• California,  Government,  Law

    California Hybrid Automobile Watch: Sticker Shock

    Mitchell Rose holds the yellow stickers that hybrid owners must use to access carpool lanes. The decals, which are 7 by 3 inches and 5 by 2 inches in size, go on panels behind the rear wheels and on the bumpers.

    So, you wanted to buy a hybrid to drive in a California HOV lane?

    The Los Angeles Times has Sticker Shock for Owners of Hybrids.

    They’re big. They’re ugly. They’re offensive. So say owners of the hybrid Toyota Prius — not about larger gas-guzzlers that hog the road but about the decals the state is handing out that allow hybrid owners to drive solo in carpool lanes.

    Prius owners cheered when Congress approved solo driving in carpool lanes last month.

    But a growing number of drivers are now protesting because the California Highway Patrol is requiring that four bright yellow decals — 7 by 3 inches and 5 by 2 inches in size — be displayed on their cars.

    YAWN!

    Patterico has Hybrid Owners = Whiners.

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  • California,  California,  Government,  Politics

    California Energy Policy: Political Stalemate

    Dan Walters of the Sacramento Bee has California needs coherent energy policy but gets political games.

    With California’s population growing by more than a half-million souls every year, an adequate and dependable supply of energy – electric power and natural gas, particularly – is vital to the state’s economic and social future, as Thursday’s rolling blackouts in sweltering Southern California graphically demonstrated.

    But, who will be held accountable?

    Who is to blame?

    A Republican Governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, who suceeded a recalled Democrat Governor Gray Davis, partly because of his failed energy policy and Gray-outs or a Democrat controlled legislature who is not accountable to voters because of the Democrat gerrymand of 2002?

    But if what happened in the Legislature on Thursday is any indication, we may be waiting a long time for them.

    The Senate, voting largely along party lines, rejected Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s ambitious scheme to reorganize the state’s confusing welter of energy agencies into a single Department of Energy, with Democrats angrily denouncing it as “constitutionally flawed and illegal,” in the words of Sen. Martha Escutia, D-Whittier. Escutia and others said they agreed with streamlining but that the plan violates conflict-of-interest laws and illegally takes power away from the Public Utilities Commission. “I want to do it right and if it means I take my goddamn time, I will,” said Escutia, who chairs the Senate’s energy committee. Later, she apologized “for using the Lord’s name in vain,” but added, “it’s still BS.” Republicans argued that the legal flaws could be easily fixed by passing an accompanying bill. “It’s simply a matter of political will,” said Sen. Bill Morrow, R-Oceanside.

    Cute!

    Perhaps the voters of California will rise up to send a message in the November special election.

    In the meanwhile, watch for more rolling blackouts and increasing energy costs.

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  • Election 2008,  Politics

    Patrick Ruffini’s 2008 Presidential Poll for August: Poll Results

    Poll Results are out for August, The Big One: Results & Analysis.

    As of 7 a.m. EDT on August 26, with a whopping 16,437 votes cast, former Mayor Rudy Giuliani wins the Big One with 30.0%. Virginia Senator George Allen places second with 20.1%, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is a strong third at 14.3%, and Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney finishes fourth with 9.1%. On the fantasy ballot, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice laps the field with 37.7%, with Vice President Dick Cheney at 14.0%, Florida Governor Jeb Bush at 9.2%, and former Senator Fred Thompson at 8.1%. All four fantasy candidates finished above the main ballot candidates when voters were asked if they would switch their votes – among other things, a possible ballot design issue.

    Changes from Last Month: George Allen won last month’s five way match-up over Giuliani by 37.2% to 30.7%. The two polls are not an apples-to-apples comparison since the field was opened up to more candidates. However, the July poll was (and is) still active on the sidebar; 764 votes were received on the five-way poll during the August voting, with the results as follows: Allen 36.1%, Giuliani 30.4%, Romney 11.1%, McCain 9.8%, and Frist 8.6%. So, little change in underlying opinion since July. What’s noteworthy here is that Giuliani effectively keeps all of his support when the field is opened up, but Allen loses about 16 points of his, suggesting that conservatives are still shopping around for a candidate. Mitt Romney keeps all but two points of his support – Giuliani and Romney may be gaining positive support from voters who like them and are not just voting against the field.

    Guiliani will be a formidable candidate.

    Now comes the really fun part – the state by state. Overall, Rudy wins in 39 states and the District of Columbia, Allen takes 8, favorite sons Brownback and Huckabee take their home states, and Romney crushes the field in Utah. I’ll take these by candidate, highlighting their strongholds. You can crunch the real time data on this page.

    Flap does not foresee any conservative candidate or John McCain overtaking him.

    A Guiliani – Rice ticket in November 2008 would be hard for Clinton – Richardson to beat.

  • Liberal Morons,  Media,  Media Bias,  Morons,  Politics

    Air America Scandel: Friday Update

    The Weekly Standard in their August 29th edition, has Nothing to See Here.

    The Air America scandal continues to metastasize. The national board of directors for Boys and Girls Clubs of America is considering a formal staff recommendation that the organization expel its Bronx, New York, affiliate, the Gloria Wise Boys and Girls Club, for apparent involvement in–and concealment of–a scheme by which nearly $900,000 was improperly diverted to the liberal radio network from bank accounts intended to fund social service programs for disadvantaged children and the elderly. “It’s a very, very serious matter,” Boys and Girls Clubs spokesman Evan McElroy told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution last week.

    And he’s not the only one who thinks so. At least two law enforcement agencies, the New York City Department of Investigation and the New York State attorney general’s office, have confirmed an active interest in the matter. And, tangentially at least, the courts are already involved, as well. Bloggers Michelle Malkin and Brian Maloney, who’ve together done more than anyone else to advance the story, now report that Air America is being sued by an unpaid creditor who alleges, among other things, that the network’s current parent company, Piquant LLC, is merely a sham reincorporation of the “predecessor” outfit that filched the Boys and Girls Club money.

    Meanwhile, Byron Calame, “public editor” of the New York Times, has quietly filed a post to his “web journal” acknowledging that his colleagues “showed up late” to the Air America story and thus “poorly served” their readers.

    Only after “weeks of articles by other newspapers” did the Times finally get around to noticing the scandal in its own backyard. And this oversight was especially regrettable, Calame allowed, in light of the “flurry of articles” the paper had run during the happy-face PR blitz surrounding Air America’s debut in the spring of 2004. It’s inconsistencies like these, he pointed out, that typically give rise to “a perception of liberal bias” at the Times, and before you know it, certain of the paper’s right-wingier subscribers are writing in to complain.

    Calame does have some good news to report, however. In this particular case, at least, any perception of liberal bias at the Times is one “for which I haven’t found any evidence after checking with editors at the paper.”

    In the meantime, Air America Radio host, Randi Rhodes is flying (perhaps in her charted jet) to Crawford to be with Cindy Sheehan.

    And Evan Montvel Cohen, the former chairman of Ari America is still missing.

    The New York Sun has a series of piece on the Air America Scandel, Air America Online Special Section.

    Michelle Malkin has an excellent Friday round-up, AIR ENRON: FRIDAY MORNING UPDATES.

    And these are some of the kids hurt by this scam.

    And….. the New York as well as Federal authorities continue to be very very quiet. Are they even looking for Evan Montvel Cohen?

    Sheesh.

    Ok, back to Crawford, New York Times……

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