I’m repostingyesterday’s enlightenedcomment from Dr. Ted Mazer, President of the San Diego County Medical Society and a Trustee of the California Medical Association.It’s great because it illustrates the stranglehold health insurance companies have over state government. It’s in response to my commentary over the weekend ("Schwarzenegger Wrong On Balance Billing").

The patients are only ‘in the middle’ because health plans refuse to 1)create fair contracts by negotiation such that a complete network can be obtained for 24 hour coverage for their insureds; 2) report on the inadequacy of their contracted networks and have DMHC properly oversee such shortcomings; 3) pay noncontracted physicians who are backing up the ERs at a fair and reasonable rate, or be forced to challenge… Read More

I enthusiastically celebrate the defeat of liberal Republican Congressman Joe Schwarz at the hands of a more conservative Republican last night in Michigan. I participated in the funding of the independent campaign by Club For Growth and am proud of it – and will most certainly do it again.

The bar has moved over the years. The GOP used to define liberal Republicans based on one or two issues – usually on abortion. That has changed due to the leftward move of the GOP Congress almost continuously since 1998. The budget deficit, new entitlements such as Medicare part D, a lack of leadership on border security, failure to extend the tax rate cuts, and a general concern for re-election over problem solving puts a TON of Republican incumbents into the RINO category – as measured against the Party’s stated platform and icons such as President Ronald Reagan.

For two years, because of the way Congressional Districts were rigged in the last gerrymandering, I’ve beenwriting and opining on local talk radio here in the Central Valley that the REAL problem for Congressional Republicans would not be general elections losses but… Read More

FR READERS HELP TOPPLE SCHWARZ The top story today on our "All California Politics All of the Time" is a bit of a stretch, because it is about a liberal Member of Congress from Michigan last night who lost his primary — but this was most notable because this liberal was a REPUBLICAN – Joe Schwarz. You can read the piece for more information, but let me just say that on a weekly basis, I participate with a large group of conservative activist bloggers from around the nation on a conference call (sponsored by the Heritage Foundation and Human Events Magazine) where we attempt to coordinate our activities when possible. Sinking Schwarz and electing conservative Tom Walberg in this overwhelmingly GOP House seat was set out as one of the first coordinated projects of our group. Of course it is relevant to all of us in California because it is liberal GOPers like Schwarz, who oppose the basic economic platforms of the party (among other things) that endanger our Republican majority. Schwarz opposes making the President’s tax cuts permanent. Anyways, FR readers stepped up to… Read More

FR READERS HELP TOPPLE SCHWARZ The top story today on our "All California Politics All of the Time" is a bit of a stretch, because it is about a liberal Member of Congress from Michigan last night who lost his primary — but this was most notable because this liberal was a REPUBLICAN – Joe Schwarz. You can read the piece for more information, but let me just say that on a weekly basis, I participate with a large group of conservative activist bloggers from around the nation on a conference call (sponsored by the Heritage Foundation and Human Events Magazine) where we attempt to coordinate our activities when possible. Sinking Schwarz and electing conservative Tom Walberg in this overwhelmingly GOP House seat was set out as one of the first coordinated projects of our group. Of course it is relevant to all of us in California because it is liberal GOPers like Schwarz, who oppose the basic economic platforms of the party (among other things) that endanger our Republican majority. Schwarz opposes making the President’s tax cuts permanent. Anyways, FR readers stepped up to… Read More

The San Francisco Chronicle Blog "broke" the story and the Associated Press is now running with it: Mel Gibson wrote a fundraising letter for Tom McClintock. Gasp!

And McClintock stopped using it earlier this year. Uh, gasp? No gasp? Nothing? Meaningless?

Well, if Gibson writing a fundraising letter for McClintock carries any weight or significance, then surely it is significant to point out that John Garamendi, McClintock’s opponent in the race for Lt. Governor, benefited from a fundraising letter written by Peter Yarrow, of Peter, Paul and Mary fame. Yarrow, you may or (probably) may not recall, was convicted of child molestation a few decades past and served time in jail for taking "indecent liberties" with a 14 year old girl. (Washington Times, Oct. 1, 2004) Yarrow was later pardoned by President Jimmy Carter. (Of course he was.)

In 2004, Texas Democrat Martin Frost cancelled a fundraising appearance with Yarrow, after learning of his molestation conviction. Interestingly, Frost appeared favorably in press reports for having the backbone to cancel any political appearances with… Read More

I just spoke with Andy Roth with the Club for Growth – and am excited to share some great news with FlashReport readers — one of the most liberal Republicans in Congress, Michigan’s Joe Schwarz (pictured to the right) has had his clocked cleaned in today’s primary, and was defeated by strong conservative former State Legislator Tim Walberg. Walberg was supported by conservative groups and blog sites from around the country and was able to successful trounce Schwarz. Schwarz was a leading opponent of making permanent the President’s tax cuts, and much more. You can read more about that here. A big FR thank you goes out to our readers — your generosity made a difference. Readers of the FR donated thousands of dollars to the… Read More

I had already read Tuesday’s Jon Fleischman Commentary by the time the FlashReport publisher called me later in the dayto ask if the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors had, as he had urged, rejected a proposal to "subsidize" to the tune of $700,000 the for-profit California Speedway. The proposal he spoke of was in the form of an agreement for title sponsorship of a new raceway venue and some upcoming NASCAR races.

I told Jon the Board had not rejected the proposal, and in fact approved it. Now I’ll start off by saying Jon is right to point out that San Bernardino County is a red county, and that its Board is dominated by a Republican super-majority. In fact, I believe the Board’s decision on the sponsorship package was justified based on some very sound and not un-conservative reasoning. There may be times when conservative pro-business principles seem to run counter to conservative anti-tax, limited government principles. But I don’t think this is… Read More

In a 260+ page report that took a year and a half to prepare at a cost of over $20 million of taxpayer dollars, Kroll Incorporated laid out a detailed explanation of the City of San Diego’s disastrous pension shortfall. This will probably be the best explanation we get until folks start rolling on each other in the courtroom.

In short: Carl DeMaio of the Performance Institute and whistle-blower Diann Shipione were right. And the city establishment – including many former current and former staffers and politicians – who tried to discredit them should take a few minutes to let that sink in. Like the report says in black and white: “the evidence demonstrates not mere negligence but deliberate disregard for the law, disregard for fiduciary responsibility, and disregard for the financial welfare of the city’s residents.” And the report puts much of the blame right on the shoulders of former Mayor Dick Murphy and the members of the City Council who were in office during the affair.

You can read the whole of the report at www.sandiego.gov. Particular attention should be paid to Section XI CONCLUSIONS AS TO INDIVIDUAL CULPABILITY.… Read More