Yesterday, Governor Schwarzenegger decided that he would ‘stick it in the eye’ of legislative Republicans by signing a bill authored by liberal Democrat Carol Migden of San Francisco, SB 376. We’ve spoken here before about Schwarzenegger’s "bi-partisan, party of one" and signing this bill is a great example — in the State Senate, EVERY Republican voted against is, and in the State Assembly EVERY Republican voted against is, as did one Democrat. That’s right, SB 376 arrived on Governor Schwarzenegger’s desk WITHOUT A SINGLE LEGISLATIVE REPUBLICAN VOTE. (Don’t take my word for it, the Senate and Assembly votes are attached below…) What does the bill do? In essence it would give the authority to the City Attorney of the County and City of San Francisco to file "unfair competition actions" and "pursue recovery of a civil penalty therefor without authorization from the district attorney." Given that particular city’s unique ability to elect total left wing nuts to office, why would we… Read More

I’ve known Richard Pombo since before he ever a Congressman. He’s a great guy, with a lot of integrity, and there isn’t a dishonest bone in his body. That said, by the time the onslaught against him was over in Congressional District 11 last November, Pombo was out of office because of a lot of accusatory voter communication that made it out like Richard was tainted by a rather iffy connection to the now-imprisoned Jack Abramoff. Pombo is a great example of how it is perception, not reality that often times matters the most in the arena of politics. To be honest, I don’t really know Guy Houston (pictured to the left) too well. We’ve met a few times, and I find him to be quite pleasant. He’s a good conservative, and he has some great people on his staff. Like the rest of us, he has seen Mr. Smith Goes To Washington, I’m… Read More

History and arts are full of examples of how the acquisition of power leads to the corruption of the individual who seeks and obtains power. The Stars Wars movies are an anthology of how one person seeks to obtain power for good reasons (to save the life of the woman he loves) and it turns him into the evil Darth Vader. The Lord of the Rings trilogy is about how the power of the one ring can destroy anyone who wields that power, and that the only way to preserve society is to destroy that power. Indeed, the story of the recent Republican reign in Congress is the story of how the acquisition and maintainence of power led to corruption at a variety of levels. Duke Cunningham and Jack Abramoff were not the worst of the offenders. The worst was those who used their power, and the massive federal budget, to try to ensure their continuance in power. Earmarks, pork in the common parlance, are the source of that corruption. Subtle though it may be, the use of other people’s money to buy support for the maintainence of power is the worst kind of corruption there is, and Republicans, who promised not to engage in that kind of behavior, deserved to lose Congress for… Read More

My initial commentary on war profiteer Michael Moore’s visit to the State Capitol a few weeks back drew the ire of liberals all over the state. Now a new op ed in the Wall Street Journal adds to the mountain of evidence of Canada’s failed single payer health system. I dare say there is as much evidence of the disaster of single payer throughout the world as let’s say – global warming!

So let me use the liberal line on this: the debate is over. Single payer health insurance funded by government is an abject failure.… Read More

Former State Senator Republican Leader Jim Nielson, who retired from the Senate back in 1990, has decided that he is ready, once again, to serve the residents of the "North State" (as FR blogger Assemblyman Doug LaMalfa likes to refer to his sprawling 2nd District). This morning Nielson (pictured to the right, with Tom McClintock in the background), the youngest Senate GOP Leader in California history, is currently serving as a Deputy Commissioner of the California Board of Prison Terms. The Second Assembly District is ‘safe’ GOP territory, and LaMalfa is currently in his third and final term (though gearing up for a State Senate run himself in 2010).

As someone who served many years in the State Senate, we’ll be looking more at Nielson’s record as a Republican. That said, I do remember that Nielson co-authored (with Paul Gann) the Victims Bill of Rights. And in recent years, we’ve… Read More

For anyone following the current debate in Washington with the President, Teddy Kennedy and others trying to push through a terrible amnesty bill, this video below is a "must see" — Ronald Reagan’s former Attorney General and close friend Ed Meese contemplates on what the Gipper would think of this current proposal… ALERT: AP is reporting that the amnesty bill wen’t down – 14 votes short of what it needed. YEAH!… Read More

Former State Senator Republican Leader Jim Nielson, who retired from the Senate back in 1990, has decided that he is ready, once again, to serve the residents of the "North State" (as FR blogger Assemblyman Doug LaMalfa likes to refer to his sprawling 2nd District). This morning Nielson (pictured to the right, with Tom McClintock in the background), the youngest Senate GOP Leader in California history, is currently serving as a Deputy Commissioner of the California Board of Prison Terms. The Second Assembly District is ‘safe’ GOP territory, and LaMalfa is currently in his third and final term (though gearing up for a State Senate run himself in 2010).

As someone who served many years in the State Senate, we’ll be looking more at Nielson’s record as a Republican. That said, I do remember that Nielson co-authored (with Paul Gann) the Victims Bill of Rights. And in recent years, we’ve… Read More

CRP hired the wrong guy to be COO. Plain and simple. As many of you know the CRP has hired Bill Christiansen as the new temporary COO. First, we hear Billis an American, although I haven’t seen proof. Second, Bill is an accomplished political operative, former ED in Orange County and Arizona,a graduate of UCLA and of course his last gig was as the statewide coordinater for Victory ’06. For those of you new to the Victory ’06 saga, it was the statewide arm of the CAGOP that spent massively on behalf of the Governor (I would argue and the evidence indicates at the expense of everyone else on the ticket.) See here, its just not me. … Read More