Committee, he should never have lent them his name.  That is deliberately misleading the voters! 

In 2004, when schools in the Bakersfield City School District were crashing into mandated program improvement and stacking up like cars in the Bakersfield fog, trustee Ken Weir came up with a proposal to pull them out of the No Child Left Behind pile-up.  In all seriousness, (despite the fact that those of us at the meeting were desperately hoping that he was being facetious) he made the motion to change the motto of the school district to something more representative of education than "Where The Child Comes First."  He suggested something like: "Education is Job One!"  Fortunately, his motion died for want of a second but it is representative of how Ken Weir is out-of-touch with real problems and tends to oversimplify possible solutions.

In 2006, when Ken Weir ran for City Council he utilized the "campaign by proxy" method.  He paid political consultant Abernathy to take care of the "legwork" and never got out and met the people of the district or asked for their opinions.  Sadly, elections can be won by mailers and advertizing and 52% of the people voted that Ken Weir would best represent their interests.  While Mr. Weir was campaigning, it was fortunate for him that the media hadn't yet applied the word "elitist" to a candidate. 

Along the way, he got free publicity in the Californian when someone noticed the fact that his mailers used the official logo of the City of Bakersfield.  Oops.

After his election, in an act of hubris, he omitted items from his form 700, refusing to list the names of his major clients and the fact that he owned land in the political-hotbed northeast territory.  Only when this was made public by the Californian did he relent and fill out the conflict of interest forms correctly and completely.

At council meetings, Ken Weir must now frequently recuse himself from discussions, meetings, and votes on the Hillside Ordinance topics effectively depriving Third Ward residents of representation.

And now the Planning Commission fiasco.  How is that helping the people of the Third Ward?

The point is:  Are the people in the Third Ward being given the representation they desire (and deserve?) by their elected councilman?  His defenders say he is but none list any of his accomplishments on the council.  What has Ken Weir done for the residents of the Third Ward?

If you are a resident of the Third Ward and if you feel that Ken Weir is not representing you on the City Council then you must use the Constitutional right granted to all citizens for recourse in such cases.  If the "wrong" person was elected to office, the voters can recall that person and choose someone who will represent them.

Just got this forwarded to me in an e-mail.  I think I want to move to New Orleans.

The next time you hear a politician use the
Word 'billion' in a casual manner, think about
Whether you want the 'politicians' spending
YOUR tax money.

A billion is a difficult number to comprehend,
But one advertising agency did a good job of
Putting that figure into some perspective in
One of its releases.

It has been said that 'A Billion' is such a large number that you could not count (1-2-3-4-5-etc...) to 'A Billion' in your lifetime! !!


A. A billion seconds ago it was 1959.

B. A billion minutes ago Jesus was alive.

C. A billion hours ago our ancestors were
Living in the Stone Age.

D. A billion days ago no-one walked on the earth on two feet.

E. A billion dollars ago was only 8 hours and
20 minutes, at the rate our government is spending it.

While this thought is still fresh in our brain, let's take a look at  New Orleans  It's amazing what you can learn with some simple division .

Louisiana Senator, Mary Landrieu (D), is presently asking the Congress for $250 BILLION to rebuild New Orleans . Interesting number, what does it mean?

A. Well, if you are one of 484,674 residents of
New Orleans (every man, woman , child), you
each get $516,528.

B. Or, if you have one of the 188,251 homes in
New Orleans , your home gets $1,329,787.

C. Or, if you are a family of four, your family
gets $2,066,012.

Washington , D.C.  ... HELLO!!! .... Are all your calculators broken??


Tax his land,
Tax his wage,
Tax his bed in which he lays.
Tax his tractor,
Tax his mule,
Teach him taxes is the rule.
Tax his cow,
Tax his goat,
Tax his pants,
Tax his coat.

Tax his ties,
Tax his shirts,
Tax his work,
Tax his dirt.

Tax his tobacco,
Tax his drink,
Tax him if he tries to think.

Tax his booze,
Tax his beers,
If he cries,
Tax his tears.

Tax his bills,
Tax his gas,
Tax his notes,
Tax his cash.

Tax him good and let him know
That after taxes, he has no dough.

If he hollers,
Tax him more,
Tax him until he's good and sore.

Tax his coffin,
Tax his grave,
Tax the sod in which he lays.
Put these words upon his tomb,
'Taxes drove me to my doom!'

And when he's gone, we won't relax,
We'll still be after the inheritance TAX!!
Accounts Receivable Tax
Building Permit Tax
CDL License Tax
Cigarette Tax
Corporate Income Tax
Dog License Tax
Federal Income Tax
Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA)
Fishing License Tax
Food License Tax
Fuel Perm it Tax
Gasoline Tax
Hunting License Tax
Inheritance Tax
Inventory Tax
IRS Interest Charges (tax on top of tax),
IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax),
Liquor Tax,
Luxury Tax,
Marriage License Tax,
Medicare Tax,
Property Tax,
Real Estate Tax,
Service charge taxes,
Social Security Tax,
Road Usage Tax (Truckers),
Sales Taxes,
Recreational Vehicle Tax,
School Tax,
State Income Tax,
State Unemployment Tax (SUTA),
Telephone Federal Excise Tax,
Telephone Federal Universal Service Fee Tax,
Telephone Federal, State and Local Surcharge Tax,
Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge Tax,
Telephone Recurring and Non-recurring Charges Tax,
Teleph one State and Local Tax,
Telephone Usage Charge Tax,
Utility Tax,
Vehicle License Registration Tax,
Vehicle Sales Tax,
Water craft Registration Tax,
Well Permit Tax,
Workers Compensation Tax.

STILL THINK THIS IS FUNNY?
Not one of these taxes existed 100 years ago,
and our nation was the most prosperous in the world.
We had absolutely no national debt, had the largest middle class in the world, and Mom stayed home to raise the kids.

What happened? Can you spell 'politicians!'

And I still have to 'press
1' for English.

I hope this goes around THE
USA  at least 100 times
What The Heck Happened ?????
 

I am concerned about some of the comments made by prominent defense attorneys posted in today’s Californian regarding Judge Bush’s decision to require the Vincent Brothers defense team to ‘explain’ why they should not be held in contempt of court.  At issue is the fact that the defense team let their client testify in open court before the jury that he was the driver of a vehicle involved in a collision that took place in Ohio about the time that his family was murdered in Bakersfield.  They may have had documents in their possession proving that testimony was false.  There is no doubt that if the prosecution had not discovered a police report indicating that it was another man who was involved in that accident, Vincent Brothers would have been acquitted.  No jury could convict a defendant with such an ‘iron clad’ alibi.

Attorney Kyle Humphrey said, “When attorneys believe they can be sanctioned or held in contempt when they provide zealous advocacy, the balance of power in the criminal justice system is placed at risk.”  Actually, the “balance of power” is already tipped in favor of the defendant in criminal cases.  A “ton” of evidence including previous convictions is exempt from being admissible as evidence.  Defendants found guilty of murder have the right to file innumerable appeals; however, (and the most pertinent fact concerning the possibly exonerating false testimony of Vincent Brothers) if a defendant is found innocent, he may not be tried again for the same crime.  This is a right guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment and known as “double jeopardy.”  

In light of the fact that some defense attorneys are “zealous” to the point that they will do almost anything to get a ‘W’ in their score column, it is perfectly reasonable for them to “express concern that Bush’s inquiry could have the unintended effect of compelling defense counsel to err on the side of caution rather than zealously advocate for the accused.”  Except I disagree.  I believe the actions of Judge Bush will have the intended effect of compelling defense counsel to be cautious.

I stand firmly behind Judge Bush’s inquiry.  We need a few more judges like him in Kern County.