From America to Zimbabwe, the coming anarchy

[Seahorse]

Sacramento, California Sheriff's office laying off 300 deputies bc of budget deficits.

http://cbs13.com/local/Sac.Sheriffs.Department.2.1033600.html

It's hard to enforce laws without policemen. Now, 300 more families will struggle to pay housepayments and other bills. Now, everyone that thinks the downturn doesn't affect them, well, this is how it starts to affect you. When crime rises and you call the police and they either don't show up or take way too long to get there.

Read this last quote from the Sheriff carefully about what to do:

Sheriff McGinness expressed his concern about his staff by closing the email by saying, " As we work through this challenging period, I urge you to take care of yourselves and your families and watch out for one another. I will update you as reliable information becomes available."

Take care of yourselves and families? Should we buy guns? Concealed carry?

[Seahorse]

Sacramento laying off 300 deputies, and now a county in Alabama cutting services. These are just the beginning.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=awnY4WwTlTlA&refer=worldwide

[Seahorse]

Collapse of California is a harbinger of things to come.

http://reason.com/archives/2009/06/03/california-harbinger-of-fiscal

[Seahorse]

Some counties in Michigan returning roads to gravel rather than re-paving them.

http://www.wwmt.com/articles/roads-1363526-mich-counties.html

[Seahorse]

States shutting down in budget crisis.

http://articles.latimes.com/2009/jun/30/nation/na-shutdown30

California prepares to issue IOUs.

http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/jun2009/db20090629_258094.htm

[Seahorse]

Interesting paragraph in a WSJ article about why politicians like Palin are not the caliber republicans or any of us need for the future.

Here's why all this matters. The world is a dangerous place. It has never been more so, or more complicated, more straining of the reasoning powers of those with actual genius and true judgment. This is a time for conservative leaders who know how to think.

Here are a few examples of what we may face in the next 10 years: a profound and prolonged American crash, with the admission of bankruptcy and the spread of deep social unrest; one or more American cities getting hit with weapons of mass destruction from an unknown source; faint glimmers of actual secessionist movements as Americans for various reasons and in various areas decide the burdens and assumptions of the federal government are no longer attractive or legitimate.

The era we face, that is soon upon us, will require a great deal from our leaders. They had better be sturdy. They will have to be gifted. There will be many who cannot, and should not, make the cut. Now is the time to look for those who can. And so the Republican Party should get serious, as serious as the age, because that is what a grown-up, responsible party—a party that deserves to lead—would do.

It's not a time to be frivolous, or to feel the temptation of resentment, or the temptation of thinking next year will be more or less like last year, and the assumptions of our childhoods will more or less reign in our future. It won't be that way.

We are going to need the best.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124716984620819351.html

[Seahorse]

Budget cuts force LA to close courtrooms.

http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202432268175&Los_Angeles_to_Close__Courtrooms

[Seahorse]

State of Arizona considering selling it's capitol building to balance its budget.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/election/azelections/articles/2009/07/29/20090729assets0729.html

[Seahorse]

City of Chicago to close Monday due to budget problems.

http://thenexteconomy.blogspot.com/2009/08/crisis-city-of-chicago-will-be-closed.html

[Seahorse]

Philadelphia prepares "doomsday budget" of budget cuts.

http://cbs3.com/topstories/philadelphia.budget.mayor.2.1135651.html

[Seahorse]

Fastest dying US cities hold talks.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125011106498326993.html

[Seahorse]

State of Rhode Island planning on shutting down for 12 days due to budget issues.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20090825/D9A9IKMG1.html

[Seahorse]

Community of 700 living in "Lost Vegas" flood tunnels.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/features/2651937/The-people-living-in-drains-below-Las-Vegas.html

[Seahorse]

The "golden state"?

Outside the Forum in Inglewood, near downtown Los Angeles, California has already failed. The scene is reminiscent of the fallout from Hurricane Katrina, as crowds of impoverished citizens stand or lie aimlessly on the hot tarmac of the centre's car park. It is 10am, and most have already been here for hours. They have come for free healthcare: a travelling medical and dental clinic has set up shop in the Forum (which usually hosts rock concerts) and thousands of the poor, the uninsured and the down-on-their-luck have driven for miles to be here.

The queue began forming at 1am. By 4am, the 1,500 spaces were already full and people were being turned away. On the floor of the Forum, root-canal surgeries are taking place. People are ferried in on cushions, hauled out of decrepit cars. Sitting propped up against a lamp post, waiting for her number to be called, is Debbie Tuua, 33. It is her birthday, but she has taken a day off work to bring her elderly parents to the Forum, and they have driven through the night to get here. They wait in a car as the heat of the day begins to rise. "It is awful for them, but what choice do we have?" Tuua says. "I have no other way to get care to them."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/oct/04/california-failing-state-debt

[Seahorse]

Unclaimed dead piling up in Detroit morgues with no funds to bury them.

http://money.cnn.com/2009/10/01/news/economy/_morgue/index.htm