From today’s Wall Street Journal Political Diary E-mail, read by business and political leaders around the nation:

Girl’s Talk

It was inevitable that after Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger broke his ironclad pledge against tax increases last week by proposing a universal health insurance plan that his old liberal critics would begin to taunt him.

Democratic Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, a veteran Arnold adversary, was first out of the gate. "This is a plan Assembly Democrats could have written," he crowed. But even more stinging was the New Republic. In its latest issue, its editors recalled the governor’s… Read More

FR friend Ron Nehring (pictured to the right), the incoming Chairman of the California Republican Party in just a few weeks, is out in Washington, D.C. for the Winter meeting of the Republican National Committee. There, the RNC members are gathered to elect new officers for the 2007-2008 term. Here is Ron’s "live" report, received literally moments ago: California’s Tim Morgan, Republican National Committeeman and CRP Rules Committee Chairman, was moments ago elected Treasurer of the Republican National Committee by acclamation here in Washington, D.C. The RNC is meeting here at the Grand Hyatt for its bi-annual organizational meeting. Among the… Read More

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

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