Leslie Eastman | Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion - Part 228
Accessibility by WAH
Image 01 Image 03
Sign In or RegisterLogout

Author: Leslie Eastman

Profile photo

Leslie Eastman

I am an Environmental Health and Safety Professional, as well as a science/technical writer for a variety of news and professional publications. I have been a citizen activist since 2009, and am one of the co-founders of the San Diego-based group, Southern California Tax Revolt Coalition.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on August 11, 2015 25 Comments
Apparently, there is no economy-crushing law the state of California won't consider. The latest in legislative insanity comes from Senate President Pro Tempore Kevin de Leon, and is entitled Clean Energy and Pollution Reduction Act of 2015 (SB 350). Ultimately, should it pass, it will give one of the most aggressive state agencies in the nation the power to impose "fees" and ration gas.
De Leon’s SB 350 is ultimately a gasoline-rationing act. The bill gives the California Air Resources Board free rein to enact a mandatory 50 percent gasoline and diesel fuel restriction (8 billion gallons annually) by the year 2030. To meet the mandate, the state air resources board will be able to ration gas, place mobility restrictions on state residents, place surcharges on family mini-vans, trucks and SUVs, and even monitor individuals’ fuel consumption records. You have to wonder how these mandates and restrictions will affect not only the state’s economy but its people. ...Californians need to know and act to protect themselves from the devastating effects of this bill on their lives. The California Air Resources Board [CARB], an unelected group of bureaucrats, will be given full authority to meet the restriction mandate in any way its members see fit with no oversight permitted by our elected representatives.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on August 10, 2015 18 Comments
While it's hard to believe California can get any nuttier, the city of Huntington Park has managed to set a new standard. In addition to allowing illegal immigrants access to driver's licenses and the state's Obamacare exchange, now Huntington Park has given them an opportunity to actually govern legal American citizens. Two Mexican migrant leaders have been appointed to city commissions.
Julian Zatarain always assumed the doors of City Hall were closed to him because he is here illegally, arriving from Sinaloa in 2007 when he was 13. The 21-year-old college student found other outlets for service, such as volunteering for the Red Cross and with an organization that helps young people like him get access to educational resources. Then on Monday, Zatarain proudly accepted an appointment to the Huntington Park parks and recreation commission. Another immigrant here illegally, Francisco Medina, 29, won an appointment to the health and education commission.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on August 08, 2015 40 Comments
A good way to predict the future is to look at the past. Using this approach, I have some predictions about what is likely to happen next in the campaign of my current favorite presidential aspirant: Carly Fiorina. To do so, I will look at what happened to Sarah Palin in the wake of her dynamic speech accepting the GOP nomination for Vice President. Palin's presentation was so energetic and moving that she instantly became a target of smears by progressives across the nation, particularly progressive feminists. Her hair, clothing, accent, and family were demeaned, degraded, and dismissed during the 2008 campaign season, and her humiliation is still not complete (e.g., Jon Stewart deriding the "folksy idioms" used by Palin during the Iowa Freedom Summit). Fiornia just gave a brilliant performance and an amazing introduction to the American people...so let the mocking begin:

Posted by Leslie Eastman on August 04, 2015 20 Comments
The Democratic Party side of the 2016 Presidential race got a bit more intriguing this week, after Vice President Joe Biden released a zeppelin-sized trial balloon:
Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and his associates have begun to actively explore a possible presidential campaign, which would upend the Democratic field and deliver a direct threat to Hillary Rodham Clinton, several people who have spoken to Mr. Biden or his closest advisers say. Mr. Biden’s advisers have started to reach out to Democratic leaders and donors who have not yet committed to Mrs. Clinton or who have grown concerned about what they see as her increasingly visible vulnerabilities as a candidate. ...On Saturday, the New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd reported that Mr. Biden had been holding meetings at his residence, “talking to friends, family and donors about jumping in” to challenge Mrs. Clinton in Iowa and New Hampshire, the first two nominating states.
There can be no doubt that the Democratic Party is rethinking its coronation strategy. Legal Insurrection has chronicled Hillary Clinton's problem-riddled campaign. The "highlights" from last month alone include these chestnuts.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on August 02, 2015 14 Comments
Environmental activists have relied heavily on computer models to predict climate patterns confirming their notion that mankind is toxic. However, recent studies have shown models have failed to consider real world conditions in their calculations. Exhibit 1 - Sea ice is more resilient to melting than thought:
Using new satellite data, researchers at University College London reported in Nature Geoscience on Monday that the total volume of sea ice in the Northern Hemisphere was well above average in the autumn of 2013, traditionally the end of the annual melt season, after an unusually cool summer when temperatures dropped to levels not seen since the 1990s. “We now know it can recover by a significant amount if the melting season is cut short,” said the study’s lead author Rachel Tilling, a researcher who studies satellite observations of the Arctic. “The sea ice might be a little more resilient than we thought.”
Exhibit 2 - The effects of the vast deserts of the Earth have not been considered, and it appears that a good portion of emitted carbon dioxide is disappearing within them.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on August 02, 2015 44 Comments
As the Internet Mob rages against the American dentist who killed the famed lion, Cecil, there is a new potential target for its ire: The hunter's "glamourous" wife.
Tonette Palmer was formerly the vice president of a family-run import and export company although recent employment records list her as secretary for a Minneapolis real estate developer. The mother-of-two seemingly shares her husband's zeal for killing wildlife, with public records revealing that she has held as many as seven sport licenses entitling her to fish in Florida and hunt in Alaska. Her husband's numerous kills - all by bow and arrow - include a moose, a buffalo, a polar bear and a mountain lion. Their two homes are thought to be crammed with stuffed heads and mementos from his safari slaughter spree, with more items stored in his personal office at his dental surgery in Bloomington, Minnesota.
Egads! How dare this woman have hunting licenses! The piece goes on to reveal that the dentist, Walter Palmer, and his wife enjoy $1 million home filled with hunting trophies. Based on this article, the media seems to be expanding its net of outrage to include Palmer's children, too, as it describes the marriage of his daughter. Fueling the fire of environmental justice outrage that is now consuming Palmer and those close to him, the report is essentially nothing more than a caricature of a rich, selfish family completely devoid of compassion for nature.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on July 28, 2015 6 Comments
When all is said and done, one feature of Obama's presidency that will stand out is the sheer number of citizen protests against his policies. Such protests began in 2009, when regular Americans organized to protest federal fiscal policies, tax increases, and Obamacare. In fact, Professor Jacobson was recently treated to a taste of the zaniness our San Diego Tea Party groups often faced, in the form of progressive demonstrators protesting the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) event he was attending. However, showing that not all Californians are crazy, concerned citizens gathered in Balboa Park this weekend to protest the administration's latest pet project: the proposed nuclear agreement with Iran.
About 500 protesters came together Sunday in Balboa Park to speak out against the pending nuclear weapons agreement with Iran, a centerpiece of President Barack Obama’s foreign policy. The Stop Iran Now event was organized by StandWithUs, an international nonprofit organization that is pro-Israel and headquartered in Los Angeles, the site of another rally also held Sunday. Both rallies were part of a larger initiative with the Jewish Rapid Response Coalition, the same group that organized a protest in New York City's Times Square last week that brought out thousands of protesters.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on July 26, 2015 20 Comments
Despite the fact that poll numbers are tanking so badly for Hillary Clinton that there is a new movement to draft Joe Biden, it turns out she has some competition for biggest drop in favorability! New numbers from Gallop for Pope Francis show a significant drop in support for the pontiff. The favorability rating is now at 59%, down from 76% in early 2014.
...The drop in the pope's favorable rating is driven by a decline among Catholics and political conservatives, two groups that have been ardent supporters of the modern papacy. Seventy-one percent of Catholics say they have a favorable image of Francis, down from 89% last year. Pope Francis' drop in favorability is even starker among Americans who identify as conservative -- 45% of whom view him favorably, down sharply from 72% last year. This decline may be attributable to the pope's denouncing of "the idolatry of money" and linking climate change partially to human activity, along with his passionate focus on income inequality -- all issues that are at odds with many conservatives' beliefs.
Why the plunge? As an independent conservative who is also Catholic, I must admit I am none too thrilled at the attacks on capitalism as a "structurally perverse" global economic system. I assert that these remarks that are too political and secular for a man who should be focused on more spiritual matters.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on July 23, 2015 35 Comments
A new study has recently been published that has really heated up Climate Change arguments. Valentina Zharkova, a professor of mathematics at Northumbria University in the United Kingdom, used a new model of the sun's solar cycle and its periodic change in solar radiation emissions to predict a "mini Ice Age" may begin shortly.
The earth is 15 years from a "mini ice-age" that will cause bitterly cold winters during which rivers such as the Thames freeze over, scientists have predicted. Solar researchers at the University of Northumbria have created a new model of the sun's activity which they claim produces "unprecedentedly accurate predictions". They said fluid movements within the sun, which are thought to create 11-year cycles in the weather, will converge in such a way that temperatures will fall dramatically in the 2030s. Solar activity will fall by 60 per cent as two waves of fluid "effectively cancel each other out", according to Prof Valentina Zharkova.
Legal Insurrection covered this concept, termed "Maunder Minimums," is a previous post related to global warming.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on July 22, 2015 25 Comments
After enjoying gloriously warm and sunny weather during my northern European "apology tour", I was astonished return and find California's mega-drought seemingly ended with record rainfall.
San Diegans woke up Monday after record-breaking storms brought up to four inches of rain in one community and more than an inch in many others. “Amazing is the best way to put it,” NBC 7’s Meteorologist Jodi Kodesh said as she described the amount of rainfall San Diego County received in 48 hours. ...Saturday's rainfall broke records in at least 11 locations, including five places that had the most rain ever recorded on any day in July, according to the National Weather Service.
Now, our media is focusing on "El Niño" and predicting the Golden State will be hit with floods.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on July 07, 2015 6 Comments
During my family’s visit of Berlin, Germany yesterday, an American president was prominently featured as part of the tour we took. Our guide spoke glowingly of a speech that he heard, and one which still resonates with him to this day. As we passed the Bradenburg Gate, he quoted Ronald Reagan's 1987 speech by saying, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"
Our guide lived 3 blocks away from the infamous Berlin Wall, the remnants of which are covered in art and graffiti or which are boxed up as souvenirs of a seemingly distant era. While the entire speech is iconic, reviewing Reagan's words again, I was struck by this passage:

Posted by Leslie Eastman on July 05, 2015 41 Comments
After California became the epicenter of a measles outbreak earlier this year, the state's legislature proposed a tough, new bill making vaccinations for children attending public school mandatory (with few exceptions.) Governor Jerry Brown just signed that bill into law.
Gov. Jerry Brown on Tuesday signed into law one of the nation’s strictest childhood vaccination requirements, approving a bill that generated multiple protests and controversy as it moved through the Legislature. Senate Bill 277, authored by Sacramento pediatrician state Sen. Richard Pan and former Santa Monica-Malibu school board president state Sen. Ben Allen, eliminates parents’ ability to claim “personal belief” exemptions to schoolchildren’s vaccine requirements at both private and public schools in California. Only medical exemptions, approved by a doctor, will be allowed under the law. A licensed physician will have to write a letter explaining the child’s medical circumstances that make immunization unsafe for that child.
Opponents are so unhappy with the new rule that they began preparing a lawsuit before the ink had dried.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on June 28, 2015 19 Comments
Mark Twain once wrote that "A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes." In the age of the internet, that saying should be updated to "three times around the world", as is evidenced by the story behind the resignation of a British scientist. I recently reported that Dr. Tim Hunt, a Nobel-prizing winning physiologist, a British knight, and a leading advocate for science education that is usually promoted by women’s rights activists, made a lame joke about single-sex labs. His punishment in the wake of a vicious social justice campaign was his forced resignation from the University College London. New revelations about the speech and the context of the joke have surfaced. An account of a European Commission Official who took detailed minutes of the event adds key information absent from the original report:
According to the new account, Sir Tim started with: “It’s strange that such a chauvinist monster like me has been asked to speak to women scientists,” which makes clear he mocking sexism, rather than indulging in it. St. Louis reported this as Hunt simply admitting: “he has a reputation as a male chauvinist.”

Posted by Leslie Eastman on June 27, 2015 10 Comments
One one hand, it is comforting to know President Obama can target the enemy and use American resources to counter it. On the other hand, it is very disturbing when that enemy is . . . climate change. Obama is acting upon his delusion that the biggest global security threats involve weather patterns and he's now calling on American troops to respond.
A recent Government Accountability Office report examined the Defense Department’s role in the Arctic, which increasingly will include “monitoring the changing Arctic conditions,” such as ice levels. The administration contends that changing ice levels in the Arctic could require additional U.S. military presence in the region, justifying the need for the Pentagon to commit significant time and resources to monitoring the effects of climate change.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on June 25, 2015 40 Comments
As summer officially opens, battle lines are being drawn in the war against "cultural appropriation". This particular engagement pits Sioux Indians against a counter-cultural group that loves Native Americans a little too much.
The peace and love were interrupted by profanity Monday as Rainbow Family members confirmed their plan to congregate an estimated 5,000 people July 1 to July 7 somewhere in the Black Hills, but were immediately confronted by opponents of the gathering. ...The Rainbow Family of Living Light is a loose association of people who’ve been gathering since 1972 around the ideals of peace and healing. Some Native Americans have expressed concern that the gathering is not appropriate for the Black Hills, considered sacred Indian lands. Before the indoor meeting began, Native American activist James Swan, of the United Urban Warrior Society, parked a pickup west of the building, planted two flags and used a portable sound system to berate the Rainbow Family contingent that was gathered under a light rain on the west lawn of the visitor center.
I must admit, having your culture appropriated by The Rainbow Family of Living Light would be disturbing, as this video clearly shows:

Posted by Leslie Eastman on June 23, 2015 20 Comments
The federal government is regulating the American meal, again. This time, the target is trans-fat!
The Obama administration is ordering food companies to phase out the artery-clogging trans fats that can lead to heart disease, the country's leading cause of death. The Food and Drug Administration announced Tuesday that it would require food makers to stop using trans fats — found in processed foods like pie crusts, frostings and microwave popcorn — over the next three years.
It turns out California has banned trans fats since 2008, when our "conservative" Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill outlawing them. When I was at the local doughnut shop yesterday, with my husband (who requested the fat-laden extravaganza for his Father's Day Breakfast), I asked the proprietor about living with the trans fat ban. She explained that while she readily complied with the rules, at added expense passed onto the customer, some other shops continued using the banned ingredients. She noted that several were closed temporarily, until legal items arrived. These facilities were then regularly reinspected for compliance. Imagine this on a large scale. It is anticipated that the conversion will cost food manufacturers billions .