Obesity is a major problem in America. Here in California, it is an especially big problem in state government. Government spending keeps going up and up, and government income keeps going up and up. Right now we find ourselves in a state government money crunch because while the state’s income continues to climb, the voratious appetite of legislative Democrats to spend (aided by Governors of both parties) seems to have no limits.

Well, it is time for state government to go on a diet. It is time to get on the treadmill and shed billions of dollars in unsustainable spending. Government will have to do less, to provide less.

From an ideological perspective, this kind of reasoning is foreign to the liberals in the majority, who today called for shameful growth in state taxes to the tune of over $9 billion. From a pragmatic side, eventually spending is going to have to be prioritized. There is no magic wand for our overspending problem, we’re simply going to have to make cuts.

Raising taxes to match overspending is not only immoral, it is also impractical as we need our economy to thrive – and nothing will help promote a… Read More

There is no publication that has devoted more time to the shady deals of lame duck Senate President Pro-Tem Don "The Golden Pig" Perata than the East Bay Express. It’s been a well publicized fact that Perata and his shady deals have been the subject of a major investigation by the Feds.

The Express is running front-web-page story saying that an indictment may be just around the corner for Mr. Perata and his cohorts. Read it here.

(H/T to Steve Frank)… Read More

This morning, the FlashReport wants to draw the attention of our readers to a very important column in this month’s edition of Red County Magazine. While not a lengthy piece, the commentary, We Refuse To Support A Permanent Minority, penned by Orange County Lincoln Club President Rich Wagner and fellow Board Member Chip Hanlon, represents an important watershed moment in Republican politics — the leadership of one of America’s most prominent Republican donor organizations shining a bright spotlight an ugly side of our Republican Senate and House Conferences in Washington, D.C. — an addiction to big government and pork-barrel earmarking. Wikopedia defines the phrase Elephant in the Room as an, "English idiom for an obvious truth that is being ignored or goes unaddressed. It is based on the idea that an elephant in a small room would be impossible to overlook." The strongly-worded… Read More

Democratic Presidential candidate Barrack Hussein Obama has established an "enemies" list on his official campaign website that "names names" of people and organizations that are publicly critical of him. "Who is Behind these Lies" is the name of the landing page at http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/behindthesmears, part of the offfical "Obama ’08" website and paid for by the official Obama for President campaign. Obama identifies "Smears Inc." to include my friend and fellow Western Conservative Political Action Conference director Floyd Brown, conservative author Craig Shirley, mega conservative donor Bob Perry, and me, among others, as his official enemies. Obama attacks me on the site for being "a long-time conservative activist" who has been a "soldier in the conservative movement for many years." Yikes! How many years in Obama’s jail systemdo you get for that?

These hit lists are nothingnew forliberal Democrats. During the Clinton Administration, the First Lady had FBI… Read More

This morning, the FlashReport wants to draw the attention of our readers to a very important column in this month’s edition of Red County Magazine. While not a lengthy piece, the commentary, We Refuse To Support A Permanent Minority, penned by Orange County Lincoln Club President Rich Wagner and fellow Board Member Chip Hanlon, represents an important watershed moment in Republican politics — the leadership of one of America’s most prominent Republican donor organizations shining a bright spotlight an ugly side of our Republican Senate and House Conferences in Washington, D.C. — an addiction to big government and pork-barrel earmarking. Wikopedia defines the phrase Elephant in the Room as an, "English idiom for an obvious truth that is being ignored or goes unaddressed. It is based on the idea that an elephant in a small room would be impossible to overlook." The strongly-worded… Read More

Today marks day seven of the new fiscal year — a week without an adopted budget for the state of California. Much has been said already, and will be said over the coming weeks and possibly months about how we’ve ended up with such a budget challenge — but Sacramento Bee columnist Dan Walters summed it up nicely in a column yesterday when he said, "…today’s crisis primarily stems from voters and politicians spending more money than the revenue system can produce, even in a good economy." Last week it was reported that Assembly Speaker Karen Bass had sent legislators home until July 14. That is ridiculous. The (unfortunate) reality is that California has an overdue budget AND a full-time legislature. That means that, frankly, all of our state legislators, having taken their three day weekend for America’s birthday, should be returning today to the State Capitol to roll up their sleeves and work towards a fiscally prudent state budget… Read More

Today marks day seven of the new fiscal year — a week without an adopted budget for the state of California. Much has been said already, and will be said over the coming weeks and possibly months about how we’ve ended up with such a budget challenge — but Sacramento Bee columnist Dan Walters summed it up nicely in a column yesterday when he said, "…today’s crisis primarily stems from voters and politicians spending more money than the revenue system can produce, even in a good economy." Last week it was reported that Assembly Speaker Karen Bass had sent legislators home until July 14. That is ridiculous. The (unfortunate) reality is that California has an overdue budget AND a full-time legislature. That means that, frankly, all of our state legislators, having taken their three day weekend for America’s birthday, should be returning today to the State Capitol to roll up their sleeves and work towards a fiscally prudent state budget… Read More

I was sifting through my e-mails, and got a heads up from an FR reader that the folks at VSP (Vision Service Plan — the uber-large vision insurance that state employees, and millions of others have) are parking their RV-Style "Mobile Eyecare Coach" at the east entrance of the Capitol. I’m sure that from 10am to 1pm, the VSP folks will be swamped. They won’t have any trouble telling the Republicans from the Democrats. The former will be eyeing the "Coach" skeptically, and asking questions to discern whether any tax dollars went into its creation — and Democrats will all be asking why they can’t see the color red (as in RED INK).

Then again, tomorrow most Capitol workers may be over across the street at The Golden One Credit Union filling out paperwork for interest free loans in lieu of paychecks that will not be coming until after a budget is enacted. (The flyer I got from VSP is attached. This post is proof that just about anything can be fodder for the FR Blog!)… Read More