Norma Torres Has A Near Meltdown

Thursday night I wrote of the California State Assembly and their horribly bad and very illegal decision to add approximately nine billion dollars in new taxes on the population of a state that is already one of the most if not the most heavily taxed state in the nation. They accomplished this by calling the new taxes...."fees." This creative writing/terminology on their part lowered the threshold for the number of votes they needed to pass the illegal legislation. I call it illegal for one simple reason. Back in the 70's, the people of California passed the now famous Proposition 13. Prop 13 clearly states that the California State Assembly and the California State Senate must both have a two thirds majority vote in order to levy new taxes on the citizenry. What they did Thursday night was a clearly illegal effort to circumvent Prop 13 and the wishes of the people of the state of California.

One of the major proponents of Thursday nights action in Sacramento was Assemblywoman Norma Torres (D-Pomona). I wrote Thursday of her near meltdown on the floor of the state capitol as she tried to bully her fellow assemblymen and women to accept and support this illegal legislation. I finally managed to obtained part of the audio of that near meltdown. Give it a listen and see what you think.

This woman is supposed to be a professional legislator, not an emotional train wreck on display for the whole world. Even some people from her own assembly district don't like her. No wonder people in other parts of the country look at California and shake their heads.

For the record, both sides have been working on this budget for over a year. California's Republican Caucus has said time and time again they would be willing to look at new taxes. But only after the Democrats cut subsidized education and health care for illegal immigrants. A huge portion of the prison population in California is made up of illegals. Then there is the insane pension plan that many state workers get. Far above and beyond the pensions or 401k's of your average American. I haven't even mentioned the money and power hungry teachers and prison guards union leadership that on a routinely try to undermine Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger every time they get the chance. The libs however refuse to address any of this. So here we are. The only difference between the automakers and the state of California? We have stood up and said NO! No bailout for the wasteful spenders in the State Assembly and Senate. Still people like Ms Torres seem to float to the top every time there's money to be extorted from the people.

Unfortunately, the state of California is full of people like Ms Torres who like to play on people's fears, emotions, and lack of knowledge when it comes to matters of politics. She's a very sad lady and a big part of the problem here in California. But the problem isn't just in California. Every state in America has their own Norma Torres' using fear and intimidation to get their way.

Until those of us who reside in the middle of the political spectrum start paying attention and making our voices heard and getting involved in the process, the Norma Torres' of the world will continue to dominate the political landscape. California as a state and the United States as a nation are better than this. But we won't be if we don't get involved!!!

Til Next Time................

Slipped Another One By Us, November 06, 2006

Across America, people look at the state of California and just shake their heads. From Hollywood in the south to Berkley and San Francisco in the north, the state of California has some real winners breathing our air here in the "Golden State." No where is that more obvious than at the state capital in Sacramento. The people that the "left coasters" elect to the State Assembly and Senate are the best example I can give you of everything that is wrong here in California. We have assembly members who actually voted against a bill that would have made it a sex crime to posses even one child pornography picture. Then there is the assembly member name Gil "One Bill Gil" Sedeo. He has earned the nickname "One Bill Gill" because over the last few years, the only bill he has proposed in the assembly is one to give drivers licenses to illegals...repeatedly, year after year. It even cost one governor his job.

The list of goofy stuff our state assembly tries to shove down our throats is never ending. At times it's hard to even act suprised when it comes to some of their proposals. But I think they have finally found a way to top even the most bizzare of their past actions.

About eight weeks ago with virtually no publicity, Debra Bowen (D) Redondo Beach (yes the same Debra Bowen whose Voters Bill of Rights I wrote about yesterday) carried a bill in the state senate that, if signed into law, would give California's 55 Electorial College votes to the winner of the national popular vote in presidential elections. Her reasoning was that it would increase California's influence when it comes to who occupies the White House and therefore forcing candidates to spend more time in California.

What Ms Bowen, the bill's original authors, and its supporters aren't taking into account is precisely the potential senario that we have seen in the last two presidential elections. Let's say that California's 55 electoral votes go to the winner of the national poular vote. Let's also say that the final count is really, really close.....like it was in the 2000 Bush-Gore contest. Instead of having the fiasco of a Florida like recount, we would have the total unfettered chaos of a national recount. Imagine for a moment what that would be like. Lawyers in every polling place during the election, lawyers in every elections office after the election, months of recounting votes, and years and years of crying and whinning from the losers. Yes it would be chaos of epic porportions. Florida times 50.....

Secondly, there is the possibility that California's 55 electoral votes could end up going to a candidate that the majority of Californians would never support. So, in theory you could have a candidate that is extremely popular east of the Mississippi but maybe not out west. And if they won the popular vote, you could have all of California's electorial going to a candidate that only a minority of Californians voted for.

A huge portion of the country might chuckle at that prospect and say it serves California right, but before you laugh too loudly, there are 10 other states considering similar legislation including Colorado. Should this become a reality and if you live in a small or rural state this could be extremely bad news for you. This is nothing more than a power grab being played out by liberal leaning urban areas across the country who will stop at nothing to impose their will on the rest of us.

The Wall Street Journal did an excellent piece on this attempt at hijacking our electoral process. You can read about it here........... http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/pdupont/?id=110008855 Oh and by the way, don't forget to vote tomorrow!

Til next time..............

originally posted 11/6/06 on Yahoo 360