The American Conservative Union (I am a Board member) issued their 2008 ratings of Congress just in time for the national Conservative Political Action Conference a couple weeks ago and the ratings make for some interesting understanding of the politics of our California delegation in Washington, D.C.

Of course, our two lady Senators from San Francisco were disasters. Of the 25 bills picked to indicate political leanings, which included votes on tax rebates, spending cuts,against earmarks, Iraq, global warming, missile defense, and the financial and auto industry bailout (I have attached the complete file), Feinstein and Boxer only voted right on one issue: they both opposed a liberal measure foran almost immediate Iraq troop withdrawal. That one vote earned them a "4" out of 100 on the conservative scale. Even Barack Obama got a more conservative "17" rating as a Senator, and he missed 12 of the 25 votes while campaigning for President!

Over in the House of Representatives, our leading Republican lights with perfect "100" scores were Congressmen Nunes, McCarthy, Royce, and Issa,and the… Read More

Last week I posted a link to a calculator at the Sacramento Bee website where you can calculate an estimate of how much more you will have to pay as a result of the tax increases signed by the Governor. http://www.sacbee.com/1098/story/1627728.html A reader alerted me to some possible flaws with the calculator so I asked our chief economist at the Board to look at the calculator’s sales tax component. The conclusion is the calculator is off in two ways with respect to sales tax, the net result is it likely understates the impact on individuals. I do not believe the flaws are intentional but based on an imperfect understanding of California’s economy. I very much appreciate the Sac Bee’s efforts to make clear the impact of the tax for individual Californians and I encourage them to continue doing so. The analysis of their calculator is below. “We now know the calculator does… Read More

I am pleased to offer this Guest Commentary from longtime FR reader Alyse Fulbright. Fulbright (pictured to the right holding the sign) was one of over 10,000 activists who rallied in Fullerton on Saturday to protest the recent passage of the largest tax increase in California history, as well as to decry the legislature’s placing Proposition 1A on the ballot which, if passed, would extend those taxes additional years…

Yesterday afternoon, I joined thousands of other Californians at the Tax Revolt in downtown Fullerton. The turnout shocked me, with estimates from 8,000 to 15,000 in attendance, depending on who you ask. It was a diverse crowd—college students, old folks, families with children—and everybody there was angry about the recently passed budget and the tax increases that came with it.

… Read More

I am pleased to offer this Guest Commentary from longtime FR reader Alyse Fulbright. Fulbright (pictured to the right holding the sign) was one of over 10,000 activists who rallied in Fullerton on Saturday to protest the recent passage of the largest tax increase in California history, as well as to decry the legislature’s placing Proposition 1A on the ballot which, if passed, would extend those taxes additional years…

Yesterday afternoon, I joined thousands of other Californians at the Tax Revolt in downtown Fullerton. The turnout shocked me, with estimates from 8,000 to 15,000 in attendance, depending on who you ask. It was a diverse crowd—college students, old folks, families with children—and everybody there was angry about the recently passed budget and the tax increases that came with it. … Read More

From the “Wake up and don’t smell the tobacco” department… Thanks to the Federal Strategy Group for sending along the quote of the day:

“They’re telling you how to live and what to do, and they’re doing it right here in America.”

–Edith Frederickson, 72, a smoker in Belmont, California, where a strict antismoking law effectively outlaws lighting up in all apartment buildings (New York Times, 1/27/09) From the “It’s not only Republicans mad at some of their legislators” department… This excerpted from a recent San Diego Democratic Club email call-to-action, and starring Assemblyman Marty Block:

Last Monday … the California State Assembly voted on HR 5, Assemblymember Tom Ammiano’s resolution declaring that the Assembly believes that Proposition 8 was an improper "revision" of our California Constitution rather than an "amendment" that could be rightly placed before voters as the Proposition 8 proponents did last fall. In… Read More

I can imagine the assignment editors hanging out in the Los Angeles Times newsroom when the fax comes over from KFI’s John & Ken show informing them of a "tax revolt rally" taking place in Fullerton. Never mind that the Times’ Orange County coverage is becoming more and more sparse, given the attention lately on the quickly growing discontent amongst taxpaying Californian’s in the wake of the passage a few weeks ago of the largest tax increase in this history of this state (or any state, for that matter), you would think that they would have assigned a reporter to cover the event. Perhaps maybe they might have also sent a photographer to snap some "clicks" of the crowd.

Invariably, though, the editors, who were probably leaders in PETA or Greenpeace on their college campuses before turning to a life in journalism (following most of their campus-left activists), just scrunched up the fax and tossed it into the trash.

That is certainly one conclusion that you could come to as you turn the pages of the Los Angeles Times print edition this morning, as my mom and dad did — they live in LA. My mom confirmed for me… Read More

I can imagine the assignment editors hanging out in the Los Angeles Times newsroom when the fax comes over from KFI’s John & Ken show informing them of a "tax revolt rally" taking place in Fullerton. Never mind that the Times’ Orange County coverage is becoming more and more sparse, given the attention lately on the quickly growing discontent amongst taxpaying Californian’s in the wake of the passage a few weeks ago of the largest tax increase in this history of this state (or any state, for that matter), you would think that they would have assigned a reporter to cover the event. Perhaps maybe they might have also sent a photographer to snap some "clicks" of the crowd.

Invariably, though, the editors, who were probably leaders in PETA or Greenpeace on their college campuses before turning to a life in journalism (following most of their campus-left activists), just scrunched up the fax and tossed it into the trash.

That is certainly one conclusion that you could come to as you turn the pages of the Los Angeles Times print edition this morning, as my mom and dad did — they live in LA. My mom confirmed for me… Read More

This was sent out statewide to the members of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association after yesterday’s massive, successful anti-tax rally in Fullerton…

At least 10,000 angry taxpayers (one official estimate was over 15,000) participated in the 2009 Tax Revolt rally in Fullerton today. A big Thank You to all the HJTA members who joined the protest against higher taxes and Proposition 1A, the $16 billion tax increase scam placed on the May 19 special election ballot by the Legislature. We know that many HJTA members were not able to travel to Fullerton, but were with us in spirit. This event was just the kickoff of the campaign to defeat Proposition 1A that is being deceptively marketed by… Read More