California’s education system is struggling – despite billions of dollars and a never ending parade of Legislative quick-fixes, California students continue to fall behind the national averages in almost every academic area. One of the problems with California’s education system is the missmash of special funding (categorical programs) and the gross inequity created by a convoluted state formula for distribution of education dollars. Some schools accomplish a lot despite the inefficient system, but California’s largest school district (the Los Angeles Unified School District) is not one of them. Recently, LAUSD approved a teacher’s contract that creates a $213 million annual shortfall – and they readily admit they have no idea how to pay for it. This is more than just irresponsible budgeting – it should be criminal. Coincidentally, LA Assemblyman Kevin de Leon recently introduced… Read More

If only it were a reality…you could get on a train high-speed train in Los Angeles and be at Disneyland in less than 30 minutes.

Well the California High-Speed Rail Authority is working on such things and apparently todos beneficiamos (they sent a brochure about some upcoming scoping sessions that are printed in English and Spanish).

If you want to weigh in on the project there are several public meetings in April in LA, Anaheim and Norwalk.

Apparently the the SoCal route could also extend down to Irvine.

If the thing operates over existing rail right-of-ways and doesn’t eliminate any current roads I am all for it assuming I don’t have to pay for it. I probably won’t ever take it but according to their studies they project 100 million passengers a year by 2030.

How will it be financed? Who pays for it? The slick… Read More

Mainstream Media’s Fall from Grace… It was just over a year ago that Investor’s Business Daily ran an editorial about the "old media" losing it’s way and the resulting rise of blogs and othernew media. It’s evenmore compelling now. An excerpt:

The evidence is everywhere: plummeting newspaper circulation and industry consolidation, as demonstrated by the purchase of publisher Knight Ridder by McClatchy Newspapers; the falling viewership of network news broadcasts; the growing angst among journalism professionals over what went wrong. It’s not that complicated, actually. At a time of unprecedented media options — from blogs to talk radio to cable TV — the mainstream media has clung to its old ways. While the new media was learning to excel at connecting directly with people, the establishment media was perfecting its penchant for "navel-gazing" and distancing itself from "the everyday concerns of readers." Liberal bias certainly played a role. The stories that most excite mainstream journalists tend… Read More

Some thoughts after reading today’s news… RENTING TO ILLEGAL ALIENS Assemblyman Charles Calderon has introduced legislation (Assembly Bill 976) that, according to the bill, "Would prohibit cities and counties from requiring landlords to ‘compile, disclose, report, provide or otherwise take any action regarding the characteristics of a tenant or a prospective tenant that is not expressly required by state or federal law.’ He has introduced this legislation in response to the recent goings-on in the city of Escondido in northern San Diego County, where the City Council passed a local ordinance to prohibit landlords from renting to illegal aliens. After facing an avalanche of legal challenges, the Council actually yanked their landmark regulation. Apparently Calderon doesn’t want it happening again. I think that if we are going to have state legislation come about as a result of all of this, how about allowing landlords the right to use legal residency as a legitimate screening issue when… Read More

Some thoughts after reading today’s news…

RENTING TO ILLEGAL ALIENS Assemblyman Charles Calderon has introduced legislation (Assembly Bill 976) that, according to the bill, "Would prohibit cities and counties from requiring landlords to ‘compile, disclose, report, provide or otherwise take any action regarding the characteristics of a tenant or a prospective tenant that is not expressly required by state or federal law.’ He has introduced this legislation in response to the recent goings-on in the city of Escondido in northern San Diego County, where the City Council passed a local ordinance to prohibit landlords from renting to illegal aliens. After facing an avalanche of legal challenges, the Council actually yanked their landmark regulation. Apparently Calderon doesn’t want it happening again. I think that if we are going to have state legislation come about as a result of all of this, how about allowing landlords the right to use legal residency as a legitimate screening issue when selecting their tenants? If I own an apartment… Read More

It’s a quiet Sunday. What better of a way to blow about three minutes of your April Fools Day than to check out "Rappin’ MC Rove" (yes, the WH Deputy Chief of Staff)in footage from the recent White House Correspondents’ Dinner… (You have to get through about a minute of dialogue first) … Read More

For today’s Commentary, we feature a great column from Jonathan Garthwaite, the Editor-In-Chief of Townhall.com, a great website for conservative thought…

This week San Francisco became the first U.S. city to ban plastic grocery bags from city supermarkets and drug stores. San Francisco generates an estimated 180 million plastic bags each year, and the city counsel wants them gone. Grocery shoppers will have to find an alternative within six months.

Reducing the number of nonbiodegradable plastic bags tangled in neighborhood streets and piling up in landfills for hundreds of years is a noble undertaking, but San Francisco’s government imposed bag ban is one more in a series of nanny state edicts from government upon the governed.

What’s a "nanny state"? If you want a dictionary… Read More

For today’s Commentary, we feature a great column from Jonathan Garthwaite, the Editor-In-Chief of Townhall.com, a great website for conservative thought…

This week San Francisco became the first U.S. city to ban plastic grocery bags from city supermarkets and drug stores. San Francisco generates an estimated 180 million plastic bags each year, and the city counsel wants them gone. Grocery shoppers will have to find an alternative within six months.

Reducing the number of nonbiodegradable plastic bags tangled in neighborhood streets and piling up in landfills for hundreds of years is a noble undertaking, but San Francisco’s government imposed bag ban is one more in a series of nanny state edicts from government upon the governed.

What’s a "nanny state"? If you want a dictionary… Read More