Because they were really worth every penny of it before, today the Assembly Rules Committee announced that daily per diem has gone up from $153 to $162.

Apparently, legislators needed more incentive to show up in the morning and do nothing (not that in any way am I encouraging them to work any harder at coming up with new and creative ways of eroding our freedoms).… Read More

The Sacramento Bee endorsed Bruce McPherson over the weekend. Today the Pasadena Star News (which also is the same for the San Gabriel Valley Tribune and the Whitter Daily News) also endorsed his bid for election. Bruce McPherson is clearly doins great job cleaning up the scandal ridden office of Secretary of State. See editorial here.… Read More

As noted by others who aremore observant of national trendsthan me,a new fightfor the heart and soul of the Republican Party is well underway. The combatants are the BigGovernment Republicanswho have dominated Congress and the Presidency post Clinton and post Gingrich v. the resurgent Good Government Reformers.

Congressman Brian Bilbray (disclosure: a client of Coronado Communications) made a pretty good argument for the Reformers’ position last week in the North County Times:

Changing Culture Requires Real Reform by: CONGRESSMAN BRIAN BILBRAY

San Diegans believe that the accountability and transparency they expect from their elected leaders has been replaced by backroom deals. When I left Congress in 2001, Congress had a balanced budget and a $155 billion surplus. Today, that surplus has turned into a $296 billion budget deficit. We need budget reform, and Congress must balance the books.

For months, the American people have been waiting for Congress to follow through on the promise to bring more transparency and accountability to the budget and earmark process. Congress has responded by taking a few first steps in the right… Read More

Congress adjourned at about 20 minutes after midnight Saturday morning. Both the House and Senate wrapped up work meeting the deadline set by a predetermined adjournment date. This past week was the last chance to pass legislation until Congress returns in late November for a lame duck session.

The UTLA fresh from making a deal that undermines student acheivement in LA’s schools has a new target. Israel. The UTLA Human Rights Committee is sponsoring a meeting of the radical leftistLAchapter of theMovement for a Democratic Society. (Noam Chomsky is on their National Board)The puropose is to identify and boycott goods and investment in the State of Israel.

The big question for the UTLA is this helps kids read how????

The bigger questions is. The State forces teachers to pay union dues to the UTLA because???

The good news is there is an organization that helps teachers that care about kids more than politics. Their goal is to make sure teachers understand their rights. It is called the The California Teachers Empowerment Network. You can see their site here.

Here is the email sent to me from a LA teacher

Please join the Los Angeles Chapter of Movement for a Democratic Society (MDS) in launching a local boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign in support of the Palestinian people. WHEN ? Saturday,… Read More

This November, there are many reasons to vote no on most of the initiatives that will be presented to California’s voters. Proposition 1C sells bonds for housing. This is one where I say let the feds handle it—if they are stupid enough to keep HUD’s doors open—let them run low income housing projects. Not only won’t we have to pay for it through bonds, but fewer and fewer people will want to live in these projects and be motivated to get out. Proposition 1 D sells bonds for education, didn’t we just pass one of those? Proposition 86 is brilliant. Tax poor people (who make up the majority of smokers) and use the money to fund their healthcare. The more intellectually honest approach to the health concerns that surround smoking would be to ban the practice all… Read More

This November, there are many reasons to vote no on most of the initiatives that will be presented to California’s voters. Proposition 1C sells bonds for housing. This is one where I say let the feds handle it—if they are stupid enough to keep HUD’s doors open—let them run low income housing projects. Not only won’t we have to pay for it through bonds, but fewer and fewer people will want to live in these projects and be motivated to get out. Proposition 1 D sells bonds for education, didn’t we just pass one of those? Proposition 86 is brilliant. Tax poor people (who make up the majority of smokers) and use the money to fund their healthcare. The more intellectually honest approach to the health concerns that surround smoking would be to ban… Read More

For a second I actually considered entitling this post after a Dickens’ novel, but that would’ve been too obvious. Suffice it to say that both Escondido and National City have received much attention in recent weeks for the polar opposite directions they are taking on the issue of illegal immigration.

National City Mayor Nick Inzunza has garnered headlines for his announcement that he would declare a "Sanctuary City" for illegal aliens, which he simply refers to as immigrants (see my prior posts). Yesterday, Inzunza signed the sanctuary proclamation (SDUT story), while — on the advice of law enforcement, apparently in no mood to try to protect him — he was holed up in city hall during another protest rally outside. This was the second such rally in two weeks, with illegal immigrant apologists… Read More