The new Republican Governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie, is quickly achieving legendary status… Need to know why? Check out this "confrontation" between Governor Christie and a liberal MSM reporter… Simply awesome.

We happily share conservative icon Tom McClintock’s recommendations each election. These are straight from his own blog… McClintock On the Propositions: Prop. 13. Seismic Retrofits. YES: Earthquake proofing your house shouldn’t trigger a tax increase until you’re ready to sell. Any questions? Prop. 14. Distorted Primary. NO: This was the result of the corrupt deal for the tax increase… Read More

I get so sick of the ad hominem "news stories" every budget cycle about how the poor and disabled are going to be hurt by every single budget the Governor proposes. These stories always lay the pretext and give fuel for the Democrats in the Legislature to tear apart necessary reforms. I frankly think they are coordinated with the Democrat leaders in the Legislature. Today the Los Angeles Times once again includes an above the fold headline "Governor’s budget deals blow to poor" and a story about how children, state workers, and welfare will be affected. One of these days I am going to hire ace researcher Jim Sills to track every headline the L.A. Times has ever written about Arnold’s budgets, or Pete Wilson’s budgets and predecessor’s budgets, and publish them here. They will most certainly be rehashes of the same old story by lazy journalists just doing things the easy and expected way.

Wouldn’t it be refreshing to see a headline like,… Read More

Greek Tragedy: There has been much publicity as of late, particularly among the financial community, about the fiscal problems in Greece. The Greek government has spent far more money than it has taken in and done it for enough years that they now have a huge deficit and an even bigger debt. There are fears that Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Ireland could be next. Stock markets around the world lurched downward out of fear that these systemic debts and deficits may not be able to be repaid and that these countries may need to default on their debt.

But they are not alone. Here are the current year deficits (2010) and outstanding national debt as a percentage of that country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for Greece, the largest European countries and the U.S.:

Country

Deficit as % of GDP

Public Debt as % of GDP

Americans for Prosperity of California, part of the national grassroots taxpayer advocacy organization, issued its own statement about the Governor’s revised budget today, which I have posted below. One of the key budget points for taxpayer protection groups is the Governor’s commitment to cutting spending.

As noted in the press release below, Democrats are simply returning to an already-dry well by demanding more and higher taxes. This is a short-sighted plan that will only serve to worsen California’s dwindling tax base. It may seem like inverse logic to Democrats, but cutting taxes in the short-term will actually lead to increased tax revenue in the long-term as businesses and taxpayers thrive and the tax base grows.

Today the California State Assembly debated SJR 9, authored by Democrat State Senatoe Christine Kehoe, which would urge the Congress and the President of the United States to adopt the Military Readiness Enhancement Act of 2009 (H.R. 1283) that institutes a policy of nondiscrimination based on sexual orientation, and to repeal the "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" policy.

You can read the full resolution here.

Republican Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher, a Marine Corps Veteran, gave a passionate floor speech in support of ending this policy, saying that one should be able to serve openly in the military regardless of their sexual orientation.

… Read More

As I read this article in the Los Angeles Times, it caused me to want to renew my call for Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner to stop his pursuit of trying to force Insurance Companies to divest from investments that he does not like, which is what is going on here. The United States government has an official process whereby, if for national security reasons, they feel the extraordinary step of suspending the property rights of Americans to invest their money where they see fit, needs to be suspended in any way.

Steve Poizner doesn’t like that some insurance companies have some investments with companies that do some business in Iran. I don’t like it either — those companies ought to make new choices. Poizner should do two things — he should ask (and probably NOT on Department of Insurance letterhead) companies to change their investments, and he can write his Congressman and Senator, like the rest of us.

In the… Read More

This just in from Ana Matosantos, Governor Schwarzenegger’s Director of Finance… This afternoon, Governor Schwarzenegger sends the revised version of his January budget proposal – the “May Revision” – to the Legislature. And while a budget should be a reflection of what Californians value the most – and a budget that safeguards its most important services and its most vulnerable citizens – that won’t be the case today, and the Governor will spell out clearly why that is.

What’s changed since January? Much that’s not positive. The recession’s lingering effects mean our overall revenues are below forecast. Program costs have increased and federal judges have blocked the state from implementing budget-saving measures that the Governor proposed and the Legislature approved. Because the budgetary solutions adopted in the Special… Read More