Jerry Brown has had a very frustrating summer. First, his disingenuous efforts to portray Oakland crime as down when it’s actually been exploding on his watch (homicides up 57% from 1999-2005) were overwhelmed by daily headlines of carnage in the city streets. Yesterday, the Oakland Tribune reported the city now has had more murders this year than all of last year. The aggressive campaign of Senator Chuck Poochigian has been relentlessly pounding on Brown’s (typical) neglect of Oakland as he campaigns full-time for AG while the city is in the grips of what can only be called a public safety crisis. Come to think of it, a public safety crisis is exactly what the Poochigian has accurately labeled the ever-worsening situation in Oakland. Now, Wednesday’s LA Times reports that a new book by an experienced investigative reporter is again raising questions about… Read More

After I do a radio program, I get hate mail from Republicans who want me to swallow the Kool Aid of Republican mediocrity. I won’t do it. The basic principles of this Party are etched in stone in my mind and they aren’t going to be compromised to elect someone that it taking me for granted, paying more attention to my political adversaries than is necessary, and thumbing his nose at his own caucus (see Keith Richmond’s comments)

Yesterday I hosted the Ray Appleton program on Newstalk 580 KMJ. I had Republican Assemblyman Mike Villines on for the first hour discussing the end of session legislation as well as the Governor and his actions in signing several pieces of legislation offensive to mainstream and right of center voters – further depressing the GOP base and creating despair in the ranks.

I had invited the Governor’s campaign to defend itself in the second hour – no response until 1:45 pm – too late to have anything meaningful. The callers I had in the second hour were in a very foul mood over SB 1441 – the gay and transvestite civil rights bill, and greenhouse gas bill, and several other pieces of… Read More

Sometimes we forget that there really are huge differences between Democrats and Republicans. I was reminded of that a couple weeks ago when I went to an Angels Baseball in the fine city of Anaheim (mentioned only because there is very little else in this entry that relates to CA government or politics) game with a group of friends, mostly Democrats.

Cuba became a topic of discussion. I had explained that I wanted to visit the communist country before Castro dies and things change. However, I expressed that I would have a certain sadness in enjoying the wonders of the tropic island nation while the locals lived without freedom. My Democrat friends were quick to downplay the lack of freedom in Cuba saying. "Freedom is relative." "Do you call waiting in line at the airport for 2 hours freedom?"

As a matter of fact I have come to really dislike the commercial air travel experience, but it does not have anything to do with freedom. And I failed to convince my Democratic friends that freedom is not at all relative but a static experience that is not pliable. Either you have it or you do not.

The very fact that we have an ongoing… Read More

Jerry Brown has had a very frustrating summer. First, his disingenuous efforts to portray Oakland crime as down when it’s actually been exploding on his watch (homicides up 57% from 1999-2005) were overwhelmed by daily headlines of carnage in the city streets. Yesterday, the Oakland Tribune reported the city now has had more murders this year than all of last year. The aggressive campaign of Senator Chuck Poochigian has been relentlessly pounding on Brown’s (typical) neglect of Oakland as he campaigns full-time for AG while the city is in the grips of what can only be called a public safety crisis. Come to think of it, a public safety crisis is exactly what the Poochigian has accurately labeled the ever-worsening situation in Oakland. Now, Wednesday’s LA Times reports that a new book by an experienced investigative reporter is again raising questions about… Read More

Here was my Thursday: two kids with fevers, the water heater went out, my husband is out of town and I nearly got a concussion when I knocked my head on a header board in our basement. I’ve been grumpy all day (I’m writing Friday’s commentary on Thursday night) but it is not because of these personal problems…it’s a Sacramento problem and his name is Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The rap on the governor has always been that he’s a Chamber of Commerce Republican: socially more liberal than the rank-and-file party members, but rock solid on the economy and job-killing legislation.

Well, here’s what the Chamber of Commerce had to say about the governor’s deal with the Democrats on the global warming bill:

"The California-only, mandatory climate change regulations that… Read More

You’re safe til January folks! Well sort of….… Read More

Next week, the FlashReport will be publishing our annual "Top 20 Bill That The Governor Should Veto" — and we need YOUR HELP to make sure we have picked out the worst of the worst. The more the bill constrains freedom and liberty, then more it shifts the balance of power from the individual to the government, the more it grows the "nanny state" — well the more we want to hear about it!

RATING THE GOVERNOR We’ll be taking these twenty bills and we will use them to give Governor Schwarzenegger at FlashReport Veto "Batting Average" — so this will be an indicator to all of our readers on how the Governor is doing at batting down the worst of the worst. STATE LEGISLATOR AND STAFFERS We really could use the help of conservative legislators and their staff members as helping us out — so send along your suggestions!

WHAT DO WE NEED? A bill number, a… Read More

Although he doesn’t mention me by name, John Kerry responds to me in the Wall Street Journal…..

Lamont Has the Courage To Defy Bush and the War August 25, 2006; Page A15

The sentiments expressed in "The Lamont Wing Is a Threat to Security" (Letters to the Editor, Aug. 22) will do nothing to make America safer. If the neoconservatives were half as good at fighting the war on terror as they are at misleading the American public, we’d be a lot safer than we are today.

The disastrous policy in Iraq has made America less safe. We were misled into a war which has become a dangerous distraction, and a profound drain on our financial and military resources. Nearly five years after the attacks of 9/11, it’s clear that this administration hasn’t learned the real lessons of 9/11 and failed to take the steps to make us as safe as we must be. Osama bin Laden is still on the loose. The 9/11 Commission’s recommendations to secure our most vulnerable infrastructure remain virtually ignored. Homeland security funding has been cut for cities… Read More