Burn notice

Notwithstanding Meg Whitman’s waffling on the matter, true conservatives will tell you that California’s ambitious air-pollution and climate-change law, Assembly Bill 32, is a job killer and a threat to the tax base of the state and local governments.

True conservatives like Chico’s state Assemblyman Dan Logue, author of the November ballot measure Proposition 23, which would suspend A.B. 32 until the economy reaches very low levels of unemployment—5.5 percent or below.

Logue’s argument, which he posted on the conservative blog FlashReport last year, is that “A.B. 32 must be suspended before it suspends our funding for schools, law enforcement, parks, water storage and any hope of economic recovery.”

How ironic, then, that investigative reporter Chase Davis, over at the California Watch blog, broke the news that Logue has a history of shirking his tax bills.

You know, the taxes that help pay for stuff like schools, law enforcement, parks and (Bites supposes) water storage.

In fact, up until the early 2000s, Logue had racked up 16 different tax liens from the state and from Yuba County, totaling nearly $30,000. And last week brother Bob Speer at CN&R reported the state had placed a tax lien on wife Peggy Logue’s property, also for nonpayment of taxes, in 2009.

All the Logue liens have since been settled up. So Assemblyman Dan is free and clear to wage his righteous war on the environment, er, environmental regulation.

Speaking of the righteous: Atheists, brights, and other freethinkers were mightily bummed last year when Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson denied their request for his proclamation of Freethought Day in Sacramento.

Freethought Day rolls around every October 12, and marks the day in 1692 when Massachusetts Gov. William Phips declared “spectral evidence” was no longer allowed in court proceedings.

Spectral evidence is of course evidence based on dreams and visions. Spectral evidence comes in handy when you’ve got some witches that need burning but no real facts to pin on them. Or when you’re trying to disprove the existence of global climate change.

Anyway, former Mayor Heather Fargo was always good for a proclamation, with its “Whereas, this day commemorates our nation’s Constitution and Bill of Rights, courts and judges, heritage of a fair trial for all, the Enlightenment values,” and all of that.

But Mayor Johnson—by all accounts a pretty religious guy—and his staff couldn’t quite get their heads around freethought, and so declined to sign off.

The organizers with the Sacramento Freethought Day committee were even given a list by the mayor’s office, printed out on the mayor’s letterhead, with the mayor’s motto, “A City that Works for Everyone,” at the top, showing that theirs was the only request turned down that October.

Among the special events that were granted a mayoral proclamation: Make a Difference Day, American Pharmacists Month and, naturally, St. Hope Day.

But those were the dark ages of 2009. In fact, despite lacking his seal of approval, the actual celebration of Freethought Day went off without a hitch. As it will again this year, on Sunday, October 10, in Cesar Chavez Plaza from noon to 4 p.m. The 2010 event is free and will include live music and vendors and “critical thinking activities” for the whole family (see www.freethoughtday.org for more info).

And this year, organizers are packing something better than a mayoral proclamation. They got the entire Sacramento City Council to pass a resolution recognizing Freethought Day. And Mayor Johnson signed it, too. Makes a pretty good case for evolution.