The Cato Institute, a non-partisan think tank, recently launched an ambitious project aimed at educating both policymakers and the general public about how the federal government is spending our money. They warn that the enormous budget deficits and gross overspending occurring in Washington right now are setting us – and future generations – up for even more financial turmoil, massive tax hikes and a reduced standard of living.

At Downsizinggovernment.org, Cato’s scholars will provide not only an agency-by-agency breakdown of how much is spent and where, but specific areas where the federal government is failing taxpayers, where reform is needed, and where cuts should be made.

It’s a worthy effort, much like the way Senate Republicans have consistently advocated for greater transparency in how taxpayer dollars are spent and called for reductions to California’s over-bloated and inefficient bureacracies.… Read More

Obama/McChrystal: Conflicts between military commanders and presidents are not a new phenomenon in the history of the United States. During the Civil War, several generals publicly clashed with President Lincoln. The most notable, of course, was Gen. George B. McClellan, who went on to oppose Lincoln for reelection in 1864. The public disagreements between Gen. MacArthur and President Truman are the stuff of legend, as are the protestations of Gen. Patton during World War II.In all of these cases, the general was relieved of command. That is the prerogative of the commander in chief. But it is also the right — and obligation — of a commander in the field to aggressively support the strategy that they believe will accomplish the mission that they have been assigned, with the least loss of American blood and treasure as possible.

The president fired Army Gen. David McKiernan and replaced him with Gen. McChrystal. The president laid out a mission and its objectives in March and asked the general to come up with a strategy to accomplish that. McChrystal did so, and is now under criticism for the recommendation he proffered at the president’s request.… Read More

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When was the last time you read that a President appointed a "devout" Jew or a "devout" Christian to any government post?

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Doesn’t the "I threaten to veto all bills unless" approach get a little old, especially if after the stated threat, one always comes up with a few "except that one" bills that are "too important" to have been lumped in with the rest of the lot?

Just a question.

If, in fact, we could really count on a veto of all pending bills, including the twenty or so terrible ones that Jon Fleischman has been tracking on these pages, perhaps we should actually support a no deal on water for the time being.

Just a thought.… Read More

I will have to admit – I’m tired of posers. What we need are principled fiscal conservatives leading California’s Government. I would love to go for the old "outreach template" in the Governor’s race, but its never produced an effective leader.

This morning over at the Capitol Weekly, they have a short item where they list those legislators who have authored the most bills that currently are sitting on Governor Schwarzenegger’s desk, awaiting either his signature, his veto, or his non-action (which would result in them becoming law).

Sixteen legislators together have 210 bills out of the 700 or so on the Governor’s desk.

FlashReport readers are welcome to take a guess here — how many of those sixteen legislators are Republican?

If you answered ZERO you would be correct.

We once again express our hope that the Governor will just veto all of the bills on his desk. Sure, there are a few bills that are okay, but by and large California would be better off if the entire final product of this legislature session was torpedoed.

We support nuking the package based on the substance of the bills themselves. But we are okay if he votoes them for the very fair reason that he doesn’t have time to review them while he is busy trying to get Capitol Democrats to agree to a reasonable water solution for the state — one that gets water to people and businesses to solve… Read More

I think it is fairly safe to say that San Francisco Assemblyman, liberal Democrat Tom Ammiano and former California Republican Party Chairman Mike Schroeder of Orange County, who is heading up the recall of Anthony Adams for breaking his pledge not to raise taxes, have virtually nothing in common.

That said, they do share one proclivity with each other — walking out on Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

A couple of years ago, when Schwarzenegger came to the State GOP Convention and gave his infamous "you are losing at the box office and need to be more like the Democrats" lecture, Schroeder got up at the beginning of Arnold’s remarks and left.

Capitol Weekly reports today that Governor Schwarzenegger made an… Read More