A friend sent this to me…I thought FR readers would enjoy this too!

For My Democratic Friends:

Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, our best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasion and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to observe religious or secular traditions at all.

I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the generally accepted calendar year 2007, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures.

… Read More

The Federal Election Commission just issued this statement on today’s settlements of cases against the SwiftBoat Veterans and MoveOn.com for alleged 527 committee campaign act violations:

"The Federal Election Commission announced today that it has reached settlements with three 527 organizations accused of violating the federal campaign finance laws during the 2004 presidential election. The League of Conservation Voters 527 and 527II, MoveOn.org Voter Fund, and Swiftboat Veterans and POWs for Truth have collectively paid almost $630,000 to settle charges that they failed to register and file disclosure reports as federal political committees, and accepted contributions in violation of federal limits and source prohibitions. The Commission approved all three conciliation agreements by a vote of 6-0."… Read More

NBC reports Sen. Tim Johnson, Democrat, has had a stroke.

According to Reuters, U.S. Sen. Tim Johnson, Democrat of South Dakota, had an apparent stroke on Wednesday at his office in Washington and has been hospitalized, NBC News reported.

The condition of the 59-year-old Johnson was unknown, the network said.

When the 110th Congress convenes on January 4, there will be 49 Democrats in the Senate, 49 Republicans and two independents. But the two independents will align themselves with the Democrats, giving them majority control of the Senate.

South Dakota’s governor, Michael Rounds, who would appoint any successor if there is a vacancy, is a Republican.… Read More

In a brazen attempt to yank to the hard-left the discussions about how to deal with the fact that many Californians do not carry health care insurance, Senator Don Perata, the liberal President of the California State Senate predictably rolled out yesterday a massive government intervention into the healthcare marketplace. Perata is proposing that a hefty lien (tax, fee, or whatever you want to call it) on California employers to ‘provide’ health insurance for those Californian’s who are employed, but do not have coverage. Of course the impact of such a proposal will be exactly counter to what discussions are trying to achieve. If the goal is to reduce the number of Californians who are not currently buying health insurance, then putting Californians out of work, increasing the state’s unemployment numbers, and reducing income to the state of California but stifling tax-producing businesses, is not the way to go. The path towards seeing the number of uninsured Californians reduced is two-fold. The first is working to increase the income to these folks — through better jobs. Secondly there is the need to bring… Read More

In a brazen attempt to yank to the hard-left the discussions about how to deal with the fact that many Californians do not carry health care insurance, Senator Don Perata, the liberal President of the California State Senate predictably rolled out yesterday a massive government intervention into the healthcare marketplace. Perata is proposing that a hefty lien (tax, fee, or whatever you want to call it) on California employers to ‘provide’ health insurance for those Californian’s who are employed, but do not have coverage. Of course the impact of such a proposal will be exactly counter to what discussions are trying to achieve. If the goal is to reduce the number of Californians who are not currently buying health insurance, then putting Californians out of work, increasing the state’s unemployment numbers, and reducing income to the state of California but stifling tax-producing businesses, is not the way to go. The path towards seeing the number of uninsured Californians reduced is two-fold. The first is working to increase the income to these folks — through better jobs. Secondly there is the need to bring… Read More

State Senate President Don Perata has introduced (and I know this will shock you) a health care proposal that would create a massive new government healthcare bureaucracy in California.

He uses some of the modeling and rhetoric of the plan enacted in Massachusetts. I have news for everyone — that plan is bad news.

We need an action plan that moves government away from the healthcare arena. It is a vibrant economy with more jobs that pay more money that will allow Californians to purchase health insurance. Don Perata is basically offering up a welfare plan, that is a total left-wing proposal. I guess Perata is a shrewd negotiator, starting out with a radical, liberal concept like this. It’s scary.

Here’s what the CATO Institute has to say in a preamble to an insightful study they did on the Massachusetts plan:

Massachusetts has enacted one of the most far-reaching state health insurance reform packages in recent decades.… Read More

Today, Assembly member Spitzer commented on the problem of prison overcrowding in California. A number of stories in a number of papers talked about Judge Karlton’s decision, but missed one very important point. Judge Karlton attributed the overcrowding to "Governor Schwarzenegger’s support of the three strikes law."

Judge Karlton is wrong. Dangerously wrong.

Three Strikes has done more to relieve prison overcrowding than any other single law in recent history. More important, Californians are safer today because of three strikes than they were in the 1970’s when Jerry Brown (our soon to be Attorney General) and his judges (more particularly Rose Bird) were letting bad guys go to relieve prison overcrowding.

In the two years following the passage of the three strikes law, California’s crime rate dropped 45 per cent. Despite the stories of pizza and underwear thieves being sentenced to life, people in the state got it. They figured out that two serious or violent felonies were enough. If a criminal was stupid enough to commit a third felony, that crimimalwas likely to continue to be a threat to the safety of… Read More

Calpeek is one of the "must subscribe" political newsletters in California. Dick Rosengarten is always a credible source and has a stable of consultants and political leaders on both sides of the aisle. You can find out more here.

Calpeek’sDecember 11,2006 edition has the following article about the CRP turnout operation and what others think. This echo’s what I hear almost daily from consultants, candidates, party activists, and GOPcounty chairs. May won’t speak up for fear of the Governor’s political operation. (You’ll know it isn’t my writing bcause the grammar and speliing is pretty good).

One part of the story isn’t correct. We still don’t have a full accounting!

DOUBTS STILL LINGER ABOUT $20 MILLION CALIF. REPUBLICAN PARTY GOTV EFFORT THAT FLOPPED