Comments for Be My Blog

Comment on In Praise of Hipsters by substitute

substitute — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 04:32:08 +0000

I put some effort into finding a better picture but I couldn’t find the perfect specimen. I was too tired to go wander Silverlake and find one. Patches welcome!

Comment on In Praise of Hipsters by Brian Enigma

Brian Enigma — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 04:19:39 +0000

The dude in the photo has no mustache—handlebar, waxed, or otherwise—your argument is false!

Comment on In Praise of Hipsters by Eileen (Carroll) Paulin

Eileen (Carroll) Paulin — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 00:30:11 +0000

If this is a picture of a Hipster, I’m not! lol

Comment on History Lesson Part 1979 by BKing

BKing — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 04:52:08 +0000

Did you see the grand opening of Indiana at the Chinese with me. My friend Juan was really irate with me when I crumpled the brochure they handed out. Anyway, I diverge and need to go back to work Take care fellow Bruin.

Comment on History Lesson Part 1979 by substitute

substitute — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 04:34:41 +0000

Thanks back to you. I always thought of it like the collapsing temple in the Indiana Jones movie, but your image is better.

Comment on History Lesson Part 1979 by BKing

BKing — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 04:32:48 +0000

Thanks for the post Conrad. Born in ’64 in CALI and I relate to your recollections of a time faded into history. Like riding just in front of a crashing wave.

Comment on History Lesson Part 1979 by substitute

substitute — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 04:26:04 +0000

I doubt we’ll get more teachers, whether or not the ones currently working will get paid more. The system breeds administrators who make six figures, and will never have less of them. It’s a spiral and I have no hope.

Comment on History Lesson Part 1979 by BKing

BKing — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 04:19:32 +0000

Tax Increment Financing. No more of that in Cali. All Redevelopment Agencies (RDA) were mandated by a recently passed law to disband by 2/1/12. 5 billion dollars will be shifted to state coffers from City coffers. No prop tax, no sales tax, and no TIF. Expect more City layoffs, less City services and more user fees. Much of the funds will be shifted to schools, perhaps to pay teachers more or to pay for their insurance or other entitlements – I doubt our kids will see much value from it.

Comment on History Lesson Part 1979 by substitute

substitute — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 00:07:55 +0000

You’re right. One problem is that cycling back and forth between tax cutting and more spending and tax increases is that administrative and graft losses increase each time in each direction. The funding for California schools came back, but by then the infrastructure was trashed and all the money went to administrative garbage.

Comment on History Lesson Part 1979 by Iced Borscht

Iced Borscht — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 00:06:06 +0000

Very good post. But I do wonder how much of a chance well-intentioned tax increases have to succeed when politicians are so busy with their gamesmanship. For instance, I know that up here, in Oregon, some of my least-favorite elected officials use a financial instrument known as a TIF (tax-increment financing), which basically seems like a legal, albeit ethically questionable, way for elected officials to distribute favors to their developer/contractor buddies and various fetish projects. My understanding is that certain TIF manipulations in Portland have diverted funds from schools and other deserving sources to nominally “green” projects w/dubious environmental benefits or worse, gimmicky, “cool” infrastructure. If that’s occurring in California too, and I suspect it is, then it would be hard to determine which tax increases are worth implementing and which ones are worthless. At that point, everything seems fucked.