From the Orange County Register:
They're revolting. Families with children, bikers, seniors, pirates - by the thousands descended on a Fullerton bar Saturday to join talk show hosts John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou of KFI in protesting tax increases recently approved in Sacramento.
Police estimated that some 8,000 people came to the Slidebar Café in downtown Fullerton to listen to The John &Ken Show.
"I expected a lot and it was way more than I expected," said co-host John Kobylt.
The talk show hosts put forward an ambitious goal for their Tax Revolt 2009 live broadcast that ran for more than three hours.
"The purpose is to vote down Prop 1A on May 19 because it's a two-year tax extension," said Kobylt. "The purpose is to tell people how their Republican legislators lie about their votes. The purpose is to get support to recall Schwarzennegger, (Assemblyman) Anthony Adams, (Assemblyman) Jeff Miller, and everybody else."
Some wore buttons. One man brought a bloody effigy head of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and waved it from the end of a pike, while the crowd joined their hosts in a chant of "Repeal, recall, revolt."
I'm all for a tax revolt. Revolution!
A bloody Schwarzenegger head on the end of a pike? Chanting "Heads on sticks"?
I don't like the sound of that, even metaphorically speaking. It's over the top. It seems like something the loony Left would do.
2 comments:
Ordinarily I'd agree that even metaphorically 'Heads on a stick!' would be over the top.
But these are not ordinary times and what the Republican state legislators did in this case warranted every bit of anger that was directed at them. I guess you had to be there, but it was not over the top - though you surely noticed not everyone cared to participate in the chant.
The Republicans in Sacramento secretly plotted to raise taxes after specifically pledging not to - many of them going on John & Ken's radio show in recent months saying how fervently they were opposed to tax increases, how counterproductive they were, how they took food off the table.
John and Ken suspected as much even before a freshman Republican state assemblyman, Anthony Adams, admitted on National Public Radio that the Republicans were "100% behind him" and that they all agreed with the tax raise but put up only the minimum 3 votes needed so as not to expose the others to voters' wrath.
Unfortunately for Adams, someone taped it and sent the tape to John & Ken, who promptly put it on their website for all to hear for themselves. Thus an effort is underway to recall Adams and a couple of others. It's what made them candidates for "heads on a stick." John and Ken have 4 or 5 other "smoking guns" on their website as well.
Republican legislators also tried to make it appear they didn't support Proposition 1A - billed as a spending cap when in reality it would extend the tax increase two additional years. And the Republicans gave something like half a million dollars for Arnold's "Dream fund" - to push for the passage of prop 1A. From donations made by unsuspecting Republicans!
As John and Ken have repeatedly said, at least the Democrats are honest in that they tell you they intend to raise taxes. The Republicans are worse because they did what they promised they would never do - from Governor Schwarzenegger on down. If Repubicans are going to be like Democrats, why do we need them at all? Thus the chant, "Recall them all."
California already had the highest taxes and highest sales tax in the nation before this latest $50 billion tax increase, not to mention the misleadingly-titled proposition coming up in May that will extend the tax increase another two years. As someone said, not only is the camel's back broken, but so are all its legs. And it's the Republicans we have to thank for that.
I do understand the anger.
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