At 3:05 a.m. Wednesday morning, I drove into the parking lot of my local Community Center. La Mesais perhaps one of the safest places in San Diego County – if “safe” is measured in the number of communities between your home and a firestorm. The city may not be in harm’s way, yet officials still offered up their largest meeting space for collection of donated goods and as a coordination point to prepare meals for delivery to area evacuation centers.

Councilman Ernie Ewin had indicated he needed very early morning assistance to prepare egg sandwich breakfasts for the displaced hundreds staying six miles away in the gym at Steele Canyon High School . I imagined him trying to scrape together a crew of five to ten volunteers willing to set their alarms for 1:30 a.m., resulting in a short-handed, crazed rush of work prior to the planned 6:00 a.m. food pick up.

I should have known better of my community. The parking lot was full of cars. About 200 volunteers were inside – Kiwanians, High School Key Club members and others – from throughout East County, diligently working in a well-coordinated operation to cook, prep and package the… Read More

The following is a special message from Assemblyman Bob Huff. Huff is Chairman of the Assembly Republican Caucus:

It is with a deep sense of awe and sadness that we watch the events impacting our fellow Californians. To date, more than 426,000 acres in seven counties have already burned – the most lost from a single year in state history. Nearly one million of our fellow citizens have been evacuated, and the seemingly endless flames have consumed almost 1500 homes.

It is my sincerest hope that people will visit the CalFires website to get information and pictures of the situation in our state. You will also find information on important organizations involved in easing the pain of such massive losses, as well as key information on the status of events taking place. I especially want to encourage anyone who has been forced to evacuated to register on the Red Cross’ “Safe and… Read More

At 3:05 a.m. Wednesday morning, I drove into the parking lot of my local Community Center. La Mesais perhaps one of the safest places in San Diego County – if “safe” is measured in the number of communities between your home and a firestorm. The city may not be in harm’s way, yet officials still offered up their largest meeting space for collection of donated goods and as a coordination point to prepare meals for delivery to area evacuation centers.

Councilman Ernie Ewin had indicated he needed very early morning assistance to prepare egg sandwich breakfasts for the displaced hundreds staying six miles away in the gym at Steele Canyon High School . I imagined him trying to scrape together a crew of five to ten volunteers willing to set their alarms for 1:30 a.m., resulting in a short-handed, crazed rush of work prior to the planned 6:00 a.m. food pick up.

I should have known better of my community.

**There is more – click the link**

View Full… Read More

There is no doubt that these tragic wildfires that still are burning away throughout Southern California have been extremely traumatic for many, many people. The magnitude of the areas burned, homes lost, and residents evacuated is a bit mind boggling. As it has been reported frequently on television, more residents have been displaced by this disaster than make up the total population of many, many entire states. As I write this, ashes continue to fall in my Irvine neighborhood — the sun tinged with the orange of smoke… So in light of all of this going on, you have to wonder about the judgment of candidates for political office who are campaigning and fundraising in this impacted area, either oblivious or insensitive to the magnitude of the situation. For now, I am going to be a bit more vague, choosing not to pummel particular candidates, and stick to my overall point. When the fires first broke out, a friend of mine running for the Assembly immediately postponed a fundraising event he had scheduled. But another candidate split the difference, canceling one event while continuing with another at a posh hotel while just a few… Read More

United States Representative Ed Royce sent this over for your consideration…

Many Members of the California delegation with districts ravaged by the wildfires have returned home to assist constituents in their time of need. Speaker Pelosi and the Democrat leadership – despite being fully aware of this development – inexplicably proceeded to schedule an important vote on the SCHIP bill which would expand coverage to include non citizens at enormous cost to the taxpayer. Regardless of the importance of the bill to Californians and the wrenching effect of the devastating fires, the Democrat dominated Rules Committee refused to delay debate. This request was rejected by … Read More

I just learned that Presidential aspirant Fred Thompson has decided to postpone a schedule fundraising/volunteer appreciation swing through SoCal, in light of the devestation that is taking place with the wildfires.

I think this was the right decision to make.

Senator John McCain is still conducting a high-dollar fundraising event tomorrow in Beverly Hills. I think he should have cancelled his event. The fact that he has not is probably an indicator of the difficulties that Senator McCain is having raising dollars.

Perhaps McCain can ask attendees at his event to give a separate donation to the Red Cross to help with evacuees, or for the recovery efforts for those who have lost their homes.

Anyway – kudos to Senator Thompson.… Read More

From today’s WSJ Political Diary E-mail:

Flaming…

Politics famously no longer stops at the water’s edge. It also apparently no longer pauses to let victims cope with the immediate effects of a natural disaster.

Speaking to reporters yesterday about a pending energy bill, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid declared: "As you know, one reason that we have the fires burning in Southern California is global warming. One reason the Colorado Basin is going dry is because of global warming," the eminent scientist explained. But Mr. Reid apparently realized he had overstepped and was already revising his theories a few minutes, claiming to a reporter: "I didn’t… Read More

I am very pleased to share with FR readers that Mindy Fletcher has joined the FlashReport team as a new statewide correspondent for our site. For those of you who do not know Mindy, she has a long history as a professional and an activist with the Republican Party. She played a key role in both the election and re-election of President Bush, serving as an official spokesman for the campaigns. Mindy also spent time working for Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, with a stint as a Deputy Chief of Staff in the State Capitol, and as Deputy Campaign Manager for his re-election campaign.

I’ve know Mindy for years, and I am very excited to have her onboard. She’s conservative, smart, and has a good sense of humor, as well. She will provide a lot of great insight for us as she gets into the groove of blogging.

Please join me in welcoming Mindy. Her very first blog post is below…… Read More