Recently my wife went with a friend to a Vegan restaurant. She found it interesting, and enjoyed the experience. She tells me that even the food was good.

But it got me thinking. People value choice in their lives — even progressives. Why doesn’t some liberal group start an explicitly “progressive” restaurant chain — incorporating all the “workers’ paradise” options they so cherish? Given that most people are politically progressive (ask any progressive for verification), it would seem to be a goldmine — let’s ignore the evil of making a profit for the moment.

Liberals would flock to such an establishment. They’d be MORALLY OBLIGATED to do so. The eatery would have a intellectually PC-captive clientele!

The mind reels, thinking of all the progressive policies that could be implemented — that MUST be implemented. Here is only a partial list of the mandatory features of such a culinary establishment — in no particular order:

Writing in 2007, Los Angeles Times editorial writer Robert Greene stated, “The defining issue of the 2003 recall was Gov. Gray Davis’ tripling of the car tax, more officially known as the vehicle license fee. The defining issue of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s successful campaign to unseat Davis was his promised rollback of the said car tax.”

Greene went on to document the relationship of the car tax, the gas tax and the diversion of this revenue from transportation infrastructure to shore up a chronically unbalanced state budget. The contortions and machinations by state officials behind this diversion of funds was difficult to follow. What was not difficult to follow, however, was the public’s disdain for the car tax, a fact to which former Gov. Davis will attest.

The transportation tax package just approved by the California Legislature — greased with ample amounts of pork — is a lot more than just an increase in the car registration tax. It also imposes a 12-cents-per-gallon gas tax, and will cost the average California family of four over $250 annually. If state politicians wanted to inflame California taxpayers, they couldn’t have picked a better… Read More

Democrats just passed the largest gas tax increase in California history. The deal is so bad they needed $1 Billion in payola to buy enough votes to pass it. And shamefully, only 60 percent of the gas tax collected from SB 1, authored by Democrat Senator Jim Beall (D-San Jose), will actually be used for road maintenance and repairs. Environmentalists got plenty of taxpayer-funded payola as well including money for more public transit, and for walking and bicycling projects.

SB 1 does nothing to relieve traffic congestion or expand highway lane capacity. If Democrats and Gov. Jerry Brown are… Read More

In the late 1990’s, a Senator who represented a small portion of Riverside County sold out the taxpayers of California. He received a one time $15 million appropriation for a museum in Riverside County to get his vote on the budget. The taxpayers got stuck with a $20 billion/year increase in spending. That increase led to the collapse of the budget in the early part of the last decade. Some Riverside County elite lauded this Senator. He was, however, as shortsighted as he was irresponsible, and California has paid a price for his shortsightedness for 20 years.

The old joke tells of the guy who approached a woman in a bar, and offered her $100,000.00 to sleep with him. She said ok. He then said how about $10, she responded “what do you think I am?” The man responded, “we have already established what you are, now we’re just negotiating the price.” Of all the things that can be said about Senator Anthony Cannella, as opposed to the colleague with whom I served in the ’90’s, we already know what you are, you just got a higher price. As for Senator Roth and Assemblymember Cervantes, they negotiated like a Hollywood… Read More

Republican lawmakers, it’s your moment to prove your worth to your constituents. Especially since Gov. Jerry Brown told a legislative committee Monday his $52.4 billion gas tax increase needs to be approved immediately – especially because they have “a governor willing to sign it.”

“All the guys running for governor, all want to be president, so they’re not going to want to raise taxes,” Brown said. “You got a guy who’s going nowhere. I have no future. I only have a past.” Another bizarre statement from Jerry Brown…

The latest bill to dramatically increase California gasoline taxes and car registration fees an estimated $52.4 billion over the next decade should be a career-ending crossroad for Democrat Gov. Jerry Brown, who as a gubernatorial candidate promised that he would not raise taxes without a public vote. Ahem.

That’s just Lie #1. There are so many other lies emanating from Brown’s lips.

However, this latest round of tax increases would not be possible without a feckless Republican Party. Rather than being an effective opposition party, California’s Assembly Republican leadership appears to… Read More

I thought a long time before I wrote this. You see, I want Riverside County to be 100% Republican again, and if the Democrats in office in my home county vote for the transportation tax, it will go a long way towards achieving that goal. Western Riverside County voters have bore the brunt of the failed transportation policies began by Jerry Brown in the 1970s, and the tax increase Jerry Brown is requesting now can be traced directly back to the bad decisions he and the Democrats made in those years.

Between 1958 and 1974, the state of California built a transportation system that was the envy of the entire world. In that 16 year period, the thousands of miles of freeway system that is in place now was built. Jerry Brown took office in 1974, and set in motion a set of policies that has destroyed that system, and made California’s freeway system a national joke. Today, it takes 25 years of study to build one mile of freeway. The state of California pays thousands of people to sit around and think about building a freeway, that is, they issue study after study, but they never actually build anything.

In 1990, then Governor Deukmejian cut a deal with the… Read More

California State Senators Janet Nguyen and Andy Vidak and staff members arrived to work at their Capitol offices one morning last week to find unlocked office doors, a pungent chemical smell, and discovered their carpets had been cleaned without prior notice or even authorization. What’s the big deal? Were the offices infiltrated Watergate-style?

No one in the Senate administrative offices authorized or ordered the cleaning, or knew anything about it. Nguyen’s carpet was just spot cleaned last… Read More

Democrats in the Senate Monday appeared to be headed for a very public brawl with the Trump administration over passage ofSB 54,by Senate President pro Tem Kevin de León (D-Los Angeles), promoting unlawfulsanctuary city policies for criminal illegal aliens. SB 54would prohibit local police departments and sheriffs’ deputies from assisting Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and enforcing federal immigration laws.

Democrats need to rest and drink plenty of fluids because they have a serious case of “I Hate Trump” Fever.According to the Mayo Clinic, afever is a sign of illness. However, ifthe fever is accompanied by a severe headache, stiff neck, and shortness of breath, a doctor should begin treatment.The Democrat-controlled California Senate exhibited all of these signs Monday while debating why California should become a sanctuary state to offer protections for criminal illegal aliensfrom local law… Read More