theBlogs
|
CRO
Blog
contributor
commentary
3/7/03
An unethical move by SF DA?
3/6/03
Adults needed in SF
3/5/03
Job killing, SFPD political intrigue and Le
Boxer.
go
to CRO Blog
|
The
Shadow Controller
...blogging mcclintock
“The
policies that turned a $9 billion surplus to
a $24 billion deficit in just 18 months are
continued and expanded in a state budget which,
though just three weeks old, is already unraveling
before our eyes."
-Tom
McClintock 2/23/02
2/21/03
A history lesson: raise the sales tax and watch
retail sales plunge.
1/19/03
How to Solve the Budget Crisis in Three Easy
Steps
homepage:
go
toThe Shadow Controller
|

...a
continuing crisis
3/7/03
Lies about the energy crisis.
3/6/03
Well, maybe we might borrow, uh, $11 billion.
3/5/03
A
coming flood of initiatives.
3/4/03
Lord Gray says he was duped. Also, the
GOP budget can kill.
go
to The Fabulous Budget
|

3/4/03
The actors union is worried that people might
get mad at outspoken stars. 68% of America says
our glitterati should shut up. Also, a vitriolic
backlash? Good. And, Chrissie Hynde wants Saddam
to win.
go
to Celebrity Brigade
|

3/6/03
All
we are saying is give looting a chance.
3/5/03
Sacramento Eurocrats. Also, get ‘em
young.
3/4/03
Robert Schreer reveals the Bush lie –
is the Times nuts to keep this guy around? Also,
the Bay Area is not America.
go
to The Western Front
|
|

3/7/03
Volokh on Megan’s Law
3/6/03
9th Circuit now has its own special view of
parole.
3/5/03
9th cold feet - 90 day stay on the Pledge. 3
Strikes OK.
go
to JurisImprudence
|
The Week: 3/2/03
– 3/8/03
OC
Register Budget Index
Today's deficit index: $65.1 million
The amount needed per day through June 30, 2004, to
balance budget. Fluctuates with changes in economy,
taxes, state service levels and the time the state
has left to correct the problem.
Budget Update at OC
Register
FROM
FRONT PAGE
The Unpatriotic
University: Berkeley
By Erick Stakelbeck
2/28/03
The Anti-American left is so ingrained in every fiber
of UC Berkeley’s being that any student whose
political beliefs fall somewhere to the right of Martin
Sheen faces an uphill battle when it comes time to
roster. A recent opinion piece in the Daily Californian
decried this fact, criticizing anthropology professor
Laura Nader (Ralph’s big sister) for "taking
on authority for the students" and creating an
environment where "a large number of students
take her class as an opportunity to have their liberal
opinions validated or created by a tenured professor."
Unfortunately, the author almost reflexively falls
back into standard UC Berkeley mode, stating "Bush
is throwing us into a war his daddy couldn’t
finish…to so many students at UC Berkeley, myself
included, he represents nothing other than pure evil."
Forget Sadaam Hussein: it’s this Bush cowboy
who we really have to worry about. More at Front
Page Magazine
CAMPUS
RIGHT
from UCLA’s Daily Bruin
Councils Rob Public with Anti-war
Ads
by Joel Schwartz
2/27/03
When USAC used our student funds to print a full page
advertisement in the Daily Bruin stating their disapproval
of the way the United States has handled Iraq and
the imminent war and when the Los Angeles City Council
spent hours discussing a similar action, students
at UCLA and citizens of the city of Los Angeles were
robbed.
Column
at Daily Bruin
CALIFORNIA MEDIA CULTURE
Disney
Remembers a Different 'Alamo'
by Hugh Hewitt, Principal Contributor
2/26/03
Given Hollywood's current anti-war, anti-military,
anti-thinking stances, I suppose it was only a matter
of time before it came for Davey Crockett.
But who would have imagined it was Disney that would
lead the charge against the legend?
What would Walt say?
whole
column
FROM STANFORD REVIEW
We Must Always
Remain Critical
by William E. Hudson
2/26/03
I'm drowning in bias. When I came to Stanford, I was
hoping to find an intellectually stimulating and diverse
body of students and faculty that would challenge
me to present my take on the world and then respect
that opinion insofar as it would make sense. My first
two years have found a diverse and brilliant student
and faculty population, but one dominated by the Left.
This should come as a surprise to no one -- as Dan
Flynn, author of Why the Left Hates America, presented
at a talk on the Stanford campus earlier this year,
liberals far outnumber conservatives in nearly every
discipline of academia. Here at Stanford, the liberal-to-conservative
faculty ratio is greater than 9 to 1, and we should
consider ourselves lucky in that regard when compared
to institutions such as Dartmouth and Columbia.
more
at Stanford Review
FROM
THE AMERICAN PROWLER
Betting
the House on Matsui
By The Prowler
Published 2/24/2003
PELOSI CAN PICK 'EM
Moderate House Democrats continue to voice concerns
and doubts about leader Nancy Pelosi's selection of
Rep. Robert Matsui to run the party's Congressional
Campaign Committee. The worry is that Matsui is not
up to leading the Herculean fundraising effort facing
Democrats in 2004.
"With McCain-Feingold setting in, we really could
have used someone who knows the ropes a bit better
than Bob appears to," says a former DCCC staffer
let go after the last election. "From the outside
looking in, it's not clear we're doing anything different
from last time, and that was a disaster."
more
at American Prowler
§
And
some
Lingering Observations
From
the Washington Times
As Pesky as France, But with
Better Wine
By Wesley Pruden
2/21/03
SANTA MONICA, Calif. Not so long ago California was
the mother lode of American politics, the place where
both parties came to find issues, candidates and luck.
Think Earl Warren, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan. Even,
for one brief shining five minutes, Jerry Brown.
The only California pol with pizzazz now is Martin
Sheen, the ersatz president of television's "West
Wing," and his pizzazz is ersatz, too. But he's
a celebrity, and celebrity is about all California
has left from the glory days.
more
at the Washington Times
From
The Weekly Standard
The Boxer Rebellion
by Hugh Hewitt
2/12/03
CRO
Contributor Hugh Hewitt previews
the political climate facing the reelection of the
Senate's most liberal member - our very own Barbara
Boxer.
...If there were intelligence, grace, or good humor
behind this hard left record, Boxer might be a more
formidable candidate, but she lacks any of the qualities
that can soften a fanatic's edge. Weekly
Standard
FROM
THE AMERICAN PROWLER
Gray Davis and the Bare Cupboard
By Peter Hannaford
2/3/2003
MATTOLE VALLEY, Calif. -- From coast to coast state
governors (including some Republicans) and state legislatures
are wringing their hands over budget deficits, acting
as if these had been caused by a sudden and random
Act of God.
The cause of the deficits is more earthly: reckless
spending of surpluses during the years when growth
seemed unstoppable and endless. The best -- that is,
most egregious -- example took place in California
where Democrat Gray Davis inherited a surplus from
his predecessor, Republican Pete Wilson in January
1999. Rather than return the surplus to the taxpayers
or sock it away in a "rainy day" fund, Davis
put the money into increased spending. At the time,
he declared that this would involve only one-time
expenditures, committing the state to no new and undue
burdens. Sure.
Four years later, upon being reelected, the now-unpopular
Davis solemnly declared that the surplus had mysteriously
metamorphosed into a $35 billion deficit -- more than
the combined annual budgets of several other states.
more
at American Prowler
From
The American Spectator
Have You Hugged Your Tree Today?
By George Neumayr
January/February 2003 issue
Environmental activist John Quigley spent November
and December perched in an oak tree near Santa Clarita,
north of Los Angeles. Taking tree hugging to a new
level, Quigley commandeered the old oak as a protest
against John Laing Homes, a developer with plans to
cut down the tree as part of county-ordered road widening
for a new housing development.
Naturally, Quigley’s ludicrous stunt proved
effective. Indulging such left-wing pranks is the
media’s forte. Within days, the New York Times
and other prominent media outlets had dispatched reporters
to Santa Clarita to cover the fate of “Old Glory,”
a sympathy-inducing name enviros quickly concocted
for a tree few had ever visited before the controversy
began. The Times discerned in Quigley’s tree
sitting an important statement about “suburban
sprawl.”
more
at The American Spectator
From
Cal Tax
California
Taxpayers Continue to be Ripped Off by Fraud and Reckless
Government Spending
article by Cal-Tax
Staff
Californias budget is nearly $35 billion out
of balance. The budget crisis debate rages over whether
it is from bloated government programs or not enough
tax dollars. Barely mentioned, if at all, by those
wringing their hands over proposed spending cuts and
calling for new taxes are billions of tax dollars
that have been stolen or squandered.
Before seriously considering new taxes, there must
be comprehensive, systematic review and greater accountability
for the $100 billion that the state spends annually.
Cal-Tax staff has compiled more than 100 reports,
mostly from newspaper investigative reporting and
official government auditing, that amount to billions
of squandered or fraudulently spent public funds.
more
at www.caltax.org
posting
on The Remedy blog
California Pensions
Threatened by Left-Coast Liberalism
by Thomas Krannawitter
1/31/03
California
is in deep political trouble. Liberal Democrats control
the govenorship, both houses of the state legislature,
and every statewide political office. Many of the
problems that accompany liberal bureaucratic government
are well known: California has some of the most embarassing
public schools in the nation, disastrous welfare and
immigration policies, and a state budget crisis that
is out of control.
But other ill effects of California liberalism are
obscured from the public eye. Consider the editorial
in today's Wall Street Journal, "Cronyism at
Calpers," documenting the ruin liberals are bringing
to the largest state pension fund in the nation:
"For
decades, Calpers, the giant California state pension
fund, set a standard of excellence in investment performance
and probity. Lately, however, Calpers has become the
poster-plan for bad performance, cronyism and lousy
corporate governance. And it's about to get worse...
"If Calpers were a private investment fund, this
would all be hilariously high comedy. But Calpers
is a public fund. Ultimately the buck stops with the
taxpayers of California. For them, it might turn out
to be pure tragedy."
The
Remedy at www.claremont.org
FROM
THE CLAREMONT INSTITUTE
Saving
Democracy in California
by Ken Masugi
1/6/03
The opening of the California State legislature should
strike fear into friends of liberty. While it is true
that this particular legislature will be more inclined
than previous ones to regulate and tax, and encourage
moral license, similar fears have moved Californians
going back to the Gold Rush days. whole
column at Claremont.org
AND ELSEWHERE...