California

The governor of the socialist republic of California, Jerry Brown seems to be a convert of the benefits of fracking:

The USC authors cite “the possibility that greater-than-expected in-state energy production not only could support a return to stronger economic growth within the state, but actually accelerate the state’s economic turnaround, perhaps profoundly so.”

Unsurprisingly, the usual suspects have harrumphed loudly about the perils of fracking. “If and when the oil companies figure out how to exploit that shale oil, California could be transformed almost overnight,” Kassie Siegel, a lawyer at the Center for Biological Diversity, told the New York Times in February. “Fracking poisons the air we breathe and the water we drink. It is one of the most, if not the most, important environmental issue in California.”

But to his credit, Governor Brown — affectionately known here as Moonbeam for his liberal, hippie tendencies — has taken some small steps in the right direction. “The fossil fuel deposits in California are incredible, the potential is extraordinary,” Brownstated last month, also noting that “between now and development lies a lot of questions that need to be answered, and I feel confident that the people are in place in my administration to handle the issues as they come up.” Brown also reaffirmed his commitment, such as it is, to the state’s oil economy, declaring that “our permits are dramatically up … California is the fourth-largest oil producing state and we want to continue that.” It may be some time before fracking becomes a reality, but Brown is plainly both feeling the pressure and sensing the promise.

So for all the talk of a new, high-tech, white-collar economy bringing California back from the brink, it may turn out that one of the oldest and dirtiest industries around will save the future of the Golden State.

Labour and the Greens first held up South Korea as the model of their electricity reforms, that didn’t work out so well, so now they are talking about California as the nirvana. Quite apart from the fact that the Socialist Republic of California is flat broke and slashing jobs their electricity sector isn’t much chop either.

This from the California Consumer Energy Centre:

To understand the situation facing California, there are three terms that need to be defined- blackouts, brownouts, and rotational outages or “rolling blackouts.” A rotational outage or “rolling blackout” is when the utility company shuts off the power to an area, turns it back on, and then shuts the power off in a different area. The power outage typically lasts 60 to 90 minutes.

A brownout is when the electrical current flowing to your home or office is temporarily reduced (an average household can barely notice the difference). You may notice that the lights may slightly dim temporarily. These power reductions can be uncontrolled and controlled.

They also have a grading system for their “rolling blackouts”:  Read more »

The unions and their unreasonable demands have driven California bankrupt:

Absurd pay and benefits are common, and not just in Stockton. San Francisco Chronicle columnists Matier and Ross revealed recently that the Alameda County executive receives a $423,000 a year pay package for life. Compensation for California firefighters is in the $175,000 a year range. Some Newport Beach lifeguards receive $200,000 a year pay packages. As a friend of mine joked, revolutions have been fought over lesser instances of public pilfering.

Stockton pulled back on some abuses, but has left the main problem in place. Why is it OK that Stockton residents have to put up with closed parks, reduced policing and other cutbacks to protect outrageous pension and pay levels?

Currently, Stockton leaders are floating a tax increase plan to fund police officers. But money is fungible so this should be viewed as a tax designed to pay for past boondoggles. Whatever the court decides, it’s time for the public to stand up to these misshapen priorities.  Read more »

Certainly in some places around the world, public servants have become like medieval clergy, rapaciously enjoying benefits paid for off of the back of the serfs:

A medieval society can be defined in a variety of ways. In terms of class, there is more a pyramidal culture. A vast peasantry sits below an elite of clergy and lords above — but with little or no independent middle class in-between.

I think California is getting there quickly — with the U.S. soon to follow.

For our version of the clergy, think public employees, whose salary and benefits are anywhere from 30-40% higher than their counterparts in the private sector. In California, the security guard in the symphony parking lot makes minimum wage and has no pension, even as he faces as much danger as his counterpart in the state police. And like medieval churchmen, our public-employee clergy positions are often nepotic. Families focus on getting the next generation a coveted spot at the DMV, the county assessor’s office, or the local high school. Like the vast tax-free estate of the clergy that both nearly broke feudalism and yet was beyond reproach, so too California’s half-trillion-dollar unfunded pensions and bond liabilities are considered sacrosanct. To question the pay or the performance of a California teacher or prison guard is to win the same scorn that was once earned from ridiculing the local friar. If suggesting that the man of god who was too rotund as a result of living freely on his tax-exempt church land was worthy of stoning, then so too suggesting that our teachers or highway-patrol officers are paid incommensurately with the quality of students in our schools or the safety on our roads is likewise politically incorrect right-wing heresy.  Read more »

The broken-arsed Californian government will want to drill this regardless of what the tree huggers say:

Secure in this state’s history and mythology, the venerable Midway-Sunset oil field near here keeps producing crude more than a century after Southern California’s oil boom. Many of its bobbing pump jacks are relatively short, a telltale sign of the shallowness of the wells and the ease of extracting their prize.

But away from this forest of pump jacks on a flat, brown landscape, a road snakes up into nearby hills that are largely untouched — save for a handful of exploratory wells pumping oil from depths many times those of Midway-Sunset’s. These wells are tapping crude directly from what is called the Monterey Shale, which could represent the future of California’s oil industry — and a potential arena for conflict between drillers and the state’s powerful environmental interests.  Read more »

This is a great video about coyote hunting:

On this week’s show, we’ve come to America for coyote hunting, world record big game hunting, and the Shot Show 2013, the greatest gun show on the planet. Charlie Jacoby is after coyotes in California, the varmint of choice for the self-respecting American rifleman. We talk to Jason Bruce, star of Headhunter Chronicles on Sportsman Channel, about his world record big game heads. And we are reviewing useful and even useless new kit at the Shot Shot, and getting to try it out on a rifle range deep in the Nevada desert.  Read more »

I mean honestly…I despair at the stupidity of some people…no dog on earth is worth 3 dead people…now the dog needs a new home:

Howard Kuljian and his family were out for a walk on a damp, overcast morning at Big Lagoon beach, playing fetch with their dog Fran as 3-metre surf churned the water just metres away like a washing machine.

Signs near the northern California beach warned of “sneaker waves,” the kind that suddenly roar ashore.

Kuljian tossed a stick that took the dog down to the water’s edge, and in an instant, authorities said, a wave swallowed it, setting off a nightmarish scramble.

“Everything kind of snowballed from there,” Coast Guard Lt. Bernie Garrigan said.

Kuljian’s 16-year-old son, Gregory, ran to save the dog, only to be captured by the surging surf himself. Kuljian, 54, followed, and then his wife, Mary Scott, 57. On shore, their 18-year-old daughter, Olivia, and Gregory’s girlfriend could only watch.

Both parents’ bodies were later recovered, but the boy – presumed dead – is still missing.

The dog eventually made it back to shore.

via ofajabaxi.com

US voters got to cast ballots on more than just politicians in this week’s Presidential Elections.

Flying below the NZ media’s radar in the election were a couple of  Propositions put to citizens of California, on subjects of more than passing interest to readers of this blog.

The mix of ingredients included :

•  A Teachers’ Union up to its armpits in political influence buying
•  Attempts to stop Union leaders siphoning their members’ money into left-wing politics
•  A budget-blowing politician named Brown (who also has a $69 billion dollar train scheme)

Governor Jerry “Moonbeam” Brown, a very big spending namesake of Auckland’s own Spendin’ Len Brown, has dug California into a deep financial hole with “miscalculated” budget numbers and schemes like his $69 billion fast rail plan.

Rather than save his way out, he proposed an increase in taxes of over $6 billion dollars, through an increase in sales tax that would hit everybody, plus that perennial favourite, a special income tax on the rich.

Jerry sponsored Proposition 30.

It passed, and guess who donated most of the $40 million spent in a campaign to get it over the line – that’s right, the California Teachers’ Union and their mates in other public sector unions.

But the Teachers’ Union spent really big dollars to defeat Proposition 32.

The Paycheck Protection Initiative would have banned unions from using members’ subs to donate to political parties and politicians and stopped the compulsory employer deductions of union subs from a worker’s pay packet.

Thanks in part to the $22 million that the Teachers’ Union donated to a $68 million campaign, Proposition 32 was defeated. 

Politics and unions continue on their happy way in sunny California.

Barack Obama is being sued by some dodgy Chinese company who is upset at being told the eff off. Apparently there is some sort of security risk…personally I’d ban them just because they are awful bird blenders junking up the skyline:

A Chinese-owned firm in the US is suing President Barack Obama after he blocked a wind farm deal on national security grounds.

Ralls Corp, a private firm, acquired four wind farm projects near a US naval facility in Oregon earlier this year.

Mr Obama signed the order blocking the deal last week. The lawsuit alleges the US government overstepped its authority.

It is the first foreign investment to be blocked in the US for 22 years.

The block on the wind farms comes just weeks ahead of November’s US presidential election.

China’s state-run news agency Xinhua said “China-bashing” in order “to woo some blue-collar voters” was the reason for the decision.

Mr Obama has been criticised by the Republican nominee, Mitt Romney, for not taking a tough enough line with China over trade and investment practices.

Indeed, Mr Romney has said he will label China as a “currency manipulator” if he is elected.

US politicians have long alleged that China keeps its currency artificially low giving its exports an unfair advantage and, in turn, costing the US jobs. That is denied by Beijing.

But many Chinese officials are now used to the four-year election cycle when increasingly China has become the whipping boy.

One official who worked at the Chinese embassy in Washington told me that the heated rhetoric is not taken too seriously in Beijing.

While the US election is being followed in China, the focus here is the country’s own once-in-a-decade leadership transition, which will get under way next month.

The move forced Ralls Corp to divest its stake in the projects, which were located near restricted airspace used by the Naval Weapons Systems Training Facility.