You're aware, aren't you

Post #390,680 by rcareaga 6/12/14 12:40:53 AM Reply	You're aware, aren't you ...that Mike Royko, who coined that flippant soubriquet in 1976, subsequently repudiated it? In 1980 he wrote “I have to admit I gave him that unhappy label...the more I see of Brown, the more I am convinced that he has been the only Democrat in this year’s politics who understands what this country will be up against.” Still later (in 1991), he called the label, an “idiotic, damn-fool, meaningless, throw-away line,” and pleaded with people to stop using it. I've long regarded Brown as one of the most interesting and intelligent figures in US politics. cordially,
Post #390,682 by Andrew Grygus 6/12/14 2:52:07 AM Reply	Every week I get several calls asking me to invest . . . . . in drilling oil and gas wells. A couple of years ago I got a call from some guy in Texas trying to sell me oil wells - and he pretty soon figured I wasn't buying, but he was in a talkative mood that day, so we had a short conversation, which got down to this: Texan: "Well, at least you folks in California have a really good governor." Me: "Well, you know, here in California, we believe in recycling - so we just re-elected Jerry Brown." Texan: "Oh no!" Yes, and prosperity is finally returning to California - not to the level when he was governor before, but we're doing better - his re-election is in the bag. And some of his "moon beam" ideas are now standard practice in all the Blue States.
Post #390,720 by Ashton 6/12/14 4:48:29 PM Reply	My first thought on first hearing the Moonbeam appellation was the obvious one: the utterly predictable manifestation exactly, of Alex's excellent Sig. My namesake, having studied in a seminary, apparently acquired the sense of proportionality of that liberal education which many parents hoped would result, even in the then-America (supposing that young Genghis did not expire via some stupid frat-house initiation.) This automatically placed him in diametric opposition to such as would coalesce, finally as the Ronnie Rogues of Trickle-down and the Neo- rampant language-atrocities of reactionary minds. He grokked adequately, I thought, the cauldron of roiling What-Ifs? whose epicenter was, of course Berkeley du jour. The rest is in legible histories. (Clearly we agree that, as CA dwellers we are fucking-Lucky to have such a one as Gov, within times so parlous as to spawn legions who worship lunacy and call it patriotism.) Junk-words which insinuate themselves into (today's) framing-weapon are surely more powerful than nukes (which you can't Use/just threaten with.) It's still the Biggest crap-shoot ever. Wisdom surely resided in many of the Founding Mothers, but we now have a Majority of runts-of-the litter. "Politics" this diseased happens only at.. the denouement of any enterprise, as every historian has warned. We kill-em-off or assuredly become their thralls, dining on McRat Nuggets. It's D-Day 2014-16+ Ring! that fucking-Tocsin (that Human Events icon for assembling all their mouth-breathers for mayhem.)
Post #390,727 by a6l6e6x 6/12/14 6:22:43 PM Reply	Did you note the smiley? He was not terribly effective the first time. Now, he's probably the most effective governor in the US. Alex "There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge." -- Isaac Asimov
Post #390,730 by rcareaga 6/12/14 6:33:09 PM Reply	Noted, yes, but Not clear as to whether irony or a smirk was intended. Brown's first two terms were not bad at all, particularly measured against the governership of the Blessed Saint Alzheimer. cordially,
Post #390,734 by a6l6e6x 6/12/14 7:32:11 PM Reply	Well, Prop 13 comes to mind. That sure cut into spending on schools and used up the state's surplus. Alex "There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge." -- Isaac Asimov
Post #390,735 by rcareaga 6/12/14 7:57:12 PM Reply	Re: Well, Prop 13 comes to mind. Not exactly a Brown initiative, though he certainly acquiesced to the fait accompli. Do you remember what the Prop 13's proponents held forth as their main argument? California was running a budget surplus under Brown. No one wants to talk about that now. cordially,
Post #390,759 by Ashton 6/13/14 4:44:01 PM Reply	Wiki-P gives a decent synopsis of Gann/Jarvis' motives and.. barely limns the Loss to CA brainpower subsequently. While I benefited from the thing, (especially its timing: a few years before peddling my manse in Kensington) I can't claim prescience of just How-horrible would be the fall-out of this putative subsidy for old-folks-staying in-house in perpetuum. (And I Should have grokked that immediately; all ye need know is Alex's/Asimov Sig.)
Post #390,744 by mmoffitt 6/13/14 9:09:29 AM Reply	I remember my dad accurately predicting Prop 13 would destroy CA schools. I graduated from high school out there in 1977, so that was my first year of college, which was tuition free at the time. If you bought a parking permit and library card (not required) at Long Beach City College, you paid a whopping $12.00 to take up to 18 credits (without those, the 18 credits were absolutely FREE). Dad was teaching at Millikan High School in Long Beach at the time. Some things that disappeared were California's high schools ranking among the best in the nation. I took Semantics, Linguistics, American Short Story, American Novel, European Short Story, and European Novel in high school. Not a damned chance of that now. But, hey, everybody gets to keep "their money" so it's all good.

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