Golden Pen San Diego… If I were handing out FlashReport Golden Pen Awards (Fleischman typically gets that job), today it would go to the Union-Trib’s Bob Caldwell for his Memorial Day tribute, "That brave and fallen few," which includes the following passages:

"Our losses today are our brothers, sons, fathers and buddies, and, yes, sometimes our sisters, daughters, and mothers. They are those we grew up with, lived alongside, perhaps the kid next door, maybe the shortstop or linebacker in high school, the quiet boy who wanted to serve his country, the young warrior so proud of his new calling as Soldier or Marine. Bombs, bullets and terrorists are no respecters of uniform, gender, soldier or civilian. Each and all are targets."

"Behind every name is a family, friends and the too-short history of a cherished life given by God and delivered over to the service of country. Yet, soldiers in the crucible of combat don’t die for abstractions. They die for their friends, for the comradeship bound up forever in… Read More

School Board canidateNeal Kleiner was et to start as an interim principal in LAUSD. The day after he lost a race for School Board, he was told his services weren’t nedeed. The voters thought the same thing. See article here.… Read More

I could not be more thrilled with the announcement yesterday from Governor Schwarzenegger’s office that he has appointed conservative Republican leader Jim Camp to a senior position, as the Deputy Director of Communications for the State Department of Fish and Game.

Jim’s GOP pedigree is long and storied, but I will say that my favorite item in his resume is that he served as Deputy Executive Director of the California GOP when I was the Party’s ED, and it was a pleasure to have worked side by side with him for conservative victories.

Jim has been highlighted lately for his musical talents, as an extremely talented singer and songwriter, and has just recently released an album that was recorded entirely on an Apple iPod! You can check out more on that at www.jimmcamp.com.

Congratulations, Jimmy, on your new “gig” and to the Governor I would express my sincere appreciation. I know Jim will do an d outstanding job for you and for the endangered salmon, trout and wild boar of California!… Read More

With blanket permission from FR friend State Senator Tom McClintock to "lift" material from his outstanding Citizens for the California Republic website, you’ll see a lot from McClintock here on the FR. I have been waiting for the right day to share with you, in full, the prepared text of the Senator’s speech which he gave to the California Republican Assembly’s annual convention last month. Here it is, some great reading to start your holiday weekend! – Jon

Speech to the California Republican Assembly By State Senator Tom McClintock… Read More

With blanket permission from FR friend State Senator Tom McClintock to "lift" material from his outstanding Citizens for the California Republic website, you’ll see a lot from McClintock here on the FR. I have been waiting for the right day to share with you, in full, the prepared text of the Senator’s speech which he gave to the California Republican Assembly’s annual convention last month. Here it is, some great reading to start your holiday weekend! – Jon Speech to the California Republican Assembly By State Senator Tom McClintock… Read More

Thursday morning we packed up the family and took the drive from Sacramento to San Diego . I woke up in the middle of the night dreading the drive. As it turns out, my dread was well deserved.

10am. An hour late Valerie, Ella,Richard and I get on the road. This causes me no end of stress, because by my count unless I can stay at 85mph we will hit LA/OC/San Diego traffic later in the day. We decide to take the 99, since the 5 drives us both nutty. As we drive onto the freeway I see a flag painted on some neighborhood house and mention to Valerie that it would be interesting if we count American flags flying on the way down. She agrees.

10:45. Stockton . I’ve already got my Irish up at the truckers who – with only two lanes on the freeway – decide to slowly pass each other and block traffic. I just don’t understand why one truck going 55mph needs to pass another truck going 54.9mph. Each passage takes approximately one day… Read More

Former Reagan Administration Attorney General and prominent California conservative leader Ed Meese is the Chairman for the Legal and Judical Studies at the Heritage Foundation and makes the cojent arguments AGAINST the current AMNESTY bill being considered by Congress, and supported by President George W. Bush. It is worth a few minutes of your time to watch this video… Here is a bonus video for you — Fred Thompson, the "non-candidate" candidate for the GOP nomination adds his ten cents on the amnesty proposal. The video is also worth watching just to watch the annoying balloon that keeps coming in between the former Senator and the video camera… … Read More

We usually look to the news department of a media publication to break news items, and then the opinion page of that publication to opine on the news. Down in San Diego, the Union-Tribune’s Chris Reed continues to justify his statewide reputation for aggressive research as an editorial board member, and the lead editorial from the U-T today demonstrates it. There has been an ongoing and growing theory that the aggressive proposal by Governor Schwarzenegger to impose massive government regulation on the health care insurance provided by private employers in the Golden State would violate a relatively obscure federal law passed in 1974 called the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, known as ERISA (I should add that proposals by legislative Democrats also would be cross-wise with this federal law). Reed spoke with a senior official with the U.S. Department of labor and apparently the Feds are quite cognizant of what is being discussed in California (as well as some other states) and don’t think that plans as proposal pass federal muster. FR readers should definitely take the time to read this SDUT piece, which tops our main… Read More