Fortnight for Freedom – In Defense of Religious Liberty

B-DaddyB-Daddy 6 Comments

Re-posted with permission from the author at W.C. Varones blog, regarding mass at Mission San Diego de Alcala, Wednesday evening. First they came for the Catholics, and I did not speak up because I was not a Catholic… The W.C. Varones Blog stands squarely with American Catholics as they defend their religious liberty from unprecedented assault by the Obama regime. …

Earth to Moonbeam: Cut, Cut, Stop, Reform

Brian BradyBrian Brady Leave a Comment

by Brian Brady Those of us in the limited government camp, who subscribe to the Austrian School of Economics, have a message for Governor Jerry Brown; cut, cut, stop, reform !  The historical precedent for cutting government is conspicuously absent from high-school history books but government-funded schools aren’t going to bite the hand that funds them: Why you’ve never heard …

Plescia to Block: Put Pensions On Ballot

Thor's AssistantPress Releases / Media Advisories 1 Comment

From the George Plescia for Senate campaign… While San Diego Leads the Way On Pension Reform – Marty Block Remains Silent San Diego – George Plescia today called on his opponent for the 39th Senate District, Assemblyman Marty Block, to support placing a state-wide voter initiative on the ballot before the deadline to take such action passes. Block has been …

Children’s Education Suffers in Government Schools

B-DaddyB-Daddy 10 Comments

Two unrelated articles show how the education of children comes last when dealing with the government education bureaucracy and the labor unions representing teachers. In San Diego, the unions and the district struck a deal yesterday to avoid 1,481 layoffs, according to the U-T. Representing 7,000 teachers, the San Diego Education Association agreed to extend furloughs for a third and …

How Barack Obama Fooled Bill O’Reilly

Bob SiegelBob Siegel 8 Comments

Written by Bob Siegel and originally published in his column, Forbidden Table Talk in Communities At Washington Times SAN DIEGO, June 14, 2012 — Journalist Edward Klein’s recently highlighted interview with Rev. Jeremiah Wright continues to spawn debate, but a much more revealing exchange took place in 2008, between Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly and Barack Obama. Unfortunately, most people missed …

The liberal apologists for the CA economy are wrong, wrong and wrong again

Richard Rider, Chairman, San Diego Tax FightersUndesignated 3 Comments

RIDER NOTE:  Here’s a quality refutation of two columns that were written by liberal apologists — deniers who assert that the California economy is doing just fine (sound familiar?). ======================= http://www.foxandhoundsdaily.com/2012/06/no-its-deniers-are-wrong/ No, It’s the Deniers who Are Wrong By Bill Watkins Executive Director of the Center for Economic Research and Forecasting at California Lutheran University Tuesday, June 19th, 2012 Crossposted …

Largest Trade Association in San Diego to Endorse DeMaio at News Conference

Tony ManolatosTony Manolatos 4 Comments

San Diego Association of REALTORS® endorsement arrives on the heels of DeMaio’s first-place finish in the June Primary Election and five months before the November General Election MEDIA ADVISORY Tuesday, June 19 2012               Contact: Tony Manolatos, 619.549.0137 What: San Diego Association of REALTORS® (SDAR) to endorse Councilmember Carl DeMaio for San Diego Mayor When: Wednesday, …

Assemblyman Brian Jones Releases Another Edition of ‘Are You Kidding Me?’

Senator Brian JonesSenator Brian Jones Leave a Comment

SACRAMENTO – Assemblyman Brian Jones, R-Santee, releases his second broadcast commentary in the “Are You Kidding Me?” series.   ]Assemblyman Jones points out how Californians were not included in the secret budget process. The “Are You Kidding Me?” series consist of brief radio and television recordings on current state issues. http://arc.asm.ca.gov/member/77/?p=media&sid=431&id=12330

UPDATED: All eyes on City Council District 7 in San Diego

Barry JantzBarry Jantz 21 Comments

Tuesday, June 19 — After yesterday’s update from the Registrar… SCOTT SHERMAN 15542 50.16% MAT KOSTRINSKY 12447 40.17% RIK HAUPTFELD 1791 5.78% NATHAN E. JOHNSON 1207 3.90%   As of yesterday morning, 112 ballots were left to count. The race was over a week ago, per the below, but this confirms the current numbers. Tuesday, June 12 — after 5 …

Reviewing Precinct Returns from the San Diego Mayoral Election

Vince VasquezVince Vasquez 2 Comments

  The race to become mayor of the City of San Diego has narrowed down to two finalists. In this policy brief the National University System Institute for Policy Research (NUSIPR) analyzed newly released electoral data from the San Diego County Registrar of Voters’ office using GIS software. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY • The June mayoral primary was a partisan election. Interstate …

Marty Block Needs to Lead on Statewide Pension Reform

Thor's AssistantGuest Column 5 Comments

Guest Commentary by George Plescia The budget deadline is today. And yet this morning’s Sacramento Bee headline says it all, “California lawmakers race to pass a budget with little time to read it.” So much for transparency. Nobody would want to read exactly how the state proposes to spend $91 billion dollars before they vote on it. All this so …

The Graying of Governor Brown

Diane HarkeyBoard of Equalization Member Diane Harkey Leave a Comment

This op-ed originally appeared in the Flashreport We are witnessing the “Graying” of Governor Brown.  While Republicans started the successful recall effort of Gray Davis, it was Democrats that made the recall possible. Pressure from state government unions, environmental lobbies and other left-leaning and business interests had pushed an agenda destined to fail. The dot-com bust, budget deficits, inability to …

Jim Sills, RIP

Thor's AssistantRostra Administrator (Thor's Assistant) 8 Comments

It is with great sadness we let you know of the recent passing of longtime Republican political consultant and fellow Rostrafarian Jim Sills. His sudden death, apparently from heart failure, is a shock to all of us. There is no best way to do this, but in keeping with the spirit of a free-wheeling blog — the kind of forum …

“Are You Kidding Me?”

Senator Brian JonesPress Releases / Media Advisories, Senator Brian Jones 1 Comment

SACRAMENTO – Assemblyman Brian Jones, R-Santee, kicks off the release of insightful commentaries this week entitled, “Are You Kidding Me?” Assemblyman Jones says “out loud” what many Californians are thinking about the Legislature in these brief, eye-opening segments. The commentaries provide common sense thinking about current problems and controversial issues facing California. “I find myself shaking my head at the …

CA Worker’s Comp Cost Soars 45.3% in Six Months

Richard Rider, Chairman, San Diego Tax FightersUndesignated 1 Comment

JUNE 12, 2012 7:27PM CA Worker’s Comp Cost Soars 45.3% in Six Months RIDER COMMENT:  California state government controls Workers Comp rate increases to contain costs. And how’s that working out for ya, eh? Since January of this year, rate inceases of 45.3% have been approved. While accusing fingers will be pointed in different directions, the bottom line is that …

Tweets don’t equal votes

Guest ColumnGuest Column 20 Comments

Guest Commentary by Hugh Akston Now that the high of the election has somewhat faded, I thought it would be as good a time as any to review why some were shocked, SHOCKED by the results of the Mayor’s race. While voters and the general public see the speeches, debates, TV interviews and the commercials; and some in the “bubble” …

California unemployment fund is broke — and getting “broker” every day

Richard Rider, Chairman, San Diego Tax FightersUndesignated Leave a Comment

California is broke. We all know that. But one component that deserves at least passing notice is the state unemployment fund. Surprise! It’s broke. So broke that it’s borrowed federal funds to keep paying people not to work. Now CA has to charge CA employers a payroll surcharge to pay the money back. It’s not a huge tax per employee, …

Progress Cordoba – The Man behind the Woman

Guest ColumnGuest Column 1 Comment

A Tribute by Penny Harrington We often hear the phrase “the woman behind the man” representing the wife whose love and support isn’t publicly known, but who has helped make her more public husband who he is. Sometimes, however, it’s a case of the man behind the woman, and such is the case with Progress Cordoba. Folks active in local …

Faulconer: “People in San Diego were hungry for change”

Matt AwbreyMatt Awbrey Leave a Comment

San Diego’s vote on Proposition B is reverberating across California and the country, creating national headlines. Kevin Faulconer, co-author of the Comprehensive Pension Reform citizens initiative, took to the airwaves to talk about the overwhelming approval of the measure, and how San Diego is setting a blueprint for reform for local governments throughout the nation. Watch the clip here.

Taxpayer resistance to local California school bonds grows

Richard Rider, Chairman, San Diego Tax FightersUndesignated Leave a Comment

The League of California Cities tracked voting outcomes of the California local tax and bond measures. The brief SACRAMENTO BEE story and a direct link to the League’s results are here: http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2012/06/nearly-two-thirds-of-local-tax-and-bond-measures-pass.html I found one aspect of the story a pleasant suprise.  It’s refreshing that only 22 of the 34 school bond measures passed — 64.7%. Since the bar for …