Offshore Drilling Moratorium: One of the committees on which I serve is theJoint Economic Committee. This committee is primarily tasked with studying the U.S. economy, and consider factors which affect it. Last week, we had a hearing on the subject of energy. One of the witnesses was a professor from Texas A&M University. He made a very interesting point about the Obama Administration’s moratorium on offshore drilling. Ostensibly, the purpose of this moratorium is to reduce the risk of another oil spill until such time as acceptable oil spill prevention activities are in place, if ever. Interestingly however, this professor challenged that supposition. He pointed out that if the moratorium continues, 150,000 very high paying American jobs will be lost to Brazil, India, and other places for a period of at least 2 years. But in addition to that, the US will be forced to import more oil because of the domestic oil production that will be lost. That imported oil will come into the Gulf of Mexico and other ports, in ships. The professor estimated that it will take 1,500 additional tankers full of oil (roughly equivalent… Read More

With the state facing what is now a $19.1 billion budget shortfall, as we sit here now over a month into the fiscal year without a state spending plan, you can expect to see a lot of “creative” ideas coming out of liberal politicians who are desperately trying to close the budget gap while minimizing more cuts to state government spending. That having been said, virtually all of the one-time gimmicks and accounting tricks have already been used before reaching this point.

No one should be surprised that the latest “creative idea” to come out of the Capitol, purportedly floated by State Senate President Darrell Steinberg, is – you guessed it, another tax increase. His proposal is to raise most income tax rates for Californians, while lowering sales tax rates. The basic idea is that income taxes are deductable on itemized federal tax returns, and the swap in taxes would shift a few billion bucks from the coffers of the federal government into state government. John Myers of KQED Public Radio has an excellent summary and analysis of this proposal on his Capitol Notes Blog. I am excerpting some of it below,… Read More

Part of the debate around proposition 23 will be about jobs. AB 32 is responsible for driving out of Californiacompanies that can’t comply or can’t afford these new regulations and higher energy costs. No worries “Green Job” will be our savior.

First you may be interested in what a “green job” is? I found out some amazing things from Jared Blumenfeld, Obama’s Regional Administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency. Before this gig he was the Director of San Francisco’s Environmental Department.

At a regional visit in June, he talked about ‘green jobs”. Workers that install insulation=green job. Bicycle repairman, I mean bicycle repairperson = green job. I’m not kidding, he didn’t say anything about shoe store owners or cleaning people who turn off the lights, but why not? If you pick up a day laborer in front of Home Depot you are helping illegals and the environment as long as they put in insulation. That is a liberal twofer. Apparently Covina Valley Schwinn was doing green jobs my entire life. Who knew?

But it gets better. Anyone involved at all gets counted as a… Read More

This morning the Carly Fiorina for United States Senate campaign is announcing an extensive and impressive group of grassroots leaders from up and down the Golden State who will be leading Fiorina’s ground campaign. We here at the FlashReport are pleased to be the first to bring you this list, which includes many of the best and brightest activists in the country. It is clear, from looking over this list, that Fiorina has quickly put her primary behind her, unifying all Republicans behind her bid to retire incumbent ultra-liberal Senator Barbara Boxer.

“As a political outsider running against an entrenched career politician who has been in Washington for nearly three decades, I need a robust coalition of Californians standing with me calling for new leadership and new ideas in the U.S. Senate,” said candidate Carly Fiorina about the announcement of this great of grassroots leaders..… Read More

With the state facing what is now a $19.1 billion budget shortfall, as we sit here now over a month into the fiscal year without a state spending plan, you can expect to see a lot of “creative” ideas coming out of liberal politicians who are desperately trying to close the budget gap while minimizing more cuts to state government spending. That having been said, virtually all of the one-time gimmicks and accounting tricks have already been used before reaching this point.

No one should be surprised that the latest “creative idea” to come out of the Capitol, purportedly floated by State Senate President Darrell Steinberg, is – you guessed it, another tax increase. His proposal is to raise most income tax rates for Californians, while lowering sales tax rates. The basic idea is that income taxes are deductable on itemized federal tax returns, and the swap in taxes would shift a few billion bucks from the coffers of the federal government into state government. John Myers of KQED Public Radio has an excellent summary and analysis of this proposal on his Capitol Notes Blog. I am excerpting some of it below,… Read More

Congressman Maxine Waters lovesdictator Castro, accused President Bush as a racist, hates white people and generallydespisesall things American. She is nowthe newest poster gal for what’s wrong with Congress.

The bi-partisan House Ethics Committee is ready to accuse her for major inside bankjobin which her husband is a major stockholder. Last year, One United Bank,a largeminority owned bank, received $12 million in bailout funds. According to the LA Times the funding came after Walters arranged meetings between the bank and the Treasury Department. Three months later the bank got your money.

Today the Flashreport headlines feature that Maxine would rather have a trial than admit fault.

This is good.

80 year old Charles Rangel, formerly chair of the Ways and Means Committee, responsible for tax laws, is accused of not paying his taxes, thus breaking his own laws. He may face trial in September, just a cool 50 days before the November elections.

… Read More

Rob Stutzman of the Meg Whitman for Governor campaign sent out an update to various folks, including this website publisher. With his blessing, I am sharing it with you, our loyal readers…

It was truly an honor to join Governor Schwarzenegger and first lady Nancy Reagan yesterday at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library to witness the signing of two bills honoring former California Governor and U.S. President Ronald Reagan. SB 944, a bill I joint-authored with Senator George Runner, designates February 6 of each year as Ronald Reagan Day. The first official Reagan Day next year will occur on the 100th birthday of the former president. Also signed into law was Assemblyman Garrick’s AB 1911, establishing the California Ronald Reagan Centennial Commission which will plan for the promotion, celebration and recognition of Reagan’s 100th birthday. Keeping in the spirit of Ronald Reagan’s idea of limited government, all of the preparation called for in AB 1911 will not use any taxpayer funds or grow the state’s bureaucracy.

In the midst of California’s out-of-control spending and rapidly increasing bureaucracy, I can think of no better time to remember a man who spent his life and career promoting limited government and fiscally responsible policies which freed up Americans to invest, thrive, create jobs and strengthen our economy.… Read More