Flat tax proposed for California

We all know California is in deep economic trouble. Its GDP surpasses even some nations, but lately the state is on a downward spiral of economic decline. It's in so much trouble that the Governator Arnold Schwarzeneggar (R), considered by some to be a RINO, is proposing a flat tax.

It's a good idea: simple to report, easy to audit, and guarantees a steady tax revenue for the state.

But opponents say it's unfair as it taxes the wealthy at the same rate as the poor. These opponents probably don't publicize the fact that most poor households don't pay taxes.

No matter. If it's fairness they seek, then Gov. Schwarzeneggar ought to study the FairTax! How great would it be for a state like California to radically adopt a new tax code similar to the FairTax?

Angry voters reject California budget propositions

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and California lawmakers face a greater budget battle ahead as angry voters soundly reject five of six measures to ease budget shortfall.

And the only proposition that was approved? Blocking pay raises for state lawmakers and elected officials in times of deficit.

That says a lot, doesn't it?

Miss California must've said something right...

It seems like attacking Miss California is the hip thing to do these days even in the White House. David Axelrod, the president's senior adviser, played NPR's "Not My Job" and made a caustic remark about Carrie Prejean:

When Axelrod was asked if he had weighed in on the Obama family’s dog choice, "the Rasputin in this kingdom" (as Sagal jokingly refered to him) sassed back, “I was only called in for the final three, and one was Miss California.”

Prejean made an unpopular (at least among liberals) but courageous public stand against gay marriage which may have cost her the Miss America crown, and now even Axelrod is talking trash about her?! The mainstream media and Hollywood types have been attacking her relentlessly since the incident. They cannot fathom a Californian being pro-traditional marriage between a man and a woman. And Axelrod thinks it's appropriate and funny to compare her to a dog?

Shut up, Mr. Axelrod. For your information, she's paying your and NPR's salaries. For you to show such disrespect to a young, intelligent lady and a Christian woman is evidence of your immaturity and prejudice. Mr. Axelrod, please don't try to be a comedian and do a better job at advising the president (he's not doing too hot, y'know).

California gets a dose of W.H. strong-arm politics

What the federal government gives, it can also take away. The state of California is learning this the hard way as the Obama administration threatens to rescind stimulus funds if the California state government doesn't restore wage cuts to the unionized home health care workers.

Two things at play here: the intimate relationships between unions and Democrats and the White House's disregard for a state.

The unions in questions are the powerful Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and United Domestic Workers (not in the motherly sense). In fact, it was the SEIU which went to the W.H. to ask for a ruling on this matter.

This also shows the administration's disregard for a state. The wage cut is a necessary step in keeping California afloat as it's operating on IOUs already. These health care workers aren't the only ones affected by wage cuts. The state legislature passed a state law but looks like the W.H. has a problem with that. Does the administration truly have the state's interest in mind?

States which have accepted the stimulus money should take note. This money comes with strings attached -- many which aren't to the states' benefit. Be warned.

CIA documents prove Pelosi lied about waterboarding knowledge

You won't read about this in the mainstream media...

Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) was briefed on the controversial interrogation techniques since the beginning and had no objections. She knew all along!

But she acted shocked when she learned about it later. Maybe it's the excessive Botox that makes her always look surprised.

California: save the planet, ban black cars

Only people in the Left Coast can come up with such insanity. Official state government study here.

I propose doing more: force automakers to use reflective paint for all Californian automobiles. That'll save the planet (even though it'll destroy people's eyesight).

Countrywide memos detail VIP loans to Democrats

Now we can see the juicy details of the Countrywide sweetheart loans to various Democratic politicians... Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) releases a report titled "Countrywide's Systematic and Successful Effort to Buy Influence and Block Reform" which contains emails and memos about these mortgage deals.

Here's an excerpt from the Washington Times:

Countrywide's CEO Angelo Mozilo granted sweetheart mortgages to a number of influential lawmakers including Connecticut Democrat Chris Dodd, who is chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, and Democratic Senator Kent Conrad of North Dakota. E-mails obtained by government investigators show Countrywide employees often discussed the political influence wielded by "Friends of Angelo" as grounds for granting the discounts.

Seriously, some of these Democrats need to just resign and pick a different career! They're already cozy with the banks and mortgage companies, why not find a job there?

Another top Democrat in tax trouble

Rep. Pete Stark (D-CA) will be investigated for claiming his Maryland home as his primary residence in order to save nearly $4,000 in state and county taxes. What's really troubling is the fact that he is the second-ranking Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee which is in charge of our tax legislation.

More calls for Geithner's resignation

First, it was Rep. Connie Mack (R-FL). Now Rep. Derrell Issa (R-CA) also calling for the Treasury Secretary's resignation:

“As one of the chief architects of the AIG bailout, Secretary Geithner was in a position to do what any lender of the last resort would do – negotiate concessions from AIG. Secretary Geithner either didn’t know about the bonuses, and was grossly negligent, or he did know and failed to bring this to the President’s attention. Either way, the end result has been a significant waste of taxpayer dollars and he should take immediate responsibility and resign.”

I have the feeling that there will be more...

Obama, Democrats' attack on life

The Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) failed to come out of subcommittee in 2004, but now Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) is ready to give it another go considering the bill's former Senate co-sponsor, Barack Obama, is president. The other Senate sponsor is Barbara Boxer (D-CA) who intends to introduce to the Senate a similar bill.

FOCA would make federal law to protect abortions established by Roe vs. Wade in 1973. The bill defines abortion as a "fundamental right" that cannot be denied or interfered by government. That sort of language would nullify existing state laws which require parental notification and ban certain procedures.

Some Roman Catholic bishops are threatening to close 624 Catholic hospitals if FOCA becomes law. Who could blame them? Abortion is terminating a life, denying a new life any chance of survival, an act of murder. Catholics, and followers of other faiths, simply won't allow it.

The Democrats better watch carefully what they're doing with the re-introduction of FOCA. This is a pro-death bill, inked in words to harm a helpless life. President Obama ought to be ashamed of himself for being one of the sponsors. His view about when life begins is on public record, during a Q&A with Paster Rick Warren:

Well, I think that whether you’re looking at it from a theological perspective or a scientific perspective, answering that question with specificity, you know, is above my pay grade. But let me just speak more generally about the issue of abortion because this is something I — obviously, the country wrestles with...

So here's a guy who's not even sure about when life begins, yet he sponsors a bill to force physicians and health care workers to abort life. Isn't there something wrong with this picture?

Be reminded of the Declaration of Independence, the document that started what is America:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Life is the first of our "unalienable rights," my friends! Our Founding Fathers were God-fearing men, and from that had the wisdom to create this profound historic document.

How are the politicians -- or any person -- be one to judge life? From Jeremiah 1:5 (NIV):

"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
before you were born I set you apart;
I appointed you as a prophet to the nations."

New blog on blogroll: Keen To Convene

Dear Readers, I want to invite you to visit Keen To Convene, a conservative blog by two fine young bloggers, Lisa and Aaron. Why am I highlighting their particular blog? First, I am very impressed by the content. They write well, their posts are good essays about their ideology and experiences. Second, they deserve some attention because they represent a rare voice: Generation X Asian conservatives in southern California. It's re-assuring to know that in deep blue California there are young people who stand firm in their conservative principles.

Please take time to visit Lisa and Aaron's blog regularly or subscribe to it. You will not be disappointed!

Schwarzenegger's GOP

While acknowledging bodybuilder-turned-actor-turned-governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's political success, Matt Welch of Reason highlights his failures and warns the Republican Party:

Republicans in 2009 are in a mess of their own making. If they interpret the Democrats’ sweeping victory as a clarion call to foray further into religiously inspired, Terry Schiavo–style politics that uses government as a lever to manipulate and control other people’s lives, then they will deserve their exile from power.

But it will take more than just eschewing cultural conservatism and adopting the Democrats’ interventionist economic approach to refresh the Republican brand. There is room right now for an opposition party that emphasizes what the governing party does not: freedom, as both the ultimate goal and the means to achieve it.

If Republicans use government to manipulate and control people's lives, then Democrats also do the same, albeit in a different fashion. Democrats manipulate and control people's lives by burdening them with higher taxes. They fight for the freedom to abort a fetus and pass laws that fund organizations supporting that devious cause. Eventually they also want you to drive "green" vehicles because the planet is warming (never mind the snow storms throughout the country), and again, pass laws for taxpayers to fund themselves out of a regular automobile. Is that not manipulation and control?

Welch thinks the Republicans need to be more like Democrats in order to regain power. That may be the case to spell the GOP's demise. However, it is a fact that many conservative voters chose Obama/Biden simply to send a message to the GOP, and that these voters still understand that the Republicans can still check-balance the Democrats (recall the high-profile Georgia Senate race). Conservatives are wandering the desert in search of a home, and as long as the GOP leaders can prove themselves to return to conservative politics, I don't see a problem for the Republicans in the future.

Oxymoron of the day: furious gay leaders

I thought gay leaders are happy leaders?

Apparently not the homosexual leaders. They are mad at President-elect Obama for inviting Pastor Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at his Jan. 20 inauguration. Obama thinks it's a decent gesture in a show of unity -- and most would agree. But gay activists think otherwise. Yes, these gay activists accuse others of being narrow-minded, yet they are up in arms about the president-elect having a pastor at the inauguration. Adding salt to the wound is the fact that Warren preaches in California, a state embroiled in a clash between Proposition 8 supporters and opponents.

Lee Stranahan of the Huffington Post wants everyone to give Obama and Warren a break. After all, Joseph Lowery, founder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and supporter of gay marriage, is also invited to the inauguration.

Newsweek's cover story on gay marriage

Overall, I applaud Lisa Miller in her effort to rationalize gay marriage with a catchy heading in Newsweek. Gay marriage has always been an explosive and controversial topic, and I seriously think Newsweek featured this story just to stir the pot a bit. This is one of those subjects that nobody from either side of the argument will budge. It's been like that for decades.

But what's now bugging the pro and con crowds of gay marriage is the result of California's vote on Proposition 8. The vote to change the state's constitution to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman removed the right for same-sex couples to marry. As we all know, California is a liberal state and such a ban on gay marriage came as a shock to many. Immediately supporters organized mass protests and other campaigns in hopes to reverse the results.

First, onto Miller's article. She opens with examples from the Bible, the source of reference for many religious conservatives in their anti-gay marriage stance:

Let's try for a minute to take the religious conservatives at their word and define marriage as the Bible does. Shall we look to Abraham, the great patriarch, who slept with his servant when he discovered his beloved wife Sarah was infertile? Or to Jacob, who fathered children with four different women (two sisters and their servants)? Abraham, Jacob, David, Solomon and the kings of Judah and Israel—all these fathers and heroes were polygamists. The New Testament model of marriage is hardly better. Jesus himself was single and preached an indifference to earthly attachments—especially family. The apostle Paul (also single) regarded marriage as an act of last resort for those unable to contain their animal lust. "It is better to marry than to burn with passion," says the apostle, in one of the most lukewarm endorsements of a treasured institution ever uttered. Would any contemporary heterosexual married couple—who likely woke up on their wedding day harboring some optimistic and newfangled ideas about gender equality and romantic love—turn to the Bible as a how-to script?

Yet she fails to mention God's first creation in His own image: Adam. Knowing Adam's longing for companionship, did He create another man? No, Eve was made to be with Adam. Then God instructed them to be fruitful and multiply. So since Creation, God intended a male and female to form a family, the basic element of human society. (And even if you don't believe Creationism in the Bible and insist that there exists many interpretations, how can you not interpret Genesis as the basis for man-woman marriage?)

Miller reasonably points out Biblical examples of Abraham, Jacob, etc. from the Old Testament. In the case of Abraham (Abram), it wasn't the Lord that encouraged him to sleep with his wife Sarai (Sarah)'s maidservant, Hagar. The Scripture clearly says that it was Sarai's idea. What the author fails to realize is that the Bible records many things and events, many of which are sins and tragedies, but that does not mean they're condoned by God. That's why there's Jesus and the New Testament. He came to wipe the slate clean and allow a fresh start. And in the New Testament Jesus and the Apostles preach several times on marriage and family.

By merely pulling verses from the Scriptures out of context without fully understanding them, Miller presents a weak argument against the anti-gay marriage, religious conservatives. Furthermore, it does nothing to advance the support of gay marriage.

No love from anyone for Big Auto

Wow, even the Democrats are giving Big Auto a hard time! The CEOs have appeared before Congressmen to beg for a bailout loan to no avail. Then today the Democrats voted to oust John Dingell (D-Mich.) from chairmanship of the powerful House Committee on Energy and Commerce, replaced by Representative Henry Waxman (D-Calif.).

Dingell was chairman for almost 28 years and one of Big Auto's best friends in Congress. His removal from the committee sends a clear signal that Pelosi and friends are ready to impose stricter regulations in the auto industry and align with the environmentalists. Rep. Waxman has always been a supporter of legislation to curb global warming, and this latest move in House politics will be welcomed by many environmentalists.

Gay marriage ban passed

It wasn't all doom and gloom for conservatives after all. Voters in "left coast" California backed a state constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage on Tuesday in a state where homosexual unions are legal. The amendment will override the recent state supreme court decision legalizing gay marriages. Maybe this is the best indication that the country is still center-right?