An Ad from a Recent Issue of Time Magazine

(Editor’s Note: Among the 14 bullets of warnings, the one at bottom right says the most common side effects include: “ejaculation problems, trouble getting or keeping an erection (impotence), a decrease in sex drive (libido), decreased amount of semen released during sex, dizziness, enlarged or painful breasts (if you notice breast lumps or nipple discharge, you should talk to your healthcare provider), and runny nose.”)    Read more »

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The Problem WIth Independent Expenditure Committees

Frank Bigelow seems an affable fellow. He is running for the newly drawn 5th Assembly district which includes parts of Alpine, Amador, Calaveras, El Dorado, Placer, Tuolumne, Mariposa, Madera and Mono counties.

But not Sacramento.

So it’s a bit odd to find a four-page, glossy color 8½ by 11 inch mailer touting Bigelow’s candidacy in the mailbox of a suburban Sacramento home.    Read more »

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All Kinds of Ways to Celebrate Earth Day

In The Graduate, Dustin Hoffman is told, “Plastics.”

For Earth Day, BevMo says, “Cork.”

On April 16, the wine, beer and distilled spirits retailer announced that, starting April 22, its 115 stores will recycle used corks.

Cork has been a “mainstay of wine for more than 400 years,” BevMo says in its press release.    Read more »

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Peter Tateishi — Fixer of the Assembly

Peter Tateishi is a Republican candidate for the 8th Assembly District, which was created in the new redrawing of legislative lines. It includes communities and unincorporated areas northeast and southeast of Sacramento, including Carmichael where Tateishi lives with his wife, Anna Feliz, and daughter Victoria, his campaign website says.

Drivers in the area Tateishi wants to represent can’t help but see a number of lawn signs placed by him and the five other candidates who also seek the seat.    Read more »

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Some Policy Making Advice from “The 97-lb Recovery”

Here are the last few paragraphs of Time’s “The 97-lb Recovery,” by Rana Foroohar & Bill Saporito. The piece is a comprehensive assessment of where the economy is and where it might be going: 

“If housing recovers, the American economy will truly begin to feel like it’s in recovery. But when it does–be it a year from now, or three, or five–the problem that precipitated it will still be with us.    Read more »

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Understanding Is Always Eased by Well-Defined Terms

For those Californians who think their tax dollars are squandered or ill-spent, visit the “Glossary of Legislative Terms” at www.leginfo.ca.gov/guide.html#Appendix_B.

It’s Appendix B but deserves far higher billing.

Among it’s “Across the Desk” to “Voice Vote” listings – no legislative terms worthy of inclusion apparently begin with W, X, Y or Z – is “lobbyist.”    Read more »

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New “Citizens Council” Would Right California’s Wrongs, Group Says

The 16-member Think Long Committee thinks a 13-member “citizens council” will improve the lives of California’s 37.5 million residents by ensuring better performance from state and local government.

An initiative to create this council will be placed on the ballot, Think Long pledges in its  24-page Blueprint to Renew California, which contains a number of suggestions purporting to make the Golden State even more golden, including lowering income taxes and tacking sales tax onto services like dry cleaning, accounting and advertising.    Read more »

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The Tax System Explained Through Beer

 (Editor’s Note: A long-time pal suggests this would be a worthy topic on Capitol Weekly’s “Politics on Tap,” as well.)

Every day, 10 men go out for beer. The bill for all 10 is comes $100. 

If they paid their bill the way Americans pay taxes, the first four men — the poorest — would pay nothing.     Read more »

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Rough Day at the Office?

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From the “Life Is Full of Rich Irony” File…

A sandwich board outside the entrance to the California Musuem at 10th and O Streets in Sacramento touts one of its current exhibits:

“Riding Concrete – Skateboarding in California.”

The exhibit is curated by Nathan Pratt, Z-Boy and co-star of “Dogtown & Z-Boys,” a 2001 documentary about the 1970s Zephyr Competition skateboarding Team, known as the Z-boys.    Read more »

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