California Is Still Fucked

California Is Still Fucked

Well, we finally did it. We finally got a budget worked out. Yup, that's right. A budget plan has been agreed for California.

Legislators in California have agreed a plan which will close the state's $26bn budget deficit - while making severe cuts in public programmes.

Public services hit

"There isn't a whole lot of good news in this budget," said Darrell Steinberg, the president of the state senate and a Democrat.

Public schools, colleges and universities will lose $9bn in funding under the plan, while the state’s prisons department would have $1bn removed from its budget.

Cities and counties will lose about $4bn in funding, while Medi-Cal, the state's health programme for the poor, will be cut by $1.3bn.

Under the plan, state employees would have to take three days off work each month up to, and including, June 2010 – amounting to a pay cut of about 14 per cent.

[...]

When I think about good ideas, taking money away from schools isn't one of them. As if the 25% high school drop out rate wasn't high enough. Why they would cut more money for education than prisons? Besides it being the prison guarts' union thinking ahead. I mean, it sure as hell takes a lot of money to keep non-whites locked up, right?

It's also a rock and a hard place with the prison system. I hear they're going to reduce sentences and release inmates. More than likely it'll be the murderers and rapists. Gotta have room for black people caught with an ounce of weed in those jails, right? And if they don't reduce sentences then our already third-world-level prisons are going to get a whole lot worse.

Its weird really. If you took all the money spent on killing and prisons or even 50% and put it into social programs and sustainable job creation you'd probably have a more stable economy. The rich people would be slightly less rich though.

But hey, we probably don't need roads either, right? Why don't we just take some of the money away from that. Potholes and screwed up roads keep you awake when you're drunk driving at night.

Maybe if we can convince voters to raise taxes in order to shore up the budget we can get ourselves corrected..... ha, yeah. Sorry about that wishful thinking. The California Republican Party has one position and one position only: NO NEW TAXES! This whole budget is a Republican budget. They passed it because the republican minority obstructed all the democratic majority's proposals, and since the Democrats don't want to incinerate the government they had to fold. You have to love that stupid 2/3rd majority vote shit. Republicans got everything they wanted in this "budget deal".

Zero new taxes. Zero taxes raised.
Cuts to the state employees (fuck union workers)
Cuts to education (fuck teachers unions)
Cuts to the state parks system (fuck the environment)
Lift on oil drilling ban off the socal coast (fuck the environment)

CA Dems are weaker than their DC cousins and it's fucking laughable at how bad California is getting. Then again, don't think this is only us. Since our governor is an actor, consider this a teaser of what the federal government will be facing in a few years. The US governments are finally getting drowned in bathtubs and really, all you can do is sit there and watch the destruction.

The again, we can always take the alternative suggestion in correcting this:
legalize it
tax it
smoke it

What Can You Buy, Fly Boy?

What Can You Buy, Fly Boy?

I'm a big Hal Jordan fan. I love me some Green Lantern. In saying that I should be some pilot nut, right? I guess. I drove by Edwards Air Base not to long ago on a night drive. It's been a while since I had one of those. Either way, It was a vast desert and I don't mean something with a lot of ice cream and some chocolate cream on top, that's a dessert.

A couple of weeks back an F-22 crashes near Edwards Base

WASHINGTON (CNN) — An Air Force F-22A fighter jet crashed Wednesday near Edwards Air Force Base in California, Air Force officials said.

The single-seater crashed about 10:30 a.m. (1:30 p.m. ET) for unknown reasons, the officials said.

The status of the pilot was unknown.

The fighter was on a test mission when it crashed about 35 miles northeast of Edwards AFB, where it was stationed, the Air Force said in a news release.

At $150 million apiece, the F-22A is the most expensive Air Force jet.

So they crashed a $150 million plane turning it into a $150 bon fire. That's a lot of money to burn up. Makes you wonder how much money from these planes ended up as salaries or bonuses for the executives of the makers



And what do you get for that $150 price tag? Well, you gt a lemon. That's what. This is the new plane, first one of its kind to crash like this. But perhaps it was doomed to fail from the get go considering they can't even fly in a war zone.

This F22 is the one that can't work in a war zone because of the interference from other units. Basically cell phones and microwaves as well as TV broadcast fuck its stealth and avionics packages up. Those radars on those warships? Yeah, those fuck it up as well. Basically, there's so much electronic shit going on in a modern theatre of war, on every usable frequency of the EM spectrum, that the F-22's sensitive gear can't really operate properly

In the attempt to go all stealth like they single out the jammers, but all that those are really doing are blocking nearby signals from cellphones or whatever by flooding particular frequencies. so, all you really need to do to foil a F-22 is create a ton of EM noise, which is pretty much a given in any warzone.


How much money is it going to cost to make
this a government dream come true.

So why even keep producing these things? Because they're bad ass, of course. Anything Michael Bay likes must always get military funding. The F-22 made its major Hollywood debut in the 2007 film Transformers as the form taken by the Decepticon character Starscream in addition to numerous USAF fighters that engaged during the initial and climactic battles. The movie crew was allowed to film actual Raptors in flight, unlike previous computer-generated appearances, because of the military's support of director Michael Bay. The Raptors were filmed at Edwards Air Force Base.

So it comes full circle. Thank you Michael Bay for keeping this stupid thing floating around. I wonder how long till the Republicans blame this on Obama's F-22 funding cut? Maybe the pilot is only a few crashes and one POW stint away from a run for presidency. That huge price tag has to include a lot of cash that goes to military equipment that gets accidentally destroyed, breaks or simply doesn't work to the standards of the air force.



I love military spending. Fuck schools and hospitals, research and social development. Fuck all sorts of projects that would actually help people and the country as a whole, gimme my goddamn planes with awesome bombs and guns and shit on them, fuck yeah! Pew pew pew! Let's go start a war or two with some brown people so we can see this shit in action, don't worry only the poor farm kids will die. Yeah, I know. Defense contractors support local industry and the unions. I've seen the second season of the wire. I get that, I just don't get the whole point of spending so much on shit that'll go BOOM!

The pilot in this crash died because of this. So I'm guessing it's shaping up to be a really bad year to be in a plane. Though I do plan on getting one soon. This bird has to fly or he's going to go insane. But clearly not insane to spend $150 million on a plane. In reality the last several actually cost $500 million each. For the sake of argument let's just go with the $150 price tag. It brings up a good point on what we could actually buy for $150 million.



What exactly could we get for that price tag?

We could have paid all those AIG bonuses!

Get myself a Dishwasher. Yes. They could fix my dishwaster. They should really just fix my god damn dishwasher.

Fuck it, I know no one likes washing dishes, we could fix millions of dishwashers with this.

A nice supply of noodles for when the collapse comes.

College education for everyone in the country for a year



Healthcare for everyone in an entire low population state like Wyoming or ND.

20 or 30 properly budgeted schools

Paying down the fucking deficit.

One really awesome birthday gift for me because it's coming up. Hint hint!

One really bad ass plane... no wait, this isn't what was on my shopping list. FOCUS FOCUS!!



A ton of PS3's and Xbox 360's to the starving children of Africa

We could make 150 slum dogs millionaires.

150 million slum dogs dollaires. Which would actually make some difference.

Make some more kickin' rad comic book movies.

Well at least that money wasn't spent on arts education or public transit. Fuck those infrastructure additions

Good Bye To Hummers!

Good Bye To Hummers!

Today GM was suppose to make a decision on if the Hummer brand name lives on (through another company buying out a lemon) or dies and gets discontinued.

DETROIT -- General Motors is postponing a decision on the fate of its Hummer brand for a "few weeks" as it works to complete a sale.

On Feb. 17, former CEO Rick Wagoner said GM would decide Hummer's future by today. Clarke told dealers that GM would have a final announcement on Hummer "in the next few weeks rather than months." CEO Fritz Henderson reiterated that timetable in a press conference today.

What can I say and good riddance to the hummer-brand vehicle, though its mostly a symbolic death anyways since they're all just re-sheet-metaled Tahoes. Yeah, yeah. I know. "If you hate hummers you hate America." whatever. I hate them. They're too big, thus making you a terrible driver on the road. If the H2 was the most American car out there, then I'll gladly be seen driving my unsafe little eurobox.

Here's hoping that no one buys it and the Hummer brand becomes a huge symbol of failure like the Edsel, only the failure involved isn't incompetence but wastefulness and conspicuous consumption



Why rationalize ever buying a Hummer? Some housewives think it's better for safety...

With the Hummer, Dr. Rapaille said: ''People told me, 'I can protect my family. If someone bumps into me, they're dead.' People love this feeling.'' One female H2 buyer told him: ''I have three kids in the car with me and no one is going to look at me as a soccer mom.''

This is simply saying that you like your car because it can kill people. How about this idea, DON'T DRIVE LIKE A FUCKIN' MORON! If you want an actual tough vehicle with ground clearance and solid build, you get an ugly-ass H1 to take your kids to soccer practice. But if you want to be a horrible upper-middle-class turd with a status symbol that barely fits in one of your 4 garage stalls, you get an H2/H3. Honestly what about the H2/H3 doesn't scream "soccer mom" or "white collar scum"


TOO BIG TO FAIL

For that matter, they weren't that much safer than any other car anyway. Just because the Army uses them doesn't mean shit in terms of its safety record. They are used in wars and are suppose to be light cargo vehicles/troop transports, which they do as well as most other vehicles of that role.

They're not, however, supposed to be combat vehicles. Despite this, a fellow by the name of Rumsfeld seems to think they're adequate for that task and uses them anyway. A high school buddy of mine went into the army and said that it was a pain in the ass to park his Hummer. Every time he would have to park it he would rather put a wheel chock under the tire and an oil pan under the engine as this was easier than getting them to not pop out of park or leak oil.



They are pieces of garbage and are completely unreliable, high-maintenance and overly complex, perfect for the US military.

I guess it shouldn't come to any surprise that this piece of shit is finally going to be put out its misery. It's like saying that plaid suit sales plummet. No shit they would. Only morons would want to wear one of those... just like only morons drive hummers.

I had a friend who worked covering the detroit auto show for a taping said all the Hummer reps were assholes in brown leather jackets with punchable faces. I can believe it.



I still don't get the appeal of riding in a limo. Let alone a piece of shit Hummer limo. What the fuck is the point. I wont even get into a regular stretched limo. Not even for a wedding or funeral, to begin with. Unless I was really drunk and drugged up. Otherwise I would feel like a real asshole.

I'm not on My Super Sweet Sixteen, so I don't need that flash to feel the need that I'm important. I already know I'm not important. No need for that flash. I can't even imagine the gas milage of the limo version of this crap.



HAHAHAHAHAH FUCK YOU, HUMMER!

The connection to military power, jingoism and supporting American imperialism fascinates me. Thus it's doubly ironious that as US imperial might diminishes, Americans are hoping the Chinese will save their Hummers. Since that is what will need to happen if the Hummer has even a prayer to stay around.

They weren't even good for the whole off road purpose. Not like anyone who owns one ever took it off the pavement anyway. They offered a false sense of security. Like walking around with a gun. You feel like a big man then. Only to find out your gun has no bullets. That's when you get fucked. That's when I laugh my ass off at you.

Shit like this just makes me laugh

It should be titled America.avi

What with the Hummer on its deathbed it makes me hope that I get a hummer on my deathbed. It'll be a lot cooler than ever owning a gas guzzling piece of shit.

Whenever I see a Hummer I have been humming this song:

I drive a Hummer; yeah, my cock's real small
Girls wonder if it's even - there at all
I drive a Hummer.. yeeeeeeeeah
Compensation, the American way

When I think of Hummers I think of that Simpsons piece. It's the sum of what all those over compensating drivers make me think. Like the short guy who buys the really tall car or that balding 50 year old who picks up the sports car to impress "the ladiez". All those cars may over shadow my little Honda but at least I'm getting good gas millage.



MPG (city)
14
MPG (highway)
18
MPG (combined)
16

This is not something you should brag about. The fuel economy on these pieces of shit are beyond awful.

In the most ironic twist of all, it seems the same stupid mentality is carried over to the newly free countries, such as Iraq. Maybe they should sell it to Iraqi's. It seems they're more than willing and able to carry on the legacy.

“I just knew there’d be a huge demand for this in Baghdad,” he said. Now Mr. Hilli and his brother Dhafir run a car dealership specializing in Hummers. It is called, in English, “Al Sultan for Trading Cars.”

An American diplomat declared that it was the biggest Hummer dealership outside of the United States, a fact that seemed too good to check. Unfortunately, Mr. Hilli has checked. “It’s the biggest one in Baghdad, though, that’s for sure,” he said.

Never mind that General Motors, Hummer’s struggling parent company, may scrap the brand or sell it to someone else.

“Iraqis love them because they’re really a symbol of power,” said Mr. Hilli, a chubby 37-year-old who could not stop chuckling. Nonetheless, he spoke with authority, since he was his own first customer.

Oh the Irony. So enjoy your patriotic symbol before it becomes something "the terrorist" latch onto.

California Is Fucked Again

California Is Fucked Again

If you need a reason to drink today, here's a big one. You may have remember when we went to hell and back to pass a budget to plug a ~$40 billion hole, the one that was signed on feb 20th? Welp here we are again:

Budget analyst sees new $8 billion deficit
The Legislature's budget analyst, Mac Taylor, declared today that the immense package of spending cuts, new taxes and loans aimed at closing the state's $40 billion budget deficit will fall short by $8 billion because the state's economy is continuing to falter.

"Unfortunately, the state's economic and revenue outlook continues to deteriorate," the Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO) said in a review of the package, which covered the remainder of this fiscal year and all of the next.

"Even in the few weeks since the budget was signed, there have been a series of negative developments. Our updated revenue forecast projects that revenues will fall short of the assumptions in the budget package by $8 billion. Consequently, the Legislature and governor will need to adopt billions of dollars in additional solutions in the coming months to bring the 2009-10 budget back into balance."

Taylor had some more bad news for the state's political leaders. Because so many of the "solutions" adopted last month are temporary, "without corrective actions, the state's huge operating deficits will reappear in future years - growing from $12.6 billion in 2010-11 to $26 billion in 2013-14."

Taylor said that to close the newly discovered $8 billion gap, the state should maximize its use of federal "stimulus" funds and "continue developing programmatic solutions, especially those his office has been recommending in recent months but the Legislature and the governor shunned in adopting their package last month.

The LAO report will renew the Capitol's partisan and ideological squabbling over spending cuts and new taxes and fuel calls on the left for even more tax increases and those on the right for deeper spending cuts. The full LAO report may be found here.

It took 21 days by my count to find $8 billion more debt. Looks like we're pretty much fucked, right? What the hell are they doing up in Sacramento, throwing money into the pacific? I guess I could blame Arnold. It's certainly not the first time an Austrian ran a state into the ground.



But the general feeling from those I talk to is that Arnold is trying but completely ham stringed by the house. When the guy who goes in on a platform of "I didn't need to take special interest money for my campaign! " Meets an entire judiciary who does, there's not a whole lot one man can do no matter how well-intentioned. And every concession he makes just further gridlocks the whole process.

Arnold would have made a good benevolent dictator, but with the seeping wall of scum on both sides of the aisle nothing's ever going to improve. If we're going to toss a scape goat to the mix we might as well pin it to Pete Wilson. He fucked things up so badly it would take an entire convoy of eunuchs to get them unfucked. Grey Davis just continued the pioneering fucking by Pete Wilson. Where else can we lay blame? Let's do the numbers.



1) republicans hard lining on any sort of tax increase with an extreme willingness to cannibalize any republican who votes for one
2) prop 13 prevents us from raising property taxes
3) we got fucked hard hard hard when the dot com bubble burst
4) then we got fucked again when the housing bubble burst
5) requires 2/3 super majority to pass budget so a few republicans (see 1) can stall process indefinitely
6) but voters can vote for any spending they damned well please with a 50% vote in an election but raising taxes again takes 2/3
7) not smart enough to have made a rainy day fund when things were good
8) people who live in California are Californians and thus retarded

A little more alarming is that Friday was Pink Slip Friday. A lot of teachers got their pink slip. So while we're finding more debt, we're also slashing public education by millions. Oddly enough we're also increasing funds to prisons by 9%. I think something is wrong with this picture. Can you tell me what it is?

Based on current spending trends, California's prison budget will overtake spending on the state's universities in five years. No other big state in the country spends close to as much on its prisons compared with universities.

But California has all but guaranteed that prisons will eat up an increasingly large share of taxpayer money because of chronic failures in a system that the state is now planning to expand.

Under a new state law, California will spend $7.4 billion to build 40,000 new prison beds, and that is over and above the current annual operating budget of more than $10 billion. Interest payments alone on the billions of dollars of bonds that will be sold to finance the new construction will amount to $330 million a year by 2011 -- all money that will not be available for higher education or other state priorities.

....

According to the May revisions of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's budget, the state will spend $10 billion on prisons in fiscal 2007-08, a 9 percent increase from last year.

Civil servants make more than rookie professional school grads. Oh, and half the state is employed as prison guards. the other half is in prison which really makes for an interesting revenue / spending problem. Nobody in social services gets paid well. Supported Living attendants get $9.50/hr.



Fuck the department of corrections and everyone involved with their budget. I can't think of a bigger waste of money other than if the prisons were run by AIG. On second thought, since they're getting so much fuckin' money they should be put to work running the prisons. I'm sure they'll burn to the ground within a month of their take over.

I'm just going to throw it out there but abolishing the death penalty in California would save the state 63.3 million. Just saying.

It's not like we're helping our own case here. Especially when California cities are buying and selling stimulus funds at a discount.



So basically, the federal government gives a city money for roads, and they sell that road money for 60% of face to another city for unrestricted cash. Imagine how bad that would be if they were trading stuff like medical or education funds.

I can sympathize. I was playing sim city and balancing the budget is really hard. in sim city putting prisons all over your shit makes you money.

As for the random pictures in this post? Well, I just want to highlight some of the better things of the state. Some of the reasons why we need to save ourselves from... ourselves.

California Über Alles

California Über Alles

Face it California, we're fucked. Bent over and screwed sideways. No one's going to go out west now. Those already here.... well, if you're a state employee... um.. yeah, it's not looking good for you guys. The AFP is reporting that California will see 40,000 lays offs come Tuesday

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) — California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said layoff notices would be sent to about 20,000 workers starting Tuesday, after legislators failed to pass a plan to help close a projected 42-billion-dollar state budget deficit.

The governor's latest threat came as legislators adjourned late Monday without approving a proposal, painstakingly negotiated by Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders, that would include more than 14 billion dollars in new taxes and 15 billion dollars in spending cuts.

"In the absence of a budget, the governor has the responsibility to realize savings any way he can," Schwarzenegger spokesman Aaron McLear said Monday.

State Senate leader Darrell Steinberg told senators to return for a vote Tuesday and vowed to lock them into the legislative chamber until a budget is approved.

"I will not allow anyone to go home to resume their lives or any kind of normal business," Steinberg said.

The short of it is that California still hasn't done shit to close that $42 billion budget hole, but hey, laying some workers off is a good start! They're talking about deck chairs on the titanic. Tax increases are not going to work too well since we already have the highest taxes in America. So the social services/education cuts are going to be massive.

I guess you could say he's going to... terminate those workers. That deficit is a real... predator... Now that's what i call a kindergarten cop-out.
Ok.. I'll stop that. This is a serious matter that demands serious attention..



I mean, they're going to keep my tax refund and give me a big fat IOU. Sure, it's not for $42 billion, but it's not like it's chump change either! Let's not forget about the thousands of not gay married couples who will not lose their sousal benefits that they were not receiving. Bet California could use all that extra income it would have got from the wedding licenses and other services marriages get taxed on.

California: we'll take away human rights based on 50%+1 of an uninformed public, but when it comes to paying our debts we gotta be really, really careful. I'm waiting for Obama to tell California to pull themselves up by their bootstraps. Since he sure as fuck isn't going to bail us out. The Auto industry though... give them another 16 billion...

How about we just legalize weed already. I don't smoke it but it's seriously the answer here. Hell, it may be easier to push through than tax hikes. That's at least 2 billion right there, easy. Oh yeah, we still have Republicans existing, so we might as well kiss that idea goodbye. Cause wont anyone think of the children?



It's not that drug legalization is some instant fix to all of California's problems, but it's an obvious waste of money that damages quality of life in the state. Any other fixes would result in people being cut off from services, or people being forced to pay more taxes. Ending drug enforcement saves money AND leaves the population better off. At least for the minor drugs.

Thank god we recalled Davis and got rid of the car tax.. Oh wait. Davis was a fucking awful governor and Schwarzenegger has been rather impotent but at least he isnt a shiteating conservative-running-as-a-democrat asshole. This is all Pete Wilson's fault. Gray Davis was Pete Wilson in one of those Mission Impossible masks, if you really must know. Ok, I take that back. No one else is going to say it but I know you all are thinking it... This is all Ronald Reagan's fault.



It's a little sad but I've lived in this state for 98% of my life and I honestly can't tell you what kind of governor Schwarzenegger has been. I can't remember him doing anything completely terrible off the top of my head... Well, there was the whole teachers shit... but still, that wasn't Davis bad and it certainly wasn't Reagan bad. But I can't really remember him doing much of anything.

Maybe we elected the wrong brother. We should have elected Danny Devito. Hmm, on second thought, after working with him on Always Sunny... I think we're better off with Arnold.

Perhaps the easy answer is for California to annex Nevada or something. That would solve everything. Either that or take it to the other extreme and sell all the land that is more than 50 miles inland to Nevada, Oregon or China. Whoever would pay for it..


The I.E. in a couple of years.

At this point I'm fairly sure that in five years the most common lifestyle in California will be a combination of sustenance farming and cannibalism. The sad thing is that there's already a lot of shantytowns and tent cities in CA. This will only make them larger. The massive crime wave that we'll most likely end up seeing is going to be a little scary. Then again, that just gives me an excuse to not go into the Inland Empire again.

What CA republicans are doing is basically a mini version of what the D.C. republicans are doing. "I'm going to vote everything you put forth and when something finally does pass and fails to stop the inevitable shit storm I will blame it on democrats trying to tax people because I am a republican CA house member."


Budget crisis? TIME FOR A SLEEPOVER!

California's legislative deadlock is pretty much the reason that parliamentary systems exist and I really wish we could dissolve our government right now. Right now those state senators are unrolling the sleeping bags and gossiping about the boys and girls they like. Maybe playing a little spin the bottle and if they have enough time after doing each other's make up, they'll work on getting us a budget. There hasn't been a real budget in CA since the 1800s. It's all accounting magic and borrowed money.

DineLA Is Dead? Long Live DineLA!

Dining in L.A.... Everyone Dines in L.A!

Well, almost everyone. It seems that with the current economic situation dining out has become one of those fats that gets trimmed first. It seems that restaurants are having a hard time drawing customers

In a financial climate that has seen some franchises file bankruptcy during the national recession, restaurant patrons have lost a bit of their appetite.

People aren’t dining out as much, and independent restaurants in Cherokee County are suffering and changing to accommodate budget-wise customers.

“We are down 15-20 percent from this time last year,” said Dwayne Sneed, owner of Brother’s Restaurant in Ranger, discussing his seasonal profits. Winter is known in the industry for being slow in customer turnout; however it’s been un-seasonably slow for Sneed. He’s trying new tactics to bring in business including working with civic groups and local sports teams to draw in crowds.

When you realize how many people are losing their jobs, I guess it does make sense. I mean, McDonalds is actually getting a push in business with all this. McDonalds reported that its 2008 4Q profits were higher than normal I think it's safe to say that people stopped going to the restaurants and started hitting the dollar menu as they started to tighten their wallets.

When I think about it, it's really a tragedy. I dislike fast food. If you're not ordering from the dollar menu you'll be looking to spend around $6-8 on your combo meal and if you're already spending that much, you could at least toss in a few more bucks to get something that wasn't tossed into a microwave and taste like cardboard. I also don't want to eat in the car. If I'm going to spend money I'd at least like the quality of the meal reflect in me being relaxed enough to enjoy it.


Hello stock photo of good food!

Normally during the winter season restaurants are pretty slow in general. Last year was the start of DineLA. For a period of two weeks time many Los Angeles restaurants offered three course meals for the cost of what they normally charge for a main course. It worked out well enough that they did it again this year.

I didn't have much time to write about it as I was out there enjoying it. So while this was originally going to be a wrap up blog about the event, I come to find out that DineLA has been extended till the end of the month. You can find a list of restaurants taking part and extending the offer till the 28th. Well, they're excluding Saturdays. Especially a specific one coming up next weekend.

But that's not even an issue. Personally, I'd avoid going to restaurants on the weekend anyway. The service always suffers. They know that the majority of weekend dining is done by those who seldom ever go out any other time. Waiters care more about turning tables than provide that great service they'd give you when fewer tips are coming their way for the night. Chefs are more concerned about getting that five top's entrees out instead of coming up with something new, fresh and unique. I'm a weekday warrior all the way.


A romantic dining experience under a tree branch...

Since it's extended, this has become a DineLA Half-time report. And may I say that this is a great way to try new places without breaking the bank. So far from the few I've discovered places that I want to go to as soon as possible again.

The Foundry - A delicious assortment of treats from the albacore tartar to a Salmon skin that will make you reconsider how boring Salmon could be. Wine pairings and an atmosphere that is amazing. This describes it best:

Famed chef extraordinaire Eric Greenspan of Patina and Meson G strives to create "fine dining for the everyman" with his trendy Melrose restaurant. Unique tasting menus allow adventurous diners to sample a little bit of everything, with selections from the extensive wine list complementing each course. Live jazz performers add to the lively bar scene

Fucking AMAZING!

Ruth Chris -What can be said about Ruth Chris that hasn't been said a million times before? Amazing steaks served up amazingly hot.

Asia De Cuba - On the Sunset strip this place is surreal. With a cross shaped couch and a view of the city through a glass dining area, this is one amazing place to have a meal. The food's tasty as well with interesting fusions with desert being something amazing.

Gus's bbq - Mmmm Mmmmm.. BBQ! I'd say you should stick with the smaller beer because you'll get stuffed with their ribs.

Ocean and Vine - Meh. Didn't care much for it.

These and many more are still participating and are worth checking out. Lunch will run you around $16-28 and $26-44 for dinner depending on the place. For a starter, entree and desert at these highly rated place (minus bubba gumps....) it's a steal.


Cuban Opera... and it's not over till the fat lady sings...
cause.. you know, her mouth is over.

Considering how Hallmark Valentines day is, I say skip taking them out to dinner on the 14th. The prices will be fixed and rather expensive and your enjoyment wont be nearly as good as any other time. Getting them a great meal on a budget on any of the other days when everyone isn't doing the same thing may be a better token of your affection anyway.

And if you miss out on DineLA you don't have to worry about finding a good meal and a night on the town for a date. You can always follow the ongoing cheap date segment of this blog and if that doesn't do it, many dining establishments have been answering back to a poor economy by using cheaper deals to lure more customers in and creating something that is unique and tasty to keep them coming in.

"The winter, post-holiday, is traditionally a time when diners don't like to spend as much dining out, and this (is) especially true in the current economic climate," says Nick Valenti, CEO of Patina Restaurant Group. "We want to provide our guests with an offer that is in sync with the times."

A "Soup Kitchen Cocktail Hour" at the Edison Lounge in downtown Los Angeles on Fridays from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. provides customers complimentary grilled cheese melts and tomato soup and 35-cent Depression-era cocktails, such as the 401(k), a gin cocktail served in a half-empty glass. The lounge donates 25% of its net proceeds from the entire evening to local food banks and charities.

The "Blue Tray Special" is a hit at Luna Park San Francisco and Luna Park Los Angeles. Rotating entrees, such as the honey-glazed grilled pork chop with arugula salad and cigar onion rings (regularly $19.50) sell for $10-$12 and are served on blue cafeteria-style trays. Cocktails served in matching blue glassware are $5.

"When the economy slowed down, we did it as an experiment to see if would generate enough incremental business to make it worth it, and it has," says owner A.J. Gilbert. "People weren't spending as much money. They were trying to find deals."

So there's no reason why you shouldn't go out and Dine in L.A. With a hip new Downtown scene, delicious food all around trying to give you the most bang for your buck and the constant need of food you hunger for, there's many reasons why you should go out and have a good meal.