Twenty years after the reunification of Germany, it’s easier to find a job in the former communist east than in California.

The following chart compares the unemployment rate in the six eastern German states with California and Germany as a whole. It shows the eastern rate dropped in September to the lowest since unification on Oct. 3, 1990, as car manufacturers and computer-chip plants replaced state-run industries and cooperative farms. While higher than Germany and in the U.S. overall, the rate in the east now beats California, where workers are being shed amid a housing bust and budget crisis.

“Former communist eastern Germany is outpacing the Golden State,” Carsten Brzeski, an economist at ING Group NV in Brussels, said in an interview. “And there’s a fair chance this development will continue. It illustrates the flexibility of the German labor market.”

Full article at Bloomberg HERE.

Newt Gingrich spells it out: The Obama-Pelosi regime’s job killing policies have made them the “Party of Food Stamps”, and therefore the Republicans have the chance to become the “Party of Paychecks” this November. Via Breitbart TV and GatewayPundit:

With just 4 weeks remaining until Americans make their voices heard, Democratic leaders are hoping you forget about the broken promises and failed policies of the last 18 months. The RGA has released the following Remember November ad as part of their campaign to hold Democrats accountable for their record.

The Tea Party movement has reawakened a nation's desire for constitutional values, and formed a movement to revolt against big government and big taxes — standing against big-government control of large chunks of the economy, such as energy and health care.

Now, as the WSJ reports, around the country, tea-party groups are building increasingly sophisticated political organizations and overcoming early bickering to push legislative platforms, elect their own delegates and shake up statehouses.

As Neil King Jr notes in the article, there is a professionalization of sorts afoot in the grass-roots movement.

There is no doubt that the grass-roots nature of the Tea Party movement has been one of the keys to it's enduring success. As the movement continues to grow and their influence makes itself felt in elections across the nation, a certain level of increased sophistication was to be expected.

In the end, as long as the movement continues to sustain a message of limited government, constitutionalism and a return to fiscal sanity it will endure.

With a "framework" budget agreement expected to pass sometime on Thursday, Reason.tv looks at why this long fight over a bloated budget may turn out to be good news for California's future.

Exit Note: Lawmakers briefed on the agreement say it proposes more than $7 billion in spending cuts, some $3 billion in internal borrowing from state funds, more than $1 billion from the sale of state buildings and more than $1 billion in revenue by delaying a corporate tax break. However, the accord also relies on $5 billion in federal money, $10 billion in Wall Street loans, and some pretty big assumptions.

Gone are the days of Woodsy Owl and Iron Eyes Cody. Welcome to the new world of Environmental PSAs where non-believers are not only shunned, they are "detonated" on the spot.

Late last week, a British climate group released "No Pressure" a short-film aimed at rounding up new recruits to its “10:10″ movement, in which people, schools, companies and other participants pledge to cut their greenhouse gas emissions 10 percent in a year.

In each of the graphic scenes, committed environmental campaigners use a detonator to blow up recalcitrant members of the public, including two middle schoolers named Phillip and Tracy.

Why? For the heinous crime of not agreeing to cut their carbon emissions.

The video continues in the same vein, as climate skeptics are liquidated and their bodies horribly ripped apart for having the temerity to hold a different viewpoint. (DESTROY THE NON-BELIEVERS!). The video makes last year’s “polar bears falling from the sky” clip look like an episode of Dora the Explorer.

We encourage you to judge the film for yourself. However be forewarned... “Do NOT watch this video if you wish to avoid portrayals of extreme violence, child murders, and terrorism — all in the name of environmentalism.”

Amidst massive controversy, distribution plans for UK cinemas have now been scrapped.

In the end, the 10:10 organizers posted an unbelievably flimsy apology, expressly allowing folks to copy and distribute the film on YouTube even as they (meaninglessly) pulled it from their home page. They closed with this inexcusably flacid “wink, wink” line:

At 10:10 we’re all about trying new and creative ways of getting people to take action on climate change. Unfortunately in this instance we missed the mark. Oh well, we live and learn. Onwards and upwards….

“What were they thinking? They weren’t, because this is going to have the exact opposite effect they intended it to have. I don’t have words to describe my disgust with the video,” wrote prominent climate change skeptic Anthony Watts.

While the video’s message may have backfired, many point out that it gives a scary glimpse into the mind of today’s global warming alarmists. With its “No Pressure” campaign, writes the UK’s Telegraph, “the environmental movement has revealed the snarling, wicked, homicidal misanthropy beneath its cloak of gentle, bunny-hugging righteousness.”

Thomas Fuller nails it when he writes, “This is hate speech, pure and simple. It legitimizes almost any action against or characterization of those who do not agree with the most hysterical version of Catastrophic and Cataclysmic Climate Change–shoot ‘em all and let God sort ‘em out."

In 2008, candidate Obama sailed into office on a tide of change carrying Congressional and Senatorial candidates in on his broad coat-tails. His appeal lay not just in his ample oratorical skills but in his promise to change government as we know it.

Now, two years later, it turns out Americans are waking up to the fact that this isn't the change for which they had hoped.

There is no longer any doubt that the midterm election will be a referendum on President Obama and his policies. His dizzying descent from the stratosphere of popularity to the kind of middling job approval associated with lesser talents will likely cost Democrats their majority in the House as well as effective control of the Senate.

Foxnews reports:
...41 percent will use their vote this year to express opposition to Obama's policies, compared to 34 percent who describe their vote as expressing support. The message is even clearer among the swing group of independent voters: by an 11 percentage-point margin, independents will cast their ballot to express opposition (41 percent) rather than support (30 percent) for Obama.

That's not surprising given the lack of support for some of the administration's policies. More voters favor rather than oppose repealing the new health care law (46-42 percent). That includes 24 percent of Democrats and 44 percent of independents who want the law repealed.

And by a wide 54-36 percent margin, voters favor legislation stopping the government from spending the hundreds of billions of dollars of unspent stimulus money.

While 57 percent say the Tea Party will not be a factor in their vote for Congress, fully 70 percent of voters support the "main issues the Tea Party has raised" -- calling for lower taxes, less government spending and less government regulation. That includes 49 percent of Democrats.

Even President Obama is admitting the Democrats could be in serious trouble this November. Earlier this month, Hannity discussed the issue of whether or not 2010 would be the year of the Obama referendum:

November will indeed prove to be a massive referendum on President Obama and his policies. If the president doesn’t get the message soon, he will in November.

Redevelopment agencies were authorized by the California state legislature in 1945 to combat urban blight “in the interest of the health, safety, and general welfare of the people… and of the state."

At its best, redevelopment has been touted as an effective tool allowing communities to address issues of physical deterioration, revitalize downtrodden business climates, and add to California's affordable housing stock.

Indeed, places such as Pasadena's Old Town, Stockton's water front plaza and San Diego's Gaslamp Quarter have rightfully been touted as models of success.

Yet those success stories are often overshadowed by similar and numerous tales marked with corruption, failure, big government intimidation and fraud.

Often referred to as the “unknown layer of government” redevelopment consumes approximately 10 percent of all property taxes statewide in California, diverting $5 BILLION from counties, cities, special districts, and school districts.

Redevelopment also carries the threat of eminent domain empowering governments to confiscate, or take, private property as long as it is for a so-called “public use.”

And now, as California continues to face a $20 billion budget shortfall, watchful eyes are reporting that a growing problem is that many redevelopment agencies beset by problems, and failing to comply with state law have cost taxpayers millions.

In reviewing California redevelopment agencies, the LA Times found widespread instances of corruption, questionable spending and poor accountability at such agencies.

For Californians concerned about the appropriate use (or abuse) of their tax dollars, and an ever encroaching government, the Times piece is a must read.

For more than 50 years, redevelopment agencies have been major features on California’s fiscal landscape. January 1, 2009 was the time limit for the oldest redevelopment project areas to stop functioning. Yet as the time limits for agencies draw near, many are seeking new life-lines to continue working into the future.

As these agencies approach state and local officials requesting even longer time lines to complete projects, taxpayers should take close inventory of the redevelopment agencies operating in their communities.

And as shown in the following clip from Reason.tv host Drew Carey shows that there are viable alternatives to redevelopment for communities.