February, 2011

Students Protest For Entitlements
Monday, February 28th, 2011
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Katy Grimes: On the west steps of the Capitol today a small group of college students protested the proposed cuts to public university and community college budgets -- schools which the California taxpayers already subsidize. And right along with the students were several legislators encouraging ...

Cowboy Cops Pollute Sac Streets
Monday, February 28th, 2011

Steven Greenhut: I just saw a Sacramento city police officer take off on horse like a bat out of hell after a man clad in business attire crossed the street before the light changed to green. There were no cars around, so it seemed like a bit of an overreaction but it probably was fun to get a horse...

Dr. Lopez Misdiagnoses Unions
Sunday, February 27th, 2011
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John Seiler: In his Sunday column, L.A. Times columnist Steve Lopez praises unions -- but doesn't distinguish between private and public unions. He writes: Neither of my parents went to college, but we always did just fine because my dad had union jobs that paid a living wage. He drove trucks fo...

L.A. Junior College Boondoggle
Sunday, February 27th, 2011
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John Seiler: "Poor planning, frivolous spending and shoddy workmanship" That's the key phrase in an excellent L.A. Times investigative story that ran today on how a $5.7 billion L.A. community college bond was spent. Keep that in mind as Gov. Jerry Brown and others demand $12 billion in new ta...

Stop Maldo!
Saturday, February 26th, 2011
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John Seiler: Let the cry go up across the land: Stop Maldonado! Taxpayer traitor Abel Maldonado now is running for U.S. Congress. It was just two years ago that, as a state senator, he sold taxpayers down the river by proving the key Republican vote for the record $13 billion tax increase ...

Jerry’s Real Plan: $25 billion in Cuts?
Friday, February 25th, 2011
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John Seiler: Looking over Katy Grimes' budget piece today on Jerry Brown's testimony before the Legislature, "Is An All-Cuts Budget Ahead," I was wondering: Does he want his tax increases to fail? Has he all along planned to have an all-cuts budget? If Republicans don't put his tax-increases o...

Little Hoover: Cut Current Pensions
Thursday, February 24th, 2011
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John Seiler: It's not Wisconsin -- yet. But today the Little Hoover Commission released a new report on California pensions that pushed forward the serious cutting of government-worker costs on the state budget. "Public Pensions for Retirement Security" is 106 pages of well-reasoned analysis o...

Gov. Gets Snarky With Harkey
Thursday, February 24th, 2011

Katy Grimes: In a surprise appearance today, Governor Jerry Brown met with the Conference Committee on the Budget in order to push legislators to vote for his proposal to place tax increase extensions on the ballot in a June special election. After Brown made his presentation to the committee, pe...

Economist on Government Unions
Thursday, February 24th, 2011
UnionsLastHope

John Seiler: Economist Thomas DiLorenzo, who recently testified in Congress before Ron Paul's subcommittee on monetary policy, has a great new article on public-employee unions. He writes: The main reason why so many state and local governments are bankrupt, or on the verge of bankruptcy, is the...

2/3 Wis. 8th Graders Not Proficient
Wednesday, February 23rd, 2011
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John Seiler: Wisconsin teachers have been on strike. And they object to Gov. Scott Walker's move to end or limit collective bargaining. They're also the highest-paid teachers in the Midwest. So, how well are they teaching? This is from CNS News: Two-thirds of the eighth graders in Wisconsin p...