Kathy Tavoularis passed along this message last night…

It is with an incredibly heavy heart and with great sadness to report thatThomas A. Fuentes passed away peacefully at 11:55 p.m. on Friday, May 18,2012 at his home in Lake Forest, California.

Tom is survived by his wife Jolene, daughter Michelle and sons Tj and Joey.

As many of you know, Tom had a successful liver transplant years ago.Unfortunately, late last year cancer returned to his new liver and spreadto his lungs and lymphatic system and eventually invaded the bronchialtubes of the lungs.

The Funeral Service and Reception for Family and Friends is being arranged.I will send you exact locations and times as soon as possible.

The family asks for your prayers for Tom. Per their request, please do notcall or email them at this time.

For those who prefer to send a donation Tom wished to designate theCarmelites Sisters of Alhambra and the Norbertines at St. Michael’s Abbeyas the recipients of donations in his memory. … Read More

Much has been written, and assumingly will be written, about Republican Party of Orange County Chairman Emeritus Tom Fuentes, who just passed away after a long bout with cancer. After multiple battles with cancer and fighting it valiantly, The Lord called Tom home late last night.

Winston Churchill was often called “The Last Lion,” and Ted Kennedy was often called “The Lion of the Senate,” it could said that Tom Fuentes was the “Lion of Orange County.” Few, if any, have ever been more influential in Orange County politics than Tom, his impact on Republican politics is literally immeasurable. He was truly a statesman and principled to his core. Tom defeated political foes who had conspired to replace him as OC GOP chairman, and stood tall on his principles in those battles. Though Chairman Fuentes never sought the limelight or public office beyond Community College District Trustee he became a standard bearer for conservative principles. Through his life of activism and leadership surely Tom was given opportunities to sell his beliefs down the river for personal gain, he never waivered.

In the world of politics where self-interest is… Read More

What is usually overlooked in the discussion of Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin leaving the U.S. for Singapore (presumably to sell his Facebook stock) is the CALIFORNIA capital gains tax. If he were still a resident of CA when he cashed out the shares, he’d pay 10.3% of the profit to the rapacious “Golden State” — a state that treats capital gains as ordinary income.

If either(or both) of the state’s “millionaires tax” propositions are passed by the voters in November, he would pay 13.3%. Or 15.3%. And yes, these taxes would be RETROACTIVE to the first of this 2012 year.

But by leaving the state and moving to a place with no capital gains tax, he will pay no such tax.

Hence he could choose to move to Singapore.

Or other exotic lands.

Such as Nevada. Or Washington state, South Dakota, Florida, Texas, New Hampshire, Wyoming, or Tennessee.

BOTTOM LINE: People are reluctant to leave a country to avoid taxes — but with big bucks on the line, they WILL leave a state. And no state “exit tax” can stop that. Saverin avoided $67 million in net federal taxes by leaving the… Read More

As we close in on the early June primary, there are more “hot” political races taking place around California than in any single election cycle in my memory. Even though we are operating under new rules that have eliminated partisan primaries and replaced them with a “top-two” runoff system, there are still a healthy number of places where multiple Republican candidates are battling it out to see who will make it into the top two. In some of those races, two Republicans might go onto November. But there is one race where two Republicans are facing off, where we know that only one of them will go on to November, that has the most start contrast between two GOP candidates of any contest in the state. In this race, you have a mature, principled conservative running against one of the most unprincipled, ideologically devoid registered Republicans whom I have ever come across.

This battleground is the new 24th Congressional District on California’s Central Coast [MAP]. The incumbent in this district that takes in San Lois Obispo and Santa Barbara Counties (and a… Read More

Last month the media threw a homecoming party for Nathan Fletcher after he announced that he was no longer a Republican. In the wake of the media celebration, some Republicans have wondered if this announcement will have lasting implications for the GOP. Is Fletcher’s announcement the beginning of a moderate uprising? Or is he just one candidate in a moderate district attempting to garner attention from the moderate-loving media? I believe it is the latter. And if that’s the case, what is in store for the future of the Republican Party?

Congress has an eighty percent disapproval rating according to a recent Politico poll. A recent field poll shows that eighty-five percent of Republicans in California disapprove of the job state legislators are doing in Sacramento. Maybe voters are sick of the same old, business-as-usual politics. Maybe they’re so sick of it, that they’ll decide to stop electing the business-as-usual, career politicians; maybe Republicans are ready to buck the status quo of recycled politicians and send in a new crop of young conservatives who haven’t accumulated a lifetime of political baggage.

What does the future… Read More

You may have seen Obama’s latest defense of the fantasy land he intends to expand that is the Welfare State in his campaign’s latest creation “The Life of Julia.” You can see below, but it paints a beautiful picture of how nobody could dare succeed in the United States without Obama’s expansion of the government.

I saw it a few days ago and was utterly disgusted and thought little about it until today. I stumbled upon Pulitzer Prize winning political cartoonist Michael Ramirez’s latest masterpiece. In one single cartoon Ramirez explains reality and refutes Obama’s 13-cartoon big government fairytale. I’ve posted them all below to illustrate and contrast the two sides. Enjoy:

… Read More

After months of very carefully managing expectations about his “evolving” position on gay marriage, President Obama suddenly found himself last week careening between powerful forces like the steel ball in Elton John’s “pinball wizard.” His own Vice President threw him into the pinball machine, and then his Education Secretary thrust the plunger, launching him into game.

This whole scene began unfolding the Sunday before North Carolina voters were to cast ballots on a proposed constitutional amendment to define marriage exclusively as the union of one man and one woman. At the same time that Biden was popping off that he was “very comfortable” with men marrying other men, polls were starting to show that the marriage amendment would likely pass. This after Obama had publicly opposed the North Carolina marriage amendment. Recall that North Carolina is so important to Obama’s reelection plans that he selected the state to host the Democratic nominating convention this September. Obama’s response to this unfolding drama was to cancel a scheduled Election Day campaign trip to the state. Then Arne Carlson, the barely-known Education Cabinet Secretary, upped… Read More

Below is today’s (5/15/12) lead editorial from the WALL ST JOURNAL. While we concentrate mostly on government pension problems, this worthy piece delves into the PRIVATE defined benefit morass — the “multiple employer”pensions the private sector unions have put in place in a number of industries.

Like public pensions, dishonestly is rife in this sector. Maybe even more so. Consider this excerpt: ——— Labor’s actuarial reading of one SEIU fund for health-care employees finds it 100.4% funded. Credit Suisse’s fair-value reading finds it 49.6% funded—or some $6.8 billion in the hole. ———-

The reason this problem is important to us all is that these pensions are “insured” by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, a federal agency. When the money runs out to pay these guaranteed pensions (and it surely will), the payout obligation shifts to — you guessed it — us taxpayers.

Sadly, it appears that this eye-opening editorial has a MAJOR error, one that unnecessarily detracts from the fundamental message.

The story asserts that the maximum pension payout covered by PBGC is only… Read More