If the work product of the legislature really irks me all the way down here in Orange County, I can only imagine how the Governor feels.

One piece of legislation that is 1) totally unnecessary and 2) bad for America, is AB1778 Lieber (D). The law would make it extremely difficult for military recruiters to identify interested high school graduating seniors.

The law gets way more specific than the heavy hand of government ought to. It creates a new box on the emergency contact card all parents fill out at the time they enroll their kids in a school. The new box could be checked by parents who do not want the information shared with the military.

**There is more – click the link**

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Since the House passed our version of the immigration reform bill in December, our position has been to pass a bill that focuses on border security first. Today, as part of our efforts to communicate this position and ensure we don’t end up with a bill like the Kennedy-McCain bill that passed the Senate, the Republican Conference unveiled five principles that reflect our position. Our goal is to send a bill to the president that reflects these principles:

•Republicans strongly support initiatives to secure our borders and provide additional resources to federal and state authorities to strengthen border patrol efforts. •Republicans strongly support strengthening enforcement and stiffening penalties for illegal immigrants who break our immigration laws. •Republicans support enforcing the law on employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants and holding them accountable.

Looks like the newly elected auditor is doing a house cleaning after a bitter elction campaign that saw the three term incumbent defeated. As a former employee of the auditor’s office I’m sure she knew was with and against her. Hell hath no fury….. See article with other Long Beach tidbits here.See original post on this race here.… Read More

Here’s something a little different…as we countdown to the ‘next’ budget deadline.

Since I was a kid I’ve been a big fan of racing andsports cars and of driving them. Stock Car racing has been my favorite. The roots going back to these guys in the South ‘runnin shine’ has grown into the biggestone day event in sports wherever it’s held. Its fan base is huge across the country and the loyalty is fierce, just witness the #3 and #8 stickers amongthe many "W" stickersyou see on the backs of cars, pickups and trucks as you travel the highways. The loyalty to the sponsor products is very high as well. Coke drinkers don’t drinkPepsi, Pepsi drinkers don’t drinkCoke. Even men will buy Tide detergent fortheir home use if they like that driver they sponsor.

If you’re around the Capitol on Thursday, tomorrow, we have a NASCAR Festival lined up for the general public. This is to highlight stock car racing in California… Read More

Last week I began a discussion of whether or not the GOP Base is ready to be energized. It appears that after several dreadful months the Republicans in Washington have stopped the bleeding (maybe its because they are out of town), and there is a presumption now that Governor Arnold is the favorite for re-election due to his drawing a poor opponent in Phil Angelides. I disagree with any premise that Republicans have momentum presently. The absence of additional blood on the ground does not spell momentum in politics. All that has happened in the past couple of weeks is that the bleeding has stopped for a time being. There is nothing to celebrate. So, is the GOP base ready to be energized? The answer is – YES. And our needs are so simple, its embarrassing, but here they are:

Balance the State Budget Protect us from crazy liberals Be not afraid to define the unions before they define you Appoint pro death penalty, pro property rights judges Respond to attacks laid out by Democrats Pledge to veto specific forms of legislation you know you will see in a… Read More

Last week I began a discussion of whether or not the GOP Base is ready to be energized. It appears that after several dreadful months the Republicans in Washington have stopped the bleeding (maybe its because they are out of town), and there is a presumption now that Governor Arnold is the favorite for re-election due to his drawing a poor opponent in Phil Angelides. I disagree with any premise that Republicans have momentum presently. The absence of additional blood on the ground does not spell momentum in politics. All that has happened in the past couple of weeks is that the bleeding has stopped for a time being. There is nothing to celebrate. So, is the GOP base ready to be energized? The answer is – YES. And our needs are so simple, its embarrassing, but here they are:

Balance the State Budget Protect us from crazy liberals Be not afraid to define the unions before they define you Appoint pro death penalty, pro property rights judges Respond to attacks laid out by Democrats Pledge to veto specific forms of legislation you know you will see in a… Read More

In case you haven’t had a chance to check out Senator Chuck Poochigian clever web ad, "Jerry Brown: Fictional Crime Fighter," do yourself a favor and click here. Unless you are a candidate that is swimming in money, it’s awfully early to start doing TV ads for the general election. But hats off to Poochigian and team for creating this web ad, which makes great points about Brown’s lousy law enforcement credentials and will drive traffic to the campaign web site.

(The only thing Jerry Brown’s got in common with the Caped Crusader is that people have raised the same questions about Brown’s relationship with is long-time aide, Jacques Barzaghi, as they have about Batman’s relationship with Robin.)… Read More

Word is that the $500 million for health care for illegal children that the Democrats added to the budget during conference committee has been dropped. Also, yesterday afternoon, Bill Bradley was reporting on his New West blog that the governor has dropped his plans to increase the Healthy Families programs by $23 million (some of this spending would have been used to provide care for illegal immigrant children).

Writers on this website, talk radio hosts and others in the grassroots rightly expressed outrage about the health care spending for illegal immigrants and effectively killed the proposals. Now it is time for the Democrats and the mainstream press to hear the same amount of outrage about the roughly $150 million the Democrats cut from public safety spending Schwarzenegger included in his May Budget Revision. Senator Chuck Poochgian has been especially vocal on this issue, but he needs support from folks inside and outside of the Capitol.

We are now one week… Read More