School Budget Changes: 3 Reasons to Hold the Champagne
The news that Gov. Jerry Brown appears to have mostly gotten his way on school funding changes is likely to be presented as a dramatic victory for the people who believe helping struggling English learners is the key challenge facing California education. But it’s one thing to believe that this is the key challenge, as […]
Bullet Train CEO on War Path
Last month’s Los Angeles Times’ bombshell about the state bullet-train project could scarcely have made those in charge of the California High-Speed Rail Authority look worse. The Times reported that in determining who would be chosen to build the first segment of the project from Madera to Fresno, a rail authority committee — after a […]
Boston Bombing: Why to Expect Bad Fallout on Two Fronts
The fallout from the April 15 terrorist attack at the Boston Marathon continues. Initially, the primary reaction was tired partisan attempts to imply the fault was either somehow a) the president’s fault because of his foreign policy or b) the Republicans’ fault because of the sequester. Then the focus was on the mainstream media’s series […]
Pensions: Why CA is So Screwed Up, in a Nutshell
So CalPERS’ actuary, in a fit of unusual honesty, says the pension giant’s finances are in bad shape in the long run and need to be firmed up. But Alan Milligan realizes that asking his labor-dominated board of directors to have public employees pay more toward pension costs is a nonstarter. So what does he […]
Obamacare & California: State Media Ignore Coming Headaches
Gov. Jerry Brown’s eagerness for California to be the first state to implement the federal Affordable Care Act is being reported matter-of-factly by state newspapers. Completely absent is any big-picture explanation of what this will mean for health providers, companies and individuals in the Golden State. We’re less than a year away from the state […]
Filner Signals he’ll Block Further Reform in San Diego
As I wrote for CalWatchdog just after last month’s election, there was a strong chance that successful reforms with a heavy libertarian flavor were going to be blocked going forward here in California’s second-largest city with the election of paleoliberal Bob Filner. This weekend, Filner made it all but official, expressing skepticism about continuing with managed […]
Romney coattails? In California? Maybe
Crossposted CalWatchDog After Barack Obama’s 61% to 37% wipeout of John McCain in California in 2008, we were spared the quadrennial tradition of some senior Republican peddling the idea that the GOP had a chance at the Golden State’s 50-plus electoral votes this campaign. The last time a Republican actually won California was George H.W. […]
Educrats: Collective bargaining rights trump existing state law
Crossposted on CalWatchDog The key to understanding Golden State politics is knowing that the most powerful forces in Sacramento by a wide margin are the California Teachers Association and the California Federation of Teachers. Using union dues and benefitting from the bizarrely enduring notion that what is good for teachers is good for students, the […]
‘Terrorists’ Who Oppose Tax Hikes: Prepare for the Onslaught
Crossposted in CalWhine Here we go again. As frenzied as the tax-hike obsessives have been in recent months and years, Jerry Brown’s weekend warning that the 2012-13 budget is $16 billion short is sure to ramp up their intensity. So get ready for the media/Dem onslaught, folks, and prepare to be reviled. Will Jerry Brown […]
Occupy Oakland: If This is Social Justice, Social Justice is Garbage
Crossposted at CalWhine In 1968, legendary AP war correspondent Peter Arnett quoted a U.S. military officer as saying this of Ban Tre, Vietnam: “It became necessary to destroy the town to save it.” Over the years, the phrase, when recalled, has morphed into “we had to destroy the village in order to save it,” but […]