The Annoyed Man wrote:...
There is one very beautimous thing to come out of this: Californians are now living with the realities of having been feckless voters, and bad citizens with a poor understanding of how the real world works...
Indeed, I agree and have no sympathy for California. The only problem is, California will want to play the same "too big to fail" card that GM and the UAW did, and try to force the rest of us to bail them out too. Followed shortly by Michigan (Detroit), Illinois (Chicago)... etc. And if Obama and his advisors and czars are still in office, he will do do it, congress or not. There would have to be an impeachment and not sure that would stop the train at that point.
No I don't think the particular incidents cited were intentional events, but it does show how environmental and other regulations have so hamstrung the energy (and other) market(s) in California that there is no room for either perturbations nor possibility for independent action to mitigate them (and I think that IS intentional). It also shows how an actual terrorist attack(s) could screw things up in a hurry.
As far as tinfoiling goes.... when Hasan's (Spit spit feces be upon him) rampage at Ft Hood is classed as "work place violence," and a long list of small scale attacks on military recruiting offices, airports, and the like over the past decade are immediately reported as not "terrorisma-related," it is hard to not to be a bit skeptical of event reporting in general...
When California crashes, here's how I would like to see President Romney and a Republican-(and hopefully Tea Party) dominated Congress handle it:
Call it "Reconstruction II"
1. Make a 49 star flag and remove California's status as a State. Back to "Territory" status for them.
2. Sack the governor, the legislature, and pretty much every other State-level elected official. No pay, no pension, get out of the way.
3. Appoint a Territorial Governor. It would be worth just for the exploding heads to appoint Palin, but maybe Scott Walker has had enough fun in Wisconsin, or Mitch Daniels, someone like that. I might put Palin in charge of the energy stuff, she actually has more experience than a lot of folks in that.
4. Void all public pension plans, outlaw public sector unions.
5. Cancel boondoggle "mass transit" fantasies like that one Moonbeam just signed them up for.
6. Definitely cancel all the Hollywood tax breaks. (Yes, California voted to extend tax breaks for moviemakers, but borrow money for "mass transit.")
7. Before allowing them readmittance as a State:
a. Require a state convention to write a new Constitution.
b. Require the state constitution to have clauses requiring a balanced budget every year, recognizing an ironclad right to self-defense and the keeping and bearing of arms, and restricting public expenditures to public safety, infrastructure, and a couple of other things, and limited to some % of GDP. State referendum required to change the %.
c. Pay of elected officials would vary according to the State GDP or similar measure.
d. State and local income taxes would be due the month before elections for the jurisdiction in which the tax is due. E.g. School taxes due just before school board elections, state taxes due just before state elections, etc. What about non-election years? Let the convention figure that out.
e. ...that's good for starters. The other blue states should find this very motivating...