I would imagine that Generals fighting wars have to occasionally ‘step back’ from the individual battles they are fighting, to check on the overall progress of the total campaign against the enemy. Of course, for fiscal conservatives, the ‘enemy’ is growth in size and scope of spending of government at every level — or put another way, the goal of the war is to preserve, and in fact ‘win back’ freedom and liberty for the people. When California voters stepped up in 2003 to ceremoniously recall now-disgraced Governor Gray Davis, that effort was led by a strong coalition of people that felt that Davis and his administration were failing the people — the taxpayers. An important part of that effort were fiscal conservatives, such as myself, who were concerned that our State Budget had climbed to a record $78 billion. We were outraged that the annual growth of state spending was at an alarming 7%, and that Californian’s were saddled with a state deficit that was $6.6 billion dollars. As Tom McClintock points out in our "Golden Pen" column today, debt-service costs when Gray Davis was Governor… Read More

Our website development team is working on some upgrades for the main page. In doing so, it has caused some technical issues with the tool that we use behind the scenes to post up the links for news stories. Because of this, look for today’s main page to be updated by 10 a.m. Our apologies for the inconvenience.… Read More

From www.insidehighered.com:

Ward Connerly, who led the successful ballot measure campaign in November to bar the use of racial preferences in Michigan, offered a few more hints in a speech Friday about which states would be next on his list of targets. In a speech at the Heritage Foundation, Connerly said that his American Civil Rights Initiative would sponsor ballot initiatives in five states on election day in 2008, and that the states would be chosen by April from among a current list of nine: Arizona, Colorado, Missouri, Oklahoma, Nevada, South Dakota, Nebraska,… Read More

If you are not reading the California Majority Report, you are not fully informed about the insanity of the left. Last week, I commented on Al Gore, and global warming, which generated a respone on the left wing blog, the California Majority Report.You should take a look at the response to my global warming comment on that blog. If you read my comment, you will see that I was making fun of the good former Vice President, and the current debate on global warming. I find it is always easier to make a point with humor than with ranting. Historical accuracy on the details was not my goal.

I will say that I took some literary license to make the points in my article. But my point was simple, science is not a moral imperative, and when politicians try to make science a moral imperative, scientists take their life into their own hands. When Al Gore, the quintessential politician, the… Read More

From today’s SF Chronicle:

A majority of Bay Area residents believe government should guarantee health coverage for all citizens, but not through a state-run system, according to a survey scheduled for release today.

Eighty-three percent of 600 area residents polled in the nine-county region supported guaranteed coverage, according to the Bay Area Council, the business-backed policy group that commissioned the survey. The percentage dipped to 79 percent when respondents were asked if such coverage should include people living in California illegally.

When asked how the health system should be reformed, 47 percent said the existing health insurance system should be maintained and additional costs to cover the uninsured should be shared among employers, government and individuals. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed a program along those lines.

Thirty-four percent said they… Read More

If you are not reading the California Majority Report, you are not fully informed about the insanity of the left. Last week, I commented on Al Gore, and global warming, which generated a respone on the left wing blog, the California Majority Report.You should take a look at the response to my global warming comment on that blog. If you read my comment, you will see that I was making fun of the good former Vice President, and the current debate on global warming. I find it is always easier to make a point with humor than with ranting. Historical accuracy on the details was not my goal.

I will say that I took some literary license to make the points in my article. But my point was simple, science is not a moral imperative, and when politicians try to make science a moral imperative, scientists take their life into their own hands. When Al Gore, the quintessential politician, the… Read More

Jon Coupal, President of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, weighs on in the ill-conceived SB 752:

A quick snapshot of California reveals a state in fiscal peril: a structural budget deficit in the billions, prisons about to be taken over by the federal government, and a pension system morass that is beyond comprehension. With California’s fiscal house collapsing on top of itself, imagine my shock when I heard about the Legislature’s most recent social welfare entitlement program—giving all newborns $500 at a cost to taxpayers of nearly $300 million annually. This proposal left a lot of folks scratching their heads. It is one thing for the tax and spend lobby to be pushing loony ideas, but this actually – for a time – had Republican… Read More

Regarding Ray Haynes’ commentary this morning on global warming, perhaps the sky-is-falling folks should read sources other than those generated — and regurgitated — by themselves. Oneexample,a 2004 article proving that science and scientists disagree. The piece even ends with a finger point at human impacts, but also shows the significant scientific unknowns associated with something so beyond the scope of anyone to completely analyze and understand…

Hotter-burning sun warming the planet

By Michael Leidig LONDON SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

The sun is burning hotter than usual, offering a possible explanation for global warming that needs to be weighed when proceeding with expensive efforts to cut emissions of greenhouse gases, Swiss and German scientists say.

"The sun has been at its strongest over the past 60 years and may now be affecting global temperatures," said Sami Solanki, the director of the renowned Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in… Read More