vote for this country’s economic demise
The region’s bustling ports have become a favored backdrop for environmental announcements, and that’s not lost on California Atty. Gen. Edmund G. [Jerry aka Moonbeam] Brown Jr., who stood before the gantry cranes and containers Thursday and threw jabs at the federal Environmental Protection Agency.
Brown officially started the clock ticking toward the filing of a suit against the agency for not regulating greenhouse gases emitted by ships, trucks and other equipment at the port:
The Port of Los Angeles is the busiest port in the United States, and failed ex-Governor Moonbeam, former mayor of Oakland, is out to try and green it out of existence just like he’s trying to sue cities and counties across California in an effort to stamp out suburbia.
Mr. Brown is taking aim at the suburbs, concerned about the alleged environmental damage they cause. He sees suburban houses as inefficient users of energy. He sees suburban commuters clogging the roads as wasting precious fossil fuel. And, mostly, he sees wisdom in an intricately thought-out plan to compel residents to move to city centers or, at least, to high-density developments clustered near mass transit lines.
Mr. Brown is not above using coercion to create the demographic patterns he wants. In recent months, he has threatened to file suit against municipalities that shun high-density housing in favor of building new suburban singe-family homes, on the grounds that they will pollute the environment. He is also backing controversial legislation — Senate bill 375 — moving through the state legislature that would restrict state highway funds to communities that refuse to adopt “smart growth” development plans. “We have to get the people from the suburbs to start coming back” to the cities, Mr. Brown told planning experts in March.
Let’s be clear about this. Any vote for a Democrat is a vote to keep Nancy Pelosi as leader in the House. It’s a vote for her “No gas for YOU” energy policy. It’s a vote that will encourage the Jerry Browns of all states to go forth and authoritate! Democrats that want to micromanage you life — where you live, what you drive, how often you exercise or if you smoke, what you get to listen to, how you’ll be allowed to speak in public, how much of the money you make you will be allowed to keep. For your own good. But don’t worry, they may let you have all the sex you want. You’ll have that.
Bread and circuses.
Comment by bergerbilder on 8/5 @ 8:43 pm #
All the sex I want?
Where was this when I was a horny 22yr-old, just married? I would have signed on for just about anything. Give me bike, a bus pass, just get me home in time for “dinner”. Oh, and the tiny apartment would need a stairways bannister in case I wanted “Dinner” hot or cold.
Comment by Sdferr on 8/5 @ 9:06 pm #
We have traded away our freedom on a simple cheat, sad to say, all of us, not just democrats or republicans or independents. All of us have a hand in the failure.
Every time a politician votes to take wealth from any of us and pay it out to the voters who have put him in office, we lose our freedom of action. Every time we cede our responsibility to see after our own interests and instead look to our government to take that responsibility for us, we lose our freedom of action.
We don’t react to the corruption of a Don Young or a John Murtha with an instant determination to throw them out of office at the first opportunity, NO, we send them straight back to Congress to “bring home” ever more of that sweet federal bacon. Term after term, we send them back. They are merely doing what we want them to do.
We, the citizens, are the responsible for the wreckage to our institutions, for the overgrown federal bureaucracy, for the tentacles of government reaching into every nook and cranny of our lives. We compete to outdo one another at capturing the false “largesse” of the state. We’ve gotten what we deserve.
Comment by Patrick Carroll on 8/5 @ 9:09 pm #
Just sent in my Irish passport for renewal. Sure, it’s from the EU, but it’s from the *rational* part of the EU. Famine baby, famine.
I might have to duck out there for a decade while this country remembers how to find its ass with both hands.
Sorry to say it, but call me when we re-elect Reagan.
Comment by geoffb on 8/5 @ 9:18 pm #
““We have to get the people from the suburbs to start coming back†to the cities, Mr. Brown told planning experts in March.”
I can just “feel the love”. Attract them with that nice boot in the face, the one with the happy face on the heel it leaves a happy looking bruise.
Comment by Patrick Carroll on 8/5 @ 9:24 pm #
I believe that Governor Moonbeam has in mind a lighter shade of Dachau – if that will work.
A final solution has already been worked out.
Yes, yes, I know, Godwin’s law, etc. But, you know, the *company* we’re forced to keep.
Comment by Sean M. on 8/5 @ 9:31 pm #
Scratch a Democrat, find…something unpleasant.
Comment by Patrick Carroll on 8/5 @ 9:38 pm #
Huh. He’s got messianic tendencies, *and* an ideology.
Someone ought to do a movie called something like “Sayonara, California” with a slightly closer connection to reality than “Fahrenheit 9/11″. Instant box office success, IMHO.
Comment by Darleen on 8/5 @ 9:40 pm #
SeanM
Hmmm… free choice. Interesting that Leftists trust, indeed encourage, females of any age to “choose” abortion, but to choose to live in a house with a yard? No no no. People are to stupid to know how to choose correctly when it comes to that!
Comment by geoffb on 8/5 @ 10:03 pm #
In the 20th century it was found that things like this don’t work out if people can “vote with their feet” and just up and move to less controlling places. You must stop that for this to be effective. Concrete, barbed wire and machine guns can help.
On the other hand, maybe this is ex-gov Moonbeam’s way of stopping even reversing illegal immigration. Make California less attractive than Mexico. Californians become illegal immigrants to Mexico.
Comment by Dave E. on 8/5 @ 10:10 pm #
“We have to get the people from the suburbs to start coming back†to the cities…
Heheh. Careful what you ask for there, slick.
Comment by Pablo on 8/5 @ 10:40 pm #
I seem to remember Jerry being fairly rational at some point when he was the blogging mayor. He must have been sick or something.
O/T: I’ve just gained a new respect for Paris Hilton. If she actually did jump into the race, I’d have to think about it for a while. Maybe she’d have her Dad pick her SCOTUS nominees. That wouldn’t be so bad, would it? Then again, maybe she’d have Nicole Ritchie do it.
Comment by Big Bang Hunter (pumping you up) on 8/5 @ 10:41 pm #
- Whats his problem. Are the inner city 7/11’s going through hard economic times and his stocks are down?
Comment by Big Bang Hunter (pumping you up) on 8/5 @ 10:44 pm #
- Since this entire election is the travesty of this young century already, might as well throw Hiltons name in the hat. Her energy plan wasn’t completely there yet, but she sounds like an economics expert next to Botox-Fran.
Comment by Pablo on 8/5 @ 10:46 pm #
“See you at the debates, bitches.”
That’s a keeper right there.
Comment by Cybrludite on 8/5 @ 10:48 pm #
♫”I am Governor Jerry Brown
My aura smiles
And never frowns
Soon I will be president…”♫
Comment by Jeff Y. on 8/5 @ 10:52 pm #
Dang. I can’t get the feminazi chicks to put. Someone tell me how it’s done.
I wonder why the states don’t just ignore these green madmen who want to destroy our economy. Why don’t the states issue arrest warrants for federal judges? You know they can find something to get them on.
Wanna’ shut down Texas ports? Spend some time the Dallas County jail. Meet Bubba. He likes a strong economy, and a warm bunk mate.
The states need to get their game on.
Comment by dicentra on 8/5 @ 10:56 pm #
Here’s a goldmine of information:
http://www.congressmerge.com/onlinedb/
It lists all the critters’ phone AND fax numbers.
If you’ve got a FAX on your computer, you can write up one document and send it to a whole bunch of ‘em: just queue ‘em up and let ‘er rip!
It also lists them by committee and subcommittee, such as, oh, I don’t know, the House Subcommittee on Energy and Air Quality.
No reason. Just shootin’ the breeze, here, like I always do.
Comment by thud on 8/5 @ 11:44 pm #
Do whatever it takes to not follow England into self loathing and destruction.
Comment by The Lost Dog on 8/6 @ 12:00 am #
“Scratch a Democrat, find…something unpleasant.”
That is very pleasant of you.
I say scratch a Democrat, find a totalitarian fascist.
If we are going to have to “neutralize” people, I think we should strike first, and deal with Brown, Pelosi and Reid.
I used to joke about thjese people being fascists, but it is dawning on me that maybe these people aren’t a joke after all.
Comment by The Lost Dog on 8/6 @ 12:36 am #
If Paris Hilton would come to my house and sit on my face, I would move to Chicago, change my party affiliation, and vote for her at least three or four times, minimum.
I mean, after all, what good is DOH! celebrity if you can’t use it to be elected president? And what good is blonde pubic hair if you can’t use it to drive papparazzi and major dolts insane?
Yup. Paris rocks!
Comment by Sean M. on 8/6 @ 3:29 am #
Did you click on the link I provided? I wasn’t exactly being “pleasant” with my analysis.
Comment by Mr. Pink on 8/6 @ 4:36 am #
It is becoming increasingly hard to figure out how any of this is “for teh children” anymore.
Comment by Carin on 8/6 @ 5:47 am #
Sean, I appreciate you directing the conversation toward Camodia instead of Russia (sparing us from the Thor/Sashal dynamic duo), but really the situation does more closely resemble Stalin than Pol Pot.
Comment by Carin on 8/6 @ 5:48 am #
Mr Pink – I agree. I don’t understand how Michelle is going to get her children fruit if everyone lives in the cities. Everyone knows you get better fruit in those country fruit stands. I’ve got a few near me.
Oh, I said too much. Please, don’t tell Mr. Brown.
Comment by Big Bang Hunter (pumping you up) on 8/6 @ 5:56 am #
- Well, Gallop has Hilton up +25 over Obama and McDuffer already this morning. She probably got a lot of “bounce” from her energy Ad.
- Mr. Pink, rumor has it she’ll be coming out with a new line of “Little Miss Airhead” dolls just in time for Christmas, complete with handcuffs, bullwhip, and cattle prod. The dolls will be fully outfitted in Domonitrix black Leather, have polymorphic and metrosexual Bi orientation, and speak porn in two languages, English and Chicago South side homey.
- Oh and Dog, she’ll be doing personal appearances at WalMart garden centers everywhere in the fall.
- So there is that. Just hang out a lot in the Lawn furniture section of your local store next to the slug pellets aisle.
Comment by Rob Crawford on 8/6 @ 6:16 am #
Yeah — Stalin was all about urbanization/industrialization, while Pol Pot was more into smashing the cities and forcing everyone into the countryside. Still, give the greens a couple of years, and they’ll be calling for another “Year Zero”.
Comment by Salt Lick on 8/6 @ 6:20 am #
And, mostly, he sees wisdom in an intricately thought-out plan to compel residents to move to city centers or, at least, to high-density developments
I wonder if Jerry’s familiar with previous programs grouped under the title “Urban Renewal?” Before Katrina, That program was responsible for the four housing projects that infested downtown and uptown New Orleans like wasp nests. They generated more crime than the rest of the state of Louisiana. And their occupants, dependent on the good graces of politicians, provided a willing mob that could be turned out to the polls at the drop of some “walking around money.”
Comment by JD on 8/6 @ 6:21 am #
Paris Hilton would be far less damaging than a Baracky presidency, and a whole heck of a lot easier on the eyes.
Comment by TheGeezer on 8/6 @ 6:23 am #
Hmmm.
In a dim summer past, with Jimmy Carter strolling around murmuring lines describing doing with less, with smaller houses, with tiny cars, with higher gas prices…the result in the Fall was a Reagan landslide. Now, we don’t have Reagan, of course, but in this horror of an election, all comparisons are useless. One thing remains certain in my mind: get between an American and his car, and you are dead meat electorally.
Jerry and his judges may sue all they want, but judges hear the people outside, too, if the people are loud enough. Even in California.
Comment by Carin on 8/6 @ 6:25 am #
I dunno about this Paris thing. I mean, we have photos of her scratching her snatch in public. Or, perhaps she was looking for her cell phone? Whatever. But, I STRONGLY urge my friends here at PW to NOT support Paris for Pres. I know the urge to piss off the feminazis is strong, but you MUST resist.
Comment by Mr. Pink on 8/6 @ 6:27 am #
50 years ago this guy would be known as the town lunatic.
Comment by Rob Crawford on 8/6 @ 6:36 am #
I believe politicians call that a “feature”.
Comment by Mr B on 8/6 @ 6:43 am #
I take it the LA port clean air plan did not pass then? I can’t find confirmation.
From what I understand, it started out as an attempt to reduce diesel emissions from the fleet (lots of old trucks in play), but, it looks like it evolved in to a fight over control of employees by forcing owner operators out of business. What do I know though, this is what I read in the LA Times. Choose your own level of trust.
It doesn’t surprise me that the greens would attack our biggest port. It would hurt capitalism and consumerism. And isn’t that the agenda?
Comment by JD on 8/6 @ 6:45 am #
I believe politicians call that a “featureâ€Â. Most certainly not a bug.
Comment by TaiChiWawa on 8/6 @ 6:46 am #
After having read Martha Stewart’s prison diaries, I eagerly await Paris Hilton’s “Position Papers.”
Comment by Mr. Pink on 8/6 @ 6:54 am #
This would be a quick way for the average citizen in the United States to be priced out of home ownership and private property.
Comment by JD on 8/6 @ 6:54 am #
TaiChiWaWa – O wise one, I bow to your infinite wisdom.
Comment by Mr. Pink on 8/6 @ 6:59 am #
Maybe I am making a mistake by looking at this idiots positions rationally, but does he not see all the potential problems that would be associated with everyone moving into large urban sectors? Housing prices, school systems becoming overloaded, pollution, smog, crime, and unemployment to name a few off the top of my head. If this guy really wanted to stop “damage” to the enviornment there would be much more rational and effective means to go about it then penning people into cities thru the power of the government.
Comment by B Moe on 8/6 @ 7:16 am #
…does he not see all the potential problems that would be associated with everyone moving into large urban sectors?
Problems that the government would be oh so happy to solve for you.
Comment by JD on 8/6 @ 7:17 am #
there would be much more rational and effective means to go about it then penning people into cities thru the power of the government
Unless the penning people into cities to control through the power of government is their actual goal.
Comment by BJTexs on 8/6 @ 7:26 am #
Does Jerry Brown (who, unlike Clinton, has never exhaled) understand the concept of Urban Blooming? Large urban centers produce more radiant heat than rural areas by a factor of 10% – 30%.
Jerry does not love Teh Gaea methinks.
Comment by serr8d on 8/6 @ 7:28 am #
Don’t know if you’ve seen this, Darleen; the new ‘identity politics’…
As if any urbanites could feed themselves. If/when some of the worst-case scenarios (economic disasters due to oil wars or cutoffs, or an unexpected whatever) come about, these large urban areas will become unimaginably grim.
Comment by B Moe on 8/6 @ 7:49 am #
http://tinyurl.com/68nbgq
This is another one to get your blood boiling.
And a pre-emptive fuck you to datadave or any other nannystate apologist reading this.
Comment by Mikey NTH on 8/6 @ 7:56 am #
Mr. Pink – I am sure it wouldn’t matter because Mr. Brown would not be living with the little people in the stack-a-prole housing units. He would have the big house or penthouse and the superb view. All for he, none for thee.
Comment by Mr. Pink on 8/6 @ 7:57 am #
B Moe thank you for ruining my day. That is horrible.
Comment by Sdferr on 8/6 @ 7:58 am #
Goddamn it BMoe. (not directed at you, but at the story) Why is it the prosecutor, the judge, the appellate judges, the fucking stoopnagle jurors aren’t in jail? Goddamn it. What a fucking country we’ve made.
Comment by Mr. Pink on 8/6 @ 8:04 am #
That judge is sleeping at home right now wrapped in a warm blanket of smug self-righteousness and dreaming of the day he will get nominated to the SC by President Obama.
Comment by alppuccino on 8/6 @ 8:09 am #
Yes. Thanks BMoe. BTW, what do you call a lawyer with an IQ of 80?
Comment by BJTexs on 8/6 @ 8:11 am #
Good, Lord, BMoe, in friggin’ fraggin’ IDAHO?
Jesus wept.
Comment by SarahW on 8/6 @ 8:12 am #
If that reflects the whole truth. BMoe and the total of the states arguments against him, then maybe God will forgive me for being very sweary.
Comment by JD on 8/6 @ 8:12 am #
BMoe – That is an absolute unmitigated travesty.
Comment by SarahW on 8/6 @ 8:13 am #
What, if any, legal options remain for this man?
Comment by JD on 8/6 @ 8:13 am #
alp – Baracky?
Comment by JD on 8/6 @ 8:13 am #
alp – Gifted?
Comment by Dread Cthulhu on 8/6 @ 8:13 am #
alppuccino: ” BTW, what do you call a lawyer with an IQ of 80?”
Gifted.
Comment by alppuccino on 8/6 @ 8:15 am #
I was going for “your honor” but that was good too guys.
Comment by Ouroboros on 8/6 @ 8:16 am #
Bmoe: A sad story indeed.. Aside from lamenting the injustice what can we do to actually help fight this and other judicial activism? Is there a petition or e-mail campaign or legal fund or something?
Comment by BJTexs on 8/6 @ 8:17 am #
Breck girl?
Comment by Mr. Pink on 8/6 @ 8:18 am #
What is the difference between a lawyer and a hooker?
Comment by Dread Cthulhu on 8/6 @ 8:18 am #
What do you call a lawyer buried up to his neck in concrete?
Comment by BJTexs on 8/6 @ 8:19 am #
DC: A good start?
Comment by Ouroboros on 8/6 @ 8:20 am #
I’m tired of just reading about this kind of crap.. The Proggie Fascists and their goose stepping, lock step, Big-Brother loving minions want a fight for the future of this country I’m all for giving them one…
Comment by Obstreperous Infidel on 8/6 @ 8:20 am #
I’m sorry, but is it time to hoist that black flag yet? We all know what comes next.
Comment by Mr. Pink on 8/6 @ 8:23 am #
Answer to #59
The hooker will stop f@cking you when your dead.
Comment by Dread Cthulhu on 8/6 @ 8:24 am #
Obstreperous Infidel: “I’m sorry, but is it time to hoist that black flag yet? We all know what comes next.”
Why not, the opposition seems willing to go there.
Of course, once the great check-writing sky-father is DC quits coming across with the “kiss in the mail,” the urban centers will burn, or so the prognosticaters posit.
And, yes, it is a good start… and me, coming from a family top-heavy with JD’s…
Pingback by Green moto - ‘law? we don’t need no stinkin’ law’ [Darleen Click] on 8/6 @ 8:34 am #
[...] B Moe) Posted by Darleen @ 8:34 am | Trackback SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: “Green moto – ‘law? we [...]
Comment by Carin on 8/6 @ 9:05 am #
Oh, what a horrible story. I’m gonna forward it to my husband. We live on “wetlands.”
Comment by pan on 8/6 @ 9:11 am #
“Vote Democrat [Darleen Click] vote for this country’s economic demise”
Considering the performance of the Republicans on the economy, I think this is odd.
Comment by Dread Cthulhu on 8/6 @ 9:16 am #
pan: “Considering the performance of the Republicans on the economy, I think this is odd.”
Depends on your basis of comparison, pan. I remember the Carter years and, as such, am immune to the “teh worst economy ehav!!” trope.
Comment by ThomasD on 8/6 @ 9:17 am #
Good, Lord, BMoe, in friggin’ fraggin’ IDAHO?
As a former resident (8 years, recently relocated to NE TN) I can tell you that Idaho, as with much of the ‘west,’ ain’t what it used to be (if you need to know about Montana, don’t ask.) Alot of it is the ‘frog in the pan of water’ metaphor but Californication is the most apt descriptor.
Comment by Darleen on 8/6 @ 9:24 am #
pan
econ 101, there are normal cycles of expansion and contraction in any market-based economy. Those swings can be tempered or exaggerated by economic policies.
While we are currently in a mild contraction, what policies will temper or exaggerate the trend? Do you think making it harder for America’s busiest port to do business will exaggerate or temper a economic contraction? Will lowering America’s corporate tax rate of 35% (highest in the world) to 25% help or harm the economy? Will refusing to exploit our own oil/natural gas/coal/oil shale/oil sand reserves – lessening our dependence on foreign oil – while concurrently exploring and instituting alternate sources of energy (nuclear, wind, solar, geothermal) hurt or harm the economy? Do calls for nationalizing major sectors of the American economy help or harm it?
Answer those questions HONESTLY then compare them to the policy proposals of the Dems and Reps.
No contest.
Comment by Obstreperous Infidel on 8/6 @ 9:25 am #
Pan’s gotta point, here, though. But, as is the case anymore, I think it’s more of a lesser of two evils type thing. If the repubs had remembered their principles and didn’t start spending to satisfy their leeches, we might be in better straights right about now. They had the income part of the ledger correct. They just f’ed up on the expenses part.
And yes, Dread is correct. Those years were far worse than today, so, that’s that.
Comment by N. O'Brain on 8/6 @ 9:30 am #
“Comment by The Lost Dog on 8/6 @ 12:00 am #
I say scratch a Democrat, find a totalitarian fascist.”
Darn you, LD, that’s my line, which I stole fair and square from Jonah Goldberg.
Comment by N. O'Brain on 8/6 @ 9:41 am #
“#
Comment by pan on 8/6 @ 9:11 am #
“Vote Democrat [Darleen Click] vote for this country’s economic demiseâ€Â
Considering the performance of the Republicans on the economy, I think this is odd.”
That’s because you’re an idiot, pan.
Comment by SarahW on 8/6 @ 9:55 am #
Isn’t the real difficulty here with FEDS in Idaho?
Comment by SGT Ted on 8/6 @ 10:25 am #
Considering the performance of the Republicans on the economy, I think this is odd.
Implying that Democrats would be better than Repubs on the economy is really dumb.
Comment by PalmettoTiger on 8/6 @ 11:48 am #
@#33
Sorta. The Port of Los Angeles’ transition to a licensed-carrier truck concession system, which was scheduled to start Oct. 1, was approved by the Los Angeles City Council. The Clean Truck Program will require truckers to be carrier employees but will allow exceptions for owner-operators not regularly doing business with the port. Supposedly. However, the American Trucking Association has already filed suit over the plan, and over a different regime at POLB,arguing that the port’s plan is pre-empted by federal law. POLA had already been told in 2007 that their plan may exceed their authority.
It would not have been the first time. Brown does not know beans about the maritime industry. California has already had one regulation (requiring the use of low-sulfer diesel within 40 miles of the ports) struck down by the Fed court. That said, the updating of the MARPOL 73/78 regs to reduce emissions from vessels has been endorsed by the maritime industry and Congress has been asked to take action. Until they do, however, EPA is more or less stuck so Brownie and his boys can get bent though if they want to cause cargo to divert to the US East Coast instead, I guess I’m good with that.
Probably can guess what I do for a living, eh?
PT
Comment by kelly on 8/6 @ 11:48 am #
Idahoan for 35 years, here.
Idaho has the largest percentage land under Fed control in the contiguous 48 (55 if you’re O!).
Comment by ThomasD on 8/6 @ 11:52 am #
#75 – Idaho is 68% Federal land, and alot of locals derive there entire existence from those lands. Indirectly, even more so – My own former county of residence was over 75% public lands (mainly NFS, some BLS.) This limited private property base (as a source of income, much less taxation) leaves many municipalities entirely beholden to, and therefore incapable of resisting, the Feds.
Comment by kelly on 8/6 @ 1:18 pm #
Where did you live in ID, ThomasD?
Comment by B Moe on 8/6 @ 5:39 pm #
Aside from lamenting the injustice what can we do to actually help fight this and other judicial activism? Is there a petition or e-mail campaign or legal fund or something?
A Constitutional Convention, focusing on the Tenth Amendment is the best suggestion I have heard. Or the best one that won’t land me in jail, anyway.