er, sand flea wins by K.O.

Hah - sadly, yes, SwissArmyD.

SwissArmyD, in the first round, too. Tyson vs. Holyfield was less decisive.

I caught a comment about how the average television uses less electricity than 1.5 lightbulbs. So, the logical thing to do would be to let people keep their televisions and use lanterns.

Perhaps we should start beating our clothes on rocks or using washboards, and line drying them. Maybe it's time for the icebox to make a comeback!

I'm sure California's financial problems can't be from massive social, medical and incarceration expenses from having millions of illegal aliens.

When big screens are outlawed, only well-connected politicians will have big screens.

California is in such a bad situation, and I'm having trouble predicting how it will end. Presumably the feds will step in and take over before it gets to the point of mass cannibalism in the cities, but is there an alternative to that?

Their current political class is not going to make the major changes necessary to have a balanced budget, and loans or bailouts would just prolong the trouble, not solve it.

Will there be a new regional fascist party?

"loans or bailouts would just prolong the trouble, not solve it."

One can say exactly the same thing, for example, about the auto industry. So, of course, loans and bailouts are precisely what California will get.

After all, one could never consider the right solution: eliminate 3/4 of the government programs and fire 90% of the government employees.

It's time for a state constitutional convention in California. Our state is run by morons, and our legislative districts are drawn to as to ensure almost none of them face competitive races. Our legislators need to go. Propositions need to go, too. This won't happen. We're totally fucked.

Perhaps we should start beating our clothes on rocks or using washboards, and line drying them.

Or building a few power plants instead of depending upon Oregon, Wyoming, and Nevada for all of our power.

Lighten up already. Without California, NY would be the laughingstock of the nation, with worse weather.

???????

That's all I can say to this.

Although, I will add I have a clothesline. It's great for heavy things like towels and comforters that take forever in the drier. It's hidden in my backyard, not all white-trash in the front yard.

Shouldn't we be able to expel California from the Union? (Sorry, Amy.)

I have a clothesline, too, momof4, and I enjoy using it in the summertime. It helps put a damper on the ever-soaring electric bill.

Industry will adjust, the product will improve; and yet again, all you hillbillies in Flyover Country will be grateful to the boldly imaginative Californians for giving your lives purpose and meaning.

Actually, Crid, all the innovation happening in television tech is going on in Japan and Korea.

California loses again.

Yeah, nightmare.

Don't kid yourself, it all starts out here. We are your future.

(Is there anyone who can answer a point here without coming off like Bart Simpson? "You lose AGAIN nyah-nyah!")

Pseudonym asks an interesting question. I just read something on Chicago Boyz this morning about that very thing in Great Britain: the BNP making a big showing in the last election, and a poll showing that 20% of the voters will at least consider voting BNP in the next election. This is the result of Labor regarding the government as its personal kindergarten, and the current Tories being the British equivalent of country-club Republicans.

Could some kind of "state socialist" party take control in California? Right now, I don't see where that would come from, and it seems that there is still a big electorate in CA for left-wing issues. But if enough people get fed up with getting IOUs for their tax refunds, who knows.

And more to the point - The childishness of Brian's slapback speaks precisely, precisely to the zero-sum thinking that haunts every corner of public life. California, seventh-largest economy in the world, accepts a gentle, mundane, temporary burden to accelerate product development to the benefit of the global market for the affect product.

Brian says "You lose!"

Affected, sorry

Or building a few power plants instead of depending upon Oregon, Wyoming, and Nevada for all of our power.

Posted by: Conan the Grammarian at October 26, 2009 7:44 AM
----------------------

And I wouldn't rely on Oregon much either in the near future. There are plans to breach the Klamath dams in Northern CA and Southern OR(for salmon runs mostly, tho apparently the power generated isn't that much) and much debate on whether to kill the Snake River dams as well (a lot more power from those).

I really can't wait for the day that viable solar power systems (small, nano tech stuff) are created for individual users/home owners. That or a Mr. Fusion type device.

While I think this sort of meddling bureaucratic micro-management of the populace's economic choices is detrimental, I look forward to the economic opportunity it will provide me personally.

(summed up in two words: television smuggling)

Or building a few power plants instead of depending upon Oregon, Wyoming, and Nevada for all of our power.

Don't forget Arizona. Or is that water we're selling to you?

Crid is right. Even with all the stupid in California, if we seceded, the rest of you would be in trouble. And all the more avocados for us!

No! Not the avocados!

OK, California can stay.

Crid writes: (Is there anyone who can answer a point here without coming off like Bart Simpson? "You lose AGAIN nyah-nyah!")

...Unintended irony, post of the decade. Wow.

"And all the more avocados for us!"

Very few california avacados in the markets these days. Texas and points further south are well represented. My family in CA now has lower property taxes than me, but pay out the ass for produce. Strange.

When you get your news from the entertainment press (TV), you
get more entertainment than news. For the actual news, try the
LA Times article

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-bigtvs18-2009sep18,0,1102526.story

There's no move to limit screen size. In fact, there's even a
clause in the energy standard to exempt really large screens.
Excerpt from the article:

     About a quarter of currently available television
     models would have to be pulled from store shelves, said
     Doug Johnson, senior director for technology policy
     with the Arlington, Va., group that represents TV
     makers, distributors, retailers and installers.
...
     But some flat-panel-TV makers said they would have no
     trouble hitting the higher efficiency threshold and
     that TV buyers wouldn't see prices rise
...
     Sets with screens larger than 58 inches would initially
     be exempt from the new standards.  But they would be
     subject to a subsequent rule-making process.

Very few california avacados in the markets these days. Texas and points further south are well represented.

?????

According to NASS, California now accounts for the majority (90 percent) of U.S. avocado production, followed by Florida (9 percent).

http://www.agmrc.org/commodities__products/fruits/avocados.cfm

I wanna know how Ron did that formatting.

> No! Not the avocados!

Har! Simmer in the ignominy, you mere citizen!

Where's Andre, the commenter who knows this stuff? Cali politics are not something I know a lot about, but apparently one of the larger straws on the camel's back is entitlement payments to state employees, who taunted and manipulated Arnold with perfect skill when he was poised to trim their sails.

It seems unlikely that California is the only state in the union facing this hazard.

And then there's the trouble at the Federal level. Ever hear of that guy Paul Krugman? He wrote this thirteen years ago.

Ok, my bad, maybe HEB buys up that 1% for their stores here. We just don't have many Cali products at all. Chile, texas, mexico, yes.

Crid, Ron used the HTML "pre" (for pre-formatted text) tag.

Amy, thanks for this. I passed the video URL onto Dennis Miller via the DMZ section of his website. It's yet another reason he & his wife may leave the state one day. :-(