We are pleased to share this original commentary from Apple Valley Mayor Curt Emick.

Gone are the days when the mail and the milk were the only two services that would deliver to your doorstep. The modern family can have virtually any product delivered directly to their door, including prescription medications. In an era of convenience and innovation, this practice may at first glance seem to benefit the consumer. The hidden reality is that a seemingly good deal for the consumer is in fact, quite a bad deal for conservatives and taxpayers alike, as noted by the Taxpayer Protection Association’s (TPA) latest report on taxpayer-funded mail-order pharmaceuticals (here).

Some context is needed in order to understand how these organizations waste our tax dollars for we are not talking about chump change: for federal employee benefits alone, the government spends $35 billion a… Read More

What’s the point of a political analysis of Nathan Fletcher, the former Republican member of the California State Assembly who jettisoned his party affiliation during his 2012 run for Mayor of San Diego and now identifies himself as a Democrat? The editor of www.FlashReport.org– Jon Fleischman – sent a Tweet on May 6with this inquiry:

Do I write, or not, on the latest @nathanfletcher voter registration switch? I’m indifferent — you choose: http://on.fb.me/16O4FKp

By a five to one ratio, people didn’t want to read about it. Actually, a psychological analysis of Fletcher’s transformation would be more interesting than a political analysis.

Nathan Fletcherapparently aspired to a high-profile political career despite a lack of well-developed, well-defined fundamental principles about the purpose and limitations of government.

Fletcher appeared to regard government as a pragmatic agent to solve problems and make the… Read More

Part One of a series

May 3, 2013

By Katy Grimes

One of the original pioneers of the Obamacare patient networks, HealthCare Partners, has been operating in California without the required state license. But according to health care experts and a new lawsuit, the California Department of Managed Care has known this, and allowed it for 10 years, saving HealthCare Partners millions of dollars.

HCP has flown under the radar of the California Department of Managed Health Care regulatory authority by claiming it’s a medical group, while in fact operating as an unlicensed Health Maintenance Organization. It has done so by taking standard HMO global risk for the patient — hospital care, medication and physician services.

The Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, works through a network of Accountable Care Organizations providing managed health care services to all people throughout the country. Health care experts have said all along there is not enough money in the system to do what the ACA purports it can do.

The acronyms are confusing. What’s the difference between an HMO and an ACO? “ACOs amount to… Read More

Last week, this column looked at the anomaly of how the Democratic Party – which proudly holds itself out as the champion of working people – vigorously pursues policies that cost working class Californians their jobs; or worse yet, robs younger Californians coming into the work force from the job opportunities that abound in other states, especially in those where Republicans office holders control the political and policy agenda. Specifically, we reviewed the legislation identified by the California Chamber of Commerce as “job killer” bills – particularly pernicious proposals which send a message throughout the world that business is not welcome in California and, if business does come here, the tax and regulatory environment is anything but friendly.

We also noted that California is tied with two other states for the highest unemployment rate in the nation and… Read More

When I was a child growing up on the Westside of Los Angeles, I remember a school field trip to the Simon Weisenthal Center, learning about the horrors of the Holocaust, and even hearing that day from two actual survivors from concentration camps. To this day, I remember feeling so sick to my stomach — reeling at the idea that there are some people who truly are capable of evil, despicable acts. Stunned by the fact that so many were willing to turn a blind eye – and look away while unspeakable horrors were committed against not only the Jewish people, my people, but against our entire civilization.

I bring up this unpleasant memory because last weekend I watched in muted horror a Fox News Channel special report, “See No Evil: The Kermit Gosnell Case.”

This Fox News investigation of the Philadelphia abortion doctor charged with murdering babies in his “House of Horrors” clinic reveals a macabre, revolting, and nauseating story that immediate brought emotions and bad feelings to every part of me — that I associate with that day at the Weisenthal Center those many years ago. It was a reminder that evil exists in even the… Read More

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It ended soon after it began, this revolution. Not with a bang, or even a whimper. The soldiers, unsure of their cause, simply left the battlefield. As the sun set on the retreating army, the sun also set on the vision of a shining city on a hill, which remains darkened to this day.

The revolution’s first salvo came not from the barrel of a gun, but by the stroke of a pen. President Ronald Reagan’s vision that government was the problem, not the solution, sought outlets to reduce government’s role in the life of the nation. Believing that a robust economy would provide private charities the resources to step in and provide welfare services as the federal government slowed its welfare spending, President Reagan signed Executive Order Number 12329 on October 14, 1982 creating the President’s Task Force on Private Sector Initiatives. Finished by New Year’s Eve 1982, midway through Reagan’s first term, the Task Force reported back to the president the disappointing news. Richard C. Cornuelle, a libertarian and once a member of the intimate circle around the émigré Russian novelist Ayn Rand, and author of Reclaiming the American Dream,… Read More

What do leisure suits and gun shows have in common? More than you might think. It turns out that some members of the California Senate don’t particularly like either. But I’ll bet in this Legislature, gun shows are despised more.

But this is about constitutional rights, and not the right to wear ugly, pastel, stinky polyester clothing with the knees permanently stretched out.

At issue is whether the California Legislature can dictate who rents the Cow Palace. After taking a vote Thursday on SB 475 by Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, the majority of senators think they should be able to decide.

Leno said the community surrounding the Cow Palace in South San Francisco does not want gun shows at the entertainment and exposition center. According to Leno,… Read More

Republicans must be sensitive about falling into traps set by our opponents designed to make our party look like we’re being unfair to particular groups. Yet, there are times when we must stand on the side of sound public policy because at the end of the day, someone has to.

The Democrats who run the California State Assembly have passed a bill that would take the radical step of opening jury service to citizens of other countries who legally reside in the United States. If passed by the Senate and signed by Governor Brown, AB 1401 would make jury duty open to any legal resident.

This is bad public policy and should be opposed.

My parents emigrated from Germany in 1961. For seven years they went through the naturalization process, learning English and about our system of government. Ultimately they both needed to pass English and Civics tests to earn their citizenship, which they did in 1968.

This process takes time because acclimating to America’s language, culture, and government cannot be accomplished overnight, especially when it comes to… Read More