In politics, it seems like people like to put "labels" on things to make them appear to be other than what they are… The latest attempt to "linquistically twist" reality is one that is commonly used by the left, and was recently used by the state’s Legislative Analyst, and now, apparently, by Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The phrase that is being used is "closing a tax loophole" — but when put through the free translation services available to anyone who understands English, that translates to "raise taxes."

In her proposed "alternative budget" the Legislative Analyst, Elizabeth Hill, proposes increasingly the amount of money that taxpayers are forced to pay into the coffers of state government by BILLIONS of dollars. But never once is this called a tax increase, instead the language "closing tax loopholes" is used.

What Hill refers to as a "loophole" was a specific decision by California lawmakers to either not tax a certain area, or perhaps to give a tax credit in a certain area. Using the phrase "loophole" makes it sound like some sort of technical error… Read More

Over a year ago I wrote about the "Assault" that took place at a city council meeting in Carson. A recall proponent of the mayor swiped some papers at an opponent and shazaam there is an assault case. Now this is going to trial. The youtube Video says it all and the winner is….… Read More

FR friend Shane Goldmacher, over at the Sacramento Bee’s Capitol Alert, interviewed incoming Senate Republican Leader Dave Cogdill. It’s an interesting piece that you can read here (free registration required).… Read More

Today Assembly Democrats informally chose Majority Leader Karen Bass to succeed Fabian "Louis Vuitton" Nunez. We call this rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. Unless Bass is going to usher California Democrats into an era of reducing the size and scope of state government. Don’t hold your breath!… Read More

Longtime California GOP leader Steve Frank publishes his winners and losers of the CRP Convention. His "big loser" is former State GOP Chairman Duf Sundheim.… Read More

A lot of things come across the transom here at the FlashReport, but when I saw this release, I thought it was worth a mention.

You will all be happy to know that Dianne Feinstein is so anxious to protect our children that she now wants to ban certain chemicals that are used in the making of toys. Specifically, it’s a chemical used to make toys flexible. Apparently she wants all toys to be — inflexible. What a kill-joy.

Of course she is doing this because the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has said This chemical is dangerous, right? WRONG. Actually, it’s the opposite. They actually spent four years studying the chemical and found "no demonstrated health risk" from its use in toys and "no justification" for banning its use.

The Consumers for Competitive Choice, the organization that put out the release, makes the point that… Read More

Newsweek reports: "There are ominous signs that the earth’s weather patterns have begun to change dramatically and that these changes may portend a drastic decline in food production – with serious political implications for just about every nation on earth. The drop in food output could begin quite soon, perhaps only ten years from now." The article goes onwith impressivequotes fromNOAA scientists, Columbia University professors and climatologists – all giving dire warnings about the impending climate crisis.

Ending with – "The longer the planners delay, the more difficult will they find it to cope with climatic change once the results become grim reality." Grim indeed. These words arefrom the infamous 1975 Newsweek article titled "The Cooling World" (for your reading pleasure, the entire article is attached on the bottom of this post).

Newsweek was on the global cooling scare bandwagon back then and the article points to all of the recent weather disasters then… Read More

FlashReport readers — you will hear a lot from me on this subject, but I may not be as eloquent as Jon Coupal below. On the June ballot, Proposition 98 represents very real property rights reform, preventing the abusing "taking" of private property by the government. It is an oustanding measure which deserves your energy and support.

On the other hand, Proposition 99 is a fraud — a fake. Placed on the ballot by those who would preserve the rights of government to egregiously use the power of eminent domain to trample the rights of property owners, the backers of 99 are hoping they get their measure to recive just one more vote than 98, as buried in its language is a "poison pill" that voids 98 if 99 gets more votes.

Read more below from Jon Coupal… … Read More