Stimulated

California's new budget has been passed. The Democrats got enough Republicans to sell out and now we have double the vehicle license fee, a higher income tax and a higher sales tax.

Bravo California on choosing one of the worst economic climates in my lifetime to raise taxes. That should fix everything.

Growing up in California, there has always been some emergency: earthquakes, not enough police, not enough education, that has caused the government, in its infinite wisdom, to raise taxes yet again. It's all horsepoop.

It only goes one way. More rules, more regulations, more taxes. Where is the tipping point? When is it too much? Why don't I ever remember California taxes going down?

I don't have these answers and not paying any taxes gets me in jail. I've had enough though. I'm buying whatever I can over the internet to minimize sales tax (I don't care if it costs me more to ship a product, Fed Ex is more deserving of my money). Additionally, I've recently changed my business structure as to pay a negligible amount of income tax. From now on, I'm never paying California a cent more than I have to. Good luck, California, finding some other sucker to pay your tithe.

Reunion Tour

Perhaps in parallel honor of the Murder City Devils reunion show that I will be attending tonight, I've decided to resurrect Grokwire from its liberal tomb.

There are a lot of new happenings to address. We've seen a dramatic election season come to a rather lackluser close. I've also been getting pretty into Los Tucanes de Tijuana, as cheesy as they are. Perhaps its just because I'm exceedingly frustrated these days and just want to unload 30-some-odd rounds.

We've also seen bailout after bailout. Where's my bailout, you ask? Oh, its comin', alright. It's coming in the form of more draconian government of the individual's life. So, suddenly, I have well-connected heavy industry representatives deciding what it is that I eat, smoke and drive.

No one has been reading the bailout bills that have been careening through the legislatures, aside from a few try-hard, low-level poli-sci interns. They keep passing. They're tens of thousands of pages in length, and their full of P.O.R.K. Ay, que rica es esta barbacoa!

Before I write a Kerouac novel in my blog, I'll compartmentalize this entry and save some ideas for tomorrow. In the meantime, here's a handy calculator for your share of the bill you're fronting for our corporatist amigos. In case you didn't already know, there's a difference between "capitalist" and "corporatist." I emphasize that because I feel like me and B Grok are the only ones that are aware of the rather glaring distinction.