This is the first in a series of stories about the Japanese forced in to labor camps in Siberia immediately following the end of WWll.

Seventy years have passed since World War II ended, but for many Japanese soldiers captured and deported toSoviet detention camps in Siberia, the story needs to be told.

At the time of Japan’s surrender to Allied forces on August 15, 1945, most of the rest of the world thought it was the end of World War ll. However, another horror was just beginning for more than 600,000 soldiers of Japan’s army; they were deported to Soviet labor camps in Siberia known as Shiberia yokuryū, the Siberian Internment. Most were held for years, and forced into labor and reeducation campaigns. More than 60,000 of the captured Japanese soldiers died.

Most Americans are unaware that the Soviet Red Army imprisoned more than a half-a million Japanese soldiers and civilians immediately following the end of World War II in 1945. The Red Army deported the Japanese to labor camps in Siberia, where many remained imprisoned until 1956, despite Japan’s efforts to gain their release.

And it’s been a little-discussed topic even in… Read More

Back in February 2014 the California Policy Center publicly announced the Transparent California website, developed in partnership with the Nevada Policy Research Institute. An article covering this announcement was posted on the Forbes Magazine website, entitled “Hundreds Of California Government Employees Are Paid Over $400,000 A Year,” which a review of2013 Transparent California data(2014 data is still being assembled) easily confirms. As a matter of fact, in 2013, total compensation in excess of $400,000 was paid to 1,292 public servants in California. A staggering 2,818 of California’s public employees collected total compensation in excess of $300,000 in 2013.

Some have argued that it is misleading to claim people are making, for example, over $400,000 per year, when in fact the $400,000 being referenced is total compensation, not regular earnings. We reject this argument categorically. It is incumbent on anyone who assesses compensation to treat total… Read More

In America, we have a double standard when it comes to tax issue groups. The press and the Left labels any group that opposes tax increases as “anti-tax.” Yet I’ve NEVER heard the left wing groups pushing higher taxes defined as “pro-tax.” Why is that?

Okay, okay — the Left controls the MSM and academia — we all get that. But “anti-tax” is a labeling double standard that too many conservative pundits routinely employ when describing the position of taxpayer advocate groups.

Moreover, an “anti-tax” group is periodically accused to being opposed to taxes, PERIOD. ALL taxes.

Of course, such a zero-tax group is a nonexistent straw man — outside of anarchist groups (is not an “anarchist group” in itself an oxymoron?). Logically speaking, should not that labeling standard mean that any group favoring tax increases therefore favors 100% taxes?

I think it’s important to bring this labeling inconsistency up in the debates over taxes. I use this as a response to the “anti-tax” stereotype the progressives love to use to smear any opponent of higher… Read More

The ugly truth about the business side of the abortion culture in America recently became even more gruesome. The undercover operation of the Center for Medical Progressrevealed Planned Parenthood’s government subsidized abortion and political business has also been raising funds by harvesting and selling fetal body parts. Nothing is off the table – brain matter, eyes, hands, livers, hearts, lungs, and assorted tissue from aborted infants in various stages of development.

The accompanying videos show Planned Parenthood abortion doctors talking about their work as if its just another day at the office, and they are negotiating bulk sales of wheat instead of the prices for baby body parts.

… Read More

In 2009 I wrote a controversial piece about privatizing library services. Well, it was controversial for public employee librarians and their fans. But it’s not just some unproven theory — it’s been done, and done well.

Riverside County has a 35 branch system. In 1996 the county contracted out the OPERATION of the libraries to Library Systems and Services, LLC(LSSI), a private company that provides this service nationwide to public libraries. The county retained title to the buildings and grounds. At that time, the county was in financial difficulties, so it sought an alternative to its problem-plagued library system.

The county paid LSSI the same operating budget it was paying for the government run library system. The result was substantially more library hours, more programs, bigger book budgets and FAR fewer customer complaints.

While LSSI guaranteed to hire the same staff at the same salaries, it reduced the benefits package to private sector standards. Moreover, the employees were then “at will”… Read More

Yet another feminism-based bill by State Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson, D-Santa Barbara, claims to “close the wage gap that women face at work.” So far, SB 358 has passed the Senate on a unanimous vote, 38-0, and now the Assembly with full Republican support. Republicans voted for this drivel. The bill also has the support of the California Chamber of Commerce.

This is a profoundly bad bill that has nothing whatsoeverto do with equal pay for equal work.

According to Jackson’s Senate website:

“Senate Bill 358, the California Fair Pay Act, would ensure that women are paid equally for work that is substantially similar to the work of their male colleagues, and do not face retaliation if they discuss or ask how much their male colleagues are paid. If signed into law, it would be the strongest equal pay law in the nation.

‘Equal pay isn’t just the right thing for women, it’s the right thing for our economy and for… Read More

The coalition seeking to put a statewide bond measure for school construction on the ballot in California in 2016 appears to have succeeded. It submitted petitions with signatures to the California Secretary of State several weeks ahead of the deadline.

The Secretary of State will soon determine if the coalition obtained enough valid signatures to qualify the bond measure for the ballot. Based on current projections, California voters will indeed get the chance in 2016 to authorize the State of California to borrow $9 billion via bond sales to help local school districts build or renovate facilities.

Three ballot measures authorizing the state to borrow a total of $35.8 billion for school construction passed easily in… Read More

Buried in our California water bills are the inflated salaries and benefits of our public water works “public servants.” The examples in the article below are instructive — and not that unusual.

It includes a chart that compares the pay of water department employees with the average pay for such work. BTW, included in that average are our government workers, which thus skews the figure higher than the true private sector average.

The superiority of government pay can be breathtaking, contrary to what the public employee labor unions tell the press. And this example doesn’t plumb the depths of the benefits disparity, which is much greater.

One of the worst disparities in this comparison is “garage attendant.” The average private sector pay is $29,175 for this unskilled position. This water department pays their attendants $68,130. Not mentioned is the difference in pensions — most private sector garage attendants get only social security — with MAYBE a modest 401k plan. A lowly 30 year government attendant will get an annual pension of $47,000 to $63,000 — after a career that included rock-solid… Read More