It has been my firm belief since the announcement from his Imperial Majesty Senate President Don Perata that he was so opposed to the tax-relief package negotiated by Assembly Republican Leader Mike Villines that he would not even bring it up for a vote in the Senate (let alone work to get it passed out of that uber-liberal body) that the budget passed out of the Assembly was DOA in the Senate. That Assembly Budget while still bloated and largely a product of the status quo that Democrats have created after many decades of majority control in the legislature, GOP negotiators made some important strides in that document.

Still, as Assembly Republican Caucus Chairman Bob Huff points out in an exclusive column today, that tax relief package was a "lynch pin" to the budget garnering enough votes to even get out of the Assembly at all. Huff says, "Without the tax cuts, the Senators will not be dealing with the budget package approved by 9 Republican Assemblymembers."

Huff, of course, was the highest ranking Assembly Republican to vote against the budget in the… Read More

Anthony Adams can do it all. Not only was he in his first year as an Assemblyman from the 59th District, he had time to go to law school and just took the bar. See article here.… Read More

State Budget Update There is not a lot to report on this topic, but what there is, I will bring to you. Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez is off in Europe, thus a strong indicator of his feelings about what kind of a role he should be playing to trying to resolve the budget stalemate. That said, I spoke with Senate Republican Leader Dick Ackerman last night, and he said that things are "moving in the right direction" compared to the rest of this week. He had a meeting with Senate President Don Perata yesterday, and has another one schedule for tomorrow. Ackerman also added that the Governor has rolled up his sleeves and is now engaged in a meaningful way in the dialogue, which he characterized as helpful. Ackerman has assured me that the resolve in his caucus to see a state budget that does not include deficit spending is still strong, so we’ll see where things go from here. Of course, we’ll be keeping FR readers up to date. State… Read More

State Budget Update There is not a lot to report on this topic, but what there is, I will bring to you. Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez is off in Europe, thus a strong indicator of his feelings about what kind of a role he should be playing to trying to resolve the budget stalemate. That said, I spoke with Senate Republican Leader Dick Ackerman last night, and he said that things are "moving in the right direction" compared to the rest of this week. He had a meeting with Senate President Don Perata yesterday, and has another one schedule for tomorrow. Ackerman also added that the Governor has rolled up his sleeves and is now engaged in a meaningful way in the dialogue, which he characterized as helpful. Ackerman has assured me that the resolve in his caucus to see a state budget that does not include deficit spending is still strong, so we’ll see where things go from here. Of course, we’ll be keeping FR readers up to date. State… Read More

This just in from State Senator Tom Harman…

MORE UNIFIED THAN EVER BEFORE By State Senator Tom Harman Last week, in a futile attempt to break the resolve of the Republicans in the State Senate, Don Perata, the President Pro Tem, locked all of the members in the Senate chambers for the night. Believe me, 30 hours without sleep is not fun. Senate Republicans were outraged and angry at this childish and stupid maneuver by Perata. In my opinion, this tactic actually strengthened or better unified our caucus, more… Read More

For those of you outside of Los Angeles and Orange County or irregular listeners of the John & Ken Show, yesterday a proverbial hornets’ nest was stirred when a member of the law enforcement community tipped off John & Ken (audio here and… Read More

Last night I had an amazing experience. I saw a war movie, made in Hollywood, that wasn’t anti-American. How could this be?

The folks from the Liberty Film Festival warn us to expect a flood of hate America war films blaming Americans for shooting Islamic terrorists, increasing global warming and trying to upset leftists dictators. Assuredly, those films will lose tons of money, take George Clooney’s embarrassing Syriana failure last year.

Rescue Dawn is a true story of an American POW pilot Dieter Dengler. WIth his first mission for the Navy. he was shot down by Soviet anti aircraft weapons in Vietnam. His story of capture, refusing to submit, torture, humiliation but tempered with a spirit of optimism and survival is inspiring. In fact, not a single word was expressed against the Vietnam War. The commies looked like lousy commies. The good guys were good.

… Read More

Today Governor Schwarzenegger is going to meet with the Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-Moon of the Republican of Korea (South Korea). Here’s a quick video for the Governor to watch before they sit down… … Read More