Yesterday, I had the distinct pleasure of attending one of the Pacific Research Institute’s reliably superb events: a seminar on the Middle East given by Dr. Daniel Pipes. I can honestly say that I’ve never seen such a brilliant man carry his expertise as effortlessly and devoid of pretense as Dr. Pipes did at the PRI luncheon. My feeble attempt to summarize his presentation for FR readers is like trying to squeeze a basketball into a Coke bottle, and there is no way I can possibly replicate the experience of seeing Dr. Pipes in person, but I’ll do my best to give you all a snapshot.

His presentation was entitled, “The Five I’s – Iraq, Iran, Israel, Islamism, and Islam in Europe.”

On Iraq: He advocates “staying the course, but changing the course.” Dr. Pipes is not in favor of a date-specific timeline for withdrawal, but he recommends turning over more responsibility to the Iraqi government faster. He said our troops need to be pulled out of the tactical… Read More

The US Supreme Court issued a major ruling today dealing a blow to unions’ use of nonmember fees for political purposes. In Davenport v. Washington Education Association, the Court ruled that states could enact “paycheck protection” laws which require unions made up of state employees to seek the affirmative consent before using nonmember fees for political purposes. This decision will have major implications nation-wide. Indeed, here in California a paycheck protection initiative was narrowly defeated in both 1998 and 2005. This ruling is likely to cause the issue to be revisited here in California, and is likely to clear away legal arguments made by unions in opposition to these types of measures.… Read More

Read about it here.… Read More

Koeberer, Albiani and Guilbault. All three are nominees by Governor Schwarzenegger to the California Community College Board of of Governors. If FR sources are right, all three of these nominees will soon be former Board of Governors members. In order to be confirmed to these positions, you need a 2/3 vote of the State Senate. Perhaps all three should have thought about that before the took radical pro-criminal alien policy positions on the Board of Governors (once appointed by the Governor, they can serve up to a year without confirmation).

State Senator Bob Dutton, one of two GOPers on the Senate Rules Committee, found out about the radical views of these nominees and prepared an extensive briefing for his GOP colleagues. We obtained a copy of his written briefing, which is reprinted below.

From other reliable sources (not Senator Dutton, I might add), we learned that Senate Republicans are resolute about not confirming these nominees.

**There is more – click the link**… Read More

Koeberer, Albiani and Guilbault. All three are nominees by Governor Schwarzenegger to the California Community College Board of of Governors. If FR sources are right, all three of these nominees will soon be former Board of Governors members. In order to be confirmed to these positions, you need a 2/3 vote of the State Senate. Perhaps all three should have thought about that before the took radical pro-criminal alien policy positions on the Board of Governors (once appointed by the Governor, they can serve up to a year without confirmation).

State Senator Bob Dutton, one of two GOPers on the Senate Rules Committee, found out about the radical views of these nominees and prepared an extensive briefing for his GOP colleagues. We obtained a copy of his written briefing, which is reprinted below.

From other reliable sources (not Senator Dutton, I might add), we learned that Senate Republicans are resolute about not confirming these nominees.

Note to the Governor: Please nominate new Board of Governors members who are not interested in increasing illegal immigration to California by increasing taxpayer funded benefits to them. … Read More

War profiteer and filmmakerMichael Moore (Fahrenheit 911 $260M worlwide gross) visited the State Capitol with a message of health care socialism yesterday. Here is one of his more ridiculous (of many) quotes: "’There is no room for the concept of profits when taking care of people when they are sick," Moore told a crowd of nearly a thousand nurses who swarmed the west steps of the Capitol.

I wonder if there could be anyone dumber than this guy. The profit motive in health care drives all innovation, all advancement, all efficiency and all progress in the industry. Socialist countries with single payer health care produce no advanced medical technology of their own, no new pharmaceutical drugs, and massive rationing and wait times. Nobody from the United States goes to Canada for advanced treatments.

The single largest cost drivers in our private health system are illegal immigration and government run health programs such as Medicare and Medicaid. Hospitals and practitioners lose… Read More

We are pleased to present this commentary from Jon Coupal, President of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association:

"Scary"

Lots of things bother me about horror movies, but one of the big things is the inability to warn the victims that a grisly fate awaits them just around the corner. There are times when, at one time or another, we have all wanted to stand up in the theatre and yell "don’t go in that creepy mansion, you fool!"

**There is more – click the link**

View Full Commentary… Read More

We are pleased to present this commentary from Jon Coupal, President of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association:

"Scary"

Lots of things bother me about horror movies, but one of the big things is the inability to warn the victims that a grisly fate awaits them just around the corner. There are times when, at one time or another, we have all wanted to stand up in the theatre and yell "don’t go in that creepy mansion, you fool!" In horror movies, "ignorance is bliss" is a decidedly wrong idea. Ignorance leads to nasty encounters with characters like Freddie, Chucky or Hannibal. Equating ignorance with bliss is also a decidedly wrong idea when it comes… Read More