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.
Advice from Ike I Like
The subject of not one, but two best-selling biographies (this one and this one) published in the last 18 months, the record of Dwight Eisenhower has many historians and political pundits pining for the days of strong, pragmatic leadership. Consider Joe Scarborough’s upcoming book, The Right Path: From Ike to Reagan, How Republicans Once Mastered Politics – and Can Again, where the Republican commentator begs today’s conservatives to favorably compare Ike with Ronald Reagan in their practical approaches to politics.
So it is with added interest that I look at the wall in my office here at Pepperdine to see a copy of a letter from Eisenhower himself, written to my father-in-law who was then the Director of the Claremont Republican Club. It was 1963, and as the newly elected head of the group, my father-in-law wrote to Eisenhower asking for his definition of Republicanism. On his personal “DDE” stationery, sent from Gettysburg, Ike’s reply should be taken seriously by today’s Republicans…particularly those here in California.
Watch Out Those Unpaid Interns May Sue You!
Early in my career I did quite a few unpaid internships. While I would have loved to have been paid, I actually viewed them all as great experiences that ultimately paid off in the long run.
Well, apparently that is not the case now, as unpaid interns have turned to lawsuits in an attempt to get paid immediately. It started when a federal district court judge in New York ruled that Fox Searchlight Pictures, a film distribution company, should have compensated two unpaid production interns for the 2010 movie Black Swan. According to the judge, “Searchlight received the benefits of their unpaid work, which otherwise would have required paid employees.” This first suit opened the floodgates for more interns.
Early Look at Campaign 2014: Part 2 – State Senate
We are one year away from the November 2014 General Election, and the California Target Book, which I publish, just printed its fall edition, analyzing and handicapping the upcoming races in California for congress and the state legislature.
Last week, I reported on key races for Congress; today, I am covering the state Senate races. Next, I will cover the Assembly, followed by open seats (in safe districts) and possible same party runoffs.
SENATE
State Senators are elected to four-year terms, therefore only half of the 40 Senate district are up each election cycle. In 2014, the 20 even-numbered districts are up and the candidates will, for the first time, be running in the newly drawn districts approved by the Citizens Redistricting Commission.
Tabatha’s Salon and Training for the Practical Economy in California
Though it rarely is mentioned in workforce discussions, an extensive system of private post secondary schools exists in California. This system enrolls roughly 400,000-500,000 Californians each year, in training for allied health care workers, information technology workers, and workers in beauty salons, car repair shops, and restaurants to name a few venues. It deserves greater attention in 2014.
The emphasis in workforce discussions in California 2013 continues to be on jobs in the “knowledge economy”. These are jobs that generally require a college degree and substantial analytic skills—jobs as software engineers, pharmacists, management analysts, educational counselors.
CalSTRS Contributions Inadequate; Unions Call Reformers “Right-Wing Ideologues”
During the most recent year for which there is publicly available data, the fiscal-year-ended 6-30-2012, the California State Teachers Retirement System contributed a $1.1 billion payment towards paying off an unfunded liability of $71.0 billion. This fact, and much more, came out in a California Public Policy Center study released last week “Are Annual Contributions Into CalSTRS Adequate?”
Now let’s suppose you have borrowed $71,000, and you are paying a 7.5% interest rate on this borrowed money. Do you think you would ever have this debt paid off, if you only paid $1,100 per year? How would that work? Isn’t 7.5% interest on $71,000 equal to $5,300? Wouldn’t a mere $1,100 payment put you further in the hole by $4,200? Wouldn’t you owe $75,200 by the end of the year, more than the $71,000 debt you started with?
Multiply by a billion and you’ve got CalSTRS.
Riddle Me This
Riddle me this: Why do government projects never seem to be completed efficiently, on budget and on time?
Currently, national attention is focused on the failure of the ObamaCare website. Not since the launch of the Titanic has so much gone so wrong. After three and a half years and a $1 billion investment, most of those visiting the site found it non-functional — reports are that on the first day, only six individuals were able to sign up on a website intended to serve millions. However, this is only the latest IT project to be bungled by government officials.
A September $62 million systems “upgrade” by the California Employment Development Department triggered a backlog of 100,000 jobless claims and thousands of unemployed were still waiting for their benefits more than a month later.