This is a short and sweet observation that I will make on a Friday afternoon. People keep talking about “fixing” Californias troubled state government by calling a Constitutional Convention.

Forget it. Drop it. Don't bother.

Until the outrageous and pervasive influence of our state's public employee unions can be curbed, the vast amount of money at their disposal ensures that, relative to a Constitutional Convention, they will either co-opt it and use it to try and further feather their nest, or they will completely demolish the results of the Convention when they are before the public for a vote.

Any time spent chasing this pipe dream (and similar ones) of making state government work again are going to be almost impossible until paycheck protection, or maybe a measure to just outlaw public employee unions altogether is passed. And THAT necessary battle will be WWIII.… Read More

[Cross-posted from RedCounty.com]

Several days ago I learned Steve Greenhut would be leaving the editorial pages of the Orange County Register to take a job with the Pacific Research Institute, a venerable conservative think tank in SanFrancsico. Ididn’t write anything because I thought Steve deserve the opportunity to announce it on his own schedule.

However, the news is already leaking out in the blogosphere, so with Steve’s blessing I’ve decided to let Red County readers know (Steve is going to talk about it in his columkn this Sunday).

I’m excited for Steve — this is a great opportunity for him with a great organization where he’ll be able to work with some first-rate minds (such as Steven Hayward, whose… Read More

The Governor has asked the Attorney General Jerry Brown to investigate ACORN. Based on the video sting in San Bernardino and San Diego that is a good first start.

Congress just cut off funds to ACORN. But, the question I have gotten over the last few days is what does ACORN get from the state. ACORN is made up of an array of organizations. Some of this organizations may be getting funds from various agencies may be granting them funds for "outreach", housing, voter registration etc…

I asked the Governor to find out if money is going from these agencies to ACORN and if it is shut it off. Of course we shouldn’t fund these types of groups with state dollars to begin with. But, we should be able to stop this one.… Read More

The nanny state is alive and well in Sacramento. Some group came out with a study that concluded, with what may be shocking news to some, but not to this blogger — sugar-filled soda pop causes weight gain when consumed regularly!

Is there someone out there that would like to pay me to conduct a study on whether eating chocolate bars regularly will do the same? Probably not.

Oh well, the study having been conducted, it’s results were telegraphed in MSM articles up and down the state, and invariably there will be magazine articles, and the study-authors will probably pen some sort of book on the subject. That’s the ideas marketplace at work — telegraphing information out there so that, in this case, parents can decide the value of it and if or whether they are going to do anything because of it.

That said, I was unimpressed to find out (h/t CapitolAlert) that the California legislature has (I am not making this up) a "Select Committee on Obesity and Diabetes" and that it’s Chairman, Alex Padilla, wants to convene hearings on this… Read More

I have been watching with delight the true patriots who have exposed ACORN for the criminal enterprise they are. After watching their pimping operation and corruption on video, I went back into the archives for the attack piece that ACORN had it’s "community activists" from Oakland hand out door to door against Richard Pombo when their brothels had some down time.

In this piece they not only specifically call for voting against Richard Pombo but call Richard Pombo Un-American, corrupt and immoral.

The most fun was watching Jerry McNerney throw his buddies under the bus today by having to cast a vote against their funding…looks like the ACORN office is one less place Jerry can hide out in to get away from his constituents who want him to publicly explain his vote in favor of the government takeover of healthcare. What was even better was watching Pelosi get all choked up knowing her legion of derelicts just went what those of us in the real world might call Chapter 11.… Read More

This just came in from Supervisor Bill Horn of San Diego County. One of the scandalous ACORN videos released over the past few days focused on an ACORN office in San Diego County…

The ACORN Mess Supervisor Bill Horn, San Diego County The allegations of criminal acts, including slavery, prostitution, and human smuggling in San Diego County shown on news video by independent filmmakers are beyond shocking. They are revolting, and if true, those responsible should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. After that, these people should be locked up and allowed to rot.… Read More

Longtime FR friend Chuck Bell is a highly-regarded attorney specializing in political law. He serves as Counsel to the California Republican Party and is currently serving as President of the Republican National Lawyers Association. Bell wanted to share the following with FR readers… Leading National Republican Lawyers Group Calls on HUD & DOJ to Investigate & Defund ACORN By Chuck Bell, Republican National Lawyers Association

On September 15, 2009, the Republican National Lawyers Association filed a formal complaint with the Office of Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the… Read More

Gubernatorial candidate Steve Poizner has signed the Americans for Tax Reform No New Taxes Pledge — awesome. Before I get to the part of this blog post that is about Poizner challenging his opponents to do the same, let me weigh in on this. Meg Whitman and Tom Campbell should ABSOLUTELY sign the pledge…

We are never going to be the majority party in California, or again nationally, if we cannot clearly articulate basic core differences from the Democrats. One of the essential lines that we need to draw in the sand is that Democrats think that government is too small, and that your taxes should be higher. Republicans think that government is too big, and it should be lower. All of the PR geniuses can talk about how that can be articulated to the voters in "real life" terms that are less ideological and more practical — but it is what it is.

Republicans are going to be fighting a losing battle for the Governorship if we get caught up in an intra-party fight over whether or not we should be raising new taxes. The best way to take that… Read More