Tag: marty richman

Hey, I’m sorry I missed you at the budget hearings. The county’s hearings were held during the day and except for those with an immediate financial interest, like keeping their jobs, the meetings were sparsely attended. It’s certainly understandable. After all people are working – well, a few people are working – and others have more important things to do. Naturally, all those whose jobs or departments were under the layoff gun were there to defend their interests and/or themselves and some family members came by too. The union rep was there to say his piece as well, as was the small contingent of head-nodding regulars in the Peanut Gallery (I consider myself a member). Up and down means yes, side-to-side means no.

Any short list of great sports calls must include Howard Cosell’s “Down goes Frazier!” repeated three times when challenger George Foreman put Joe Frazier on the mat during the first round of their championship fight in January, 1973. Frazier got up but Foreman eventually won by TKO after knocking him down five more times. The point is that heavy blows can have a cumulative effect and California just took one on the chin - you could feel it stagger and fall.

My wife and I have two children in their 40s, four grandchildren and one great-grandchild. Two of the grand children are in their 20s and two are just entering primary school; our great-grandchild is just a toddler and I wonder what the future holds in store for the all of them and their families – what will the world will be like in 35 or 70 years?

The premiere of the podcast Talking San Benito County features host Marty Richman interviewing the interim police chief, David Westrick. The new police chief discusses his past in law enforcement and looks ahead to the future of the local force.

Now that you’ve paid your state income and property taxes – at least let’s hope so – take this eight question quiz on California’s budget, state and local taxes. The answers will appear on the Hollister Free Lance website shortly and in Free Lance next week.

Five seconds after the first prehistoric human expressed the notion of being in charge they looked around, picked out the best place to sleep, and reserved it for themselves; thus was born the pecking order. The next morning someone offered “the leader” an extra handful of food for the second best place to sleep; thus was born nest feathering. We’ve been stuck with the concepts of both privilege and corruption ever since.  

Republicans should embrace the Buffett tax increase proposal – then use it to show how the administration has spent the nation into an abyss of debt that will cripple us for decades.

San Benito County’s “Other Post-Employment Benefit Program” – or OPEB, pronounced oh-peb – is a perfect example of a generous and expensive program that was a lot easier to get into than it will be to escape.

Guerrilla theater dates from the mid-1960s. According to Michael William Doyle, it was performances by “Marxian cadre” based on New Left politics and a manifesto from Che Guevara – in other words, it was staged political propaganda. I like the term so much I’ve expanded my personal definition to include all forms of staged political propaganda regardless of philosophy.

According to the San Benito County Crop Report, the 2009 gross value  of the county’s five crop and livestock categories was $243.3  million. That’s impressive. Agriculture in all its forms and related  jobs is a vital local industry. However, the biggest “business” of  San Benito County residents is commuting – people getting into a car,  bus or train and going to work elsewhere so they can make a lot more  money.