Boxer/Pelosi
DC/CA TALKING POINTS
This war is the result of the Bush Administration's
failed diplomacy. |
Uh, we support the troops.
| A tax cut in wartime is a risky scheme.
| We’re not extreme, our ideals
represent the ideals of ordinary Californians.
| We could have
probably brought down that statue for a lot
less.
|
OC
Register Budget Index
$63.4
million: The amount needed per day
through June 30, 2004, to balance budget.
OC Register |
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UPDATES
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updates.
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theBlogs
|
|
CRO
Blog
contributor
commentary
4/12/03
Nancy Backwash.
Herb Souffl.:
Baghdad/LA.
Murphy Running.
4/11/03
Diced Herb
Red Faced
4/10/03
My
Lips Are Sealed.
Practical Health.
Run, Please.
4/9/03
Silent Herb.
The Embarrassment of Van Nuys.
4/8/03
California, USA.
Angry Cops.
Visa Required?
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
3/28/03
In defense of Proposition 13. If keeping
it intact is unfair, how fair is an $8,400 property
tax bill?
3/14/03
The plea to save police and fire services is
a disinformation scam to let loose the Car Tax.
2/21/03
A history lesson: raise the sales tax and watch
retail sales plunge.
go
toThe Shadow Controller |
|
...it's
the spending, Stupid.
4/11/03
Guarded
4/10/03
Guards Windfall?
What Hiring Freeze?
4/9/03
Meltdown
4/8/03
Wesson Dole
4/7/03
Shut the Doors.
5 Year Sleep.
go
to The Fabulous Budget
|
| 
4/12/03
Shut My Mouth!
4/11/03
Penn Jacked.
4/8/03
Weasels on Rodeo.
4/6/03
Banana Boat in Oakland.
4/5/03
Banana Boats for Saddam.
4/2/03
MCI’s Favorite Dissenter.
Right Wing Hollywood.
go
to Celebrity Brigade
|
|
4/12/03
Courts? Resist
4/11/03
Pelosi Resist!
4/9/03
Berkeley Solidarity.
4/8/03
Peace Bureaucracy.
4/7/03
Words of Peace?
4/6/03
Where is Everybody?
go
to The Western Front
|
4/4/03
75K
and Counting.
3/30/03
Onward!
3/26/03
The paperwork’s done.
3/17/03
With friends like these.
go
to The Recall Follies
|
| 
4/9/03
State Bonging.
4/2/03
Gored by Their Own Ox
3/21/03
The House condemns the 9th Circuit ruling.
3/16/03
Spitzer slams early release.
3/14/03
9th gets an adult.
go
to JurisImprudence
|
The
Week: 4/6/03 – 4/12/03
FABULOUS
BUDGET
CRO Column
First, Eat
Your Vegetables
by Assemblyman Ray Haynes 4/12/03 |
I really dislike green beans. I don’t know why,
but there is not much about their taste or their texture
that I find appealing. However, as a child, my mother
insisted I eat them. |
So—I ate them first in any meal in which they
were served. Do the heavy lifting early, I learned,
and the rest of the job is easy. This early lesson
of eating the things I disliked first was a great
lesson for just about every job I ever had. In any
job, if you get the worst of the job out of the way
early, the rest of the job is a piece of cake. |
What has this got to do with the state budget? Well—I
guess the Governor’s mother never made him eat
his green beans at dinner. [more inside CaliforniaRepublic.org]
SAVE
SADDAM – The Celebrity Front
From Front Page
Appeasers,
Repent!
by Paul Bond 4/11/03 |
Watching the now-famous television images of Iraqi
people celebrating the victory of U.S. and coalition
forces in Baghdad, I couldn't help thinking: I wonder
if I'll be having dinner with Martin Sheen soon? |
You see, it was four months ago that I asked Sheen,
Mike Farrell and a host of activist-actors whether
the sight of enraptured, newly liberated Iraqis might
prompt them to second-guess their noisy opposition
to war. [more at Front
Page]
SAVE
SADDAM - The Local Front
From American Spectator
You Belong
To Me
by The Prowler 4/11/03 |
...One who is greatly concerned is Democratic House
leader Nancy Pelosi. On Thursday, she publicly stated
she would not change her vote against the war for
anything. But privately on Wednesday she asked her
personal office staff to compile comments from her
career that would show her as supportive of military
action and America's soldiers. On Thursday afternoon,
she made a very big production of her speech in the
Capitol during a congressional rally for the troops.
As she spoke, those men and women there in uniform
-- and even some Republican House members -- snickered
at her performance. "She was trying just a bit
too hard," says a Republican House staffer. [more
at American
Spectator]
From National Review
Are You Sleeping
Soundly?
Being Gray Davis, ca. 2008.
by Cortes E. DeRussy 4/11/03 |
DECEMBER, 2008, WASHINGTON D.C. — President
Gray Davis had barely recovered from the euphoria
of his stunning victory in the November elections
when he sat down to consider the tasks ahead of his
new administration. The sweeping Democratic victory
over a disoriented and discouraged Republican party
and its hapless presidential candidate, Elizabeth
Dole, had vindicated the Democrats' campaign strategy:
Rebuild the struggling economy and begin the pullback
of U.S. military forces abroad. |
But now, with the election over, Davis had to confront
the problems ahead. They are daunting, he thought.
How did it all come to this? [more at National
Review]
FABULOUS BUDGET
From OC Register
George Harrison,
Prophet
Satiric Beatles ditty 'Taxman' could be the Golden
State's official song.
By Tony Strickland 4/10/03 | April 15 is fast
approaching. Unfortunately, this year our annual tax
anxiety won't ease with the passing of the income
tax-filing deadline. | That's because in California,
2003 has proven to be the Year of Ridiculous New Tax
Proposals. So far this year, Democrats in Sacramento
have proposed taxing your car, the Internet, cell
phone and pager services, cable and satellite television
services, your wages, the business that employs you
- even cocktails and diapers. | An old satirical Beatles
tune could become the Golden State's official song.
Consider the lyrics to "Taxman": "If
you drive a car, I'll tax the street; if you try to
sit, I'll tax your seat; if you get too cold, I'll
tax the heat; if you take a walk, I'll tax your feet."
George Harrison saw California's future, apparently,
way back in the '60s. [more at OC
Register]
CALIFORNIA
EXPORTS
From the NY Post
A
Hitler Miniseries Meant To Bash Bush
by John Podhoretz April 9, 2003 |
You know those protesters who carry posters with a
short brush mustache under the president's nose and
the slogan "Bush = Hitler"? The protestors
who, rational liberals assure us, represent the irresponsible
and reckless wing of the antiwar, anti-Bush movement?
| Well, the CBS television
network just devoted millions of dollars and will
devote four hours of prime time to a miniseries dedicated
to the "Bush = Hitler" proposition. |
In an eye-opening article published this week by TV
Guide, journalist Mark Lasswell reveals that the creative
team behind the upcoming docudrama "Hitler: The
Rise of Evil" believes their story is important
because it might open our eyes to America's rapid
descent into totalitarian terror. [more at NY
Post]
FABULOUS BUDGET
From OC Register
In Defense
of the Indefensible
Sacramento can't bring itself to cut even obvious
waste, outrageous perks.
by Assemblyman John Campbell 4/9/03 |
It's tax time, that depressing period where we all
compute what we owe to the federal and state governments
as their pound of flesh for the privilege of earning
a living. As a CPA who once prepared other folks'
tax returns, this has always been a time of special
significance for me. |
But now that I am in the state Legislature, it has
added significance. That is so because I have seen
up close what my state taxes, and yours, are paying
for. [more at OC
Register]
CALIFORNIA
EXPORTS
From Weekly Standard
Le Cinema de
Fromage
A French film festival opens in Los Angeles and
the films on display are very, very . . . French.
by Hugh Hewitt 4/8/03 |
The attempt by France to protect Saddam, even at the
cost of a crack-up of NATO and the United Nations,
has confused many Americans who had long believed
that France was an ally. So speculation abounds: Is
Chirac on the take? Is it about the oil contracts?
Are French munitions going to show up in the wrong
piles in Iraqi arsenals? |
There may be a less obvious answer. It appears that
the French film industry has tanked in so thorough
a way as to be beyond rescue. French foreign policy
is simply an attempt to divert attention from this
deeply embarrassing fact. |
The seventh annual City of Lights, City of Angels
Film Festival opens in Los Angeles today, though advance
publicity--not surprisingly--has been light. In fact,
I have begun to wonder if the organizers are hoping
to get through the week without anyone noticing a
French event unfolding at the Directors Guild of America
Theater. The sponsors list is a little thin as well.
Last year's screenings drew 4,000 people. I am guessing
that unless the festival starts passing out the freebies
to antiwar demonstrators at area campuses, this year's
crowd will be smaller still. [more at Weekly
Standard]
FABULOUS
BUDGET
From Sacramento Bee
A More Rational
Approach To School Spending
by Daniel Weintraub 4/8/03 |
After years of seeing their budgets rise dramatically
and then flatten out, California schools now face
possible cuts in state aid. Teachers and others are
considering a ballot measure that would raise taxes
and dedicate the new revenue to public education.
| But while funding for
schools is a constant topic of debate, that discussion
never seems to focus on one central question: How
much is enough? Or, to put it another way, how much
money would it take to give every California child
the best possible public education? [more at Sacramento
Bee]
FABULOUS
BUDGET
From OC Register
CanadaCare
Light
an OC Register Editorial 4/8/03 |
Will the California Legislature never let up in its
assault on businesses - even after more than a dozen
job-killer bills passed last year, the continuing
electricity crisis, potential tax increases, a national
economic slump and the uncertainties of war? |
Senate President John Burton, D-San Francisco, is
proposing a quasi-socialized medicine scheme for California.
As it stands now, Senate Bill 2 would mandate that
all employers in California provide health coverage
to employees, including part-timers, or pay a fee
to the state government to do the same. Currently,
there is no requirement to provide health insurance,
although about 80 percent of Californians are covered
through company or individual plans. |
It would set up a new state bureaucracy, the State
Health Purchasing Program, managed by the Managed
Risk Medical Insurance Board. The board will "negotiate
separate contracts with participating health plans"
and "shall develop and utilize appropriate cost
containment measures to maximize the cost-effectiveness
of health care coverage offered under the program."
This could end up causing health-care rationing, as
has happened in Canada. [more at OC
Register]
From
Weekly Standard
A Tale of Two
Nancys
House minority leader Nancy Pelosi can't decide
whether she's Dick Gephardt or Howard Dean.
by Katherine Mangu-Ward 4/7/03 |
"THERE ARE OTHER WAYS to go about [this war]
than to have thousands of people killed on both sides."
So proclaimed House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi
last Tuesday on CNBC's "Capital Report."
| In the same segment
of the show, however, she said, "I would not
second guess the military on a war plan and its effectiveness."
She added, "Once the president makes the call
I think we just have to wait and see and give the
plan time to work itself out." |
Nancy Pelosi seems to be suffering from episodic attacks
of foot-in-mouth disease, followed by period of total
propriety. Pelosi lurches unaccountably back and forth
between comments appropriate to the leadership of
the national Democratic party, and what she might
be expected to say among friends at home in her ultra-liberal
San Francisco district. [more at Weekly
Standard]
From
OC Register
Uh, Governor:
This is a 'hiring freeze'?
State adds 37,000 workers in a year in which it
was supposed to add none.
by Ray Hanes 4/7/03 |
I know I have said this a lot, but sometimes I feel
like I have entered an alternative universe when I
walk into the state Capitol building. I hear these
noises coming from the mouths of the budgeting people,
from the legislators themselves, and the governor,
and those noises sound like English words, but those
sounds don't have English meanings. |
Take the word "freeze," for instance. In
normal parlance, when referring to physics, it describes
the physical activity that occurs when water turns
from a liquid to a solid. In the business world, to
freeze spending is to stop spending any more money.
To freeze hiring is to stop hiring new people. This
meaning is trying to give people the idea that, as
water stops moving and encroaching upon other physical
substances when it is frozen, so spending or hiring
will stop encroaching on revenue when they are frozen.
That is, at least, what I think it means, and I bet
if you asked most people, they would think the same
thing. | Not government.
[more at OC
Register]
From SF Chronicle
Handout City
by Debra J. Saunders 4/6/03 |
SAN FRANCISCO ought to be known as the city that surrendered
-- surrendered to the homeless, surrendered to panhandlers
and then gave up on taking on the slow but steady
spread of blight across this otherwise stunningly
beautiful city. | It's
the rare politician who risks the nasty opposition
of vocal advocates for the Special City's dysfunctional
population. Supervisor Gavin Newsom sponsored Care
Not Cash, a homeless reform measure designed to push
some General Assistance recipients into housing. Former
Mayor Frank Jordan also had supported ballot measures
to curb aggressive panhandling and move homeless aid
recipients into housing. |
Voters approved those measures, but then city politicians
contrived to undermine the voters' will by throwing
up bureaucratic roadblocks. Why not? There would be
no citizen revolt. Taxpayers in San Francisco don't
even expect city politicians to pay attention to their
vote. [more at SF
Chronicle]
From
OC Register
Low-Performing
Legislators
Feel-good semantic changes in education terminology
won't help anyone.
by K. Lloyd Billingsley 4/6/03 |
A bill before the state Senate Education Committee
continues the California tradition of government by
pronouncement, a practice that further distances the
state from reality, increases its laughing stock nationwide
and now defrauds its children. |
AB 96, the first piece of legislation ever advanced
by Rudy Bermudez, a freshman Democrat from Norwalk,
changes the designation "low-performing schools"
to "high-priority schools." The measure
is strictly semantic and enacts no changes in spending,
curriculum, standards or methods. Mr. Bermudez argued
that the state should not employ terms that "disable
children." Partisans of his idea, which passed
the Assembly 51-22 on March 13, contend that "low-performing"
is demeaning and that the new label alone will boost
self-esteem and inspire students to higher performance.
But the impassioned debate, which carried on for 45
minutes, missed a few points. [more at OC
Register]
The
Week: 3/30/03 – 4/5/03
CRO
Column
The Arrogance of Power
by Assemblyman Ray Haynes 4/4/03
| I always thought that
debate in a republic such as ours would center on
great ideas concerning our future. We would disagree,
and engage in the debate to convince people that our
ideas were better, and that we “deserve”
power because society would be better off if our ideas,
rather than the ideas of those who disagree with us,
were implemented. Lately, in California at least,
political debate has descended into a discussion of
who ought to be in power, not why. Political debate
is no longer intended to be a tool to educate voters,
but rather an exercise in the maintenance of power
through manipulation. [more inside]
CALIFORNIA EXPORTS
From National Review
Bowling Truths
Michael Moore’s mocking.
by Dave Kopel 4/4/03 |
In the field of mockumentary filmmaking, there are
two giants. Rob Reiner created the genre with his
film This is Spinal Tap. Michael Moore has taken the
genre to an entirely different level, with Bowling
for Columbine. [more at National
Review]
From
OC Register
Fluent - But
Not Fluent Enough
Schools have financial incentive to refuse to
recognize student gains
By Lance T. Izumi 4/4/03 |
With public education, there always seems to be a
dark cloud that comes with every silver lining. Take
the recent test scores showing a significant jump
in the number of non- English-speaking students, also
known as English- language learners, who have become
English-fluent. That good news is offset by the fact
that many school districts refuse to redesignate large
percentages of these newly English-proficient students
as being fluent in English, a refusal that results
in the continued academic ghettoization of these children.
[more at OC
Register]
SAVE SADDAM – The Celebrity Brigade
From Page Six NY Post
Rise of Lunacy
at CBS
by Richard Johnson 4/3/03 |
The scraping sound you hear next month will be Hollywood's
anti-Americanism hitting bottom with the CBS movie
"Hitler: The Rise of Evil." Executive producer
Ed Gernon says he sees the miniseries - starring Robert
Carlyle, Peter O'Toole and Julianna Margulies - about
Germany falling under Hitler's rule as a cautionary
tale for, you guessed it, the American people during
the Bush administration. Gernon tells the upcoming
TV Guide that he, Margulies and director Christian
Duguay believe it's a good idea to look at the Bush
White House through the prism of the Germany's genocidal
psychopath. A fearful American public's cooperation
with Bush's policies, Gernon tells TV Guide's Mark
Lasswell, is "absolutely" similar to post-World
War I Germany's acceptance of Hitler's extremism.
"I can't think of a better time to examine this
history than now." CBS president Leslie Moonves
disavows the filmmaker's highly paranoid views and
says he doesn't subscribe to the Bush-Hitler parallel.
[at NY
Post]
THE
FABULOUS BUDGET
From OC Register
And Now, The
Local Income Tax
The latest bad idea from the big spenders in Sacramento
is a doozy
by Jon Coupal 4/3/03 |
As we approach April 15, our enmity toward income
taxes becomes especially acute. Despite modest federal
tax cuts, the majority of hard-working Americans pay
more than ever. This is especially true in California,
which has firmly established - and is building on
- its reputation as a taxpayer torture chamber.
Just when state taxpayers think they've seen it all,
along comes another appalling idea. The latest is
Assemblyman Mark Leno's proposal, which would, for
the first time, authorize local governments to impose
an income tax. [more at OC
Register]
SAVE SADDAM – The Celebrity Brigade
From FrontPage
Mike Farrell:
Art of Deception
by Jean Pearce 4/3/03 |
By now, Mike Farrell probably figures he’s got
the nation fooled. For over 20 years, the Hollywood
actor turned peace activist has flawlessly played
the part of the pacifist patriot with America’s
best interests at heart. Farrell is quite convincing
when he’s in character, as he has been since
he propelled himself to the forefront of the Iraq
war protest movement. Without batting an eye, Farrell
will tell you how much it would pain him. [more at
FrontPage]
SAVE
SADDAM – The Western Front
From The Volokh Conspiracy
And We Should
Listen To Them On This Because…?
[Eugene Volokh, 8:06 AM] 4/2/03 |
Some UCLA faculty members are gathering signatures
in order to try to get the UCLA Faculty Senate to
enact an anti-war resolution:
The undersigned joins in this petition to call a special
meeting of the Division (that is, of "all members
of the UCLA Division of the Academic Senate, which
includes emeriti and numbers about 3300 faculty members")
to consider adopting the following resolution, to
be sent in a letter to President George W. Bush:
We, the faculty members of the University of California,
Los Angeles, say to the President of the United States,
that we:
1. condemn the U.S. invasion of Iraq;
2. deplore the doctrine of preventive war the President
has used to justify it the invasion;
3. reaffirm our commitment to addressing international
conflicts through the rule of law and the United Nations;
4. oppose the establishment of an American protectorate
in Iraq; and
5. call for the establishment of a post-war representative
government in Iraq, answerable to the United Nations,
which guarantees to Iraqis inalienable personal, political,
and civil rights.
Let's set aside the merits of the matter, and focus
on the role of the UCLA Faculty Senate here. [more
at The
Volokh Conspiracy]
SAVE
SADDAM – The Western Front
From Front Page
Robert Scheer,
Gucci Marxist
From his perch at the Los Angeles Times, Berkeley
radical Bob Scheer fires scuds at his native land.
by John Perazzo 4/2/03 |
For nearly two decades Robert Scheer has been a "national
correspondent" and then regular columnist for
the Los Angeles Times, where he has specialized
in national security issues.
From one of the most powerful press platforms in the
country, Scheer articulates, on a weekly basis, the
left's corrosive assertions about the moral deficiencies
of our nation, our president, and our efforts in the
war on terrorism. [more at Front
Page Magazine]
SAVE SADDAM – The Celebrity Brigade
From National Review
Oh, That Robin!
“Mork” weighs in on the war.
by Dave Konig 4/2/03 |
Irrepressibly nutty beloved comedy genius Robin Williams
has broken his 12-day silence to speak out against
the war in Iraq. The improvisational juggernaut (star
of the box-office smash Patch Adams) has delighted
audiences for what seems like 40 or 50 years now with
his fast-paced, unscripted impressions of southern
preachers and flamboyant hairdressers. Using the same
finely honed comedic instincts exhibited in the box-office
smash Bicentennial Man, rapid Robin recently reeled
off the following zany zingers. As a service for those
National Review Online readers who are not in show
business and don't "get" the jokes, I will
offer a helpful explanation following each gag:
ROBIN ON BUSH: "We have a president for whom
English is a second language. He's like; 'We have
to get rid of dictators,' but he's pretty much one
himself." [more at National
Review]
FREE
THE VALLEY
From LA Daily News
Lauritzen's
Lark
Incoming school board member takes aim at good
schools
4/2/03 | Going into last
month's elections for the Los Angeles school board,
a widespread concern about candidate Jon Lauritzen
was that, if elected, he would become a stooge for
the teachers union that bankrolled his campaign.
Since winning the election over outgoing board President
Caprice Young, Lauritzen has done little to diminish
that concern.
Although he doesn't take office until July, Lauritzen
has already started doing United Teachers Los Angeles'
bidding -- at the expense of parents and students
in the San Fernando Valley and their hopes for quality
schools. [more at LA
Daily News]
SAVE SADDAM – The Western
Front
From City Journal
Can’t
We All Just Stay Home?
War protests divert police resources from homeland
security and endanger us all.
by Heather MacDonald 4/2/03 |
…To date, it’s the anti-war protesters
who have burdened police forces by far the most egomaniacally.
San Francisco cops in full riot gear worked 16-hour
shifts chasing anarchists as they shut down the city’s
financial district last week. More than half the department
took part in trying to quell the crippling “street
action” that illegally took out intersections,
bridges, and commerce. The Sheriff’s Department,
the Fire Department, and the 911-call center—also
first responders to a terror strike—found themselves
almost as overwhelmed by the violent protests. Had
al-Qaida struck San Francisco at that moment, it would
have confronted an exhausted police force and an urban
infrastructure already engulfed by deliberately created
chaos. [more at City
Journal]
From
OC Register
The Loons at
PETA Have a Cow
Attack on TV ad, 'chicken Holocaust' the latest
displays of fanaticism
by Doug Gamble 4/1/03 |
The only thing that bothers me about the "Happy
Cows" TV commercials that run throughout California
is that the cows seem happier than I am and their
lives look a lot more interesting.
But the fanatical People for the Ethical Treatment
of Animals has more serious problems with the humorous
ads that show cows lolling around in lush pastures
and engaging in snappy patter. In a lawsuit aimed
at forcing the campaign off the air for false advertising,
a cheesed-off PETA contended that most California
dairy cows live in filthy, grassless fields and are
forced to give too much milk.
more
at OC Register
SAVE SADDAM – The Celebrity Brigade
From Front Page
Hell's for
Heroes
by Julia Gorin 4/1/03 |
Ever more Americans have been expressing dismay over
our international standing since George W. Bush's
election to office. Exasperated statements like "Ever
since this guy took office, everyone has turned against
us!"; "We're alienating the rest of the
world!"; "Even our allies hate us!"
grace the national dialogue regularly.
Paraphrased in a whiney tone, that is to say: "Ohmygod!
Everyone hates us! No one else is doing it! This is
not the way to be popularrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!"
Kids sounding like this usually get smacked. In Hollywood,
they get applauded.
more
at Front Page Magazine
SAVE
SADDAM – The Western Front
From Weekly Standard
Hear No Victory,
See No Victory, Report No Victory
The Los Angeles Times goes to war.
by Hugh Hewitt 3/31/03 |
The Los Angeles Times, often called the Lost Angeles
Times or the Left Angeles Times, escapes the sort
of scrutiny that Andrew Sullivan and others apply
to the New York Times because the "West Coast's
leading newspaper" simply doesn't matter much
on the East Coast (and increasingly not so much in
its own back yard).
Had the New York paper run with a front page like
Sunday's LA Times did, Sullivan would have been at
work for a week playing catch up. It is as though
the editors had agreed on an "All setbacks, all
the time" policy, regardless of the actual news
from Iraq.
more
at Weekly Standard
From
LA Daily News
He Was A True
American, And A True Marine
by Chris Weinkopf 3/31/03 |
When Lance Cpl. Jose Gutierrez set out to do battle
against the Iraqi Republican Guard just outside Umm
Qasr, he was probably unable to think of much other
than the task at hand: Freeing a port so humanitarian
aid could soon make its way to the oppressed people
he and his fellow Marines had come to liberate.
Certainly he didn't expect to become one of the first
American servicemen to die in Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Nor could he have imagined that he would end up providing
the definitive answer to a tired political debate
that had for too long divided his countrymen back
home.
Sure enough, Gutierrez would end up not only giving
his life for his country, but also giving us a lesson
on what it means to be an American.
On that day, Gutierrez, an immigrant from Guatemala,
laid to rest a line of thinking that's all too common
stateside, including in his home state of California.
more
at LA Daily News
SAVE
SADDAM – The Western Front
From SF Chronicle
Right Side
of the Argument
Lonely are the Republicans
by Leslie R. Guttman 3/30/03 |
Whether you agree with the war or not, there's no
question the soldiers in Iraq are courageous. Another
type of bravery -- although far safer -- can be found
on the UC Berkeley campus: A tiny contingent of Berkeley
College Republicans sits in front of Sproul Hall,
badly outnumbered by protesters applauding anti-war
speakers.
more
at SF Chronicle
From SF Chronicle
Muchas Gracias
Debra J. Saunders 3/30/03 |
In 1998, leftist activists ganged up on Proposition
227, which mandated English immersion classes for
most limited-English students. The Mexican American
Legal Defense and Education Fund and CA opposed the
measure.
It didn't matter, as the Los Angeles Times had reported,
that in the preceding year 1,150 state schools failed
to promote any limited-English students to English
fluency. President Clinton's Education Secretary Richard
Riley told The Chronicle the measure was a "disaster."
Gray Davis, then a candidate for governor, opposed
227. So did his two Democratic rivals and state schools
chief Delaine Eastin.
Activists accused then-Gov. Pete Wilson of race-baiting
in supporting the "wedge" measure. Pundits
warned that to the extent Republicans supported 227,
the GOP would alienate Latino voters. GOP gubernatorial
nominee Dan Lungren came out against 227.
California voters approved the measure by 61 percent
of the vote.
The voters, you see, wanted results, not excuses.
more
at SF Chronicle
SAVE
SADDAM – The Celebrity Brigade
When Americanism Meant More Than Socialism
In Supporting
Roles
When top stars and directors enlisted in the war
effort in the 1940s, it was a different Hollywood
-- and America.
by Lynn Smith 3/30/03 |
The most thrilling part of 1943's Academy Awards ceremony,
wrote columnist Louella Parsons, had nothing to do
with the Oscars. Rather, it was the sight of two dreamboats
-- Tyrone Power and Alan Ladd -- in their private's
uniforms, marching onto the Cocoanut Grove stage after
the national anthem. The movie stars presented the
flag, along with a list of 27,677 names -- all members
of the motion picture industry who also had signed
up for the armed forces.
Today, it's hard to imagine stars such as Ben Affleck
or Josh Hartnett signing up for a tour of duty in
Iraq. A celebrity who wants to take a political stand
is much more likely to speak out in public or flash
a surreptitious peace sign -- eliciting as many jeers
as cheers. But in World War II, everyone -- Hollywood
movie stars and directors included -- was expected
to pitch in and support the war effort.
more
at LA Times
THE
FABULOUS BUDGET
From OC Register
State Should
Heed History
Davis' approach to cutting budget deficit went
disastrously awry in 1930s
by Veronique de Rugy 3/30/03 |
Gov. Gray Davis wants to hike sales and income taxes
$8.3 billion to help close California's budget deficit
of at least $26 billion. In addition, Davis wants
to add $1.10 in taxes to each pack of cigarettes,
and raise assorted fees. He is also calling for minor
program cuts in the wake of the spending frenzy of
the last four years, during which time the state budget
ballooned nearly 40 percent.
The push for tax increases over spending cuts is a
lose-lose idea that follows in the policy footsteps
of Presidents Herbert Hoover and Franklin Roosevelt.
In the 1930s, they pursued tax increases based on
the mistaken idea that a balanced budget would help
the economy. Yet the high tax rates they approved
hurt the economy and made the deficit higher, not
lower. Higher taxes were a bad idea then, and higher
California taxes are a bad idea now.
more
at OC Register
SAVE
SADDAM – The Celebrity Brigade
Moore Is Less
§
And
some
Lingering Observations
SHADOW CONTROLLER
From OC Register
In Defense
of Proposition 13
If keeping it intact is unfair, how fair is an
$8,400 property tax bill?
by Tom McClintock, Shadow Controller 3/28/03
| Just for fun, take
the current value of your home and multiply it by
2.67 percent. Look hard at that number, and then imagine
paying it this year as property tax. This isn't a
theoretical exercise - if not for Proposition 13,
that's what you would now owe to the county tax collector.
more
at OC Register
CALIFORNIA
EXPORTS
From Eonline
The
United States Is Strong in the Hearts of Americans
at This Moment When We Are Under Siege
by Ben Stein 3/28/03 |
It was an hour to remember, an hour when I got to
see the mood of America at a given moment--on the
eve of war, as an ungrateful world was kicking around
its saviors. Let me take you back to how it happened
and how it went.
By a series of strokes of luck, I am a "celebrity
judge," along with Naomi Judd and Ahmet Zappa
( Frank's son ), on a successful CBS talent scout
type show called Star Search.
more
at Eonline
CALIFORNIA
EXPORTS: FILM=LIFE
From World Magazine
Tears of the
Left
Bruce Willis's new action movie implies certain
ideas that make liberal critics queasy.
by Andrew Coffin 3/27/03 |
Tears of the Sun at heart remains an action
film—it really doesn't touch on the subtleties
of American interventionism or the horror of genocide
and ethnic cleansing (although its effects are graphically
represented). What really bothers most critics, I
think, are two very simple points implied by the film's
story: that it is possible to make cultural distinctions
and that some good can come from American military
action. These ideas should be irrefutable and harmless
at face value, but in fact make liberals mighty queasy.
more
at World Magazine
SAVE
SADDAM – The Local Front
From SF Chronicle
Tantrum
by Debra J. Saunders 3/25/03 |
IT'S RATHER choice that the anti-war group Direct
Action to Stop the War is complaining about "increased
repression from the San Francisco Police Department."
Their so-called peace demonstrations certainly were
designed to repress -- that is, "subdue"
or "restrain," according to my dictionary
-- people in San Francisco. Activists boasted they
wanted to close the Financial District to end "business
as usual." So they sabotaged public transit and
blocked intersections to gridlock city traffic.
more at SF
Chronicle
FROM
THE SF CHRONICLE
Wilson for
Senate
by Debra J. Saunders 3/18/03 |
So it's time for Wilson to get back to work: He should
run against Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer.
more
at the SF Chronicle
AND ELSEWHERE...
