Late last week, I wrote a column about the BHP Billiton proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility that would be located 14 miles off of the Los Angeles/Ventura County coast (hereafter the proposed facility will be referred to as "Cabrillo Port"). Frankly, the issue caught my eye because of the high-profile enviro-actor-activists opposing the project, the Pierce Brosnan and Martin Sheen crowd. You know, the ones who are worth mega-millions and enjoy residing in lavish coastal estates? The same ones who feverishly work to prevent public access to the beach in front of their estates and ban others from having similar – or even more modest – homes themselves? I call them the “Hollywood Hypocrites”.

Anyway, the Cabrillo Port proposal has been described and debated in the papers and the blogosphere with increasing… Read More

"If somebody calls me and says I want to be a partner, and the next day tries to stick a knife in my back, tell me again why I would want to do business with him?" so says Sam Zell, the Chicago billionaire who outbid Eli Broad for control over the LA Times.

Adding to the excitement was the struggle between the Left wing billionaires who were battling against each other to buy the Times. Billionaire David Geffen, whose favorite writer is Maureen Dowd, was bidding against billionaires Broad and supermarket king Ron Buckle. All are high profile donors to democrats and were key Clinton supporters.

Besides exposing the fact that the big money in California is generally left of center, it was fun towatch the mud wrestling between Zell and Broad. According to Zell, Broad approached him to buy in as a partner, butin less than 24 hours Broad tried to bid aroundZell with his buddy Burkle.… Read More

San Bernardino Republican Party members must be ecstatic over the news that JohnsonClark Associates Political Director Mike Richman will be joining the county’s central committee as its new Executive Director. Richman will serve part time in this position, while also beginning his own consulting firm serving political and public affairs clients.

Many of you know Mike Richman from the outstanding work he did in 2006, when he, in his role with JohnsonClark, managed Michelle Steel’s successful Board of Equalization primary campaign and then served as Deputy Campaign Manager for Steve Poizner’s bid for State Insurance Commissioner, which Poizner ultimately won. He also was heavily involved in the election of Anthony Adams, who is the Assemblyman from the High Desert, and one of this website’s State Capitol bloggers.

The San Bernardino County Republican Party Executive Director position has traditionally served as a… Read More

San Bernardino Republican Party members must be ecstatic over the news that JohnsonClark Associates Political Director Mike Richman will be joining the county’s central committee as its new Executive Director. Richman will serve part time in this position, while also beginning his own consulting firm serving political and public affairs clients.

Many of you know Mike Richman from the outstanding work he did in 2006, when he, in his role with JohnsonClark, managed Michelle Steel’s successful Board of Equalization primary campaign and then served as Deputy Campaign Manager for Steve Poizner’s bid for State Insurance Commissioner, which Poizner ultimately won. He also was heavily involved in the election of Anthony Adams, who is the Assemblyman from the High Desert, and one of this website’s State Capitol bloggers.

The San Bernardino County Republican Party Executive Director position has traditionally served as a… Read More

Sometimes a picture is truly worth a thousand words. Check out this photo of San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, and then try to guess what he is doing with (or to) that microphone. Hint: Go with your first guess.

Once you are done guessing, why don’t you check out the story on the Drudgereport.… Read More

Retired State Senator Larry Stirling weighs in this morning. From the San Diego Daily Transcript:

The California child-support fiasco In the annals of government screw-ups, the repugnant epic of the federal and California state governments bollixing child-support collections is the worst.

Unpaid child support for 2 million children now totals approximately $19 billion, up from $14.4 billion just six years ago. This whole mess started with a 1988 federal law that requires each state to create a "statewide computer system to track and help collect child-support payments."

The collection of civil child support orders falls under the "police powers" of the states. Federal legislators should read the 10th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which clearly forbids such initiatives.

The state of California should have sued the Feds, pointing out to the court that such legislation is "ultra vires" to federal constitutional authority and therefore void.

States did not sue because the Feds included a hook designed to snare the greedy. That law promised money to the… Read More

In his column today, George Skelton joins the ranks of those who think a) religion should be seen and not heard (unless they agree with Skelton) and b) being a Catholic means being able to flout Catholic doctrine without consequence. Skelton’s column is a classic of this particular of genre of secular political outrage, hitting all the bases.

Skelton is upset that Cardinal Roger Mahoney pointed out that Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez’s support for legalizing assisted suicide "…he has allowed himself to get into this other direction, the culture of death."

Excuse me for pointing out the obvious, but making it easier for people to kill themselves is inextricably linked to death. Death is kind of the point of assisted suicide.

But this is just too much for Skelton:

Orange County Superior Court Judge Randell Wilkinson denied Plaintiff Jim Gilchrist’s request today to extend by 90 daysthe hearing in receivership of Minuteman Project Inc., currently scheduled for April 25. Gilchrist filed papers yesterday seeking an "ex parte" order and arguing that a delay was necessary to allow time for an "audit." Gilchrist claims he is the "sole director" of Minuteman in the face of substantial evidence to the contrary that others were also on the Board of Directors. The Judge rejected Gilchrist’s request out of hand within hours of receiving his attorney’s papers today, and without even requiring a hearing or an opposition paper filed by the Defendants. As a result, a receivership hearing is definitely scheduled for April 25, and Defendants Marvin L. Stewart, Deborah Courtenay Peterson and Barbara Coe all favor receiviership of Minuteman Project, Inc., assets pending trial on who actually should control the assets.… Read More