On this quiet Saturday, we are pleased to offer this outstanding column from Jon Coupal, President of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association…

Most high school students, at least in the old days, learned in civics class that there are three branches of government each of which has a discernible and distinct function. That is not to say that the lines of demarcation are always clear. There remains constant tension among these branches at both the federal and state levels and their respective powers ebb and flow with political changes and other events.

In addition to the Separation of Powers doctrine, there are profound issues of federalism that constantly arise with respect to the powers of the individual states relative to our national government. Here, too, the respective powers change; sometimes incrementally and sometimes dramatically, such as the shift in power resulting from the Civil War.… Read More

On this quiet Saturday, we are pleased to offer this outstanding column from Jon Coupal, President of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association…

Most high school students, at least in the old days, learned in civics class that there are three branches of government each of which has a discernible and distinct function. That is not to say that the lines of demarcation are always clear. There remains constant tension among these branches at both the federal and state levels and their respective powers ebb and flow with political changes and other events.

In addition to the Separation of Powers doctrine, there are profound issues of federalism that constantly arise with respect to the powers of the individual states relative to our national government. Here, too, the respective powers change; sometimes incrementally and sometimes dramatically, such as the shift in power resulting from the Civil War.

These often academic issues are now having a real world impact on… Read More

I’ve always been interested in doing a family tree but it was one of those things I just never knew how to do or get around to. And as the last of my line with no living relatives the work seemed a pretty daunting task, with no one to talk to about family history anymore. But I saw the advertisement on television for www.ancestry.com last week and decided to invest just $29.95 for a month’s premium service to tinker around with public records and see what might come up. I wasn’t expecting much, but found that the website, supported by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, was a hugely powerful research device, that helped me learn about each generation of the Lacy family by popping up "hints" as I worked through Census Data, Marriage, Death, and government service records.

And boy, did I find something! I learned that I am related to Henry Clay, the iconic three-time Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, U.S. Senator and U.S. Secretary of State! My great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandmother, Eilzabeth Hudson, born in Hanover County,… Read More

Tony Snow was a great guy and it is being reported this morning that cancer has taken his life. While most recently Snow was spokesman for our President, his time with Fox News is what really impacted most of us. I enjoyed many e-mail exchanges with Tony, and a few sit downs over coffee. He was a great conservative and a smart guy. We’ll miss him. Our sympathies go out to his family.… Read More

This just in from Navy Commander Larry Wahl, Ret’d. I think it is worth a read on what he has to say about some comments made by Don Perata earlier this week…

If you are caught stealing from a neighbor, the police would surely arrest you for theft. Well, that’s basically what has been happening in Sacramento, but so far, no arrests have been made. In fact, the City is not even sure where thousands of “missing” water meters have gone. To date, the bill to ratepayers has hit more than a million dollars however, yet not one person has been held accountable. According to the Sacramento Bee, (June 26, 2008), “The city of Sacramento cannot currently find or track nearly 4,500 water meters that the city has purchased in recent years at a cost of $1.3 million. On top of that, the city’s Utilities Department has been operating with such lax oversight that it repeatedly entered into no-bid contracts for meter-reading equipment that should have… Read More

Is there something special about the figure $9 billion, other than it is a huge amount of money?

Well, it has been a popular figure this week — and a potentially expensive one for Californians. Earlier in the week, the liberal Democrats who dominate the California legislature held a press conference and announced that in order for California to be a state worth living in (or words to that effect), we all need to embrace $9 billion in new taxes. Seriously. I was proud that the immediate and strong response from legislative Republicans was that this proposal was dead on arrival (fortunately for taxpayers, the State Constitution requires a two-thirds vote of each legislative chamber to raise taxes — how prescient). Actually, I mused to one legislator friend that Republicans should match the call by Democrats for billions in new taxes with a call for an equal amount in tax cuts. Somebody somewhere is going to start saying "let’s compromise" and I say the GOP position should be such that the "middle" represents no additional taxation on Californians. I thought to myself that one… Read More

I have made a major part of my Congressional career so far to be one of the leaders [along with Jeff Flake (R-AZ)] in the fight against the wasteful and abusive pork spending known as earmarks. I would love to tell you that we have been successful in getting earmarks eliminated or substantially reformed. But no. Gosh, I wish I could tell you that at least they are all being disclosed or not dropped into bills in the dark of night with no hearing. But that hasn’t happened either. There has been a bipartisan addiction to these things which continues to this day.

But what we have been successful in doing is raising the issue with the press and the public. Just a couple of years ago, the public didn’t even know what was going on with earmarks and the press didn’t cover them. But that has all changed. The press now is all over the issue and polls show that the public overwhelmingly wants the practice to stop. Even in Alaska, in which the famed "bridge to nowhere" was to be built and where the earmarks per capita are by far the highest in the country, a majority of the voting public would now give up the pork to see all earmarks go away. Senator… Read More