Last week, political reporter John Marelius penned a piece on the rise of political blogging in the San Diego Union Tribune that prominently featured the FlashReport. In that piece, Marelius pens a few paragraphs talking about "anonymous blogging" — here is the excerpt:

While cyberspace is riddled with Web sites whose origin cannot readily be determined, reputable bloggers such as [Jon] Fleischman and [Steve] Frank are dismissive of their anonymous colleagues and say that they go to great lengths to make sure everything on their sites has a name attached. It’s a matter of credibility, they say. … Read More

Last week, political reporter John Marelius penned a piece on the rise of political blogging in the San Diego Union Tribune that prominently featured the FlashReport. In that piece, Marelius pens a few paragraphs talking about "anonymous blogging" — here is the excerpt:

While cyberspace is riddled with Web sites whose origin cannot readily be determined, reputable bloggers such as [Jon] Fleischman and [Steve] Frank are dismissive of their anonymous colleagues and say that they go to great lengths to make sure everything on their sites has a name attached. It’s a matter of credibility, they say. … Read More

As compared to Friday’s version, Datamar’s Saturday numbers remain nearly the same:

Datamar Saturday Tracking Survey 50th Congressional District Special Election Roach And Bilbray Still Tied For Second Busby Still In Lead

San Diego – Little candidate “movement” was shown in the daily tracking poll released Saturday by Datamar Inc. regarding candidates from all political parties in the 50th Congressional Special Election to be held on Tuesday.

Busby 39.6 Roach 17.5 Bilbray 16.3 Kaloogian 8.9 Morrow 6.9 Uke 4.9

See the entire survey here.… Read More

Lost in the immigration debate is whether or not the federal government is ready to implement/execute ANY plan passed by the Congress and signed by the President. The answer is no, and I can’t believe no one is even asking the question.

In Washington there is often a rush to do something, anything, to appease voters and quiet the press. This more often than not results in public policy that not only doesn’t work, but makes the situation worse. Accordingly, I opine that any bill passed by Congress would have made the immigration problem worse, not better. During this "breather" is anyone going to step up and talk about the foundation that must be built to accomodate the passage of any plan? What needs to be done?

First, we need Silicon Valley leaders to unleash their resources on the problem and devise technological solutions to take a 6-10 year process of obtaining legal residency down to a matter of 4-6 weeks. We cannot deport anyone nor ask any illegal immigrant to leave if faced with YEARS of waiting to re-enter the country. It cannot and will not happen no matter how bad people (like me) want it to happen. We must fix the… Read More

Alameda County Supervisors are planning on banning the sale of marijuana-flavored candy. I had no idea that there was pot-flavored candy on the market, but after a little research, I discovered that you can not only buy candy with the taste of ganja, but also weed-scented perfume and lip balm! Of course, Chronic Candy which sells the stuff has a big notice on their web site that their product is only for those who are 18 years old or older, but the local politicians are worried that kids are buying the stuff .

The website is hysterical. They are giving away a free trip to Amsterdam, their clothing shop offers women’s thongs (not flip-flops) and tube tops with their logo, and they sell Bruce Margolin’s Guide to California’s marijuana laws (… Read More

The amnesty debate rages in Washington D.C. Congressman Rohrabacher, who represents parts of LA and Orange countieshas been a stand up guy on illegal immigration. His thoughts were published today in the Daily Breeze. See it here.Good stuff.

On a political note, I’m getting random calls and emails from registered Republicans threateneing to never vote Republican etc…. if amnesty passes. (They think CRA is the Party). Rightthe party isworried about turnout in CD 50. This can’t be helping.… Read More

Pardon me for lagging behind, but on Wednesday, the Governor announced another batch of appointments — 16 of them to be exact. (I actually created this post last night, but I often create this stuff ahead of time when I can, and then toggle it up from the blackberry when the site needs some extra content). The Governor batted .500 on appointing folks who voluntary associate with his own political party. Here is the partisan breakdown:

THE REPUBLICANS

Jim Bourgart, 61, of San Francisco, has been appointed deputy secretary for transportation at the Business, Transportation and Housing Agency. He has served as vice president for government relations and business development with Parsons, Brinckerhoff, Quade & Douglas since 1990. William Keese, 67, of Palm Desert, has been appointed to the Public Goods Independent Review Panel. Currently, he serves as chair of the Clean and Diversified Energy Advisory Committee for the Western Governors’ Association and is … Read More

It is clear that the debate that is taking place in Washington D.C. on the illegal immigration issue is going to be a major issue for the 2006 elections at every level. This means that every candidate for office, whether running for U.S. Senate or Congress, Governor or State Schools Superintendent, Supervisor or Sheriff, state legislature or school board is going to have to figure out how to address this issue.

The biggest challenge, of course, is on federal officeholders and candidates for U.S. Senate and Congress, as this is primarily seen as a national issue that should be dealt with by the federal government. To a certain extent, that is right. But the ‘trickle-down’ effect to every level of government of the impact of the United States’ failure to protect/control its borders, and the physical presence of well over ten-million people that have come into this country without permission has an impact for everyone, and for every political jurisdiction.

The lead story in today’s FlashReport is a piece penned by Timm Herdt in today’s Ventura County Star that really starts to look at the impact of this issue on California races.… Read More