contributor
opinion inside CaliforniaRepublic.org
|
SCHEERING
THE TIMES
Who
Lied?
Bob
uses slieght of hand for a cover up of his own...
NEW TODAY [Stefan
Sharkansky] 0905/03 | It
would be fascinating, I think, to observe a day in the life
of our favorite Canardmeister, Robert "Three-Home" Scheer.
In the meantime, I have to make do with my mental image of
him -- waking up at the crack of noon, groaning and scratching
himself as he fumbles his way out of bed. Still in his underwear,
he opens the front door to look for the newspaper and has
to walk all the way out to sidewalk to get it because that's
where the never-been-tipped paperboy tosses it now. Peering
at the newsprint through the smudged lenses of his spectacles,
Scheer makes out only the words "Bush", "Iraq" and "mislead". "Aha!",
he says to himself, "I knew Bush was lying", and
then he sets his Canard-o-matic to "800
words", presses the PRINT button and crawls back into
bed for his afternoon nap. | I
can't think of any other explanation for Scheer's latest
column: Bush
Was All Too Willing To Use Emigrés' Lies, which
cites a Los Angeles Times story that the case for
war with Iraq was largely based on lies...[more
inside CaliforniaRepublic.org]
JURISIMPRUDENCE
Bird-Brained
Justice
Justice is not served...again.
NEW TODAY [Xrlq] 09/05/03 | Death
penalty opponents frequently cite the large number of reversals as evidence
that the death penalty is flawed. Anyone who seriously buys that argument
would do well to read this
case (PDF file) from last week, in which the California Supreme Court reversed - "because
the trial court improperly dismissed a juror during jury selection" -
the death sentence of James Matthew Heard, who had been convicted of
the extremely grisly and depraved murder of 11 year old Katrina Brown.
Indeed the murder was so depraved that readers with weak stomachs probably
should skip this piece entirely. | Heard's
rampage began at 2:00 a.m., when he left the apartment for a birthday
party where he threatened to kill three people before being asked to
leave. At 5:00 a.m., he returned to the apartment, picked a fight with
his girlfriend, and then proceeded to attack her 11-year old daughter,
Katrina Brown. Neighbors heard a screaming match for an hour but did
not call 911, and went back to sleep. The next day, Katrina's cousin
came to pick up Katrina for school, only to discover her naked body on
the floor instead, and returned home. Her grandfather called 911. [more
inside CaliforniaRepublic.org]
CAMPAIGNEERING
The
Return to Partisan Politics
California,
get ready for the coming Dean melt-down...
[Chuck
DeVore] 9/5/03 | I
stopped reading the New York Times a few months
ago, as I prefer my fiction properly labeled. However,
when the O.C.
Register ran a piece by the NYT’s Adam Nagourney
about the Republicans and Democrats shifting their focus
from independents to partisan voters, it commanded my
attention. | The
article details an interesting shift in the political
landscape – a shift that we should all consider
before moving headlong into the pivotal 2004 election
cycle. | Both
parties see “an increasingly polarized and evenly
divided electorate,” according to Nagourney. For
this reason, both major parties are returning to pre-1992
strategies that focus on motivating their base to increase
turn out among partisan voters. | The
party that can make its base “emotional” and
therefore obtain better “turn out” on Election
Day will, according to a senior political advisor to
President Bush, have a much higher likelihood of success.
All this is leading strategists in both parties to plan
ambitious and expensive get-out-the-vote operations for
November 2004 that play upon the heightened emotions
in the electorate. [more
inside CaliforniaRepublic.org]
RECALL
FOLLIES
An
Instinct For Survival
Does anyone else sense the tide turning for Davis?
[Doug
Gamble] 9/4/03 | There
occasionally comes a time during an election campaign when political
observers get a gut feeling, independent of any polls, that change is
in the air. My gut tells me that while Gov. Gray Davis is a milquetoast,
he may not quite be toast
after all. | The
polls are no help anyway. Of two recent surveys, one showed 50 percent of voters
favoring the recall of the governor while the other said 64 percent want him
gone. | This
may be one election where instinct means more than polls. | My
instinct says a number of Democrats who had intended to dump Davis may be having
sober second thoughts as the election draws closer. Much like a man who considers
leaving his wife for his mistress only to end up thinking better of it, these
Democrats could be concluding they are better off sticking with what they have.
A dalliance is one thing; a divorce is another. | If
there is in fact a below-the-radar movement back toward the governor, he has
to be given some of the credit. Although still displaying a demeanor so awkward
it makes Richard Nixon look like Cary Grant, Davis performed much better in two
recent town hall meetings than in his much-criticized UCLA speech, with more
town halls planned before Oct. 7. | Then
there's his tenacity. While Arnold Schwarzenegger and Cruz Bustamante soak up
most of the media spotlight, especially the actor, Davis brings a tortoise and
hare quality to the race by just slowly plodding along at a steady pace. And
we remember
from the childhood story what happened to the hare. [more
inside CaliforniaRepublic.org]
RECALL
FOLLIES
They
Just Don't Trust Us
Liberal elites don't want power to the people
[Jon Coupal] 9/4/03 | In
the early part of the last century, the Southern Pacific Railroad
owned the California Legislature in all but title. To break the hold
of special interests on state government, Republican Governor Hiram
Johnson managed to push through a progressive agenda that included
the initiative, referendum and recall. (This was back in the days
when the word "progressive" meant something good.) | These
powers, enumerated in the state constitution, were intended to insure
that government would ultimately be responsible to the citizens.
If the Legislature proved to be too indolent, incompetent or corrupt
to address important issues, the people had the ultimate power to
pass legislation of their own design. If a lawmaker or state constitutional
officer proved to be indolent, incompetent or corrupt, the people
were entitled to fire that official using the recall procedure. | The
classic example of the importance of the initiative is from 1978.
When government refused to temper property taxes that were escalating
so rapidly as to make home ownership untenable, the people took matters
into their own hands and passed Proposition 13. | It
has been said that Proposition 13 is to a liberal as sunlight is
to a vampire. Recent events show that liberals are averse to anything
that remotely resembles citizen control of political power. [more
inside CaliforniaRepublic.org]
RECALL
FOLLIES
An
Oration over the Career of Tom McClintock
With apologies
to the Bard...
[Hugh Hewitt] 09/03/03
Friends,
conservatives, Californians, look up from your
screens;
I come to praise Tom McClintock, not to bury him;
The mischief that some men make is forgotten;
For others it becomes their only reputation,
So might it be with Tom McClintock.
There
are many at FreeRepublic and elsewhere who claim
that only Tom deserves a vote;
If that were so, for him I would surely vote;
But grievously would our state answer for that vote,
With Cruz enthroned and ruling.
[more
inside CaliforniaRepublic.org]
RECALL
FOLLIES
What
are the Differences Between MEChA and
Nazism?
[Stefan Sharkansky] 9/3/03 | California
gubernatorial candidate Cruz Bustamante remains steadfast in
his refusal
to denounce MEChA, which he joined as a university student. | For
anybody who is still wondering why this is such a big deal,
herewith are key quotes from MEChA's founding document El
Plan Espiritual de Aztlán (cited by many MEChA university
chapters as being "fundmental" to the organization)
juxtaposed with the Nazi Party's founding platform ("The
Twenty-Five Points", which were first read in public
by Adolf Hitler on Feb. 24, 1920) | Twenty-Five
Points: 4. None but members of the nation may be citizens
of the State. None but those of German blood, whatever their
creed, may be members of the nation. No Jew, therefore, may
be a member of the nation | El
Plan Espiritual: Por La Raza todo. Fuera de La Raza
nada | Twenty-Five
Points: 7. We demand that the State shall make it
its first duty to promote the industry and livelihood of citizens
of the State. If it is not possible to nourish the entire population
of the State, foreign nationals (non-citizens of the State)
must be excluded from the Reich | El
Plan Espiritual: Aztlán belongs to those who
plant the seeds, water the fields, and gather the crops and
not to the foreign Europeans. | Twenty-Five
Points: 8. All non-German immigration must be prevented.
We demand that all non-Germans, who entered Germany subsequent
to August 2nd, 1914, shall be required forthwith to depart
from the Reich. | El
Plan Espiritual: economic control of our lives and
our communities can only come about by driving the exploiter
out of our communities, our pueblos, and our lands [more
inside CaliforniaRepublic.org]
FABULOUS
BUDGET
Who’s
Dragging Down Who?
California’s Real Impact
[Ray
Haynes] 9/2/03 | I
think it is important people know what is happening in California government.
One in seven people who live in the United States live in California. California
constitutes ten per cent of the entire national economy, and it is the
fifth (or sixth or seventh or eighth) largest economy in the world (our
ranking shrinks each year Davis stays in office). When California’s
economy hiccups, it causes a national economic earthquake. A large, diverse,
and powerful economic actor is important not just to those of us who live
here, but to those who
walk the halls of Washington power as well. | Government
at any level can’t do much to help the economy. The economy is driven by
people’s needs and the endless effort of private companies to meet those
needs. Government, however, can screw it up. Using tax and regulatory policy,
and government subsidies, government impacts individual preferences by increasing
the price of one product or service (or decreasing another), and shifting limited
social resources to government-preferred activities. If these preferred activities
aren’t beneficial to the economy as a whole, government causes the economy
to falter. Jobs are lost, people are hurt, and the economy shrinks. Given these
facts, it would be important to cover any government function that affects ten
per cent of the economy. Sacramento should be the focus
of a lot of media attention. | It
is not, however. In fact, it is very difficult to find out what is happening
in California state
government. So—as a public service—I will help. [more
inside CaliforniaRepublic.org]
RECALL
FOLLIES
Tough
Love, or Tough Luck?
More high tax schemes from the Davis-Bustamante team...
[Joe
Armendariz] 9/02/03 | It
insults the intelligence of taxpayers to be told that they need "tough
love" and that this inevitably means paying higher taxes. And yet,
that is exactly what Cruz Bustamante, Lt. Governor turned sadistic political
schizophrenic seems to believe. The man is sadistic because he truly
subscribes to this bizarre notion called tough love. And the man is a
political schizophrenic if he can actually say with a straight face:
vote No on recall, but vote Yes on Bustamante. | Taxpayers
don't need, nor do they want Bustamante's love. Moreover, tough love
isn't an economic policy, it is something a father shows his rascal teen-ager
who refuses to obey his rules. In the case of Bustamante and the state
bureaucracy he has devoted his political life too, it is they who need
some tough love. A tough brand of fiscal love imposed by state taxpayers
who are sick and tired and simply refuse to take it anymore. | And
by the way, if the size, cost and general size of government is any indication,
the taxpayers of this once great state have already received their fair
share of this so-called "tough love". Exactly how much love
have we been given? Let us count the ways...[more
inside CaliforniaRepublic.org]
THE
MONDAY COLUMN
We’re
All “Working People” Now
When Public Sector Unions Take Over, Who Looks Out for Taxpayers?
[Carol
Platt Liebau] 09/01/03 | As
we celebrate Labor Day 2003, it’s worth asking: Who,
exactly, are the “working
people”? The term probably has its genesis in the old sociological term “working
class,” encompassing those who labor manually or work for hourly wages.
But as used today primarily by Democratic politicians like Gray Davis, it denotes
solidarity with lower income workers, especially when Democrats are trying to
exploit a sense of class grievance – against tax cuts, for
example. | Used
this way, the expression is, and should be, deeply insulting to those at higher
income levels who certainly have not gotten there by sitting on the veranda,
eating bonbons. By the Democrats’ criteria, professionals – and countless
small business owners throughout the United States – are certainly not “working
people;” they’re the “rich.” And that’s even though
typical Americans with $1 million in assets are self-employed and work between
45 and 55 hours a week; earn their wealth, rather than inheriting it; drive used
or mid-priced domestic, not foreign, cars; and live in homes worth far less than
they could afford, according to the New York Times best-selling
book, The Millionaire Next Door. | No, “working
people” has become an honorific reserved almost exclusively for one of
the Democrats’ staunchest constituencies, organized labor. And among organized
labor’s many constituents,
perhaps its most loyal is Governor Gray Davis. | It’s
well recognized that Davis’ tenure as governor has been very, very good
for unions, especially those in the public sector. After all, since Davis came
to power, he has added a net 44,500 employees to state payrolls – a 15.7%
increase,
even though total non-farm employment has risen only by 7% statewide. | The
unions have rewarded him accordingly, with chests full of campaign funds and
strong support. But in an ironic twist, it may just be Davis’ fealty to
the public sector union bosses that has created the conditions igniting the voter
anger behind
the recall. [more
inside CaliforniaRepublic.org]
RECALL
FOLLIES
Media Recall Crackup
...
The rise of
the blogs...
[Hugh Hewitt] 09/01/03 | The
California papers are full of horse-race stories, Bustamante profiles,
MEChA-mongering, and unsolicited advice for AS (AS = Arnold Schwarzenegger).
The blogs continue to outperform print and electronic media, with Kausfiles and Dan
Weintraub having set a standard of relevance and timeliness that
the dinosaurs can't begin to hope to match. Incredibly, the Los
Angeles Times still doesn't have a blog on the recall --perhaps
because they have no reporter capable of running such an effort? PrestoPundit, Tacitus, LA
Observed, Priorities & Frivolities, The
California Republic, CalBlog and SoCalLawBlog provide
everything the interested reader needs to know, and do so hours if
not days before AM catches up. (AM = Ancient Media.) | The
blogging of the recall is a preview of the effect of the new media
on the presidential race, and smart papers will be watching the Weintraub/Kausfiles
success for a model on how to proceed. Short answer: Arm your three
best correspondents with blogs and turn them loose to post. Weintraub,
like Kaus, is the rare journalist about whom it can be said that
fairness permeates their work. This might be the precondition of
a successful campaign coverage blog, but not necessarily. If a lefty
reporter gets a blog and runs it to the advantage of one candidate,
that could hurt a paper's credibility, but only if the reporter's
bias was undisclosed or unbalanced by a righty getting his or her
own blog. | But
now the criticism: The underlying story of the recall remains largely
unexplored by all media, new and old. That story turns on these questions:
Is the California legislature churning out a large number of new
and very radical statutes, judging by the standards at work in the
other 49 states? Does the California legislature appear to have even
a minimal grasp on economics, or does it seem to act as though there
is no such thing as a business climate? Do special interests dominate
Sacramento to an extent unparalleled in other state legislatures,
with the result that enormously unbalanced legislation is arriving
on Gray's desk (and has been for five years) without the ordinary
moderations enforced by two-party rule? These and similar questions
should be the foundation upon which all recall reporting is done,
but no serious look at them has occurred in any of the state's major
media. [more
inside CaliforniaRepublic.org]
CAPITOL
REPORT
Legislative
Break
It can't come soon enough...
[John Campbell] 8/30/03 | Countdown: On
September 12th the legislature will adjourn for the year (or until a
special session is called) and the people will be free from new bad laws
for a little while. Democrats are hurrying to pass all sorts of terrible
legislation that is continuing the legacy of the last 5 years of Davis/Bustamante
and rewarding their union and other special interests at the expense
of jobs, the economy and the state budget. Today was the last day to
pass bills that Gray Davis would have to sign before the recall election.
Any bill passed from now until September 12th doesn't have to be signed
or vetoed until 5 days after the recall election. Since the new Governor,
if there is one after the recall election, would not be sworn in for
probably at least a week, Davis can hold all sorts of bills until after
you vote in the election if he wants to. | But
he may have pressure to sign all the bad stuff from the unions and others
that have bankrolled his previous campaign and upon whom he is relying
to bankroll this one. | He
has already signaled that he will sign the absolutely hideous undocumented
alien
driver's license
bill. [more
inside CaliforniaRepublic.org]
FABULOUS
BUDGET
Splitting
the Roll, Splitting California
Big business kowtows to Sacramento
[Jon Coupal] 8/30/03 | The
relationship between grassroots taxpayers and the business community
has, at times, resembled a roller coaster. Virtually all the business
organizations in California (agriculture was a notable exception) opposed
Proposition 13 in 1978. Since then, business groups have moved from
outright hostility to grassroots taxpayer interests to at least some
instances of sympathy. Nonetheless, until just a couple of years ago,
the standard modus operandi of corporate California was to "go
along to get along." In other words, feeding the alligator of
big government. | Open
and direct confrontation by the business community to liberal policies
can still scarcely be found. And look what happened. While businesses
have struggled, state government has grown 36% in three years. At taxpayers'
expense, bureaucracies have ballooned like the high-tech companies
of the 90s with one major difference: government isn't accountable
to stockholders. | What
is the reward reaped by California businesses for this complacency
(and sometimes complicity) in the extraordinary rise in power of big
government interests? An absurd workers comp system, sky-high unemployment
insurance premiums, regulatory requirements that make no sense and,
of course, higher taxes and fees. [more
inside CaliforniaRepublic.org]
