In the United States, we advocate a limited role for our government in order to ensure as much liberty and freedom for each and every American. Of course, with individual liberty comes individual responsibility. So we have to be very cautious about those times when the government, at any level, assumes responsibility in place of the individual person or business. When we apply this very basic principle to the current situation with the sub prime mortgage industry, where a seemingly vast number of people took out loans that, in hind sight, they may not have been able to afford. In many cases, these folks stretched too much, and bear an unfortunate responsibility for making a poor decision. In some cases, those who took out these loans were victimized by predatory lendors who "crossed the line" in their methods of getting people to take out these loans when they should not have done so. No matter whether the blame lies with the consumer who bought the loan, or a predatory lending company, you can be sure that who is not to blame is "the American people" as a whole — or their government, which is financed by their tax dollars.

I am… Read More

Here is the question. I guess I will commit the heresy:

Is this Governor really any better than Gray Davis was? Set aside Workers’ Compensation reform for a minute, his single greatest policy achievement.

He has spent more, borrowed more, wasted precious resources chasing idiotic greenhouse gas legislation, run the State GOP into debt, ignored his down ticket running mates in 2006, pandered to left wing social interests, and up until this year, dissed Republican lawmakers and their legislative priorities.

The State budget we are in now will go down as the second worst in history, right behind the disastrous 2000 budget. Finances are cratering. Spending roars on, and we haven’t’ even sold 25% of the approved bonds yet from the "infrastructure" package. Once those bonds are sold, the state’s payment will skyrocket – without the revenues.

Finally, the Governor is chasing his tail on health care. Employer mandates are a serious part of the discussion. Meanwhile, the health care market continues to reform itself, without government intervention. My guess is that there are two reasons why health care… Read More

In an episode of The Office, the tactless boss, Michael Scott, looks to Wikipedia to learn the art of negotiation.He seems to think that he’s getting reliable information: “Wikipedia is the best thing ever. Anyone in the world can write anything they want about any subject, so you know you are getting the best possible information.”Well, yeah, anyone can add to this site. And in some cases, your tax dollars are paying people to do so. A report released by The Sacramento Bee (October 17, 2007) revealed that “Sacramento government workers are doing their part to shape how we all see the world – inflating reputations, dabbling in pornography and whiling away work hours.” Shouldn’t we be proud that our state workers are (re)writing history? … Read More

Yes, I am a Rudy Giuliani supporter. Let’s get that out of the way.

Yesterday a political bombshell hit the media. Former Christian Coalition leader and 700 Club personality Pat Robertson endorsed Rudy Giuliani for President.

In its reports yesterday the Washington Post called Pat Robertson one of the most influential figures in the social conservative movement. They said Robertson’s endorsement of Giuliani is a significant blow to Mitt Romney, who has worked hard to court evangelical leaders.

I have been reporting here for some time that national and state polls have consistently favored Giuliani for the Republican nomination. Rudy has never been behind in a Republican poll. I have also been reporting that national polls, including in liberal states like New Jersey, show Rudy neck-and-neck with Hillary Clinton, who will be the Democrat nominee for President. Rudy can beat the Democrat. Polls show the other Republicans can not.

So, with just a few weeks until the California Republican presidential primary, who do we want to be the next President? Bill and Hillary… Read More

From Mighty Thor at www.redcountysandiego.com (I believe the news came first from a local progressive blog, actually) comes some amusing news of Republican turned DemocratAuday Arabo’s ‘frontrunner’ campaign for 78th state assembly imploding. Looks like the local Democrats are as eager as local Republicans to skin Auday alive.

The best part of the invite is where they mention Auday sued "the American Lung Association and City of El Cajon to block enforcement of tobacco sales to minors", always a winning issue.

The post:

Auday Arabo: A Man Without a Party MIGHTY THOR was just forwarded the following evite for a party for "the man without a party". The party scheduled for this Friday at Chevy’s celebrates Auday’s one year anniversary as a Republican Democrat. Click HERE to take a look at the evite. Here’s the text from the evite:

Host: No Fool For Assembly Location: Chevy’s Fresh Mex 1202 Camino Del Rio N, San Diego, CA 92108 US When: Friday, November 16, 6:00PM Phone:… Read More

Perhaps everyone should have been paying closer attention to the message being sent by Senate Republican Leader Dick Ackerman and his caucus during the Summer’s budget stalemate — that California is heading for a fiscal crisis, and that we needed to cut state spending.

Apparently the budget that was approved was smoke-and-mirrors after all. I think that the credibility of the Governor’s Finance Office and Democrat Legislative Budget staffers are at an all time low, as the ability to have a real balanced budget requires, as an essential component, the ability to make realistic forecasts of projected revenues. It would appear that projections aren’t just off, but they were grossly underestimated. Since state spending was set with these projections in mind, every day, week and month that goes by without revising our spending just makes matters worse.

While notable, it is not enough to for the Governor to ask his bureaucratic chiefs to plan for a 10% cut in next year’s budget. We need to deal with this problem now. As State Senator Bob Dutton has pointed out, the Governor has the power to call a State of Fiscal Emergency to… Read More

To: FlashReport Readers From: Dave Gilliard, Manager, California Counts RE: Electoral College Reform Initiative – An Update for FlashReport Readers! Just two weeks ago, the Electoral College Reform Initiative was destined to join many other great ideas that never made the ballot due to lack of money, organization or time. Today, thanks to the generous support from donors and herculean efforts from everyone working on the measure, I am very happy to inform… Read More

You have wonder about "Light" Governor John Garamendi. Perhaps he just has too much time on his hands since, in the Golden State, his job is primarily to hang out and be available in case the Governor becomes incapacitated. We have a suggestion for Garamendi — perhaps he should spend some time in his posh office today, seeing if he is capable of patting the top of his head while he rubs his tummy at the same time. It would appear that Garamendi doesn’t believe that mature adults know how to multi-task. In an effort to win a "Hot Air" award from the FlashReport, Garamendi started flapping his jaws yesterday, complaining that State Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner shouldn’t be spending any time opposing the Perata/Nunez Term-Limits End Run Initiative because all of Poizner’s time should be spent dealing with the aftermath of the wildfires. I know, Lt. Governor, that it might blow you away to hear this, since I guess it doesn’t work so… Read More