This was just released to the public…

June 11, 2009

An Open Letter to Elected Officials: We, the undersigned taxpayer advocates, have grave concerns about the current effort to amend the California Constitution in a manner which would allow a simultaneous or subsequent initiative calling for a Constitutional Convention. Rather than being a panacea for California’s woes, such an effort could very well result in the weakening or outright repeal of vital taxpayer protections such as Proposition 13 and Proposition 218, the Right to Vote on Taxes Act. At the outset, we acknowledge the good intentions of many of the individuals and organizations who have previously supported the notion of a Constitutional Convention. Notwithstanding these good intentions,… Read More

The Governor proposed, and the Legislature is considering, imposing a 9.9 percent severance tax on oil production in California.

The chart(shown below) shows where California compares to other oil generating states. The bottom line is that California is already among the most heavily taxed states in the country relative to oil production. If the Legislature agrees to impose this new oil tax, California’s combined taxes on petroleum would make it far and above the highest taxed state in the nation.

In addition, the new oil tax will reduce the supply of oil produced in California, result in close to 10,000 lost jobs in California, and increase our dependency on oil imports (including from Venezuela, which is presided over by despotic leader Hugo Chavez). Since the transportation, distribution and refining cost of importing oil are greater than the costs associated with California oil production, consumers will pay higher gasoline prices as a result of the severance tax.

Source: An economic and… Read More

Governor Schwarzenegger’s statement in the Los Angeles Times today could have come from the mouth of Ronald Reagan. Of those Democrat members of the Legislature who refuse to cut spending that our state can’t afford, he said: "[d]o they want to protect the workers that provide the services, or do they want to protect the people that get those services? The choice is up to them."

Indeed it is. The Governor has put on the chopping block a myriad of proposals to reduce wasteful and unnecessary spending. All the Legislature has to do is connect-the-dots and begin shaping budget Legislation that truly balances the budget. What the Governor gets after the Props. 1 election fiasco, is that government works for the people, and not the other way around. The Democrats in the Legislature still don’t get that yet; as they feel, despite a huge electoral loss, thatgovernment is there for them to exercise power over all God’s things, including blueberries, and at the same time cuddle their state union comrades with unreasonably high wages and benefits, and in some cases needless jobs that don’t help… Read More

Pravda means "truth" in Russian and for years Pravda was the leading newspaper in the Soviet Union, as the "official organ of the Communist Party.’ It still operates today, has been online since 1999, and in late April it reprinted an article by Stanislav Mishin originally writing for Mat Rodina that concludes, in light of the General Motors fiasco, Obama’s economic policies andalso those of "Senator Barney Franks,"that Russian owners of American companies should consider closing their facilities and "fleeing the land of the Red as fast as possible." Red, in this context, means Communist, not Republican. There is clearly more than one irony reflected in this Pravda article.… Read More

Pacific Legal Foundation announced today that it is filing a lawsuit to challenge Caltrans’ new race- and sex-based quotas projects. According to PLF, Caltrans announced in March that it would be implementing the 2009 Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) Program, which “sets a quota of having 6.75 percent of contracts go to women or members of targeted, preferred groups – African American, Asian-Pacific American, and Native American (but not Latinos or any other group).” PLF filed the lawsuit on behalf of Associated General Contractors of America, San Diego Chapter.

During a media conference call today announcing the lawsuit, PLF principal attorney Sharon Browne explained that this new program not only violates the United States Constitution’s equal protection, it violates California’s Proposition 209. In fact, Ward Connerly, the former UC Regent who led the campaign to end race-based quotas in California’s government institutions, participated in the media conference call. Connerly stated that it’s wrong to place the construction industry in the… Read More

This just in from Assemblyman Martin Garrick who last week was named Assistant Assembly Republican Leader:

Predictably, the public employee union bosses and various left wing groups are calling for the repeal of various tax breaks on businesses that were part of the infamous big taxes/big spending/open primary budget deal that took place last February. In return for their political support for the $14+ billion in income, sales and car taxes in that deal, and support for another $16+ billion in more taxes in funding the Yes on 1A campaign (which thankfully lost), the "business community" got tax breaks through that will save business between $1-2.5 billion. Of course, since business in California is particularly overtaxed in the "Golden" state, who can blame them? Well, okay, I can. The whole thing stunk — where the business community should have allied with taxpayer protection groups and the Republican Party against ANY new taxes, they… Read More

The Orange County Register’s Brian Joseph is their Sacramento bureau chief and he wrote a great article on the State’s budget woes that appeared on the front page of Sunday’s paper. With the several other articles sharing the cover I decided that not even this Flash Report could replace the OC Register or other print dailies.

I wrote a column that appears on today’s Irvine World News on the subject of newpapers. You can check in out here.

I read a lot of new online, but there is something about grabbing the paper from the driveway that I enjoy and hope I always get to do.… Read More