Everybody is moving to Texas

The taxes out here are too high

Our adventurous friends have all left us

And waved California bye-bye

Our reputation is tarnished

The Golden State has no gold

The redwoods could use some more varnish

They're starting to look pretty old

There's nothing out here for a redneck

Just liberals and surfers and queers

Everybody is sipping their mai-tais

While you and I cry in our beers

John Wayne is now just an airport

The Duke has been laid in the ground

And Reagan's no longer the guv'nor

A new movie star has been crowned

But if you'll be my Hollywood starlet

I'll be your Highway Patrol

We'll ride off into the sunset

Forever on cruise control

Be my California redneck woman

I'll be your California redneck dude

We'll hit the beach and go swimmin'

Back to 1972

When Ronnie Reagan still governed

And John Wayne still stood tall

And the way of the redneck lover

Was the greatest lifestyle of all

Now it's all one big galleria

And boutique sushi bars

Raw fish gives me bad diarrhea

Gimme fat steaks and fatter cigars

This ain't the state we grew up in

It's hotter and darker and broke

It's a barfbag that someone threw up in

And you can't even light up a smoke

But if you'll be my Hollywood starlet

I'll be your Highway Patrol

We'll ride off into the sunset

Forever on cruise control

Be my California redneck woman

I'll be your California redneck dude

We'll hit the beach and go swimmin'

Back to 1972

When Ronnie Reagan still governed

And John Wayne still stood tall

And the way of the redneck lover

Was the greatest lifestyle of all

Yeah the way of the redneck lover

Was the greatest lifestyle of all

Unreasonably long sentences; almost automatic parole denials to ex-offenders of serious crimes who are not, or no longer are, dangerous; replacing mental hospitals with prison time; and the overwhelmed, broken parole system, are ruining salvage lives, not making us safer, and cost lots of money. The huge big business of incarceration is bankrupting California.

Released inmates who cannot make a new life for themselves on the $200 go-away-money and a bus ticket to no where (few of us could) keep California's prison doors revolving. Our tough-on-crime turned dumb-on-crime policies spill crime into other states.

The rest of the states should pay attention to California's justice and prison systems. They will want to avoid becoming California, the "state of higher incarceration".

Let me just say-

One party, the Democrats, appears ready to do almost anything to balance the budget while trying to preserve a shell of the social services net. They were considering all sorts of creative luxury taxes - taxes that would net some extra revenue from "sinful" items that only those with means could still afford, so they would avoid targeting families already reeling from job loss. And Dems were ready to make painful cuts as well. A great many Republicans were on board last fall, and it appeared California might pull out of the nosedive.

Then right-wing radio hosts snapped the Republicans in line.

Now they appear ready to sacrifice the state of California on the altar of "starve the beast". No new taxes, at any cost. There are only two ways out of this now. One is to gut the social services completely and turn California into a banana Republic. The other is complete gridlock until the next election.

The people of California ARE to blame. If they took to the streets, protesting the loss of social services, and insisting they don't mind menial tax increases, congress would have to listen. Instead, the ultra right-wing "taxes = death" crowd are the only public voices they can hear.

they are working on fake ss#'s, and they file income tax returns, but get none of the benefits. the illegals from Mexico prop up the California economy. Most are young men who have no children. They do all of our shit work for us at very low wages. They do good work. They work very, very hard. These are not the people who are ruining California's economy.

Do you know the people who are? People benefiting from Prop. 13. They get to live in huge houses while the rest of us scramble to survive. I grew up in California. My friends parents, my parents, live large in this state. They have nice big houses that they bought in the 70s for 90-100K. The are retirees living in these big houses all by themselves. Their property taxes do not support the public schools.

Meanwhile, my generation scrapes by and tries to educate our children. Summer camps run $1000, plus, for a six-week session. Nothing is subsidized by the state like it was when I was growing up and my parents' generation could get a solid education for their children FOR FREE. It's the greatest generation and their younger siblings who are living well right now, not their kids and the illegals from Mexico.

The best part of watching people make fun of California is knowing that, in the meanwhile, they ape everything California does.

I remember growing up in fly-over country. California was the butt of every joke. And all the kids wore Dr. Zogs gear, though none of them had ever actually seen a surf board, or surf.

Your fault-finding would be more convincing if you had your own lives.

Gary makes many points I agree with, but he doesn't really mention our budget. George Will mentioned in an opinion early last month that the budget has gone up faster than the population. I believe him.

Someone earlier blamed this on the legislature and seemed to imply that free-spending liberals were to blame, but I don't think this is entirely the story.

One side effect of the ballot initiative system is that it forces the state to spend a dab of money for this or that pet project and makes it impossible to shift funds as necessary. Schwarzenegger, for example, tried unsuccessfully to condense some of the 75 odd special education funds when he first took office. Each of these funds can only be used in certain ways and cannot be transferred to other funds.

Another side effect is that it forces the state to take on new debt.

A couple of years ago, for example, I tallied up the cost of all the initiatives I thought I might vote for

and found that I would be forcing the state to take on 50 billion dollars in new debt.

I wish someone would take the time to sit down and write a good article analyzing where our money is going and why the budget continues to go up faster than it should.

I also hope that someone starts a campaign to get rid of the initiative system. We seem to be stuck in an awful cycle: the less government works the more the people try and micromanage, which makes it harder for government to work, which leads to more micromanagement and even more frustration.

George