I heard a great story last week from a Leonard Letter reader that I wanted to share with all of you on Pearl Harbor Day. The USS Utah was sunk in the attack on Pearl Harbor. The ship is on the opposite side of Ford Island from the Arizona and many tourists to the memorial do not even learn about the Utah or the 58 sailors still entombed in her. The Utah had a long and impressive service record before the damage at Pearl. Efforts to right and restore the ship failed so she lies on her side in the water to this day. Learn more about the Utah and her crew: I heard a great story last week from a Leonard Letter reader that I wanted to share with all of you on Pearl Harbor Day. The USS Utah was sunk in the attack on Pearl Harbor. The ship is on the opposite side of Ford Island from the Arizona and many tourists to the memorial do not even learn about the Utah or the 58 sailors still entombed in her. The Utah had a long and impressive service record before the damage at Pearl. Efforts to right and restore the ship failed so she lies on her side in the water to this day. Learn more about the Utah and her crew here. Cal DeKnikker (a Navy vet, son and grandson of Navy sailors, and… Read More

Jim Costa is a Democrat from Fresno, representing the 20th Congressional District. He says he’s a "blue dog", but I’ve exposed his 97% in agreement with Nancy Pelosi voting record. His District suffers from water shortages and record unemployment. He voted yes on the job killing, budget busting health insurance reform bill in the House.

Now, in the Central Valley Times, Costa has the solution to the current jobs crisis: spend more on infrastructure. Not only is this an intellectually lazy response to the problem – what he is really saying is this: borrow more money from foreign countries.

This is vintage Costa. I don’t know if his seat is in play next year or not. The way Obama / Pelosi / Reid are going, They might lose 75 seats due to their arrogance and incompetence. Costa isn’t doing anything to distinguish himself from the Democrat leadership that America detests.… Read More

Due to an error (on my part) the featured column from new YRFC Chairman Adam Abrahms featured on our main page had text from an older column. That error has been corrected. Please click here to read what Abrahms has to share as he assumes the reigns of this important statewide Republican organization.… Read More

Debra Bowen is a 17 year politician, the incumbent, and member of the party that holds a 2.3 million registration advantage in the state, and in her previous campaigns has been a fair, if not prolific, fundraiser.

So who or what has the California Secretary of State Debra Bowen running scared?

I suppose it could be that the drop in popularity of Democrats with the hard-left agenda of spending and borrowing of this President. It could be the significant shift of independent voters away from Bowen’s party.

But there is another reason: Damon Dunn.

Born to a 16-year old single mother in Texas and raised by his grandparents, Dunn worked hard as a student-athelete, earned a 4.0 GPA in high school and was the number 2 football recruit in Texas. He attended Stanford University where he graduated with both academic and athletic awards and spent a few years in the NFL.… Read More

The rule of three has been surpassed. More than three people have told methat Senator Dave Cogdill is planning to run for County Assessor in Stanislaus County. The current County Assessor is not seeking re-election.Imeediately speculation focuses on Cogdill. Well he is in.Cogdill’s campaign team or least part of his campaign team has been activated and are making arrangements.

Senator Cogdill recently decided not to run for re-election to the State Senate. He of course was Republican Leader of the Senate an most recently was one of the major architects of the water reform and bond.Cogdill was mentioned as a possible Lt. Governor pick before the Governor choose a fellow liberal Democrat :)

It is important to note that Cogdill was in the real estate appraisal business before his election to public office.… Read More

Service Employees Solely Bankroll San Diego County Supe Term Limits Effort… Jim Sills of SD Rostra breaks the news yesterday that the entire $250 grand raised so far to qualify a term limits initiative for County Supervisors has come from either the local chapter of SEIU or its State PAC. It is of course no surprise that labor is pushing the measure; perhaps the surprise is that SEIU hasn’t bothered to raise any funds from outside sources.

Uhhh, and perhaps that’s no surprise either.

In his SD Rostra piece, Sills creatively paraphrases Winston Churchill with, “Never have so few, donated So Much, for So Little.” He points out the apparent "philosophical disconnect," as only a year ago SEIU contributed $2,200,000 in support of Proposition 93 to overturn state term limits.

So, why the dichotomy? Does SEIU oppose or support term limits? Read Sills’ piece here.

Fleischman: Join SEIU in Supporting County Supe Term Limits?…… Read More

Last evening, House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi appeared at a event for Democrats in Orange County… Lauryn Picciano, the Executive Director of the OC GOP and President of the Orange County was on hand and sent an account of the "greetings" given to Pelosi from conservatives…

Once upon a time (Friday December 4th, 2009) Local Tea Party Organizations, Republican… Read More

Quote of the week: “I didn’t see a lot of warmth in that crowd out there that the President chose to address tonight and I thought that was interesting. He went to maybe the enemy camp tonight to make his case.” – Chris Matthews on MSNBC after the President’s speech at West Point.

Wait a minute Mr. Matthews. The United States Military Academy is an "enemy camp" for the Commander-in-Chief?

Afghanistan: Before I comment on the President’s plan for the war in Afghanistan, let me reiterate that this is a very difficult situation with no easy answers. The President laid out his plan this week, and that plan will have some Republicans and some Democrats in support, and other Republicans and Democrats in opposition.

I will be one of the Republicans in opposition. Perhaps for not the reasons readers of this missive might expect. Some people will legitimately oppose this plan because the 30,000 additional troops is below the minimum range of troops outlined by General McChrystal several months ago to get the job done. He had called for 40,000 to 80,000. The strategic maxim of "overwhelming… Read More