Well, a year ago, FR San Diego Blogger Barry Jantz and I came up to Sacramento with a red-carpet invitation from the Governor’s office to the State of the State Address, and we even got a special ‘pre-brief’ with some senior staff members. Of course, last year the Governor rolled out his Strategic Growth Plan, and we were pretty critical of it. So, go figure, no red carpet this year! Nevertheless, thanks to live-streaming video, I was able to take in the entire address from my own laptop computer! Of course, my immediate reaction was — this speech seems an aweful lot like last year’s speech, in that everything that I heard was all about spending, spending and more spending. But, since it seems to be the most accepted rhetorical style these days, let me start by taking a moment to praise the Governor for some of what I heard in his speech…

I applaud the Governor for his strong stand in support of redistricting reform, and the Governor declared that his proposed budget would actually close the existing deficit by a… Read More

Friday Night is Date Night in the Spence household. My wife and I try to go out every Friday– with out the kids of course. This Friday found us at the Edwards Cinema in West Covina. We bought tickets for Pursuit of Happiness (BTW: Viewing it should be part of welfare reform.)

As we were waiting for the movie to start,my wife for some reason though that the newly advertised five dollar taquitos were a "must have".

As I’m waiting in line, I overhear this conservation between two employees.

One of the employees tells the other that the medium (for some item I couldn’t hear) went up 50 cents. The other employee says something like "Why did they do that?" The first employee Says and I quote. "Because you got a raise on the first, stupid."

See the price went up because the minimum wage increase needed to paid for by somebody. The first employee understood that, the second will probably be a legislator or worse a Governor.

And worse still they were out of taquitos.… Read More

Well, a year ago, FR San Diego Blogger Barry Jantz and I came up to Sacramento with a red-carpet invitation from the Governor’s office to the State of the State Address, and we even got a special ‘pre-brief’ with some senior staff members. Of course, last year the Governor rolled out his Strategic Growth Plan, and we were pretty critical of it. So, go figure, no red carpet this year! Nevertheless, thanks to live-streaming video, I was able to take in the entire address from my own laptop computer! Of course, my immediate reaction was — this speech seems an aweful lot like last year’s speech, in that everything that I heard was all about spending, spending and more spending. But, since it seems to be the most accepted rhetorical style these days, let me start by taking a moment to praise the Governor for some of what I heard in his speech…

I applaud the Governor for his strong stand in support of redistricting reform, and the Governor declared that his proposed budget would actually close the existing deficit by a… Read More

I thought it representative of some hard work that the Assembly Republicans put out individual statements from 27 of their members in reaction to the Governor’s State of the State Address. I thought you might want to see what everyone had to say…. At least with what I am sure were some tight length restrictions…

Assembly Republican Leader Mike Villines, Clovis “With a strong vision for California’s future, Governor Schwarzenegger tonight proposed bold solutions to the serious problems facing our state. Assembly Republicans are especially pleased by the governor’s renewed commitment to paying down our state’s long-term debt and fixing our broken redistricting system once and for all. Those are the centrist views of California’s hardworking families.

“True bipartisanship is not when one party compromises their principles to another for the sake of public relations, it’s when we put the people of California first. Californians want us to work together, and we must do it responsibly as adults. We look forward to… Read More

I was not a Steve Poizer’s swearing in yesterday, but I am hearing from folks who were there that it felt almost akin to a Schwarzenegger event—Poizer seemed to be dismissive of the GOP and immediately called to make his office non-partisan (after accepting loads of help from the GOP to get elected). Jon Fleishman writes today that he feels like a chump for believing Schwarzenegger’s promise not to raise taxes. The entire GOP, including GOP chair Duf Sundheim, should feel like chumps for pouring our time and money into Schwarzenegger’s and Poizer’s campaigns, only to have them reject our party immediately after gaining office.… Read More

I feel like a chump. This entire past year, Arnold Schwarzenegger had as a central theme to his campaign for re-election the fact that he would oppose any increase in taxes. I think it would be fair to say that this was a central theme to his campaign. As a matter of fact, in a candidacy that often times stressed issues that were not very appealing to core Republican voters, it was his focused contrasting of Phil Angelides’ "The Tax Man" against his own rhetoric of opposing new taxes that helped to mollify, and excite the GOP base to support his candidacy. Yet, the very first business day following his inauguration to a second term, the Governor rolls out a new massive government incursion that is straight from the playbooks of the Democrat Party, with a centerpiece being tax increases. I don’t get it. This Governor understands that what makes this country great is the idea of individual liberty and individual responsibility. Yet, he has thrown out the notion of individual responsibility, trading it in for this new "shared responsibility" rhetoric which is no more than a justification for a massive… Read More

I feel like a chump. This entire past year, Arnold Schwarzenegger had as a central theme to his campaign for re-election the fact that he would oppose any increase in taxes. I think it would be fair to say that this was a central theme to his campaign. As a matter of fact, in a candidacy that often times stressed issues that were not very appealing to core Republican voters, it was his focused contrasting of Phil Angelides’ "The Tax Man" against his own rhetoric of opposing new taxes that helped to mollify, and excite the GOP base to support his candidacy. Yet, the very first business day following his inauguration to a second term, the Governor rolls out a new massive government incursion that is straight from the playbooks of the Democrat Party, with a centerpiece being tax increases. I don’t get it. This Governor understands that what makes this country great is the idea of individual liberty and individual responsibility. Yet, he has thrown out the notion of individual responsibility, trading it in for this new "shared responsibility" rhetoric which is no more than a justification for a massive… Read More

Unfortunately, one can’t access the full online articles from The San Diego Daily Transcript without a paid subscription, but today retired State Senator Larry Stirling weighs in on its pages with a gem on how the San Diego City Council is addressing a growing crime problem.

After relating a littany of recent crimes as just an example of that faced by the city, Larry wraps up with this:

The government’s No. 1 priority is protecting the lives and property of its citizens. This moral imperative is even higher, given the fact that our government has chosen to abridge our fundamental right to protect ourselves by prohibiting us from carrying firearms in self-defense.

The government is in an absurd and indefensible posture when it neglects to protect us and then will not let us protect ourselves. That is unacceptable.

So, what exactly has the City Council done to address this fundamental moral imperative?

Well, on Dec. 6, the San Diego City Council’s committee on Natural Resources and Culture held a hearing to address and then rip out the root cause of both… Read More