I guess California isn't so bad off after all

A couple of years ago, California was a punching bag for conservatives claiming that high taxes and immigration were messing things up there, and business was leaving in droves, and there was a major budget problem.

Not any more.  Under a liberal governor, California is back on track, budget is balanced, and important priorities are being funded.

California Budget Surplus? Governor Introduces Plan That Eliminates Deficit 

"California job growth tops the national average, unemployment has fallen below double-digit levels for the first time in nearly four years, and voters in November approved a tax increase that closed most of the lingering budget gap.

The state Department of Finance on Thursday projected unemployment will fall to 9.6 percent this year and 8.7 percent in 2014.

California faced deficits of $9 billion just a year ago and $25 billion two years ago. Brown noted that federal government issues could challenge California's forecasts and warned the state not to get over exuberant."

Wow.  Who would have predicted that?

Favorites and a surprise

Katie Cassidy (Arrow) and Morena Baccarin (Homeland, and of course, Firefly) are two of my current TV favorites, and though I'm not really fond of the pants, they were still way cute at the People's Choice Awards. Katie has gone from starlet bombshell to a much more mature beauty very easily.

The surprise was Rachael Leigh Cook, who I had completely lost track of, and discovered that she'd been on'Perception' last year, and was in 'Psych' recurringly, about the time I stopped watching that show. She looked great and glamorous, and was NOT wearing pants.

Pictures of them on the red carpet:

Morena Baccarin

Katie Cassidy

Rachael Leigh Cook

 And an obligatory yummy shot of Cassidy, here as Laurel Lance in Arrow in a nice red wrap dress for her date with Tommy Merlyn (which didn't end up going too well):

Who's talking shutdown?

Well, let me guess... ideologue conservative Republicans !!


Sean Hannity: Republicans Need To Shut Down Government 'Until The President Cuts Spending'

 "And if they have to, only essential areas of government get funded," Hannity said. "They have to be willing to shut it down until the president cuts spending."

Club for Growth President:  Government shutdown may be better than alternative (video)

GOP:  Government shutdown better than 50-50

"Top House leadership aides said that the GOP is mapping a plan to reject new taxes and demand a dollar-for-dollar spending cut for every added dollar of debt. "We will have all GOP members united with Speaker Boehner and the leadership," said a House leadership advisor. "The president has gotten the last nickel of new tax for the remainder of his presidency."

Key advisors said the initial result will likely be a shutdown. Two top aides put the likelihood at 50 percent."


Matt Salmon On Government Shutdown: GOP Rep Says 'It's About Time' We Have Another One 

"Rep. Matt Salmon (R-Ariz.) appeared on 'CBS: Face the Nation' on Sunday, voicing firm support for a suspension of government services. He cited 1995's federal stoppage, pegging that event as the "impetus" for "some real serious compromise."

.....
Additional Republicans pledged this past week that a government shutdown was in the cards without spending cuts and entitlement reforms. In an interview on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) said that his party needed "to be willing to tolerate" that possibility. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) used an op-ed in The Houston Chronicle to express similar sentiments, adding that "it may be necessary."


Luetkemeyer says will back government shutdown during debt-limit talks

 "U.S. Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer, R-St. Elizabeth, says he’s prepared to shut down the federal government and block a debt-ceiling deal, if that’s what it takes to force President Barack Obama to accept dramatic budget cuts – especially in the entitlement programs."

GOP divided over government shutdown 

"Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., said a partial shutdown would be “a hell of a lot better” than allowing Obama to raise taxes or increase spending. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, had a similar take: “I think we have to be prepared to go so far as to shut the government down if we don’t get some serious policies to stop the out of control spending to tackle the debt.”

There should be no debate over the debt ceiling.  If the Republicans want to shut down the government, all the blame for doing it should fall on them, and them alone.

A January sonnet

'Friskiness'

A glimpse, a momentary view into
what normally resides behind the doors
which open only by an invita-
tion; now they take a way that just ignores
convention, giving them a chance to stay
in private rooms and yet in public too.
Why do they let us leer and stamp and stare
at that which lovers have purview? I muse
that those who say they wish to be desired
are right -- that even if they grant their hues
and cries of ecstasy to one, to be admired
requires a multitude to be aware
of beauty which is usually obscured,
and priv'leges esteemingly preferred.

Did we think Pacific bluefin were in good shape?

If we did, that's a misperception.  They aren't.

Overfishing causes Pacific bluefin tuna numbers to drop 96%


"If current trends continue, the species will soon be functionally extinct in the Pacific, and the frozen bodies held in a few high-security Asian warehouses will be the last gasp the species.

More than nine out of 10 of the species recently caught were too young to have reproduced, meaning they may have been the last generation of the bluefin tuna.

Amanda Nickson, of the Pew Environment Group, which produced the latest report, said: "There is no logical way a fishery can have such a high level of fishing on juveniles and continue."

......
She called for fishing of the species to be halted as a matter of urgency. Although there are measures to manage the exploitation of bluefin tuna in the Atlantic, and some measures in the eastern Pacific, the main spawning ground for Pacific bluefin tuna in the western part of that ocean is not managed. The main fishing fleets exploiting the stocks are from Japan, Mexico, South Korea and the US, and the high value of the few remaining fish is a further encouragement to fishermen to hunt down the last of the species."

I guess they'll notice when they stop catching anything - ya think?

Early line on the VA governor's race

Right now, it's close.

We'll have to wait for Cooch to make some really outrageous statements and scare the beejezus out of the slightly right, but not wacky right, electorate.

Cuccinelli, McAuliffe neck-and-neck

"Though he has been lieutenant governor since 2006, Bolling appears to be the least well-known of the three men, as 72 percent of voters said they did not know enough about him to form an opinion. Sixty-one percent said the same of McAuliffe, while 41 percent have no opinion of Cuccinelli, who is viewed favorably by 33 percent of voters and unfavorably by 25 percent."

That'll change once he actually starts talking, I think.

Stormy skies in paradise

La Reunion, the French version of Hawaii (complete with 1,000 foot waterfalls and an active volcano), got hit by a tropical storm a couple of days ago.

Tropical Cyclone Spotted Slamming Indian Ocean Islands

Videos (flooding)
http://www.wkyc.com/news/article/276552/226/Tropical-cyclone-lashes-tiny-nation-of-Reunion

Wave action (and some of the island's impressive landscape)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vq9trb8Dmec