Just when we thought we had seen the worst of the recent economic downturn, the local economy is likely to get yet another jolt from a little-talked-about merger that is winding its way through the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

The merger is in the area of pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) companies, and involves two of the largest companies in the business: Express Scripts, Inc., and Medco. If this goes through, the emerging company will be the elephant in the room when it comes to PBMs.

Fears are that this kind of consolidation of power will have ramifications beyond driving up the prices of medicine for patients. It might also trigger the closure of pharmacies, both locals and chains, which will be hard pressed to compete with this mail order giant.

What does that mean for our little corner of the earth? If the merger happens, you might be getting your prescriptions by mail order. For those who like their local pharmacist or rely on their pharmacy to have their blood pressure taken or to receive their vaccinations, you’ll have to come up with another plan – or maybe your postman can help. And I hope you like mail order… Read More

Last month we published our annual Top 20 Bill To Veto column. Senators Doug LaMalfa and Mimi Walters culled through every bill that was sent to the Governor at the end of the session, and the worst of the worst made our list. You can read the original column here. Below we have pulled the actual 20 bills and and indicated the Governor’s action. The Governor signed 15 of the bills and vetoed the other 5.

Assault on the Family

SIGNED! AB 433 (B. Lowenthal) – Requires the state to issue a new birth certificate to California-born, but now out of state residents that have undergone sex-change surgery. Also allows them to petition the court to have their new gender recognized as such.

SIGNED! AB 499… Read More

As a media figure, you know you’re having an impact when your opponents try to boycott you. Just ask Lou Dobbs or Glenn Beck. It seems LA’s talk radio kings, John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou, of KFI AM 640, have now attained such influence.

They’ve grown accustomed to Governor Brown taking jabs at them and their politically active audience. Now, several “Latino rights groups” are trying to get the duo off the air. For SoCal locals, John and Ken have become the go-to radio hosts discussing the out-of-control progressive policies bankrupting California and killing citizens’ freedom. In recent years, their loyal audience has become increasingly vocal, calling politicians and other politicos when directed by the radio hosts.

One of the topics of their ire is AB 131, the California Dream Act, by Senator Gill Cedillo. In their daily radio program, John and Ken have been expounding on the lunacy of offering college scholarships to students whose parents aren’t legal citizens, taking money from… Read More

619 years ago today, the three Spanish ships — the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria — weighed anchor off the of coast of what would eventually be called the Bahamas and Italian explorer Christopher Columbus and his expedition became the first westerners to discover the Americas — the new world. This day is celebrated through all of the Americas with a holidays. Well, with a few exceptions. In South Dakota it is Native American Day. In Hawaii, they use this day to celebrate their discovery by Polynesian explorers. And, of course, in the People’s Republic of Berkeley, today is indigenous people’s day.

100 years ago today, Californians changed their State Constitution to include several reforms, including the ability for the people to exercise direct democracy in the form of ballot initiatives and the referendum (the ability to take any new law and take it to a vote of the people). A century ago, these reforms were enacted in response to the domination of state government by a small group of wealthy business interests (most notably the railroad tycoons).

Today, the initiative and referendum continue to be a tool available… Read More

The ink is hardly dry on Governor Brown’s signature on SB 202, the measure that violates last year’s budget agreement (which included the placement of a “rainy day fund” measure on the June 2012 ballot) and fulfills the wishes of the state’s massive public employee unions who want all future qualified initiatives on the November ballot in order to avoid the Stop Special Interests Now ballot measure from being placed on a more hospitable June ballot.

That said, the FlashReport has confirmed through solid sources that the paperwork filing a referendum on SB 202 has already been filed with the Secretary of State’s office. Opponents of SB 202 will have three months to gather around 504,000 valid signatures. If they do so, then SB 202 will be suspended until the public can vote on it — and it would have the effect of letting the Stop Special Interests Now! (which had over 800,000 signatures turned in on petitions today) appear in June.

Here is the letter that was filed before 5 p.m. with the Secretary of State’s… Read More

This Monday marks the 100th anniversary of California’s initiative and referendum process, which, after then Governor Hiram Johnson convinced legislators to put the reform measure on the October 10, 1911 ballot, was enacted by 76 percent of California voters. A day-long forum in Sacramento this Monday will celebrate the centennial event with debate and discussion about the state’s system of direct democracy by a very diverse group of speakers.

The “100th Anniversary Celebration of California’s Initiative & Referendum” begins at 10:00 am on Monday, October 10, at the Sheraton Grand Hotel on 1230 J Street, just blocks from the state capitol in downtown Sacramento. The event will feature a talk about the historic 1911 effort, a morning panel on the impact of a century of voter initiatives, a lunch debate on whether the initiative process is “the problem” or “the solution” for California governance, two afternoon panel discussions, the first on reform of the process followed by a look at what the next century may bring, and will conclude with a reception sponsored by the Consulate General of Switzerland for San Francisco from 5:30 pm to 6:30 pm, at… Read More

“In 1954, Joanne Schiebel was a young unmarried college student who discovered that she was pregnant. In the 1950s, her options were limited. She could have had an abortion – but the procedure was both dangerous and illegal. She could have gotten married, but she wasn’t ready and didn’t want to interrupt her education. Joanne opted, instead, to give birth to the baby and (placed him) for adoption. And so it was that in 1955, a California couple named Paul and Clara Jobs adopted a baby boy, born out of wedlock, whom they named Steven.”

From the Susan B. Anthony List (with a minor change by me in parentheses, which previously read “put him up”).… Read More

California: A Morality Tale in Three Parts

The following is a speech I delivered to the Council on National Policy on September 30, 2011

I want to welcome this groundbreaking scientific expedition to the savage lands of the Left Coast. You are here in California to answer an important theoretical question and now you have your answer.

Yes, this is what Barack Obama’s second term would look like.

Study it. Fear it. And then go home and make sure that it never happens to the rest of the country.

Of course, in spite of all of its problems, California is still one of the best places in the country to build a successful small business. All you have to do is start with a successful large business.

Laugh if you will, but as you whistle past this cemetery, do heed the medieval epitaph: “Remember man as you walk by, as you are now so once was I; as I am now so you will be.”

Mark that well, because if we lose this struggle for the future of our country, you too someday will live in a California – only without the nice climate.

Bad policies. Bad… Read More