I had dinner night before last with Alexandria Hildebrandt, the "Direcktor" and owner of the "Mauer Museum" a/k/a the Check Point Charlie Museum at the Check Point Charlie site in Berlin. The Mauer, or "Wall" museum is dedicated to keeping alive the stories of those who perished attempting to cross from tyranny to freedom during the Berlin Wall period. Over several floors of exhibits, one finds the actual devices people used to make their escape. Homemade airplanes. Homemade gas balloons. Secret compartments in the smallest of automobiles. Underwater getaway devices used in the Spree River, and so on. Frau Hildebrandt kindly provided a tour of the museum beforehand, and we had a long talk about freedom. I mentioned those three pillars of a free society: speech, religion, and property rights which were trampled in the East by Communism. But she added a fundamental element that hit me like a 2 by 4. Travel.

In the U.S., there is no "express right" to travel in the Constitution. But the right to travel is still a fundamental right in the U.S., as case law has determined that the right to travel is encompassed by a… Read More

Priceless? No, only $3.99… SD Mayor Jerry Sanders was accused last week by opponent Steve Francis of tossing an F-bomb at him (see Jon Fleischman’s Thursday post). Sanders responded to a resulting media inquiry with a clarification, saying no, he didn’t say, "F you, Francis," but instead, "F you, Steve."

It’s good to see the two are on a first name basis.

Sanders’ "Yeah, so what?" approach effectively put an end to the matter (not counting how Francis will no doubt use it in mailers and TV ads — here’s a press release, in fact). As frustrated as he may be with the million dollar campaign against him, I doubt Sanders meant to pop off to Francis. Yet, it was refreshing to hear him own up to it immediately, especially given a spokesman was denying the… Read More

I don’t believe in "channeling" per se, but I wish at times I could be RNC Committeeman for a day.

I would have weighed in on the entire North Carolina GOP ad controversy, where they correctly depicted Barack Obama’s close spiritual advisor, The Reverend Jeremiah Wright, as an America blaming bigot and full blow racist.

The outcry from the RNC and the McCain campaign against the North Carolina GOP is indicative of many troubling signs for the Republican Party, to wit:

The RNC still doesn’t understand why their donors are hanging up on their telemarketers every day;

The RNC doesn’t understand that we want a Party that fights Democrats, takes it right to them, gets in their faces and kicks there a**es;

In the daily onslaught against Republicans by Democrat leaders, we want a Party that hits back;

We are so desperate for an agenda that thousands of Republicans, unsolicited, are sending money to the North Carolina GOP while at the same time hanging up on RNC fundraisers;

Finally, I would have, if National Committeeman for one day, held a press conference for the express purpose of telling the RNC… Read More

Today we are pleased to present a Guest Commentary from Jon Coupal, President of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association… IT’S A FULL MOON AND THE GOVERNOR’S TRANSFORMATION IS COMPLETE by Jon Coupal

We are all familiar with those scary movies where the seemingly nice guy morphs into a threatening monster over a very short time. Excuse me if I now find myself thinking of Arnold Schwarzenegger in his real life role as California Governor.

With his announcing yesterday that he would oppose Proposition 98, which would protect property owners from eminent domain abuse and provide additional property rights… Read More

Today we are pleased to present a Guest Commentary from Jon Coupal, President of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association…

IT’S A FULL MOON AND THE GOVERNOR’S TRANSFORMATION IS COMPLETE by Jon Coupal

We are all familiar with those scary movies where the seemingly nice guy morphs into a threatening monster over a very short time. Excuse me if I now find myself thinking of Arnold Schwarzenegger in his real life role as California Governor.

With his announcing yesterday that he would oppose Proposition 98, which would protect property owners from eminent domain abuse and provide additional… Read More

I’m off to the Capitol City this morning for a Board of Directors Meeting for the California Republican Party. Also on my Southwest Flight are CRP Secretary Steve Baric (we carpooled), RNC Delegation Executive Director Kathy Tavoularis and also David Cordero, a longtime GOP activist who does government affairs for one of Orange County’s myriad of water districts. Wheels up!… Read More

The arguments being made by some that Proposition 98 would somehow inhibit infrastructure (such as water conveyance) construction in California have been debunked as being without merit. Still, using this faux argument, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has once again, like he did with Prop. 90, sided with the redevelopment lobby against property owners in announcing his opposition to Proposition 98. Once again the Governor and "his" political party are on opposite sides of this issue of meaningful reforms of eminent domain abuse — with the Governor again supporting the status quo. I think the Governor should change his middle name to "Disappointment" – sigh.… Read More

Late last month, a federal judge ordered the state’s largest public employee union, Service Employees International Union Local 1000, to repay as many as 28,000 non-union state workers, who were not given a change to challenge the union’s 2005 dues increase to fight the Governor’s slate of reform measures (the unions were not excited by the measures which, if they had passed, would have averted the fiscal crisis we find ourselves in today).

It’s a bit convoluted, the process by which non-union members can get stiffed with a union fee, but the real issue here is that this decision by Judge Morrisson England, is so after-the-fact so as to be almost laughable if it wasn’t tragic. Yeah, it’s morally right that the SEIU thug-bosses have to go back (under the Judge’s orders) and ask these state employees if they object to the assessment, and if so, refund them each around $135 plus interest.

But the point is that the damage is done.

**There is more – click the link**… Read More