Freedom's Fidelity

Monday, July 07, 2003

On the beach in San Diego last weekend, a guy came around asking for signatures. For what? "To prevent the recall of Gray Davis and save the taxpayers $75 million dollars," we were told. Most of us in the group declined because of our politics. He countered that we could at least help him get some money, cause he gets paid for each signature, and this crowded beach means a lot of money for him! In terms of getting signatures, the pitch about Gray Davis saving a bunch of money for taxpayers was much less effective than the "c'mon help a guy out" rap. By my calculations that means that all those signatures are worth about as much as a Gray Davis campaign promise to save $75 million dollars, right?

Anyways, Mark Steyn has a great piece, loaded with bluntness and humor, on the situation.

The last time I discussed California's government in these pages was when their attorney general wanted to introduce Ken Lay, the then Enron boss, to the benefits of California justice. "I would love," said Bill Lockyer, "to personally escort Lay to an 8 x 10 cell that he could share with a tattooed dude who says, 'Hi, my name is Spike, honey'."

In those days, Mr Lockyer and his Democratic colleagues were still doing a passable job of blaming everybody else for the state's woes. Now, alas, voters seem inclined to believe that what the attorney general wanted Spike to do to Mr Lay, the state government has done to them, and very comprehensively.

You should definitely read it all.

posted by Paul  permalink | |