It would appear that the Governor is prepared to draw a line in the sand over whether the payroll and income tax increases that he proposes as part of his government-mandated healthcare proposal are, in fact, taxes!

The plan, in an of itself, is a repudiation of a lot of rhetoric that we have heard from Arnold Schwarzenegger going back to well before his election as Governor, as he has touted himself as a strong advocate of the free-market system. You can ask any of the centers of free-market thought from around the United States — the Cato Institute, the Foundation on Economic Education, the Heritage Foundation, the Reason Foundation, the Pacific Research Institute, the Claremont Foundation, and even our friends at the Wall Street Journal — I have personally spoken with or corresponded with folks from all of these bastions of free-market thought — and they are consistent with their opposition to the Governor’s proposal.

That said, the Governor apparently seems intent to refuse to allow the tax increases that would pull in billions of dollars in coerced revenue into state coffers to actually be called taxes. Governor, we have news for… Read More

There’s a lot of hot air being blown around about wind energy in Riverside County lately. More companies are looking to increase their holdings in the windy San Gorgonio Pass area heading into Palm Springs. Since that’s theplace they already have them operating, I say that’s the place to put ’em. That’s how good planning works.

However, groups that don’t want anybody to do anything anywhere are speaking up. Yesterday, the California Energy Commission and the Department of Fish and Gamemet in Riverside to talk about adopting guidelines that they hope will reduce the number of birds that are killed by the turbines, and the number of lawsuits filed on behalf of the birds. I should add that there is much controversy over the accuracy of the bird kill studies themselves.

Members of the wind industry have worked responsibly and diligently to improve their products. The newest generation of wind turbines are quiet anddon’t shake the ground due to the large slow moving blades. Upon observation, an obvious conclusion would be that many less birds are in danger now than before. That’s called… Read More

On yesterday’s show, Rush Limbaugh commented on both John Fund’s column and a New York Times article about a Federal Appeals Court decision that invalidated a Maryland healthcare bill. Given the news, it appears Schwarzenegger’s health care plan / tax on doctors could be in some serious trouble before it ever really gets off the ground.… Read More

If you are a denizen of the State Capitol and happen to come across State Senator Tom Harman, I’m quite certain there will be a broad smile on his face. Today, Dana Point City Councilwoman Diane Harkey threw her hat into the ring for the 73rd State Assembly District GOP primary, in a bid to succeed Assemblywoman Mimi Walters in this safe Republican legislative district in south Orange County. Harkey ran a valiant and conservative campaign against then Assemblyman Tom Harman in a special election when former State Senator John Campbell was elected to Congress in a special election to replace Christopher Cox, who was tapped by the President to head up the Securities and Exchange Commission (whew, that was a long sentence). Harman, who also ran on conservative themes won that special election, though it is clear to those of us who follow such things that Harman benefited (as he did in his first legislative election) from the ‘open primary’ nature of the election, where Democrats… Read More

A few minutes ago, the last remaining hurdle for the disbursement of over $1Million to the families of five firefighters who died while battling the Esperanza fire in October was cleared as Senator Battin’s SB 41 and Assemblyman Benoit’s AB 108 both cleared their respective housesunopposed. Legislation was introduced indual houses, both inCongress, as well as the State, due to the urgent nature of the proposal.

What makes this commonsense legislation "blogworthy", other than ultruistic nature of the bills, was the guiding through the process by two veteran, well respected legislators from Riverside County.

Since the legislature convened just two weeks ago, bills are not yet eligible to be heard, due to constitutional timelines. Both legislators requested and received "rule waivers", granted unanimously, to move the bills forward. In the Democratic controlled legislature, this concession rarely gets handed to Republican legislators, although bi-partisanship tends to pervade in times of emergency. Kudos to these two for having the understanding and relationships to work the process effectively.

After the October… Read More

Assemblyman Todd Sptizer, when accepting the Legislator of the Year Award from the Orange County Republican Party last Monday night, gave a heartfelt speech. In it, he recounted to the hundreds present about his disappointment over the Governor’s Inaugural address. Click here to hop over to Red County/OC Blog, where Matt Cunningham has posted the video. It’s worth taking the two minutes to watch. To Spitzer I say, "Here, here."… Read More

Today the Governor made21 more appointments into State Government — 12 Republicans,5 Democrats and4 Decline-To-State (we hope this ismore of a trend…):

There is a lot being written about Governor Schwarzenegger’s health care proposal, but one of the most interesting analyses I’ve read lately is Senator Sheila Kuehl’s take on the plan. For free market types, it is a look at how committed the liberals are to having government take over health care (and how little they care about the cost of health care, as long as employees don’t have to pay for anything). For the governor’s staff and legislative Republicans, it tells them exactly what Kuehl and other universal health care advocates will continue to push for as the legislature begins to debate the governor’s proposal (She doesn’t even like the liberal stuff he proposed!).

Here are a few highlights from an essay Kuehl wrote this week critiquing the plan:

** ON THE INDIVIDUAL MANDATE: "The central basis of the Governor’s plan is simply to mandate that every Californian must, by law, carry health insurance. There is no requirement that it be affordable and no minimum… Read More