I’ll be on Deadline LA today, KPFK’s half-hour weekly show on the Media, hosted by Barbara Osborn and Howard Blume.
We’ll be talking about:
1. How well or poorly LA is spending its gang intervention $$…
2. What LA County is doing—and not doing— with its gang violence reduction dollars.
3. Those faulty numbers behind the claims of a crime spree by those who oppose the state’s early budget-driven release of prisoners.
Which one of you will present the conservative positions in the discussion?
Will enforcement against illegal immigration be considered on allocating dollars for gang intervention?
Who will explain the arguments against the “faulty numbers” to the first family who suffers an attack or death by one of the released prisoners?
Sixty-four Percent of California Voters Say Illegal Immigrants Are Major Strain on State Budget (25% not a major strain, 11% not sure.)
Will the “Deadline LA” panel agree with California voters or say that elite, latte-sipping liberals know best?
Statistics are like bikinis. What they reveal is suggestive, but what they conceal is vital.
I love that Woody uses polls to bolster his prejudices – or thinks bolsters his prejudices – when it suits him and then derides polls when other people make counter-points. An example of what a weasel he happens to be. Also, while I don’t have any data on this based on actual research and analysis of facts and figures, I happen to believe that illegal immigration is a strain on the state budget – and on the schools, health care delivery services, etc. etc. Every liberal I’ve ever discussed this with tends to agree. What’s the point here ? Oh yeah – Woody is a sloppy thinker, a bundle of resentments and prejudices, and outs himself as nothing more than an attention-seeking pest with damned near every comment here.
Incidentally, Woody. I took your last comments apart like toddler’s tinkertoy on that “Death of Suzie Pena” thread. Go back there and check out what a dipshit you happen to be. Then try to explain why what you said didn’t mean what you said and why your linking to Sally Satel makes sense, even though it doesn’t – in fact her POV, while conservative, supports that you are lost in Wingnuttia, dishonest, that you’re pulling assertions out of your ass and that you don’t even understand what you’re referencing to supposedly back up the mindless drivel you impose on this blog.
I see reg, you’re engaging in “I wish I had said this or that.” Can’t think fast, can you? You take nothing apart of what I say once your idiocy is explained. Do you have nothing better to do?
You simpering little weasel – you posted some bullshit on July 22 and when I read it the next day, I totally debunked it as actually contradicting you. You’re dumber than fucking dirt, insanely insecure and cowardly, and boring beyond belief.
Have at it and keep making an ass out of yourself. You’re one of the few people who post here who would still obviously be a dishonest, bigoted troll without anyone expending one drop of sweat pointing it out. The truth is, I’m not the one who makes you look stupid, you do. Maybe you should whine in the mirror…
reg is all giddy today with his new minimum wage pay increase. reg, go buy some Crown Royal and celebrate. It might clear you mind.
Celeste, how many more gang members will there be next week after so many teenagers lose their minimum wage jobs because of the increase in the minimum wage that the Democrats pushed to buy votes? The Democrats have loved minimum wage increases in the past because they could take credit for the extra pay and blame Repubicans when small business couldn’t afford it and people lost their jobs.
According to the latest data, California lost 66,500 jobs in June and has the nation’s sixth highest unemployment rate.
And, those numbers don’t include any who have given up on getting a job. A better picture of unemployment is provided by the Federal Unemployent U-6 rate, which also counts “Discouraged Workers,” “Other Marginally Attached” and people who are forced to work part-time but who are looking for full-time work.
one could easily conclude that the unemployment rate is even worse in the Los Angeles area.
Just wait until the California prison release floods the job market. Those getting freedom will not only see that there are no jobs, but they will back in gangs, and many of those were former leaders in the gangs and have learned more from prison! Don’t liberal ideas work out so well?!
Hey, what happened to all the jobs that the Stimulus was supposed to make? Keep moving. Let’s talk health care and global warming.
This could turn out to be a “long, hot summer.”
Better use those gang intervention dollars to buy bullets to protect the public.
“go buy some Crown Royal”
Boy, I knew Woody was stupid, but that may be the stupidest thing he’s written here yet…
Crown Royal ????
This is for brother Reg and brother Woody.
According to Central Dupage Hospital, abusive behavior in relationships is a common problem. This partial checklist may help to identify and evaluate abusive behavior. On their website they write, “If you are concerned about the abuse level you are experiencing, please call your county’s domestic violence agency”.
Emotional Abuse Checklist
+Frequently blames or criticizes you
+Calls you names
+Ridicules your beliefs, religion, race, class or sexual preference
+Blames you for “causing” the abuse
+Tries to keep you from doing something you wanted to do
+Is angry if you pay too much attention to someone or something else
+Withholds approval, appreciation or affection
+Humiliates you
+Makes contradictory demands
+Does not include you in important decisions
+Threatens to leave or told you to leave
+Tells people you suffer from a mental illness
+Threatens to commit suicide
Wishing for happy times here.
Now, no one should get offended here please. Crown Royal Whisky is About Quality, Not Quantity. It is still the top-selling Canadian whisky in the United States. A stockbroker will tell you that liquor stocks are a good investment in hard times as folks always reach for the bottle to help them sooth their fragile psyche’s and forget they are 3 months behind in their mortgage payments.
Listen folks … booze is the answer … Does anyone remember the question?
Reg, Royal Crown is the cola, Crown Royal is the liqour?
Crown Royal is a popular Canadian Whiskey that comes in a “fancy” bottle. I don’t know any whiskey drinkers who touch the stuff. Mostly used in Manhattans or, god forbid, mixed with cola or ginger ale. I don’t know anyone who appreciates good whiskey who touch those things either.
reg, let me clue you in, dude.
Black Mans Basic Guide To Party Drinks
And, here’s a link and song about Crown Royal that fits your lifestyle and vocabulary.
Confessions of a Gay Black Man: Jill Scott – “Crown Royal”
reg, “Royal Crown” is what you drink when you eat your Moon Pies.
Never pass up a chance to prove you’re a bigot with shit for brains…
Celeste, I have to cross-post this here. Please pass along this short public service video that explains the challenges of the Los Angles Police Department. LAPD PROMO LINK
reg, John Moore has asked me to be nice to you, so I am going to try.
Fuck John Moore…
Does anyone remember the question?
The Crown Royal purple bag can be used to hold marbles Reg. Also as a dice bag too. Or as a dust filter over
microphones. I personally would prefer a grey flannel bag.
“RC Cola and a Moon Pie” is a common phrase in the southern United States. It is uncertain whence the tradition of eating moon pies with RC Cola derived.
The problem is the robber barons very conservative political views and expounding on the merits of Reaganism or Ayn Rand or Friedman’s supply side economics.
Twenty years and the melt down of laissez faire Capitalism, the Bush/Cheney years of fascism, and the great equalizer, life itself, seems to have taken a toll on our society and created so many gangs and not enough money for programs for gang members.
Who knew that Reagan and Bush were to blame for gangs?
Why, this must be the first time in history that a society was put at risk by gangs…if you don’t count the Mafia, pirates, labor agitators, the Hole in the Wall gang, the Monguls, Rome’s “gang of young incorrigiblesâ€, the thugee in India, the West Side’s Jets and Sharks, and Democrats.
Gangs don’t need money programs and society isn’t to blame. Society has tried to help gang members with little appreciation or results. It’s time to take away the carrots and bring in the sticks.
Woody
You are the Amoeba.
You have the power to Flow.
I am the only one who understands you.
You are the sheriff, and I am your deputy.
Woody’s comments are filled with vitriol, he obviously endorses draconian prisons run by xenophobic prision guards under the direction of the facists. (Sound like Nazi Germany?)
Woody’s comments are evocative in a negative manner, he needs one of my abuelita’a menudo enemas to remove some of his vitriol.
Woody is the most complete nothing since the invention of the zero.
Cheto, you attribute odious motives to Woodys charitable views. You must relax. Have a bagel.
Boobpha Upthumpa, Artimus Cokes, Sedonia Minnewather and Borg also need one of my abuelita’s menudo enemas for being so estupido and failing so miserably at “thier” sad attempt at humor. The anonymous, multiple personality pendejo is unevocative, boring, repetivive and bien estupido, a real culo, que no?
Here’s the link for you to listen to the the interview with Celeste on July 24th: Deadline LA (Try to overlook Celeste’s west coast accent and the weird tone of her hosts common to NPR.)
Celeste: “Nothing stops a bullet like a job.”
Precisely my view
Celeste, I admire Homeboy Industries, but there isn’t enough money for them and like agencies to make a significant impact on gang membership and to create many meaningful jobs and transitions to other jobs. There isn’t enough money to stop gangs no matter what approach.
Study history, and I don’t mean just the last one-hundred years. What civilization was successful, absent brute force…and, that doesn’t always work? We have a hard enough time stopping just one thug gang — Islamic terrorists.
But, good luck.
As an aside, I learned from the interview that the accent mark on Celeste’s name goes on the second syllable.
Woody – KPFK is not NPR. Not even close…
But then when were you expected to actually know WTF you’re talking about ?
Ah, yes. Woody wants to make sure every troubled youth has access to a job…by lowering the minimum wage.
I think I’ve got a new slogan: Nothing stops a bullet like Hayekian economics !!!
Celeste, finally heard your interview tonight via podcast. Good job. Homeboys Industries is in the same financial mess as the rest of the city/state, and I hope they’re able to survive. What seems abundantly clear is the efficacy of gang intervention programs is really hard to measure by traditional standards – what is the price of a life saved because a gang member leaves the lifestyle? And I don’t mean the life of the gang member, I mean the life of the innocent bystander caught in the crossfire of insane gang violence? The point is that while many in law enforcement regard gang intervention programs as a waste of time and money, and resent the way that active gangmembers like Alex Sanchez appear to get the same street ‘respect’ because of the government money they control, and may not have truly left the lifestyle. Nevertheless, the reality is that some good comes from some programs.
As for Alex, I did not use his name to suggest that he is or is not guilty of the crime he’s facing. I am waiting to see the strength of the government case which looks strong on paper, but will truly be capable of assessment when (if?) the tapes are played.
On the lifting of the consent decree, you took a brave stance. Supporting the notion that the LAPD has reformed sufficiently to be free from the oversight of the Feds is a tad optimistic, however, I do agree that Judge Feess was the wrong judge for the job. I am encouraged by the way that LAPD behaved during the Michael Jackson memorial, they were very respectful and courteous to all the mourners and setting aside the issue of who pays the bill for their services, they did do our city proud. Let’s hope that continues when the rest of the world (let alone Judge Feess) isn’t watching.
Woody and Reg are sure evocative characters. But they should tone down the vitriol.
Fine, reg. I said the tone was that common to NPR, which everyone understands, but let’s change it to “public radio” if that suits you. I’m sorry that was the major point that you took away from the comment.
On the jobs and minimum wage, it takes a fool to believe or a deceiver to push the idea that an increase in labor cost does NOT create more difficulty for teenagers to obtain and keep jobs.
This was a large increase in the minimun wage, on top of other recent increases…and, at a bad time in the economy. In two years, the minimum wage rate has gone from $5.15 to $7.25 for a 59% increase!
If you cared more about the unemployed rather than Democratic political deceit for political gain, you would support a wage that results in the highest employment for a group that has high unemployment.
And, an explanaton of the economic principle doesn’t require some fancy name or a famous economist tied to it. Just call it Elasticity of Labor Demand.
But, you also favor illegal immigrants taking jobs at lower wages than American workers and think that shouldn’t affect American jobs either. You also favor raising American wages so high that production jobs go to China. What college taught you economic principles?
(And, don’t forward some contradictory study by some liberal professor or Krugman. There are studies all over the board. The ones that are best are those that are consistent with basic economic principles and common sense.)
If someone is concerned about gangs and crime, then that person should be concerned about maximizing jobs rather than political points with the uneducated.
Don’t assert or characterize what I believe. You’re a compulsive liar, blindered by bigotry and petty hatreds, and thus always wrong when you pull that asinine shit. Stats on the minimum wage argument you make don’t hold up, incidentally. But I don’t give a shit that you confuse economics with ideology. All “free market fundamentalists” do that and are, essentially, not educable.
Incidentally, the minimum wage is lower than it was 45 years ago and about the same as it was in 1955 (real inflation-adjusted dollars.) I’m not going to argue this further with someone who has no grasp of empirical evidence, only free-market theories. Also, unless you calibrate elasticity of labor demand in a particular market, you have absolutely no idea how the minimum wage impacts that sector. He’s making a false corelation. Again, Woody acts like some “expert” but doesn’t know what the hell he’s talking about.
Minimum wage increases force inflation, as everyone else wants corresponding increases, which drives up costs and prices and ultimately results in an equilibrium to where even more minimum wage increases are demanded by the left…after people have lost their jobs. The minimum wage laws are a scam that hurts entry level workers and doesn’t remove poverty.
You can dance around it all that you want, reg, and call me names as your main argument, but those are the facts.
A major problem with our economy and the wrong way out of reecession is that the U.S. President doesn’t understand economics himself. Why should we expect his followers to know any better?
Know-Nothing-in-Chief
There’s no evidence Obama has even a sketchy grasp of economics.
Now Woody has entered Economic LalaLand with a vengeance…
It’s interesting that, given minimum wages are “back” to 1955 levels, the cost of a fast food hamburger is nearly 20% LOWER in inflation-adjusted dollars than it was in 1955. It’s always useful to investigate the empirical economics and co-relative of the real world before you start assuming that Econ 101 is a theologically sound description of the Creator’s universe – sort of like, you know, the Bible – and all you’ll ever need to know. Even if you’ve got a…get ready for it…MASTER’S DEGREE !!! One quite famous study of the minimum wage and fast food workers – obviously one of the largest cohort of low-wage workers – actually showed that employment had consistently increased after the minimum wage rose. That, of course, freaked out every Theologian of Hayekian Dogma from here to Timbuktu…
reg, you continue to show that your envy of my degrees is overwhelming. Also, you should realize that my Master’s degree in accounting came from one of the top five schools of accouting in the nation at that time, but I shouldn’t make you more envious.
Now, you pull out a selective study, a typical one that starts with a desired outcome and then backs into some number crunching to “prove it.” There are objective studies that say otherwise.
Okay, let’s check out what I said about inflation in response to your wonderful example. A hamburger in 1955 cost something like five to ten cents in these parts, but today they are twenty to forty times that cost! That is what is called inflation, and that is made worse by increasing minimum wages and forcing other wages and prices up until yet the next round of increases. You jack around with the economy, ccst jobs, and end up no better off than you were – actually worse off.
I’m not looking up exact numbers, but let’s say a typical family’s earnings in 1955 was $10,000 a year. Now, that family has to make $70-80,000 to be supported, and the mom has to go to work, too. No mom at home…replaced by government babysitters called public schools, poverty and joblessness up. Hey, good job!
And, wouldn’t we like to pay the taxes on $10,000 rather than on $80,000. Yep, inflation kept moving people into higher tax brackets every year that the Democrats were in charge.
In fact, it was a double win for Democratic “tax and spend” programs. First, through inflation, they raised workers’ tax rates on higher taxable income, but income that had no more purcahsing power, so families were worse off and government got richer. Next, the Democratic scheme paid back government debt with dollars that were worth a lot less. Not good for investors.
Oh, did you know, too, that farms have become more efficient and mechanized over the last fifty years, transportation to the markets is better, and that restaurants use more labor-saving devices for food preparation? All of the new innovations are to replace expensive labor just so that the price of hamburgers and foods can stay reasonable. Jobs for lower skilled workers are lost. What do you know?! And, how are those robots working out in the auto plants?
Thank goodness cash registers compute change, because today’s government educated workers have no chance of doing that in their heads.
And, why pick 1955? Within two years the minimum wage has gone up 59%! I’d say that’s beating inflation until the market stablizes.
People earn more purchasing power by becoming more productive – period. All the government wage controls are fluff and damaging in the long run.
If you disagree, perhaps you could write a piece on how inflation makes us all better off.
Give up, reg. You’re out of your league.
I’m not even going to bother with your crap beyond having shown twice that you’re recycling nostrums and don’t have even the most modest capacity for critical thought, Woody.
Total waste of time…
Trying to make your arguments more complex AFTER you’ve made simple-minded assertions, incidentally, proves my point.
Woody – in 1955 a fast food burger cost 15 cents. Today it costs 99. “twenty to forty times?” You can’t even do simple math.
In Chicago, with this killing inflationary increase in the federal minimum wage looming, McC’s is lowering their basic burger price to 49 cents…
I guess they’re using robots to man their franchises…
Actually, today’s 99 cent burger is a double cheeseburger (although some places the double cheese is $1.19) which makes Woody’s theological ravings about low-end wages and inflation even more unhinged from empirical reality.
reg…still concentrating on minutia rather than substance…and, still eating at McDonald’s after several decades.
And, he continues to compile serial comments because he is one of those who can’t think fast and says, “Hey, should I should have said this. I should have said that.” Look at the times between his comments!
What’s hilarious is that reg considered my last post to be “complex,” when it was completely off-the-cuff and basic enonomics and accounting.
I’ll try not to discuss more complex issues like how to balance a check book. Why confuse a Democrat like reg or Obama with a complex financial term like “balance.”
I said “trying to” – for you that rambling bullshit was complex. Usually you don’t even make an effort to offer anything other than your usual bag of recycled one-liners.
You’ve been trashed Woody. You’re not even a lightweight at this stuff.
Do I hear “envy?”