In a success story of good ol’ American can-do, the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge re-opened 11 hours ahead of schedule. It had been closed for the 3 day Labor Day weekend for refitting a major chunk at Yerba Buena Island, a 350 foot long, 6700 ton piece that is integral to the new east span, under construction now. This is the section most affected by the ’89 earthquake when a segment of the bridge collapsed.

Infrastructure specialist C.C. Myers Inc. is the same company that rebuilt the section of the MacArthur Maze [near Oakland] that collapsed earlier this year when an intensefuel tanker fire brought it crashing down. This in an amazing 18 days, from scratch, in one of the most traffic intense areas of the state. Also, they rebuilt a section of Santa Monica Freeway back in ’94 after the earthquake brought it down, [this in 66 days from an alloted 140] All these projects saving huge amounts of costs that gridlock oftraffic causes in time lost.

This is one example of what good can happen when everyone works together. It’s nice to know that in a crunch, there are folks that step up and get things done. In a time when we… Read More

The crisis related to the mortgage industry or more importantly related to so many home owners is going to impact politics more than we might think.

We have yet to see the real impacts of a serious tightening in credit and a significant down-turn in housing prices. Until now, many sellers and home builders have held somewhat steady on price, preferring to hold on for a better deal rather than sell at a significant discount. That is changing. And as the months go by and what seems like a whole generation of first-time home buyers realizes that they have lost 10%, 20% of their home values, they are going to get angry.

People usually look for someone to blame when they get angry. President Bush is a likely target, the Congress is another. ‘Someone should have done something.’ ‘Someone should have saved the family of four who bought a house with zero down with a mortgage that offered zero interest for 3 years and then adjusted upwards swiftly, from themselves.’ …they will say.

Beyond the blame game, the issue of home mortgages and a credit crunch will most certainly, in a bigger way than it already has, become part of… Read More

The crisis related to the mortgage industry or more importantly related to so many home owners is going to impact politics more than we might think.

We have yet to see the real impacts of a serious tightening in credit and a significant down-turn in housing prices. Until now, many sellers and home builders have held somewhat steady on price, preferring to hold on for a better deal rather than sell at a significant discount. That is changing. And as the months go by and what seems like a whole generation of first-time home buyers realizes that they have lost 10%, 20% of their home values, they are going to get angry.

People usually look for someone to blame when they get angry. President Bush is a likely target, the Congress is another. ‘Someone should have done something.’ ‘Someone should have saved the family of four who bought a house with zero down with a mortgage that offered zero interest for 3 years and then adjusted upwards swiftly, from themselves.’ …they will say.

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

Wilson Statue to Receive Regular Visitors… Out of the corner of my ear, Ipicked uplast night on the TV news something about Enrique Morones, self-anointed moral compass on all things racist, announcing he will conduct regular weekly protests of the Pete Wilson bronze statue unveiled last weekend in downtown San Diego. Since this non-news is just that, I won’t mention the station that chose to include it as such.

Let’s see, if Morones can educate 10 persons every Saturday as to Wilson’s racist tendencies, assuming no days off and no population growth whatsoever, he will have a majority of city denizens convinced by about year 3507. I guess the time spent is better for him than doing something constructive.

The bright side:For the next several decades, the PD will always have a first lead if anything happens to the statue. The big question: Would such vandalism be considered a hate crime?

If you missed my FlashReport Commentary of last Sunday, "A Pete Wilson Statue and Prop 187," read it… Read More

The timing of when the Perata-Nunez Career Politician Term Limits Weakining Initiative will appear on the ballot is now in question (it’s looking very likely like Nunez will fail to garner the necessary percentage of valid signatures in a random count, necessitating a manual count in the 58 counties which very well might not be complete before a late-September cut-off to qualify for the February ballot). This certainly becomes a very interesting development as discussions are underway in earnest to place a redistricting reform measure on the February ballot. The Governor, to his credit, has made this a top priority, witholding any potential support for a term-limits modification until this demand is met. Assembly Democrats have given lip-service about supporting redistricting reform, but have been slow to proffer any support for a plan that passes the smell-test for being meaningful reform. Let’s start with an important premise that is important to consider when looking at redistricting reform. A bad plan… Read More

The latest from the man with the numbers in the drama of whether the end-run on term limits will make the February ballot… From CapWeekly’s Anthony York:

Just off the transom from the Doolittle for Congress campaign, in response to Assemblyman Ted Gaines opening an exploratory committee to look at a run against Doolittle in the upcoming GOP primary…: LOYALTY MATTERS By former State Senator and Assemblyman Tim Leslie As Benjamin Franklin said so well, so long ago, "a friend in need is a friend indeed". Our friend John Doolittle is under attack from the liberal left and now from those to whom he has shown true friendship. … Read More

This may be my favorite update yet from Anthony York over at Capitol Weekly… He has put his hands on a copy of an e-mail sent out by the Los Angeles County Registrar. The last paragraph is my favorite. As a hack for the unions, I am sure that Labor Day weekend is supposed to be like Christmas for Fabian Nunez. Yeah, not so much this weekend. He may have to spend it working on his resume…

From York: