Our Own Microcosm of Freedom vs. Tyranny: The City Hall Machine vs. The Rest of Us

Buck TurgidsonBuck Turgidson Leave a Comment

Kudos to Rostra blogger Bradley J. Fikes for this post calling out the thinly-veiled message in the U-T that actually precluded the sales tax proponents’ simple message: “Agree to a sales tax increase or you will die.” May I suggest we haven’t even begun to be spoon-fed this message. The coming months will be filled with it. This is the …

Step Right Up, See The Stimulus!

Bob SiegelBob Siegel Leave a Comment

So, you think those stimulus bills were a waste of time? Well, that just means you can’t handle a black president and his compassionate, fiscally wise congress. Listed below, is a sampling of these economy booster shots, courtesy of the Washington Examiner: Aug. 3, 2010.  My own commentary follows each description. -$2 million earmarked for swine odor research in Iowa. …

Mexico increases its drug cartel deaths to 28,000

Kimberly DvorakKimberly Dvorak Leave a Comment

In the past four years Mexico has lost more than 28,000 lives in Felipe Calderon’s war on drug. The new number adds approximately 3,000 murders to the drug cartel violence tally, according to the Mexican Center of Investigation and National Security (Cisen). While the murder rate is closing in on the 30,000 mark, National Intelligence Chief Guillermo Valdes says the …

Tolerance, Thy Name Is Dictator

Bob SiegelBob Siegel 9 Comments

At first the people of California passed a law stating that marriage would be defined as a union between a man and a woman.  Then, a court overturned the law, claiming it was unconstitutional. So, later on, in 2008, after seven million people passed Proposition 8, the California constitution was actually changed. I went on the radio at this point …

Top 10 Flaws in the San Diego Sales Tax Hike

Carl DeMaioCarl DeMaio 1 Comment

Not surprisingly, the City Council today advanced the dubious Sales Tax Ballot Measure. Put simply, San Diego taxpayers deserve better than a tax increase masquerading as “reform.”  That’s why we are putting together a broad-based campaign to defeat this deceptive measure – and to articulate a bold and effective reform agenda. If you are willing to help with the campaign, …

Mary England’s take on her NO vote in Lemon Grove; GOP makes needed comparison to San Diego

Vito AndoliniVito Andolini Leave a Comment

Following up on last night’s post noting that a sales tax increase will not be on the November ballot in Lemon Grove, the lone — but in this case all powerful — holdout provides her thoughts to SD Rostra.  From Councilmember Mary England: “It is time that the people see that we are serious about structured reform at city hall.  …

Astro Turf provided by SEIU hijacks Arizona SB1070 rally

Kimberly DvorakKimberly Dvorak Leave a Comment

Not so long ago the Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) played schoolyard games and called the Tea Party movement Astro Turf. It’s been more than a year and the grassroots Tea Party movement is still going strong. In fact many political candidates backed by the movement are poised to win Congressional seats and it appears the opposition SEIU …

Lemon Grove Sales Tax Increase fails to qualify for Ballot

Vito AndoliniVito Andolini 2 Comments

Three of four Lemon Grove councilmembers voted tonight to place a sales tax increase on the November ballot, but that wasn’t enough as Mary England single-handedly owned the power of veto. In a city that requires four votes to qualify such a measure, Councilman Jerry Selby’s vacation absence couldn’t have come at a more intriguing time, thus resulting in only …

Meg Whitman Tiene Dos Caras

Bradley J. FikesBradley J. Fikes 8 Comments

In English, “Met Whitman Has Two Faces.” That’s on a Spanish-language billboard ad from Jerry Brown’s campaign, pointing out how post-primary Whitman is saying different things than pre-primary Whitman on issues like illegal immigration and halting AB 32, California’s strict global warming law. KFI’s John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou (get their podcasts at the link) say that duplicity . . …

“Dollar for Dollar” Proposes Match of Cuts and Sales Tax Dollars

The Libertarian Lass, Gayle FalkenthalThe Libertarian Lass, Gayle Falkenthal 1 Comment

Save a dollar, get a dollar. It’s a refreshingly simple approach to solving the City of San Diego’s budget problems proffered this morning by San Diego County Taxpayers Association President & CEO Lani Lutar. Lutar delivered this memo to Mayor Jerry Sanders and member of the San Diego City Council this morning. So far, Councilmember Carl DeMaio has reacted favorably …

Drug cartels, media blackouts are commonplace along the southern borders

Kimberly DvorakKimberly Dvorak Leave a Comment

A virtual media blackout is taking place along Mexico’s borders, and nowhere is the need to get the stories out more important than the U.S./Mexican border – a place where more than 25,000 have lost their lives because of cartel violence. “After years of relative calm, the gangland nightmare is back-and yet, barely a single mention of the clashes here …

Marti “Firetruck” Emerald

SunshineSunshine Leave a Comment

It seems after being publicly humiliated at a recent Council meeting Marti Emerald is taking steps to reach out to the community and push her message of, umm…well, I’ll try and get back to you when I find it. She has reinvented her monthly community newsletter although spelling seems to not be a concern. “Subject: We need to restore borwned-out …

K-12 per pupil spending reaches past the $25,000 mark

Kimberly DvorakKimberly Dvorak 1 Comment

When you put the education costs per pupil in perspective not only are there big differences between states, but the public and private sectors glean unexpected results. The Cato Institute found public schools can be 93 percent more expensive than private schools. They contend the public school districts are anything but transparent and this creative accounting lends itself to muddy …

What are the real costs for government pensions?

Poway RogerPoway Roger 2 Comments

First of all, my disclaimer. I am a government employee. I hope that someone can answer my questions and clear up my thoughts. We hear about government pensions being underfunded. When these pension plans are calculated, why aren’t the long term costs revealed during contract negotiations? Why shouldn’t the agency that employed the employee be responsible for the full retirement …

How Bell got poor taxpayers to unwittingly pay for their huge salaries

Richard Rider, Chairman, San Diego Tax FightersRichard Rider, Chairman, San Diego Tax Fighters 7 Comments

The outrageous story of the hapless city of Bell, California is now widely known across the nation. A group of city politicians led by City Manager Rizzo allegedly colluded to pay themselves obscene salaries in a poor city of under 40,000 residents. The disgraced city manager has resigned, losing his $790,000 salary. But not to worry — he’ll get by …

Councilmember DeMaio’s Statement on “Blank Check” Sales Tax Increase

Carl DeMaioCarl DeMaio 5 Comments

Councilmember DeMaio issued the following statement regarding the proposed sales tax increase: “Until pension reform is implemented, San Diegans can continue to expect chronic budget deficits and service cuts.  This tax hike is not a solution to fix run-away pension costs.  It’s a blank check tax increase on working families that will end up delaying reform.”