Great news for California homeschoolers! The 2nd Appellate District Court ruled this morning that homeschooling is a legitimate form of education in the Golden State. Home School Legal Defense Association just sent out the following press release:

Homeschoolers Win Landmark Case

In a 3-0 decision the California Court of Appeal for the Second Appellate District reversed its earlier ruling which would have required homeschoolers to be certified teachers in order to homeschool in California.

"This is a great victory for homeschool freedom," said Michael Farris, one of the team of attorneys who argued the case before the court and Chairman of HSLDA. "I have never seen such an impressive array of people and organizations coming to the defense of homeschooling. The team effort was remarkable," he added.

Mr. L of In re Rachel L was represented by Gary Kreep of the U.S. Justice Foundation and the Alliance Defense Fund. The court agreed to re-hear In re Rachel L in March after… Read More

There is some controversy over the Governor’s pledge to veto all bills sent to him before a budget is passed, because one of the bills on the way to him is one that he supports, that re-jiggers to his liking and gives favorable ballot placement to the multi-billion dollar hi-speed rail boondoggle (you know, where ALL Californians pay for trains that will be used by only a small fraction of the state’s residents) set to appear on this November’s ballot.

So far the Governor has continued to maintain that he will veto ALL bills, which would include this one.

But I wouldn’t bet on it, as the Governor has infamously boasted of the benefits of flip flopping. The deadline for the bill to be signed in time to matter is this Monday…… Read More

The Governor’s recent threat to veto every bill until a budget is adopted gave me an idea.

Now I am going to say this, and somewhere some bozo in the press is going to take this out of context, and claim that it is some secret legislative Republican plan. Of course, if I were in a Republican caucus still, I would have already said it. The truth is, for those of you in the press who read this, this is a joke. It is a good idea, but it is a joke.

This is an even numbered year, which means the legislative session ends on August 31 at midnight. After August 31, it takes a vote of three quarters of the Legislature to pass any bill that is not a tax measure or appropriation. On August 31 at midnight, every bill that has not passed dies, unless the Republicans agree to allow it to be heard.

Since Democrats never let any good Republican bill pass, the Governor’s threat gives the Republicans a legislative strategy, in addition to their budget strategy. More important, since this Governor has no aversion to really bad, intrusive government measures, Republicans can’t even count on the Governor to stop bad legislation. So how they stop… Read More

On Wednesday, Governor Schwarzenegger said that he thinks legislators should not be paid when the budget is late. Actually, many people have expressed that sentiment. This session, Republican Senator Jeff Denham carried legislation to do just that (it was soundly defeated in committee).

I actually disagree with the Governor, Senator Denham, and others who advocate this policy. The reason is that it seems to support the notion that any budget, whether good or bad, is better than no budget.

From the perspective of protecting taxpayers, like in this budget year, I don’t want conservative legislators who may not be able to afford skipping paychecks to be forced to choose between paying their mortgage, or voting for a bad budget with a tax increase.

If a proposed budget is bad enough, better to have no budget, I say. Fortunately, our legislators are being paid, so they can keep voting against tax increases until Christmas, if need be.… Read More

Much has been written about the Governor’s radical shift in abandoning his dual pledges to “blow up the boxes” and “tear up the credit cards.”

We believed Arnold Schwarzenegger then: electing him twice and passing Propositions 57 & 58 – giving him $15 billion to fix the budget and supposedly put a lid on state over-spending.

And, when running for his first re-election, Schwarzenegger called for support from voters, saying "Help Governor Schwarzenegger protect the California dream – with no new taxes!"

But the “dream” is quickly turning into a fiscal nightmare.

People are struggling with the multiple crises of dramatically increased energy and food costs, the housing slump, and the real risk of recession. Meanwhile, the Governor is now proposing raising the sales tax and Legislative Democrats are pushing to eliminate the child… Read More

Much has been written about the Governor’s radical shift in abandoning his dual pledges to “blow up the boxes” and “tear up the credit cards.”

We believed Arnold Schwarzenegger then: electing him twice and passing Propositions 57 & 58 – giving him $15 billion to fix the budget and supposedly put a lid on state over-spending.

And, when running for his first re-election, Schwarzenegger called for support from voters, saying "Help Governor Schwarzenegger protect the California dream – with no new taxes!"

**There is more – click the link**

View Full Commentary… Read More

The Assembly started session at 9:00 this morning, and it was obvious from the start that Republicans are not going to let the Democrats get away any longer with putting off a budget vote. As soon as Speaker Pro Tempore Sally Lieber announced, as part of the regular order of business, that there were no messages from the Governor, Assemblyman Todd Spitzer jumped up to clarify. He inquired how the governor could announce, as he did yesterday, he would veto all bills that reach his desk before the budget is passed and yet there were no “formal” messages from his office. Lieber offered some parliamentary excuse. Moments later Assemblyman Sam Blakeslee moved the orders of the day to ensure the Democrats wouldn’t skip over file item #67—a budget vote. He was assured that the legislature would move in order of the file.

Assemblyman Chuck DeVore then rose to question why bills were being passed when the governor will veto them. Running the floor at the moment, Assemblywoman Lori Saldana stated the obvious when she responded, “The governor’s statement yesterday has no impact on this house.” Assemblyman Spitzer then succeeded in getting Democrats to go on record… Read More

The RNC announced the officers of the GOP Convention in Minneapolis. Among them three Californians – U.S. Congressman Kevin McCarthy serves as one of the Co-Chairmen of the Platform Committee, U.S. Congressman David Dreier will serve as Parliamentarian, and California’s Republican National Committeeman, Tim Morgan (who will be replaced by Shawn Steel at the close of the convention), who serves as RNC Treasurer, will serve as Convention Treasurer.

(h/t to the CRP)… Read More