Author: CoolDMZ

"X-ray vision to see in between / Where's my kimono and my time machine?"

Bee to Voters: Budget Woes Are Your Fault

In a front page story today, the Bee chastises voters (presumably some of whom, you know, work at the Bee) for making the state “ungovernable” with our insistence on both mandatory spending and no tax increases.

Only 4 percent [of voters], according to a recent poll, have a “great deal” of confidence that lawmakers can do the right thing on the overdue spending plan.

But the same voters have passed laws that virtually guarantee annual spending increases for education, severely restrict what can be cut from transportation and local governments and make it virtually impossible to raise taxes.

The research that must have gone into pinpointing the voting records of every single California voter boggles the mind. Especially since nobody born after 1960 can be blamed for the passage of Prop 13 in 1978.

Continue reading “Bee to Voters: Budget Woes Are Your Fault”

More on the Corti move

CoolDMZ wouldn’t be earning CoolDMZ’s pay if CoolDMZ wasn’t a contrarian on the Corti Brothers situation. I’m having trouble mustering a lot of sympathy for the Cortis after reading the Bee’s follow-up story today. I suppose I liked Corti Bros as much as the next guy, though my patronage of things that can be described as “upscale” is seldom to never. (Unless Nordstrom Rack counts as upscale?)

I’m not shocked that Heather Fargo called Darrell Corti and offered the city’s help in finding a new location. Would that help entail explaining how a month to month lease works? All I keep reading is that Corti fans will go wherever he decides to move, even if it is out of town. I hope there are some patrons who are be pissed that a 60 year old company allowed themselves to operate on a wing and a prayer for 20 years despite knowing how loyal their fans were. What if you live down the street, have been shopping there since 1970, and can’t drive?

Continue reading “More on the Corti move”

BUZZ: Trethaway Aide Blasts Bee

AWESOME post on Natomas Buzz with an email from a Ray Trethaway aide, Dan Roth, to the Bee’s Mary Lynne Vellinga about Vellinga’s front-page article from last week about crime and low-income housing in Natomas. Roth blasts Vellinga for failing to accurately present her angle, and takes the Bee to task for its racist comment box, go figure

I don’t know what disturbs me more…this comment [from user “sacsforsaps”], or the fact that 4 out 5 people found this comment helpful.

Note to Bee: If you are going to continue with the comments thing, please add permalinks so we can more easily mock you…

The new Bee — what’s the verdict?

So, first impressions of the revamped Bee, anybody? Or do we need a few days to think about it. A few of mine: The narrow page size is “weird”; the color comics every day is great, though it seems like a waste of money; the Top Stories box on the front page is a great addition; the new photos of columnists are a great touch too (wait, that’s Bob Shallit?). I think I can sympathize with the renaming of Metro to Our Region: sometimes you just have to make a change to your product, just for funsies. For example, I think I’ll rename sac-eats. Starting tomorrow, enjoy your snarky food coverage by Tim-tom Happy-pants. Now with double the hyphenation!

Continue reading “The new Bee — what’s the verdict?”

CoolDMZ’s trip to Ashland (PHOTOS)

Took the family up Oregon way last week for a real old-fashioned Summer Vacation. I had never been up I-5 past Woodland, oddly enough, and although you don’t see much up that way–and the air was still smoky–it was a great drive. The flat area of Siskiyou County, the part containing Yreka, is just about the most beautiful country you’ll ever see. It would be bonkers at sunset.

Our destination was Ashland, which is a great little town. More charm in that town per square inch than most other entire other cute small towns. Slideshow after the jump…
Continue reading “CoolDMZ’s trip to Ashland (PHOTOS)”

Mike Schmidt at Raley Field tomorrow!

Mike... Schmidt, right?Hall of Famer third baseman Mike Schmidt will be making an appearance tomorrow at Raley Field before the River Cats game.

Former Major League third baseman Mike Schmidt will visit Raley Field on Friday, July 18th to help raise awareness of Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH), commonly known as enlarged prostate. The Hall of Famer has partnered with Minor League Baseball to launch the national program, “BPH Game Plan Starts with U: Catch the Whole Game,” aimed at urging men to talk to their doctors about annual prostate screenings.

Say it with me: Usin the whole fist there, Dinger?

Fans are invited to meet Schmidt from approximately 7:05 p.m. to 7:50 p.m. on the Foul Ball Patio (left field line) where he will be available to autograph free Mike Schmidt over-sized baseball cards.

Cool!!

Sac Bee comments must be stopped – UPDATED

This isn’t the first time that the racist idiocy that is the comments box at the Sac Bee has come to my attention. We here at the Rag, and other bloggers like Heckasac have often pointed out the problem.

Today’s racist idiocy comes from this story of the shooting death of a young woman in Oak Park: Continue reading “Sac Bee comments must be stopped – UPDATED”

Two date night dinners

Our 7th (!) wedding anniversary was yesterday, and we made a weekend of it by celebrating with dinner out on Friday. Now since we have three little kids we don’t exactly eat out often, so when we do we run into that age-old diner’s dilemma: stick with a restaurant you know and love, or take a chance on something new. With the usual, you are very likely to be pleased, and with something new, you can only rely on word of mouth (or word of Yelp) recommendations. And there’s no accounting for taste, especially with the more adventurous kinds of food. We usually err on the side of the classic you know and love. It’s not that we’re not adventurous eaters–not Anthody Bourdain rancid shark, pig anus adventurous, but we can step out of our comfort zone when it seems like a winner.

This year we opted for a favorite we hadn’t visited in a while: Three Sisters.

Continue reading “Two date night dinners”