California State Sen. Tom McClintock, (R-Thousand Oaks), introduced a major reform package Monday designed to force lawmakers to pass a budget on time and limit spending.

McClintock wants to force the Legislature to pass an on-time budget by June 15 or face the consequence of the governor's budget winning approval without legislative changes. But he would also lower the threshold to pass a budget to a simple majority, down from the current two-thirds requirement.

What a HUGE mistake Senator! What's up?

Although his legislation would still ask the for the "Super Majority" two-thirds for taxes and fees in the budget process, why is he offering up the state to the 'blue cities and counties' when it comes to the budget?

McClintock, who is a history buff, must understand that the initial purpose of the 'super majority' was to protect southern California from the highly populated northern portions - this reveals the age of this legislation.

Now, removing the two-thirds vote on the budget offers the budget's contents to the majority party vote and the highly populated areas of San Fran and Los Angeles - urban California would run over suburbia in the Golden State.

What is he thinking?

Hogue Show on 1380 KTKZ in Sacramento and 103.3 KCEE in Grass Valley and Nevada City

The Beltway has spoken...more Republican, Bush Administration and Congressional leadership in offering 'solutions' (not radical rancor) on the issue of immigration.

Today, the U.S. House intelligence bill (negotiated today in DC) would double the number of border agents and substantially increase the size of immigrant detention facilities over the next five years. Although reports some say the bill doesn't go far enough to restrict immigration, the "Intel Bill" authorizes the number of Border Patrol agents to grow by 10,000 and the number of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents by 7,500 by 2010.

There are currently 11,200 Border Patrol agents and 5,500 ICE agents.

There also are other immigration measures in the bill, such as requiring a plan for remote-controlled aircraft for border surveillance, strengthening visa requirements and increasing penalties for smuggling of illegal immigrants.

Two other areas that were dropped, lead me to believe that the Bush Administration is preparing for the "Guest Worker Program". The provisions were dropped included a policy that would have required states to only give drivers' licenses to U.S. citizens or legal residents. Another policy would have restricted states' acceptance of foreign documents for identity. Sounds like these were left open for the next step in immigration reform.

Look for a separate piece of legislation coming this year - early this next year.

Hogue Show on 1380 KTKZ in Sacramento and 103.3FM KCEE in Grass Valley / Nevada City

The tax burden of illegal immigrants on California in the Washington Times today:

Illegal immigration costs the taxpayers of California -- which has the highest number of illegal aliens nationwide -- $10.5 billion a year for education, health care and incarceration, according to a study released yesterday.

"California's addiction to 'cheap' illegal-alien labor is bankrupting the state and posing enormous burdens on the state's shrinking middle-class tax base," said FAIR President Dan Stein.

Most Californians, who have seen their taxes increase while public services deteriorate, already know the impact that mass illegal immigration is having on their communities, but even they may be shocked when they learn just how much of a drain illegal immigration has become," he said.

Gerardo Gonzalez, director of the National Latino Research Center at California State at San Marcos, which compiles data on Hispanics, was critical of FAIR's report yesterday. He said FAIR's estimates did not measure some of the contributions that illegal aliens make to the state's economy. "Beyond taxes, these workers' production and spending contribute to California's economy, especially the agricultural sector," he said, adding that both legal and illegal aliens are the "backbone" of the state's $28 billion-a-year agricultural industry.

Mr. Stein said that the state must adopt measures to systematically collect information on illegal-alien use of taxpayer-funded services and on where they are employed, and that policies need to be pursued to hold employers financially accountable.

Notice the last portion...the state must adopt measures to systematically collect information on illegal-alien use of taxpayer-funded services and on where they are employed, and that policies need to be pursued to hold employers financially accountable...is this not the "Guest Worker Program" that the Bush Administration has been discussing?

No report here of the "roun'em up and send'em home" rancor, are we beginning to see major, conservative newspapers, such as the Washington Times, begin to offer solutions such as the Bush Administration's "Guest Worker Program"?

Interesting final statement in this column.

Hogue Show on 1380 KTKZ

I have to admit that while I knew that AIDS was a growing epidemic in the Black community, I had no idea it was as bad as it is. As a matter of fact, 54% of those diagnosed with HIV/AIDS in 2003 is Black. By any standard, this is alarming! This could make AIDS second only to Abortion, the number one killer in the Black community.

But what is even more alarming is what the leaders in the Black community want to offer up as the solutions. The Los Angeles Times is reporting on a meeting that took place to discuss how to stem this tide. And the solutions discussed demonstrate that there is a lot of denial about the root causes for the ramped spread of HIV/AIDS in America, specifically in the Black community. What are their key solutions?

Their Solution #1- “…the community needed to be more accepting of the black gay community…”

While I agree that we should be accepting of all people, we do not have to be, nor should we be accepting of all behavior. It is also important that we tell the truth about how risky this lifestyle choice is. A study by Paul Cameron (Cameron, Paul, William L. Playfair, and Stephen Wellum (1993), “The Homosexual Lifespan,”) states that the average lifespan of homosexual men is more than 30 years less than that of heterosexual men.

Additionally, there are certain behaviors and activities that lead to greater risk for contracting HIV/AIDS and Homosexual Sex is one of the riskiest. The number one method of contracting AIDS, by far, is still male-to-male sexual contact. And the CDC reports that since 2001, this number has been on the rise.


Their Solution #2- “Women also had a responsibility to refuse to have sex with men without using protection”

First of all, let’s remove the “…without protection.” part. Since statistics from the National Organization of Women have shown that even if used properly, condoms fail 14.2% of the time. (That’s if they are used correctly!) This conservative estimate is blown out of the water by another study by Dr. Susan Weller ("A Meta-Analysis of Condom Effectiveness in Reducing Sexually Transmitted HIV”) showed that condoms have a 31% failure rate in preventing the HIV transmission.

Secondly, let’s replace that phrase with, “…outside of a monogamous married relationship.” As statistics show that abstinence and refraining from sex outside of a monogamous, married relationship are the two best ways to prevent unwanted pregnancies and the spread of STDs; including HIV.

Finally, let’s not let men off the hook. We are much more responsible for the spread of HIV in our community that are women. It is men giving the virus to other men and it is also men giving it to women. The number of reported transmissions by women to men sexual contact is dwarfed by both the male-to-male and male-female transmission numbers.

The Real Solution- The most profound statement from this gathering came from a 20 year-old young woman who had become infected with the virus. Now an AIDS-awareness activist, she stated that, “the disease was preventable if people simply used better judgment.”

This all comes down to a matter of making better choices. And the first of these choices has to be doing away with political correctness and telling the truth about HIV/AIDS and the lifestyles that add to the expansion of the disease. We must also confront the myth called “Safe Sex”. There is no such thing… unless you are in a married monogamous relationship. All condoms do is reduce the risk a minimal amount.

All of us have been guilty of poor judgment at one time or another. So, let’s not go casting stones. But the worst thing we can do is to compound that mistake by trying to call it “good judgment”. There are lifestyles and behaviors that dramatically increase the risk of spreading this dangerous disease. Knowing what they are is not the hard part. Being honest with ourselves that there is truly no risk-free way to engage in these activities seems to be the part that many of us cannot accept.



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Democrats flexed their majority muscles yesterday - the first day of sessions in Sacto's Beast - and the Dems pushed through "94 rules" governing bill submission for the current sessions, givning the Republicans copies of the bill a half-hour BEFORE the vote.

What's this all about?

Seems that the Dems are mad at the Republican success across the country and trying to prove their liberal majority in California.

Let's see...Gray Davis had a budget hole of $38 billion, now Arnold has the corrected budget numbers up to $8 billion of debt.

So now the Dems what to write new rules so they can pass new taxes!

UPDATE...just had Republican Assemblyman Keith Richman on the show to represent his legislation on reforming CalPERS and the Pension Funding in California. Keith mentioned that the Democrats offered "94 pages", not 94 rules.

The Dems handed out "94 pages" and called for a vote in 30-minutes time. Someone has an attitude for the beginning of this session...

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...gifts of entitlement for everyone.

Talking about it NOW on the Hogue Show on 1380 KTKZ