This may be an unpopular opinion in California, but I’ll say it anyway: I like shopping at Wal-Mart.

Wal-Marts are clean, bright, safe places that stay open late. Their shelves are bountiful and stocked with good-quality merchandise with low prices. For everyday stuff – socks, toothpaste, tires – you can’t top Wal-Mart.

Now that I’ve confessed that, let me say something that may be heresy in California: I don’t feel guilty about shopping there. Not one bit.

Wal-Mart and similar superstores are blamed for destroying Main Street shops, but that’s a silly argument. The superstores have done exactly what businesses are supposed to do: They’ve brought efficiencies to their industry, resulting in lower costs and longer hours for their customers.

Despite radio commercials that try to scare voters not to
sign ballot petitions, signatures calling for a referendum on the so-called
Amazon tax law requiring out-of-state Internet companies to collect sales taxes
from California buyers are piling up. The necessary signatures to put the
referendum on the ballot will likely be in hand well before the 90-day
deadline.

The eager response on an opportunity to stop a tax comes at
a time when tax talk may come back to the state capitol. Hoping for new
revenue, the state budget included a failsafe — a trigger to be pulled
mandating further cuts if billions in expected revenue does not show up.

Given the condition of the economy and the recent gyrations
of the stock market concern is that the hoped-for money will not materialize. A
rumor circulated around the Capitol yesterday that to avoid the "trigger" cuts,
the governor might call a special legislative session focused on taxation.

Lawmakers returned
to the State Capitol for the final month of this year’s Legislative session.
Having pushed aside state budget woes for a leisurely six months, legislators
have no excuse but to focus on economic recovery.

They can look no
further than a useful document released today by the California Chamber of
Commerce (my employer) enumerating an agenda of policies and activities that
can help the Golden State regain its economic competitiveness.

Finally, pressure is mounting on California state
legislators to release their calendars and other office records, striking a
blow for public accountability and ushering in a new era of transpare…. Uh…. Uh…..
Zzzz … zzzz

Oops. I fell asleep.

Where was I? Oh, that’s right. Yes,
state legislators should release their calendars. And their office budgets. And
any other records that they produce on the job as public officials. The fact
that they don’t – and that Assembly Anthony Portantino is considered some sort
of rebel for releasing his own calendars – speaks volumes about the
legislature’s appalling lack of open… zzz… Sorry, did it again.

Burning buildings. Overturned cars. Looting.

It’s not South Central L.A.  It’s jolly old London town.

After years of handouts left the government unable to balance their budget, leaders in the United Kingdom made the tough decision to trim entitlement programs. The reaction? Violence in the street for days on end. Mob rule.

As I look at what’s happening across the pond with the riots in London, I wonder if that could ever happen here.

Then I realize, it already has.

In California, we live under Mob Rule every day.

Just this past weekend in Maine – yes, I said Maine – the Redneck Olympics took place. A chance to have some fun and hopefully get a little exercise, some of the events included the greased watermelon haul, a wife carrying race, toilet seat horseshoes,
and bobbing for pig’s feet.

Hey, any time 2600 “rednecks” can gather and have some fun, more power to them. A seemingly innocent weekend of fun. There were no arrests and the only injury was a bee sting… not bad for a sun filled fun weekend with likeminded, spirited people.

Well, not so fast. Apparently, the legal division of the U.S. Olympic Committee has some other thoughts on the matter. They called the event organizer and said to change the name or a lawsuit was coming. The organizer was told that “Olympics” is the property of the ISOC and the USOC. Without getting
into the back and forth, it looks like everyone is holding their ground.

Last week, I made my early picks a to where the action may
be for Congress and the state Assembly in November 2012. Now, lets look at the
state Senate.

First, only the 20 odd-numbered districts are up for
election in 2012, and, barring a successful court challenge or referendum, the
candidates will run in one of the newly drawn districts that the Citizens
Redistricting Commission, in their final vote, are expected to approve today, August
15.

Senators elected in 2010 in one of the 20 even-numbered
districts were elected to a four-year term and will represent those districts
as drawn until the end of their current term in 2014. Should any of these
senators resign his/her seat, a special election would be held to fill the
unexpired term, but the election would be held under the old lines. The newly
drawn even-numbered districts do not become legal until the 2014 election
cycle.

Here are the odd-numbered senate districts that I pick as
possibly being competitive, with the more likely targets being listed first.

(F&H “California Employment” poster Michael Bernick, former state EDD director, was a member of BART Board of
Directors 1988-1996, and today is a regular BART rider).

Hooray for BART! For BART Board President Bob Franklin, Vice
President John McPartland and the Board of Directors; for acting General
Manager Sherwood Wakeman; for BART spokesperson Linton Johnson (shown below);
and for the new BART police chief Kenton Rainey.

Last Thursday, August 11, BART officials learned via
Facebook that a group, No Justice No BART, was threatening to shut down the San
Francisco Civic Center station, and disrupt the evening commute. The group
previously had shut down the Civic Center station at the evening commute on
July 11, in protest of the shooting by BART police of Mr. Charles Hill.

Public
employee unions portray themselves as representatives of public servants, whose
only goal is to insure their members are treated like all other Americans.  Teachers’ unions especially portray
themselves as having the best interests of students and parents at heart. 

The mask is starting to slip.

Last
week a 19 page power point presentation prepared by the American Federation of
Teachers showed how the AFT derailed a Connecticut grass roots movement of mostly
working class moms fighting for a better education future for their
children.  As the Wall Street Journal reported, the goal was to insure
parents thought the union was on their side while all the while:

• Making
  sure the parents were shut out of any and all negotiations 
• Trick
  parents into signing onto proposals that pretended to give parents power
  but in reality did not