No sooner had John McCain announced his pick of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, then the Obama campaign and other Democrats began their assault on her. While predictable, the fierceness of the initial assault was pretty strong. The Obama campaign’s first reaction was that she was an “inexperienced mayor of a town 9,000”. Realizing that they had just slandered the people in the small towns of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan and other states that will decide this election, they quickly issued a more gracious statement.

You would think that after calling denizens of small towns “bitter and clinging to their guns and religion,” Obama and his people would be more sensitive to these voters. But that is how they truly feel about these folks and they can’t hide it.

Our own Barbara Boxer called her a “dangerous choice”. Dangerous? Barbara Boxer sitting on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is dangerous.

Why the harsh reaction? They are scared.

An item appeared in the Sacramento Bee yesterday that reminded me how far we have come from the days of Hiram Johnson and progressive reforms of the early 20th Century.

It was a story about how the all powerful prison guard’s union, CCPOA, just contributed $577,000 to Senate Pro Tem Don Perata’s political committee with the express purpose of defeating Proposition 11, the initiative on the November ballot to take control of legislative redistricting away from the Legislature. You can read all the gory details here.

Just by chance, CCPOA is trying to get a new contract with a pay increase from Perata and his allies in the Legislature. Last year they tried to ram through a pay increase at the last minute but the deal died as the session ended. To demonstrate their displeasure with the Democratic leadership, they then spent $2 million to defeat the February initiative to change term limits, a pet project of the Democrats. My guess is they get what they want this time or else they would have withheld the donation until after the legislative session. You don’t “invest” over a half a million dollars if you think you will not get the “return on investment” you desire.

Now I am certainly not accusing either party of doing something wrong. Perish the thought. But if you believe there is no connection between these two events, I have an international orange-colored bridge in San Francisco that I would like to sell you.

When J. Clark Kelso, the court appointed receiver for California’s prison healthcare system demanded that a federal judge order the state to come up with $8 billion over the next 5 years to fund his overhaul of the system, there was the predictable anger and outrage from politicians and interest groups on both sides of the issue. This was followed by another predictable step in these dramas when the Governor issued a statement that read in part, “we will continue to work cooperatively with the receiver in a fiscally responsible way to provide the necessary funding”.

But while everyone is rightly focused on the staggering amount Kelso has asked for, we are somehow forgetting about another significant expenditure in the budget—the escalating cost of the new death row at San Quentin.

The “estimated” cost for this facility is now pegged at $395.5 million, and as sure as the sun coming up in the morning, you know the cost will only grow before it’s completed. $19 million has already been spent on planning and construction could begin later this year. There is no question that San Quentin’s aging death house is overcrowded, and since we keep adding new crimes and circumstances every year that can get a person a date with the executioner, it will only get worse.

But, is a new death row the answer?

On September 27, 2006 to great fanfare and international media attention, Governor Schwarzenegger signed AB 32, California’s landmark bill to drastically cut greenhouse gases in California.

As with all “landmark” bills the devil is in the details. Does anyone remember AB1890 California’s “landmark” Electricity Deregulation bill? As someone who was in the trenches at the California ISO during the Energy Crisis of 2000-01, I remember it vividly.

Whether you agree with the merits of AB 32 or not, it is the law and now we must implement it. The California Air Resources Board and a slew of other government officials and business groups are now in the process of setting the standards of how California is going to meet the aggressive goals set out by AB 32.

Setting standards is one thing, but what will be the means to get there?

Enter T. Boone Pickens.

The other day, Governor Schwarzenegger vetoed SB 1709 authored by State Senator Elaine Alquist. Had he signed it, school districts would have been allowed and in fact encouraged to give nonmonetary incentives to middle and high school students for getting good scores on the state’s standardized tests. Prizes might include coupons for movies and restaurants and tickets to concerts or sporting events. Sounds like a game show-- answer some questions and win prizes!

In his veto message, the Governor didn’t say he opposed the measure, instead saying it was unnecessary since there is nothing in current law prohibiting the practice. How about the laws of common sense?

Not only is it unnecessary, it is a symptom of a larger problem when it comes to education and preparing kids not just academically but also psychologically for life. The idea that we need to bribe children to excel should give us all pause. They can call it a reward or incentive but that’s just semantics. Let’s be honest, it’s a bribe.

Why are the grownups today constantly looking for ways to materially reward desired behavior? Why does almost everything nowadays with regard to children appear to be a negotiation over what the reward will be for doing what you are supposed to do?

When I was a boy, my folks owned a farm in Upper Lake in Lake County where we raised walnuts. It was managed by an aunt and uncle and I used to love going to visit. Every fall, we would go as a family to help with the harvest. The one thing I used to hate about it was drinking the water at my Aunt Betty’s house. It tasted horrible and there were always stains in the bathtub and the sink that looked like rust.

I remember asking my mother why the water tasted so bad and why there were those stains. It was the first time I ever heard the term hard water.

Hard water is water with a high mineral content. The United States Geological Survey states that 89.3% of homes in America of have some degree of hard water and some of the hardest water in the country is right here in California, including the counties of Los Angeles, Riverside, Ventura, and San Diego.

The ban on offshore drilling must be renewed by September 30th. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has categorically stated that she will not permit a straight up or down vote on whether or not to keep the ban in place. Instead, she has said that she will place the measure in an Omnibus Spending bill which will be needed to continue to fund the government.

For weeks, there have been no Appropriations hearings because that would allow Republicans to offer amendments on overturning the ban. Her partner, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, is also trying to stall any vote. So the Democratically controlled Congress ceases to do the people’s business on the orders of two people.

Why won’t they allow this vote? In a word—fear.

Fear that the ban might be lifted with full Republican support and the support of Blue Dog Democrats and many members from swing districts in the heartland that they recently wrested from the Republicans in 2006. Their constituents don’t own beachfront property in California or Florida. Heck, with gas prices being what they are, they can’t even afford to drive to the beach.

If State Senator Carol Migden has her way we could one day see a story like this one.

State Food and Product Police Smash Illegal Can and Plastic Bottle Smuggling Ring – Special Agents of the California Regulatory and Police Division (CRAP) of the Department of Consumer Affairs, arrested 100 suspects and seized 4 tons of illegal cans of vegetables and baby bottles when they busted a BPA smuggling ring outside of Barstow. “We will hunt down these criminals who are trying to poison our kids wherever they might hide”, said Consumer Affairs Director Jack “Nosy” Snoopington.

What is BPA you might ask? Bisphenol-A or BPA, is a common chemical used to make polycarbonate, a rigid clear plastic for everything from baby bottles to bicycle helmets. It is also an ingredient in resins that are used to coat the inside of food and drink cans. BPA has been used successfully since the early 1950s. Chances are that by the time you have read this article you will have come in contact with some product that contains BPA.

If you are a baby boomer you have probably ingested over your lifetime a lot of BPA. Anyone feel sick?

On June 18, 2008 Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois, Democratic Party Whip in the U.S. Senate, told Chicago Public Radio, “Our energy policy is not going to be solved by drilling”.

Upon returning from his Fourth of July holiday he told the media, "I'm open to drilling and responsible production," Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin told The Wall Street Journal, adding that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid could also support the move.

Freshman Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri must have fallen off her Democratic donkey and had a conversion as well on her way to the Drilling Damascus, when she said last week that she too could now support new drilling. Only weeks before she had denounced it.

Democrats in the U.S. Senate must have gotten an earful from their angry constituents over the holiday weekend regarding the price of gasoline. What else would cause Senators Dick Durbin of Illinois, Harry Reid of Nevada, and Claire McCaskill of Missouri to have the epiphany they seem to have had on supporting new oil and natural gas exploration here at home.

As I was driving to the Capitol in Sacramento from my home in Folsom the other morning, I heard yet another radio commercial from the Education Coalition. Now if you go their website you will see that it is a collection of unions and associations who have a vested interest in education funding and not necessarily for the benefit of the kids, although that is their stated goal.

For my money they are all looking for more funding from the Legislature to maintain their stranglehold on how and what California’s school kids are learning. And judging by the product they are pushing out into society we should all demand our money back.

In their radio ad they use the old arguments of classroom size and cuts to art and music programs. I’m all for arts and music and smaller classes, but what the hell else are they learning? Can they count and do arithmetic at grade level without a calculator? Can they write a cogent essay? Can they spell without Microsoft Spellcheck? And most importantly, have they learned the most basic thing that a well rounded education should provide—the ability to think for themselves.