After I blogged a little about the Dal Rae steak house in LA as a place to me (see it here), I received a couple offers for lunch at the Dal Reae of course. Today I had lunch there with a political operative. Very nice. FR readers should know I am always for available. If there are other nominees for politico restaurants, please feel free to let me know. If you are cheap, Tommy is celebrating 60 years of tasty burgers with lotsa chili(see it here)… Read More

A big thing happening up here in Butte County is the long delayed and much needed expansion of Hwy 149 [or to those from south of Visalia, THE 149] It is a two lane connecting road that runs east-west between the north-south highways 70 and 99. In 1979 or so, while I was attending Butte College nearby, 149 was greatly improved, safety and traffic flow-wise. It went from a narrow windy rolling road to one that is now wide, straight and flat. In just a few years it became very clear that with a growing population, 2 more lanes were needed. Just add ’em next to the existing ones, right?

Not so fast.

The ‘endangered’ meadowfoam plant was discovered in Butte, in the path of the needed roadway expansion. And the ‘stop or I’ll sue’ enviro crowd was determined that this wasn’t going to be a project done timely or fiscally reasonable. So afterit was studied,workshopped and hearing’d to death over 15 years, the couple of dozen government agencies that quake… Read More

Recently I was asked by the Orange County Republican Party to submit a column for their revamped website.Of course I was happy to oblige, penning a piece entitled, "The Internet: The New Political Frontier." In it, I talk about the importance of the internet, and, of course, my involvement with the FlashReport. Below are the first two paragraphs of my column followed by a link so you can read it on the OCGOP.org:

If you had the opportunity to influence the opinions of millions of people, do you think would you use it? With the Internet you do. And this new way of communicating is reshaping the way politics and campaigns work. I am excited to see the Orange County Republican

I am a Life Member of the NRA and enjoy shooting. Safety first! Guns don’t kill people, people kill people. If you disagree, you might not find the following amusing. For those of you who think we all ought to know how to handle and shoot a gun and defend ourselves, read on…

This weekend the Orange County Young Republicans held their annual ATF Day. Dubbed: Alcohol, Tobacco and Fire Arms – not necessarily in that order.

OC Sheriff Mike Carona joined club President Jeff Corless (middle) as did Cheif of the OC Branch of the U. S. Attorney’s office Wayne Gross.

The event drew over 140 members and other people facinated with the idea of shooting then drinking and smoking a cigar. Though organized by the OC YRs other groups that participated included:

Atlas PAC Riverside County Young Republicans… Read More

Sometimes when we look for impediments to freedom and liberty, we need only look in the mirror.

That would certainly be the case-in-point with the situation concerning Amy Thoma, my Central Coast FlashReport correspondent. You may recall that Amy came onto the FlashReport scene in January of this year. A talented writer with a lot of opinions, Amy was at the time serving at Executive Director of the Monterey County Republican Party. Her posts varied from praise of the efforts of local GOP legislators, critical newsanaysis from a conservative slant, and of course taking on the environmental eco-whackos in her home county. Not only did Amy have the support of her employers at the Monterey GOP, several of them even penned notes to me praising her work, and thanking me for giving… Read More

Well, there waaaas one. But we took it down.… Read More

Until just a few minutes ago, there was a lengthy post in this spot, entitled "Free Amy" that was themed around the idea that our (now former) Central Coast FR Correspondent, Amy Thoma, took a position with the Assembly Republican Caucus, and in that role, under the current leader, she was not being allowed to post.

It turns out that it is the official position of the Assembly Republican Caucus that none of their staff members may write for publications under their own names (whether that be the Wall Street Journal, the San Francisco Chronicle, or (alas!) The FlashReport.

I have preserved the original comment string from the "Free Amy" post — but encourage others as we move the dialogue away from poor Amy and her having to ‘retire’ as our Central Coast Correspondent, and maybe focus on the bigger question – which is whether or not it is a good idea or a bad idea for employees of the Assembly Republican Caucus to not have permission to get out there and pen some works under their own names?

My feeling on this (which are different than my good friend… Read More

Could someone who released criminals early, had jail riots, gave badges to supporters, wants to raise taxesand is more concerned about the homeless than catching criminals be re-elected Sheriff? Of couse! After Mayor Nagins re-election in New orleans what isn’t possible. That is what is happening in Los Angeles County whith Lee Baca. The Daily Breeze has a great rundown of the issues here.You can see another post on Baca here.… Read More