According to this item Lou Dobbs is considering a presidential run, presumably as some kind of Independent, but his wife will make the final call. It seems a curious quest to me. Why do it if you have little or no chance to win — unless he really thinks [...]
It’s been fairly widely reported that moderate Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana got $300 million in increased Medicare benefits, much defined so it will go to Louisianans, as a partial inducement to vote for closure on the Senate health bill Saturday night. Less well known is that a [...]
Tim Cavanaugh at Reason bursts another doomsayers’ myth — that an increase in foreclosures will increase crime and violence. On the surface it seems a reasonable conclusion — empty houses will invite vandalism, maybe even squatting and turning foreclosed houses into heroin “shooting galleries, etc., etc., and as Tim [...]
If this pending socialized health care bill becomes law, or some other version of ObamaCare, what will it mean? The CATO Institute lists just a few of the remifications:
1. Eight of 10 of the most recent major medical innovations (like MRIs and hip replacements) came from the U.S. [...]
Gget a load of these comments in light of the data dump of inside, confidential information from the U.K.’s climate research center at East Anglia:
Charlie Martin at Pajamas Media blog says there are at least three scandals:
First, a real attempt by a small group of scientists to subvert the [...]The redoubtable scholar John McWhorter, bouncing off another killing in the Bronx, calls on Obama to end the drug war in the New Republic, though he suggests 2014, midway into the second term, would be good timing. Much as I would prefer yesterday, he might be shrewd politically. Meantime [...]
James Fallows, an old journalistic hand now living in Tokyo and blogging for the Atlantic, thinks the U.S. media that proclaimed Obama’s recent Asian trip a rank failure because of not getting concrete agreements and concessions from various Asian c0untries got it pretty wrong. Although Fallows is usually worth [...]
No one’s more surprised than we are to find that the New York Times, no less, already has acknowledged the global warming oops of the year:
“Hundreds of private e-mails and documents hacked from a computer server at a British university are causing a stir among global warming skeptics, who [...]
As folks worldwide are pouring over the data broken free from the clutches of those who would keep it secret, we’ve come across a pretty good summary of the data that reveals how global warming alarmists may have cooked the books to make their case (and protect their research grants) [...]
As we noted today, California’s nannies have ordered us no longer to buy and sell TVs they don’t like, even if we do like them and don’t mind paying to run them. Thanks so much Big Brothers, and you know who you are.
Well, despite the fearful likelihood that [...]
Have we heard this before? Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger - the enabler of last January’s historic tax increase - says now he is opposed to tax increases to close the state’s (latest) budget deficit.
Memo to the governor: Where was that conviction a few months ago?
Responding to Obama’s Asian trip Doug Bandow did a piece consistent with what he’s been saying a long time (he did a book advocating military withdrawal from Korea in 1996) on what kinds of policy changes might ensue if we really rethought our policies in line with changed circumstances. [...]
Just a few minutes ago, at the University of California Board of Regents meeting being held today at UCLA, the board formally approved a 32% fee hike for students in the UC System. The Regents claim they have no other choice because the state is facing huge budget shortfalls next [...]
Some days the good news just keeps comin’. Attorney General (soon to be governor?) Jerry Brown says the state Constitution permits the California Citizens Compensation Commission to reduce legislators and other elected officials’ salaries in the middle of their terms.
All together now: Hallelujah!
Legislative leaders resisted the Commission’s contention that [...]
Occasionally we get good news from the state’s capital and today is one of those days. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger says he won’t run for another political office.
We can all breath a sigh of relief. The Terminator has presided over arguably the largest increase in state taxes in history, the [...]
If you need examples of why giving people power over other people is more problematic than beneficial, consider this item out of Palm Beach, Fla.
“An overgrown lawn could cost a homeowner $1,000 a day,” reports the Palm Beach Post.
The city’s considering quadrupling its fine for long grass in private [...]
We’ve noted repeatedly that one of the budgetary fallacies in Sacramento that’s repeated year-in, year-out is the unrealistic, ever-too-optimistic projection of how much of your money they will be raking in. They don’t seem to learn this lesson. Every year they project the budget will be just peachy because they [...]
A watchdog site led by former GOP staffers called the Frankin Center for Government and Public Integrity has been having great fun with reports on the White House’s recovery.gov site, which purports to track all the jobs “saved or created” by the $787-billion “stimulus” bill passed last January. It [...]
This Saturday, Doctors for Patient Care, a group that advocates to protect the doctor-patient privilege, is organizing demonstrations in major cities throughout the country. This Saturday they will host a protest in Los Angeles at the Federal Building. Here are the details for anyone wondering:
When: Saturday, November 21
Time: 12:00 [...]
You’ve got to love this one! A San Diego Deputy DA in the county where trying to bust medical marijuana facilities is almost a religion to law enforcement, had to admit in court that he patronized a medical marijuana facility on the advice of his doctor. Video in the [...]
The Claremont Institute will be hosting a policy conference in Newport Beach on December 5:
Claremont Institute’s California Public Policy Conference at the Island Hotel in Newport Beach, California, on Saturday, December 5, 2009. You will hear candid discussions of state and local government policies – how they impact us and [...]
Remember when Bush was president and those nasty, obstructive Democrats sometimes conducted filibusters against his judicial nominees, which would have forced them to get 60 votes? AL Sen. Jeff Sessions was especially outraged back then, calling it “really wrong” to indulge in such “unprecedented, obstructive tactics.”
Well, there’s a Democrat in [...]
We noted a while back that the state’s fiscal smoke-and-mirrors and faux fixes would bring us another $20 billion budget deficit in the coming year. We were wrong. The Legislative Analyst’s Office says it’ll be closer to $21 billion. Read it and weep here.
We’re shocked. Not really.
RELATED POSTS:
[...]In the 72nd Assembly race, Orange County Supervisor Chris Norby ended up on top. He was the top vote getter in the election and finished about 16 points ahead of Linda Ackerman.
Now Norby will head to the general election January 12th against Democrat John MacMurray.
Norby’s name recognition and fundraising propensity–not [...]
Despite the pleas of some commenters, here are some links to more responses to Sarah and her celebrity book tour. Last hit unless something of substance comes up.
There’s this from an Anchorage Daily News writer on how Palin brought celebrity culture to Alaska, then a rather snarky NYT [...]
In preparation for the American President’s visit to China, Chinese authorities cracked down on the sale of merchandise bearing President Obama’s image. Another example of the censorship coming from Beijing.
But interestingly enough not all of Obama memorabilia was banned, just items that might be construed as controversial. For example, Obama [...]
I confess, I haven’t read Sarah Palin’s book — somehow they managed not to send us a review copy, possibly because they don’t need newspaper reviewers to insure a best-seller and possibly because they thought that reviews might not only not help but hurt. But here is a small sample [...]
If you are in the 72nd Assembly District don’t forget to get out and vote today.
The only consequential race in the primary is on the GOP side where the two front runner, Supervisor Chris Norby and Linda Ackerman are vying for the Republican nomination. With the nature of that heavily [...]
The Heritage Foundation reminds us of President Barack Obama’s grand promise back in the Rose Garden on Nov. 7:
“The Affordable Health Care for America Act is a piece of legislation that will provide stability and security for Americans who have insurance; quality, affordable options for those who don’t; and bring [...]
Law professor Jonathan Adler over at the Volokh Conspiracy, notes that the Obama administration has been much slower nominating federal judges than the Bush administration was at a comparable point in time. As the NYT has also noted, by this point Bush had nominated 28 appellate judges and [...]
There’s a new movie out about the end of the world: 2012. Our own governor is portrayed at a press conference just after a series of massive earthquakes hit.
The guv is shown reassuring Californians. He says he thinks “the worst is over.” That’s the cue. In the next instant California [...]
Well, those of us who are not jihadis may never really know for sure. But this article by the UK journalist Johann Hari, based on interviews with Brits who had jumped into the jihadi movement with both feet (one claims to have converted Omar Sheikh, who beheaded Wall Street [...]
That Yemeni-American Muslim cleric whose mosque Maj. Hasan attended some eight years ago in Virginia and with whom he was exchanging e-mails (the cleric is in Yemen now) has given an interview. He says he was simply a confidant to Hasan but didn’t urge him to action. But he [...]
Today’s Global Warming Oops Moment (aren’t they persistent?) comes courtesy of the London Times:
“Alarming predictions that climate change will lead to the extinction of hundreds of species may be exaggerated, according to Oxford scientists.”
Darn. We thought that science was settled. Guess not.
As the Times reported, many biodiversity forecasts [...]
Almost without anyone noticing (OK, we noticed) the federal government has become daddy, mommy, nanny, teacher, employer, boss, doctor and who knows what else. Did it occur to anyone to ask at some point, “Can the federal government do that?”
Now, the federal government wants to force you to buy insurance. [...]
I almost hate even to mention Sarah Palin, but she does have a book coming out that is already a bestseller and she’s all over the media. She says the interview with Oprah was just delightful, but the evil AP, which apparently got an advance copy, misrepresented the contents [...]
You’ve got to love it. After adding more spending for new programs in 9 months than Bill Clinton did in 8 years, President Obama is set to make next year, beginning with the State of the Onion speech — ta dah! – the year of deficit reduction. The administration [...]
It looks like the FDA will back off our their attempted ban of oysters: FDA backs off oyster ban after strong criticism
Post from: Orange Punch
[...]I saw a few people interviewed on Fox News early this morning, and a bunch of people on my Facebook page terribly upset that Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the alleged “mastermind” of the 9/11 attack (along with four codefendants) is to be brought to New York and tried in a [...]
White House counsel Gregory Craig has resigned and he will be replaced by — are you ready? — Bob Bauer who is President Obama’s personal lawyer. The general impression you get from most of the news stories is that nobody was satisfied with the way Craig handled Guantanamo. Far [...]
Joe Conason at Salon can’t cite concrete evidence to back it up, but thinks Lou Dobbs is likely to run for office, which Conason thinks would be a GOP nightmare. He points out that Dobbs is far from being a believer in free market — Conason oh-so-cleverly refers to [...]
Using technology platforms to streamline government, but does the FCC really need a MySpace channel? And who is going to watch their latest forays into regulating entertainment? And MySpace must be desperate if they are partnering with the FCC. I’m sticking to FaceBook. Read more for yourself:
FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISION [...]
President Obama has announced that he will hold a “jobs summit” in December. The pollsters are probably telling him he needs to address what most Americans see as the first priorities, jobs and the economy. This summit reminds me of nothing so much as Jerry Ford’s laughable and utterly [...]
Every once and awhile it is good to distract ourselves from politics– it is the only way to stay sane. My friend Shane Foley, a former Quarterback at USC from 1986-1990 and high school football star here at Newport Harbor in OC, wrote an interesting analysis about USC and the [...]
The special election in New York’s 23rd congressional district may be more special yet.
This report from Gary Bauer: “Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman may have conceded too early. Recanvassing has dramatically narrowed Democrat Bill Owens’ lead to just 3,000 votes, with thousands of absentee ballots still to be counted.”
Interesting, hm? [...]
Jerry Brown hasn’t declared his candidacy for governor - yet - but it’s clear he’s positioning himself. Ever the outside-the-boxer, Brown most recently declared that California is too steeped in laws and regulations, to the point it’s become business unfriendly. Yeah, we raised an eyebrow too.
Here’s how LegalNewsline.com put [...]
Here are a couple of stories on Lou Dobbs’s resignation from CNN to “go beyond” what he’s been doing and offer more constructive solutions, one from Politico.com and one from the WaPo’s Howie Kurtz. Here are some other reactions. Neither offers much speculation that presumes to be [...]
Politico has an interesting story about “base” activists — hard-left liberals for the Dems and hard-right conservatives for the Republicans — are urging supporters not to make donations through the respective parties’ national committees to protest what they see as insufficient ideological purity. Dems are upset that an anti-abortion [...]
Media SoCal Conservative Orange
Brian Calle, by Alan Bock, Register editorial writer, Mark Landsbaum
