California, as I’ve noted before, has two major problems, the first is a budget out of balance.  And on that score, I commend the governor’s yeoman’s efforts to stop the flow of red ink.  On the second issue, however, he seems AWOL.   That problem relates to the burdens the state’s myriad taxes and regulations place on entrepreneurs.  Reduce some of those tax rates, eliminate certain business fees and cut the red tape and this state will (literally and figuratively) be back in business.

The Golden State would regain its luster.

The state’s most burdensome regulations are perhaps its cap-and-trade policy and other laws which have established some pretty draconian environmental standards.  And Governor Brown, while having become far more aware of the burdens government regulations place on job-creating businesses than when he first helmed the state, seems adamant in his support for these laws.

While he won’t budge, via Sister Toldjah (via Michelle Malkin‘s Buzzworthy), we learn that a judge has placed a hold on California’s global warming program:

A San Francisco superior court judge has put California’s sweeping plan to curb greenhouse gas pollution on hold, saying the state did not adequately evaluate alternatives to its cap-and-trade program.

In a 35-page decision, Judge Ernest H. Goldsmith said the Air Resources Board had failed to consider public comments on the proposed measures before adopting the plan, which affects a broad swath of the state’s economy.

In particular, the judge noted, officials gave short shrift to analyzing a carbon fee, or carbon tax, devoting a “scant two paragraphs to this important alternative” to a market-based trading system in their December 2008 plan. . . . (more…)

Perhaps, the editors of Newsweek and Time really don’t want to see state recognition of same-sex marriage.  Given that fact that each magazine has now promoted a man who wears his contempt for Christianity on his sleeve, it seems their editors are little interested in changing the minds of the overwhelming majority of Americans who profess that faith.

Or maybe said editors are oblivious (or indifferent) to the faithful and believe that most people have a worldview similar to their own — only they just need be made aware of it. Reader Peter Hughes alerted me to a post on Newsbusters analyzing Dan Savage’s Time magazine interview:

In this week’s issue, Time magazine followed Newsweek in honoring gay sex columnist Dan Savage and offering him space to trash conservatives. The liberal media sets Savage up as an anti-bullying activist, then lets him push conservative faces in the dirt. In December Newsweek printed him saying “F— John McCain” and asserting Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was clearly a “c—sucker.”

Why does this fellow have to be so nasty so often?  Maybe he’s having a perpetual bad day?  When asked what advice he could “give readers of TIME“, this gay marriage advocate chose to express contempt for monogamy:

We talk about love in a way that’s very unrealistic: “If you’re in love, you’re not going to want to have sex with anyone else but that person.” That’s not true. We need to acknowledge that truth so that people don’t have to spend 40 years of marriage lying to and policing each other.

There is no doubt that monogamy is indeed a challenge, particularly for men. But, it does yield rewards in terms of a deeper emotional connection and greater intimacy.  If someone wants to shack up with another and have other sexual encounters on the side, he should be allowed that choice, but such a relationship is not marriage. (more…)

Rob Tisinai, One of our regular readers and frequent critics, will be riding in the San Francisco to LA AIDS ride to raise money to fight this dreadful disease.  Please join me in donating to sponsor his ride.

It is a worthy cause and something about which readers on both sides of the political divide can agree!