State Auto Sales Up in Third Quarter Over Last Year

 

New vehicle registrations increased 9.4 percent versus the same period last year, according to the California New Car Dealers Association. 

It’s the ninth consecutive quarterly sales increase.  

The association predicts 2011 sales for the full year will be nearly 11 percent higher than 2010. 

“Recession weary Californians are starting to replace worn-out cars,” said the association’s chair, Steve Snyder, who operates Gold Rush Chevrolet-Subaru in Auburn.     Read more »

More

Separated At Birth?

They’re Never Seen in the Same Room Together! *****    Read more »

More

From the “Life Is Full of Rich Irony” File…

A sandwich board outside the entrance to the California Musuem at 10th and O Streets in Sacramento touts one of its current exhibits:

“Riding Concrete – Skateboarding in California.”

The exhibit is curated by Nathan Pratt, Z-Boy and co-star of “Dogtown & Z-Boys,” a 2001 documentary about the 1970s Zephyr Competition skateboarding Team, known as the Z-boys.    Read more »

More

Of Vetoes, Free Speech and Funeral Picketing

 One of the benefits of Gov. Jerry Brown’s self-penned veto messages is that they open small windows into his personality.

In one such missive, the Democratic governor expresses regret that he can’t sign a bill making it a misdemeanor to picket funerals within one hour before the funeral begins and one hour after it concludes.    Read more »

More

A lively September “Politics on Tap”  with Ray Sotero, Communications Director for Sen. Ted Lieu; Dale Debber, Publisher of Workers’ Comp Executive; and Scott Lay, President of the Community College League of California.    Read more »

More

Jerry Brown on Adoption

 

“Current law allows the courts in cases of necessity and good and compelling cause to make available information regarding the birth of children who have been adopted.

“This bill would radically change the law to require when both an adopted person and the natural parent each request from the Department of Health information with respect to identity of the other that a meeting will be arranged between the two without any requirement of just cause, without any notification to the adoptive parents and without any judicial review.    Read more »

More

Truly…

 

“Poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese.”                                            — G. K. Chesterton    Read more »

More

Sound Advice on Speechifying…

 

 “I have read all presidential speeches on both sides up to now and the winner is the man smart enough to not make any more. There is a great chance for a ‘silent’ third party.” 

“There is not a voter in America that 24 hours after any speech was made could remember two sentences in it.”    Read more »

More

Dr. Linda Halderman and Medi-Cal

In her official biography, Assemblywoman Linda Halderman says she closed the doors of her Selma medical practice that she opened in 2003 primarily because of the low reimbursement rate by Med-Cal, the state’s health care system for the poor.

Sixteen miles south east of Fresno, Selma, population 22,846, is 78 percent Latino with a median income of $43,683 – nearly $16,000 lower than the statewide median.     Read more »

More

A Closer Look at the One ‘Job Killer’ Bill Signed by Jerry Brown

Of the five bills branded “job killers” by the California Chamber of Commerce that reached his desk, Gov Jerry Brown signed one.

The bill prevents employers – except financial institutions – from using a credit report to determine whether to hire or promote someone.

Exceptions to the prohibition include managerial slots, peace officers and positions involving access to money or confidential information.    Read more »

More