As I write this, California conservative icon Tom McClintock is announcing his candidacy for Congress in the 4th Congressional District, where incumbent John Doolittle is retiring.

FR’s Meredith Turney is at the event, and will bring us some post-press conference coverage. So stay tuned!… Read More

California legislators are notorious for their many harebrained ideas, but some proposals are such an affront to commonsense and decency that it is impossible to comprehend their motivation. Senator Alan Lowenthal is the author of one of the most shocking bills introduced in the state senate not just this year, but in many years. SB 1322 would actually allow the promotion of communism in California’s public schools. Yes, communism—the very government system responsible for the deaths of an estimated 100 million people since its implementation.

Under current law in California, it is illegal for communist organizations to use public school or community college property for their meetings. Senator Lowenthal wants to strike that law. He also wants to strike the law that requires public (government) employees forswear membership in an organization (the Communist Party) bent on the “forceful or violent” overthrow of the United States government.

But that’s not the worst of it. Senator Lowenthal also wants to strike the law that prohibits a… Read More

A couple of weeks ago, the delegates to the California Republican Party Convention adopted a strong, bold platform to serve as the ideological and policy document for the State GOP for the next four years.

Along with many others, I was proud to serve as a member of the Platform Committee that adopted this platform. It represents a lot of work by a lot of people, and I encourage all FlashReport readers to take a few minutes to peruse it. It is broken down into sections and is quite easy to digest. A lot of CRP members took a leadership role in the drafting of this document, certainly worthy of specific mention would be Mike Schroeder, Mike Spence, Mark Pruner, and Laura Gadke, with whom I worked closely in the process. But the overall effort included dozens of great Republicans, and the final version that you have here before you represents an additional five hours of work by the Platform Committee at the convention, with many different additions and revisions. CRP Chairman Ron Nehring and Committee… Read More

A couple of weeks ago, the delegates to the California Republican Party Convention adopted a strong, bold platform to serve as the ideological and policy document for the State GOP for the next four years.

Along with many others, I was proud to serve as a member of the Platform Committee that adopted this platform. It represents a lot of work by a lot of people, and I encourage all FlashReport readers to take a few minutes to peruse it. It is broken down into sections and is quite easy to digest. A lot of CRP members took a leadership role in the drafting of this document, certainly worthy of specific mention would be Mike Schroeder, Mike Spence, Mark Pruner, and Laura Gadke, with whom I worked closely in the process. But the overall effort included dozens of great Republicans, and the final version that you have here before you represents an additional five hours of work by the Platform Committee at the convention, with many different additions and revisions. CRP Chairman Ron Nehring and Committee… Read More

Hell hath no fury like a defense contractor scorned or members of Congress miffed at a Pentagon decision impacting jobs and a major American corporation during an election year. Boeing, American labor and a motley crew of all stripes are rallying to protest the recent $40 billion Air Force contract awarded to Los Angeles-based Northrop Grumman (Airbus, et al) for next generation aerial tankers built on an Airbus airframe. Here, here, and here.

Speaker Pelosi and Democratic members continue the push on "ethics reform", here and here, from The Hill and Roll Call respectively.

The McClintock or McClintock-hinted race in Rep. Doolittle’s soon-to-be former seat is noted in… Read More

After reading Jon’s post about the Legislative Analyst I was compelled to disagree in writing on several points.

You aren’t going to hear anything from me that encourages tax increases. It would be my preference to eliminate large sections of the state government. Despite this preferred course of action the comments Jon made about the role of the LAO and their budget proposal should not go unchallenged.

The budget proposal from the Governor that Jon praises is the easy way out. It makes 10% cuts to most all state programs. This assumes that all state programs are of equal value to the people of California. That is clearly not the case. It also makes it easy to grow all of those programs back to full-size when revenues increase.

Some people may be looking at revenue shortages as a problem. They should be looked at as opportunities to restructure… Read More

Just when you think that the legislature doesn’t know how to trim the fat they come up with this kind of bill. AB 2352 (Fuentes) would expand Child Abuse laws to allow courts to take away kids from their parents if they are too fat.

No. I’m not making this up! Your Fatty Patty eats too many Ding Dongs and presto they are with a foster family. The bill doesn’t increase the reimbursement rate foster families need for thethe caloric intakethat these jumbo juveniles crave.

As a result this bill will lead to more abuse. Kids used to eating Cheetos and playing video games could be locked in rooms with treadmills and celery. It isn’t funny. It could get that bad.

One has to wonder how this bill will be enforced. Will teachers be mandatory reporters of poor Obese Clarisse as she waddles down her high school hall?

What happens if Burley Hurley gets rounded up and sent to a prison for the plump, but still keeps the weight on? Will the counselors and other be arrested for the “abuse” inflicted on him?

Hopefully, the Assembly will realize that real child abuse… Read More

I’m not sure whether to dub this "Who’s on First?" or the "Chicken or the Egg," but I see where it’s going.

Steve Francis: "Those were my ideas, thanks for using them."

Jerry Sanders: "I was working on them before you announced them as part of your plan."

Francis: "No you weren’t, you stole them from me."

Sanders: "No I didn’t."

Francis: "Yes you did."

Sanders: "Did not."

Francis: "Did too."

Whatever….here’s the Francis press release:

Steve Francis Pleased Mayor Sanders Adopts his Taxpayer Protection Plan San Diego — Steve Francis, candidate for Mayor, released the following statement today in response to Mayor Jerry Sanders’ press conference today announcing his support of Steve’s Taxpayer Protection Plan:

"I was pleased to learn that Jerry Sanders held a press conference today and announced his public support for two components… Read More