Judging from a quick walk around South Coast Plaza mall in Costa Mesa this afternoon, silver, and not diamonds, are what people are buying this first Christmas during the Obama era.

I took a stroll by a few of the shops in the designer section of the mall. Nobody was in Mikimoto (known for pearls) mid afternoon just two days before Christmas. Nobody was in Bulgari, the very high-end Italian designer jeweler. Nobody was in Van Cleef and Arpels, the "legendary" French high-end jewelry store.Top drawerJapanese, Italian, and French stores, all empty just before Christmas.

But America’s Tiffany’s was jumping. Not the whole store though, however. The diamond display cases, for which Tiffany is best known, were almost without any customers. So were the platinum and gold cases. However, the silver cases, where Tiffany’s offers jewelry priced about $200 were exploding with activity (the lowest you can get something in the other cases is closer to $2,000). In fact, Tiffany’s was so loaded with people in the lower cost silver section, that the store had initiated crowd control… Read More

Governor Schwarzenegger deserves some quick and strong praise from conservatives for his first "opening salvo" on the 2010 state budget debate. In today’s Los Angeles Times, reporters Shane Goldmacher and Evan Halper explain how the Governor has put forth some major negotiating points he will use with the legislature to work towards closing an estimated budget shortfall of over twenty BILLION dollars. Governor Schwarzenegger has thrown down the proverbial gauntlet, making it clear that without money from the federal government, he will be advocating large and deep cuts in social spending programs.

Here is a relevant excerpt from the Times article: If Washington does not provide roughly $8 billion in new aid for the state, the governor threatens to severely cut back — if not eliminate — CalWORKS, the state’s main welfare program; the In-Home Health Care Services program for the disabled and elderly poor, and two tax breaks for… Read More

This in from the Honorable Michelle Steel, elected member of the State Board of Equalization…

California is down and out when it comes to hosting one of the biggest boxing matches of the year. The Los Angeles Times recently reported that Manny Paquiao’s business manager advised him against fighting in California because of high taxes. For those of you not familiar with boxing; Paquiao is currently the WBO World welterweight champion, IBO and Ring Magazine light welterweight… Read More

Whatare the implicationsif there is an explosion of young conservatives emerging into the political fabric? Young Americans for Freedom created under Wm F. Buckley, seems to be re-emerging. YAF are chronic trouble makers. They demonstrate in the streets, confront crazed leftists, argue endlessly with totalitarian professors, write inflammatory articles, think day and night plotting for a conservative revolution. YAFers they are not nice Republicans.They are impatient.They reticule political grifters. They eventually become important political leaders. Governors, legislators and inside bureaucrats. Sen Jeff Sessions was Alabama YAF chairman. Dana RohrabacherCo-Chair of CAL-YAFwith me.Ed Royce at CSUF. John Lewis. A Federal Judge in California.In fact, they are everywhere.

YAF is a college intellectual equivalent of the older Tea Partiers—with firm philosophical goals.

Jordan Marks, the fire-lighter and current ED of YAF, just opened the national YAF office near Washington DC. What a bold and… Read More

Let me quickly dispel a myth – a “narrative” that us being spun by some – that “partisan gridlock” is the big problem in the State Capitol today. This simply isn't true. In fact, this idea would seem to support the idea that any solution for a problem that can be reached through bipartisan cooperation of some sort is a good solution.

The problem in Sacramento is not partisan gridlock, but rather it is decade after decade of liberals running up the tab on state spending. Yes, there are some issues that require a 2/3 vote, which means a token number of GOP votes are needed. But this process at best slightly tweaks already-cooked left wing policy.

In other words — the problems in state government have not and are not caused by “political parties” — but rather one political party. In the quest for reforms, the most obvious one is right in front of everyone — we need real Republican majorities in Sacramento.

By the way, the so-called “open primary” by our analysis, if passed, would actually lead to higher taxes and more fees and regulations. It's passage would… Read More

The next election year should by all historicalstandards be a great one for the Republican Party, nationwide and in California. But Republicans in California are not as united as they could be to capitalize on the usual historical trend and beat back the liberals. During 2009, some of our California Republican elected officials – our leaders – have voted contrary to their explicit promises to oppose new taxes,sullying our "brand" as the pro-taxpayer party.The backlash these deviationists have caused has instigated nothing less than an on-going "purge" in our California party; another unwelcome development, in my opinion now over-the-top, for a Party that appears doomed towhat I have termed "permanent super-minority status."Ididn’t sign up for that! We need a Conservative-controlled California GOP with a capital "C," and we also need to win elections! We could be doing both; but maybethat won’t happen so well next year, unless perhaps the deviationists get back to principles, and the purgers stop purging.

With all the above in… Read More

Enjoy this original column this morning from Jon Coupal, President of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association — Wheels Coming Off The High Speed Rail. What’s it about? I think the title says it all…

This column from the Contra Costa Times’ Lisa Vorderbrueggen is also worth a read.… Read More

Ever since Oprah asked Obama how he would grade his own performance as president thus far (B+, by the way), political commentators have been assigning their own grade to the President’s first year in office. Now California’s Governor has joined the debate and told CNN, “When it comes to effort, [Obama] should get a straight A.”

Now I know that Schwarzenegger is the very definition of a RINO. But this goes beyond a Republican elected officialmerely trying to be courteous to the President. "A for effort" is the mantra of the Left—results doesn’t matter, it’s how you feel about what you’re doing that will be graded.