Public Cemetery Districts — A Dying Breed?

Apparently 2012 wasn’t a banner year for California cemeteries, particularly the one maintained by the Kern River Valley Cemetery District.

It’s not that there isn’t a market for plots. The U.S. Census Bureau says 242,848 Californians died last year alone.

People are just dying to get in somewhere else.

A measure — SB159 by Sen. Jean Fuller, a Bakersfield Republican – aims to help the cemetery bury more bodies. The Senate Governance & Finance committee approved the bil March 13.

The cemetery business is depressed, in part, because more of the deceased are going with cremation, a cheaper option requiring, Read more »

More

Go Ahead, Bite the Big Apple!

“Don’t mind the maggots,” adds Mick Jagger on “Shattered.”

Although the airfare might be getting a bit dear with just 72 hours until flight time, there’s still space to spend a long weekend with Assemblywoman Sharon Quirk-Silva, a Fullerton Democrat, and her guest Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez, also an Orange County Democrat. The $249 per room rate for two nights at The Palace is a pretty good deal.  

Besides the inevitable fundraiser with the representative and the Assemblywoman — hopefully just cocktails and weenies and not a full-blown sit-down dinner — there’s a busy schedule of events in the self-proclaimed Capital of the Read more »

More

Of Missives and Misogyny

The following letter was sent to Hawk Koch, president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences by the California Legislative Women’s Caucus. It says the Academy’s choice of Master of Ceremonies Seth MacFarlane “struck a new low in its treatment of women.”  MacFarlane “crossed the line from humor to misogyny” by “singing about ‘boobs’ during a film’s rape scene,” says the letter.  

“Our finest female actresses” (Not to demean proofreaders but are there male actresses?) were reduced to “caricatures and stereotypes, degrading women as a whole and the filmmaking industry itself,” write Assemblywoman Bonnie Lowenthal and Sen. Hannah-Beth Read more »

More

A Diamond Amongst the Dross

“Spot” bills, “placeholders” or “intent” bills are pieces of legislation that aren’t yet legislation. They await amendments that will convert them into “real” legislation. Their language is usually boilerplate and, nearly always, features the word, “intent,” since, properly, the bills don’t change law, they merely express a future desire to do so.

Illustrative of the drab Government-Speak employed by nearly all spot bills, is the second paragraph of the Legislative Counsel’s summary of the two-paragraph contents of AB 1193 by Assemblyman Philip Ting, a San Francisco Democrat:

“This bill would declare the Legislature’s intent to enact subsequent legislation that would authorize Read more »

More

Sen. Michael Rubio, Shafter Democrat, Resigns; Joins Chevron

From the Capitol Morning Report:

SACRAMENTO – Senator Michael J. Rubio issued the following statement this morning:

“As many of you know, a little over a year ago I decided not to run for the United States Congress to meet the needs of my growing family. My time serving since then has been a blessing, but it has also been a challenge. I have missed too many family dinners, bedtime stories and parent-teacher conferences.

“My wife and I have been blessed with two beautiful daughters, from whom we have learned a great deal. Our youngest child, who has special needs, Read more »

More

Jerry Brown and Oliver Wendell Holmes

“Feeling begets feelings and great feelings beget great feelings,” said Gov. Jerry Brown in his January State of the State speech, quoting Oliver Wendell Holmes.

The Democratic governor used the line in relation to public education:

“I salute the teachers and the students, the parents and the college presidents, the whole school community. As the great jurist, Oliver Wendell Holmes, once said when describing what stirs people to action: “Feeling begets feeling and great feeling begets great feeling.” 

As Brown alludes, the original context of the sentence doesn’t refer to public education and, only in the broadest possible way, to Read more »

More

Tim Donnelly, Possible GOP Contender for Governor

The Assemblyman from Hesperia wants Californians to tell him whether he should enter the fray of the 2014 gubernatorial election  for a chance to be thrashed by whomever the Democrats nominate. Despite being posted on Facebook, the following is unlikely to resonate with enough of the California’s 3.7 million regitstered independent voters — even more by the time the eleciton rolls around — who now are the key to statewide elections. 

(Editor’s Note: Can say what you want about Donnelly but he’s got a certain alliterative flair as evidenced by “last flicker of freedom’s flame.” Goosebumps from just typing it.)

-30-

More

Who Would Buy An Animal at a Flea Market Anyway?

Dickinson Introduces Legislation to Ban the Sale of Animals at Swap Meets and Flea Markets 

Sacramento – The sale of animals at swap meets and flea markets would be prohibited under legislation introduced February 13 by Assemblyman Roger Dickinson, a Sacramento Democrat.

Dickinson’s legislation, AB 339, seeks to prevent the suffering of animals, protect consumers, and eliminate the public health and safety risks and potential threats of disease outbreaks associated with such sales. 

“Animals are currently being sold at flea markets and swap meets in often abysmal conditions where there is no legal oversight of the seller and no consumer accountability,” said Read more »

More

Free Media Advice

In the immortal words of Gov. Jerry Brown during his first eight years as California’s chief executive: ”Less is more.”

Labor Chair Roger Hernández Statement on President Obama’s State of the Union Address

SACRAMENTO – Assemblymember Roger Hernandez released the following statement on the President’s State of the Union Address:

“I welcome President Obama’s enthusiasm and energy in creating new jobs in our nation.  Jobs that will provide new opportunities for tomorrows generations but most importantly: to keep California moving forward.

“I applaud hs efforts in bringing the new revolution of manufacturing jobs in this country, which will provide a Read more »

More

Controller’s January Cash Report — California $4.3 billion More Flush Than Expected

Total revenues for January 2013 were $4.3 billion above estimates found in the Governor’s budget plan presented early in the same month, according to State Controller Johan Chiang.

The spike in revenues – 39 percent higher than anticipated – appears in Chiang’s report covering California’s cash balance, receipts and disbursements for the first month of the calendar year, released February 8.

“Last month’s revenues were by far the highest California has seen in any January for the past decade. Along with increased auto sales, rising home values, and more construction, it signals that California may be entering an era where we can govern outside of Read more »

More