Senate Democrats are making plans to force a floor vote on legislation that would invalidate Arizona’s controversial immigration statute if the Supreme Court upholds the law this summer.

Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) will announce the fallback legislation at a hearing on the Arizona law Tuesday, a day before the Supreme Court hears oral arguments in a suit to determine whether Arizona had the authority to enact the 2010 state crackdown.

The legislation would have little chance of passing in a stalemated Senate or being approved by a GOP-held House, but it would allow Democrats to push their electoral advantage with Latino voters just as the presidential campaign heats up in July.

The plan is to allow Democrats a route to express displeasure with the Arizona law if the court allows it to stand, and it would force Republicans to take a clear position on the law during the height of the presidential campaign. The immigration law is deeply unpopular with Latino voters, who could be key to the outcome of the presidential and Senate races in several Western states.

CONTINUED at the Washington Post.

At the tail end of his 90 minute meeting with Russian President Dmitri Medvedev Monday, President Obama said that he would have “more flexibility” to deal with controversial issues such as missile defense, but incoming Russian President Vladimir Putin needs to give him “space.”

The exchange was picked up by microphones as reporters were let into the room for remarks by the two leaders.

The exchange:

President Obama: On all these issues, but particularly missile defense, this, this can be solved but it’s important for him to give me space.

President Medvedev: Yeah, I understand. I understand your message about space. Space for you…

President Obama: This is my last election. After my election I have more flexibility.

President Medvedev: I understand. I will transmit this information to Vladimir.

When asked to explain what President Obama meant, deputy national security adviser for strategic communications Ben Rhodes told ABC News that there is room for the U.S. and Russia to reach an accommodation, but “there is a lot of rhetoric around this issue — there always is — in both countries.

A senior administration official tells ABC News: “this is a political year in which the Russians just had an election, we’re about to have a presidential and congressional elections — this is not the kind of year in which we’re going to resolve incredibly complicated issue like this. So there’s an advantage to pulling back and letting the technical experts work on this as the president has been saying.”

Source: ABC News.

*Written by Rob Rimes.

I haven’t written as much as I’d like to in the last month. My real job has been insane and sucking out a lot of my creative energy the last several weeks. On top of that, I find it hard to stay motivated as the 2012 primaries draw to a close and my guy is in last place out of the four remaining candidates. I guess all this heathen can do is act religious and pray for a brokered convention and then a miracle. Fat chance, I know but there really isn’t much else I can do to bring Ron Paul to the big dance. I guess Plan B a.k.a. Gary Johnson is the next card to play but realistically, as I’ve stated before, this is such a long shot that I have to pretty much accept the fact that Johnson won’t even get invited to the debates and Romney will win the GOP nomination and most likely go on to lose to Barack Obama who will stop at nothing to rape the Constitution harder than he did before he had to worry about re-election.

Romney has racked up victories in Puerto Rico and Illinois as well as Guam and the Virgin Islands. Keep in mind however that Ron Paul really won the Virgin Islands yet the Republican establishment changed the rules so that Romney magically walked away with the most delegates. Not bad for a guy who didn’t finish first as the guy who did only got one delegate.. yes, one! Paul also potentially won Maine but the votes from several counties weren’t counted and Romney was awarded that state with only a few hundred votes separating him and Paul. Missouri has also been a haven for Paul supporters the last few weeks as he is taking over that state, yet the media ignores it, the establishment and police have been caught on multiple occasions manipulating the caucuses and they are still only talking about Santorum’s beauty pageant win a month ago where no delegates were handed out. The true caucuses that actually award delegates in Missouri haven’t handed out their delegates yet. The fact is, the media ignores the fraud and foul play even though it is practically wide out in the open. This is a disgusting and careless travesty that is all a part of a bigger plan. That plan is control – control by a giant duopoly two-party system that will do absolutely anything it can to hold on to it’s power: that same power that controls and manipulates the mainstream corporate media as well.

So as I sit at my dinner table, which has been converted to my writing desk, chewing on some terrible lo mein and sipping on a bottle of Hibiki 12-Year-Old Japanese whisky, I find it absolutely perplexing that after all the rhetoric, the hatred, the money spent and the time wasted – this country is only going to continue down a very dark path. It really doesn’t matter who wins between Obama or Romney and hell, Rick Santorum would probably be the worst president ever. What matters is the fact that America has failed once again and I am just sick of it: disgusted really.

With the mainstream media showing blatant bias and blatant irresponsibility in reporting accurately, there is nowhere for true Americans to turn to for fact-based reporting other than the Internet, which they are trying effortlessly to censor and control, mind you. With the Republican establishment on the national and many local levels playing dirty pool, it only proves to me that not only is the political system broken beyond any sort of reasonable repair, it is also just a predetermined game being played out by unknown decision makers who are shaping the world regardless of how any of us feel about it. When our angry voices fall on deaf ears and we are seemingly powerless to change anything within a perpetually tyrannical system, it may be time to break down that system and start over. At this point, this country may just need to completely fail and fall in shambles. Maybe it is true when that old adage states, “Things have to get worse before they can get better.” Maybe this is all beyond saving and America does have to crash and burn. I’m not opposed to that idea and truthfully, it probably needs to happen and is going to happen regardless of what any of us try to do about it.

Our greatest president Thomas Jefferson once said, “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.” Maybe this is what’s happening. It’s been over 200 years since those words were expressed and that’s a long time for the tyrants to get their claws into liberty’s flesh and tear it to shreds. Figuratively speaking, the tyrants drew first blood yet we, as the patriots, continue to take their abuse while kidding ourselves that our vote will change something. Sure, we’re all pissed and we all talk a big game about what we are going to do but so far, big picture-wise, we haven’t done anything to truly upset the establishment and regain order. How can we when the establishment fully controls the order and our votes and voices are often times casted aside through blatant voter fraud, establishment hijinks and a pen that has been held in several hands that were quick to sign off on executive orders?

The answer, in it’s simplest form, is that we must remain positive and vigilant. We must question everything our leaders tell us and hold them accountable. Even if our votes don’t matter, the people will always outnumber their masters and throughout history, it has been the downtrodden, sick-of-it-all masses that have torn down the castles and palaces of tyrants and taken their freedom back. I don’t think that the revolution needs to be a violent one, we’re beyond that unless of course the tyrants fully turn on us, which isn’t far-fetched thanks to the PATRIOT Act and the NDAA. However, we need not stoop to that level unless it comes to defending our lives, our families and our property. What I’m saying here is that the fight must go on, the message must continue to exist and grow and when there is an opening, and there will be – there always is, we must act. It’s the people who shape the world, not the few tyrannical schemers sitting fat atop the tree of liberty pruning its branches.

After last night’s Super Tuesday victories, Mitt Romney’s longstanding lead in the GOP primarylooks increasingly solid. His policy plans, however, are as flimsy as ever. Indeed, exploring his economic policy proposals is rather like touring a Hollywood backlot. Like a street façade on a movie set, Romney’s economic plans are designed to project an outward appearance of functionality. But when you look behind their cleverly made-up fronts, there’s nothing to see. Romney’s policy offerings on taxes, spending, and entitlements consistently lack crucial structural details; his campaign seems intent on emulating the outward appearance of policy proposals without providing anything that’s actually workable.

Take Romney’s proposed overhaul of the tax code. Vague on details and short on substance, it’s more like a press release than anything resembling an actual plan to rewrite the country’s massive, complex tax code. The few details it does reveal tend to focus on the goodies Romney would like to offer and less on their price. Romney proposes an across the board tax cut along with cuts to the corporate rate and various other reductions, including a repeal of the alternative minimum tax. Combined, the Manhattan Institute’s Josh Barro estimates that Romney’s proposals would reduce federal tax revenues by up to $5 trillion over the next decade.

In keeping with his vow to balance the federal budget, Romney also promises to make these cuts in a way that’s revenue neutral. How? He’s yet to say. The plan indicates that Romney would rely on dynamic tax effects while closing tax loopholes and reducing spending in order to offset the lost revenue. Which loopholes would he snip? Which spending would he cut? Anyone wondering about these questions might as well ask a magic eight ball, which would at least provide an answer.

Indeed, Romney has actually employed the plan’s murkiness as a way of responding to outside groups that have tried to tally its economic effects and found it wanting. “I think it’s interesting for the groups to try and score it because it can’t be scored because those kind of details have to be worked out with Congress and we have a wide array of options,” Romney said on CNBC earlier today.

CONTINUED at Reason. Written by Peter Suderman.

Admits Iran is not a threat to either US or Israeli security, devises narrative to sell unnecessary war to public.

The corporate media has recently portrayed a narrative where we see the West apparently warning Israel against a unilateral attack on Iran. It appears that Israel is intent on “going it alone” despite the wishes of its “more rational” Western sponsors. Recently, the Wall Street Journal reported in their article, “U.S., Israel Pull Closer on Iran,” that, “Israeli officials, meanwhile, said that President Barack Obama’s public and private acknowledgment of the Jewish state’s sovereign right to defend itself was a crucial gain as the two countries seek to deter Tehran,” in regards to Iran’s alleged nuclear program.

To the average reader, it would seem that both the US and Israel agree that Iran is an imminent threat against which Israel and the United States simply have differing views on how to counter. In reality, this is a premeditated, deceitful act, already clearly articulated since 2009 in a signed document, on how both nations plan on duping the world into accepting an unnecessary war.

CONTINUED at Infowars. Written by Tony Cartalucci.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta says Iran is laying the groundwork for making nuclear weapons someday, but is not yet building a bomb and called for continued diplomatic and economic pressure to persuade Tehran not to take that step. As he has previously, Panetta cautioned against a unilateral strike by Israel against Iran’s nuclear facilities, saying the action could trigger Iranian retaliation against U.S. forces in the region. “We have common cause here” with Israel, he said. “And the better approach is for us to work together.” Panetta’s remarks on CBS’ Face the Nation, which were taped Friday and aired Sunday, reflect the long-held view of the Obama administration that Iran is not yet committed to building a nuclear arsenal, only to creating the industrial and scientific capacity to allow one if its leaders to decide to take that final step. – PressTV/YouTube/Washington Post

Dominant Social Theme: Iran is evil. War is in the offing.

Free-Market Analysis:  Over the weekend, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta admitted on CBS’s “Face the Nation” that Iran was not seeking to make nuclear weapons. OK, we can all relax now, right? Not quite. Panetta went on to caution that Iran was seeking a “nuclear capability” and that this “concerned” him – and presumably others as well.

Who are the others, we ask? President Barack Obama? The military? The CIA? Israel? No, we have another hypothesis. We think the current crisis is a manufactured one and that Iran’s “capability” – whatever it is – has little to do with any contemplated war.

There will be war, if there is war, between the West and Persia because the West NEEDS a war. Already, in the West, the alternative media – often a beacon of truth and hope – is explaining there will be war because ISRAEL feels threatened.

But this is not quite true, either. Israel is a creation of the power elite and it is the Anglosphere power elite that is currently seeking war, in our view. It seems to need or want a war to prop up its failing central banking system.

It is the failure of the financial system, proceeding apace, that gives rise to this talk of war, to the military tensions, to the tendentious statements made by Washington, DC and to a lesser extent by European and Israeli leaders.

What other conclusion can be reached? Iran HAS no nuclear weapons. And even if it did, is Iran somehow more evil or unstable than North Korea, which is evidently bent on increasing a nuclear arsenal that it already has built?

But Iran, it is said, can target Israel with nuclear weapons. Yet North Korea can do the same with South Korea. Compare the “tensions” and rhetoric and one has to conclude that a double standard is being applied. It is seemingly a situation where Iran’s ongoing nuclear program is simply a tool designed to unlock wider rhetoric. Here’s a further excerpt from a Washington Post on the subject:

The comments suggest the White House’s assessment of Iran’s nuclear strategy has not changed in recent months, despite warnings from advocates of military action that time is running out to prevent Tehran from becoming a nuclear-armed state. Iran says its nuclear program is only for energy and medical research, and refuses to halt uranium enrichment.

Several Republican candidates have called for a tougher line against Iran, saying they believe it is committed to building the bomb. “If we re-elect Barack Obama, Iran will have a nuclear weapon,” said Mitt Romney. “And if you elect Mitt Romney, Iran will not have a nuclear weapon.”

Rick Santorum has said that the U.S. should plan a military strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities and “say to them that if you do not open up those facilities and close them down, we will close them down for you.” Iran has opened two dozen of its facilities to international inspectors, but has refused in defiance of the U.N. Security Council to suspend its uranium enrichment.

Panetta did not rule out launching a pre-emptive strike. “But the responsible thing to do right now is to keep putting diplomatic and economic pressure on them to force them to do the right thing,” he said. “And to make sure that they do not make the decision to proceed with the development of a nuclear weapon.”

We can see from the above excerpt how strongly the drums of war are beating. Panetta, while admitting that Iran has no weaponized nuclear program, will not rule out a “pre-emptive” strike. The entire scenario seems to be some kind of power elite dominant social theme.

These fear-based themes are essentially tools used by the elites to stampede Western middle classes into giving up wealth and power to global institutions specially constructed for that purpose, such as the UN, IMF and World Bank.

In this case, we are not quite sure why the Pentagon – an elite-oriented institution – has decided to focus so intently on Iran. We are sure, however (as we have pointed out previously), that the powers-that-be are creating an Islamic crescent arc in the Middle East by destabilizing secular regimes and replacing them with Islamic ones.

This is ongoing … and perhaps the malicious rhetoric surrounding Iran is merely part of a propaganda process intended to further demonize the region preparatory to a full-on regional war.

Modern wars need years, even decades, to foment, in our view. In the Internet era, this is even harder because people’s natural skepticism about being manipulated will surely be fueled by the fodder provided by various alternative ‘Net news.

Iran/Western tensions seen through this lens are perhaps preparatory and do not indicate an immediate state of hostilities. On the other hand, the amount of weaponry now emplaced in and around Iran certainly gives rise to concern. Even a war planned for later can be generated sooner by mistake (intentional or not). View the video below and make up your own mind.

Concerns about subversion grow after Republican strategist says GOP establishment will not allow Ron Paul to win.

Tonight’s final vote tally for the Iowa caucuses will take place at a secret undisclosed location, an announcement that has stoked fears of vote fraud amongst Ron Paul supporters, concerns that were heightened following a Republican insider’s claim that the GOP establishment will not allow Paul to win.

The final Iowa vote count normally takes place at state party headquarters in Des Moines, but following dubious “security concerns” about Occupy protesters disrupting the tabulation process, the Republican Party of Iowa announced that it would be moving the final vote count to a secret undisclosed location.

The move occurred despite Occupy protest leaders confirming there were no plans to disrupt the caucuses themselves.

“Votes in each of the 1,774 precincts will still be counted on location, and observers from the campaigns will be able to watch that process. That precinct information will then be conveyed to the state party’s tabulation center,”reports CNN.

WatchtheVote2012.com warns that not only Paul, but also Michele Bachmann and Rick Santorum are “in grave danger of being cheated on Iowa caucus night 2012 by the Iowa State GOP and the 5 big TV networks.”

“The Iowa STATE Republican Party has a long history of rigging both the Iowa Straw Poll and the Iowa Caucus against populist, constitutionalist candidates like Ron Paul,” states the website, which is asking for observers to visit the voting precincts to help ensure a fair tabulation process.

“The RHINO GOP establishment also hates Presidential candidates like Michele Bachmann and Rick Santorum, even though these two are acceptable to the RHINOS in foreign policy matters. But, since Bachmann and Santorum ACTUALLY believe in their domestic and social issue agendas for the USA, they are also in danger of being cheated out of votes received at the state level. This is not an accusation against the Gingrich or Romney or Perry campaigns — but against the Iowa STATE GOP, and whichever groups they are in alliance with to “count” the votes at the state level.”

As the Brad Blog documents, the potential for the Iowa primary result to be manipulated by using saboteurs to flood vote for one candidate is considerable.

“No Photo ID is necessary for any voter in the Republican Iowa caucuses. No Photo ID is necessary to register as a Republican at the caucus site, even if you’re not already a registered voter. You may then cast your vote at the caucus on the same day you’ve registered (without a Photo ID).”

Vote fraud expert Bev Harris has compiled a checklist to aid vote observers in ensuring a fair count.

Concerns about vote fraud, subversion and undue influence on behalf of the Republican establishment that could serve to steal the Iowa caucuses from Ron Paul have gone viral today in the aftermath ofRepublican strategist Dee Dee Benkie telling a radio show last night that GOP insiders have resolved to prevent Ron Paul from winning tonight’s primary.

“They’re not going to want him to get number one, it’s very bad for Iowa, it’s terrible,” said Benkie, confirming the host’s claim that Iowa District Chairmen are organizing voting blocks to sabotage Paul’s chances by offering them sweetheart deals in return for voting against Paul.

RELATED: Republican Insider: GOP Establishment Planning To Subvert Iowa to Prevent Ron Paul Win

*********************

Paul Joseph Watson is the editor and writer for Prison Planet.com. He is the author of Order Out Of Chaos. Watson is also a regular fill-in host for The Alex Jones Show.

Source: Infowars.

“They’re going to keep him from getting the number one spot because they are concerned.”

Republican strategist Dee Dee Benkie revealed during a radio show appearance last night that the GOP establishment has resolved to prevent Ron Paul from winning tonight’s Iowa primary by offering sweetheart deals to move large voting blocks to vote for Romney or Santorum.

The host of the show refers to state GOP insiders showing “great concern” that Ron Paul is performing well in Iowa because they fear a Paul win would undermine Iowa’s position as being the first Republican primary. He implies that influential members of the Republican establishment within the state are offering sweetheart deals to prominent voting blocks in key swing districts in order to “sway” the result and ensure Ron Paul doesn’t win.

Despite the fact that this is brazenly unethical and, if bribery was involved, without doubt illegal, the host dismisses such conduct as “just politics”.

“Is it possible that the party apparatus here could be silently asking those District Chairmen to start swaying some important caucus members over to the anti-Paul side which may end up being Santorum…do you see a scenario like that happening,” he asked Benkie.

“I’ve talked to the party officials, I know they’re concerned about it,” said Benkie, adding, “Ron Paul doesn’t do us any good in Iowa, doesn’t do the country any good, will never get there, so let’s figure out what we need to do.”

Benkie said that the GOP establishment was concerned about splitting the vote between Santorum and Romney because it could increase the chances of a Ron Paul win, remarking, “We really don’t want Ron Paul to win.”

“I kind of think they’re going to keep him from getting the number one spot because they are concerned,” said Benkie, adding that the party apparatus were “tight-knit” and “trying to figure out” how to “deal with the Paul-bots,” an arrogant characterization of Ron Paul’s supporters.

“They’re not going to want him to get number one, it’s very bad for Iowa, it’s terrible,” said Benkie, adding that she hopes for her “friends” that Paul is not victorious.

It’s necessary to emphasize the fact that Dee Dee Benkie is by no means decrying the subversion of the Iowa primary. She is openly anti-Paul and is brazenly advocating that he be prevented from winning Iowa by means of establishment insiders exerting undue influence on voters, despite the fact thatonly last week she was decrying the threat posed by “rampant” voter fraud.

As we have previously documented, the GOP establishment is so terrified of Ron Paul performing well in Iowa that influential Republican officials have attempted to all but sabotage the legitimacy of the Iowa primary.

Iowa Governor Terry Branstad rhetorically undermined the sanctity of his own state’s poll by encouraging people, in the event of a Paul victory, to ignore the will of the voters and instead concentrate on who comes second and third.

“People are going to look at who comes in second and who comes in third,” said Branstad, adding, ““If [Mitt] Romney comes in a strong second, it definitely helps him going into New Hampshire and the other states,” comments taken to mean that Republicans should “ignore” Ron Paul, according to Politico’s Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns.

Establishment media talking heads have also resolved to ignore the result of the primary if Ron Paul is victorious. “If Ron Paul wins Iowa, we just take it out,” Politico’s chief columnist Roger Simon told MSNBC last month.

*********************

Paul Joseph Watson is the editor and writer for Prison Planet.com. He is the author of Order Out Of Chaos. Watson is also a regular fill-in host for The Alex Jones Show.

Source: Prison Planet.

An unannounced test of a soon to be mandatory emergency alert system caused panic in New Jersey today after Verizon customers received text messages warning them that a “civil emergency” was in progress and to “take shelter,” prompting alarmed citizens to flood 911 lines with anxious calls.

However, media reports concerning the alarm completely ignore the fact that Verizon was almost certainly running a test for the federal government’s soon to be mandatory PLAN alert program, which the company has signed up for.

“A mass text message warning New Jersey cell phone users of a “civil emergency” was sent out by Verizon Wireless earlier today,”reports the New Jersey Star-Ledger. Verizon Wireless later apologized to its customers for causing alarm.

The alert message included the text “U.S. Govern,” suggesting to customers the text had come from the federal government itself, which undoubtedly fueled the panic.

Residents in three different counties received the message, titled “Emergency alert seek shelter by 1:24 p.m,” which was not labeled as a test. Police departments and country authorities fielded four times the usual number of calls, many of them from distressed citizens who wanted to know whether a real emergency was in progress. “There is no reason to panic here,” said Monmouth County Sheriff Shaun Golden. “It is a false text done maliciously today at 12:27 p.m.”

The Department of Homeland Security was also forced to put out a tweet confirming that there was no emergency after concerned citizens also turned to Twitter for advice, saying they were, “scared and didn’t know how to react.”

Verizon company spokesman David Samberg told the Star-Ledger that the message was part of a “test emergency notification,” apologizing “for any inconvenience or concern this message may have caused.” The messages were received by Verizon customers with, “Droid-operated phones in Monmouth and Ocean counties and other parts of central New Jersey.”

Though completely absent from reports concerning the scare, the unannounced test was almost certainly conducted in preparation for FEMA’s PLAN program (Personal Localized Alerting Network), which will broadcast emergency alert messages directly to Americans’ cell phones using a new chip embedded in the receiver. The system is scheduled to be operational across the country by the end of next year.

CONTINUED at Prison Planet. Written by Paul Joseph Watson.

My Two Cents: I wrote about this man’s blatant tyranny here. End Two Cents.

Gov. Jerry Brown last Monday released “An Open Letter to the People of California,” in which he called for the state’s taxpayers to approve tax-raising initiatives to “fix” the state’s structural deficit. Here is the letter and my translation of what Brown really meant to say.

Brown: When I became governor again … California was facing a $26.6 billion budget deficit. It was the result of years of failing to match spending with tax revenues as budget gimmicks instead of honest budgeting became the norm.

Translation: For ages, California legislators have spent far more than they take in. My party, the Democrats, loves nothing more than spending money. No matter how much money taxpayers send us, we will spend it and more in good times and in bad ones! But I came to power pledging to fix things, but I never had any intention to challenge the status quo. I am fixated on one fix: raising your taxes.

Brown: In January, I proposed a budget that combined deep cuts with a temporary extension of some existing taxes. It was a balanced approach that would have finally closed our budget gap.

Translation: In January, I proposed the same kind of kick-the-can-down-the-road budget promoted by my predecessors, which cut little and relied on gimmicks. Why else are we back here dealing with the same problems we always face?

Brown: I asked the Legislature to enact this plan and to allow you, the people of California, to vote on it. I believed that you had the right to weigh in on this important choice: should we decently fund our schools or lower our taxes? … The Republicans refused to provide the four votes needed to put this measure on the ballot. … Democrats went ahead and enacted massive cuts and the first honest, on-time budget in a decade. But without the tax extensions, it was simply not possible to eliminate the state’s structural deficit.

Translation: I believe in the fundamental right to vote on higher taxes but I steadfastly opposed that same fundamental right when Republicans wanted Californians to vote on pension reform and other reform matters. I know the on-time budget was bogus. After those darned Republicans refused to fall for my tax-raising trap, I have been stuck. I haven’t known what to do, so I’m back with another ploy to push for the same-old plan, figuring this silly letter will jump-start the tax-hike discussion again.

Brown: The good news is that our financial condition is much better than a year ago. We cut the ongoing budget deficit by more than half, reduced the state’s workforce by about 5,500 positions and cut unnecessary expenses like cell phones and state cars. We actually cut state expenses by over $10 billion. Spending is now at levels not seen since the seventies. … Unfortunately, the deep cuts we made came at a huge cost.

Translation: The budget is still a huge mess as long as the economy remains in the doldrums, depressed by my party’s zeal for regulation. We didn’t really cut very much and the budget has grown dramatically over the last decade. Things like cell phone cuts were window-dressing that saved only pennies. State government continues to hire. That’s why I am here today to “guilt” you into turning over more of your hard-earned cash to the state government, which will allow us to avoid painful cuts to state employees and to those many state retirees living large on $100,000-plus pensions. We only talk about cuts in services to the kids and the poor to help with this guilt strategy.

Brown: The stark truth is that without new tax revenues, we will have no other choice but to make deeper and more damaging cuts to schools, universities, public safety and our courts.

Translation: There’s never enough money to satiate these public service agencies and no competitive pressures to force them to spend their money wisely. Actually, we could reform state government by embracing educational choice, outsourcing inmates to private prisons, pension reform, cutting salaries and commissions, and other measures, but we don’t want to do that. Remember, the unions elected me and I am serving them as faithfully as possible. And I would never try to increase revenues by jump-starting the economy through business-friendly reforms because I view the private sector as a drag on our society.

Brown: That is why I am filing today an initiative with the attorney general’s office that would generate nearly $7 billion in dedicated funding to protect education and public safety.

Translation: I figure the same voters who elected me would certainly be willing to vote for tax increases.

Brown: My proposal is straightforward and fair. It proposes a temporary tax increase on the wealthy, a modest and temporary increase in the sales tax, and guarantees that the new revenues be spent only on education. … This initiative dedicates funding only to education and public safety—not on other programs that we simply cannot afford. … I ask you to join with me to get our state back on track.

Translation: These increases will be gone in an instant and I will be back asking for more money. The public safety money means protecting huge compensation packages for union workers, not for actually improving the public’s safety. The schools are substandard, but the teachers’ unions won’t let us get rid of bad teachers or improve them with market-based reform. We will be taxing the rich more (watch how broadly we define that term!), and more of them will join the exodus out of the state. Of course, when I say millionaires, I don’t mean those many public employees who are retiring on the kind of pensions that only a millionaire could afford.

I ask you to join with me to get the state back on track—of spending without concern for the future.

Steven Greenhut is the editor of CalWatchDog.com.

Source: Reason.