Instapundit links to a NYT Magazine propaganda piece about governing California, and the part about taxation reads as if it were written by Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, right down to euphemistically renaming taxes “revenue”: In the view of many, the origins of the mud slog began with the passage of Proposition 13 in 1978, the [...]

Politicians are usually most revealing when speaking off-the-cuff, and so it was with Karen Bass: Q: How do you think conservative talk radio has affected the Legislature’s work? A: The Republicans were essentially threatened and terrorized against voting for revenue. Now [some] are facing recalls. They operate under a terrorist threat: “You vote for revenue [...]

It’s time to impeach Obama; indict him, and his entire administration, for fraud, coercion, extortion, influence peddling, and grand theft under the color of law, amongst hundreds of other charges. It is not simply the auto issue; but that is currently the most visible. This is no hyperbole. I am not simply spouting off. I [...]

The California Department Of Real Estate oversees and administers the state’s real estate agent and broker licensing program. During the big housing boom, the fees generated by the high level of real estate activity (and the agents/brokers who were licensed to enable that activity) has caused them to build up some a nice Trust Fund. [...]

Interesting notes that Judicial Watch has gotten hold of from Paulson/Bernanke’s offer they can’t refuse back in October. It’s the talking points from the meeting… “Strongarm” would be an understatement: We plan to announce the program tomorrow–and–that your nine firms will be the initial participants…. This is a combined program (bank liability guarantee and capital [...]

Just a little Friday afternoon food for thought, c/o the Mises Institute. One would initially think that FAA rules mandating the retirement of pilots at age 65 (age 60 as recently as 2007) would be based upon the safety of passengers — but one would be wrong: Flashback to 1959. The airline industry is on [...]

Back in October, the banks appeared to be in very deep trouble. Such deep trouble that they were forced to enter a deal with the Devil decided to run to the government for assistance. But they were shocked — SHOCKED! — when the government starting attaching a whole bunch of regulations and conditions to the [...]

Yeah I know, the “First 100 Days” of President Barack Obama is somewhat arbitrary. Still, a great deal has happened in these first 100 days so why not take another look at the Obameter shall we? So far, President Obama has kept 27 campaign promises, compromised on 7, broken 6, stalled on 3, has 63 [...]

“The Government should not keep information confidential merely because public officials might be embarrassed by disclosure, because errors and failures might be revealed, or because of speculative or abstract fears.” — President Barack Obama Along with other plaintiffs, talk radio host Michael Savage has sued Homeland Security Secretary Janet Reno and Attorney General Eric Holder [...]

Despite the objections of the National Tactical Officers Association, the bill championed by Berwyn Heights Mayor Cheye Calvo passed the Maryland House by a wide margin: Delegates adopted a bill, on a 126 to 9 vote, that would require law enforcement agencies to report every six months on their use of SWAT teams, including what [...]

The following government conference on openness and transparency is CLOSED to members of the public and the press.  The information below comes from this URL:  http://www.usdoj.gov/oip/foiapost/2009foiapost6.htm. Upcoming Conference Providing Guidance on President Obama’s and Attorney General Holder’s Memoranda on the Freedom of Information Act On March 26, 2009, the Office of Information Policy (OIP), Department [...]

The Club for Growth calls his thinking backwards and alleges that he’s enabling more and more spending, Don Surber just calls him daft, but Ron Paul has an argument in favor of earmarks that does make sense: NEIL CAVUTO, HOST: Speaking of a lot of money, the battle about the money they’re spending on Capitol [...]

From a NYT story about new banking regulations attached to the bailout funds (and the desire for some of these banks to now return the money): The list of demands keeps getting longer. Financial institutions that are getting government bailout funds have been told to put off evictions and modify mortgages for distressed homeowners. They [...]

Today, a news story came out where a company planned on purchasing chicken processing plants and the government was going to match the private company’s bid dollar for dollar. This plan is proposed under the guise of saving jobs. Now let me give you a hint who this socialist leader is; he’s a national leader. [...]

In my report following the live chat @ The Agitator with Berwyn Heights Mayor Cheye Calvo last week, I made mention of some very modest reforms he was pushing in Maryland. The bill would require all police departments with SWAT teams to provide monthly reports to the state’s Attorney General, local officials and the general [...]

The desire of the NEA to kill the DC Voucher program is well-covered, including by my co-contributor Doug here. Now it seems that Congress has snuck in a provision for the Teamsters, to restrict Mexican truckers: Buried in the $410 billion catch-all appropriations bill now before the U.S. Senate is a provision that would end [...]

A couple of weeks ago, Indianapolis City-County Councilman Ed Coleman jumped from the Republican Party to the Libertarian Party.  From the Chicago Tribune: Councilman Ed Coleman says he has become disillusioned by what he called the abuse of power by GOP leaders. Coleman was elected in 2007 to his first term as an at-large council member. He’ll be [...]

When leftists start arguing about how much laissez-faire capitalism we experienced under the Bush adminstration, I often point out that he was the first President to preside over a $2T budget, and he was also the first to propose a $3T budget (for FY’09). I expected Obama to spend more than Bush — but I [...]

Check in this Thursday night at 8pm ET with your questions for Cheye Calvo, the Berwyn Heights, Maryland mayor who was subject to a violent, botched drug raid last year. Calvo’s pushing legislation that would bring transparency to how Maryland’s police departments use their SWAT teams. I’m hoping to be home in time to participate [...]

Kevin Drum tells us “the reality is, this is how things get done”. In the below exchange, Kevin is MJ (Mother Jones), and Michael Pollan (Berkeley journalism prof & food author) is MP: MJ: Does WIC [the Women, Infants, and Children program] still specify that you buy dairy? MP: Yes. We had a huge fight [...]