Go Ahead — Veto Them All!

Thirty-eight days into the new fiscal year without a budget, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger laid down the law with legislators – literally. 

He told the Democratic-majority Legislature that any bill they send to him before a budget is enacted will be vetoed. That goes for any stuff his GOP buddies can get down to him as well.     Read more »

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Whoopty Do

Well, the wait is finally over. The Democrats announced all those zany tax increases they’d been keeping secret for the past six months.  Alittle more than $8 billion worth. 

Whoopty do. 

Both Assembly Speaker Karen Bass and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger say California needs to overhaul its archaic tax system, created during the Great Depression and riddled with so many inequities, loopholes and exceptions it makes Swiss Cheese look solid.     Read more »

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Baseball Versus Football

George Carlin is a personal hero.

His LPs – and those of Frank Zappa – were the only ones my parents drew the needle across when they caught me listening.

Carlin shaped my sense of humor, spurred my love of language and hooked me on the whimsy of word play. He makes me laugh out loud.    Read more »

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Don’t Tax Me! Tax The Guy Behind The Tree!

Democrats in the Senate and the Assembly have prepared budget plans that rely on as much as $11.5 billion and $6.4 billion in new revenue, respectively. 

Except they aren’t saying where that new money is coming from. Like in a baseball trade, it’s a tax increase to be named later. In this fiscal year or the next one?    Read more »

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Missive on Marriage

Get them wagons ‘round in a circle! 

Rip up them petticoats, use ‘em as bandages. 

Git all the women and children inside! 

There’s a whole passel o’ them damn activist judges on the rampage! 

And them lousy varmints are trying to legalize “homosexual marriage.” 

That’s right, pardner, homosexual marriage. Land o’ Goshon, Lord Almighty, the end is truly near.     Read more »

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Your Tax Dollars At Work

It’s 4:30 pm in the California State Assembly on Thursday May 29, 2008. 

It is the final day of the final week to move legislation out of its house of origin. 

Presiding Officer, Sally Lieber, a Mountain View Democrat, recognizes Nicole Parra, a termed-out Fresno Democrat. 

Parra introduces AB 2572, requiring restaurants with 20 or more locations throughout the state to provide customers with nutritional information about the fare.     Read more »

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A Political Aptitude Test

Requiring the governor to pass California’s high school exit exam or forfeit his job – as proposed by Sen. Dean Florez a Shafter Democrat — is a good first step. 

The measure very generously allows the governor to take the test as many times as necessary in whatever language he chooses within a year of when Senate Resolution 28 is approved by the upper house.      Read more »

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Where Have You Gone, Gil Ferguson. The Assembly Turns Its Lonely Eyes To You. Whoo-Whoo-Whoo

The only California politician spinning faster in their grave than Hiram Johnson has to be Gil Ferguson. 

Johnson was the state’s progressive governor at the turn of the 20th Century. He created California’s workers compensation system and the initiative process, among other things. Johnson’s politics – and agenda – were comparable to those of his contemporary, President Teddy Roosevelt.     Read more »

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The Tortured Life of Lobbyists

Life ain’t easy for a powerful special interest lobbyist. 

First, lobbyists are compelled to interact with politicians – often several times in each day – and are forced to constantly treat them nicely.  

Second, the public has a lousy perception of lobbying, viewing it as basically a kissing cousin to the world’s oldest profession.    Read more »

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A Different Former Actor for Governor

Let’s say, hypothetically, California has a different former actor as its governor. 

Let’s say that former actor is Charlton Heston, who had a role in the current chief executive’s film, True Lies, and said of himself, “I’ve played three presidents, three saints and two geniuses – and that’s probably enough for any man.”     Read more »

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