Recall Jerry Brown!

Somehow, I just knew Moonbeam was going to give the majority of California voters the finger. What an ass!

CA Dems Vote for $11 Billion Tax Hike

According to my State Assemblyman, and 2010 Republican U.S. Senate candidate, Chuck DeVore. The Dems have passed this tax hike even though they didn't garner the constitutionally required 2/3 supermajority vote of the State Legislature (see Article 13A Section 3). How are the Dems, who are the majority party in the Legislature, trying to get away with this? Basically by disingenuously referring to the taxes as "regulatory fees." An example of such a fee would be the money you might have paid for your driver's license or library card.

This is just maddening. Hopefully, lawyers for the State Republican Party, or some tax watchdog group, are busily drawing up a lawsuit to stop this illegal tax hike from being imposed.

Update (12/19/08): Looks as though Ahnuld will veto the bill, but not necessarily because of the illegal tax hike. Whatever. As long the thing dies a deserved death. (via Chuck Devore)

Mug Shots of the Year

See if you can spot what they've all got in common.

It's Like Auburn's Hiring of Gene Chizik

The Good Old Boys' Network is alive and well in DC as Barry taps Chicago Schools Chief Arne Duncan to be Education Secretary, despite the fact that under Duncan's watch only 17 percent of 8th graders in Chicago can read at grade level. In sports terms, that's almost like being named the head coach of a traditional college football powerhouse, even though you've just compiled a 10 game losing streak at another school.

Time Magazine is No Different Than Mother Jones

Just a couple of weeks after Time magazine ran an article that mindlessly concluded Pope Benedict was a "Scrooge", there's news that the magazine's Washington bureau chief, Jay Carney, is going to be the communications director for Vice-President Elect Joe "I'm Not a Pope John Paul II Kind of Guy" Biden.

I don't know about you, but Carney's hiring by Biden raises all kinds of red flags for me on the supposed objectivity of Time magazine's past election coverage.