[Publisher’s Note: Congressman Tom McClintock gave a floor speech in support of legislation that requires all states to honor the CCW permits issues by other states. You can watch the speech on the video clip below, or under that is the actually text of the Congressman’s remarks… Flash]

On November 16th the House considered HR 822, a long-overdue measure to assure that states recognize the concealed weapons permits issued by other states.

This very simple measure has unleashed a firestorm of protests from the political left. I… Read More

This stunning interview is worth a few minutes of your time…

… Read More

Here is some “must see TV” to start off your Thursday…

… Read More

As columns go, this will be one will be fairly short — and very direct. Until now, the Presidential candidacy of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has been more of a sideshow than anything serious. Actually, his performances in the never-ending stream of debates have been downright enjoyable. Now the latest national poll of ever-shifting sentiments of Republican voters on who Republicans want as their Presidential nominee has Gingrich on top with 28% support.

Because Gingrich has catapulted into the fore, let me make it very clear that I cannot and will not support his candidacy for the Republican nomination because there is no way for me to be convinced that Gingrich is of sufficient moral character to hold the highest elective office in the United States. Because of this, there really is no reason to assess his candidacy on any other level. The policies and politics of a candidate do not matter if one cannot trust them.

Let me take the liberty of reprinting two paragraphs from… Read More

If you live in California, then you know just how irritating traffic can be. The traffic is so bad–especially in Los Angeles–that Carmageddon seems like a more appropriate term for daily commute times. For years Californians have been warned by the environmental elite that it’s because of our addiction to the fossil fuels that power our vehicles that our environment is crumbling. To try and “save” the planet, the environmentalists in charge of California government have passed draconian measures such as AB 32 to control or behavior and conform it to their vision of a utopian society (i.e., a society where they tell us what to do instead of allowing us to live in freedom).

Well, what if it was bad government–not average citizens’ behavior–that’s causing the problem?

A study published by the Texas Transportation Institute indicates that it’s California’s lack of infrastructure that’s causing huge problems for the economy and environment. The study looked at 328 of the… Read More

On May 12, 2011, as a member of the West Covina Unified School District Board of Education I voted to terminate the contract of the Superintendent. As these things go it was a tumultuous affair. I left the meeting after the announcement hoping that the angry supporters of the Superintendent would just let me get to my car. On the way out a West Covina Planning Commissioner, resident of Rowland Unified School District and candidate for West Covina City Council HERB REDHOLTZ told me, “Your political career is over”. I quipped that maybe I would run for council. Of course I didn’t run for council, I sought re-election.

Fast forward to November 8, 2011 results.

The results for THREE seats in West Covina Unified

Votes

2152 STEVE COX 2107 MIKE SPENCE 1979 CAMIE POULOS 1440 IAN JONES 1130 DAVID BARRILE 944 STEPHANI J BROVIAK

The results for TWO Seats on the West Covina City Council

3473 STEVE HERFERT 3154 FREDRICK SYKES 2880 KARIN ARMBRUST 2203 HERB REDHOLTZ

Not gloating, I’m just… Read More

As a matter of practical math, currently public employee total compensation (salary, benefits, retirement benefits) are unsustainable. If you look all around California, you start to see more and more examples of local governments who are looking at drastic cuts in basic services as personnel cots — especially on the public safety side — gobble up an ever-increasing portion of government budgets. Given the kinds of cuts that are taking place in the state budget, it is clear that money that could be used for services instead is going to increase the membership of the $100,000+ annual pension club. Perhaps the most sobering reality out there is that despite the ever-increasing amounts of funds being allocated to fund employee compensation, there is a still a vast unfunded liability that a Stanford University study pegs high as 500 billion dollars. While these are large numbers, I cannot imagine that anyone is surprised. We have a system where vast numbers of government employees are retiring as early as 50 years of age and then being paid at full-time employee salary levels for the rest of their lives. Seriously.

Today,… Read More

From the Wall Street Journal Political Diary E-mail… (Congrats to FR blogger Adam Probolsky for his firm’s mention)

Bullet Train Boondoggle

Florida, Ohio and Wisconsin turned down plans to build high-speed rail lines in their cash-strapped states for fear of cost over-runs and delays. But an updated business plan from the California High-Speed Rail Authority shows that those fears are turning into reality for the Golden State — which has made the development of bullet trains a priority.

A new business plan released last week estimated that the cost of the San Francisco-to-Los Angeles high-speed line will reach $98.5 billion dollars. That’s three times more than the $33 billion projected when California voters approved $9 billion in bond funding in 2008, and twice as expensive as was estimated just two years ago. The line was also supposed to be completed by 2020. But the new plan estimates that it won’t be fully operational until more than a decade later in 2033. Construction hasn’t even begun yet.… Read More