Remember the Reagan Years. They were some good times. Republican tried to appoint fellow Republicans to make a difference. Lynne Cheney was appointed chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities. The left went crazy. She wanted the endowment not to focus on politicallly correct junk.

California has a California Council for the Humanities. Their mission is much different. They want to "foster understanding" and "Breakdown barriers". in other words: Dont waste time on English, philosophy, language, artand literature we got to connect people and make everything inclusive.

Since that’s the mission maybe the Governor’s appointment makes sense. He announce that he was appointing Democrat Curtis Shepard as a board member. Mr. Shepard who I think I met one at UCLA, was a writer for the The Parent ‘Hood TV series. But most likely he was appointed because of these parts of his bio.

"He currently serves as director of government relations for the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center"… Shepard previously…… Read More

I grew up in Arcadia – GO APACHES (for notable alums, see third row-middle – and see third row, second from left)! Anyways, Arcadia has proven fertile ground for the need for some sort of post-Kelo, eminent domain reform.

Last year, Rusnak (a Mercedes dealer) put a methophorical tax revenue gun to the City’s head, demanding that either the City find them more land, or they’d take their dealership elsewhere. Ignoring for a moment the fact that if their existing lot wasn’t sufficient, perhaps Rusnak shouldn’t have moved there in the first place, the City’s response was to very openly go to neighboring properties – a longtime restaurant, an Elks Lodge, etc – and threaten eminent domain action.

Now, a public outcry, a Council election which resulted in the seating of more property rights favoring Councilmembers, and a backing down by the City later, and… Read More

As demonstrated by opinion poll after opinion poll, Americans believe that economic mobility – presumably upward – is not simply possible for themselves and their children but also probable. I believe that this firmly held belief is one of the key cultural cords that gives most Americans ‘buy in’ into the system and thus a strong tool for holding a very diverse population together.

In years past, and now, the Democrat Party has attempted to use class warfare as a wedge against the GOP. This strategy ignores one of the basic truths in this nation: if you walk down the street of most places and ask people what class they are, they will invariably say ‘middle class". These are the folks for whom the American Dream is alive and well. These are the folks with a positive outlook on life – who believe with hard work and luck they can get ahead. These are generally not folks who are going to be susceptible to economic or class demagoguery – they want to get rich themselves. And as for the much smaller percentages who identify themselves as upper class or lower class, they already tend to loath the middle class and are fairly… Read More

Do you have a spare dollar? Would you like to purchase your very own television station? Well, based on legislation that is sitting on Governor Schwarzenegger’s desk right now (Assembly Bill 523), the Coast Community College District Board of Trustees can literally sell this significant public asset for "less than market value" (this is pulled directly from the language of the bill). Current state law requires that if the district wants to sell off an asset, the must sell it to the highest bidder. This is to make sure that there are no gifts of public funds, and that taxpayers are always be well represented when such sales occur. I’ve already written quite a bit about this legislation, which you can read here. To sum up the situation in one paragraph: Coast Community College District owns the KOCE Public Television Station. Annually, the station is losing… Read More

Nothing to do with California politics, but everything to do with our personal safety, interrogation methods used on terrorist are severely weakened by John McCain. You can read about it here.… Read More

The League of Commun…er, I mean California Cities, not typically known for conservatism, has come out in support of Jessica’s Law. This, while also supporting nearly every bond and tax increase on the November ballot, as well as opposing the Prop 90 Save Our Homes Initiative (see thelist of the League’s positions).

It just goes to show that even when measured byan organization that will usually come out against anything the state does that could be construed as anti-local control (and this is where the League is often right), what a no-brainer Jessica’s Law is.

The Jessica’s Law press release could have been titled, "EVEN the League of California Cities Supports this Thing!" Here’s what the release does say:

SACRAMENTO – The League of California Cities has voted unanimously to endorse Proposition 83-Jessica’s Law which will toughen penalties on sex offenders and is a comprehensive approach… Read More

I had to blink hard this morning before I could believe I was reading the San Bernardino County Sun, which editorializedthe following pronouncement:

"…let it be known that (Congressman Jerry) Lewis is an upstanding representative of the highest integrity…"

This from a paper whosereportersof late have detailedad nauseumLewis’ lifeand career(e.g. "Deconstructing Jerry,")in the wake ofquestionable investigationsand non-accusationsagainstthe Redlands Republican who chairs the House Appropriations Committee.

Today’s editorial seems a little late in coming:UNFAIR INQUIRY: Lewis, ESRI undeserving of witch hunt… Read More

I write today to add to the words of Publisher Jon Fleischman in today’s commentary.

Senator "Linc" Chafee’s primary win over conservative Steve Laffey is no cause for celebration in any quarter of the country, and is another reason why I hang up on RNC telemarketers and have contempt forthe national Republican Party.RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman says we need to keep our "majority" in the US Senate. Really? I didn’t know we had a "majority" in the Senate. Isn’t the Senate where all good legislation goes to die? How many bills have passed out of the House and died in the Senate? What has our Senate "majority" accomplished?

Part of the problem is how we now define the word "moderate". I’m always told that I need to support "moderates". Moderate in the GOP used to mean "pro – choice" on abortion and a general avoidance of social issues in politics. Now it means raising the minimum wage, opposing the war on terrorism, failing make tax cuts permanent, signing an ominousgreenhouse gas bill, giving special rights to transvestites, running deficits,… Read More