A big thing happening up here in Butte County is the long delayed and much needed expansion of Hwy 149 [or to those from south of Visalia, THE 149] It is a two lane connecting road that runs east-west between the north-south highways 70 and 99. In 1979 or so, while I was attending Butte College nearby, 149 was greatly improved, safety and traffic flow-wise. It went from a narrow windy rolling road to one that is now wide, straight and flat. In just a few years it became very clear that with a growing population, 2 more lanes were needed. Just add ’em next to the existing ones, right?

Not so fast.

The ‘endangered’ meadowfoam plant was discovered in Butte, in the path of the needed roadway expansion. And the ‘stop or I’ll sue’ enviro crowd was determined that this wasn’t going to be a project done timely or fiscally reasonable. So afterit was studied,workshopped and hearing’d to death over 15 years, the couple of dozen government agencies that quake… Read More

Here is a column I wrote for the Orange County Register about the need for more protections against eminent domain.It ran in today’s paper. Enjoy! An excerpt is below along with the link to the full content:

The Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution says, in part: "[N]or shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation." Federalist Paper No. 10 says, in part: "The diversity in the faculties of men from which the rights of property originate, is not less an insuperable obstacle to a uniformity of interests. The protection of these faculties is the first object of government."

President Vicente Fox is going to Sacramento where he will address the State Legislature, and he will dine with Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. The Governor has a real opportunity here to make a point, privately and publicly, with President Fox that the United States, and California specifically resents the Mexican President’s steadfast opposition to our efforts to secure our borders. President Fox has called the proposed wall ‘shameful’ and has drawn analogies to a U.S./Mexico border wall to the Berlin wall – which makes no sense. But if you wanted to take his analogy and run with it, instead of Fox decrying a wall, why doesn’t he ask why so many of his citizens want to sneak into our country? Perhaps Fox and his fellow public policy leaders want to look into a mirror, they can ask themselves why they aren’t taking the actions to create a thriving economy in their own nation. That having been said, my personal opinion is that the Governor should just cancel his meeting… Read More

President Vicente Fox is going to Sacramento where he will address the State Legislature, and he will dine with Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. The Governor has a real opportunity here to make a point, privately and publicly, with President Fox that the United States, and California specifically resents the Mexican President’s steadfast opposition to our efforts to secure our borders. President Fox has called the proposed wall ‘shameful’ and has drawn analogies to a U.S./Mexico border wall to the Berlin wall – which makes no sense. But if you wanted to take his analogy and run with it, instead of Fox decrying a wall, why doesn’t he ask why so many of his citizens want to sneak into our country? Perhaps Fox and his fellow public policy leaders want to look into a mirror, they can ask themselves why they aren’t taking the actions to create a thriving economy in their own nation. That having been said, my personal opinion is that the Governor should just cancel his meeting… Read More

Sometimes when we look for impediments to freedom and liberty, we need only look in the mirror.

That would certainly be the case-in-point with the situation concerning Amy Thoma, my Central Coast FlashReport correspondent. You may recall that Amy came onto the FlashReport scene in January of this year. A talented writer with a lot of opinions, Amy was at the time serving at Executive Director of the Monterey County Republican Party. Her posts varied from praise of the efforts of local GOP legislators, critical newsanaysis from a conservative slant, and of course taking on the environmental eco-whackos in her home county. Not only did Amy have the support of her employers at the Monterey GOP, several of them even penned notes to me praising her work, and thanking me for giving… Read More

Well, there waaaas one. But we took it down.… Read More

Until just a few minutes ago, there was a lengthy post in this spot, entitled "Free Amy" that was themed around the idea that our (now former) Central Coast FR Correspondent, Amy Thoma, took a position with the Assembly Republican Caucus, and in that role, under the current leader, she was not being allowed to post.

It turns out that it is the official position of the Assembly Republican Caucus that none of their staff members may write for publications under their own names (whether that be the Wall Street Journal, the San Francisco Chronicle, or (alas!) The FlashReport.

I have preserved the original comment string from the "Free Amy" post — but encourage others as we move the dialogue away from poor Amy and her having to ‘retire’ as our Central Coast Correspondent, and maybe focus on the bigger question – which is whether or not it is a good idea or a bad idea for employees of the Assembly Republican Caucus to not have permission to get out there and pen some works under their own names?

My feeling on this (which are different than my good friend… Read More

Could someone who released criminals early, had jail riots, gave badges to supporters, wants to raise taxesand is more concerned about the homeless than catching criminals be re-elected Sheriff? Of couse! After Mayor Nagins re-election in New orleans what isn’t possible. That is what is happening in Los Angeles County whith Lee Baca. The Daily Breeze has a great rundown of the issues here.You can see another post on Baca here.… Read More