Today’s Latin Lesson is Tom Bates and Loni Hancock

Arcades Ambo

“Two People with Similar Tastes. Two of a Kind.”

Literally: “Arcadians Both.”    Read more »

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May 24 is Bob Dylan’s 70th Birthday. Here He Is Several Birthdays Ago. Allen Ginsburg Is to the Left Rear    Read more »

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US Supreme Court Calls for Release of 33,500 State Prison Inmates

A sharply divided US Supreme Court has upheld a 2009 order by a special three-judge panel ordering California to significantly reduce its prison overcrowding in order to provide adequate medical care to inmates.

The 5 to 4 ruling, written by Justice Anthony Kennedy, gives the state two years in which to lower the population in its 33 prisons from 143,434 to 109,805 – roughly 33,500 inmates.    Read more »

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Is This New Law Really Necessary?

A bill moving through the Legislature would make it be a misdemeanor punishable with a $5,000 fine, up to one year in jail or both if an auto repair dealer fails to fully repair or replace a deployed airbag.

It already is a misdemeanor.

Sponsored by the Center for Auto Safety and the Certified Automotive Parts Association, the bill, SB 869, was approved by the 40-member state Senate on a 38 to 1 vote on May 19.    Read more »

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Higher-than-Expected Local Property Taxes Good for Schools and the State

One bit of economic good news in Gov. Jerry Brown’s revised spending plan released May 16 :

Local property revenues dedicated to public schools are $626 million higher than anticipated.

That has a benefit for the state budget as well.

The more local property taxes there are available for schools, the less the state has to contribute.    Read more »

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After Watching “The Will Rogers Story,” Some of His Thoughts On Republicans and Demcocrats

“The Republican platform promises to do better. I don’t think they have done so bad. Everybody’s broke but them.”

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“Democrats take the whole thing as a joke. Republicans take it serious but run it like a joke.”

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“I will admit it has rained more under Republican administrations. That was partially because they have had more administration than Democrats.”    Read more »

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The Secret is Out About California’s New Job Tax Credit

Among Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposals in his revised budget is to modify a $3,000 credit small businesses can take if they hire a new employee.

The Democratic governor says the credit appears to be “substantially underutilized.

Indeed, Brown notes that some of the $400 million earmarked by lawmakers and former Gov.    Read more »

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Here’s A Real Down-Home Politician: Dale Peterson for Alabama AG Commissioner

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Gov. Jerry Brown’s Plan to Take $744 Million Worth of Bricks Out of the “Wall of Debt”

In taking a chip out of what he calls a $35 billion “Wall of Debt,” Gov. Jerry Brown’s revised budget would speed repayment of $744 million raked off of various funds whose cash comes from fees and not general tax revenue.

When he rejected the Schwarzenegger administration’s plan to sell 11 state office buildings, the Democratic governor borrowed $830 million from 48 pots outside the state’s cash-starved general fund.    Read more »

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Governor’s Revised Budget Increases Spending on Public Schools

Buoyed by $6.6 billion in higher-than-anticipated tax revenue over two years, Gov. Jerry Brown’s revised budget provides public schools with $3 billion more than his January spending plan and eliminates $2.9 billion in taxes he previously wanted to extend.

The Democratic governor’s updated budget is still contingent on a five-year extension of a 1 cent sales tax increase due to expire this year but the $6.6 billion in higher tax collections took some of the sting out of potential cuts.    Read more »

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