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[7/29/05 Friday]

[Eric Hogue - radio talk show host KTKZ - Sacramento] 3:30 pm [permalink]
Gray Davis on Prop 77: Governor Gray Davis, called the "Eric Hogue Show" on "News Talk 1380 KTKZ", Thursday morning. Here is the official transcript of the dialogue, and Gov. Davis' endorsement.

Hogue: "As you know better than anybody else Governor, running this state, the state of California, is not an easy thing to do. And one of the phrases that is being bandied about, when you were facing the recall and when we talk about the post recall situation is that this state is ungovernable. As Governor, no matter what you do, if you want to enact real reform or if you just want to sit there and face that opposition, I mean, this is something that must be considered, could you speak to that situation?"

Davis: "Well it's a very hard job and clearly no one person can do it alone. You need to put coalitions together -- obviously you have to have the people behind you. Even then there are a lot of severe obstacles, I mean just to pass the budget, California's one of three states in America that requires a 2/3 vote. The other two are Arkansas and I believe it's Rhode Island, not exactly states with similar demographics or similar complexities, but the bottom line is, it's an opportunity to do the best.Governor it's the best opportunity you'll have to try and make the changes you believe in and I value every day I had it and I thank the people for the opportunity and I wish Arnold well."

Hogue: "When you talk about the word ungovernable, and once again we're speaking with Governor Gray Davis, Prop 77 comes up and we've caught wind, and I need some clarification from you Sir, that Adelphia Cable had a show that you were on recently and you made mention they're saying or we're at least hearing that you're supportive of Prop 77. You would like to see something done with how we divide up our districts here in California?"

Davis: "Yes. I believe it's a mistake to have the legislature and the governor draw the district lines. It's basically a conflict of interest. And I don't like the results even though I signed the bill last time. My primary concern was that Democrats not try and craft more seats than they won at the prior election in 2000. But I didn't have time given the energy crisis to see how locked in people are. And my concern is that every elected official should have some sense of jeopardy in a November election. They should have some obligation to the general interest and not just having to win their primaries. And so I think its better off having people who are not combatants in this process, retired judges, draw those lines. Actually, I think of the last 4 reapportionments, Eric, 2 were drawn by judges because the courts threw out the redistrict plans and they turned out fine. So, uh, I'm for that initiative. I'm not for it starting in 2006, but I'm for the concept of having judges draw the lines."

Hogue: "What do you think about the current status of 77? Obviously, there has been a mishap and Attorney General Bill Lockyer has asked and the court has simply pulled it from the ballot. Do you think that court and the appeal that's now hitting the courtroom should be reconsidered and should be placed on the ballot coming up in November?"

Davis: "I"d like to see it on the ballot in November, but worst case it should be on the ballot in June. People should have the opportunity to decide whether or not they want the legislature and the governor to continue to craft reapportionment plans or take it out of their hands and put in the hands of what I believe would be less partial decision makers, retired judges."

Hogue: "To the public employee unions, a constant theme on my show here, the combination of gerrymandered districts or how we do draw the lines in California and how much money is coming from the public employee unions. Do you have any concerns about what I call the web-of-control or the money machine and how out of control it is and continues to be, Governor?"

Davis: "Obviously money is a big force in politics. I think it always will be no matter what laws are put on the books. I signed laws that put limits on how much people could give to constitutional races, races below Governor and on the Governor itself and I also signed legislation requiring that any contribution over $5,000 be made public in 24 hours, so I think disclosure is the key, but whatever rules we apply to the election to say the legislature and the Governor that will not prohibit major donors, be they corporate concerns or union concerns from having independent expenditures, that's protected by the first amendment.

Hogue: "What about the initiative that's on the ballot here that's pretty much in slang called "Paycheck Protection" Are you supportive of this initiative?"

Davis: "No I'm not because I think that today; members of unions which represent only 13% of the population in America have the opportunity to say they don't want to have a portion of their fees go for political purposes. It's called an agency fee and they can't indicate that annually first when they sign up and annually when they renew their commitment to pay dues. It"d be like saying no executive in a corporation can give money without 75% approval of their shareholders. So, I don't think we should put those restraints on corporate contributions and I don't think we should put them on union contributions."

Hogue: "The Governor, Governor Schwarzenegger, has faced a lot of opposition over the past few months. A lot of it has been innuendo, and we've called it on this show on 1380 KTKZ the strategy of the big lie. Do you believe in knowing Governor Schwarzenegger, Governor Davis, that he is targeting nurses, he is targeting policemen and women and firefighters or is he moreover talking about his concerns surrounding the unions?"

Davis: "I like Governor Schwarzenegger; I think he's a good person. I think he is, like all of us, I certainly made more than my fair share of mistakes, he's made some mistakes. The one thing I learned very early on as governor when you say something as governor people take it very seriously. And I think occasionally some of his remarks about nurses and otherwise were misconstrued and it created some friction. That having been said, anytime you try and change existing pensions, you're going to get resistance. If I said we're going to change the pay provisions of on-air people of radio and television, I'm sure there would be some resistance. That's just the nature of the process- not much you can do about that."

Hogue: "Are you concerned about the pensions? I mean much of that came about while you were in office there. Do you think it needs to be toned back and reconsidered? Does it jeopardize the budget of this state right now?"

Davis: "I think over the long term it's something we have to deal with. I think the way to deal with it is through discussion, negotiation, dialogue to see if you can't come to some consensus. I mean nobody in life likes to go backwards. I mean the American way is, and I think we're all proud to be part of this great country, is that we all like for things to get better for each succeeding generation and certainly we like to do our part in this generation to prepare for the next. No one likes to think that the people that come after them will be less well paid or less well taken care of. The realities are that we have to deal with that and I think it's best done incrementally and with a process where all sides are sitting at the table and eventually you'll reach a consensus. It's hard work it's not a lot of fun it's not exciting as TV. But basically, when you're asking people to go backwards, you have to do it with a lot of sensitivity."

Hogue: "There's been some concern, some conversation, about the Governor not going forward on the Special Election. Would you encourage him to do so governor?"

Davis: "I believe the issues he wants to put on the ballot should go before the public. I'm not convinced, Eric, that they have to be done this November. It looks at the moment, like we're down to two initiatives. One having to do with teacher tenure, one having to do with the budget. I don't see why those issues couldn't wait until June. But that's his call. You get elected governor you can decide whether you want to have a special election and if he wants it to be in November, that's when it will be."

Hogue: '"Sir, just a couple more questions- it's a joy talking to you. What's your recipe? What would you cook in the kitchen down here in the horseshoe to make the state governable? What would you do? What's needed?"

Davis: "Well I think he's started to do the right thing now, which is just to sit down with the legislature and see if he can't iron out some of the problems between themselves. If they can in fact come up with some compromise initiatives to go on the ballot where everyone's for them, Republicans and Democrats, I think that would take some of the pressure off the voters. I mean we've asked the voters to do a lot. We've had elections in 2002 the recall in 2003 we had some important issues on the ballot in March of 2004 and now we're talking about another election in 2005. If we can give them a breather until June 2000 because compromise has been worked out between Democrats and Republicans I think it's a good thing, in fact, I think it's what the public expects. [Hogue Blog - email: onair@ktkz.com]

[7/28/05 Thursday]

[Ken Masugi - Local Liberty Blog - Claremont Institute] 7:43am [permalink]
Peter Schrag Misses One In his thoughtful review of inititatives and the Governor's agenda, Peter Schrag overlooks the one requiring parental notification of a minor's impending abortion, Proposition 73. Here is the text. Schwarzenegger's opposition or even indifference to it could cause a major crisis among Republicans. [visit Local Liberty Blog]

[7/27/05 Wednesday]

[Ken Masugi - Local Liberty Blog - Claremont Institute] 7:55 am [permalink]
$41 Billion to Remove Illegals? The illegal immigrant lobby has relied on a sense of inevitabilityand reductio ad absurdum in order to justify its arguments for amnesty and lax border controls (Darryl Fears, Washington Post). The Center for American Progress's report is the latest attempt in this strategy. By making the task appear daunting, the arguments about cost and mass deportation policies make significant reform seem impossible. This is a vivid illustration of historical inevitability arguments versus free government arguments.

Such a mass movement--possible only under despotic circumstances intolerable to most Americans--has never been the goal of thoughtful reformers, who emphasize law enforcement and changing the culture of lawlessness. Critics of the report, such as Mark Krikorian of the Center for Immigration Studies, estimate a much higher return rate for illegals, given the proper policies.

The next issue of Local Liberty newsletter focuses on illegal immigration, with three articles by John Fonte, Edward Erler, and E. Anderson. Subscriptions are, for now, free. [visit Local Liberty Blog]

[7/26/05 Tuesday]

[Ken Masugi - Local Liberty Blog - Claremont Institute] 12:01 am [permalink]
All Politics Is Local--Except When It's National: The Budget Initiative and Beyond Will the special election be cancelled (via OC Blog)? Does the Governor want to eschew national political leadership on budget discipline, such as this initiative provides for? That would be the implication of Evan Halper's LAT analysis of the initiative as an example of nationwide trends, if he cancels the special election. All the groups that have invested their labors would turn against him. That would assure Schwarzenegger's demise into self-immolation. He still retains within his power the ability to transform California politics and save political liberty in the Golden State.

Schwarzenegger has a chance for national greatness on the immigration issue. See here for the emergence of a Bush strategy. John Fonte, on our home page, has his doubts. The two Republican senators from Arizona are fighting it out on employment provisions.

With an eye to principle and policy, John Tierney sees Secretary of the Interior Norton abandoning her libertarian roots, to protect Republican political interests. N.B.: The Bush Administration did not file a brief in favor of Ms. Kelo. [visit Local Liberty Blog]

[7/25/05 Monday]

[Ken Masugi - Local Liberty Blog - Claremont Institute] 12:01 am [permalink]
Eminent Domain in California: Post-Kelo UPDATED Four opinion pieces criticize the operation of eminent domain in California, by the SFC (yet begging off endorsing Tom McClintock’s proposal, as have some OC legislators) and Steven Malanga of the Manhattan Institute. Assailing sports venues, the latter puts it more bluntly: "But the fact is, the public benefit promised by urban economic development programs rarely materializes. In fact, such initiatives often become tax eaters — a public burden rather than a public benefit."

UPDATE: Dan Walters derides the "sophistry" of the California Redevelopment Association, which is arguing that the "blight" requirements of state law prevent Kelo from having major consequences. Anti-redevelopment and activist OC Supervisor Chris Norby notes some other California consequences of Kelo.

A summary of our take on Kelo's consequences and what the Claremont Institute contributed to the opinions is here and, C. Robert Ferguson's essay on Kelo California consequences here. OCBlog on another abuse.

[7/21/05 Thursday]

[Ken Masugi - Local Liberty Blog - Claremont Institute] 12:01 am [permalink]
California Border Patrol Petition Citizens curious about the California Border Police Initiative can read it (and sign on if interested) here. Our background on the initiative. Thanks to OC Blog, which has been going on with great zest on the spirituality management sessions on the Orange County sewage department. See our earlier post, now updated.

This silliness reveals the general problem with the discipline of management, founded by Claremont Graduate University's Peter Drucker. Drucker is an extraordinary mind, whose writing ranges from novels and Japanese art to contemporary politics and Nazi theory to the management of non-profits. Those who now call themselves management gurus have come to think that whatever they touch, in however bizarre a way, is "management." Cf. Dilbert. I once had a short but inglorious career evaluating universities to see whether their courses could be given college credit. Anything seemed to qualify as management. [visit Local Liberty Blog]

[7/20/05 Wednesday]

[Bill Morrow - State Senator, columnist] 12:04 am [permalink]
Enforcing the Border: It always amazes me what the press will cover and in many cases, will not cover. Last week, with almost no press coverage, two Assembly bills, ACA 20 & ACA 6, which sought to gain some measure of state control over the growing problem of illegal immigration, were killed with very little debate.

Both authors made thoughtful arguments listing, almost endlessly, the many problems caused by illegal immigration, particularly the cost to the government and California taxpayers.

For the last 13 years, as a member of both houses of the California State Legislature, I have authored many measures to strengthen our borders, better equip our resources at the borders and to accumulate factual data so that we can make better public policy and fiscal decisions when evaluating the impacts illegal immigration has on our state.

To step up and elevate this topic in greater depth, I am hosting a town hall forum on illegal immigration with several experts to help provide facts on this very important issue. I will provide more information on this event shortly.

I applaud both Assemblymembers for their recent efforts to join me in this fight and I look forward to seeing you at my town hall on illegal immigration.

[7/19/05 Tuesday]

[Ken Masugi - Local Liberty Blog - Claremont Institute] 12:01 am [permalink]
Kevin Starr on the Happiest Place on Earth Distinguished California historian Kevin Starr makes a link between the pursuit of happiness and the Happiest Place on Earth. Is Disneyland a city planner's will to power? Note Starr on science fiction writer Ray Bradbury and Tomorrowland, below.

Thus when we look at Disneyland at the half-century mark, we can also see in it a utopian statement - a species of city planning, if you will - that set up a paradigm of value to Orange County. Disneyland suggested that complex urban environments can be deliberately created and orchestrated to incorporate regional and related cultural values. In the case of Disneyland, this resort, this permanent exposition, assured a newly suburbanizing generation that the values of a more intimate America - small town America - need not be lost, as was being feared, in the creation of the suburban developments of the postwar era.

So that, New Urbanists, is why southern California lives so well with sprawl-- we have Disneyland! See Starr's conclusion, below.

For a less happy assessment of land-use see OC Supervisor Chris Norby on redevelopment.

Thus Disneyland, like the successful expositions of the 19th and early 20th centuries, was structured by present value and hope for the future. The themes and values of Disneyland, its utopian statement, mirrored the themes and values that an entire generation was bringing to California and the West. These values, argues urban theorist Constance Perin, were fundamental to American social practice as expressed in home ownership and the spatial organization of American cities.

Perin's research, published in the mid-1970s, revealed attitudes that are today perhaps disturbing, certainly politically incorrect, but reflect, despite a two-decade interval, the values and assumptions of the 1950s. American cities and towns, Perin argues - and her argument must be extended to include the new communities of California and the West - encoded and enacted a deeply embedded imposition of social value and order through the built environment; indeed, nothing less than a de facto philosophy of history and moral value can be seen - either positively or negatively, depending on one's point of view - in the way that Americans revered and protected home ownership in what by the 20th century had become zoned and protected enclaves.

It is no accident, finally, that one of the greatest science fiction writers to be produced by Southern California, Ray Bradbury, is also among the region's most astute city planners and urban theorists. Like Bradbury's "The Martian Chronicles" (1950), Tomorrowland at Disney, together with Frontierland, constituted a displaced narrative about values and social structures in transition in Orange County, California and postwar America.

To use the recent language of literary criticism, Disneyland is a text through which we can look back and re-experience the hopes and fears, the beliefs and illusions, of a postwar generation in the throes of creating a place called Orange County. [visit Local Liberty Blog]

[7/18/05 Monday]

[Ken Masugi - Local Liberty Blog - Claremont Institute] 6:51 am [permalink]
A Local Little Terrorist List: Islamic Connection? “Law enforcement authorities warned the Israeli Consulate and California National Guard their facilities were on a list of possible terror targets that [Los Angeles] police found recently while investigating string of robberies, officials said yesterday” (Ian Gregor, AP via SDUT)

The London bombings were carried out by British citizens, who were, however, guided by alien authorities. Lodi may be a center of such subversion here in California—contrast the Sacbee (Dorothy Korber, Stephen Magagnini and Denny Walsh) and LAT (Maria L. La Ganga and Rone Tempest) stories for details. Were the two suspects railroaded out of the country by embittered fellow immigrants or were they really Al-Qaeda agents? Maybe both. Is this a battle between Muslims loyal to America and those who look for an opportunity to harm it?

The Japanese relocation in WW II is rarely understood in those terms, but certainly that struggle among ethnic Japanese was there, as I have noted in my work and Michelle Malkin has in hers.

Might we have a similar situation here in Los Angeles? See below for some dot-connecting.

The warnings followed the July 5 arrests by Torrance police of Gregory Vernon Patterson, 21, of Gardena, and Levar Haney Washington, 25, of Los Angeles, on suspicion of robbery. Both men have pleaded not guilty to the charges in Torrance Superior Court….

Patterson's mother, Abbie Patterson, has described her son as an "idealistic young man" and Christian who recently converted to Islam. She said he met Washington about six months ago.

Earlier this year, Patterson worked for several months at a duty-free shop at Los Angeles International Airport, according to a man who answered the telephone at the business yesterday. The store is in the Tom Bradley International Terminal, near the El Al Israeli Airlines ticket counter, where an Egyptian immigrant shot and killed two people in a July 4, 2002, attack. [visit Local Liberty Blog]

[7/15/05 Friday]

[Eric Hogue - radio talk show host KTKZ - Sacramento] 7:05 am [permalink]
Bill Lockyer to Display Pearcy's Political Art? Will Attorney Bill Lockyer's Office display "art" created by Steven Pearcy, the resident in Land Park, California, who hung an effigy of a US Soldier?

Reading

Pearcy's blog page, called  "Corruption Exposer", the anti-war, anti-Bush and anti-military political protestor has offered a press release stating the details:

Wonderful news! Beginning this Friday, July 15, 2005, at 3:30 pm, the Office of the Attorney General will exhibit my political display, "T'ANKS TO MR. BUSH." My display will remain on exhibit in the Attorney General's Office until August 31, 2005. A reception for the exhibition will take place from 3:30 pm to 5:00 pm. All members of the public are welcome. The location of the exhibit is:

Department of Justice
1300 I Street
Sacramento, CA

The display will be a huge slap in the face to Sacramento County District Attorney Jan Scully, who's contemptible failure to charge the vandals of my soldier displays embarrassed other Sacramento prosecutors. The exhibit is more than a subtle message of disapproval from the Attorney General's Office to Ms. Scully: it's a loud signal to her that ALL political views deserve equal protection.

Currently, an art exhibit at the Sacramento County Public Law Library (813 6th Street) features my soldier display, "Bush Lied. I Died."

Is the Attorney General of California offering a statement toward Sac County DA Jan Scully, or is the AG using his office to make a political statement against the military and the President?

We have State Senator Joe Dunn asking for "spy investigations" against the California National Guard, now Lockyer has decided to post protest art in his office.

What the self absorbed Pearcy's desire to post at their residence (owned real estate) in Land Park is one thing, but for the AG to acquire the 'art' and use his tax dollar digs to send an anti-military, anti-war message as an elected statewide officer is crossing the line. [Hogue Blog - email: onair@ktkz.com]

[7/14/05 Thursday]

[Tim Leslie - State Assemblyman, columnist] 12:03 am [permalink]
The Abortion Drill The minority party (that would be the Republicans) are consistently prevented from discussing the issue of abortion under the golden dome. If they try to introduce legislation eliminating government funding of partial birth abortion, for example, the bill is given a quick burial in the first committee or more likely not heard at all.

There is only one way that legislators can bring this issue to a vote. During the debate on the annual state budget we take up the Medi-Cal funding bill. This year pro-life legislators offered amendments to make several changes. For example:

To require parental consent for taxpayer funded abortions for our children.

To eliminate taxpayer funding for "partial birth" abortions.

To prohibit taxpayer funding for the purchase of human embryos or fetuses.

To prohibit taxpayers from funding more than one abortion for a person in a single year.

I don't know about you, but these all seem pretty reasonable to me.

You might also think that at last the issue would finally be joined; an opportunity for reasoned argument, both pro and con. But that did not happen. The Democrats squashed the debate by using the old trick of "laying it on the table" without debate. (This issue was discussed in detail in an earlier Blog.)

The result of this action means that the member who presented each amendment had three minutes to make their argument. That's it. The Democrats then laid the amendments on the table and discussion was terminated. Most Democrats voted yes, and virtually all Republicans voted no.

So why do we bother to go through this "drill"? The reason is that pro-life organizations want to have a record of legislator votes on the abortion issue. The idea is that it can be used in a future campaign, or at least to highlight anti-life stances.

I guess it can, but it will never be more than partially successful. For example, a Catholic Democrat speaking to a church gathering might be asked why he or she voted against restricting partial birth abortion. The response will be "I didn't vote against it, I simply made a procedural vote." This, of course, is a lie. Unfortunately, they will get away with it.

I wonder when the audience at the local service club luncheon will catch on that their legislator supports partially birthing a baby and then jabbing a sharp object into its skull and sucking out its brains. Horrifying, but true.

[7/13/05 Wednesday]

[Ken Masugi - Local Liberty Blog - Claremont Institute] 12:05 am [permalink]

Sacramento Scramble: Governor Vetoes "Union U" Funding Dan Walters surveys the wreckage. Daniel Weintraub thinks there's a case to be made for Attorney General Bill Lockyer's denial of the reapportionment initiative, based on minor wording differences between the approved petition and the signed one, but the LA Times disagrees. Jackie Goldberg will confront textbook publishers on her own and has withdrawn her notorious bill limiting their size, thus, she concludes, forcing teachers to expose their students to the internet, where the real learning can occur. If she wants to privatize education, we have some better ideas for her and Sacramento. The papers say nothing about the Republicans who opposed the budget, but Chuck DeVore got an earful for his yes vote, as we noted the other day. Tom McClintock said phooey, we're still borrowing.

The most interesting veto (Lynda Gledhill, SFC) was that of state funding for "union U," the Labor Center programs at the University of California, Berkeley and UCLA. See below for the statement of purpose from the UCB Labor Center. They're not Ward Churchill but a lot more effective in promoting the programs of the left. If we took a closer look at public higher education in California, many more dubious programs would come to light, and we haven't even begun to talk about the anthropology departments.

ABOUT US

The Labor Center is an outreach arm of the University of California at Berkeley. Founded in 1964, our mission is to improve the lives of working people by linking the University's vast resources to labor and community efforts for social and economic equity. We provide educational, research, and other programs that increase the capacity of the state's labor movement to:

Organize and represent workers in new and traditional industries.

Reach out to immigrants, young workers, people of color, and women.

Identify and advance policies that improve low-wage jobs and narrow income gaps.

Develop a new and diverse generation of labor leaders.

During the past three years, the Labor Center has:

Provided academic research and expert testimony that contributed to the passage of living wage ordinances in California.

Convened a community and labor coalition that played a key role in reversing the AFL-CIO policy on immigration.

Placed UC students in two-month summer internships with 58 community and labor organizations.

Incubated innovative immigrant worker and young worker organizing projects.

Produced research, videos, and curricula on key topics including homecare, childcare, farm labor, young workers, and globalization. [visit Local Liberty Blog]

[Eric Hogue - radio talk show host KTKZ - Sacramento] 12:05 am [permalink]
Illegal's Births, to be Illegal Citizens Too? With millions of 'births' to illegal immigrants becoming legal citizens in the United States, a legal brief offered by former Attorney General Edwin Meese seems interesting.

From the  Claremont Institute:

Former Attorney General Edwin Meese III, together with Dr. John C. Eastman, Director of The Claremont Institute's Center for Constitution Jurisprudence filed an amicus curiae brief on March 29 urging the U.S. Supreme Court correct its overly broad and erroneous interpretation of the 14th Amendment's Citizenship Clause.

Eastman and Meese argue:

The current understanding of the Citizenship Clause is incorrect, as a matter of text, historical practice, and political theory. As an original matter, mere birth on U.S. soil was insufficient to confer citizenship as a matter of constitutional right. Rather, birth, together with being a person subject to the complete and exclusive jurisdiction of the United States (i.e., not owing allegiance to another sovereign) was the constitutional mandate, a floor for citizenship below which Congress cannot go in the exercise of its Article I power over naturalization.

Might this be the answer to the 14th Amendment, and millions of births to illegal immigrant mothers and fathers inside of the US? Could the Supreme Court 'clarify' the content of the 14th Amendment, for the cause of denying legal citizenship for those who are in the US illegally? [Hogue Blog - email: onair@ktkz.com]

[7/12/05 Tuesday]

[Ken Masugi - Local Liberty Blog - Claremont Institute] 12:01 am [permalink]
Brownstein Debates Immigration In his Monday LAT column Ronald Brownstein contrasted two immigration reform proposals, the get-tough argument of Mark Krikorian and the Cato libertarian argument of Douglas Massey. (At least the LAT website version should have included these links.) Krikorian urges disincentives to immigrate. Massey urges incentives toward a guest worker program that would “drastically reduce the flow of immigrants crossing the border for work.”

Brownstein repeats the oft-made argument that “enforcement alone will never end illegal immigration.” But the pro-enforcement side has never argued so narrowly.

More important, lost in this assessment, with its focus on economics, is the need for a commitment to American citizenship on the part of immigrants. Loyalties need to be ascertained. Moreover, establishing an ethnic class of agricultural and other workers is at odds with the American ideal of equality. The uncertainty only undermines our dealing with the legacy of slavery and reviving the meaning of government by consent and, therefore, limited government. [visit Local Liberty Blog]

[7/11/05 Monday]

[release from Ray Haynes - Assemblyman, columnist] 5:08 am [permalink]
Assembly Democrats Vote Against Measure to Control Illegal Immigration – Last week, Democrat members of the Assembly Judiciary Committee voted to kill legislation aiming to stem the flow of those who enter California illegally. The measure, ACA 20, was defeated 6-3 on a party line vote.

ACA 20 was introduced by Assemblyman Ray Haynes (R-Murrieta) to address the legal, financial and safety problems created by allowing illegal aliens to break the law. In committee, the lawmaker explained that the Legislature must act now in order to plug a hole in its $6 to $8 billion budget deficit, stop the exploitation of poor workers and mitigate the threat of terrorism.

The proposed constitutional amendment sought to ask state voters to approve establishment of the California Border Police to enforce their border as states are already allowed to do under federal law if they choose.

According to the Federation for American Immigration Reform, California's nearly 3 million illegal immigrants cost taxpayers nearly $9 billion each year to fund welfare, healthcare, public education and imprisonment.

“Too many of my colleagues fail to recognize or accept the huge financial and social burden illegal immigration places on California taxpayers,” stated Assemblyman Haynes.

“Time and time again, when the legislature has failed to address a serious problem, the people have had to take matters into their own hands though the initiative process. This appears to be another one of those times.”

[7/8/05 Friday]

[Eric Hogue - radio talk show host KTKZ - Sacramento] 12:01 am [permalink]
LA Times Reveals Initiative Problems Here is this Wednesday's  LA Times piece on the re-districting initiative's "small flaws"...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is facing yet another problem over one of his high-profile initiatives: The version that petition-signers placed on the ballot is different from the one state officials approved for circulation.

The problem emerged three weeks ago in the bid to change how district boundaries are drawn for elected officials. The governor wants a panel of retired judges to establish the lines, potentially altering the balance of power in Sacramento.

Backers of the initiative said they made a "small legal error" as they gathered signatures this winter and spring: The petition voters saw was not exactly the same as the one approved for circulation by California Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer and reviewed by the state legislative analyst, as the law requires.

California Secretary of State Bruce McPherson has asked Lockyer's office for a legal opinion on how to proceed with the redistricting initiative, which more than 900,000 voters approved for the Nov. 8 special election ballot. It will be known as Proposition 77.

Aides to McPherson and Lockyer declined to comment except to confirm that the legal review was taking place. Supporters of the initiative dismissed the problem as insignificant but were bracing for a lawsuit this week, possibly filed by the attorney general. [Hogue Blog - email: onair@ktkz.com]

[7/7/05 Thursday]

[Ken Masugi - Local Liberty Blog - Claremont Institute] 12:01 am [permalink]
Must-Read: LA School Violence The war--it's not an exaggeration--between blacks and largely immigrant Mexicans at Jefferson high school reflects larger societal tensions. This LAT feature by Sandy Banks and Nicholas Shields deserves reading by anyone concerned with schools or immigration in the age of multiculturalism. Another Pulitzer for the LAT?

Again, the problem of immigration is not too many immigrants, it's not enough Americans. National pride needs to surpass racial or ethnic pride. See the excerpt below.

In an essay for the independent teen publication "LA Youth," an anonymous Latino student described being drawn into the initial fight by friends' demands that he "stand up for my family, my Mexican ancestors, and the people who worked hard so I could be here — my heritage that I'm really proud of."

"I felt good defending my race," he wrote. "I was hitting anybody I could get my hands on…. Many of my friends who knew I was involved in the fight asked me, 'Aren't you proud that our people are at war with the blacks?' … Because of that fight, I lost many friends who are African American. The whole tension between Latinos and blacks is changing the way we all think about each other." [visit Local Liberty Blog]

[7/6/05 Wednesday]

[Eric Hogue - radio talk show host KTKZ - Sacramento] 12:01 am [permalink]
Media's Attacks on Governor Schwarzenegger Continues It has been two weeks since I've blogged, some vacation time and mental health as I gear up for the drive to the November ballot. Two weeks ago, the front page of the Bee, and numerous other California newspaper, displayed a front page article slapping Governor Schwarzenegger.

Today was nothing new, the Sacramento Bee continued the trend yesterday morning. Let me remind the voting public, as well as the political strategists, that this governor is attempting to complete the heated recall - and this time, it is time, to recall the public employee unions and their "web of control".

The governor has the courage to do what no other state-wide officer has done, that is, to put blame for many of the state's problems squarely upon the shoulders of the public employee unions who actually run the state.

In response, the unions run attack ads on the governor, for four to five months. Their message has been labeled (by the Hogue Show) as the "Big Lie". The unions are trying to seal the deal, stating that the Gov is targeting the 'little people', while he has actually targeted the 'big guns', the unions.

The MSM of California repeats this "Big Lie", with story after story that reads the governor is against nurses, teachers, and firefighters. The MSM gives top coverage to every union-sponsored protest, as if it is the best thing since sliced bread. Then the Democrat-friendly Field Poll runs a survey that shows the governor's numbers are slipping - and the MSM runs the new numbers as if they are BIG NEWS, fueling the agenda and the image created by the left in Sacramento's basement laboratory.

Hello California Media...

We can understand the unions and their agenda. They're fighting for their life, and they know it. But for you in the MSM, is it so hard to see through the political agenda and get the story straight?

Or, do you even want to get the story right?

Do you have an agenda too, MSM? [Hogue Blog - email: onair@ktkz.com]

[7/5/05 Tuesday]

[Ken Masugi - Local Liberty Blog - Claremont Institute] 12:01 am [permalink]
Yet another reason we hate the LAT "5 Immigrants Killed in Crash Near Border" the headline says (Richard Marosi). The first sentence tells another story, readily inferred from the headline: "A suspected smuggler driving a minivan filled with undocumented immigrants caused a head-on collision late Thursday that killed five people, including a pregnant woman and two children, according to U.S. and Mexican authorities."

Although no chase was involved, Enrique Morones, president of the Border Angels, a pro-illegal immigrant group, declared, "I think it's tragic that people continue to die avoiding the Border Patrol." [visit Local Liberty Blog]

[7/1/05 Friday]

[Ken Masugi - Local Liberty Blog - Claremont Institute] 12:01 am [permalink]
Mexican Stamp Caricature Offends UPDATE X2 Jesse Jackson and other black, and Hispanic spokesmen have denounced a series of Mexican stamps described in the Washington Post (Darryl Fears) as "depicting a dark-skinned Jim Crow-era cartoon character with greatly exaggerated eyes and lips." The character "features Memin Pinguin, a character from a comic book created in the 1940s."

See here for some background on Jackson's earlier challenge of Mexican President Vicente Fox. The mischievous Mexican reply to the latest flap:

"Just as Speedy Gonzalez has never been interpreted in a racial manner by the people in Mexico," embassy spokesman Rafael Laveaga said. ". . . He is a cartoon character. I am certain that this commemorative postage stamp is not intended to be interpreted on a racial basis in Mexico or anywhere else."

UPDATE: LaShawn Barber via Michelle Malkin: Go to her 6/30 update.

The LAT (Chris Kraul and Reed Johnson) runs a longer piece on this, which includes various interpretations of the invisibility of blacks in Mexican society. Some take this to mean less racism, others take it to mean more.

The serious side to this exercise in Jackson self-promotion is the question of what political and moral teachings immigrants bring with them to this country. Those principles are not created by postage stamp caricatures. The problem of elevating American citizen character transcends the issue of racial stereotyping among Mexicans. [visit Local Liberty Blog]

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