In a federal government "taking" that even a conservative can support, President Bush today signed the legislation to save the Mt. Soledad War Memorial and its hilltop cross. This may not be news to most readers, but thought you might want to see the photo, compliments of Congressman Brian Bilbray’s office…..

L to R, William Kellogg, Phil Thalheimer, Brian Bilbray, Darrell Issa, GW, Duncan Hunter, Charles LiMandri. (Attached below is the larger photo….great shot!) Here ismy weekend post on the bill signing, if you missed it.

Below is Pastor Chris Clark’s 2:54 pm email:

Greetings!

Just a few minutes ago, President Bush signed into a law the bill that officially makes the Mount Soledad National War Memorial property of the federal government!

From the efforts nearly two years ago to make Soledad a… Read More

OK – this is worth a minute of your time today. As if Phil Angelides wasn’t already completed bracketed as the big taxer and spender that he is, the Schwarzenegger has prepared a short reminder of how many different taxes he has pledged to raise. Even more alarming (if possible) than his billions in proposed tax increases are that just some of his proposed spending increases that total close to $20 billion. Good grief. Check out the video here.

Below are some facts to chew on after watching it… (Sorry if it goes on awhile. Blame Phil Angelides for being so specific on so many occasions on how much he will tax and spend California’s economy into the gutter.) Phil Angelides Has Already Promised To Raise Taxes $5 Billion…… Read More

It’s been a tough year for U.S. Rep. Joe Baca (D-Rialto), who lost several skirmishes with fellow DemocratsculminatinginJune primary electiondefeat forhis two sons, Assemblyman Joe Baca Jr. in the 32nd Senate District primary and Jeremy Baca in the 62nd Assembly District.

It’s true that "Working Joe" has never beena favorite son of the Democrat party (he’s not considered liberal or effective enough, believe it or not). It’s also not unusual for a legislator, especially a congressman, to be accused of losing touch with the local political base. But Mr. Baca seems to take it a step further by demonstrating utter cluelessness about the goings on and operations of his own party.

For example, two days after Baca Junior’s Senate Primary defeat at the hands ofAssemblywoman Gloria Negrete-McLeod, Baca Senior told the Press Enterprise that Republicans were secretly backing the liberal Negrete-McLeodbecause she would be easier for the GOP nomineeto defeat in the November general election. Problem there was no Republican was running for the seat.

Another victorious candidate in the June… Read More

PHIL’S BAD PRESS DAY FR friend Steve Maviglio, who had been handling some press duties for Phil Angelides during the legislative break, is back at work for Speaker Nunez these days. But I am sure as he is looking at press coverage of the Gubernatorial race today, he is rolling his eyes. Since he is in Sacramento, he has to read a buzz column that starts out with a story about how basketball legend Magic Johnson was a no-show for an Angelides fundraiser. But that is only the beginning of bad-press Monday for the ersatz Governor Angelides… You have a major story in the Los Angeles Times dumping on Angelides for a lack of charisma, the Contra Costa Times wondering if Angelides will gain any traction, and then Bill Bradley on his New West Notes website throws dirt into the political grave of Angelides, highlighting that the only way he gets press is by talking about whatever the Governor is talking about, in the hopes of getting a down-story quote. And it’s only Monday, Phil! … Read More

PHIL’S BAD PRESS DAY FR friend Steve Maviglio, who had been handling some press duties for Phil Angelides during the legislative break, is back at work for Speaker Nunez these days. But I am sure as he is looking at press coverage of the Gubernatorial race today, he is rolling his eyes. Since he is in Sacramento, he has to read a buzz column that starts out with a story about how basketball legend Magic Johnson was a no-show for an Angelides fundraiser. But that is only the beginning of bad-press Monday for the ersatz Governor Angelides… You have a major story in the Los Angeles Times dumping on Angelides for a lack of charisma, the Contra Costa Times wondering if Angelides will gain any traction, and then Bill Bradley on his New West Notes website throws dirt into the political grave of Angelides, highlighting that the only way he gets press is by talking about whatever the Governor is talking about, in the hopes of getting a down-story quote. And it’s only Monday, Phil!

TERM LIMITS MEASURE WILL SINK REDISTRICTING… Read More

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LiMandri, Thalheimer, Kellogg Invited to Soledad Signing… Cheers to Duncan Hunter for his obvious involvement in arranging invites for Chuck LiMandri and Phil Thalheimer to tomorrow’s Presidential bill signing of the Mt. Soledad Veterans Memorial Protection Act. Several pleas, including my blog poston Chuck,were made to include one or both of these champions on the issue…and Duncan clearly knew they were deserving. Rick Terrazas, Hunter’s district chief, called me a couple of days after my post to let me know that the invites had been extended.

On a side note, the word is that William Kellogg of the Mt. Soledad Memorial Association has also been invited. Interesting in that the MSMA a couple of years back agreed to a settlement that called for removal of the cross in exchange for the Association gaining clear ownership of the property, which… Read More

There is a lot of interesting reading linked to the main page of the FlashReport this morning. A quick summary of the highlights:

The LA Times has Republican Congressman Gary Miller in their crosshairs. In addition to being a Member of Congress, Miller is a very successful businessman, apparently owning a lot of property. At issue in the LAT piece today are a serious of land transactions where Miller made millions of dollars in profits, but did not pay capitol gains taxes because he claimed that these property sales were forced due to eminent domain decisions by local governments. The Times says that, upon closer investigation, these sales were not compelled by local governments. I will ask you this question: If the government condemns your land, or just says, "if you don’t sell it to us, we will condemn it" — isn’t that the same thing? Carla Marinucci is a veteran political reporter and analyst at the San Francisco Chronicle. Today she pens an interesting piece on the turnabout in political fortunes of Arnold Schwarzenegger, focusing on a four-person team of … Read More