There is a lot of great stuff to which I want to draw your attention to on the main page today.
COMMENTING SYSTEM LIVE!
But first let me start by announcing that the guest-comment feature on the FlashReport is finally up and running! As this site has been custom built, adding complex features takes time, unlike if we had gone with an ‘off the shelf’ blog program for that part of things. Nevertheless, the feature is up and running, so when you are over on the blog, you can now press on the comment link below any post to read comments, or make one of your own!
The only catch is that the first time you try to post, you will have to register with this site and give a username and password. We’ll get you approved quickly, and then you can make the FlashReport an interactive experience!
Great reading today (all stories on the main page):
TAX OR FEE?
Hank Shaw, the Capitol Bureau Chief for the Stockton Record has a great story today focusing on the fact that a proposed waterworks plan that will go before the legislature includes a $3 monthly fee for property owners. The question that has quickly arisen is whether this $3 dollars a month is a fee, or a tax. Don’t miss this story.
CALIFORNIA MEMBERS OF CONGRESS PAY HEED
John Fund of the Wall Street Journal is in a competition with the Hoover Institution’s Thomas Sowell to see who can grab more "Golden Pen" awards from this site. Well, add one to Fund’s side of the ledger today. Fund brilliantly lays out that the problem in Washington is not the proliferation of lobbyists. They are only feeding off of a system in need of reform. Congressional "earmarks" are when individual Members of Congress slip language into legislation that requires their pet projects to be funded. It was this kind of earmarking that allowed the disgraceful Duke Cunningham to ‘take care’ of the defense firm that ‘took care’ of him. It was also his success at getting Congressmen to earmark for his causes that propelled Jack Abramoff to the top of the lobbying world. If you take the honey out of the bird feeder, the birds will stop coming.
DEATH PENALTY HI-JACK
Chuck Poochigian has been a legislator from the Central Valley for quite a while now, and he has seen a lot in his time there. But he has been particularly dismayed by efforts on the far left to literally ‘kill’ California’s death penalty. Of course, because these radical leftists dominate the Democrat caucuses, you never know when one of their radical ideas is going to get traction and get all of the way to the Governor’s desk. Fortunately, some public scrutiny seems to have given the death penalty to this effort. Pooch pens a great piece on this.
IS MONEY THE PROBLEM? NO.
Los Angeles Times columnist George Skelton, a self-described liberal, has a column today where he basically makes it sound like money is the problem with politics today. The reality is that the only problem with money in politics is that there isn’t enough of it! Well, what I mean is that there should be more political giving by taxpayers in general, towards candidates who will protect their rights as taxpayers. The problem with the system as it is currently set up is that most of the ‘major donors’ these days seem to be those who have a vested interest in government programs. Too willing are business interests to support tax hikes or fees on their competition, to support big spending programs if the money spent will go to their business, or to support unfair laws that advantage their business. I am not saying that there are not ideological donors, who give because they have a heartfelt belief that they are advocating, I just think this latter group is becoming a smaller and smaller piece of the pie. This is especially the case in many statewide races, and definitely for ballot measure campaigns.
FREE RIDE FOR DI-FI?
Rick Orlav of the Los Angeles Daily News points out the obvious, though stretching it into column-length. The GOP really has no strong candidate mounting an effort to take out DiFi. Of course, we have the added challenge that the rhetoric for our own party, whenever Boxer comes up, is that "she is so much more liberal than Feinstein" — when the reality is that they both make Bill Clinton look like Jesse Helms.
There is a lot of other great reading today – hope you get to take advantage of it.
And don’t forget to go to the FR Blog, and click on "comment" under a post and sign up — that way you’ll be all ready when you really have something you want to say!
Have a great day!
Jon
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