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The 550,000 students enrolled at the University of California and the California State University system have been served a steady diet of tuition and fee increases over the past few years.  In part to cope with a $350 million net cut in state support to both systems this year, a 32 percent increase for UC students -- $1,929 -- is scheduled to take effect in September – on the heels of a 9.3 percent increase in 2009. CSU increased tuition 30 percent in 2009. In September, tuition climbs another

California Democratic Senate Majority Leader, Dean Florez, has introduced legislation that would tax sodas and sweetened beverages as an assault against the obesity epidemic. Senate Bill 1210 would levy a one cent tax on every teaspoon of sugar or caloric sweetener added to beverages. Revenues will go directly to cities for funding parks, recreation, and obesity prevention programs in public schools throughout the state. The California Center for Public Health Advocacy – sponsors of the bill – p

Seeking to pick up steam going into the 2010 congressional midterms and even the 2012 presidential election, conservatives of all stripes descended on Washington DC this past weekend to attend the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).  Much of the conference’s focus was devoted to reigning in the federal government’s size and scope, with many speakers gleefully pouncing on President Obama’s battered national agenda. In a sincere effort to incorporate a wider audience into the conse

While the effect of increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases was originally called ‘global warming', the name soon got changed to ‘climate change’ as it better explains the actual process. True, some places get warmer. But other areas get cooler.  Or the amount of rainfall starts to fluctuate.  If snowfall in the Sierras or Rockies drops, then the southwest and California will have droughts.  It’s just that simple. Moreover, we just had the bizarre spectacle of Washington D.C. getting recor

California's Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein has proposed legislation that would divert a large portion of California's public water supply to Southern California agribusinesses. Feinstein's complete reversal on policy intended to protect the California delta estuary evidences the fact that party platforms mean less to entrenched Washington bureaucrats than the favors they owe their lobbyist allies. Senator Feinstein is attaching her legislation to a fast-tracked Senate jobs bill under the

I always thought I was an Evan Bayh  Democrat. Today I became certain. In his surprise retirement announcement, Bayh  was careful to make it clear that he had wearied of the partisanship on both  sides of the aisle. He identified specific irrational  partisan acts by both Republicans and by Democrats. But, the timing of his departure spoke  loudly about his dissatisfaction with the entire Washington  establishment. Bayh underscored the declaration in his  retirement speech in which he said th

At Sarah Palin's Tea Party Convention speech in Nashville, she was careful to say that the Tea Party movement has no leader and should remain that way- a leaderless, spontaneous, grassroots movement of the people. But without an official organization, platform, or leader, the Tea Party movement finds itself struggling to find an identity, a definition, and a common purpose. What is the Tea Party? The Tea Party's lack of leadership should pose no problem for the astute observer in determining it

Avatar's pro-environment, anti-war ideology has been thoroughly scrutinized by political pundits on both sides of the aisle.  One aspect of their critical analysis that has been missing, however, is the prospect of an Avatar-type, 3rd party candidate in 2012.  At first glance, such a proposition may seem implausible, even repugnant to the Right, but it may not be as far fetched as some believe. As I covered in my December piece Is the Second American Revolution on its way?, one leading trends

Earlier this week I was reading AB 347, a bill that is currently circulating in Washington DC. The summary reads as follows:  "Allows an individual or a corporate taxpayer to deduct a charitable contribution made for the relief of victims of the earthquake in Haiti on the taxpayer's 2009 tax return, instead of the 2010 tax return." I am a supporter of charitable giving.  As a matter of fact I am the president of a non-profit corporation.  However, playing with taxes in this manner is, in my opi

You may not know it, but even after George Washington and the Continental Congress had raised an army to fight against the English Crown, the American Colonists weren't exactly sure what they were fighting for. It was for this reason that Thomas Paine published his famous pamphlet, Common Sense, which was at that time, the top selling work in American history. In it, he argued that the Americans were fighting for their independence from England, that they should be self-ruled, not taxed, ruled,