Legislature worries more about animal misery than human misery

Legislature worries more about animal misery than human misery

tumblr_ltik98pDWF1qe0lp5o1_250California has the highest adjusted poverty rate in the nation — and by a significant margin. Nearly 1 in 4 state residents struggles to make ends meet. Unemployment was about the same in the nation as a whole in 2006. Now it’s routinely among the worst of any state — especially in the most relevant category: the percentage of adults who want to work full-time but can’t find jobs. (It’s the U-6 category in this chart.) The state’s lack of middle-income and lower-middle-income jobs — and the high cost of housing — are the primary drivers of California’s extreme poverty rate.

Against this backdrop of human misery, what are the Democrats who control the Legislature doing? Focusing on (alleged) animal misery far more than (documented) human misery.

Why? Because animals are people, too — extra-special people.

This article is from the U-T San Diego:

“SACRAMENTO — Backed by strong emotional arguments and a passionate grassroots following, animal welfare advocates have steadily achieved milestone protections in California for cuddly household pets and shiver-inducing predators alike.

“The list of laws is as sweeping as it is long. Mountain lions cannot be hunted for sport. Dogs can be tethered in the yard for only so long. Chickens must have larger cages. And landlords cannot force renters to declaw their cats.

“Another big one may be added this year with the introduction of closely watched legislation to ban orca shows and their captive breeding at SeaWorld in San Diego — one of the state’s premier tourist attractions and a leader in marine mammal research.”

Raising minimum wage is not a job-creation policy

This is hilariously telling about the people whom California Democrats elect to state office. They care most about union members, urban professionals, trial lawyers and environmentalists, and their passions — like animal rights.

This is obvious to insiders who know how the Legislature works, but not to most people. Sure, millions of Californians buy the idea that Republicans are mostly driven by greed, based on what they’re told by the media, and at times by actual evidence. But if these folks looked past the window dressing provided by the Democratic Party — which often goes unchallenged by the media — then what would a hard look at Golden State Dems show?

newsomAn absolute lack of interest in helping create private-sector jobs or in trying to reduce the cost of living by making it easier to build housing.

In the Legislature, Dem oomph goes to the interests of union members, urban professionals, trial lawyers and environmentalists.

Yes, there is a push to raise the state minimum wage. But that won’t create middle-class jobs. Unfortunately, unlike the elected Democrats in America’s other megastates — Texas, Florida and New York — the ones in California by and large still haven’t figured out that helping free enterprise is a good thing because it leads to creation of such jobs.

Here’s another way to frame this screwy phenomenon: In California, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom stands out for pro-business views that would be absolutely banal in 98 percent of America. When Newsom argues that businesses are rattled by uncertainty about regulatory and tax changes, he is saying that in processing information, business owners act like human beings.

That this observation can seem like heresy to many in the California Democratic Party is a testament to its domination by sclerotic and slavish worshipers of the state’s screwed-up, anti-growth status quo.

Great, just great.

36 comments

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  1. Donkey
    Donkey 25 March, 2014, 07:54

    Political thinking presumes the supremacy of the systems of the state and reduces individuals to the status of resources for the accomplishment of their ends. Such systems are grounded in the mass-minded conditioning and behavior that has produced the deadly wars, economic dislocations, genocides, and police-state oppressions that comprise the essence of political history. We can see it in the Prison Industrial Complex that the “justice” system has embarked on, with only 5% of the worlds population we have almost 30% of the worlds prisoners.

    It is nice to know that when the state isn’t using animals for LE target practice the powerful are giving them the status of human. 🙂

    Reply this comment
    • Bill Gore
      Bill Gore 25 March, 2014, 09:10

      Good comment, donkey kong.
      Now if they’d only crack down on cops shooting dogs.
      Next time some fat cop in size xxxl body armor shoots a taxpayer’s Maltese or Shih Tzu because he ‘feels threatened’ it should be an automatic felony conviction equivalent to manslaughter, maybe ‘being-slaughter’?

      Reply this comment
    • S Moderation Douglas
      S Moderation Douglas 25 March, 2014, 16:03

      “Political thinking, by contrast, presumes the supremacy of the systems (i.e., the state) and reduces individuals to the status of resources for the accomplishment of their ends. Such systems are grounded in the mass-minded conditioning and behavior that has produced the deadly wars, economic dislocations, genocides, and police-state oppressions that comprise the essence of political history.”

      Usually, when we copy and paste, we credit the source. Unless your name really is Butler Shaffer.

      Reply this comment
  2. S Moderation Douglas
    S Moderation Douglas 25 March, 2014, 08:11

    Wow!!

    Looks like colapso is ghostranting for the CWD!!!

    The unions did it!

    Reply this comment
  3. Ulysses Uhaul
    Ulysses Uhaul 25 March, 2014, 08:33

    Donkey appears to have some El Collapso failings….inconsistent tomes, emotions all over his little white coat sleeves and the typical doomer talking points of Bimbaugh and Koch Brothers.

    Reply this comment
    • Donkey
      Donkey 25 March, 2014, 08:55

      UU, have you ever once targeted the story for a post?

      RAGWUS feeders are only concerned about the money! 🙂

      Reply this comment
      • Ted Steele, Manager
        Ted Steele, Manager 25 March, 2014, 12:50

        Duncey– I know U haul writes a bit over your head, but please try to keep up little buddy.

        Reply this comment
        • Donkey
          Donkey 25 March, 2014, 13:43

          You haven’t a clue my RAGWUS feeding parrot!!! 🙂

          Reply this comment
          • Ntheoc
            Ntheoc 25 March, 2014, 14:16

            What’s a RAGWUS again??

          • Donkey
            Donkey 25 March, 2014, 14:54

            YOU!! 🙂

          • Rex the Wonder Dog!
            Rex the Wonder Dog! 25 March, 2014, 16:47

            Donkey and NTHEOC, you two make me smile!
            🙂

            seesaw makes me toss cookies 🙁

            Teddy makes me see flying pigs 😉

  4. S Moderation Douglas
    S Moderation Douglas 25 March, 2014, 11:57

    If you can’t blame the unions, blame the rain.

    THAT’S journalism ethics.

    Reply this comment
  5. Chris Reed
    Chris Reed 25 March, 2014, 14:23

    So it’s not news that California has the highest poverty rate in the nation?

    It’s just another excuse for y’all to bring out your standard spiels and insults.

    Once again, California has the highest poverty rate in the nation.

    That’s not an anti-union talking point. That’s not propaganda. That’s true.

    Any of you want to actually respond to this and what it says about California?

    Or is time for more onanism?

    Reply this comment
    • SkippingDog
      SkippingDog 25 March, 2014, 18:53

      California only has the “highest poverty rate in the nation” if you jigger the numbers to reflect the high cost of housing. Since most poor people don’t own their own homes in California, and often receive housing subsidies to assist them, your claim continues to be misleading.

      Even the pro-business and increasingly right-wingnut magazine Forbes doesn’t make such a claim, but they still have at least a few real journalists on their staff.

      http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2012/12/02/is-california-really-americas-poorest-state/

      Reply this comment
      • S Moderation Douglas
        S Moderation Douglas 25 March, 2014, 21:16

        Y’all don’t really need to respond to him.

        He wouldn’t do it for you.

        Reply this comment
        • SkippingDog
          SkippingDog 25 March, 2014, 21:48

          It’s true, but I keep hoping that shame will finally make him admit that he’s hit rock bottom and needs help to recover whatever sensibilities he once had as a real journalist.

          Reply this comment
      • Chris Reed
        Chris Reed Author 25 March, 2014, 22:08

        The U.S. Census Bureau says California has the highest-poverty rate in the nation when adjusted for the cost of living. It includes transfer payments in measuring poverty. It just does.

        It is a sign of the troll culture that this fact describing California’s vast poverty is simply denied.

        Why did the Census Bureau introduce this new measure of poverty? It was at the behest of liberals who persuaded the Obama administration that what’s poor in New York and California is way different than what’s poor in Alabama and Louisiana.

        I will retreat once again. Get back to trolling. Keep busy! Don’t worry — I don’t really expect any straightforward response to the recitation of a fact.

        Go on — make yourselves feel good!

        LOL.

        Reply this comment
  6. S Moderation Douglas
    S Moderation Douglas 25 March, 2014, 14:34

    I had to go to the dictionary on line (with pictures) Mr. Reed.

    ruin my day.

    And, no. Poverty in California is not news.

    It’s not investigative reporting.

    It’s just more slanted rants.

    Reply this comment
  7. Ntheoc
    Ntheoc 25 March, 2014, 14:37

    California also has the most billionaires Chris. If the Golden State were its own country, it would be tied with Russia for third-most billionaires in the world, behind only the United States and China.More than one-third of California’s billionaires are in tech, focused in Silicon Valley. San Francisco has 20 billionaires alone, second in U.S. cities only to New York City’s 66. Palo Alto, Calif. ranks eighth among U.S. cities with nine billionaires, and Woodside, Calif. is tied for 10th with eight. In total, California billionaires personally hold assets worth $485 billion, more than the entire GDP of all but 24 countries in the world!!!!!!!

    Reply this comment
  8. Ntheoc
    Ntheoc 25 March, 2014, 14:51

    You CWD Doomers just can’t help yourselves,lol. California is in a full economic upswing and booming is the word right now!! Yet you continue with your chicken little “the sky is falling” mantra and screaming, but your message continues to fall on deaf ears. Why don’t you doomers get with the rest of Californians and enjoy our wonderful state,quality of life, and our BOOMING economy. Time for a change huh?

    Reply this comment
    • Donkey
      Donkey 25 March, 2014, 14:58

      Ntheoc, have the ductwork at your Taj Mahal firehouse checked, you must have fumes entering the airstream! The economy is in the tank. Inflation is up and it is the feds fault!! 🙂

      Reply this comment
    • Rex the Wonder Dog!
      Rex the Wonder Dog! 25 March, 2014, 16:49

      California is in a full economic upswing and booming is the word right now!!

      Baloney. You need to put the Jerry Clown Pipe down…..

      Reply this comment
  9. SkippingDog
    SkippingDog 25 March, 2014, 18:57

    If the poverty rate in California is really the highest in the nation, and is a result of our “liberal political environment,” why is poverty measured as second-highest in that libertarian paradise of the Anti-California: The “Great” State of Texas?

    http://texaspolitics.laits.utexas.edu/12_2_0.html

    Reply this comment
    • Donkey
      Donkey 25 March, 2014, 19:53

      Because they have Demonrat commie socialists like you too!! 🙂

      Reply this comment
      • SkippingDog
        SkippingDog 25 March, 2014, 21:47

        That makes no sense, Donk. Texas is regularly listed on this very blog as a true libertarian utopia in the making. How could it possibly be that it’s just another big state with big state social problems?

        Reply this comment
        • Donkey
          Donkey 26 March, 2014, 06:49

          Nothing is pure Skdog! Do you really believe that lefty commies, in the Texas RAGWUS like you, are not seeking to build and envelope their RAGWUS rights like you have worked to do in California. Parasitic morphon are always seeking new ways to proliferate, because they know the host will not last forever. 🙂

          Reply this comment
  10. S Moderation Douglas
    S Moderation Douglas 25 March, 2014, 22:42

    How can we be serious?

    You’re the one who created a false dilemma.

    We don’t have to choose between animals and humans.

    They can protect both at the same time.

    Just because Chris Reed doesn’t approve of their methods doesn’t make them wrong.

    Reply this comment
  11. Skippingdog
    Skippingdog 26 March, 2014, 21:47

    As Mahatma Gandhi so clearly informed us: “The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.”

    Many posters just love to invoke our “moral obligations” to support their claims, but the shallowness of such claims is readily apparent when discussions like this one occur.

    Reply this comment

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