Waste, Fraud, and Abuse

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Ruling on Chuck Reed’s pension initiative not end of the world

Editor’s update, 2 p.m.: San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed is reportedly suspending the initiative push until 2016 because the court delays related to the ballot language challenge will make it difficult for signature gatherers to meet deadlines — not because

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CA mayor’s car vandalized; all assume it was a cop or firefighter

On its surface a Tuesday story in the San Luis Obispo Tribune is a funny, mordant comment on small-town politics in California. But if you dig a little, it turns out to be related to yet another pathetic, union-favoring power

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Buzz builds in TX, FL over privately funded bullet-train projects

Back in 2008, perhaps the single biggest thing that supporters of Proposition 1A had going for them was that a California bullet-train network just sounded cool and futuristic. Critics, however, pointed out correctly that the $9.95 billion bond that went

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Fracking showdown: Will CA media STILL ignore Obama view?

The prospect of rich Dem dilettante Tom Steyer targeting Jerry Brown over fracking is scary in some ways. It could well lead to fracking never coming to California and bringing the jobs and wealth it has to North Dakota, Texas,

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Another reminder of Jerry Brown’s, Mac Taylor’s irresponsibility

This Los Angeles Times story should infuriate anyone familiar with Gov. Jerry Brown’s claims that the state is on firm ground financially — and absolutely appall anyone who knows that alleged watchdog Mac Taylor of the Legislative Anayst’s Office gave

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Revolt against ‘dog food’ school lunches went far beyond LAUSD

As I have pointed out repeatedly as a blogger and journo, Nanny Staters are bafflingly confident that people like being bullied into living their lives in a way that Nanny Staters approve. That’s why one of my favorite stories in

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Dan Walters figures out Gov. Brown wants bullet train dead

For a few months, Cal Watchdog has been the only outlet in the media underlining how fundamentally strange and self-defeating the actions of the state government have been in defending the bullet train. After an August court ruling from Sacramento

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Cracked dam shows vulnerability of CA green power grid

California power grid operators learned Friday that Grant County in the state of Washington had implemented an emergency response plan due to a crack in the Wanapum Dam along the Columbia River. Divers detected a 65-foot long crack at the base of one of

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Incoming Assembly speaker seeks vast new power for Coastal Commission

If you had to come up with one state agency that has done the most damage to California’s economy with its regulatory sweep and overreach, you’ll never come close to topping the state Air Resources Board. But it you wanted

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Attorney for plaintiffs in bullet-train lawsuit suggests way out

Michael J. Brady, the Redwood City attorney for Kings County and other parties suing the California High-Speed Rail Authority, offers his theory on the easiest, cleanest way for Gov. Jerry Brown to abandon the bullet-train fiasco. This is from an

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