It's officially spring on March 20th, date of the vernal equinox, and people are eager to celebrate the season's rampant fertility. Thus, it's no surprise to see so many scheduled events devoted to the welfare of children, animals and the planet. Today's also St. Patrick Day so everyone's going [...]
The number of people incarcerated in state prisons dipped slightly for the first time in 40 years, according to a report released today , including a 2.5 percent drop in California.
The report...
[...] For Immediate Release: March 17, 2010
For More Information Contact: Carol Chamberlain – Office: (916) 319-2069, Cell: (916) 804-5355
Solorio Praises Decision to Reject Bids to Sell the OC Fairgrounds
SACRAMENTO, CA – In a letter to Governor Schwarzenegger dated today, Ronald Dietrich, acting director of the California’s Department of Public Services, stated [...]
In case you missed this story over the weekend, the Texas Legislature has approved sweeping new changes to the content of textbooks used by schoolchildren there. And since Texas [...]
We must be approaching the endgame in the healthcare reform debate. Consider the latest statement from Robert Zirkelbach, spokesman for America's Health Insurance Plans (the health insurers lobby), which works five (count 'em five) different and largely unrelated hot-button topics into a mere two sentences:
The current legislation is going to [...]
It’s possible that it wasn’t only Limbaugh — I got e-mails from several pro-”reform” groups urging members to call their congresscritters to support ObamaCare — but it’s likely he was the major factor. And when The Hill newspaper, which is more-or-less Capitol Hill’s hyper-local paper, puts in a story [...]

The Legislature really dropped the ball with its version of the gas-tax-swap deal, state Treasurer Bill Lockyer told Alameda County officials today, and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was right to promise a veto.
Lockyer addressed the county Board of Supervisors Budget [...]
Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, one of the few legislators besides Bernie Sanders who probably wouldn’t protest too much if you called him a socialist, has given President Obama one more vote on the health-care bill. Kucinich had voted against it in November because it didn’t include a “public [...]

I went to see Assembly Majority Leader Alberto Torrico, D-Newark, as he filed his candidacy papers for the Democratic primary for state Attorney General this morning at the Alameda County Registrar of Voters. Though the ink is barely dry, he’s been [...]

Alameda County Supervisor Scott Haggerty is among those scheduled to testify tomorrow before U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer’s Environment and Public Works Committee, in a hearing on “Mobility and Congestion in Urban and Rural America.”

I've often described online discussions and essays as "Brain Jazz." Like a lot of modern jazz one musician (writer) riffing off another can be irritating. But when it works, when it comes together, brain jazz can be transcendent. An example coming off my RSS stream this' [...]
And that includes the recent Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition. Obamacare tanking on Intrade. Let's just hope. (Hat tip: Glenn).
Update: Alas, like the Sports Illustrated models, no doubt, this reality does not look as good upon closer inspection. The numbers are now back up to the 60s. It appears [...]
Hitchens:The pope’s entire career has the stench of evil about it.
In 1979, an 11-year-old German boy identified as Wilfried F. was taken on a vacation trip to the mountains by a priest. After that, he was administered alcohol, locked in his bedroom, stripped naked, and forced to suck the [...]

Senators and congressperns found this slipped under their office doors this morning. Copies were mailed to their families.
[...]Here are a couple of polls that reveal just how important Al Gore’s scary stories about global warming are to most Americans.
First, according to the Gallup people, only 28 percent of Americans worry ‘a great deal’ about global warming. Water and air pollution, extinctions, deforestation, toxic waste, all [...]
This post originally appeared at Campaign for America's Future (CAF) at their Blog for OurFuture as part of the Making It In America project. I am a Fellow with CAF.
The Chinese currency manipulation issue continues to make news.
Economist Paul Krugman lays out the stakes,
China is [...]
Way back in October 2007, when the unseasoned Barack Obama was polling far behind New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination, I compiled a brief history of Times editorials on healthcare reform. At the time, the public conversation on expanding insurance was centered on [...]

"And the sign said the words of the prophets are written on the billboard walls... cannonballs."
The above from the always congenial The Blogmocracy where another member brings us this report from the mud below: [...]
Okay, I know that they are Republicans and they can’t really help themselves; but this takes the cake. I was reading the headlines this morning on Red County and did a double-take on this headline.
Holder Says He Will Mirandize [...]
Hard to say if House Speaker Nancy Pelosi blundered in suggesting the "deem to be passed" rule for health care. It fuels populist tea party distrust of government, and makes voters question why...
There is a new candidate in the race for Anaheim City Council this November. The following announcement came in to us last night.
John Leos
ANAHEIM, CA.- [...]
For all of you who are a little bit Irish today — and don’t most of us try to imagine we are? — a cheerful St. Patrick’s Day. I have my shamrock tie on today.
Faith and begorrah! is a post from: Orange Punch
[...]The latest Field Poll shows Californians overwhelmingly have come to the same conclusion this writer did after watching Meg Whitman debate Steve Poizner Monday night. She’s going to whup him decisively to get the Republican nomination for governor.
A new Field Research Corp. poll taken before the debate showed she [...]
Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor Janice Hahn, a Los Angeles City Councilwoman, filed a complaint today with California’s Fair Political Practices Commission claiming San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, who jumped into the lieutenant governor’s race last week, has violated the Political Reform Act:
Under the unique circumstances resulting from [...]
After two months of working at it, the state legislator with the governor cheering them on have closed about 1 percent of that $20 billion deficit in the state budget, which is supposed to be adopted in a balanced condition by June 30.
So naturally the governor and legislative leaders [...]
It features books that have been discussed here, gadgets, music, with lots more coming.
Click here (or “Amazon Store” in the top menu.)
[...]From The BreakThrough Institute, a progressive environmental think tank that thankfully does not walk the now-crumbling mainstream path of climate change politics.
One of the country’s most respected liberal foreign policy voices, Walter Russell Mead, blames Al Gore for the magical climate thinking that led to the contrivance and ultimate [...]
As Americans get set to toast their (real or perceived) Irish roots, here's one for the Emerald Isle. Faced with a difficult economic situation, Irish leaders aren't kicking the can down the road, but making tough economic choices. The Washington Post even labeled Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen "a' [...]
Hugh Nguyen
…unless he’s caught.
On February 2, Chris Prevatt and I attended a reception at Senator Lou Correa’s office. We spotted [...]

