Serves CNN Right to Hire a Classics Major as a Graphics Technician

“Oedipus Wrecks”

Caption Beneath Ben Stein Talking about Greece’s Financial Woes    Read more »

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June Tax Collections Offer Some Good News for Budget Writers

With nine days left in the month, June income tax collections are running $400 million over the amount expected in Gov. Jerry Brown’s revised budget released in May.

Brown’s Department of Finance predicted the Franchise Tax Board would collect $3.2 billion for the month. Through June 21, the board has logged more than $3.6 billion.    Read more »

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Controller Finds Budget Passed June 15 Is Not Balanced

SACRAMENTO – State Controller John Chiang today announced that his analysis of the state budget vetoed last week shows the spending plan was incomplete and unbalanced. His analysis sought to determine whether the budget met the requirements of Proposition 25 and Proposition 58, which forfeit Legislative pay if a balanced budget is not passed by June 15.    Read more »

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Not to Buttress Republican Arguments About Over-Regulation But “Kafkaesque” Is an Understatement

(From the United State Print Edition of The Economist:)

Red tape in California

Beware of the yogurt: The authorities save Californians from a phantom menace

May 19th 2011 | LOS ANGELES | from the print edition

HOMA DASHTAKI and her family came to America from Iran in 1984 and settled in a neighbourhood of Orange County, California favoured by fellow Zoroastrians.    Read more »

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Even if There’s a Budget Vote Soon, There Still Might Not Be Enough Time to Extend the Sales Tax

An extension of a 1 percent sales tax rate past its June 30 expiration as part of a budget deal may be not be feasible, according to a letter to legislative leaders from the Board of equalization.

In a June 6 letter, the board told legislative leaders that the shortest time to change a tax rate in the past was 15 days.    Read more »

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Today’s Latin Lesson Is Inspired By Gov. Jerry Brown

Veto

“I forbid”

(The first person singular of the verb “vetare” — “to forbid.” Tribunes in ancient Rome, charged with protecting the interests of plebians, used the word to object to actions by the partricians of the Senate.)    Read more »

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Of San Fernando and San Luis Rey

Mission San Fernando Rey de Espana, the city of San Fernando and the valley of same are named after King Ferdinand III of Spain who was canonized by Pope Clement in 1671.

Ferdinand, a lay member of the Franciscans, permanently united Castile and Leon, partly through inheritance. He expanded Spanish control of the Southern Iberian Peninsula by capturing the Moorish strongholds of Cordoba and Seville.    Read more »

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Three Years of the State Cutting Its Support Can’t Be Helping

The number of school districts in financial jeopardy increased by 33 to 143 over the past three months, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson announced June 17.

That’s almost 14 percent of the state’s 1,032 districts and county offices of education.

“These numbers underscore how urgently school districts across California need a balanced state budget in place that provides a full year of stable funding for education,” Torlakson said in press release announcing the increased numbers.    Read more »

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Today’s Latin Lesson Is a Compliment Not Heard Often Enough in the Capitol

Ore Rotundo

“A Nicely Given Speech”

(Literally: “With a Round Mouth”)

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Since So Many Republicans Called the Democratic Budget Plan a “Sham”…

This from the Oxford English Dictionary:

The origin of the word ‘sham’ is shrouded in relative obscurity and dates back several hundred years.

Its earliest recorded use is in 1677. However, the word first appeared in the context of English slang, where it quickly gained popularity and widespread usage.

Sham is suggestive to being connected with the north England dialect word “sham,” meaning “shame,” however, its earliest recorded contexts appear to be contradictory to that definition.    Read more »

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