My reading, listening and viewing habits are broad. I tend to read magazines like the New Yorker or the Atlantic, listen to NPR, and watch the BBC America. Liberal stuff? Sure. But when you work in Republican politics day in and day out, Lake Woebegoneis a welcome change of pace.

So last night I was pulling a turkey out of the oven and listening to Air America. When I lived in Los Angeles I was a regular listener of the Pacifica Network, which is your basic run of the mill far left craziness mixed with ‘global’ music. Nutty and dated? Yes. But it was entertaining. Last night I listened to Air America for nearly two hours and I can truly write, with no qualms, that it was not entertaining.

Now understand, I’m not judging the programs I heard based on ideological content. I don’t listen to get angry, or educated, or whatever. I listen for entertainment. And the quality of the entertainment was just low. It wasn’t funny. It wasn’t sharp witted. The format of the programs were difficult to keep clear, the individuals talking talked over each other, and there was no attempt to stick to a topic for more than a couple… Read More

[Publisher’s Note: FR Congratulates Shawn Steel on his election as Republican National Committeeman for California. As of today, we have "promoted" Shawn to be a "Statewide" correspondent for the FR! – Flash]

Sometimes College Republicans have too much fun. Presently, CR’s usually dominate student political groups on most campuses. The Left is lethargic and the only cores remaining are tenured Marxist 60’s professors who are retiring in droves. Since 9/11 a new generation of CR’s in rapidly impacting California politics. Already, graduated CR’s are holding important posts in the CRP and with up and coming politicos.

At San Francisco State University the CR’s are on fire. Besides suing the Administration,… Read More

[Publisher’s Note: FR Congratulates Shawn Steel on his election as Republican National Committeeman for California. As of today, we have "promoted" Shawn to be a "Statewide" correspondent for the FR! – Flash]

Sometimes College Republicans have too much fun. Presently, CR’s usually dominate student political groups on most campuses. The Left is lethargic and the only cores remaining are tenured Marxist 60’s professors who are retiring in droves. Since 9/11 a new generation of CR’s in rapidly impacting California politics. Already, graduated CR’s are holding important posts in the CRP and with up and coming politicos.

At San Francisco State University the CR’s are on fire. Besides suing the Administration,… Read More

Yesterday was one of those really crazy days, where blogging, doing some consulting work, being a dad and heading up to U.S.C. to speak to a class of graduate students had me on the run.

As such, when I reflected on my "FYI" post relative to Chuck Quackenbush and being in an officer-involved-shooting in Florida, I realize that I probably did Chuck a disservice, and I really have no excuse other than being on the run.

You see, for over five years, I worked in media relations for the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. And on many occasions (countless, actually) I would roll my eyes as some COPS beat reporter would pen something for their paper that seemed to paint one of our deputies in the worst possible light.

As that post said, our former Insurance Commissioner these days is a Sheriff’s Deputy in Florida’s Lee County, where is has been putting… Read More

American Solutions for Winning the Future is a new, non-partisan organization built around three goals: to defend America and our allies abroad and defeat our enemies, to strengthen and revitalize America’s core values, and to move the government into the 21st Century. Its General Chairman is former Speaker Newt Gingrich.

They have opened a new office here in California, in the Silicon Valley, staffed by David Kralik, who is the group’s Director of Internet Strategy.

Instead of me talking about the significance of this announcement, how about I let former Speaker of the House of Representatives Newt Gingrich to the honors…

Care to read comments, or make your own about today’s Daily Commentary?

Just… Read More

American Solutions for Winning the Future is a new, non-partisan organization built around three goals: to defend America and our allies abroad and defeat our enemies, to strengthen and revitalize America’s core values, and to move the government into the 21st Century. Its General Chairman is former Speaker Newt Gingrich.

They have opened a new office here in California, in the Silicon Valley, staffed by David Kralik, who is the group’s Director of Internet Strategy.

Instead of me talking about the significance of this announcement, how about I let former Speaker of the House of Representatives Newt Gingrich to the honors…

… Read More

[Cross-posted from OC Blog]

An interesting story has emerged from last month’s California Coastal Commission hearing on the 241 toll road completion.

One news story (I can’t find it at the moment) mentioned the rapid-response operation toll road opponents had going at the hearing. Whenever a speaker testified in favor of completing the 241, this operation would print out the speaker’s name, their remarks and a rebuttal and pass it out to the media.

This slick operation was due to the efforts of Cerrell Associates and Sacramento-based GOP consultant Joe Rodota, who were brought on board to help kill the 241, as I reported in September 2007.

Rodota is a… Read More

As part of my job, I’ve spent the entire week reading through and analyzing the hundreds of new bills introduced in the Assembly and Senate last week. As you can imagine, there are some doozies this year. If it weren’t so sad for the future of our state, it would be funny. Next week I’ll post some of the highlights (and lowlights) of this session’s potential laws. You’ll probably laugh, but you’ll most likely cry when you read what some lawmakers want to make law.

Last week there was media coverage of a bill Assemblyman John Benoit introduced that requires all welfare recipients be subject to random drug testing. It’s a great idea, but the subject of the media coverage was the bill idea’s source: a sixteen-year-old high school student in Benoit’s district. The student, R.J. Field, won an essay contest sponsored by Assemblyman Benoit called “There Ought to be a Law.” You may be surprised to learn that many lawmakers sponsor similar contests in their districts—including many Republicans.

Last year the product of one such contest was a bill that would have mandated community… Read More