[Cross-posted from Red County/OC Blog]

The Janet Nguyen-Trung Nguyen recount court battle was the first I had ever watched a trial in person.

Last Monday I had my second opportunity to see a trial first-hand –and this time from the witness stand.

The back story: Garden Grove Councilman Mark Rosen is representing an employee of the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement named Christopher Lotts. The DLSE is a division of the California Department of Industrial Relations.

Mr. Lotts works in the DLSE’s Santa Ana office and beginning in 2003 has anonymously published a blog called "No Labor Standards" which is, in Mr. Lotts’s words, "An unofficial site highlighting inefficient & incompetent service that Californians receive as a result of DLSE decisions, actions, and service. The… Read More

By Senator Tom McClintock:

The public policy farce that the “Green Governor” unleashed with AB 32 (the so-called “greenhouse gas” law) continues. Using their newly granted power to slash carbon dioxide emissions, the California Air Resources Board (all Schwarzenegger appointees) has mandated that every gallon of gasoline sold in California must contain at least 10 percent ethanol by 2010.

First, a few basic facts. Californians use about 15 billion gallons of gasoline a year, meaning that the new ten percent CARB edict will require about 1.5 billion gallons of ethanol. Corn is the most common ethanol-producing crop in the country, yielding about 350 gallons of ethanol fuel per acre. That means converting about 4.3 million acres of farmland to ethanol production, just to meet the California requirement. But according to the USDA, California currently has only 11 million acres devoted to growing crops of all kinds. Get the picture?

The entire purpose of this exercise is to reduce the… Read More

Link to UPDATE above.

The California GOP’s hiring of Canadian Christopher Matthews as deputy political director has a few folks in a tizzy.Especially considering Matthews’ special work visa application purportedly requires the employer to signify that no U.S. citizen is qualified to do the job, the concern is understandable.

Further, the hiring is in addiiton to the State GOP’s earlier engagement of Michael Kamburowski, an Australian citizen, as chief operations officer.

These guys are in the country legally, working legally. So, what’s the big deal? Well, some suggest that the positions, given their nature, should at least be filled with folks that can vote.

Instead of sweeping these kinds of debates under a rug — which, by the way, surprisingly leads people to say they are being swept under a rug — let’s get the discussion in the open. I won’t weigh in on the matter, as much as… Read More

From now until July 4th the California Republican Assembly is accepting your nominations in the “Who’s Your GOP Nanny?” Contest.

Democrats are known for introducing bills to control every aspect of our lives. In the last few weeks I’ve highlighted some of them. See here andhere and here.

They want to tell Californian’s how to live; where to live; what light bulbs we can use; and, what we can eat and drink etc…

Democratic elitists are part of the “Nanny State” – they know better how to live our lives than we do. We know that.

But what are we to do about Republicans that sponsor or vote for these types of bills?

Give them an award!

From now until July 4th the California Republican Assembly is accepting your nominations in the… Read More

Mayor Bloomberg has made official what everyone has known for years. He is not a Republican! You can read the story here in Bloomberg News of course. Is that bigger than FR?… Read More

Today I am pleased to present a guest commentary from FR reader Gary Aminoff. Gary is the President of the San Fernando Valley Republican Club, and also serves as Treasurer of the Los Angeles County Republican Party. I hope you enjoy his column…

ETHNIC GRADUATIONS ARE ANTI-AMERICAN by Gary Aminoff When I attended UCLA it was a multi-racial, multi-ethnic and multi-cultural campus. There were students from nearly every country, every religion and all races. Yet, most students thought of themselves as Bruins and as Americans. We were all graduated in a single commencement ceremony which made us feel we were all part of a single community John Leo, in the City… Read More

Today I am pleased to present a guest commentary from FR reader Gary Aminoff. Gary is the President of the San Fernando Valley Republican Club, and also serves as Treasurer of the Los Angeles County Republican Party. I hope you enjoy his column…

ETHNIC GRADUATIONS ARE ANTI-AMERICAN by Gary Aminoff When I attended UCLA it was a multi-racial, multi-ethnic and multi-cultural campus. There were students from nearly every country, every religion and all races. Yet, most students thought of themselves as Bruins and as Americans. We were all graduated in a single commencement ceremony which made us feel we were all part of a single community

John Leo, in the City Journal, writes an article entitled, … Read More

As an update to my earlier post, my further research indicates the following:

As might have been expected, theSF Chronicle is out to lunch on several points. Yet, that hasn’t kept many folks — including those in the GOP — from reacting to it, creating much grist for the mill. Thus, I stand by my decision to create an avenue for readers to discuss it and for the party to set the record straight.

Some key points:

It is factually inaccurate, as has been reported and repeated, that the applying employer for the work visa in question must signify that no citizen is qualified for the job.

The State GOP’s deputy political director has yet to be hired.

Chris Matthews did not work for the State Republican Party in 2003 or2004, he worked for the San Diego County Republican Party since 2003. He alsoworked in Great Britain for the Conservative Party and inCanada.

Matthews is currently working on a TN visa as a management consultant, helpingwith organizational management and networking.… Read More