Miscellaneous (short) Ramblings: A lot is going in DC right now and a lot has gone on since I sent you my first missive of the year yesterday. Here is a quick rundown of my thoughts on many things in no particular order:

The way the Obama Administration has handled the so-called “underwear bomber” on Christmas Day is atrocious. This guy was a foreign national operating as part of an inter-connected worldwide organization with the intent to kill United States citizens and further a process of bringing down our government and destroying our way of life. He should have been immediately declared an enemy combatant, interrogated, and tried in a military tribunal, as has been done in similar incidents for more than a century. He was injured and his mission had failed. There was significant potential to garner intelligence about his network and connections in order to prevent future attacks, and save lives. Yet he has been treated as though he was caught smoking or tampering with the smoke detector in the airplane lavatory. He was read his Miranda rights, assigned an attorney, and told NOT to say anything. Unbelievable. This … Read More

I just got an email from the Republican Party about the Democrat Senatorial Campaign Committee trying to divide Republicans from activists. The strategy is a real concern. The Republican challenge? How to respond to the concerns of activists without alienating them. Let’s be honest, many of the activists that are becoming engaged at this time have been alienated by both Republicans and Democrats. They are closer to the Republicans in their "Leave Me Alone" approach to government, but they don’t believe Republicans take them seriously. It is very easy to turn them off, and Republicans, in their attempt to curry the favor with the media and intelligentsia, are quick to diss the activists who would, on the natural, support them.

There is a way to deal with their issues without alienating them, and it is important that Republicans learn these ways. The activists are not hicks, they are not rubes, they are not unintelligent, no matter how much Democrats and the media wish to cast them in that light. They are natural allies of Republicans, if Republicans treat them with respect and dignity. Consultants will tell candidates to ignore or… Read More

Barbara Kogerman, a candidate for Laguna Hills City Council in November 2010 is promoting a term limits initiative for the city. The current city council has been in place for twenty years. Kogerman thinks that’s too long.

Laguna Hills is awell run city, not much happening there. In factthere is nothing remarkable about the city. The council is not terribly politically active.

Promoting term limits is a great way to get a name for yourself. Kogerman is taking a page out of the Larry Agran (Irvine councilmember andpolitical boss) play book that suggests building a relationship with voters on a policy level before asking for their vote. Barbara Kogerman’s husband,Lt. Col.Bill Kogerman is an Agran ally and fellow Great Park board member (the corporation that is overseeing the redevelopment of the former El Toro Marine Corps Air Station).

If the incumbents want to, they could probably fend off the insurgency. But I am not sure they have the stomach for it.… Read More

Liberals like to discuss the unfairness of California’s so-called “three strikes” criminal law. Under “three strikes,” a third criminal conviction results in substantial added incarceration of a convicted offender. Liberals think that is unfair to the civil rights of the criminal.

Conservatives say the civil rights of the victims need more consideration in law, and reason that putting repeat offenders away for longer periods reduces crime.

The relatively new book by a couple of basically liberal economists, “Superfreakeconomics,” the sequel to their earlier “Freakeconomics,” gives factual support to conservatives’ view that keeping repeaters in jail is best for society. According to their research, whenever the American Civil Liberties Union wins a criminal case that gets a violent felon out of prison, crime goes up in that area by 10% in three years. The authors have tested this and it is not just a theory, it is a fact. Anybody who doubts that the three strikes law is a good thing, needs to read “Superfreakeconomics.”… Read More

Meg Whitman has apparently written her own book, published just in time for the election season (order it here). Her GOP primary opponent, Steve Poizner, also has a book due out shortly.

Poizner’s campaign has read Whitman’s book, and has put out their "review" in the form of the hard-hitting release below. We’ll look forward to publishing Whitman’s review of Poizner’s book when it is released.

The Poizner "critique" is fun reading for those who love the "contact sport" of politics…

MEG-A-TALES … Read More

In a report released today, the non-partisan Legislative Analyst’s Office called on the California Legislature to reject the Governor’s proposed constitutional amendment that would restrict the state’s spending decisions on universities and prisons.

The LAO nixed the proposal because:

1. (it) would unwisely constrain the state’s ability to allocate funding where it is most needed each year;

2. is unnecessary, as the state already had the ability to shift funding among programs without this constitutional amendment.

Read the LAO report here.

I agree with the LAO for the reasons stated and because the Governor conveniently omitted the billions of dollars California taxpayers spend on community colleges (read my blog post from Jan. 6) in an effort to skew the argument.

Even though the Legislature should reject the Governor’s proposal, that doesn’t mean we should walk away from our responsibility to trim unnecessary… Read More

This in from longtime FR friend Andrew Pugno, who serves as General Counsel for ProtectMarriage.com…

A Vigorous Defense for Traditional Marriage By Andy Pugno, General Counsel, ProtectMarriage.com

As lawyers for the plaintiffs challenging Prop 8 neared the conclusion of their arguments and prepared to “rest their case” today, the court next turned its attention to the defense case put on by the Prop 8 Legal Team.

As lawyers for the plaintiffs challenging Prop 8 neared the conclusion of their arguments and prepared to “rest their case” today, the court next turned its attention to the defense case put on by the Prop 8 Legal Team.

But that doesn’t mean our legal defense team, while waiting our turn to present the official… Read More

This in from longtime FR friend Andrew Pugno, who serves as General Counsel for ProtectMarriage.com… A Vigorous Defense for Traditional Marriage By Andy Pugno, General Counsel, ProtectMarriage.com

As lawyers for the plaintiffs challenging Prop 8 neared the conclusion of their arguments and prepared to “rest their case” today, the court next turned its attention to the defense case put on by the Prop 8 Legal Team.

But that doesn’t mean our legal defense team, while waiting our turn to present the official defense, hasn’t been vigorously fighting to uphold Prop 8 during the plaintiffs’ case-in-chief. In fact, when the courtroom came to order this morning the time clock tells me that while plaintiffs have logged 28 hours in presenting their case, the defense team… Read More