As some of you noticed, I posted a controversial comment (available below) concerning Jim Sills’ recent article — a “guest article” written by pollster Raul Furlong (“POLLSTER RAUL FURLONG DRAWS LESSONS FOR 2012 FROM HIS 2005 SD MAYORAL PRIMARY ELECTION SURVEYS.”) In an unprecedented move, Jim has chosen to DELETE my comment (I didn’t know SDRostra article authors could even …
More right wing racist hate speech? Nope, just some dopey Democrat Congressman. All is forgiven.
I believe we’ve discussed the hate speech issue on this website before, with lefties clinging to the absurd notion that it’s the right which is (solely) guilty of hate speech. As it turns out, the right is NOT solely guilty. Or even often guilty. Or even more often than Dems guilty. Not even close. Hate speech and racist remarks overwhelmingly emanate from …
Jon Stewart “outs” Fox media bias against Ron Paul
I often rail about the liberal media bias, but fair is fair — consider the FOX media bias. We have to rely on the acerbic wit of Jon Stewart to highlight media attempts to spin the Iowa straw poll outcome sans Ron Paul. Thankfully, Stewart IS quite entertaining to watch. http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-august-15-2011/indecision-2012—corn-polled-edition—ron-paul—the-top-tier No, I’m not here touting Ron Paul as my …
Prison guards scheme and gamble in Vegas at our expense
The arrogant ruling class of California (in this case, the CA prison guards’ labor union) thinks we taxpayers owe them subsidies even when they go play and gamble (and scheme against us) in Las Vegas. 2.5 minutes long. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QN3aNvsi__k
Rider 2007 column on Virginia Tech massacre
On the www.CalNews.com website I came across a column I wrote in 2007 — published in several papers. Nothing has changed since I wrote it, so it seems it bears repeating. http://www.calnews.com/archives/rider02.htm The Virginia Tech Massacre By Richard Rider, CalNews.com April 18, 2007 Some observations on the shooting tragedy at Virginia Tech. True to form, the national TV and radio …
The SD U-T’s leftward editorial slant accelerates
I think it’s fair to say that NOT one of these SD U-T “community board” members thinks the government should be smaller — or should even plateau at its present bloated size. Indeed, essentially ALL of them favor BIGGER government, higher taxes and more nannyism.
Pensions help economy — just like the Bloods and the Crips
Recently there have been a spate of “studies,” press releases and articles about how we all prosper from government pension fund investing and pensioners’ spending. Here’s my pithy response: — Actually, if the Crips and Bloods had good PR departments, they could put out similar and equally accurate “analysis” and press releases. The titles could read something like this: …
The inbred liberal bias of KPBS
Recently our local San Diego KPBS radio station held one of its “Roundtable” shows to discuss and analyze the nominally nonpartisan San Diego mayor’s race. Here’s the link and especially the players (then read MY analysis below the players): http://kpbs.org/news/2011/jul/01/roundtable-non-partisan-mayors-race-heats/ KPBS Midway Edition Radio Program. Roundtable: “Non-Partisan” Mayor’s Race Heats Up. By Pat Finn, Gloria Penner. July 1, 2011. Guests: …
CA vs. other states — revised 1 July, 2011
Breaking Bad: California vs. the Other States by Richard Rider, Chairman, San Diego Tax Fighters Version 1.770 Revised 1 July, 2011 Updated version online at: www.RiderBlog.NotLong.com Phone: 858-530-3027 Here’s a depressing but documented comparison of California taxes and economic climate with the rest of the states. The news is breaking bad, and getting worse (I keep updating this fact sheet): …
Beware! Sales tax drops tomorrow (7/1/11).
A quick note: Most of you (intelligent all) know that starting tomorrow (7/1/11) the California statewide sales tax drops a full 1%. But I’m finding CA businesses that are unaware of the change. Beware. Perhaps our CA state government is not as good at letting companies know about sales tax REDUCTIONS as it is at informing them about sales tax …
SurveyUSA poll understates DeMaio’s lead in SD mayoral race
Earlier this month there was a poll for the all-important race for mayor of San Diego. It was financed by TV station KGTV, but it was not one of those bogus “call-in” surveys or Internet polls. The results showed my favorite — San Diego City Councilman Carl DeMaio — with an early but encouraging lead over his opponents (some not …
CA Controller Withholds Legislators’ Pay
CA State Controller John Chiang has declared that the legislative budget passed was not balanced, and hence does not satisfy the requirements of props 58 and 25. Bottom line — no pay for CA legislators from 16 June until they submit an actual balanced budget… http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2011/06/controller-chiang-halting-pay.html Chiang just made a HUGELY popular decision. While it may not stand legal challenge, …
Reform the antiquated colleges of America
I particularly liked this column (below) by my friend Larry Stirling. It’s a blunt, unflattering assessment of San Diego State University’s retiring president Stephen Weber. While this may seem too esoteric for all but my local readers, the op-ed presents some reforms that certainly have almost universal applicability to conventional colleges everywhere. The benefits would be widespread to taxpayers, students …
Christine Kehoe for Mayor! She wants to (again) screw up San Diego
Hoh boy! Christine Kehoe, has decided she’d like to return to city hall and again screw up the city. During her city council days, she backed the unjustified, retroactive pension increases — including a lame duck session where she granted herself a pension to start IMMEDIATELY after she was termed out of her city office. This will be fun! Well, …
To Whining CA Community College Students: Pay Up!
Across the state, California community college officials and student activists have been holding coordinated protests. With the usual claimed victim status, they demand higher taxes to subsidize their academic fantasyland. But these bureaucrats fail to tell the full story. It’s the CA community college STUDENTS (who benefit the most from the education) who should be paying more for their education …
Lutar & Rider debate public employee reps
Last month Lani Lutar (CEO, San Diego County Taxpayers Association) and yours truly debated the pension morass with two public employee labor union defenders. We were invited to speak before a hostile but largely civil audience — a small CA state convention of (mostly) retired county employees meeting at the Kona Kai Club. All the usual points from both sides …
U. S. Supreme Court Upholds AZ’s Tuition Tax Credit Program
This is a HUGE victory — with sweeping positive connotations for parents, students and taxpayers — not to mention the future of education in our country. Supreme Court Upholds AZ’s Tuition Tax Credit Program — Heritage Foundation: http://blog.heritage.org/2011/04/04/supreme-court-throws-out-challenge-to-arizona-tuition-tax-credit-program/ Here’s the Cato Institute podcast on this topic: http://bit.ly/f7eRaE
CA Green Reg Machine: Saving the Planet or Killing Jobs
Below is a link to a 9 minute professionally produced video that details the fraud and dishonesty underlying the devastating new California laws against diesel engines. It includes a rigged government agency (the California Air Resources Board a.k.a. CARB), with the story of the bogus PhD state “scientist” who authored the flawed report used as the basis for the new, …
How to best donate to Japan disaster
The problem with giving money to charities is that you usually don’t know if they do a good job — how much bang for the buck you’ll be getting for your gift. This quandary grows big-time when a rapid emergency relief effort is required — such as the Japan disaster. ANYTIME such a disaster occurs, charlatans pop up everywhere, seeking …
CA drops from world’s 5th to 10th largest economy in 10 years
California’s troubling decline vs. other nations by Richard Rider Frequently we hear the boast that California’s economy is bigger than most countries. And indeed, that is quite true. But there are two problems with this Golden State boosterism: 1. Too often the proclaimed rank of California vs. the other countries is outdated — and too high. 2. California’s rank has …
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