Chances are that you may know someone who has fled California, which is heartbreaking for a number of reasons.
California is a beautiful state! We have the ocean and its coastlines, the majestic forests and snow-capped peaks, the massive Sequioas and redwoods, the supremely beautiful high deserts and the flowering Central Valley.
Its politics, however, are pure ugliness.
My dad and stepmom had enough and moved to Alabama three years ago.
It’s just too expensive to live here – because of politicians and their oppressive policies.
The Transparency Foundation on Nov. 9 released a shocking report that notes that the “cost-of-living penalty” on the typical middle class family in California is $26,478.72. In other words, the extra expenses due to living here as opposed to, say Utah or Utah.
The blame lies squarely on state politicians for imposing “unreasonable and completely unnecessary cost-of-living-penalty.”
The “Cost of California Report” compares costs in every major household budget category between California and national averages – including for housing, utilities, food, gas, transportation, healthcare, insurance, childcare, and taxes.
Drilling down into the report we learn how much more Californians pay in specific areas:
• Housing: 32% higher for homeowners; 47% for renters;
• Gasoline: $2.10 per gallon higher, 25% more on average;
• Groceries: 4% higher;
• Water: 47% higher;
• Healthcare: 42% higher for health care services;
• State and local taxes: 14% higher;
• Childcare: 34% higher;
• Electricity: 48% higher;
• Car Insurance: 22% higher.
It’s heart wrenching to pull up stakes and leave family but many are doing just that out of necessity, especially seniors on fixed incomes. And Newsom and company deceptively whistle the tune that California is wonderfully managed.
* * * * *
Politics has never been a clean business so it comes as no surprise that a controversy has brewed in the race for the District 4 Senate seat occupied by state Senator Marie Alvarado-Gil. Running against Alvarado-Gil are two Republicans – former Hughson Mayor and Livermore Police Chief Jeramy Young and Alexandra Duarte, the wife of former Congressman John Duarte who announced in August. Also running is Democrat Jaron Brandon, a Tuolumne County supervisor.
Alvarado-Gil has accused the Duarte camp of “spying” on her, specifically that Duarte campaign manager Eric Sheetz surreptitiously aimed his cell phone camera at hers to capture images as she was texting someone. Others watched it happen. Photographic evidence was shown to the Bee which shows Sheetz holding his phone in the crook of his arm, aimed right in the senator’s direction. The senator has cried foul and Sheetz isn’t commenting.
Her political consultant, Duane Dichiara of Axiom, dismissed her charge as silly. Of course he would; just as defense attorneys try to minimize their defendant’s dirty deeds. He told the Bee that Alvarado-Gil is trying to deflect from switching from a Democrat into a Republican, (which to me was a heroic action). He couldn’t resist making a reference to accusations of sexual impropriety.
Mark Twain once said that “A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.” We all know about the Chad Condit allegations and there’s a lot of his claims that make no sense. The truth is, we’re never going to know the truth in this “he said, she said” scenario.
Is it plausible that a campaign manager would stoop low and engage in dirty tricks? Come on, Watergate taught us that not even a president is above that.
* * * * *
Newsom thinks he’s doing such a superb job but now the state is facing an $18 BILLION budget shortfall! This is not Trump’s fault; it’s the fault of the state Legislature and the Golden Boy who spend frivolously and dangerously.
You won’t hear the media explain it correctly. The Republicans weren’t out to starve anybody by withholding SNAP benefits. They wanted to hold states accountable in making sure benefits get to the right people – citizens who qualify.
Here’s how it works. The U.S. pays the states to administer the welfare programs according to federal guidelines. Illegal residents and others who ineligible aren’t supposed to get the benefits but California does it anyway. So Trump rightly said California must pay, not the U.S. taxpayers. That’s only right.
Republicans also want to return to the requirements that if you receive EBT cards and other benefits that you look for work or volunteer somewhere! It was a requirement before COVID. It’s not that much to ask of someone receiving benefits at taxpayers’ sacrifice.
So when you hear Newsom bellyache that bad Orange Man is starving the poor, see through the crap.
* * * * *
Corruption runs rampant with our elected officials. Even a former Newsom aide is now getting prosecuted for fraud.
Rep. Eric Swalwell, who now wants to be governor, is being investigated by the Justice Department for mortgage fraud related to his Washington, D.C., home. The director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency sent a letter to the Justice Department asking for the investigation.
Swalwell is accused of making false and misleading statements to obtain favorable mortgage terms on his $1.2 million home in Washington D.C.
Swalwell is the fourth Democratic official to face mortgage fraud allegations in recent months. Other Democrats referred to the Justice Department this year for alleged mortgage fraud are Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook; Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif.; and New York Attorney General Letitia James.
Florida congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick is accused of funneling $5 million in FEMA money into her 2021 election campaign! How? Through a healthcare company, Trinity Healthcare Services, operated by her and her brother, Edwin Cherfilus.
The company had won a FEMA contract to register people for COVID vaccines, but in July 2021 it received an overpayment of $5 million in federal funds, according to the justice department.
The siblings allegedly tried to disguise the money’s source by routing it through several accounts and eventually used a large portion on her congressional campaign.
Recently Dana Williamson, Newsom’s former chief of staff, is accused of helping in a scheme to steal campaign money from former federal Health Secretary Xavier Becerra, filling fraudulent tax forms for personal expenses and making false statements to law enforcement. Sean McCluskie, who served as chief of staff to Becerra, has already pled guilty.
The indictment includes 23 charges of conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud, bank fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to defraud the U.S, government and obstruct justice, subscribing to false tax returns, and making false statements.
In March federal prosecutors filed criminal charges against Cortney Merritts, husband of former Missouri Congresswoman Cori Bush, alleging he defrauded pandemic-era relief programs.
Merritts allegedly lied on applications and forged documents to receive a bigger loan from COVID relief programs. When one loan was rejected because it was nearly identical to a previous application he submitted, he allegedly applied on behalf of a different business that he claimed he started in 2020.
Federal prosecutors say he received a loan for $20,832 that was forgiven by the government.
* * * * *
Now that the Democrats have rigged the elections to destroy Republicans’ chances of holding office by further gerrymander districts in their favor (Prop. 50), look for nothing to change with the housing crisis. That’s the cost of “getting” Trump.
Democrat candidates are given millions in campaign funds from environmental groups like the Sierra Club to pass laws that make home building prohibitively expensive. So that’s why nothing is ever done to soften or even repeal CEQA.
More Democrats in office = housing crisis continues. Like I said, congratulations for playing stupid games and winning stupid prizes.
* * * * *
Time flies.
I started this job in September 1987 so that’s over 38 years. For perspective, Reagan was president.
It’s hard to say exactly how many editions of the Ceres Courier I churned out. You might simply multiply 52 times 38 and come up with 1,976; but for a period of about 8-10 years we were publishing two editions a week (Wednesdays and Fridays) so add between another 416 or 520 and you come up with approximately 2,496.
No wonder at times I feel a slight case of burnout.
At times I am presented clippings of stories and photos of which I have no memory of writing or photos snapped. So when I met up with Terra Fahey in writing my story about the new Pawsome Cuts grooming parlor, she showed me a yellowing clipping of a photo of her grandmother, then Mayor Barbara Hinton, looking into the eyes of the granddaughter, Terra. My name was on the byline.
I don’t remember taking the photo but I do recall the time it may have been taken – the time I visited her husband Jack Hinton to discuss his golf memorabilia collection. Terra apparently was being babysat by her grandparents at the house at the time.
Barbara became mayor in 1993 and served until 1997.
Time has a way of fading memories but then I bet most of you who had jobs in the early 1990s can’t remember much about a single task from a specific day.
It was like the time I was flipping through old pages of the Courier and stumbled upon a front page photo of a Ceres police officer holding a radar gun on Whitmore Avenue. I recognized the face – future Sheriff Adam Christiansen – but had no recollection that I took the photo.
So yeah, I’ve been around a while. Some like Javier Lopez sycophant Nick Maynard may consider me a “curmudgeonly chronicler” because he doesn’t like my criticisms of a self-styled coach wannabe-politician, but you I have an institutional knowledge that is unparalleled.
* * * * *
Shirley Rogers lit up like a Christmas tree when she saw me at the Community Center last week at the food distribution.
Shirley has just been through some serious heart surgeries – no easy ordeal for some approaching 90. She was down for weeks and I could see that she was fully appreciating being back in the community again.
She made her way to me and threw an arm around me for a hug. We haven’t always seen eye-to-eye as we are both very opinionated and those opinions have collided. But she’s a character. She can get away with saying things at council meetings because of her cantankerousness that has caused me on more than one occasion to chuckle and lose track of the discussion at hand. Don’t think she hasn’t taken aim at me from time to time. I think at one time she said she had a love-hate relationship with me.
She doesn’t care if people think she’s a you-know-what. But that’s part of the reason why she is also a loveable character.
She’s a tough cookie. She hasn’t gone around advertising it but her brother was none other than Sonny Barger, the notorious founding member of the Oakland, California charter of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club. Barger was present –but not physically involved – during the various altercations at the 1969 Rolling Stones concert at the Altamont Speedway, one which resulted in the death of Meredith Hunter.
I saw a vulnerability and new appreciation for life in Shirley’s eyes last week which was comforting. Most people just give up as time closes in but I encouraged Shirley to do her best to shoot for 100.
And she’s so ornery she just may pull it off.
* * * * *
My favorite meme of the week: “President Trump pardons turkey for Thanksgiving. Ninth Circuit Court overrules him.”
I have no doubts some liberal judge would take up the case purely out of hatred for the man.
* * * * *
The American Farm Bureau Federation estimates that the price of a Thanksgiving dinner is down 5% from last year, and well below the 2022 record-high price under Biden. Thankful for that!
* * * * *
This portion of the column originally ran on Nov. 25, 2009 and being Thanksgiving is this week it was a good time to dust it off and present it again.
Derek McGinnis had his left leg blown off in Iraq when an improvised explosive device tore a hole in the Humvee in which he was riding. He also lost an eye in the attack and sustained head trauma.
He woke up not knowing what happened; only that he was racked with pain and missing body parts. As the gravity of his physical situation settled in, Derek grew despondent. He was no longer than physical specimen that he was before arriving in Fallujah. He was thrust into a deep depression, and once suggested that his wife leave him as he was “no good” anymore. With the prospects of many years of recovery and rehabilitation ahead – hard work – Derek was certain that life was over.
But he’s around today as a restored human being. I know because I shook his hand on Sunday.
Why the turn around? Why the changed man? When Derek learned that his wife was pregnant, he resolved that he would have something for which to live. It wasn’t easy – and still isn’t – but today Derek McGinnis can run, surf and swim with the help of a prosthetic leg. He has a renewed faith in the God who saved him.
His life is characterized by “thanksliving,” or the daily practice of counting blessings, not recounting the curses.
McGinnis relates a poignant moment of his life in his book, “Exit Wounds.” Upon his release from an East Coast military hospital, one of the first things Derek wanted to do was visit a Starbucks as a civilian. As he ordered his drink, thankful that he was alive and home in the greatest nation on earth, he listened to a customer’s pathetic whine about the cream that was floating atop her drink. Apparently she went on and on, unaware that the veteran listening to her and been to hell and back. Derek believes that many Americans are like her – spoiled by pleasures with no real gratitude or thankfulness as to what we have been blessed.
I am afraid that I can be like that, too. But I’m trying to be among those who have an attitude of gratitude because I am sure that’s the key to being happy.
Thanksgiving is tomorrow and many are in circumstances that not ideal. Millions are without jobs and many have lost their homes. Indeed foreclosures continue to hit Ceres hard. The future of the economy and the mismanagement of the state and country is enough to make life seem especially gloomy.
But if we view our circumstances differently, it would change our outlook. Derek McGinnis once was asking God why him. Of all the people on the battlefield, why did the bomb hit his truck and tear into his flesh? But the Derek McGinnis I saw this week had a change perspective. He now asks God, “Why have you chosen to bless me in this way?” Today he is helping other servicemen and their families to deal with injury and death. And he feels privileged to do so.
One sentence that he said has stuck with me: “I am so blessed to be vertical.” We should all be so ready and able to echo his sentiments of thankfulness. We are living!
Sure, he’s missing a leg. But he’s happy that he can bound around on an artificial leg. At least he can get on a surfboard and feel the sting of the ocean spray in his face. One eye doesn’t work. At least he has a good eye to see the faces of his wife and children.
It takes work to be so genuinely grateful, especially when what we’ve possessed has been stripped from us.
After a late Monday night of work at the Courier and an early rise for a day of production, I groaned to my wife that it seemed like I was working more and more for less and less. She stopped me and reminded me that at least I have a job to go to. I quickly retreated down the hall, ashamed that I allowed complaining to creep in so quickly.
Each Christmas I am comforted by a song when I view “White Christmas,” in which Bing Crosby croons out the words to “Counting My Blessings.” Among them are, “When I’m worried and I can’t sleep, I count my blessings instead of sheep, and I fall asleep counting my blessings. When my bankroll is getting small, I think of when I had none at all ... and I fall asleep counting my blessings.”
Being the spoiled Starbucks complainer is a very becoming state of being. May we all make it our goal to thank God for what we have and live in a perpetual state of “thanksliving.”
This column is the opinion of Jeff Benziger, and does not necessarily represent the opinion of The Ceres Courier or 209 Multimedia Corporation. How do you feel about this? Let Jeff know at jeffb@cerescourier.com
