The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), the state’s biggest and second-largest school district in the nation with more than 700,000 students, known for incompetence and corruption, has yet again, come under investigation for spending an enormous amount of taxpayer dollars on questionable contracts – while the district, not to mention the state, is facing historic budget deficits. According to the L. A. Daily News, May 13, 2008, “With Los Angeles Unified facing spending cuts of as much as a half-billion dollars amid a statewide budget crunch, the district is coming under renewed scrutiny for its nearly $175 million in consulting contracts with outside firms covering everything from legal help to improving student achievement.” Taxpayers should be shocked to know that, “The LAUSD has dozens of multiyear professional-services consulting deals that total… Read More

On this quiet Saturday, I thought I would take a few minutes to “vent” about something that has been bugging me. I live in Orange County, where one of the highest profile Republican legislative primaries has been the battle for the 33rd State Senate seat currently held by former Senate Republican Leader Dick Ackerman, who is coming to end of his final term. The two candidates are conservative Assemblywoman Mimi Walters and Anaheim Councilman Harry Sidhu. Walters is from Laguna Niguel on the southern end of the large district, and Sidhu hails from the north end.

Of course there are a lot of primaries taking place all over California, but only one has a candidate who wins my hastily created “You Have To Be Kidding Me/What A Hypocrite” Award.

It’s rare to see a race where on candidate opens up with attack mailer after attack mailer, which is what Harry Sidhu has done here. I think he sent out five pieces of blistering attack mail on Walters before she finally responded in kind.… Read More

On this quiet Saturday, I thought I would take a few minutes to “vent” about something that has been bugging me. I live in Orange County, where one of the highest profile Republican legislative primaries has been the battle for the 33rd State Senate seat currently held by former Senate Republican Leader Dick Ackerman, who is coming to end of his final term. The two candidates are conservative Assemblywoman Mimi Walters and Anaheim Councilman Harry Sidhu. Walters is from Laguna Niguel on the southern end of the large district, and Sidhu hails from the north end.

Of course there are a lot of primaries taking place all over California, but only one has a candidate who wins my hastily created “You Have To Be Kidding Me/What A Hypocrite” Award.

It’s rare to see a race where on candidate opens up with attack mailer after attack mailer, which is what Harry Sidhu has done here. I think he sent out five pieces of blistering attack mail on Walters before she finally responded in kind. To read… Read More

The past few weeks the national polls seem to be focused on the head to head match up between Senator Obama and Senator McCain on a national level. Who cares?

The election in November is going to depend on about a dozen states. In these states the McCain v. Obama contest is much closer.

Politico.com has this article that contemplates a McCain blowout. That is a little premature but it is focusing on the real question: Who will win the electoral college?… Read More

This letter was sent to over 3000 chiropractors in LA County, one of many communities abused, insulted and bullied by Sen. Mark Ridley-Thomas.

Former LAPD Chief and current city councilman Bernard Parks is working furiously to win the huge Supervisorial contest for Seat 2 in central LA County, this June 3. It’s a classic contest between the reasonable pro growth visionaries and old line corrupt redistributionist statists.

Dear Doctors :

Who is the worst guy in LA? Mark Ridley-Thomas [R-T]… Read More

The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), the state’s biggest and second-largest school district in the nation with more than 700,000 students, known for incompetence and corruption, has yet again, come under investigation for spending an enormous amount of taxpayer dollars on questionable contracts – while the district, not to mention the state, is facing historic budget deficits. According to the L. A. Daily News, May 13, 2008, “With Los Angeles Unified facing spending cuts of as much as a half-billion dollars amid a statewide budget crunch, the district is coming under renewed scrutiny for its nearly $175 million in consulting contracts with outside firms covering everything from legal help to improving student achievement.” Taxpayers should be shocked to know that, “The LAUSD has dozens of multiyear professional-services consulting deals … Read More

Just a sampling of some of the about 400 bills that were taken up in Assembly Appropriations yesterday that had been on the "Suspense file" and how they fared:

Those movingout of committee to our floor, in no particular order:

AB 2062 Ammo Bill- requires ID to buy ammunition and no mail sales, buyer must have a permit, fee required for background checks,etc. All Committee Republicans "No"

AB 2235 Handgun ban-would prohibit sale of any gun that doesn’t include technology that ID’s and only operates for the gun owner, biometric smart chip etc. All Reeps "No"

AB 2281 Dog Fight Spectators-raises penalties from a misdemeanor to a wobbler, a misdemeanor/felony for those that view dogfights All Reeps "Aye"

AB 2743 Marijuana Raids-would prohibitState agencies from helping Feds withmarijuana raids, arrests, orprosecutionsof supposed medical marijuana users Reeps "No"

AB 2784 DUI Ignition Interlock Devices-requires convicted DUI offenders to equip their cars with these systems Reeps "Aye"

AB 2083… Read More

Friday, May 23rd, 2008

Indian Gambling: Native American Indian Tribes have been allowed to hold legal gambling in many states for a long time. The original purpose of this was to give some economic activity to large numbers of full-blooded Indians living on reservations in remote areas with little economic opportunity. In many cases, such legal gambling has been successful in achieving the desired result.

However, now there is much abuse of this privilege. This abuse comes from the fact that there is absolutely huge money to be made from establishing one of these casinos, particularly if you can get it in or near an urban area. That gigantic profit opportunity comes from several factors. First of all, in most states, Indian casinos are a government-sanctioned monopoly, with little competition except from other Indian casinos. Secondly, they regulate themselves, by and large. So, unlike Nevada where the Nevada Gaming Commission (NGC) establishes and monitors minimum payouts, Indian casinos can pretty much pay out as little in winnings as they can get away with so their margins are much higher. And, of course, they are not subject… Read More