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Gov. Jerry Brown wants to eliminate dozens of state panels and commissions, a good idea and long overdue. But the governor needs to be more inclusive, and stalk bigger game. His list includes the Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board, a typical soft landing spot for ex-legislators. They meet about once a month but get paid $128,109 a year, more than they were paid as legislators, as the Sacramento Bee recently noted. Such ruling-class parasitism doesn’t help balance the budget. The governor also wants to eliminate the California Commission on the Status of Women, which began on the watch of his father,...

There are about 300 Commission working “hard” for the people of California. The Nursing Commission allows felons and perverts to continue to work in hospitals and the home. Then you have the Medical Board that allows doctors on drugs to continue to operate and treat patients. One of my favorites is the Hair Braiding Commission.. You know that only State “licensed” people should be allowed to braid your hair—the rest are amateurs. “On July 1, 1998, a pair of undercover police officers posing as husband and wife walked into Braids by Sabrina, a small shop in Compton, Calif. After the...

Gov. Christie proposes elimination of 300 N.J. boards, commissions Published: Friday, September 10, 2010, 4:26 PM Updated: Friday, September 10, 2010, 4:45 PM Lisa Fleisher/Statehouse Bureau Lisa Fleisher/Statehouse Bureau TRENTON — Gov. Chris Christie today released reports from his departments recommending the merger or elimination of about 300 boards and commissions — including many inactive or defunct groups created years ago, and some that have never met at all. At the same time, Christie signed an executive order — his 40th since taking office in January (PDF) — shuttering 60 inactive boards, including some created three decades ago. The report...

You would think that the roles and responsibilities would be clear and there would be a strong line between individuals who call themselves financial advisers and those who call themselves stock brokers. The obvious answer is that advisers give impartial advice based on the best interest of the client and brokers sell products as a third party. Advisers are sworn to put their clients’ interests ahead of their own, thanks to the Investment Advisers Act of 1940. In that case, what is a broker? The act also provides this definition. A broker is, “Any person engaged in the business of...

The government commission tasked with writing a public report to expose the causes of the financial crisis is keeping the structure of its own publishing deal private. On Aug. 3, the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, a presidential body, announced that it had chosen Little, Brown and Co. to publish its final report about the meltdown -- an anticipated and authoritative account pieced together by well-known journalist Matt Cooper. It did not mention, however, that the deal had unusual terms for the publication of a public document, including an agreement by Little, Brown to pay an advance to the government and...

In the 16 years since the federal death penalty was restored in 1994 — 16 years throughout which the United States has been ravaged by jihadist terror — the Justice Department has approved capital charges for exactly three defendants: Moussaoui and two of the 1998 U.S. embassy bombers. In each case, civilian juries rejected the death penalty. If Holder is saying there’s a better chance these savages will be executed if they are tried in the civilian system (and that is precisely what he’s implying), there is nothing to support that claim.

President Obama's National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform is meeting today as part of its efforts to craft recommendations by December on how best to address America's red-ink problem. Mr. Obama established the commission in February, saying debt and deficits can "hobble our economy" and "saddle every child in America with an intolerable burden." Yet the president's decision to establish a commission to address a problem he described as potentially catastrophic seems odd in light of his earlier criticism of commissions in general. As Ari Shapiro noted on National Public Radio today, the president mocked the notion of commissions...

Among the first to feel the effects of the nation’s health-care system overhaul are insurance salespeople, whose commissions for selling policies are themselves getting overhauled. The new law requires that insurers use at least 80% of the premiums to pay for medical care for patients rather than administrative costs and profit-taking. But many companies that sell health insurance to individuals and small businesses maintain a lower “medical loss ratio” because they use more of the premium to cover administrative expenses, including sales commissions.

MOBILE, Alabama (Reuters) – The U.S. Navy commissioned its newest warship on Saturday, a 379-feet (115.5- meter) aluminum three-hulled vessel built by General Dynamics Corp, one of two designs vying for billions of dollars of follow-on orders. Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Gary Roughead told reporters as he traveled to the ceremony that the new class of fast, flexible shallow-water warships would be useful for a wide range of missions, including responding to humanitarian disasters like the earthquake in Haiti. Roughead said the first Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) built by Lockheed Martin Corp, a more traditional steel monohull ship which...

Olympia Snowe, it seems safe to assume, is following the health care debate a bit more closely than the average American. So it is saying something that the Maine senator — a key figure in health care negotiations — admits she is stumped by the task of crafting a simple explanation for legislation of mind-numbing complexity. “If anybody can give me an easy, 30-second solution to this multitrillion-dollar problem, be my guest,” said Snowe, a moderate Republican.

Barack Obama's plan to overhaul the structure of financial regulation leaves in place the split between those regulators who supervise the trading of futures at the Commodities Futures Trading Commission and those who supervise stock trading at the Securities Trading Association. And while there may be good reasons to keep the commissions separate, mostly likely none of those informed the Obama administration's decision. Instead it was probably just cold politicial calculation. Merging the commissions has long been a popular idea with reformers. It was proposed by Hank Paulson when he was Treasury Secretary, and it is supported by many who...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger asked lawmakers to blow up the boxes of government, and on Wednesday they obliged -- though not exactly as he envisioned. A legislative budget committee delayed action on many of Schwarzenegger's proposals for cutting waste, and instead took an ax to operations managed by the governor. They voted to get rid of entire departments and agencies under his authority. The committee voted to eliminate the Secretary of Education office, an appointed position that exists to help the governor on school issues. Lawmakers declared that the governor does not need such an office, as it overlaps with the...

Calif. Voters Reject Measures to Keep State Solvent By JENNIFER STEINHAUER Published: May 20, 2009 LOS ANGELES — A smattering of California voters on Tuesday soundly rejected five ballot measures designed to keep the state solvent through the rest of the year. The results dealt a severe setback to the state’s fragile fiscal structure and to Gov Arnold Schwarzenegger and the state legislators who cobbled together the measures as part of a last-minute budget deal passed in February.The measures, which would have prolonged tax increases, capped state spending, earmarked money for education and involved the state in a complex borrowing...

State's future at stake in May 19 vote John Wildermuth,Matthew Yi May 9, 2009 If California voters reject a package of budget measures in next week's special election, it will set off a fiscal free-for-all that could set the state's course for years to come. Defeat of the measures on the May 19 ballot would chop nearly $6 billion in expected revenue from next year's budget, on top of a projected $8 billion deficit left by shrinking tax collections. Proposals by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and others to close that gap are driving a wildfire of criticism across the state. Deep...

SACRAMENTO (CBS 5) ― Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has said that thousands of inmates could be forced out of state prisons if his proposed ballot measures fail in the upcoming special election. Schwarzenegger said he will open prison doors if voters don't approve the measures to close a projected $6 billion budget hole during the May 19th vote. ... The governor's plan would release 38,000 inmates, 19,000 of those are what the state considers low risk. The other 19,000 inmates are illegal immigrants whose offenses are said to be non-serious. The governor would commute their sentences and release all of them...

Wouldn't it have been nice if they'd looked at it better BEFORE making a stupid campaign promise to close Gitmo down? Did they think they'd be able to just come in there and open the doors? The problem of Gitmo is taking new shape this week with a couple of interesting developments. It's always been clear to most everyone that the military commissions are the best way to try enemy combatants captured in foreign countries. They are not entitled to the same rights and priviliges that American citizens are and they are not tried in the same way. I guess...

A military judge has refused the Obama administration's request to delay proceeding for 120 days in the case of a detainee held at the U.S. naval prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, who is accused of planning the October 2000 attack on the USS Cole warship, an al-Qaeda strike that killed 17 service members and injured 50 others. The decision throws into some disarray the administration's plan to buy some time as it reviews individual detainee cases as part of its plan to close the prison. The Pentagon may now be forced to withdraw the charges against Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, a...

WASHINGTON, May 17, 2007 – The nation’s leaders gathered today to recognize a group of young people taking the first step toward leading America’s soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates commissioned 55 ROTC cadets and midshipmen today at the White House in a ceremony attended by President Bush and other political and military leaders. The new officers represent all 50 states, four territories and the District of Columbia. This is the first time a joint ROTC commissioning ceremony has been held, and the first time a defense secretary has administered the oath of commissioning. Previously,...

NAVAL STATION GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba, March 31, 2007 – The military commissions case of Australian detainee David Hicks, which concluded last night with a sentence of nine months imprisonment, was a fair proceeding that established a good basis for future commissions cases, the chief prosecutor for the Defense Department said here yesterday. Hicks, 31, was sentenced according to a plea agreement after pleading guilty to one charge of providing material support for terrorism. The commission recommended a seven-year sentence, which was the maximum allowed under the agreement, but another part of the agreement guaranteed a suspension for any portion...

WASHINGTON, March 1, 2007 – The Defense Department’s Office of Military Commissions referred a charge today against David Matthew Hicks, an Australian captured in Afghanistan in December 2001. Judge Susan J. Crawford, the convening authority, referred one charge with two specifications of providing military support for terrorism. DoD officials said this is not a capital case. The referral is the first under the Military Commissions Act of 2006. Hicks became known as “the Australian Taliban” following his capture. He is being held at the detention facility in Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba. Under new procedures, Hicks must be arraigned...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 18, 2007 – The Defense Department today presented to Congress its manual outlining rules for military commissions as they will be conducted under the Military Commissions Act of 2006. The manual includes some major departures from past military commissions proceedings, such as affording detainees the right to self representation and directing that no classified information be presented in court without the detainees’ presence. “The overriding considerations reflected in the Manual for Military Commissions are fairness and fidelity to the Military Commissions Act of 2006,” Daniel J. Dell'Orto, principal deputy general counsel for DoD, said at a Pentagon...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 19, 2006 -- Military commissions are a proper way to try certain people suspected of committing terrorist acts against America, in part because U.S. law prior to the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks didn’t even address such a situation, a U.S. State Department legal advisor told reporters here today. “We cannot try the vast majority of individuals (being held) at Guantanamo (Bay, Cuba,) under our criminal laws, because as of Sept. 11, 2001, they had not broken laws that we had on our books that had extraterritorial application,” John B. Bellinger III said at a Foreign Press...

For Immediate ReleaseOffice of the Press SecretarySeptember 16, 2006 President's Radio Address       Audio      In Focus: National Security      THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. On Monday, I visited New York, Pennsylvania, and the Pentagon to attend memorials marking the fifth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. It was an emotional day for me and for our country. On that day, we remembered those who lost their lives, and we paid tribute to those who gave their lives so that others might live. We rededicated ourselves to protecting the American people from another attack.  Radio Address 200620052004200320022001  Radio Interviews 20052004 Next week, I...

Last week was a deadline week in the California Legislature. That means the Senate and Assembly worked to get bills out of their respective houses to “make new laws” for this year. As a believer in small government, that means I had absolutely no bills up for a vote this week. But—the socialists in the Legislature did. In fact, the Assembly approved bills that would initiate 32 new studies, 13 new commissions, 4 new task forces, and a variety of new regulatory powers in government. We wanted to study everything from Asian food to flood plains, and we set up...

NAVAL STATION GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba, April 27, 2006 – In his first military commission hearing here, an accused Saudi terrorist rejected his detailed military defense counsel today, saying he didn't want a defense at all and was happy to admit to his charges. "I did not come here to defend myself," said Ghassan Abdullah Al Sharbi, who is accused of providing English translation for a terrorist training camp and receiving training on how to build and use hand-held remote detonation devices for explosives. "I came here to tell you that I did what I did and I'm willing to pay...

NAVAL STATION GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba, April 24, 2006 – U.S. military commission proceedings will resume this week in the cases of three enemy combatants held here since 2002. Proceedings will resume in the case of Sufyian Barhoumi, an Algerian man accused of being an explosives trainer for al Qaeda. Proceedings will begin for Jabran Said Bin Al Qahtani, a Saudi man accused of constructing circuit boards to be used as timing devices in bombs, and Ghassan Abdullah Al Sharbi, a Saudi man accused of providing English translation for a terrorist training camp and receiving training on how to build and...

NAVAL STATION GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba, April 3, 2006 – U.S. military commissions proceedings resume this week in the cases of four enemy combatants held here since 2002. Proceedings will resume in the cases of Ali Hamza Ahmad Sulayman al Bahlul, a Yemeni man accused of crafting terrorist propaganda, and Canadian teen Omar Ahmed Khadr, who officials say killed a U.S. servicemember while fighting for al Qaeda in Afghanistan. Proceedings will begin against Abdul Zahir, an Afghan man accused of working as a translator and accountant for al Qaeda in Afghanistan and planning explosives attacks against U.S. forces, and Binyam Ahmed...

WASHINGTON, March 28, 2006 – The Supreme Court today heard oral arguments in a case that could make or break the government's military commissions process for terror war detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. At issue in the case of Hamdan v. Rumsfeld is the legality of the military commissions set up after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The court also is deciding a question on its own jurisdiction in the case. The government, represented here by Solicitor General Paul D. Clement, filed a brief with the court that argued the case on six separate legal issues. Government attorneys...

WASHINGTON, March 22, 2006 – The Defense Department is considering issuing new instructions to military commissions that specifically prohibit the admission of evidence that's been obtained by torture, a senior DoD official told reporters here today. "This has been one area where there has been some concern raised, and so the department is taking a look at it and may issue a separate instruction on it," DoD spokesman Bryan Whitman told Pentagon reporters. President Bush has been clear that the United States does not condone torture, Whitman said. "The Department of Defense, of course, abides by that admonition," Whitman said,...

Rob Reiner better watch his back. It now appears that an outside audit – at the least – will be done of the California Children and Families Commission because it used $23 million in taxpayer funds for TV ads touting “preschool for all” at the same time Reiner, a commission board member, was circulating petitions for his “preschool for all” initiative. And when investigators come to chat, the executive director of the commission just might not go along with the cover story that it was all one big “coincidence” that the TV ads ran at the same time as the...

NAVAL STATION GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba (Army News Service, Feb. 28, 2006) – With commissions slated to resume March 1 for four detainees at Guantanamo Bay, and about 16 international media outlets expected to report on the proceedings along with several other organizations that will observe the hearings, officials said security will be nothing short of tight. The Joint Task Force-Guantanamo leadership and security teams kept the commissions running smoothly in January. “One of the toughest challenges we had was that the security element had no idea of what ‘right’ looked like,” said Army Capt. David Murphy, officer in charge of...

The U.S. Navy will commission the USS San Antonio, lead ship of the latest class of amphibious ships, at 11 a.m. CDT, Jan. 14, 2006, at Naval Station Ingleside, Texas. Former President George H. W. Bush will deliver the ceremony’s principal address. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison will serve as the ship’s sponsor and will give the first order to "Man our ship and bring her to life!" Capt. Jonathan M. Padfield of Salt Lake City, Utah, is the ship’s first commanding officer and will lead a crew of 360 officers and enlisted personnel. The ship is capable of embarking a...

NAVAL STATION GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba, Jan. 10, 2006 – Military commissions to try enemy combatants held here for alleged war crimes are intended "to prosecute unlawful conduct, not persecute religious beliefs," a top official with the commissions said here today. Air Force Col. Morris Davis, chief prosecutor for the Defense Department's Office of Military Commissions, said he and his team intend to prosecute all military commissions cases in a fair and open manner. Hearings in two such cases are scheduled to get under way here tomorrow. "A lot of folks have questioned whether these proceedings should go forward," Morris said....

U.S. NAVAL STATION GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba, Jan. 9, 2006 – Military commissions proceedings resume this week as officials here hold preliminary hearings in the cases of two enemy combatants held here since 2002. Proceedings will resume in the case of Ali Hamza Ahmad Sulayman al Bahlul, a Yemeni man accused of crafting terrorist propaganda, and begin for Canadian teen Omar Ahmed Khadr, who officials say killed a U.S. serviceman while fighting for al Qaeda in Afghanistan. Military commissions proceedings began against Bahlul in August 2004 but were halted by a federal district judge's ruling in November 2004. An appeals court...

Commission Commission, that is all that I have been hearing every since Hurricane Katrina died over the Ohio Valley at the end of last week. I have had it up to my eyebrows with Commissions that are mostly a gotcha and Cover Your Ass game. What I want to know is what good is a Commission anyway. They have never done anyone any good, just gave some old forgotten and washed up politicans another moment in the limelight. Case in point the farce of the 911 Commission. Everytime something happens that spook the politicans, they call for a commission to...

In the pre-Internet era, homebuyers relied on real estate agents to chauffeur them around to properties, help search for mortgages and provide other services, for which buyers typically paid 6 percent commissions when they closed escrow on their American Dream. For a $139,000 median-priced home sold in 1988 in San Diego County, that commission would have been $8,340, an amount shared equally between buying and selling agents and their brokers. But today, despite the emergence of sophisticated online searches for homes and loans, the commission system remains virtually the same. The $493,000 median priced home in June would have carried...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. antitrust regulators are preparing to sue the National Association of Realtors (NAR) over policies they believe will illegally restrict commission discounting and harm online competitors, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday. The effort by the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission aims to protect buyers and sellers of homes and could help contain high real-estate costs in a booming housing market, the newspaper said.

The purpose of FreeRepublic.com's multiple message boards is to limit the topics for each board to particular topics. Posting the same message on all the boards defeats the purpose of multiple-boards for special topics. It is very annoying to see the same message on every bulletin board. PLEASE! DO THE READERS A FAVOR. STOP CROSS-POSTING YOUR MESSAGES!

...In an era of general acceptance of deregulation and privatization, Mr. Spitzer has introduced the world to yet a new form of regulation, the use of the criminal law as an in terrorem weapon to force acceptance of industry-wide regulations. These rules are not vetted through normal authoritative channels, are not reviewable by any administrative process, and are not subject to even the minimal due-process requirements our courts require for normal administrative rule making. The whole process bears no resemblance to a rule of law; it is a reign of force. And to make matters worse, the regulatory remedies are...

...The Spitzer complaint also inspired a flood of new lawsuits within days of his going public, including a class action suit from the king of trial lawyers, Bill Lerach -- this one against insurers. Mr. Lerach's firm was rewarded for its pluck when Mr. Garamendi (who is himself eyeing the California governorship) hired it to pursue any state claims against the industry.... We want to be clear that we aren't alleging formal collusion among these parties. But regardless of motive and communication, there certainly is a clear community of interest at work: Trial lawyers target an industry; politicians later get...

...Eliot Spitzer divines such a "conflict" in the fact that insurance companies pay "contingent commissions" to brokers who bring them new business or get clients to renew policies. As in previous Spitzer cases, this one began with a press release citing snippets from one company's e-mails.... And as with previous Spitzer press releases, the media dutifully described the New York AG's unproven charges against a few as industry-wide "scandal." CBS Marketwatch spoke of contingent commissions being "at the center of a growing scandal in the insurance industry."... Allegations of inadequate disclosure of the terms of commission agreements could be easily...

...Mr. Spitzer has discovered bad behavior in so-called bid-rigging by insurance brokers.... Soliciting fake bids to drive up prices is a crime, and Mr. Spitzer has already won two guilty pleas from employees of AIG. At least in this case the New York AG has charged people for breaking the law. This is a prosecutor's main duty, but in his previous financial crusades Mr. Spitzer has used public mau-mauing to scare his targets into a settlement rather than prove something to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt. But bid-rigging aside, Mr. Spitzer's goal seems to be nothing short of altering...

<p>One of Reagan's Reinecke-boosting actions was to create a new Commission on Economic Development, make Reinecke the chairman, and charge the commission with securing the nascent Space Shuttle project for California.</p> <p>Reinecke not only didn't become governor, he didn't even last as lieutenant governor, becoming entwined, rather foolishly, in one tentacle of the Watergate scandal. But the Commission on Economic Development has continued as an adjunct of the lieutenant governor's office, performing no vital function but giving the occupant of the office some extra expense money and some political staff slots.</p>

The City will likely take legal action against the plumbers and steamfitters union, United Association Local 38, after the powerful organization repeatedly refused to install sprinklers in a residential hotel it owns on 12th and Market streets. After months and months of trying to get the union to comply with The City's residential-hotel sprinkler ordinance, the Department of Building Inspection's litigation committee referred the matter to the City Attorney's Office on Monday. "They have got to comply with the law," said Building Commissioner Roy Guinnane. "They have so much money, they think they are above the law." The Local 38...

Regional Governance is Here "This commission has become a nightmare, beyond the reach of either state government, or Congress, short of repealing the Act altogether. This appointed commission has absolute authority over all land use within the designated counties, with the authority to override both county and state elected officials..." March 1, 2004 By Henry Lamb henry@freedom.org NewsWithViews.com To submit a Letter to the Editor: newswithviews@newswithviews.com There are currently six Regional Commissions in place, or pending final approval, which impact states from New York to California; from Florida to Washington. Few people realize that these regional commissions even exist, or...

<p>Golden plums: For all the talk of dire budget cuts in Sacramento, there's one area that legislators don't want to touch -- the plums that grow in their own back yard.</p> <p>Those would be the spots on boards and commissions that pay members more than $100,000 a year for less-than-onerous work.</p>