David Kelsen

Politicians and Political Action Committee’s (PAC) are convinced that YOU are an IDIOT.

Since politics have existed, slogans aren’t used because they’re factual, but because they alter the view of the constituent.

Advocates for one issue/bill/candidate or another will beat you about the head and neck with slogans because they’ve learned that if you hear it enough, your subconscious will buy in.

Never mind the truth, never mind intelligent objectivity and reasonable debate, “WE WANT THE WORLD AND WE WANT IT NOW!”

If you are simply a mindless troll who garners the bulk of your information from half-read headlines and TV and suffer from the affliction of lop-sided opinions fed to you by a single partisan viewpoint, then bail.  This will not interest you.

Sure I’m picking on Meg Whitman in this post, but no one is beyond reproach. And the idea is to get YOU to think for yourself.  Don’t be an armrest.  You know what happens when a group of citizens sit around and complain about everything but don’t participate?

”   ”

(nothing, start learning chinese because you’re not even a blip)

Making it Harder to Create Jobs

Time to dissect a statement or two from the Whitman campaign attacking California Attorney General and Gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown.

In a recent TV commercial, Meg Whitman asserts that Brown makes it harder to create jobs and has “1,100 attorneys ready to sue over government regulations”.

First of all, on the face of it, what the hell does that mean?

There’s no context stated or implied.

The snippet in quotation marks was made at a Democratic convention in San Jose in 2008, and was in reference to companies who don’t comply with environmental standards (can you say BP or Massey?).  It had nothing to do with jobs.  But let’s not allow the facts to get in the way.

Record unemployment

Whitman’s ad touts 11% unemployment as “Record Unemployment”.  Really?  Today, under a republican governor, unemployment is at 12.3%.  During the great depression California’s unemployment went from 3% to 25% almost overnight.

So which record exactly is she referring to?

Jerry Brown, Bell and Oakland

In a direct mail piece, Whitman assimilates the payroll/pension scandal in Bell, California to Brown’s stint as mayor in Oakland.  The mailer asserts that when Brown was mayor the number of city workers who earned over $200k increased by 740% and that the number of city workers earning over $100k grew by 47.5%.

First, they don’t mention that California Attorney General Jerry Brown is currently investigating the Bell payroll/pension scandal.

Second, the  jump was attributed to a small pool of employees – most of them firefighters – who were chalking up more than $100,000 annually in overtime in the 2005-06 fiscal year. Two years before that, five Oakland city employees made more than $200,000. In 2005-06, that number jumped to 42. Of Oakland’s top 25 earners that year, all but four were firefighters. The others were police officers, an engineer and former city administrator Deborah Edgerly, who Jerry Brown hired.

Third, none of those came close to the 1.5 million dollars that ex-city manager Robert Rizzo made or the $450k salary of police chief Randy Adams.

BTW: the city of Bell is pissed that Whitman exploited them for her ad.

Look, if you’re not willing to at least consider insightful discourse or an exchange of ideas amongst those in your community who share your ultimate objectives (you know, a better place to live and raise your family), then why not just join the Taliban?  I’m sure you’ll find like minded individuals there.

peace