It seems to me like Senate and House Republicans in Washington, D.C., have a tremendous challenge ahead of them. If I had to give it a title, I would call it, "Mending the Credibility Gap." When you are the party in power, you have to govern. This means that you move beyond the world of rhetoric, and you actually have to enact policy. I believe that a large part of the reason why Republicans their majorities in the Senate and the House in this last election was because a lot of core Republican voters had finally stopped mustering up the support to re-elect Republicans who were long in rhetoric about limited government, but who presided over unprecedented growth in the size and scope of the federal government. According to Ed Fuelner, the President of the Heritage Foundation:

Thanks to HJTA for providing the text and links……

A Great Man Passes

Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman has passed at the age of 94.

Many know him as a great advocate for the virtues of the free-market economy, but fewer may recall that he was an enthusiastic supporter of Proposition 13. In 1978 he appeared in television spots saying, "Don’t let politicians fool you. Proposition 13 will work. It will not force schools to close. It will not cause policemen or firemen to disappear. It will not require increases in other taxes."

Professor Friedman and his wisdom will be sorely missed.

Links to news stories:

The Financial Times Los Angeles Times… Read More

GREAT NEWS FOR THE FAST GROWING INLAND EMPIRE!

RIVERSIDE, Calif. – The Regents of the University of California this morning authorized UC Riverside to proceed with the next phase of planning for a School of Medicine.

Provisional ballots have put Lou Correa ahead of Lynn Daucher by 282 votes in the 34th SD — a 429 vote swing since yesterday.

You can read more here.… Read More

We just got this update in from FR reader Eric Linder:

A representative from the Riverside County Registrar of Voters office informed me that there are still over 100,000 ballots from last Tuesday’s election that have yet to be counted throughout Riverside County, and that as of this morning they have begun counting them.

In the election for Western Municipal Water District, Div 1 alone, there are still 4,000 outstanding ballots, which means that this race, as well as many others, are still being decided.

The Registrar’s office confirms that there are 14,400 absentee provisional ballots, 5,000 absentee ballots that were brought to the polls, and 1,000 provisional ballots, that have not been tallied.

Other races within 350 votes include:

Coachella Valley USD TA 1 – 7 votes separate winning and losing candidate Hemet USD – 140 votes separate Jurupa USD TA 3 – 165 vote difference Jurupa USD TA 5 – 10 vote difference Val Verde USD – 198 votes separate Menifee Union SD – 4 votes separate Eastern Municipal Water District – 74 vote… Read More

I had the opportunity to attend private schools as a kid and later I graduated from one of the top public high schools in the country. Having had that experience, it pains me see the conditions, academic and otherwise in public schools in Southern CA when I go out and speak on various campuses. No matter how much bond money you throw at public education you will never fix the problems.

That is one reason I am such a big fan of Charter Schools.

Yesterday the CA Charter Schools Assoc. launched a public awareness campaign that they hope will double the number of parents who have access to charter schools for their kids. They call it My School (see www.myschool.org) and it offers resources to help parents take ownership of local schools and start new charter schools.

The web page has a cool tool that allows parents to find out where the closest charter school is (there are over 600 statewide).

The Association claims that a recent poll (which my firm curiously didn’t get the chance to do despite my personal support of charter schools) shows 78% of the public believe giving parents choices within the… Read More

You will never look at a pencil the same way again. Milton, we will miss you. … Read More

Today, our nation and the world lost a great mind and an individual dedicated to the advancement of personal freedom. Milton Friedman’s contributions to the study of economics and his ability to articulate its complexities to the public helped awaken the modern conservative movement and advance protections of personal freedoms in this country and around the world. In my life, his writings and works had a tremendous impact on me and helped shape my understanding of public policy as an economics major in college.

Milton Friedman said that, "The society that puts equality before freedom will end up with neither. The society that puts freedom before equality will end up with a great measure of both."

As a nation we can honor the contributions of this brilliant mind by dedicating ourselves to this principle and continually reexamining the effect our government has on the freedoms that have allowed our nation to thrive. For the whole world to know and understand what it means to be free, we need more leaders, teachers, and economists like Milton Freedman.… Read More