As the United States Senate takes on the health care issue, there is a clear difference of opinion on whether this $850 billion program will rein in rising health care costs or further bankrupt our nation. In a piece written recently, Sacramento Bee columnist Dan Walters noted a provision inserted into the 2,000-plus page health care bill that would wreak havoc on California.

Walters wrote that 34 years ago California passed a law that imposed a $250,000 limit on pain and suffering damages in medical malpractice cases. Walters also noted that during the 1970s, in response to the skyrocketing insurance premiums for malpractice insurance, many doctors threatened to leave the state or abandon specialized practices, particularly obstetrics.

However, California’s malpractice cap, which also was enacted in 30 other states, has been put on the chopping block by Speaker Nancy Pelosi in the health care bill pushed through the House. In the recently approved House health care bill, any state that repeals the malpractice cap would receive "incentive payments"–a modern day payoff.

As noted in by Walters, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO)… Read More

Part 2 of my response to the dishonest spin oozing from the Poizner campaign:

To the best of my recollection, I have never met or spoken with Jarrod Agen, spokesman for the Steve Poizner for Governor campaign. Other than a few e-mails this summer, we’ve had hardly any communication.

If the people running the show there were smart, they’d send Jarrod for a long weekend at a spa, so he can calm down, relax and start thinking straight. I figure maybe it is the stress that is causing him to needlessly pick fights and make things up about this blog.

First there’s this doozy Agen peddled to Joe Garofoli at the SFChronicle:

Yet a few weeks later, Cunningham ran a — brace yourself for this — MULTI-PART interview with Meg Whitman. Yes, the political equivalent of a unicorn sighting.

Red County’s Matt Cunningham and Steve Poizner talking about the weather.

Agen says this is because Whitman is a major advertiser… Read More

…they would grow up, stop trying to blame RedCounty.com for the fact they were secretly paying one of our bloggers to attack Meg Whitman and spout obsequiously pro-Poizner pap, and move one.

Instead, they seem to think keeping that story is alive is a smart thing to do.

Rather than understand they we might be just a little upset that they had used us an unwitting cut out for their campaign, the Poizner campaign is now, in essence, saying they did nothing wrong, and that even if they did, Red County was asking for it.

Even though it was Red County that risked embarrassment to itself to break the story, the Poizner campaign is, amazingly, claiming it is we who have been caught "red-handed" via their "PoiznerFacts.com" website:

You can read the rest at RedCounty.com… Read More

Today State Senator Jeff Denham shared with the Modesto Bee that he is dropping out of the race for the GOP nomination for Lt. Governor and is instead running for the 25th State Assembly seat currently occupied by Tom Berryhill, who has announced that is running for State Senate (the seat currently occupied by Dave Cogdill, who is retiring).

For the Assembly seat, this pits Denham against former Modesto Councilwoman Janice Keating. While Modesto is the largest city in the Assembly District, Denham's entry into the race makes him a clear front runner. His name ID is undoubtedly through the roof. Not only has he represented much of this district in the Senate for many years, but has also been actively campaigning for LG for over a year. And let's not forget the massive name ID that will come from the failed recall attempt orchetrated by former Senate President Don Perata.

Of course, Denham is also aided by gaving a campaign bank account flush with cash. We're going to assume that Denham is not likely to offer refunds to donors who thought they were staking a candidate for statewide office. Denham will have to move into the 25th Assembly… Read More

CALIFORNIA’S RACE TO THE BOTTOM Craig DeLuz

Currently, the State Legislature is in its Fifth Extraordinary Session, which was called by Governor Schwarzenegger to implement reforms to our educational system that would make our state eligible to compete for over $400 million in federal "Race To The Top" education funds. But, when given an opportunity to make substantive change for the better in California’s education system, the California Assembly’s Education Committee chose to side with those who have destroyed the system in the first place.

On a 6-5-6 vote they shot down SB X5 1 (Romero), which was a bipartisan effort supported by scores of education advocates, school districts, educators and business leaders. Conversely, they approved AB X5 8 (Brownley), which is little more than a union backed attack on California charter schools.

Romero’s SB X5 1 was largely about bringing greater accountability and flexibility to education in California. It removed the cap placed on the… Read More

Capitol Weekly is reporting that there very well may be a vote for the next Assembly Speaker today. Apparently in the kurfuffle between two ultra liberal Democrat lawmakers from Los Angeles with terrible voting records, one of them has beat out the other. It’s more bad news for California that the State Assembly will continue to be led by someone who thinks that taxes are too low, regulations are too lax, and that the way to stimulate growth in California is to redistribute wealth.

That said, the big question of the day for Republicans remains — will the name of Assembly Republican Leader Sam Blakeslee be placed into nomination during the speakership vote?

We sure hope so.

There will be 28 Republican legislators on hand for the vote for Speaker. Unfortunately, the outcome is preordained as all of these GOPers will have to watch the coronation of yet another Democrat.

That said, all of these Republicans deserve self-respect and as the minority party in the Assembly, Republicans should be allowed some… Read More

It would appear that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger thinks that you (and me) are stupid.

Seriously.

Chris Reed, a member of the editorial board of the San Diego Union Tribune, sent off a group of four questions to the Governor’s office all centered around the fact that the Governor himself insisted that there be a provision in AB32 that would allow for its suspension during tough economic times. Given that we are in a recession, Chris’ questions seemed on point. Here are his four questions and the four unbelievable answers from the Governor’s office…

**There is more – click the link**… Read More

It would appear that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger thinks that you (and me) are stupid.

Seriously.

Chris Reed, a member of the editorial board of the San Diego Union Tribune, sent off a group of four questions to the Governor’s office all centered around the fact that the Governor himself insisted that there be a provision in AB32 that would allow for its suspension during tough economic times. Given that we are in a recession, Chris’ questions seemed on point. Here are his four questions and the four unbelievable answers from the Governor’s office…

A. Your question is premised on an unproven assertion that implementation of AB32 would be harmful to the economy when all the evidence points in the opposite direction. Major programs under AB 32 will not go into effect… Read More