In today’s GOP conference, Speaker Hastert said that even in small towns in Illinois, securing our borders is now the number one issue. The Kennedy/McCain amnesty bill looks like it will a non-starter in the House. I now believe that the most likely scenario is that the House will not appoint conferees and that no bill will get to the President on immigration this year unless the Senate decides to allow some border security only bill.

On another front, we may pass permanent death tax reduction in the House as soon as tomorrow. I prefer complete elimination of the tax. But since we can’t get that from the Senate, the proposal that Chairman Thomas has put forth is a good one.… Read More

I saw on the OC Register’s Total Buzz political blog that Phil Angelides has a MySpace.com page.

Actually, it’s an unofficial page, according to the Angelides campaign — which is good thing considering who some of the 1,876 "friends" of the Angelides for Governor MySpace page are.

For example, there’s Nam, The Harlot, Devilishly Conceited, Lu Cifer — just for starters.

An interesting coalition you’re building there, Phil.… 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

This Governor cares about education…

"Governor Schwarzenegger has long been an advocate of charter schools because of their ability to reach students and achieve results in unique and effective ways," said Dennis "Coach" Snyder, founder of the Escondido Charter School District*. "He has worked to support charter schools across the state as Governor. His plan to build for the future of California includes half a billion dollars to build more charter schools. I applaud Governor Schwarzenegger for his dedication to ensuring … Read More

The recall of the Pomona Unified School District Board in up and running. See article here.The article doesn’t mention that the committee is holding training workshops for volunteer signaturegatherers. Great move. That should help at verification time. You can read the article if you want to know about the scandals that brought this about.

One interesting thing is the Board President and long time boardmember is a Republican. Until this last election she was a local central committee member. She is the type of Republican that enjoys a long and dedicated support of the union. The one trustee no being recalled is newcomer Andrew Wong, a education reformer. He was elected over opposition from Nancy and the old guard. This is playing out in th erecall as well.

Pomona Unified has heavily Dem Pomona and the heavily GOP Diamond Bar in the district. Look for these fault line to shake if the recall qualifies.… Read More

Today is my first turn at sharing the Daily Commentary chores in our publisher’s absence. Since Jon is thousands of miles away in Great Britain, I’m going to step outside of my usual Orange County bailiwick and comment about the senatorship of Barbara Boxer – the nightmare from which we cannot awaken. Like many California conservatives, Election Night in November 1992 is probably the darkest night of my political night. That was the night Bruce Herschensohn narrowly lost the U.S. Senate contest to that screech owl of the Left, Barbara Boxer.

Sen. Boxer provides us with regular reminders of how much California and the nation lost when she, and not Bruce Herschensohn, was elected to the world greatest deliberative body. The most recent example was Boxer’s vote to require a pull-out of U.S. troops from Iraq by the end-of-this year (this defeatist resolution allowed "only forces that are critical to… Read More

Today is my first turn at sharing the Daily Commentary chores in our publisher’s absence. Since Jon is thousands of miles away in Great Britain, I’m going to step outside of my usual Orange County bailiwick and comment about the senatorship of Barbara Boxer – the nightmare from which we cannot awaken. Like many California conservatives, Election Night in November 1992 is probably the darkest night of my political night. That was the night Bruce Herschensohn narrowly lost the U.S. Senate contest to that screech owl of the Left, Barbara Boxer.

Sen. Boxer provides us with regular reminders of how much California and the nation lost when she, and not Bruce Herschensohn, was elected to the world greatest deliberative body. The most recent example was Boxer’s vote to require a pull-out of U.S. troops from Iraq by the end-of-this year (this defeatist resolution allowed "only forces that are critical to… Read More

Now that the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority has actually placed what many saw as the inevitable on the November ballot (see June 5 news release), meaning joint use with the military of Marine Corps Air Station Miramar for SD’s future airport, the real fun begins.

The Authority spared nothing in "spending" (I’m being nice there) millions of dollars to get to a ballot question that the Marines have opposed all along, and now no expense will be spared by various interests to get the thing passed….or defeated.

If folks in SD thought Bilbray-Busby was bad from an inundation in advertising standpoint, hang on to your seats for this one. Folks are starting to line-up.

Matt Potter in the San Diego Reader on Thursday mentioned the first horses out of the gate, a group… Read More