California

Ten Times the Rate of Inflation

February 09, 2010 9:14 AM
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2010/02/ten-times-the-rate-of-in...

As we covered yesterday, the Obama administration is demanding answers from California's largest insurance company, Anthem Blue Cross, as to why the company is suddenly raising premiums on some customers by up to 39 percent -- more than 10 times the rate of inflation.

“I really can't afford to spend $9000 a year on health insurance,” said San Francisco attorney and Anthem Blue Cross insured Pamela Fasick.

Consumer Reports suspends recommendations on eight Toyota models
Jan 29, 2010
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/driveon/post/2010/01/consumer-re...
Consumer Reports has temporarily suspended its "recommended" status for eight Toyota vehicle models and one Pontiac model that may have accelerator pedals that can stick and cause unintended acceleration.

Experts point throttles, not floor mats, in Toyota incidents
Ken Bensinger and Ralph Vartabedian / Los Angeles Times

OAKLAND, Calif. and TOLEDO, Ohio, (Oct. 29, 2009) – Unlike most 9-year-olds, when the holidays roll around, Hannah Turner isn’t just thinking about what she might find under her tree. She’s also thinking about what others might need on their feet.

Monday, October 19, 2009
The Bosses Have the Public Sector in Their Sights.
http://weknowwhatsup.blogspot.com/

What happened in Detroit doesn’t stay in Detroit. The market don’t discriminate

Unions: No tax on 'Cadillac' health plans
By Kevin Bogardus - 10/02/09 06:11 AM ET

Organized labor is turning to House Democrats to oppose a tax on high-cost insurance plans that is under consideration to help pay for healthcare reform.

Unions are blasting the idea in the Senate Finance Committee bill, as many union members would be affected because they either have expensive insurance to cover dangerous professions or negotiated for better benefits instead of higher wages.

http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2009/09/fingerbiting_gun...
Hands down, this has been the weirdest day of the health-care debate.

If the presidential election was no nail-biter, the finger-biting in California this week has escalated the rhetoric of an already over-heated debate over health-care reform.

The confrontation with a man who may have punched a health-care reform demonstrator, only to have the tip of his pinky bitten off, has elicited all sorts of venom about the cannibalistic left, as opposed to the right, which simply, what, eats its young?

Last week, the Washington Post had a story discussing potential conflicts of interest of the members of the House ethics committee over its investigation of alleged earmark irregularities linked to the lobbying firm PMA Group. PMA has close ties to a number of Members of Congress, including the powerful chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.). It turns out that the 10 members of the ethics panel have requested a number of earmarks from Murtha’s subcommittee.

- Healthy Living:Marijuana Causes Cancer, California Regulators Say
Friday, June 19, 2009

SAN FRANCISCO — Marijuana smoke has joined tobacco smoke and hundreds of other chemicals on a list of substances California regulators say cause cancer.

The ruling Friday by the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment likely will force pot shops with 10 or more employees to post warnings. Final guidelines are expected by the time warning requirements take effect in a year.

The listing only applies to marijuana smoke, not the plant itself.

Latta to Join House Republican Leadership in Indianapolis, Indiana and
San Luis Obispo, California to Discuss Solutions to America's Energy
Challenges

WASHINGTON- Congressman Bob Latta (R-Bowling Green), a member of the
House Republican American Energy Solutions Group (AESG) will participate
in two hearings in Indianapolis, Indiana and San Luis Obispo, California
this week with leading energy experts to discuss solutions to America's
energy challenges.

The AESG will be hosting several summits across the country this week in

National Association of Realtors released the numbers for 2009 quarter 1 and the median Toledo house price was $65,500. One year ago it was $89,700. Over the past three years the median value has dropped from $110k in 2006, to $106.6k in 2007, and $91.2k in 2008. This is bad news for Toledo home owners and let us not forget who brought us here. Read the press release and get the numbers below.
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According to Blue Rhino, Toledo is #30 in the country for cookouts. Leads all other Ohio cities. This may not be of much consolation to those who don't have a job.
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Los Angeles Tops the Charts as the Country’s #1 ‘Cookout Capital’

Blue Rhino Announces Annual List of Ideal Grilling Cities

Travel & Leisure II, Summer Outdoors
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Blue Rhino, the leading brand of propane tank exchange, announces the ideal cities to grill in with the top 100 Cookout Capitals for 2009. This year, the nation's top Cookout Capital is Los Angeles.

Under Restructuring, GM To Build More Cars Overseas

By Peter Whoriskey
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, May 8, 2009

The U.S. government is pouring billions into General Motors in hopes of reviving the domestic economy, but when the automaker completes its restructuring plan, many of the company's new jobs will be filled by workers overseas.

According to an outline the company has been sharing privately with Washington legislators, the number of cars that GM sells in the United States and builds in Mexico, China and South Korea will roughly double.

An interactive map of vanishing employment across the country.
By Chris WilsonPosted Wednesday, April 15, 2009, at 2:00 PM ET
http://www.slate.com/id/2216238/

Allegations of ethics violations by a handful of Democrats in recent months reached something of a crescendo this week as two prominent members of Congress were accused of corruption.

California Rep. Jane Harman denied allegations that she offered to help seek reduced charges for two pro-Israel lobbyists suspected of espionage in exchange for help from a pro-Israel donor, also suspected Israeli agent, in lobbying House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to give Harman a key chairmanship.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/04/22/democrats-ethics-cloud-benefi...

Major Initiative Supported by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation Will Be Used to Build Grass Roots Support in Texas, California, North Carolina, Michigan and Ohio

Washington, D.C – Through a 1.4 million dollar grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs (AFOP) will work to build grass roots support in five key states to combat the exploitation of U.S farmworker children.

Marijuana advocates were not the only ones overjoyed when U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder confirmed that he was ending federal raids on medical marijuana facilities unless they are in violation of both state and federal laws. In budget-strapped California, for one, taxpayers are grateful. There, the fed crackdowns, which had continued despite the end of the state's own raids, got in the way of upwards of $100 million in revenue from medical marijuana sales taxes in 2007, according to Americans for Safe Access (ASA), an advocacy group for prescription pot.

School holds surprise 'Gay' Day for kindergartners
Parents outraged at public elementary's secretive 'coming out' event
Posted: October 22, 2008

An export we can be proud of:

California Marriage Law: 4,618,673 to Four