It would be redundant to summarize recent revelations concerning just how big America’s national security state has become. Two reports, both written in the last two days, do a really good job: “The Making of a Global Security State,” by Tom Engelhardt, published by The Nation Institute, and “5 Alarming Things We Should Have Already Known About the NSA, Surveillance, and Privacy Before Ed Snowden,” by Brian Doherty, published by the Reason Foundation.

It is encouraging that both of these articles address the same topic and summon the same moral concerns, despite being published by top-tier think tanks – the Reason Foundation and the Nation Institute – that occupy opposite positions on the right/left continuum. What is discouraging is neither of these articles explore the connection between unionized government and the alarming police state trends they describe so thoroughly.

The centrality of patriotism and law-and-order priorities blinds many on the… Read More

[Publisher’s Note: We are pleased to feature this exclusive column from freshman Assemblyman Eric Linder (R-Corona) – Flash]

Show of hands: Who out there would like a pay raise?

Thought so. Too bad you don’t work in the State Legislature, where you can get an “independent” commission to vote you a pay raise and gain a higher salary just for the asking.

This is the Capitol’s land of confusion, where the state’s perilous fiscal condition is, apparently, someone else’s problem. Doing this, and doing it now reveals more about Sacramento and the way it thinks than all the material in the state archives.

Like millions of California couples, my wife and I both work. We want to, but we also have to. In addition to serving as an Assemblyman, I still own and run my company. When I’m home on the weekends, my wife works at a restaurant, and I get to watch our two small kids. My oldest daughter is heading to college, so you can be sure we are budgeting every dollar… Read More

[Publisher’s Note: This week the House of Representatives is set to vote on a massive so-called “Farm Bill” which represents over a trillion dollars in spending over the next decade. It’s atrocious legislation that is antithetical to a political party that is rooted in liberty, freedom and limited government. Yet many House Republicans intend on supporting the bill. Those that do will be exposed as faux-conservatives. Below is a fun column by Diane Katz and Daren Bakst of the Heritage Foundation, which has been leading the charge against this terrible legislation – Flash]

By Diane Katz and Daren Bakst, The Heritage Foundation

… Read More

For those who have been trying to get mainstream attention focused on the vast pork (and resulting harm to CA schools) inherent in President Obama’s Common Core Standards (CCS), today’s L.A. Times editorial, “Was adopting Common Core a mistake?” is a bittersweet victory.

It’s sweet because it has been rare for a major CA newspaper to point out anything wrong with CCS. To its credit, the Times piece deals at length with the chaos which CA’s public schools are about to experience, caused by a hasty CCS implementation with an almost total lack of planning. To summarize the problem: Next school year there will be no set curriculum, noapproved textbooks, no approved testing procedures or indeed tests for fall standardized testing- an unprecedented situation and highly disruptive of the educational process. Parents, teachers, administrators and students will be up in arms.

The Times piece is bitter because it makes no mention of CA’s current standards, considered world-class by professionals not in the pay of textbook… Read More

For millions of California homeowners, Saturday was a day that will live in infamy. Without a single public hearing, the California Assembly passed Assembly Constitutional Amendment No. 8 (ACA 8), the most egregious attack on Prop. 13 ever to come out of the Legislature.

ACA 8 would repeal Prop. 13’s requirement that local “special taxes” (taxes intended for a specific purpose or purposes) be approved by a two-thirds vote. Instead, special taxes imposed for the repayment of local bonded indebtedness would be reduced to 55%. The ostensible justification for ACA 8 is to make it easier to finance local “infrastructure.”

There are several reasons why ACA 8 will inevitably inflict severe harm on California homeowners. First, while state bonds are repaid out of the state’s general fund – into which most Californians contribute through income or sales taxes – the same is not true for local bonds. Local bonds, usually referred to as “general obligation” bonds, are repaid exclusively by property owners. That means that voters who do not own property can vote to raise taxes on those who do.

Second, making it easier to pass local bonds… Read More

Late last week the California Public Safety Voter Guide (managed by Landslide Communications) commissioned a brief survey in the 52nd Congressional District. The poll was conducted by the respected firm NSON out of Utah with calls made to 606 district voters who cast ballots in the last general election, This district includes some of downtown San Diego and takes the coast West and North before jutting inland east of La Jolla. You can see a map here.

Last year wealthy former San Diego City Councilman Scott Peters, a Democrat, defeated incumbent Congressman Brian Bilbray in this seat, by a very narrow margin. Recently former San Diego City Councilman Carl DeMaio, apparently rested up after his marathon campaign for Mayor, announced his candidacy for this seat. As of now he is the only announced GOP candidate.

The survey really only asked a few key questions, and directly tested the issues both of DeMaio being gay, and his support for same-sex marriage. I thought the responses were telling…

Q1. If the… Read More

Today was my version of a nightmare. I woke up to over a hundred emails from (really) early birds letting me know that their browsers were not letting them access the FlashReport — that my site had been infected with a virus! I quickly got a hold of our IT developers with Cloudspace in Orlando. They jumped on it right away, but to make a (very) long short short, even though they got the site squared away in relatively short order, it takes a while before the Gods of the WWW process such things and remove all of the blocks that were people from coming to the site.

I’m pleased to report, at least from the readers perspective, things are AOK now. We still have some work to do on the backside of the site, but that shouldn’t impact your experience. We will re-run today’s original content again tomorrow, in addition to some new stuff.

My apologies for any inconvenience.

… Read More

Board of Equalization Member Michelle Steel will be forced from her post next year due to term limits. She is actively engaged in an impressive campaign for an open seat on the Orange County Board of Supervisors. Two conservative legislators — State Senator Mark Wyland and Assemblywoman Diane Harkey — are the only credible candidates who have emerged thus far seeking to succeed Steel in this “Safe GOP” BOE seat that encompasses all of Orange, San Diego, Imperial, and Riverside Counties, and portions of Los Angeles and San Bernardino Counties.

I have known Mark Wyland since meeting him in 1998, and I met Diane Harkey when she ran for Dana Point City Council in 2004. Both are ideological conservatives — both are friends. As such, I have not endorsed either candidate — either would make a solid BOE Member.a

That having been said, those watching the race may have seen the stories about a lawsuit filed against Point Center Financial Inc., Dan Harkey, and Diane Harkey. The suit involves investors to Point Center Financial, Dan Harkey’s real estate investment company. Like so many during the real estate bust of the past… Read More