That’s not my headline, it’s courtesy of Bloomberg.com.… Read More

A bill, SB 37, to end run the electoral college and goinstead to a count ofthe popular votes ofa cartel of large states for electing President, passed today with a vote of 42-28, with only Republicans voting "NO."

As few as 12 states can band together, regardless of how their own voters voteand cast electoral votes for the national popular vote leader, and determine thewinner, small rural [red] states need not show up.A similar bill, AB 2948 of 2006 received nearly all Republicans "NO" votes then as well,30, and was veteod by the Governor. This is good veto bait again.… Read More

Michael Reagan, the eldest son of the late President and former California Governor, will announce tonight in Berlin, Germanythe launch of a project to build a significant memorial in Berlin near the Brandenburg Gate to his father’s call at that location in 1987 for Soviet President Gorbachev to "open this Gate," and "tear down this Wall." Within 18 months of President Reagan’s speech, the Wall came down, and not only did Germany reunify as a noncommunist Western ally, the Soviet empire fell to pieces just a few years later as well.

I am here in Berlin with Michael assisting in the project, which has been timed to coincide with week-long activities commemorating the 60th annniversary of the "Berlin Airlift," and the opening of a new U.S. Embassy building near the Brandenburg Gate on July 4.

John F. Kennedy is well remembered in Berlin for his famous and inspirational"I am a Berliner" speech during the height of the Cold War. Kennedy has a city square ("John-F.-Kennedy-Platz") named for him here, and his name appears on two other educational institution buildings. But in a… Read More

Assemblyman Joel Anderson’s office was quick to respond to my whiny post of yesterday, in which I indicated Senator Hollingsworth appeared to be the only area legislator to issue a statement on the Supreme Court’s Heller decision, and in which I further kinda chastised some unnamed legislative offices for not sending releases to bloggers.

This morning, Anderson’s office sent me its 2nd Amendment take of a few days ago. To be clear, the Anderson folks send me press items very regularly (so no inclusion of them in the general whininess) … I just hadn’t seen this one:

Anderson Lauds High-Court Decision Protecting 2nd Amendment

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Hollingsworth Alone in Weighing in On Heller Decision… Senator Hollingsworth appears to be the only San Diego area legislator to have issued a statement on last week’s Supreme Court decision. Sure, some might say it’s a Federal issue, but the most significant Court statement on the 2nd Amendment in several decades has pretty significant ramifications. I do want to know what my local reps have to say on the matter.

When I say Dennis appears to be the only one, well … that is to say he’s the only one that sent me a release on the matter. I’ve noted it before — and I’ll repeat it — if you have something to say, TELL US. You legislators and staffers that still haven’t added a few bloggers to your media distribution list, let me welcome you to the 1990s. I’m sure you’re still working your campaigns from 3×5 cards as well. Again, you may email me here. Oh … and thanks to the several SD leg.… Read More

As smoke chokes most of Northern California and the Central Coast it is an appropriate time to evaluate the causes and effects of some of the fires that are risking the lives of hundreds.

For those of you that don’t believe in global warming and carbon footprint at all, this post provides nothing more than an opportunity to use the methodologies of those that do to argue for sound forest management practices.

For years forest managers have asked for the ability to clear and thin the… Read More

With the ongoing battle against the many lightning-caused fires still underway, Governor Schwarzenegger visited the fire operations centers in NorCal this week, including Monterey and Chico Wednesday, and with US Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne in Shasta County near Whiskeytown Lake on Friday. The Guv visted with firefighters and their chiefs to assess the progress being made and declared emergency status for the 7 counties hardest hit. These include Butte, Shasta, and Trinity up this way as well as Mendocino, Santa Cruz, Santa Clara and Monterey Counties. He also sought, and received, a federal declaration from President Bush for those same areas.

CalFire and many local and out of town departments have been effectively limiting these fires to non-residential burns and few buildings have burned given the great number of fires last weekend’s lightning strikes caused, charring over 60,000 acres.That numberis a lot but much smaller than it could be. This as everyone holds their breath over current threat of new lightning… Read More

As we all know from personal pain at the pump, gasoline prices have skyrocketed and it is unclear when driving Californians will begin to see relief at the pump. I recently spoke with a friend who lives in Florida, and the price that she pays for a gallon of gas is about 10 percent less than I do, which caused me to wonder why there would be such a disparity. About this time I had a chat with longtime FR reader Larry Venus, who had done some research and pointed out to me that California motorists currently pay an average of 7.9 percent sales tax per gallon! Well, it doesn’t take much thought to realize that if the state’s tax on gasoline is not a flat dollar amount, but rather a percentage, that the amount of taxes on $5 a gallon has is a whole lot more than taxes on a $2 gallon. Actually, getting out the FlashCalc, by my reckoning, when gas was a couple of bucks a gallon, I paid 15 cents per gallon in taxes. Using a $5 per gallon figure for comparison (even though I am starting to forget when gas was that cheap), my tax liability per gallon is a staggering $37 cents. This kind of tax is insidious, making us pay more… Read More