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Budget Solutions-The Next Step
by Ray Haynes Temecula
If there is any problem with government budgeting, it is how the government budgeting analysts approach their job. They always (not sometimes, not once in a while, not even frequently, but always) start the budget discussions with what they spent last year on a program by program basis. Take a look at the Governor’s Budget Summary I referenced in my last post on this item. Go to the Table of Contents. The first substantive item? 38 pages of “Summary of Major Changes by Major Program Area,” summarizing how much the change is spending on each program area is. There are then 8 pages of “Economic Outlook,” recognizing that government revenue is based on growth and activity in the private sector. Finally, on page 63 of an 85 page document, the analysts discuss revenue. Finally.
In Memory of Jeremiah P. McCleery
by Tom McClintock Sacramento | D.C.
Rep. McClintock gave the following speech in the memory of Army Spc. Jeremiah P. McCleery of Portola, CA, who as killed in action in Iraq. A version of this speech was delivered at a memorial for Spc. McCleery in Quincy on Memorial Day.
I rise today with the sad duty of recognizing the death in combat of Army Specialist Jeremiah P. McCleery, age 24, of Portola, California.
Mr. Speaker, if you read the observations of his friends you very quickly realize that this was not only an irreplaceable loss to his family and a monumental loss to his community – but also a terrible loss to our country.
Responding to Ms. Bonner and Mr. Powell
by Burt Prelutsky Los Angeles
In recent days, my attention was grabbed by former Secretary of State Colin Powell and Yelena Bonner, the widow of Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov.
The one I applaud is the former Mrs. Sakharov. In a speech delivered in Norway, she pointed out that the Palestinians are still being referred to as refugees even though only a tiny percentage of them have ever even set foot in Israel. According to my dictionary, and I assume Ms. Bonner’s, a refugee is someone who has fled from violence and wars. How on earth can the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of those who left Israel in order to avoid being killed or injured by the invading Arab forces in 1948, 61 long years ago, be regarded as refugees?
Budget Solutions-Starting with the Numbers
by Ray Haynes Temecula
Everyone talks about solutions to the budget. I want to put a few out there based on real numbers. The first thing to do is to look at real numbers, from an historical perspective, to determine what to do. Our left wing friends don’t want to look at real numbers, and the moment anyone starts talking about those numbers, people everywhere start falling asleep, so I am going to try to make this short, and deal with the budget in light of those numbers. This analysis will be in several short blog posts, but it is a good place for any one to start.
The first thing to do in any budget analysis is to go to Schedule 6 of the Full Budget Summary available on the Department of Finance’s website here. Go to that page, and download the .pdf file. Go to appendix 13, to which is attached Schedule 6). It is titled Summary of State Population, Employees and Expenditures. It shows a detail of the growth of state government since the 1950-51 budget year.
No Time for Gloating
by Ray Haynes Temecula
What happened yesterday was a good thing. For too long, Sacramento has acted with contempt for the will of the voters, forgetting that the one-fortieth or one-eightieth of the state the Democrat legislator represents, after having been elected by less that 30% of the voters in that district (usually in the party primary) is not a mandate to expand government. Voters hit the limit, and said so in resounding tones.
But this is no time for those of us who believe in small government to gloat. We have not yet made our case that more government spending does not make for better government. We do not have the money that the government unions have. They are going to spend that money over the next six weeks to beat back any proposed cuts that are sure to come, and we dont have the resources to counter their propaganda. The war is not over for them. It never is. We have won nothing yet.
What Now Governor?
by Ray Haynes Temecula
I remember a meeting the Governor had with Assembly Republicans right after the 2005 special election debacle. Remember that one? The Governor raised millions of dollars for some mediocre initiatives (and one good one, elimination of agency fee), spent that money on mediocre ads prepared by mediocre consultants, who gave him bad advice (specifically they told him not to put anything on illegal immigration on the ballot because it would be too controversial, even though illegal immigration was the one issue that would draw out the voters the Governor wanted to the polls), and he lost, everything.
After that election, he said he had learned his lesson, and he completely capitulated to the Democrats. He hired Susan Kennedy, one of the chief aides to the failed Governor Gray Davis (and one of the chief architects of his failures), began rolling over for Democrats, and began capitulating to the Democrats on every major issue. He was no longer the terminator, he wasn’t even a Compromisinator,