America's Finest Blog

• Please go here from now on ...

  http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/blogs/americas-finest-blog/ Thanks, sorry for the hassles, please keep visiting me at the new URL. Chris... [...]
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  Posted: November 14, 2009, 5:48pm EST
  by chris reed

• Opposition to charters hits a pathetic new low, even for California

  Community groups and Los Angeles Unified officials on Tuesday condemned an anonymous flyer handed to Latino parents that threatened them with deportation if they supported plans to convert their neighborhood school to a charter. United Teachers Los Angeles denies responsibility,... [...]
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  Posted: November 11, 2009, 3:54pm EST
  by chris reed

• Forensic journalism 101: Last quote shows what reporter wants you to believe

  I'm back for now blogging with the old software. For years, I have believed that a reporter's last paragraph shows his real feelings. That's why when I was a reporter, I tried to end my stories with benign stuff like...' [...]
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  Posted: November 10, 2009, 4:52pm EST
  by chris reed

• Once again, sorry about the technical woes ...

  ... this is the first time I've been able to log in since Monday night. But soon this will be fixed and I'll be back to the usual whining. Joel Anderson, I haven't forgotten that you're in your second month... [...]
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  Posted: November 05, 2009, 9:12pm EST
  by chris reed

• Sorry about technical woes keeping site down -- regular blogging resumes tomorrow

  Thanks for the e-mails of concern. My blog lives on. Though pretty soon after a format change it's gonna be known as America's Finest blog, not America's Finest Blog. Nice conflict of interest, Al Gore. Maybe this explains why you... [...]
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  Posted: November 03, 2009, 9:01pm EST
  by chris reed

• What drove Gavin out? Let speculation begin

  Sac Bee: San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom made a surprise announcement Friday afternoon that he was dropping out of the gubernatorial race, leaving the Democrats with no declared candidate for the top statewide office. There's got to be a 50-50... [...]
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  Posted: October 30, 2009, 4:33pm EDT
  by chris reed

• The most idiotic jury verdict of all time

  http://www.helenair.com/news/article_17304d04-c44f-11de-b8fa-001cc4c03286.html Brandon Patch would be embarrassed by what his parents have done. Montana's state motto is "Oro y plata" -- "Gold and silver." It should be "estúpido y estúpido." More here....' [...]
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  Posted: October 30, 2009, 2:18pm EDT
  by chris reed

• AG's spokesman told me surreptitious taping was illegal. Was he taping me when he told me that?

  The last time I spoke with Scott Gerber, spokesman for AG Jerry Brown, was about a month ago. I asked him why the AG's office was investigating not just ACORN but the fake pimp and fake prostitute who went to... [...]
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  Posted: October 30, 2009, 10:59am EDT
  by chris reed

• Prediction: Conventional wisdom on proposed state constitutional convention will be that delegate selection process is insane

  I laughed several times just reading Joe Mathews' explanation at Fox & Hounds of how the delegates will be chosen: Hold onto your hats. And take a deep breath. This is going to make your head hurt. There isn't one... [...]
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  Posted: October 29, 2009, 3:02pm EDT
  by chris reed

• 'School quality is a function of school spending': Graphic proof this is a myth

  To those who say, well, this is misleading, federal spending may be going up, but local and state spending isn't: Wrong. Total inflation-adjusted per-pupil spending in the U.S. is up at least 60 percent since the 1983 release of...' [...]
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  Posted: October 29, 2009, 12:59pm EDT
  by chris reed

• Gov race: Will Jerry Brown 'peak' the day he becomes a formal candidate?

  I had an interesting interview on KOGO 600 AM with Dan Weintraub the other day about the 2010 governor's race. (I'm now a multimedia blowhard, FYI.) He pushed back in his low-key way at my presumption that Jerry Brown was...' [...]
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  Posted: October 29, 2009, 11:57am EDT
  by chris reed

• Mortgage insanity continues -- one-third of homes bought with no money down

  So the single biggest factor behind the U.S. economic meltdown, it is generally agreed, was the housing bubble and the financial industry's insane rush to lend hundreds of thousands of dollars to people who were poor credit risks. Incredibly enough,... [...]
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  Posted: October 28, 2009, 12:47pm EDT
  by chris reed

• Orange County vote dredges up past that one RINO assemblyman would rather ignore

  The Orange County Board of Supervisors voted yesterday to ban the use of union-only project labor agreements. Before the vote, the Coalition for Fair Employment in Construction noted the significance of this: Orange County, in January of 2000, by a... [...]
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  Posted: October 28, 2009, 12:28pm EDT
  by chris reed

• Health care 'reform' and the vast unintended consequences: Even Arnold is worried

  The great majority of health "reform" supporters appear to reflexively reject criticisms of the proposals now working their way through Congress, depicting them as driven by partisanship, greed or stupidity. This Olbermann-Maddow approach is grossly dishonest and is likely to... [...]
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  Posted: October 27, 2009, 1:03pm EDT
  by chris reed

• Lockyer responds to critical post, calls it 'junk journalism'

  This is from the treasurer's spokesman, Tom Dresslar, in response to this post: Re "Lockyer's honesty on unaffordable pensions is welcome. But in 2005, he single-handedly sandbagged reform he now seeks." Since we're talking about honesty and truth and all...' [...]
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  Posted: October 27, 2009, 12:06pm EDT
  by chris reed

• Foes of furloughs make case for furloughs

  I finally got around to checking to see if other commenters were right in their suspicion that people who posted comments strongly defending public employees often were in fact public employees -- commenting while on government time. Sure enough, on... [...]
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  Posted: October 26, 2009, 5:23pm EDT
  by chris reed

• Obama's energy secretary vs. clueless Calbuzzers who shill for green fantasy of pain-free AB 32

  The entertaining, must-read Calbuzz blog is ripping Meg Whitman for saying AB 32 should be suspended to help the state's economy rebound: It's a classic false choice - that we have to choose between a strong economy and environmental protections... [...]
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  Posted: October 26, 2009, 11:21am EDT
  by chris reed

• 10 years ago this month, TIME regurgitated Gray Davis' spin. Now TIME regurgitates Arnold's spin. Groan.

  Ten years ago last week, TIME magazine drew instant ridicule in California when it published a preposterous article -- by Steve Lopez, of all people -- that painted a picture of a Gray Davis that no one here recognized: Gray... [...]
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  Posted: October 23, 2009, 5:27pm EDT
  by chris reed

• This is how preposterous California pensions are: They're featured on "News of the Weird"

  This is from the current edition of the wonderful nationally syndicated weekly column by Chuck Shepherd: Inexplicable While state and local governments furiously pare budgets by laying off and furloughing workers, retired bureaucrats who receive defined-benefit pensions (rather than flexible... [...]
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  Posted: October 23, 2009, 12:59pm EDT
  by chris reed

• Lockyer's honesty on unaffordable pensions is welcome. But in 2005, he singlehandedly sandbagged reform he now seeks.

  State Treasurer Bill Lockyer is back in his Mr. Blunt mode, speaking harsh truths without worrying about the fallout in a manner reminiscent of the 2003 Sac Bee interview in which he ripped the slimy, hardball, "puke politics" of then-Gov.... [...]
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  Posted: October 23, 2009, 11:11am EDT
  by chris reed

• Lockyer's honesty on unaffordable pensions is welcome. But in 2005, he single-handedly sandbagged reform he now seeks.

  State Treasurer Bill Lockyer is back in his Mr. Blunt mode, speaking harsh truths without worrying about the fallout in a manner reminiscent of the 2003 Sac Bee interview in which he ripped the slimy, hardball, "puke politics" of then-Gov.... [...]
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  Posted: October 23, 2009, 11:11am EDT
  by chris reed

• At last, someone at air board has proper reaction to fake Ph.D. of lead author of job-killing diesel regs

  Last December, the California Air Resources Board adopted sweeping new diesel emission rules. At the meeting where the rules were adopted, to her everlasting shame, CARB boss Mary Nichols did not reveal what top air board officials knew: that... [...]
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  Posted: October 22, 2009, 5:24pm EDT
  by chris reed

• Assembly GOP leader guilty of same betrayal he rips Arnold for -- Blakeslee voted for $11.2 billion bribe to CTA

  Assembly GOP leader Sam Blakeslee has been in the news over the leak of an internal memo in which he denounced the governor's decision to sign many bills the GOP opposed: Most of us have read in today's papers accounts... [...]
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  Posted: October 22, 2009, 1:04pm EDT
  by chris reed

• California is not alone: Union horror stories from Washington state and New York

  Familiar-sounding stories from other states, starting with Washington: After helping Democrats win full control of the legislature in 2002, the state affiliate of the Association of Federal, State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) and other unions persuaded lawmakers to lift... [...]
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  Posted: October 21, 2009, 12:42pm EDT
  by chris reed

• If there are 12 stops from S.F. to Anaheim, it's not "high-speed" rail. It's .... rail.

  I was happy to see Dan Walters go after the utter farce that is the California high-speed rail project: ... skepticism is especially warranted now that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and other promoters, having persuaded voters to pass a $9.95 billion... [...]
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  Posted: October 21, 2009, 11:37am EDT
  by chris reed

• Sheila Jackson, is this social justice? Really? Really? Really?

  When running for re-election last year -- really, any time she makes a public appearance and talks about why she chose to enter politics -- the president of the San Diego Unifed school board makes a big deal about her... [...]
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  Posted: October 20, 2009, 5:03pm EDT
  by chris reed

• Shelia Jackson, is this social justice? Really? Really? Really?

  When running for re-election last year -- really, any time she makes a public appearance and talks about why she chose to enter politics -- the president of the San Diego Unifed school board makes a big deal about her... [...]
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  Posted: October 20, 2009, 5:03pm EDT
  by chris reed

• MWD hired political consultant to help ram through pension spike

  The recent six-week-long controversy over the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California's insane push to give all its employees a retroactive 25 percent pension spike while it is raising water rates for 19 million SoCal residents is fading. But I... [...]
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  Posted: October 19, 2009, 5:34pm EDT
  by chris reed

• Finally, Sac Bee takes AB 32 skeptics seriously -- but still won't acknowledge taint on AB 32-promoting economist

  Fiscal impact of state climate law disputed By Jim Downing jdowning@sacbee.com A local academic has emerged as the leading source of dark forecasts in a recession-fueled debate over whether California's war on global warming will hurt or help its economy.... [...]
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  Posted: October 19, 2009, 1:14pm EDT
  by chris reed

• Study downplaying savings of furloughs: Quick check shows its shoddiness

  The new study from the UC Berkeley labor "think tank" that's being used to assert that furloughing state workers just one day a month would save the state nearly as much money as furloughing them three days a month is... [...]
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  Posted: October 16, 2009, 2:49pm EDT
  by chris reed

• Arnold to Chargers fans: Drop dead

  The San Gabriel Valley Tribune reports the gov is going to sign the bill giving bizarre, unique, unprecedented environmental exemptions clearing the way for a massive stadium in the middle of a crowded area in the nation's most populous county,... [...]
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  Posted: October 16, 2009, 11:09am EDT
  by chris reed

• Study downplaying savings of furloughs: Quick check shows its shoddiness

  The new study from the UC Berkeley labor "think tank" that's being used to assert that furloughing state workers just one day a month would save the state nearly as much money as furloughing them three days a month is... [...]
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  Posted: October 16, 2009, 2:49am EDT
  by chris reed

• Dept. of Adult Tantrums: MWD bosses threaten to sue because they were denied 25% pension spike

  You can't make this stuff up. The day before the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California pulled contentious union contracts off the table, the union representing its managers and professionals threatened to sue if, indeed, it did so. We're LEGALLY... [...]
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  Posted: October 15, 2009, 4:11pm EDT
  by chris reed

• More evidence for theory single-payer will be huge issue in 2010 governor's race

  I'm the only one who says so, but the evidence that I'm right is growing. Look at this passage from a column by Consumer Watchdog (a.k.a., Trial Lawyer Front Group) boss Jamie Court in today's Huffington Post. This, he says,... [...]
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  Posted: October 15, 2009, 12:29pm EDT
  by chris reed

• Now spreading the usual establishment disinformation: Chief Justice Ron George

  The L.A. Times' George Skelton comments favorably on George's weekend speech and endorses one of the chief justice's key points: George lamented that lawmakers and California itself "have been placed in a fiscal straitjacket" by the two-thirds majority vote requirement...' [...]
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  Posted: October 15, 2009, 11:18am EDT
  by chris reed

• Anonymous CalPERS commenter says state's leading advocate of pension reform 'lies'

  Recently, I came upon this troubling fact: The Internet Protocol (IP) address of the computer server system of the computer used by CalPERS spokesman Brad Pacheco to make a post in response to this Sept. 3 blog item ... If... [...]
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  Posted: October 14, 2009, 3:52pm EDT
  by chris reed

• Bizarre cross-governmental loan (Orange County to Oceanside hospital) idea is dead

  This is from the O.C. Register's Ron Campbell: Orange County Treasurer-Tax Collector Chriss Street pulled the plug today on a proposed $80 million loan to Tri-City Medical Center in Oceanside. The publicly owned hospital had hired Street's personal attorney, Phil... [...]
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  Posted: October 13, 2009, 3:59pm EDT
  by chris reed

• Bad news for Wal-Mart haters: Economist who touts chain is key White House policy-maker

  I haven't written about Wal-Mart in a while, but it still drives me nuts that a retail chain that has done more to help the quality of life for low-income Americans than any other single U.S. business is depicted as...' [...]
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  Posted: October 13, 2009, 11:44am EDT
  by chris reed

• MWD pulls controversial contract with pension spike off tomorrow's agenda!!!

  The good guys win! For now! Details here.... [...]
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  Posted: October 12, 2009, 5:22pm EDT
  by chris reed

• Poizner neutral on Adams recall, hints at juicy, as-yet-unrevealed oppo research on rivals

  Steve Poizner came by the U-T earlier this afternoon to talk about his gubernatorial campaign. I thought Steve did a good job of making the case that he has a much longer and more impressive history of public service than... [...]
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  Posted: October 12, 2009, 3:29pm EDT
  by chris reed

• Close board vote expected tomorrow on MWD pension ripoff -- will one local voter be absent?

  How will San Diego area representatives vote tomorrow on the insane proposal to give a retroactive 25 percent pension spike to all 2,000 employees of the giant Metropolitan Water District, main supplier to 19 million residents of Socal? The O.C.... [...]
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  Posted: October 12, 2009, 1:14pm EDT
  by chris reed

• Close board vote expected tomorrow on MWD pension ripoff

  UPDATED, 4:15 P.M.: Jason Foster of the S.D. County Water Authority clarifies this item and makes it moot: Here's how it works: An MWD member agency's vote at MWD is not one-person, one-vote. Instead, it is a weighted vote based... [...]
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  Posted: October 12, 2009, 1:14pm EDT
  by chris reed

• Wash. Post notices one of the dozens of reasons to worry about CalPERS

  The Washington Post joins the long list of responsible independent observers wondering if CalPERS knows what the hell it is doing. The bad news the Post offers residents of California: Some pension funds are also continuing to engage in other... [...]
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  Posted: October 12, 2009, 11:14am EDT
  by chris reed

• Obama complains about Fox? That's rich. Just like GOP, he has his own propaganda arm.

  On Friday night, I watched MSNBC's biggest anchors aggressively defend the bizarre decision to give President Barack Obama the Nobel Peace Prize. All the Democratic National Committee talking points were recited. The Republicans criticized this. So did Hezbollah. So did... [...]
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  Posted: October 12, 2009, 10:57am EDT
  by chris reed

• Obama White House once again interferes with state budget moves, tries to get more $$ to union employees

  The Obama administration has asked California to explain how furloughs for state workers are affecting the state's ability to meet an escalating demand for unemployment insurance benefits and services to millions of jobless people. That's from the L.A. Times. Remember,... [...]
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  Posted: October 09, 2009, 3:41pm EDT
  by chris reed

• California's version of Joe Wilson: Will it help him pull in huge donations, too?

  San Francisco Democratic Assemblyman Tom Ammiano's heckling of Arnold after Arnold made a surprise appearance at a Dem fund-raiser in San Francisco -- "You lie!" and "Kiss my gay [bleep]!" -- are sure to make him a cult hero with... [...]
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  Posted: October 09, 2009, 10:54am EDT
  by chris reed

• MWD pension spike: "The Silence of the Times, Part 2" (Rated R for Graphic Displays of Intellectual Inconsistency and Obliviousness)

  Four weeks ago, I wrote the first version of this post to express my utter amazement that the Los Angeles Times -- by far the biggest newspaper in Southern California -- had failed to inform its readers that the Metropolitan... [...]
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  Posted: October 08, 2009, 3:33pm EDT
  by chris reed

• How GOP candidates' ties to Boxer and Gore ties could haunt them -- in general election

  Has Jerry Brown got a secret weapon in next fall's governor's race? Maybe. Eventually the word is going to get out in much broader circles that both Meg Whitman and Steve Poizner have relatively recent histories of supporting two liberal... [...]
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  Posted: October 08, 2009, 12:33pm EDT
  by chris reed

• Arnold fought for right to suspend AB 32 if economy was distressed. Now, with state unemployment at 70-year high, he mocks the idea. Insert profanity here.

  In August 2006, in negotiations over AB 32, Arnold told then-Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez and other Dems that he could not sign the landmark anti-global warming bill unless it had language that allowed the governor to suspend the measure in... [...]
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  Posted: October 08, 2009, 11:14am EDT
  by chris reed

• Shameless gov sends around another green happy-talk economic study

  Just scant weeks after it was reported that the governor's office had been sitting on a negative story about the consequences of heavy regulations for the state economy, Arnold Schwarzenegger's staff has the gall to send an "In Case You..." [...]
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  Posted: October 07, 2009, 4:52pm EDT
  by chris reed