I’m not sure how I missed this one — but it is significant:

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will veto a bill passed by the Senate and pending in the Assembly to revise California’s school curriculum to include the contributions of gays and lesbians to the state and nation, a gubernatorial spokesman said Wednesday.

"The governor believes that school curriculum should include all important historical figures, regardless of orientation," said Schwarzenegger’s director of communications, Adam Mendelsohn. "However, he does not support the Legislature micromanaging curriculum."

Wednesday’s announcement signaled a death blow to the efforts of state Sen. Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica, the… Read More

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The late hit is the fear of every consultant, candidate and spouse of a candidate. And I am sure, whatever form it takes, mail or TV or radio or phone call, the late hit will always be in play as long as there are elections.

However, I believe, and it seems every other consultant I talk to, thinks the late hit is ineffective and often times backfires.

To illustrate this point, does anyone remember that just days before the Presidential election in 2000, it was released that George W. Bush had a DUI back in 1976? Most American’s don’t. But at the time it made Bush, a responsible father and husband and governor, into a sympathetic figure, being attacked by those who wanted to bring him down. Ostensibly to help the other guy he was running against, who ever that was. I can’t remember.

So if you (read your consultant) has ‘the silver bullet’ hit mail piece on your opponent printed and ready to mail just days before the election, think twice. It could and probably will backfire. And condemn you to be… Read More

There is a controversy in Mill Valley over a physics teacher who annually fires a gun into a piece of wood as a hands-on way to teach his students how to calculate the speed of a bullet. For more than 10 years, teacher David Lapp has brought his M-1 Carbine rifle (leftover from Lapp’s days as a military police officer in the Korean War) to school to conduct one of his many unusual physics experiments. Lapp has had the approval of his principal, but apparently the district was not aware of it. Critics say that he is violating state law by bringing a gun to school.

I’m a big supporter of gun rights, but I honestly don’t know if I’d want my kids’ teacher bringing his gun to school. It’s not that I wouldn’t trust the… Read More

President Vicente Fox is going to Sacramento where he will address the State Legislature, and he will dine with Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. The Governor has a real opportunity here to make a point, privately and publicly, with President Fox that the United States, and California specifically resents the Mexican President’s steadfast opposition to our efforts to secure our borders. President Fox has called the proposed wall ‘shameful’ and has drawn analogies to a U.S./Mexico border wall to the Berlin wall – which makes no sense. But if you wanted to take his analogy and run with it, instead of Fox decrying a wall, why doesn’t he ask why so many of his citizens want to sneak into our country? Perhaps Fox and his fellow public policy leaders want to look into a mirror, they can ask themselves why they aren’t taking the actions to create a thriving economy in their own nation. That having been said, my personal opinion is that the Governor should just cancel his meeting… Read More

My Assemblyman, Chuck DeVore, has told me that he will be “elsewhere” tomorrow night, but NOT honoring ‘El Presidente de Mexico’ when he is in Sacramento.

Will others be joining in this silent protest of Fox?

If you hear of other legislators who won’t be there tonight, let me know or post a comment!

[Update: I have been told that Senator Tom McClintock will also be ABSENT from the Vincente Fox Speech… ]… Read More

Yesterday, the Hercules City Council voted to use its eminent domain powers to force Wal-Mart to sell property that the retailer intends to build a 100,000 square foot store.

Why? Because the residents of Hercules don’t want Wal-Mart’s type of customer (read “low-income”) coming to their community to shop. They see their city as the East Bay’s Sausalito or Tiburon (most East Bay residents are now saying, “Hercules?? Are you kidding me?”).

Here’s what the city’s vice mayor said just before the vote (as reported by the San Francisco Chronicle): "The city of… Read More

Looks like the dukes have come off in the regular primary election in the 50th Congressional District as conservative businessman Bill Hauf turns on the ‘contrast campaign’ — with this instructive mail piece to Republican voters, reminding them that Bilbray does not support 2nd Amendment rights.

You can be sure that the next couple of weeks will see a slew of this kind of mail, and conservatives are reminded that there IS someone about whom they can get excited about who is actively campaigning for the two-year seat.

I’m sure this kind of mail will be challenging for Bilbray, who would probably prefer to spend this time campaigning to Democrats about how he is as good on many of their issues as his Democratic opponent, Francine Busby. But instead, Bilbray will have to try and defend his not-so-conservative record to Republicans – good… Read More