A Guest Commentary from Congressman Ed Royce (R-Orange County)…

FANNIE, FREDDIE AND ACORN

Last week several of my colleagues and I met with journalist Hannah Giles. You may recall Hannah posed as a prostitute in a series of undercover videos with independent filmmaker James O’Keefe in order to elicit responses from employees of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN). These videos recorded over the summer uncovered employees at ACORN offices in five different cities clearly eager to assist this supposed prostitute with tax evasion, human smuggling and child prostitution. The scheme was Hannah’s idea; part of her plan to expose ACORN’s illegal activities across the U.S. … Read More

Some Sunday Reading: Round 3 of California’s never-ending budget bout looms Sacramento Bee California’s budget crisis may be on collision course with election year Contra Costa Times Money doesn’t always buy the office Kathleen Decker, LA Times … Read More

Republican National Committee Vice Chairman Jim Bopp has a great column in today’s Washington Times. You can read it here. It ponders the future of the Republican Party.

Bopp has been at the center of controversy lately for his proposal that the RNC adopt a "litmus test" on key GOP issues that candidates must meet before being eligable for RNC support.

Many people do not like that idea.

Yet, Bopp’s proposal addresses a serious problem, which you will see me write about a lot in the coming months. Which, most simply put, is how does the GOP track towards a majority that will achieve the party’s policy goals? It clearly is not the purpose of a political party to accumulate power for power’s sake. Earlier this decade Republicans controlled the Presidency, the United States Senate and the House of Representatives. With all of this, we presided over growth in the size and scope of the federal government, and the expansion of entitlement programs.

If GOP leaders don’t like… Read More

We would like to wish our readers a Merry Christmas or a Happy Hannukah, and a great New Years. The FlashReport is currently in our "holiday break" mode, where we offer much more limited coverage. This takes place annually from the Saturday before Christmas through New Years Day. Traditionally the political news coverage is very slow, and it gives the elves here a chance to recharge their batteries before we return full steam ahead on January 4th. The FlashReport Weblog on California Politics will be up and running during our seasonal break, and so we encourage you to keep an eye on it. Our many bloggers will still be posting, and if there is breaking news or a particularly "yummy" political story or column, that’s where we’ll point it out to you! Thank you so much for making 2009 the most successful year yet, by any measurable standard, for the FlashReport. We had more blog posts and more featured columns than any other year. We’ve had more readers (by far) than we’ve had since we began as an e-mail newsletter in 2001. We’ve had more… Read More

We would like to wish our readers a Merry Christmas or a Happy Hannukah, and a great New Years. The FlashReport is currently in our "holiday break" mode, where we offer much more limited coverage. This takes place annually from the Saturday before Christmas through New Years Day. Traditionally the political news coverage is very slow, and it gives the elves here a chance to recharge their batteries before we return full steam ahead on January 4th. The FlashReport Weblog on California Politics will be up and running during our seasonal break, and so we encourage you to keep an eye on it. Our many bloggers will still be posting, and if there is breaking news or a particularly "yummy" political story or column, that’s where we’ll point it out to you! Thank you so much for making 2009 the most successful year yet, by any measurable standard, for the FlashReport. We had more blog posts and more featured columns than any other year. We’ve had more readers (by far) than we’ve had since we began as an e-mail newsletter in 2001. We’ve had more… Read More

If you transform into aconservative while an undergrad at Yale, then something special happened. It happened to Wm. F. Buckley. AndGovindini Murty, who with her husband founded the wildly successful Liberty Film Festival, became a conservative under liberal group think,and met Jason Apuzzo. Both are film makers with a vivid conservative/libertarian perspective.

Finally they made their own film with Govindini starring as the "girl" entwined in a wicked plot by a Jihad Terrorist to nuke LA.The insane terrorist is desperately seeking fame while stalking an exotic dancer. The same dilemma faced by the the9/11. Before purifying their souls for the suicide attacks, several were habituating strip clubs days before.

The black comedy takes you on a journey though Iran, Gitmo and the rough streets around the LA Harbor. The… Read More

I just read a rather insightful and witty column over at the Fox & Hounds Daily website. You should check it out here. Oh yeah — the author is…me! ;-)

The column is a bunch of random thoughts — here are a few (see the whole version through the link above.)

It is ironic that Courage Campaign is out there trying to compare Meg Whitman to Sarah Palin – I really don’t see where the two of them really have anything in common — the intellectual New England woman, with a penchant for over-analysis, versus the free-spirited “frontier girl” from Wasilla Alaska with a tendency to shoot from the hip.

People keep asking me which of the myriad of reforms coming our way next year via the ballot box will help put California back on the right… Read More

This is a remind that today is the last day of publication of the FlashReport’s main news link page for the year. As has been our tradition since we went online in 2005, we gives the "elves" the weeks of Christmas and New Years off in order to recuperate and get ready for the busy new year.

The main page returns on Monday, January 4, 2009. We’ll include a look back at some of the major stories (if any) that took place during the brief hiatus.

The FR Blog page will be up and running during the holiday season, and look for action there — especially if there is breaking news.

**There is more – click the link**

View Full Commentary… Read More