Fox and Hounds Daily Says Goodbye
With this article, we end publication of Fox and Hounds Daily. It has been a satisfying 12½ year run. When we opened in May 2008, our site was designed to offer an opportunity to those who wished to engage in public debate on many issues, especially in politics and business, but found it difficult to get placed in newspaper op-ed pages.
Co-publishers Tom Ross, Bryan Merica and I have kept F&H going over this time investing our own time, funding, and staff help. Last year at this time we considered closing the site, however with an election on the horizon we decided to keep F&H going through the election year. With the election come and gone, and with no sense of additional resources, we have decided to close the site down.
Fox and Hounds will live on, at least, with my articles collected in the California State Library.
On a personal note, I have spent over 40 years in California policy and politics. There have been some incredible high moments and some difficult low points. It pains me that politics too often is a blood sport, frequently demonizing the motives of opponents and using the legal system as a weapon in public discourse. At Fox & Hounds, we tried to adhere to the practice of giving all a voice in the debate, yet keep the commentaries civil and avoided personal attacks.
F&H offered the opportunity to publish different perspectives (even ones that criticized my writings!). We had success as indicated by the Washington Post twice citing Fox and Hounds Daily one of the best California political websites and many other positive affirmations and comments received over the years.
Tom, Bryan and I want to thank our many readers and writers for being part of our journey. The publishers of Fox and Hounds Daily believe that we added value to California and its people. We hope you agree.
Comparison Of iPhone 6 Innovative Features: Which Apple Smartphone Model Had The Most Improvements?
In the summer of 2007, Mike Lazardis, co-founder of BlackBerry, got an iPhone to check what’s inside. He pried it open and was shocked on what he saw: BlackBerry wasn’t competing with a phone, he thought, it was competing against a Mac. Lazardis was recalling that moment in an interview with The Globe and Mail, hinting about the months leading to the fall of RIM.
Such is the iPhone’s disruptive story: it put the computer in our phones and made them smart. Suddenly, we could buy and play music in our phones, surf the net via wifi, run desktop-like OS, and, the best defining factor of a smartphone, download apps. We do all that without a keypad (to BlackBerry’s shock). No, Apple didn’t invent these technologies, it innovated them. Over a decade earlier, IBM had Simon, the world’s first smartphone.
Science Panel: Environmental Impacts of Fracking in California are Relatively Limited
Big news on the hydraulic fracturing front. An independent science panel has found that the direct environmental impact of well stimulation technologies for oil production in California “appear to be relatively limited.” That is, the primary environmental impacts from increased production will be caused by any increase in production generally – not by the well stimulation practices, i.e. “fracking.” The report was commissioned by the Bureau of Land Management to inform the federal agency’s oil and gas policies in California.
The California Council on Science and Technology released a peer-reviewed assessment conducted by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The Council’s steering committee included 12 subject matter experts from major research institutes within and outside California under the leadership of Dr. Jane C.S. Long, Principal Associate Director at Large at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
The report’s key findings include: (more…)
Can the State’s New Hollywood Tax Credit Make Us All Media Moguls?
We’re making major motion pictures, baby!
And TV shows, too! That’s right, my fellow California taxpayers. You and I are now major investors in film and television productions. Our agent—or I should say our 120 agents in the state legislature—cut a five-year deal last week putting more than 1.5 billion of our hard-earned dollars into the production of on-screen entertainment.
Before we celebrate the fact that we are now all Hollywood players, we must admit to ourselves that, financially, our new investment isn’t such a good deal. We California taxpayers have broken the cardinal rule of Hollywood: Never use your own money. (more…)
The Future for Indian Casinos in California
Casino gambling may be foundering in Atlantic City where four casinos are closing their doors this month but it is flourishing in California because of gaming on Indian land. Now voters will be asked whether to extend Indian casinos away from Reservations when they consider Proposition 48 on the November ballot.
In California, those with plenty of spare cash or just feeling lucky can chose from a practically limitless array of gambling destinations to see their dreams come true.
This is all because of a small, obscure and impoverished Indian tribe known as the Cabazon Band of Mission Indians living for decades out of a few trailers on several parcels of rough scrabble patch just outside Indio in Riverside County and was facing a dismal future when inspiration struck. (more…)
In Fighting Drought, San Antonio Leaves L.A. in the Dust
Could cities such as drought-vulnerable Los Angeles come to regret that a “privatization” provision in the old $11.1 billion state water bond was removed?
Back in 2009, there was an outcry against language in the original version of a proposed state water bond that would have allowed private companies to own, operate and profit from water projects partly funded by taxpayers dollars. Critics said it opened a door to dangerous privatization.
But the bill merely contained a provision for joint ventures with nongovernment partners. Nevertheless, it eventually was stricken from the bill, and the new $7.5 billion water bond bill on the November ballot omits it as well. (more…)
California Proves Climate Change is a Bipartisan Issue
On Monday, September 8th, the R20 Regions of Climate Action is honored to partner with the USC Schwarzenegger Institute and the California Air Resources Board to present the Global Climate Negotiations: Lessons From California symposium.
As leaders from around the world prepare to gather at UN climate conferences in New York, Lima, and Paris, California leaders are convening to review the lessons we have learned from our many years as a leader in pioneering environmental protections and addressing climate change.
Californians have always seen environmental protection for what it is: a non-partisan issue that will affect the future of our state and the world. Governors from every political background in our state have understood that at their core and we’ve benefitted from decades of leadership on this important issue. (more…)