AB 1471, legislation to require a microscopic stamping of every cartridge as it is fired in a semi-auto pistol, passes today with no Republican support, 44-31. This bill was tried last year by Asm. Paul Koretz, where it was stopped late at night on our floor after coming back from the Senate. The pretense being that ID’d casings, tied to a particular gun,left behind at a shooting would help solve that crime.

The argument that marking bullet casings with a micro-small ID number struck by the firing pinis a way to solve crimes doesn’t hold water for Reeps, what with the fact that it is easy for a criminal to file down the firing pin, or toss other-numbered cartridges outto confuse investigation ofa crime scene, or usea revolver that doesn’t eject shells at a crime scene, not to mention that real world studies show that the numbers frequently mis-stamp and aren’t reliable. Theseare among just a few reasons why this bill won’t solve anything…and why the Governor needs to veto it should it make it’s merry way through the Senate again this year.… Read More

While leading by 88 votes after election, the final count is in and GOP Candidate Roy Burns lost by 238 votes out of over 130,000 votes cast. See previous post here.

Read how the New Majority spent $170,000 to help a Democrat win by 20 points and gave ZERO to Roy Burns here.

It should be pointed out that the Republican Party of Los Angeles County did endorse Burns and the Los Angeles County Lincoln Clubs did contribute to his campaign.

You can read the New Majority Political Consultant’s retort that giving money to Deomcrats and none to Republicans is putting "Kids over Politics" here.… Read More

An interesting piece in VoiceofSanDiego today about AMN Healthcare Exec and former mayoral candidate Steve Francis, including his ongoing efforts to better City Hall and keep his name in play for the future. Francis foes — of course — say such activism is only about thelatter, but as I’ve opined before, positive efforts regarding the City of SD are welcome, regardless of any personal agenda that may also be gained in the process.

The VoSD entry by Evan McLaughlin may focus a bit too much for Francis’ tastes on whether he will take on sitting Mayor Jerry Sanders, but as long as Steve is leaving that option open, the questions are bound to be the focus of any media story.

A friend and local consultant provides the quote in the article that truly hits home, politically, whether one likes the reality or not:

"I don’t expect anyone to run against the mayor. And frankly, anyone thinking about it doesn’t have good political acumen," said Jennifer Jacobs, a Republican political strategist. In reference to Francis, Jacobs added: "I think he would make a great mayor, but… Read More

“Peace is not the absence of conflict, but the presence of justice.” [Harrison Ford in the movie, “Air Force One”]

Memorial Day at the Presidio was as full of pageantry as it was solemnity. The day was bright, but brisk, yet the grounds were packed with visitors of every age, gathered to pay tribute and give thanks to the more than one million American military men and women who have given their lives in our nation’s wars. The Rose and Moore families were given the gift of communal grieving for their sons’ sacrifice in Iraq, and the mothers of these two San Francisco heroes laid wreaths at the feet of the warrior’s battlefield memorial, a rifle upright with a Kevlar helmet atop the weapon. Every mother who has a child in harm’s way is a “Blue Star” mother, but these two women were honored in a way no mother every wants to be honored…by becoming a “Gold Star” mother of a child who has fallen in combat. The community shared some small piece of their pain, and many in the audience who had… Read More

If you’ve been following the saga of Fresno Unified School District at all, you know that the current Board President, Carol Mills, is involved in an ongoing cold war with the Superintendent, Michael Hanson. Hanson just happens to be one of the best School District CEOs in the United States, and nothing makes the teachers unions more angry than competent District leadership.

Mills is a micromanaging proxy for teachers union President Larry Moore, so there is no surprise about the tension. And if Hanson gets run out of town, there will be hell to pay for not only Mills, but the Board members that have been foolishly supporting her in the face of a growing public resentment of her conduct and a grand jury report to back it up..

Now several elected officials have weighed in, with a diplomatic, yet to the point letter, which asks Mills to get her act together. Although I would have like to have seen stronger language, it is gratifying to see… Read More

Last week, in what has been characterized as a "highly unusual" action, State Senate President Pro-Tem Don Perata convened a hastily called meeting of the Senate Rules Committee where, with no notice (and on a party-line vote), he "rushed through" a reappointment of Sara Wan as a State Senate appointee to the California Coastal Commission. Sara Wan is the ultra-liberal former Chairman of the Commission who has been at the center of many controversies. Why would Perata "rush" this at the last minute, on the date her term was set to expire?

First of all, there are really only three groups of people out there who really know who Wan is…

1) The eco-nut, ultra-leftist, anti-human activists (the base from which Wan comes, and from where she derives her support). These folks are the ones who believe that there is some sort of moral equivalance between the El… Read More

Last week, in what has been characterized as a "highly unusual" action, State Senate President Pro-Tem Don Perata convened a hastily called meeting of the Senate Rules Committee where, with no notice (and on a party-line vote), he "rushed through" a reappointment of Sara Wan as a State Senate appointee to the California Coastal Commission. Sara Wan is the ultra-liberal former Chairman of the Commission who has been at the center of many controversies. Why would Perata "rush" this at the last minute, on the date her term was set to expire?

First of all, there are really only three groups of people out there who really know who Wan is…

1) The eco-nut, ultra-leftist, anti-human activists (the base from which Wan comes, and from where she derives her support). These folks are the ones who believe that there is some sort of moral equivalance between the El… Read More

Bill Bradley, the normally diligent and well-researched author of the New West Notes blog, offers this factually inaccurate and lazily researched piece in the latest edition of LA Weekly. Choosing to pander to LA Weekly’s liberal readership, Bradley ignores well-documented evidence to regurgitate the tired, out-dated themes of a new right-wing conspiracy. Yes, that same right-wing conspiracy that Hillary Clinton revealed over nine years ago and that has twice-elected "post-partisan" Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, is both new and radically right-wing.

Bradley’s flawed contention is that the Republican Party has been taken over by a new radical, conservative faction of Flash Report-blogging politicos. He cites “the rise of new, very far right party leaders: Fleischman, Tom Del Beccaro and Mike Spence” as evidence of his claim.

Never mind that Bradley’s article is laced with small inaccuracies to artificially bolster his argument, such as referring to Jon Fleischman as the… Read More