January, 2012Bored CA Billionaire Groups MergeMonday, January 30th, 2012 JAN. 28, 2012 "Think Forward and Long" or "Think Long and Forward California." I suggest one of those as the new name for the merging government reform groups California Forward and Think Long. Because the ridiculousness of the name should be as ridiculous as the hailed move. This is w... Americans Need Courage from LeadersSunday, January 29th, 2012Jan. 30, 2012 "Now, a return to the American values of fair play and shared responsibility will help protect our people and our economy. But it should also guide us as we look to pay down our debt and invest in our future." -- President Barack Obama, State of the Union address, Jan. 24, 2012 This... Will Enviros Bend on CEQA Reform?Saturday, January 28th, 2012 Jan. 28, 2012 CEQA, the California Environmental Quality Act, has long been the third rail of politics here in theGoldenState. If a politician dare touch it, he or she is dead to the state’s powerful environmental lobby. Gov. Jerry Brown this week placed environmentalists in a quandary. He r... Denying CA’s Plight Won’t Ease ItSunday, January 22nd, 2012Jan. 23, 2012 Years ago, after starting to report and editorialize on news events in an old factory city in Ohio, I was quickly dubbed a "negative" for pointing out the disastrous government spending, housing and tax policies embraced by city leaders -- policies that were keeping a nice place wre... Diversity Trumps Education In CAFriday, January 20th, 2012 Katy Grimes: Since when are race and ethnicity "front and center in the state's education system"? Isn't education supposed to be the goal? In an op-ed in the Sacramento Bee, Linda J. Wong, executive director of the Center for Urban Education at the University of Southern California, touted... Courts Undermine State’s Initiative SystemFriday, January 20th, 2012 Jan. 20, 2012 I voted against Proposition 215, the so-called Compassionate Use Act, which legalized marijuana use here in the nation’s largest pot-growing state for -- wink, wink, nod, nod -- “medicinal purposes.” That’s why it is rather ironic that I find myself compelled to come to t... CA GOP Going to Elephant Graveyard?Tuesday, January 17th, 2012 JAN. 17, 2012 Many in the media say that Republicans are rapidly becoming irrelevant in California, and will become nothing more than an afterthought after the next election. Even a Capitol press club, made up of declining "old media" newspaper, radio and television reporters, recently ind... Lots of Mileage in Naming RoadsMonday, January 16th, 2012 Jan. 16, 2012 California legislators never have enough time, and always lack the vision, to deal appropriately with the state's pressing budget and infrastructure problems. But they are great at self-aggrandizement and at catering to the special-interest groups that help assure their re-election.... Redevelopment barons plot comebackMonday, January 9th, 2012 JAN. 9, 2012 I'm still giddy after the California Supreme Court ruled last month that the state had every right to shut down those noxious enemies of property rights and fiscal responsibility -- redevelopment agencies. Better yet, the state's high court ruled that another law that allowed those a... |