Whoa !! Hang on there !! Are you telling me a Hollywood celeb is guilty of political incorrectness !! No that can't be !! That's only reserved for Republicans.

Markiejoe, So you think there's some big tax bonanza just waiting for us here? In arriving at that conclusion have you deducted the followng: a) increased law enforcement to deal with all the crime that will ensue. Just like booze increased the cost of law enforcement and judicial expenses. b) the lost tax revenes from tax-paying families who will leave the state rather than raise their kids in such an environement. Am I reaching here? Look at San Francisco, a city that has been turned over to singles and gays and hobos. Most of the families have moved out rather than live in, what Robin Williams called, 'a human game preserve'. c) tax cheating by marijuna producers/sellers. That happens in every 'industry' you can expect here as well. d) the tax revenue that will be siphoned off by Sacramento and never make it back to the cities from which it originated. This is already the complaint of mayors in this state. So, having done all the above, how much tax revenue will we really get to offset the hideous reputation to the state?

Jad in his post; LA is not "losing" money. It is, rather, not "collecting" money that it may well have no business collecting. The purpose of parking citations is to keep traffic moving, so that businesses in the area can prosper; they are not supposed to take the place of taxes. Is dead-on right. Unfortunately he is in the extreme minority of people who think logically anymore in this state.

Tony Balony is speaking balony when he claims that 12k of strip club welfare fraud is no big deal. Ok, then how about those welfare recipients paying it back? I mean if 12k is no big deal then they should have no problem paying it back. Right?

Who is surprised by these kinds of atrocities anymore? Isn't this the behavior we expect from an inbred, self-serving symbiosis of tax payer funded state public employees 'serving' the needs of the needy, who in turn vote for more of the same? THIS is why the only way to stop this is END these uselessly expensive welfare programs. Let them leave the state and find some other suckers , if they can, to support them.

Jose, In case you have not noticed, Costa Mesa is one of the few cities in Southern California that is still run reasonably well. Not perfect, but better than most. Budgets are in better shape. Crime is lower on average. Much less tagging. Or does this bother you?

Yeah, here's another explanation: California is so dead-broke with so little left to sqeeze out of the taxpayers, that even a Democrat can figure out that there's nothing left to do but execute, in this rare instance, logical business sense. But don't hold your breath expecting a repeat of this miracle. They don't strike twice you know.

So this city is bankrupt, people struggling to find jobs, and keep from the tax man what little they're able to earn, and this guy has the time to cause this kind of chaos? Why is it that California seems to be cursed with more of these idiots than any other state?

And people say I exaggerate when I make jokes about the drug industry in Inland Empire.

Yes sireeeee....Those pot clinics were a good idea were'nt they? Were'nt going to be any problems about them as they sprung up in neighborhoods was there? On top of all the other incentives to violence and crime there is in L.A. already, did we really need to invite more with this utterly stupid idea??

Is it a crime? No. Is it a disgrace ? You bet. It's a disgrace because the Democrats, and their public employee toadies, rant and rage about how Prop 13 has decimated public finances. Yet it's had no impact on their salaries. Hmmmm.....

What a joke. L.A., the garbage can city. Is it any wonder that buisnesses are fleeing the city? Is it any wonder that people don't want to raise their kids in an environment like this? So for every buck we may get in tax revenue off dope, we'll lose more than that from businesses and people fleeing the state rather than expose themselves and their families to this. Finally, do we really need to give th rest of the country another reason to view California as a place of stoned workers who cannot be relied upon to do their jobs ?

Worst politician. Hmmm. That one's tough. I know. Let's see what the rest of the country says; #1 Nancy Pelosi. Barbara Boxer: rated one of the least effective senators in the country by her own senate peers. And lets not forget Henry Waxman who is detested by every state in the country that produces carbon based energy ( coal, oil). I think that's a pretty good list, dont you?

Naturally the completely unbiased and impartial LA Times would report that the Republican primary was a lot of hot air and no substance. It is obvious they paid no attention to the campaign positions of the candidates. Whitman for example has laid, and printed, DETAILED description of what she's going to and in what sequence to get the state's economy back on it's feet. We can only hope ( can we?) that when Jerry Brown ( whom Im sure the Times will endorse) will receive the same attention for his hot air. NOT !!!!

I wonder if the Jewish registered Democrats in the crowd and speakers wll finally understand that they support the wrong Party if they are also supporters of Israel. You can't have it both ways. If they do understand this and change their party affliation, then this would go a long way to resolving the eternal question: 'Why are most American Jews Democrats?'

Yup, just what we'd expect from a typical out of touch California liberal who still thinks their state sets the agenda for the rest of us. How wrong they are. If they only had a clue on how little the rest of the country pays attention to the bankrupt has-been 'Golden State'.

no one is safe these days.

Layoffs 'possible' ? You mean it isn't obvious that that should be done?? Only in California.

Notice how no one ever seems to lose their jobs if there a public employee in California? And we wonder why we can never get our budget fixed? Ridiculous.

Layoffs 'possible' ? Only in California, where were sunk beyond salvation in debt largely incurred through ruinously expensive public employees salaries/benefits and an ocean of welfare recipients, would we still be questioning the 'possibility' of layoffs. Every other state in the nation would have already done that by this time. But not in California. Nope.

Norman Silver believes that Arnold had a hand in some shady deal to sell the Fair Grounds cheap. You have any proof of that Norman? Want to know the real reason why they were sold cheap? Because no one wants to buy anything in this state any more. Why? Because no one wants to be holding anything that will end up getting taxed like crazy. How did we get to this point? 30+ years of Democrat control of the state has driven away all our tax paying industries and left us with billions of dollars in shortfalls to pay for all the expensive kooky liberal social programs and envirnomental extremism. My fantasy? Nope. That's what the Wall Street Journal, The Economist, Fortune, and CEO magazine write. Excuse me Norm, but Im gonna believe them before you.