I am attending the National Taxpayers Union annual conference at the Renaissance Hotel in Washington, D.C. this weekend with Jon Coupal, Presidentof the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, and have just sat-in on a session on media relations featuring speakers Deroy Murdock and John Fund. Readers may not know that both Murdock and Fund, both professional journalists with national reputations, also both hail from California and were active in conservative politics in the Golden State as young men.

In fact,Murdock not only was a southern California conservative activitist, he was also a YAF member, and attended the 1983 YAF National Convention in Los Angeles (my last as National Chairman). And Fund, from San Francisco, has a YAF and Movement pedigree as well.

Murdock moved-on to Georgetown University where he received his BA, and then attended New York University, where he earned an MBA. Today he is nationally syndicated through Scripps-Howard and is associated with the Hoover Institute and the Atlas Foundation, and lives in New York City.

Fund worked for a California Republican state legislator as a young man, and got his break about 25 years ago… Read More

This oped by Congressman David Dreier appeared in today’s Inland Valley Daily Bulletin: Giuliani’s The Man To Secure Our Borders

Rudy Giuliani understands the problems of illegal immigration. He knows that without securing our border and knowing who is in our country, we will not be able to keep our citizens safe.

That is why I am pleased that Rudy has been at the forefront of this border security debate by advocating a tamper-proof card tied to a common database that government agencies would be able to access, allowing us to know who is in the country, why they are here, and where they are. Immigrants who overstay their visas will be able to be… Read More

The Castle Coalition, a project of the Institute for Justice recently released a report written by Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle on how cities can grow, even in their urban cores, without the use of eminent domain.

Pringle and Anaheim are the model for this sort of activity with their highly successful Platinum Triangle development centered around the city’s baseball stadium. But Anaheim has also had similar success in redeveloping its downtown, again without the use of any government taking or the threat of taking.

Anaheim does not have a corner on the market for urban infill. In fact in Irvine there is a similarly significant activity with private land owners recognizing the value they can reap from changing land uses and building up. Irvine too… Read More

THE BUDGET NEEDS AN $8 BILLION HAIRCUT Today, according to the California Constitution, is the technical deadline for passing a balanced state budget. The lack of a budget agreement is actual a good thing for California taxpayers, because it means that fiscally responsible Republican legislators are resolved to see some reigning in of California’s out-of-control ballooning state budget. We here at the FlashReport support the efforts of State Senate Republican Leader Dick Ackerman and Assembly Republican Leader Mike Villines to impose curbs in discretionary state spending. If anything, our biggest challenge is that state government spending is so out-of-whack that none of the proposals for cuts come even close to addressing the massive over-spending. If you read our featured column today from John Seiler, you would conclude that the starting point in budget negotiations should be finding an immediate $8 billion in spending cuts. ___________________________… Read More

THE BUDGET NEEDS AN $8 BILLION HAIRCUT Today, according to the California Constitution, is the technical deadline for passing a balanced state budget. The lack of a budget agreement is actual a good thing for California taxpayers, because it means that fiscally responsible Republican legislators are resolved to see some reigning in of California’s out-of-control ballooning state budget. We here at the FlashReport support the efforts of State Senate Republican Leader Dick Ackerman and Assembly Republican Leader Mike Villines to impose curbs in discretionary state spending. If anything, our biggest challenge is that state government spending is so out-of-whack that none of the proposals for cuts come even close to addressing the massive over-spending. If you read our featured column today from John Seiler, you would conclude that the starting point in budget negotiations should be finding an immediate $8 billion in spending cuts. ___________________________… Read More

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Just click here to go to the FR Weblog, where this Commentary has its own blog post, and where you can read and make comments.… Read More

With my kids out of school this week and my son turning five yesterday, I have to admit to being just a little bit behind on the news (up on it enough, however, to know that my Dodgers are 7 1/2 games in front of the Giants!). As I was playing catch up today, I was interested to read the glowing story on the new Mandarin immersion program as San Francisco Unified’s Star King Elementary.

The new program, which will expand to first grade next year, immersed 26 kindergarteners in the new language, while teaching them standard kindergarten curriculum at the same time.

School Principal Chris Rosenberg told the SF Chronicle, "It was a fantastic year. Did the kids learn Mandarin while mastering the grade-level standards? Yes. It was a big success, a great success."

I can’t help to wonder why educators are still dragging their feet on… Read More

A mom in Sacramento who once again caught her son high on weed decided to make his punishment public this week. Christine Drye got her 16 year old son, Dominiq, out of bed and drove him to the corner of Howe and Hurley, gave him a sign that read, “I’m stupid. I smoke ‘weed’ marijuana” and made him stand there from 7:00 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. You can read the full story here. Of course, there are people who think Dominiq’s mom was too harsh on the boy, but he doesn’t think so. Neither does his coach, who stopped to shake his mom’s hand.

My kids are small enough now that the biggest problems I have are my daughters leaving their bedroom light on 24/7 and my son never picking up his Legos.… Read More