Ireland is my kind of country. Literally. My dad’s dad’s line traces 11 generations to the family crossing to America in 1634. And his grandmother through his mother was born on the Emerald Isle. So I’m here enjoying a vacation and a pint of Guinness while doing some ancestry research at Trinity College in Dublin. Now is a good time to be here. The weather is great, everybody is excited that England made the soccer finals, and the Irish guy who won the U.S. Open last weekend in California’s Pebble Beach just made a triumphant return yesterday and is all over the news. And they love Americans. Yesterday my driver from the airport made a big deal of congratulating me on America’s World Cup victory over Algeria. I diplomatically accepted the congrats on behalf of all Americans but I’m glad he didn’t ask me the name of the striker that scored the winning goal. I love the Irish because they are such rebels, and I identify with that characteristic. A story in the Irish Times today discusses a planned visit of the 84 year old Queen of England later this year, which would be the first visit ever of a British monarch to the Irish… Read More

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I am sure that the coalition of big labor unions that has and is going to fund most of the effort against Republican Meg Whitman’s campaign for Governor had this "vision" that they could attack and pummel Whitman, and that she would sit idly by. Umm, no.

Today the Whitman for Governor campaign launched their first piece exposing Jerry Brown for the long time, problem creating politician that he is.

Here is the ad…

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As changes at the Union-Trib continue with last week’s seventh round of staff layoffs, it appears no stone is being left unturned as management determines the future of the paper, including its online content. Check out yesterday’s entry by Chris Reed on America’s Finest Blog…

Let’s hope the mucketies at the paper find continued value in pushing the blog medium forward and allowing it to expand, not gutting it. Reed’s blog gives some unique political perspective and more of a cutting edge approach than can be found in the traditional broadsheet.

If anything has held AFB back from more of a following, it’s been the U-T’s lack of hi-liting and marketing it, so more readers would know it was there.

All of these things take money, of course, something not as abundant as a few years ago, especially in the world of newsprint. However, the future of news is in the far less costly electrons of on-line content, as compared to paper and ink.

It would seem a step backwards to end a blog… Read More

Spending Reductions: The spending lobby, the mainstream media, recipients of taxpayer largess, and virtually all elected Democrats would have you believe that we have already cut spending to the bone and that there is no more to be done and the economy and people will suffer if we cut any more, so you we must pay a bunch more in taxes to prevent this calamity.

Baloney! Rubbish! No Way, Dude!

Don’t believe them. Governments at all levels are loaded with fat, waste, abuse, overpaid employees, and unnecessary programs. Here is a taste of the literally dozens of spending cut proposals that exist in Congress in one form or another. Some of these are relatively small dollars (only in government is $1 million "small") and others are much bigger. This is not an exhaustive list by any means. I present it only to give you a flavor of what is possible.

The cuts below total $16 billion worth of savings, and this doesn’t even include the major reform of the entitlement programs (Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security) where the really really big, long-term dollars are.

Eliminate “Community Development”… Read More

Republican Assemblyman Sam Blakeslee came oh-so-close to winning the special election in State Senate District 15 outright tonight — capturing 49.7% of the vote. However, because Blakeslee did not win an outright majority, he will be in an August run-off that will feature himself, Democrat John Laird, and two third party candidates — a Libertarian and an independent. Blakeslee is well poised for an August victory, but it will be an expensive endeavor, to be sure. But given how close the Democrats are in the State Senate to the 2/3rds vote to raise taxes, it will be a very expensive loss for all California taxpayers should Laird somehow prevail.

You can read a lot more detail on the results in this Capitol Weekly story. (I guess one should add the caveat that there are invariably some absentee and provisional ballots outstanding, so it’s not impossible for Blakeslee to close in… Read More

This afternoon I was listening to Neil Cavuto interview New Jersey Governor Chris Christie while in my car (love XM radio). Christie, as the new Governor of the Garden State, has been taking a lot of slings and arrows from public employee unions because of his strong position that given the sorry state of New Jersey’s state finances, that the unions need to step up and participate in solving the problems (salary reductions, reductions in retirement benefits, and so on). To date, Christie continues to hammer the unions, especially the state’s teachers association, because has has, "yet to see them come to the table with any ideas that put aside their own bests interests in pursuit of the common interest."

Powerful words from New Jersey’s new Republican Governor. Christie pointed out that while the downturn in the economy has hit private sector taxpayers hard, public employee union members have been largely shielded.

Move 3,000 miles West and we have a state budget situation that makes the 9 billion dollar New Jersey problem look like chump change. But similarly, we do not see the state’s major public employee unions… Read More

If I had a dollar for every time some liberal newspaper or pundit said conservatives lost an election, I could well run for Governor of California. Of course most of the time they are wrong and the June 2010 election is one example. In the June primary conservatives won.

“What,” you may say? Meg Whitman is our GOP nominee. So is Carly Fiorina. How did conservatives win?

If I had a dollar for every time some liberal newspaper or pundit said conservatives lost an election, I could well run for Governor of California. Of course most of the time they are wrong and the June 2010 election is one example.

In the June primary conservatives won.

“What,” you may say? Meg Whitman is our GOP nominee. So is Carly Fiorina. How did conservatives win?

Simply look at messaging. Someone show me the ad that Meg Whitman ran saying “I am a moderate vote for me”. I saw a lot of ads beating up Steve Poizner for being a liberal and implying that she was more conservative. Show me otherwise and I will buy you lunch.

Carly Fiorina ran ads beating up Tom Campbell on taxes and featuring Sarah Palin. She got pro-life endorsements as well. Again show… Read More