Late yesterday I returned from my three week trip to Great Britain. It was a fun time and it was great to spend so much time in another country, really getting to know the people, the places, and yes, the politics. That said, all FR readers will be happy to know that I have little intention of sharing my personal vacation experiences with you on this website, unless they somehow tie into California politics. That said, it is great to be back in the United States in time to celebrate our nation’s birthday — especially having flown here to ‘the colonies’ as they are still referred to, tongue in cheek, by some Britons. Anyone who needs to understand what our freedoms bring to us here in America need only travel abroad — even to a country as ‘civilized’ as Great Britain, and understand that we truly are privileged to live in the greatest country on the planet! We’ll keep this July 4th commentary short — and the news synopsis on the main page is short as well. As I like to point out, political reporters like to enjoy their holiday weekends just like the rest of us! I would like to… Read More

Bill Bradley, the LA Weekly columnist and former political colleague of Tom Hayden, Jane Fonda and Bob Mulholland, offered some friendly advice to FlashReport readers in a comment he posted on FR that you may have missed:

“OK, as a longtime Democratic advisor at every level turned analyst and columnist, here is my take on your situation.

“You do not live in Utah, you live in California.

“Your governor actually has his program together now and knows what he is doing.

“Deal with it.” – Bill Bradley

Bradley has been around California politics a long time (not a reference to his age, just a tip of the hat in respect to his experience in the biz) and is one of the state’s more interesting political writers, due in large part to the personal friendships and contacts he’s cultivated over the years with union leaders, campaign consultants (of both parties) and pseudo-politicos like Warren Beatty and Rob Reiner who always surface just in time to make politics… Read More

Bill Bradley, the LA Weekly columnist and former political colleague of Tom Hayden, Jane Fonda and Bob Mulholland, offered some friendly advice to FlashReport readers in a comment he posted on FR that you may have missed:

“OK, as a longtime Democratic advisor at every level turned analyst and columnist, here is my take on your situation.

“You do not live in Utah, you live in California.

“Your governor actually has his program together now and knows what he is doing.

“Deal with it.” – Bill Bradley

Bradley has been around California politics a long time (not a reference to his age, just a tip of the hat in respect to his experience in the biz) and is one of the state’s more interesting political writers, due in large part to the personal friendships and contacts he’s cultivated over the years with union leaders, campaign consultants (of both parties) and pseudo-politicos like Warren Beatty and Rob Reiner who always surface just in time to make politics… Read More

Here’s the SD Online story. The crux of the story is summed up in a few paragraphs:

Charles LiMandri, a lawyer with the Thomas More Law Center…said Kennedy’s order means the Aug. 1 deadline to remove the cross is off.

"The way I read it, that is a granting of our application," he said. LiMandri said he did not think Kennedy would issue a stay "just to read the papers" and issue another order later.

"That is the only reasonable interpretation of what he did today," he said. "It allows this case to be litigated on the merits in the appeals court." Here also are the just-released comments from Phil Thalheimer, chairmanof San Diegans for the Mount Soledad National War Memorial:

"We are absolutely elated with today’s news. I am glad the courts have finally realized this issue is in no way about religion, and that it is simply about protecting a part of San Diego’s history and honoring those who gallantly… Read More

Well, the more things change the more things stay the same. Drudge is linking to a Reuters story concluding that the vote margin now indicates a winner in the Mexican presidential election held yesterday. At print time this morning (fromwhich I compile the main page), the national and state papers still thought the election was up in the air.

Felipe Calderon Hinojosa, theNational Action Party’s nominee for President of Mexico, the so-called conservative of Vicente Fox’s own party in the race, has declared victory. But Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the leftist of PRD, reserved the opportunity to challenge the election and throw the… Read More

It will come as no surprise to regular readers of the Flashreport that I spend a lot of time contemplating the slow, steadydecline of the GOP. It is indisputable that we hold power in Washington presently primarily due to the strong economy and decisive approach to the war against terrorists. But these are the kinds of things we are to expect a GOP government to do – so enough patting ourselves on the back for Reaganism 101.

When you combine these two policy achievements against our lack of leadership on other issues of the day – immigration, Medicare, Social Security and general government reform, and mix in a sprinkle of Pelosi, Reid and Dean, it’s not much of a surprise that we continue to eek out a majority every two years.

Tucker Carlson pens a piece for the Cato Institute on the present GOP woes and you might want to take a look this week if you get a chance.

Happy 4th!… Read More

Bill Bradley, the LA Weekly columnist and former political colleague of Tom Hayden, Jane Fonda and Bob Mulholland, offered some friendly advice to FlashReport readers in a comment he posted on FR that you may have missed:

“OK, as a longtime Democratic advisor at every level turned analyst and columnist, here is my take on your situation.

“You do not live in Utah, you live in California.

“Your governor actually has his program together now and knows what he is doing.

“Deal with it.” – Bill Bradley

Bradley has been around California politics a long time (not a reference to his age, just a tip of the hat in respect to his experience in the biz) and is one of the state’s more interesting political writers, due in large part to the personal friendships and contacts he’s cultivated over the years with union leaders, campaign consultants (of both parties) and pseudo-politicos like Warren Beatty and Rob Reiner who always surface just in time to make politics… Read More

Last week the weather in Sacramento was in the low 100’s. So, of course, I chose last week to take down a lengthy fence, overgrown with various trees and thorny shrubs on both sides, along two sides of my property. My father and I labored mightily – digging out concreted posts, sawing down tree limbs as thick as pythons, moving literally tons of wood, and in the end building a structure that vaguely resembled the wall that kept King Kong on his side of Skull Island in the old black and white movie.

I didn’t build the fence because I hate my neighbor. Admittedly, he is a‘progressive’, as is virtually everyone else in my Curtis Park neighborhood, and I am conservative.We disagree on a number of political and cultural issues that we rarely discuss. I have a Bush sticker on my car. He has a sign in his window opposing the war (strangely, he also has an old poster of Darth Vader displayedin his garage. When I pointed out that Darth Vader was hardly representative of progressive values he gave me a look that could melt butter and said that James Earl Jones – the voice of Mr. Vader – got shafted financially. I let it… Read More