२८ जुलै, २०१६

At the Democratic National Convention —  40 Broadway singers scrambling for one microphone to sing "What the World Needs Now Is Love"...

... in what we're told is "a tribute to the lives affected by gun violence":



"Lord, we don't need another meadow/There are cornfields and wheat fields enough to grow/There are sunbeams and moonbeams enough to shine...."

Please watch the whole thing, while observing your thoughts and feelings, and tell us how this performance affected you.

I'll just say Lord, we don't need another moonbeam. Think about Governor Moonbeam and how he got that name:
The nickname was coined by Mike Royko, the famed Chicago columnist, who in 1976 said that [Jerry] Brown appeared to be attracting “the moonbeam vote,” which in Chicago political parlance meant young, idealistic and nontraditional.

The term had a nice California feel, and Mr. Royko eventually began applying it when he wrote about the Golden State’s young, idealistic and nontraditional chief executive. He found endless amusement — and sometimes outright agita — in California’s oddities, calling the state “the world’s largest outdoor mental asylum.”

“If it babbles and its eyeballs are glazed,” he noted in April 1979, “it probably comes from California.”...

८५ टिप्पण्या:

Charlie म्हणाले...

"watch the whole thing"? I made through 30 seconds and shut it off.

Drago म्हणाले...

What the world needs now is more love and "flexibility" thrown the Russians way by the dems.

http://www.militarytimes.com/story/military/archives/2013/03/20/russian-ships-displayed-at-dnc-tribute-to-vets/78536950/?platform=%5B%22%5B%27hootsuite%27%5D%22%5D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsFR8DbSRQE

Of course, that is nothing compared to the open treason li'l Teddy Kennedy attempted with the Soviets against Reagan in 80's.

http://www.forbes.com/2009/08/27/ted-kennedy-soviet-union-ronald-reagan-opinions-columnists-peter-robinson.html

Since that little gambit didn't work out too well the Soviets/Russians will have to satisfy themselves with Hillary's handing over our Uranium assets to the Russians for a nice little payoff to the Clinton foundation.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/24/us/cash-flowed-to-clinton-foundation-as-russians-pressed-for-control-of-uranium-company.html?_r=0

And all that on top of the dems gutting our military in the 70's under Carter, 90's under Clinton (the one who likes Epsteins stable of young gals) and the last 8 years under Obama.

From a Soviet/Russian perspective, that is called #winning.

MadisonMan म्हणाले...

Well that song will get out the boomer vote.

What's next, the Coke Jingle?

"and furnish shit with love" as we sang it in 8th grade choir.

Gusty Winds म्हणाले...

OK I watched the whole thing as requested. I felt embarrassed.

Like when James Taylor went to France with John Kerry to sing "You've Got a Friend".

Alexander म्हणाले...

There are cornfields and wheat fields enough to grow

That's a pretty bold move from the DNC. Or is internal polling showing Iowa to be a safe state?

Brando म्हणाले...

I thought they'd already locked up the swampy hippie vote? This is overkill!

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves म्हणाले...

CA Hollywood culture fits right in with corrupt democrat culture. Cult. Fake. Ivory Tower.

Skeptical Voter म्हणाले...

Ah Moonbeam. My governor now---and way back in the way back as well. He is the guy who took the young, very attractive, and very sensual Linda Ronstadt on a safari to Africa. And had no flippin idea what to do with her. At the time Linda had a reputation for loving and leaving--but Ol Moonbeam didn't even complete the first part of the equation.

Curious George म्हणाले...

A tribute to lives affected by gun violence? That performance will only lead to more.

MAJMike म्हणाले...

This goes well with Styrofoam Greek columns.

Ann Althouse म्हणाले...

Lord, we don't need another mountain
There are mountains and hillsides enough of debt
There are oceans and rivers enough we owe
Enough to last 'till the end of time

Unknown म्हणाले...

Don't worry Drago, Putin loves Trump and vice versa. All is right with the world. Don't worry your little head about Russia, Trump has that covered.

Amadeus 48 म्हणाले...

Easy, stomach. Don't turn over!

As Noel Coward famously said, strange how potent cheap music is.

cubanbob म्हणाले...

If Trumpy is elected he should take Glenn Reynolds advise and reinstitute the Hollywood Tax.
The Treasury could use all that Hollywood Love.

Unknown म्हणाले...

The song was a corny.

Worried about debt? How about that wall, how much will that cost, ohhhh I forgot the Mexicans will pay for it. Whew, Trump to the rescue. Everything in control.

mockturtle म्हणाले...

When I'm in California I am struck by the fact that Californians really don't know how flaky they are. It's hard for me to imagine that many of these same people elected Reagan for governor.

CJinPA म्हणाले...

Reaction:

It's a very pleasant, if meaningless, song that comes across very pleasantly. For those inclined to vote Democrat, it works.

The mic hand-offs made it a little uneven. The sudden appearance of the Big Silly Guy from That Show in the 90s was a tad jarring. Folks seemed to cheer for their favorite, recognizable performer. Not just Cagney and Lacey but some I didn't recognize.

The appeal is limited by the fact 100% of the Anti-Love ugliness outside the convention and across the U.S. is left-wing agitation.

The song will be in my head all day.

J2 म्हणाले...

Thoughts and feelings

How many skipped the rehearsal? Was there a rehearsal?
Pity the cameramen.
This works much better as a celebration of same sex marriage
Cagney and Lacey, yeah!
Rosie Perez - no, just no. No voice.

performance clusterf#ck, but very democratically executed

Guns vs love ??

FWBuff म्हणाले...

This performance left me with three impressions:

1. The Democrats have locked up the Broadway-musical-star voting bloc.

2. "Broadway star" apparently now includes washed-up former TV stars.

3. As with other interest groups, the DNC takes its Broadway-star bloc for granted; they weren't willing to allocate the funds to supply each of them with a microphone.

buwaya म्हणाले...

See David Goldmans article linked from Instapundit. Regarding cartelization and collapse in new business formation, along with the concentration of growth in the Fortune 1000. No wonder Broadway likes these people, they know who can afford theater tickets.

Bob Boyd म्हणाले...

I love my guns. Does that count?

Drew W म्हणाले...

Trotting out this pleasant but tired Bacharach-David tune looked like an appeal for the sclerotic old leftie vote, which, as has already been mentioned, should be pretty well locked up. (Maybe it would have felt less stodgy if Demi Lovato's dancers came out of the wings and started frugging wildly in the background.) And since very few of these worthy Broadway stars -- except maybe for Tyne Daly, Richard Kind and a few others -- are well known to the general public, someone should've IDed them as the camera went from one to the next. Of course, I was hoping that Paul Simon would be given a second chance with a medley of songs from his Broadway flopperoonie "The Capeman."

CJinPA म्हणाले...

That's a pretty bold move from the DNC. Or is internal polling showing Iowa to be a safe state?

Ha. RNC press release: "DEMS TO FARMERS: DROP DEAD - Food banks chastised to make do with supplies of corn, wheat."

rhhardin म्हणाले...

I'm wondering if I'm expected to know even a single one of these people, or if not why is the audience applauding.

Greg Hlatky म्हणाले...

"We love... us. You, not so much."

Rick म्हणाले...

Democrats seem to think they're interviewing for camp counselor positions.

Bob Ellison म्हणाले...

40 Broadway "singers"?

That audio indicates a broad definition of "singer". Anyone can sing. Obama sings well. Some of those people on that stage couldn't find the keys in their own pockets.

Humperdink म्हणाले...

Unknown said: "Putin loves Trump and vice versa."

Question for you Unknown. Who said the following?

"This is my last election. After my election I have more flexibility" (to Vlad's stooge, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev)

A) Al Gore
B) John Edwards
C) John F. Kerry
D) B. Hussein O.

If you guessed D, you would be right.

CJinPA म्हणाले...

Regarding the intro to the song: "The brightest voices of Broadway" was clearly a hasty edit.

"Let's say 'Brightest stars of Broadway.'"
"No, we can't say that. People don't know a lot of them."
"Well, they're among the best singers, anyway."
"Does, 'Brightest voices of Broadway' work?"
"No, a voice isn't bright. But we need to get the text to the intro lady."

CJinPA म्हणाले...

BTW...The performance was touted as a response to gun violence - the kind found most often in Democrat bastions.

The song was an appeal by the DNC for its voters to stop killing each other. It affects the vote tallies.

David म्हणाले...

The Dems are very fashionable. A lot of voters are repelled by fashionable. For very good reasons.

"Progressives" have no clue what conformists they are.

William म्हणाले...

The Dems are so much better at stagecraft than statecraft. An act like this is effective with Broadway stars, but don't try this with rap stars. You couldn't possibly gather that many rap stars in the same place at the same time without gun violence breaking out.

MayBee म्हणाले...

I liked it that Rosie Perez knows she can't sing and sang anyway.

SukieTawdry म्हणाले...

Oh, what I wouldn't give to have Mike Royko around to observe and report on this election cycle. Talk about your mental asylums.

Well, that was just...sad. I have long considered Broadway home to some of the most talented performers around. Too bad they couldn't find some of them to do this tribute to Hillary love (I sincerely hope Richard Kind and Rosie Perez aren't appearing in musicals). Did you notice how some of them fairly grabbed the mic away? The audience certainly was grooving on it, though. The only thing they were missing were Bics to flick.

I'd like to build the world a home and furnish it with love, with honey bees and apple trees and snow white turtle doves. I'd like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony; I'd like to buy the world a Coke and keep it company. It's the real thing. Coke is.

Eleanor म्हणाले...

And here I thought "moonbeam" had something to do the once famous "Reverend Moon".

Static Ping म्हणाले...

At the behest of our host, I did indeed watch the entire thing.

Like rhhardin, I am somewhat confused at the crowd's excitement. There were a handful of singers that I could recognize, though honestly I did not know any of their names, and the ones that got the biggest response are mostly mysteries. Either the Democratic Party is full of serious Broadway fans, or the microphones being used to capture the crowd reaction were being very particular in who it recorded. It half felt like a laugh track. The few times they showed the crowd, they did not seem nearly as enthusiastic.

The microphone passing stunt was a neat idea and very appropriate for the song, but it was executed so-so. It has the feel that they came up with it 5 minutes before they went on stage, or it was planned but never practiced.

The message is, of course, true. The world does need more love. However, in the meantime you also need to protect yourself from those with a lot of hate and singing songs tends to be ineffective in that regard. Sadly, if my intuition is correct, the crowd up there thinks highly of certain very hateful groups that would gladly kill the lot of them, and think very lowly of groups that have a lot of love but disagree with their political views. The Democratic Party has more or less defined "love" as "things we like" without any objective standards whatsoever.

Overall, they seem more like the Independence Day party crowd on the top of the skyscraper celebrating the alien arrival just before the aliens blow up the city.

Bob Ellison म्हणाले...

Autotune share just rose 75%.

Birches म्हणाले...

I could only make it three minutes. I'm sorry to see Brian Stokes Mitchell as a part of that embarrassment, I thought he was a better man.

I'm glad you guys id'd the old ladies for me as Cagny and Lacey. Judging from the crowd reaction, the DNC crowd is heavy on boomers and light on millenials.

Who did they put in charge of picking the song? From my POV, it's a song that just screams parody. It's so lightweight. There are songs that might have actually seemed sincere.

John henry म्हणाले...

The We Are The World folks were not available?

I kind of liked the song when dion warwick sang it. This? no. it reminds me of all i find pretentious about Broadway

John Henry

Bob Boyd म्हणाले...

Headline of the Day:

Man’s Dress Catches Fire As He Stomps Burning Flag At DNC

Jupiter म्हणाले...

Actually, I think we would be better off with some more mountains and hillsides and meadows. And oceans! A few more oceans would really come in handy! Great big ones!

Jupiter म्हणाले...

With all these idiots at the bottom of one of them.

Birches म्हणाले...

So the first one to sing is Idina Menzel, or the voice of Elsa in FROZEN. She is a very big deal on Broadway. So is the Black woman, I don't know her name, but I recognize her. The other big cheer before Cagny and Lacey was for Kristen Bell, who was also a voice in FROZEN. I'M guessing the small Latino man is in HAMILTON, which is the biggest deal right now for our Coastal Media Elite.

Sydney म्हणाले...

Barf.

mockturtle म्हणाले...

@StaticPing Overall, they seem more like the Independence Day party crowd on the top of the skyscraper celebrating the alien arrival just before the aliens blow up the city.

Good one! And most appropriate.

n.n म्हणाले...

Hate loves abortion.

mockturtle म्हणाले...

Hillary is about as loving as a scorpion on steroids.

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan म्हणाले...

Ann Althouse said...
Lord, we don't need another mountain
There are mountains and hillsides enough of debt
There are oceans and rivers enough we owe
Enough to last 'till the end of time


Apparently Althouse thinks its time to cut social security and medicare for the wealthy like her. I agree.

Will Cate म्हणाले...

How it affected me? Like Scott Adams wrote yesterday, I can actually feel the testosterone leaving my body as I watch this.

Curious George म्हणाले...

"Static Ping said...
Overall, they seem more like the Independence Day party crowd on the top of the skyscraper celebrating the alien arrival just before the aliens blow up the city."

Thank you for this. COTY.

Bill म्हणाले...

More Corn Nuts™ than cornfields.

mockturtle म्हणाले...

@Will Cate How it affected me? Like Scott Adams wrote yesterday, I can actually feel the testosterone leaving my body as I watch this.

LOL! :-D

mikee म्हणाले...

There has not been a novel argument made by the anti-rights bigots of the anti-gun crowd since at least back in 2008, when the Heller case was in the news.

Not. One. Single. New. Idea.

And their old ideas have been so thoroughly debunked that the only reason they can trot these dead horses out for our attention is that most people don't pay any attention to the anti-gun crowd except once every few years.

The Dem anti-gun platform is of a piece with the rest of their repudiation of inherent individual rights of citizens in favor of privilege, based on their elite selection of the privileged groups.

Get out the tar, feathers, and rail, my friends, we will need them.

traditionalguy म्हणाले...

Everybody knows that what the world needs now is a Coke and a smile. But the Chinese will soon be taking over the soft drink business

HoodlumDoodlum म्हणाले...

All you need is love, provided love is defined as a strict adherence to Leftist beliefs and full subservience to Leftist demands and rule.

Also, Broadway singers? That was Cagney & Lacey up there!

JAORE म्हणाले...

The song was an appeal by the DNC for its voters to stop killing each other. It affects the vote tallies.

Nah, you seem to misunderstand that the dead vote D.

I suspect the newspaper list of Chicago victims is electronically transferred to the Chicago voter registration list.

The inner city polling places would look like a scene from the walking dead if the voters had to actually....you know.... show up.

Paul Snively म्हणाले...

mockturtle: When I'm in California I am struck by the fact that Californians really don't know how flaky they are. It's hard for me to imagine that many of these same people elected Reagan for governor.

Outside of Los Angeles and San Francisco. California is an extreme example of the real issue, which is leftist urbanites vs. center-right small-l libertarian and outright conservative suburban and rural voters. If you want the California take on conservatism, look no further than Victor Davis Hanson.

For the truth on Gov. Moonbeam 2.0, see this article on California's "high speed rail" project.

HoodlumDoodlum म्हणाले...

Remember when they're kicking in your door (to confiscate your firearms) or suing your ass off (for failing to adhere to whatever social policy they've decided is most important today) or getting you fired (for donating to the wrong cause/group) or burning down your city in a riot for "justice"...they're doing it with love.

The Left is all about love. To oppose the Left is to embrace Hate.
Also: Freedom is Slavery.

HoodlumDoodlum म्हणाले...

No one remembers the movie Austin Powers. Sad.
Wasn't this one in Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid, too--or was that only Raindrops? Maybe it was on the soundtrack or something, I dunno.

Kate म्हणाले...

When I was a kid this song was on the radio all the time, only it was the version intercut with "Has Anybody Here" that includes news audio of the assassinations of Bobby, Martin and John. It was chilling and tragic. I cannot hear the insipid melody of this song without also hearing, "President Kennedy has been shot."

The Democrats just blasted an evil dog whistle to every baby boomer who thinks Trump is a Hitler who needs to be taken out.

grimson म्हणाले...

Blogger Sukie Tawdry wrote...

Oh, what I wouldn't give to have Mike Royko around to observe and report on this election cycle. Talk about your mental asylums.

Right. Royko seemed like a traditional Democrat--what would he think of the current Democrat party in general, and Obama in particular? (Studs Terkel would probably be fine with both.) Given Trump vs. Hillary, he would be at no loss for words for either of them.

n.n म्हणाले...

At least guns are multi-purpose, including self-defense, and the loss of life attributed to guns is around 10,000 annually.

Abortion, on the other hand, is single-purpose, to dispose of unwanted and inconvenient lives and recycle their lucrative parts, and the loss of wholly innocent life attributed to its normalization and commercialization is around 1,000,000 annually, in America alone.

Hate loves abortion.

JZ म्हणाले...

I thought that nearly all of them sing well. Except for the woman in red at the end. Rosie Perez?

Bushman of the Kohlrabi म्हणाले...

The clip gives off a 70s variety show vibe. I almost expected to see Donny and Marie singing the chorus. Not sure how helpful this is to Hillary.

Melissa म्हणाले...

Actually, we need a lot more Moonbeams. For the record "Governor Moonbeam" returned and is governor of California as I type, and is largely credited for righting the state's budget and improving the economy after it crashed in the early 2000's due to manipulation of energy prices which the G W Bush administration declined to stop until it was too late. That led to a recall election which Darryl Issa, who drove the recall campaign, was hoping would get him into the governor's mansion but instead "the Arnold" won and through changes to the tax code he made the state's budget even more of a mess. I remember visiting my mom in San Ramon during that time, a highly affluent area, and going to the public library where people were wearing their coats and holding fleece blankets around themselves as they browsed books because the heat was turned down so low. The fact that you would dismissively mock someone who has done so much good for his state reflects poorly on you, Ann. Please, more substance, less sniping, fewer posts driven by pique. I have been reading your blog for eight years because I want to expose myself to views more conservative than my own but the shallowness and cheap shots really get to me. It's no wonder the country is in the state its in when a snotty little put down from Mike Royko thirty years ago is used to dismiss someone who is still around and is making things better for people. So, Jerry Brown was young as a first time governor and dated Linda Rondstadt. Neither one of those are bad things but I guess they are bad enough to negates the time he spent working with Mother Theresa,studying religion, being mayor of Oakland and making a big difference there, specifically deciding to live and work among people whose lives had a lot more challenges than his own as the son of a popular and highly successful governor (Pat Brown, who helped establish the higher education system in California which was among the best in the world until it was neglected by subsequent Republican governors.)If trolls spent less effort on snark and more effort on living lives with as much use and meaning as "Governor Moonbeam" they might be happier and we would all be better off.

Birches म्हणाले...

Haha. ^ hilarious.

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan म्हणाले...

Melissa said...
Please, more substance, less sniping, fewer posts driven by pique. I have been reading your blog for eight years because I want to expose myself to views more conservative than my own but the shallowness and cheap shots really get to me.


Hear, hear!

mockturtle म्हणाले...

I rest my case.

hombre म्हणाले...

Re Melissa: Judas priest, another one. Read Victor Davis Hanson, who actually researches the facts, about Gov. Moonbeam, Melissa.

The downfall of the country, and California, began when innumerate Democrats substituted idolatry for analysis. California: High taxes, high unemployment, staggering welfare, crime-ridden cities, engineered drought, etc. Admirable! Lol.

JAORE म्हणाले...

I'd have hidden Rosie Perez's screeching in a trio of voices (at least) or placed her bit at about the 1/3 mark so it MIGHT have been forgotten.

Though to be fair she's one of the few faces I recognized in this galaxy of stars.

hombre म्हणाले...

By the way, Melissa, what you perceive as "shallowness and cheap shots" reflect frustration stimulated by years of trying to reason with people who think there is an upside to: unfettered immigration, profligacy giving rise to $20 trillion in debt, inadequate screening of Muslim refugees from terrorist-ridden nations, 90 million out of the workforce, restricting energy independence, nukes for Iran, lie-induced Obamacare, etc.

"Substance?" Seriously?

Birches म्हणाले...

And btw ARM, I agree SS should start phasing in means testing. But I seem to remember any time someone tries to fix the ticking time bomb, they get accused of trying to throw granny off a cliff.

Mockturtle, boy did you call it....

Just_Mike_S म्हणाले...

The crazy moonbeam sh*t comes from the population centers of SF Bay Area and LA basin/SD. That's where most of the people are so whatever they'll swallow they get to ram down everyone else's throat.

Virtually every problem Califonians face today can be traced back to Jerry Brown's first and second administrations in the 1970s - 80s. Our population was around 22 million and the motto was "if you don't build it, they won't come". So we stopped building roads because roads "cause" traffic. We didn't build dams because "if we have more water, people will use more water". We tabled, idled or decommissioned Hydroelectric projects(clean, renewable energy) because fish are more important than people. Jerry Brown lived like a Jesuit monk, sleeping on a mattress in a one bedroom apartment and thought everyone else should too.

The Energy deregulation fiasco of the 2000s was brought about by soley by California Democrats and in fact was the brain child of none other than Gray Davis, protege of...wait for it...Jerry Brown. At least he eventually took the fall for it. You can blame him for the Schwarzenegger terms. I know I do. Yes, Arnold was a complete failure, only because he failed to put a stop to the nonsense that Jerry Brown started in 1974 and continues today. A yuuge disappointment, as Trump is likely to be as our next president.

So we didn't built it and they came anyway. CA population today approx 40 million. We haven't built a freeway or a dam or a powerplant since the 70's. Education system is a shambles because the CA Teachers Assoc. owns the legislature. Our leaders tout a "balanced budget". Of course the unfunded pensions that taxpayers are on the hook for is "conservatively" estimated at $200B. Could be as high as HALF A TRILLION DOLLARS. PERS and CALSTRS are more concerned about divesting from Fossil Fuels, Guns or companies that do business in Israel than they are over their funds' rate of return. When there is no maoney to pay the retirees it's gonna get ugly. That's a WHEN, not an IF.

Leave? No. I choose to stay and fight. California's "flyover counties" are quite conservative - Placer County is one of the most conservative in the nation, believe it or not. There have been and are efforts to liberate the outerlands: 6 states initiative and currently "State of Jefferson" movement http://www.soj51.net/ . Mock if you must - help if you can. If anyone can get a message to Obi-Wan, tell him to send Lawyers, guns and money.

Bilwick म्हणाले...

Beacause statism=love. Only Emanuel Goldstein would disagree!

hombre म्हणाले...

To Democrats, "love" means repeal the First and Second Amendments.

grackle म्हणाले...

Moonbeams, rainbows, unicorns, Tinkerbell, Peter Pan, pie in the sky and castles in the air. On the other hand, it DOES neatly sum up the Obama foreign policy – so there’s that.

mockturtle म्हणाले...

I do miss Royko! He was the best.

JaimeRoberto म्हणाले...

For some reason I'm reminded of The Hunger Games.

Marc in Eugene म्हणाले...

I used to pay attention to 'Broadway' but haven't for years; the only theater person I know of is that guy who plays the 'innocent' FBI agent on Graceland, or did (he wasn't very, by the end of the only season I saw). Watching the folks hand off the microphone, with varying degrees of grace, was amusing but as someone mentioned hours ago the song itself brought back awful memories of 70s television.

buwaya म्हणाले...

I was here during that energy crisis.
It was the result of Grey Davis being an idiot. He had multiple chances of permitting forward contracts, which were desperately pursued by everyone including the Dem assembly during the mini crisis of the previous summer. These would have prevented the wild escalation. But he vetoed it.
Even Enrons chairman pushed for forward contracts. Nope.
Enron was far from the largest shark, these were BCHydro and LADWP.

buwaya म्हणाले...

And Brown became governor 8-9 years after the crisis was over and all the restructuring was done. It's bizarre to give him any credit for anything related to this.

buwaya म्हणाले...

Enron was a handy scapegoat, but their culpability in the California case was just as one of a mob.

hombre म्हणाले...

"Sexist. Homophobe. Racist. Fascist. Neo-Nazi. Misogynist," cried the Democrat love bugs.

Jupiter म्हणाले...

Just_Mike_S said...

Well, there, Melissa. You have now been exposed to a viewpoint more conservative than your own.

SukieTawdry म्हणाले...

Melissa, Gov. Jerry "Moonbeam" Brown in his first term signed the executive order permitting state employees to unionize and the rest is history. He did it for the same reason Jack Kennedy signed his executive order allowing federal employees union representation. Unions, in particular public employee unions, are Democratic constituencies. They contribute time, money and votes as long as you keep playing along and the Democrats in this state are quite happy to keep playing along. The public employee unions are the most powerful entities in California and the ordinary citizen pays a high price for that.

I can not believe you credit Brown with saving California's economy and "righting" the budget. We have over $86 billion in bond debt and in November will be asked to approve nine billion more. As a result, we have one of the lowest bond ratings in the country. Our unfunded liability for medical and dental benefits for current and retired state employees is $74 billion and climbing. The retirement plan for state employees is one of the most generous in the nation. One union has agreed to a very modest employee contribution to their retiree health benefits (one half of one percent of their salaries in the next two years rising to one percent after that), however, they got a five percent raise to offset those contributions. We have $77 billion in deferred road maintenance and Brown has said we most likely will require a new tax or fee. No doubt in the near future, we will be paying taxes on our mileage.

Jerry Brown did nothing for the city of Oakland. Nothing.

And this time around in a state whose most vital concern is water, or rather, its lack, Moonbeam instead has devoted his time and energy and billions of our dollars to an illusory pipedream because high speed train travel between LA and SF is the wave of the future.

So spare me any more lectures on all the good Jerry Brown has done for this state. We would have been far better off if he had pursued his early interest in the priesthood.