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.
Poll Questions Importance of Ballot Measures
With a potentially long ballot of initiatives facing voters next November, the Public Policy Institute of California asked voters the importance of some of the issues they would likely vote on. While voters could ultimately face as many as 20 initiatives, the pollsters focused on four measures: a state school bond, minimum wage, extending Prop 30 taxes and legalizing marijuana.
Schools still have a powerful pull on Californians’ purse strings. 63% of all adults said passing the bond was very important, 25% said it was important. On increasing the minimum wage, 57% said it was very important, 23% said it was important. The Prop 30 extension was considered very important by 36% of the respondents, while 38% said it was important. Legalizing marijuana was tabbed as very important by 28% of those asked while 21% said it was important. (more…)
Welcome to California (Not!)
You can’t define an entire state by its borders. And that’s a good thing for California. We wouldn’t much like what our borders say about us.
Take the California-Oregon border. When you drive over the Siskiyou Pass on Interstate 5 and cross from Oregon into California, you will not be greeted by any welcoming party, grand gate, or museum that extols the glories of the Golden State.
No, the first sign of California civilization is the giant All Star Liquors store, in the tiny community of Hilt. And if you prefer a different coastal entrance into California from Oregon along the 101, you’ll get the very same greeting: All Star Liquors’ other outlet, in Smith River, near an Indian casino. (more…)
Ted Cruz Cannot Be President: Take Him Off The Ballot
Secretary of State Alex Padilla should not list Texas Sen. Ted Cruz as a Republican candidate in the presidential primary because Sen. Cruz is not eligible to be President and to place him on the ballot would violate the United States Constitution.
The Constitution lists three qualifications for President: you must 35 or older, been a resident of the United States for 14 years, and be a “natural born citizen.” Ted Cruz was born in Canada; he is not a “natural born citizen.”
“Natural born citizen” is found in Article II of the Constitution and the language is very precise: “No person except a natural born citizen … shall be eligible to the office of President.” This language has not been subject to litigation or Congressional action (with one exception described below) because until Sen. Cruz no foreign-born person has tried to run for President. (more…)
Golden Blues: EITC Preferable to Minimum Wage
Hello again California. As promised, here is the follow-up to the recent Golden Blues piece on climate legislation. Today, we discuss the blue elite’s counterproductive attempts to fight inequality.
As has been reported over the last few months, blue thinkers, policy wonks, and activists across the state are building momentum to get cities to raise their minimum wages to $15 per hour. There is even talk of a statewide plan, though that seems less likely to gain traction.
The logic behind raising the wage is simple and straightforward- the giant sucking sound of California’s once-booming aerospace and manufacturing jobs fleeing to friendlier tax climes like Texas and Florida has created a California economy based on “haves” and “have-nots.” The haves are those well-paid, high-skilled workers in the FIRE industries (finance, insurance, and real estate) and especially in the entertainment and tech industries. The have-nots are low-income service workers in everything from food service to healthcare and elderly care. The old middle-class jobs aren’t coming back, and not everyone is skilled enough to be a have; so might as well ease the plight of the have-nots by raising their wages. In fact, says a UC Berkeley study, when the have-nots have more money in their pockets, they’ll spend it and stimulate the economy! (more…)
The Great TV Debates That Forever Changed How Politics Was Covered
In our defense, we were a bit desperate. It was 1968 and ABC News was starved for resources and significantly smaller than its rivals NBC and CBS. We had to do something, anything, to get noticed. I should know: I was ABC News’ director of public relations.
As the presidential nominating conventions loomed that year (Miami Beach for Republicans, Chicago for Democrats) ABC News executives came up with the novel idea of a nightly 90-minute highlight show instead of providing the standard—and endless—gavel-to-gavel coverage. To make this new show even more compelling, the news division hired two of the most articulate and telegenic observers of the political scene—the conservative William F. Buckley, Jr., and the liberal Gore Vidal. TV and politics have never been the same. (more…)
Solar Energy Gives Investors A Shock
Solar energy is full of surprises.
The operators of the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System were recently surprised by state air quality regulators, who informed them that the $2.2 billion solar energy plant is a carbon polluter.
Solar energy doesn’t emit carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. That’s the whole point of California’s increasingly mandatory and wildly expensive push to replace fossil fuels with solar and wind energy.
But as it turns out, the sun does not shine at night. This is what happens when governors don’t do any research before they sign legislation.
The Ivanpah plant is located on five square miles of the Mojave Desert near the Nevada border. You can see it from Interstate 15 — it’s that alien-looking landscape of shiny circles surrounding three skeletal towers topped with black-and-white capsules. (more…)