During these long days of economic hardship, somewhere along the way the "green jobs" industrywas anointed the Holy Grail of job growth; the savior of economic revitalization.

But really, green jobs have not served in much more than a feel-good, buzz-word capacity, according to many experts, including Joel Kotkin, presidential fellow in urban futures at Chapman University who said in a recently published op-ed in Forbes that "All told, green jobs constitute barely 700,000 positions across the country – less than 0.5% of total employment.

He goes on to say: "Indeed a recent study by Sam Sherraden at the center-left New America Foundation finds that, for the most part, green jobs constitute a negligible factor in employment – and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future."

Don’t get me wrong; I do not oppose solutions that improve our environment – but I believe we must allow the free market to prevail in creating a truly robust green industry and we should oppose government intervention vis-à-vis… Read More

New signs of unrest amongst the super hard left who dominate the California Democrat Party;

Their target is President Obama’s handling of… Read More

Are you maximizing your opportunities to stay "plugged in" to the FlashReport? If you arent, you may be missing out on the best way to get the latest on California political news.

FR Twitter Feed: FR Publisher Jon Fleischman (finally) downloaded Twitterberry to his PDA — which means that he is now, on a regular basis, sending out tweets of 140 characters or less to those "following" us on Twitter. Click here to get to the FR Twitter Page.

FR Facebook Page: Join hundreds of others who have become part of the official FlashReport group on Facebook. When things get heated up, we’ll send stuff to this group that no one else… Read More

Our freedom to do things that might otherwise seem unreasonable is as essential to democracy as orderly elections, the cumbersome legislative process, and the awkward but effective republican form of government.

This push-pull is what we’re seeing in recent days as everyday Americans take to the streets, town hall meetings, and as my FR colleague Carl Fogliani reports, even to everyday appearances by elected officials.

If you believe the rhetoric of Democratic party leaders and activists, the behavior exhibited by so many Americans is well, "un-American." But if you believe that representative government is by design perhaps ugly, awkward and confrontational, then what you are seeing is something greater: the real deal–it is uniquely American.

By now we’ve all seen the video of Congresswoman Shelia Jackson Lee answering, and conducting, a phone call essentially interrupting a constituent who asks a direct, albeit assertive, question. Then there is the videos of counteless other members of congress being confronted by angry constituents–such as that of the "dean" of the House, Rep. John Dingell facing the… Read More

Before going on Sean Hannity’s "Great American Panel" on Fox News a few weeks ago, I was waiting in the "green room" before the live broadcast. While waiting to go on set, I had the privilege of meeting Daniel Hannan, a British Member of the European Parliament who had just finished a TV interview himself. For those of you who don’t know, this is not a Member of the traditional British Parliament. Countries that are part of the European Union (EU) are able to send delegates to the European Parliament in Brussells, Belgium, where the 27 member countries decide what the EU will do and not do.

Anyway, he asked about President Obama’s socialized medicine plan and what might become of it. After we discussed that for a minute, he gave me a few facts about the socialized medicine plan in Britain, known as the National Health Service:… Read More

Jon’s commentary today featured the new coalition of small businesses that have formed to combat the ridiculous and dangerous energy policies being imposed upon Californians by the California Energy Commission. The coalition, Californians for Smart Energy, held a press conference in Sacramento today to discuss how the CEC’s latest limits on our energy consumption are further hurting our economy. The press conference mostly covered a lot of the details Jon mentioned in his commentary: the new limits on TV electricity usage would essentially ban big screen TVs in our state. Looks like Super Bowl Sunday will become a major travel day in California as citizens visit friends or family in other states who are allowed to have their big screen.

During… Read More

Last night, Congressman Dennis Cardoza was scheduled to address a meeting of the Stanislaus County Farm Bureau. After a local radio show mentioned this fact, Cardoza cancelled his appearance which led to a cancellation of the meeting. While Democrats in safe districts host town halls, it’s obvious the folks representing vulnerable districts are under strict orders from their handlers to hide.

Cardoza likes to tout that he is a bluedog. I propose that Cardoza resign from the bluedogs and start his own group of Congressmen who are currently in hiding. He could call it the "bluechickens." His first member could be fellow Democrat Congressman Jerry McNerney, who has completely disappeared from the district after he cast a YES vote for the government takeover of our healthcare system.

Under pressure, his spokewoman said he is conducting a "tele-townhall" this evening when pressed by the Tracy Press as to why he wasn’t having townhalls. She even called it part of his listening tour…AFTER HE HAS VOTED FOR THE BILL! I’m sure that will be a tough one. We all know that tele-townhalls have a screening mechanism… Read More

Californians should be skeptical when their legislators ask them to make great sacrifices for dubious reasons. Sure, there are times when citizens need to be mobilized to make do with less for the greater good – World War II era rationing comes to mind. But the type of collective sacrifice now fashionable among liberal politicians based on scientifically “proven” global warming research certainly deserves our skepticism, and not just because the world has been experiencing record cool temperatures.

The liberal-dominated Legislature has fully accepted the apocalyptic calls from radical environmental special interest groups and forced California to unilaterally reduce so-called greenhouse gases when it passed Assembly Bill 32 (the Global Warming act) back in 2006. Unfortunately, Californians are now stuck footing the bill. The effects of this policy monstrosity, once it is fully implemented, will be felt by every resident.

A recent study from Sacramento State University estimates that California small business will pay nearly $50,000 more in costs due to AB 32. Naturally, these costs will be passed on to the consumers. Indeed, after full implementation, AB… Read More