An ode to our Golden Guardian

MAY 20, 2010 Not sure if you’ve noticed lately, but terrorism warnings are increasingly like car alarms. We all hear them, and know what they mean, but when they go off we just go about our business as though nothing

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Forget pension reform

MAY 17, 2010 “One cannot be both a progressive and be opposed to pension reform,” argued Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s top pension advisor, David Crane, during a hearing Monday. “The math is irrefutable that the losers from excessive and unfunded pensions

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Capitol denial

With Greece in total upheaval, it’s not difficult to imagine California in such a place. We are after all, not far behind in our policy and politics, and state legislators seem to be in a serious state of denial about

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Democrats dreaming

MAY 10, 2010 California’s Assembly Democrats want you to be part of the state’s budget solution, which is how they are touting a series of live budget forums across the state. One took place Saturday in San Diego and the

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Humble Abel

MAY 6, 2010 If you take just one fact, one conclusion from the following story, it should be this: that Abel Maldonado, the newly minted lieutenant governor for the state of California, is a humble man. I know this because

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SNL tweaks unions

MAY 3, 2010 As government employee unions were negotiating their lucrative retirement deals during the rising economic tide of the past decade, they promised cities and counties that the deals would pay for themselves, citing fanciful rates of return on

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High speed rail slows down

APRIL 30, 2010 Is it possible that the push for high speed rail in California could be slowing down? Recent economic troubles notwithstanding, it seemed that everyone, from the lowly citizen to the lowlier legislator, wanted a fleet of high-speed

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Irresponsible boycott bandwagon

APRIL 30, 2010 The recent spate of political leaders in California calling for financial sanctions and boycotts of Arizona businesses, is irresponsible and demonstrates that none of them truly care about the people hurt along the way. I am not

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Get in line, take a number

APRIL 26, 2010 I’ve experienced several months where, for one reason or another, I’ve been stuck wrestling with various bureaucracies, of the governmental and corporate variety. It’s a frustrating, time-consuming and, ultimately, dehumanizing process. You’re always a number. Most everyone

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Inhaling CARB's Hot Air

APRIL 22, 2010 On Thursday, it was hard to tell what was stranger: The man walking around the first floor of the Cal/EPA headquarters in Sacramento covered in about 500 plastic shopping bags or the California Air Resources Board (CARB)

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