June 8th 2009

California’s Latest Budget Victim: The Dealth Penalty

Q

uite a lot has been written about California’s budget debacle - a $24 billion, growing hole - and its impact on the poor, state employees, our highways and waterways, and the viability of our counties and municipalities (who fear Sacramento will be stealing their surpluses).

But there may be good news in the budget melt-down … if you’re planning on committing a capital crime any time soon.  From Steve Greenhut’s column in yesterday’s OC Register:

During a recent budget meeting, [OC District Attorney Tony] Rackauckas was grilled by [OC Supervisor John] Moorlach’s chief of staff, Mario Mainero, over the cost-effectiveness of pursuing the death penalty in so many cases, even though that penalty is virtually never actually imposed in this state. Mainero believes that the D.A.’s office spends unnecessarily on death-penalty prosecutions, a contention certainly up for debate, but at least we are now having important debates about how departments spend their money.

It seems hard to believe that matters of such import would hinge on the number of bucks in the coffer, but then, everything about California nowadays seems a bit hard to believe … unless you factor in the fact that the Dems have complete control of Sacramento.

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March 25th 2009

Handy Talking Points On Obama’s Budget

P

eter Ferrara doesn’t exactly hold back on his Fox op/ed on Obama’s budget; he titled it simply, Obama’s Budget: It’s Absolutely Insane! It’s worth reading and emailing to your friends (particularly your liberal ones), but for your convenience, I’ve excerpted some of the gee-whizzers for your use. Just clip out this post and carry it with you.

The budget Obama proposes for this year increases federal spending by 34% over the budget adopted for last year, with a total of $4 trillion in federal spending, the highest EVER.

Under the Obama budget, the national debt will more than double over the next 10 years from 40% of GDP today to 82%! Ronald Reagan left office with the national debt at 42% of GDP. (Congressional Budget Office stats)

If the economy does not recover permanently next year, Obama’s national debt could even top the historic World War II record of 114% of GDP. (Are we fighting Nazis here?)

The deficit would reach a $1.845 trillion this year, according to the CBO. That’s more than four times greater than Reagan’s largest deficit - and you know how much Libs and Dems howled about that!

Obama’s budget deficit will total 13.1% of GDP, more than one-eighth of the entire U.S. economy! That is the largest in U.S. history except for World War II and more than twice Reagan’s highest deficit as a percent of GDP. (CBO stats)

There is not one item in Obama’s budget that promotes saving and investment. Quite to the contrary, the capital gains and dividend tax rate increases he proposes for the top income tax brackets will reduce saving and investment.

And the GOP budget alternative? Remember how Obama lambasted the GOP for not having an alternative? Of course he knew, even as he lambasted, that the GOP alternative is coming next week from Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), the ranking Republican on the House Budget Committee.

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With Obama winning the presidency by seven percent, we can't blame the media. Their laudatory coverage and refusal to extensively probe into Obama's background and [lack of] experience was at best responsible for five percent of his vote, the pundits tell us. Here is a compilation of over 100 significant instances of pro-Obama/anti-McCain bias during the 2008 campaign.

For all 'Media Bias 2008' – Click Here