It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a man who cares only for money to enter into the kingdom of God."

At the risk of angering many who think the Conservapedia is idiotic - an attitude I share - this is actually not so bad, if you consider some additional information.

Back in the day, when Jesus was allegedly preaching, "the eye of the needle" was something well-known to his audience. It was a small door in the main gate of a walled city, through which a camel caravan could pass should they arrive at the city after the gates were closed. The way the camels could get through this "eye of the needle" was to have their baggage - their cargo - removed, so they could go through on their knees, for which there was plenty of room in the "eye of the needle." Camels had no problem doing this.

I think most folks here are intelligent enough to get the image. Would anyone disagree that a man "who cares only for money" would have a lot of "baggage"? Would anyone disagree that it would be very hard for such a man to drop his baggage and enter the kingdom of heaven on his knees?

I do think the fact that the Conservapedia managed to get this right can be filed under "a stopped clock is still right twice a day."

If the Democrats would actually do something besides standing there showing us every day how bought-and-sold they are by the interests those of us who voted for them were voting against, maybe they wouldn't be in this spot.

Obama tells us he's going to "follow the science" and then appoints a Secretary of the Interior who could pass as a Republican more than he could a Democrat, with the Bush-era policies he keeps approving as he eviscerates the Endangered Species Act. Then Obama brings in scum like Larry Summers - who is responsible for creating the conditions that led to the economic mess we're in and tells us having the foxes inside the hen house is the best way to make things right. And then he has Rahm Emanuel as Chief of Staff, an asshole who spent his whole career in Congress opposing the people he now needs for victory while bending over and spreading for The Corporate Enemy (the guy should be sent to Los Angeles to work with his brother, where the worst thing he could do is help create more worthless bullshit movies).

Democrats: snatching defeat from the jaws of victory once again.

Their one hope is they get Health Care right. Otherwise, fuck'm.

But even stranger: How is it possible to write a story about California's woes, and never mention Proposition 13, or California's government-by-initiative system, or even begin to investigate the question of whether Californians are over or under-taxed? That's the real baffler.

It would definitely be a good thing if someone were to write about how it is we are about to re-elect the guy whose incompetence and inaction led to the passage of Proposition 13, to the same office he screwed up 30 years ago.

I refer to Jerry Brown.

Back in 1974, Brown was elected governor with close to a 2/3 Democratic majority in both houses of the legislature, and two really good leaders in the Senate and Assembly, most importantly Willie Brown in the Assembly. Not only that, but this was back when there were Republicans with brains, and deals could be worked out that resulted in things working.

By 1976, as inflation set in, California residences went up in value and property taxes started rising fast, and the public started getting upset with the system. Willie Brown came up with a reform that would cap residential property rates at a lower rate with fewer increases, while keeping corporate property at the current market rates. Most of the Democrats were on board and there were persuadable Republicans. What was needed was a statement from the Governor about the problem and a call to action.

What we got was "Governor Moonbeam" hanging out with the Marin Mafia and contemplating "the future" from the mattress on the floor of his apartment (when he wasn't running off to Africa with Linda Rondstadt or deciding to run for President, since he'd been crowned "the candidate of America's future" and had so much accomplishment in his record to run on). The moment passed, the Republicans saw more political advantage in going after Democrats as the party of "tax and spend," and 2 years later Proposition 13 was passed.

Guess what? The only parties in California currently still benefiting from the "reforms" of Proposition 13 are the Corporations - the only ones who kept their property!!

Jerry Brown, the man whose incompetence and inaction led to the crisis we have, now plans to return to the Governor's office and save us?? More likely he'll sink us faster than the idiots the Republicans are running for Governor.

And of course, folks like me who were there at the time to see it all happen are few and far between, the majority of California voters were either not alive or too young to be aware, back when Brown was Governor last time.

Jerry will continue to hornswoggle the Democratic left as he has for the past 35 years. God help us.

Jerry Brown, the only Democrat since 1974 who has ever been able to get me to vote Republican - for whoever is running against that worthless, incompetent idiot.