Yes, there’s a song called "I am an idiot"…by Nine Inch Nails — it’s lame…like me.

You see…I’ve really worked hard at this goofy regional thing…blogs about levees…wineries…and I heardTom Berryhill cried when he read my crap about his candidacy….but you know…it’s gets hard when I see all the blogs on statewide stuff…..sexy stuff….real money at stake with the Conaway Ranch issue to be sure….but not very sexy…

So I call Fleischman..and whined…where he proceeds to admonish me that…Yes Joe…you too can write Big Boy Blogs …writeabout regional stuff…but have at it…

Wow….my first Big Boy Blog….I can’t wait….

But intill then…..I picked up that Congressman Rogan and some friends have gotten behind the following effort.

Stay Tuned…..… Read More

Here’s a great federal government in action story for you…

GOOD IDEA: Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents checking military installations throughout the country. Apparently since 9-11, the feds have been cracking down on those in the country illegally having access to military bases. Just in April, 18 foreign nationals were arrested in San Diego. Apparently they worked for a contractor to the Navy and all 18 had valid credentials to go in and out of the 32nd Street Naval Station.

POOR EXECUTION: There is an… Read More

It appears that most of the Governor’s special election issues are going down to defeat on November 8th. Paycheck Protection, Proposition 75, has the best chance of passage, which would amount to a big victory for all Californians. Conservative turnout will be the key to passage of 75. On November 9th, the map will look quite like it always does – Inland Counties supporting the Governor by wide margins, and Coastal Counties from LA northward giving him a slap across the face. So what if the Governor gets swept? What then? Let me be the first suggest giving control of the State back to the Democrats. And why not? Apparently, the people of the State don’t remember what a mess we were in just a short time ago under Democrat control. So if the Governator doesn’t run again, and the Democrats preside over their utopian form of government beginning in 2007, here’s what we have to look forward to: Multi billion dollar deficits, a credit rating lower than Ethiopia’s, Illegal immigrant driver licenses, tax increases, and a… Read More

ON SURVEYS IN THE FINALS DAYS… As we get closer and closer to election day, the media’s voracious appetite for stories related to the election will only increase. This is always the case. My favorite phenomenon takes place around now, when we get within two weeks of the big day. The press folks all look for a ‘big story’ and then rush to print it. [the visual here would b e when you put food in a fish tank, and all of the fish swarm to eat the little flakes in the water]. This is the period of time where all of these different polling companies will release information, all in the most startling manner possible, in order to gain notoriety for their individual poll.

Today’s headlines are dominated by the first of these ‘last minute’ polls — this one from the Public Policy Institute of California, based out of San Francisco. These folks have news-making down to a science. First they set up… Read More

The NO on 77 campaign used a pretty good trick to get me to open their direct mail piece…the smaller than business sized envelope has an official looking "Jury Duty is Good Citizenship" logo on the front and a personalized letter showing though a window on the envelope.

Inside they urge support of the Governor’s reform agenda EXCEPT for Prop. 77. The letter features quotes from Speaker Hastert and Congressman Doolittle. As well as text from a GOP Senate Caucus "briefing book" all suggesting Prop. 77 or some part of it is bad.

Clever. But I hear Yes on Prop. 77’s Steve Poizner is planning a lawsuit–not sure on what grounds, but stay tuned…… Read More

The Ups and Downs of The Clarksburg Sugar Mill Project

A long, long time ago…I saw Def Leppard warm up for Ozzy in Detroit…and they absolutely blew Ozzy’s band (including Randy Rhodes) off the stage…to say the least, they’ve had a roller coaster of a career since that show…drummer loses arm (bad)…slick producer saves the day (good)…alcohol kills guitarist (bad)…life certainly has it’s ups and downs…just ask my friend …the developer of the historic old Sugar Mill in Clarksburg.

A few years ago, a friend of mine, John Carvalho put forward a plan for the run-down, vacant Delta Sugar Corporation’s beet refinery – The Clarksburg Sugar Mill. John saw a converted historic brick structure becoming home to a winery, a crushing facility, to restaurants, to shops, and to homes built on the… Read More

Today I’ve written a column for the Capitol Weekly on the so-called "Shareholder Protection" measure being qualified for the June 2006 ballot by union-forces, motivated by both ‘payback’ for having Proposition 75 ("Paycheck Protection") foisted upon then, as well as to try to counter, tactically, the impact of having public employee union PAC coffers start to dry up without mandatory dues assessments on their members. In a nutshell, this measure forces a public company to have their stock holders vote before funds can be spent on political candidates or causes.

Tha analogy that union bosses are trying to make is that holders of stocks in publically traded companties deserve the same type of ‘protection’ against "their money" being used for political purposes without their express permission. This argument is comparing apples to oranges. If you are a public employee, it’s… Read More

San Francisco is a town that loves organized labor. The Board of Supervisors routinely passes labor-friendly resolutions, such as resolutions urging Head Start employees to allow their workers to unionize and opposing Assemblyman Keith Richman’s proposed ACA 5 (proposal to require new state workers to participate in a 401(k)-style system instead of the PERS system). So it’s fun when San Francisco politicians are the target of an attack from their beloved labor union allies.

San Francisco Superintendent of Schools, Arlene Ackerman, ticked off the unions this week by telling school district workers (custodians, cafeteria workers, secretaries, etc) that she plans to hire replacement workers if the union members strike, as they are threatening to do. She intends on asking the… Read More