Assemblyman Joel Anderson’s office was quick to respond to my whiny post of yesterday, in which I indicated Senator Hollingsworth appeared to be the only area legislator to issue a statement on the Supreme Court’s Heller decision, and in which I further kinda chastised some unnamed legislative offices for not sending releases to bloggers.

This morning, Anderson’s office sent me its 2nd Amendment take of a few days ago. To be clear, the Anderson folks send me press items very regularly (so no inclusion of them in the general whininess) … I just hadn’t seen this one:

Anderson Lauds High-Court Decision Protecting 2nd Amendment

… Read More

Hollingsworth Alone in Weighing in On Heller Decision… Senator Hollingsworth appears to be the only San Diego area legislator to have issued a statement on last week’s Supreme Court decision. Sure, some might say it’s a Federal issue, but the most significant Court statement on the 2nd Amendment in several decades has pretty significant ramifications. I do want to know what my local reps have to say on the matter.

When I say Dennis appears to be the only one, well … that is to say he’s the only one that sent me a release on the matter. I’ve noted it before — and I’ll repeat it — if you have something to say, TELL US. You legislators and staffers that still haven’t added a few bloggers to your media distribution list, let me welcome you to the 1990s. I’m sure you’re still working your campaigns from 3×5 cards as well. Again, you may email me here. Oh … and thanks to the several SD leg.… Read More

As smoke chokes most of Northern California and the Central Coast it is an appropriate time to evaluate the causes and effects of some of the fires that are risking the lives of hundreds.

For those of you that don’t believe in global warming and carbon footprint at all, this post provides nothing more than an opportunity to use the methodologies of those that do to argue for sound forest management practices.

For years forest managers have asked for the ability to clear and thin the… Read More

With the ongoing battle against the many lightning-caused fires still underway, Governor Schwarzenegger visited the fire operations centers in NorCal this week, including Monterey and Chico Wednesday, and with US Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne in Shasta County near Whiskeytown Lake on Friday. The Guv visted with firefighters and their chiefs to assess the progress being made and declared emergency status for the 7 counties hardest hit. These include Butte, Shasta, and Trinity up this way as well as Mendocino, Santa Cruz, Santa Clara and Monterey Counties. He also sought, and received, a federal declaration from President Bush for those same areas.

CalFire and many local and out of town departments have been effectively limiting these fires to non-residential burns and few buildings have burned given the great number of fires last weekend’s lightning strikes caused, charring over 60,000 acres.That numberis a lot but much smaller than it could be. This as everyone holds their breath over current threat of new lightning… Read More

As we all know from personal pain at the pump, gasoline prices have skyrocketed and it is unclear when driving Californians will begin to see relief at the pump. I recently spoke with a friend who lives in Florida, and the price that she pays for a gallon of gas is about 10 percent less than I do, which caused me to wonder why there would be such a disparity. About this time I had a chat with longtime FR reader Larry Venus, who had done some research and pointed out to me that California motorists currently pay an average of 7.9 percent sales tax per gallon! Well, it doesn’t take much thought to realize that if the state’s tax on gasoline is not a flat dollar amount, but rather a percentage, that the amount of taxes on $5 a gallon has is a whole lot more than taxes on a $2 gallon. Actually, getting out the FlashCalc, by my reckoning, when gas was a couple of bucks a gallon, I paid 15 cents per gallon in taxes. Using a $5 per gallon figure for comparison (even though I am starting to forget when gas was that cheap), my tax liability per gallon is a staggering $37 cents. This kind of tax is insidious, making us pay more… Read More

As we all know from personal pain at the pump, gasoline prices have skyrocketed and it is unclear when driving Californians will begin to see relief at the pump. I recently spoke with a friend who lives in Florida, and the price that she pays for a gallon of gas is about 10 percent less than I do, which caused me to wonder why there would be such a disparity. About this time I had a chat with longtime FR reader Larry Venus, who had done some research and pointed out to me that California motorists currently pay an average of 7.9 percent sales tax per gallon! Well, it doesn’t take much thought to realize that if the state’s tax on gasoline is not a flat dollar amount, but rather a percentage, that the amount of taxes on $5 a gallon has is a whole lot more than taxes on a $2 gallon. Actually, getting out the FlashCalc, by my reckoning, when gas was a couple of bucks a gallon, I paid 15 cents per gallon in taxes. Using a $5 per gallon figure for comparison (even though I am starting to forget when gas was that cheap), my tax liability per gallon is a staggering $37 cents. This kind of tax is insidious, making us pay more… Read More

I’m on my Southwest flight, preparing to fly from Sacramento back home to Orange County. It was a jammed pack few days, filled with a ton of meetings with legislative and administration officials, and opportunities to attend some great events, including a reception last night at the California Chamber headquarters where Assembly Republican Leader Mike Villines celebrated the end of a successful multi-day candidate training for all of the 2008 GOP Assembly nominees.

As for the plane rule (that’s the one that says you can’t fly to or from Sacramento without seeing someone you know), I’m joined on this flight by Republican State Senator Dave Cox and his wife.

Wheels up!… Read More

It was actually a pretty busy week back here in DC. Here is a quick rundown (of course with my short editorial comments) on some of the things we did and/or learned this week.

A bill HR 6346 came to the floor that would have started new proceedings regarding alleged price gouging in the price of gas. This in spite of the fact that all previous investigations have turned up nothing and that the increase in the price of gas is because of the increase in the price of oil. The bill failed to pass. We cannot sue our way into lower gas prices. One other bill (HR 6052) was brought to the floor supposedly to deal with high gas prices. This bill would create subsidies for only federal employees to take public transportation to work. Are you kidding me? While everyone is struggling with high energy prices and a tough economy we are going to give more subsidies to government bureaucrats and only government bureaucrats? The bill passed 322-98. That’s it on the energy front. To see the wide array of actions I think we should be doing, go to my new Energy Page. … Read More