Another bad day at Wall Street.

During the Great Depression my one of my grandfathers says he earned more as a paperboy than most of the adults in his part of town (Kansas City), since they couldn’t find work. I guess he should have know gotten to know Pendergast better.

Today’s Musical Interlude: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4F4yT0KAMyo&feature=related. How long before we see this behind a commercial I wonder.

Brother, can you spare $700 billion?… Read More

I have not been shy about criticizing the Governor when I thought he was wrong. I told him, when I met with him during the recall campaign, that I would tell him what I thought of his actions as Governor, either privately, if he let me, or publicly, if he chose to exclude me from his counsel. Since he surrounded himself relatively early on with people who thought my advice to the Governor would not be helpful to him, I was excluded from private counsel soon after he was elected. I then was forced to make my comments on the Governor’s actions public, since that was the only way I could communicate with him. That led to his staff taking a dim view of me, both while I was in office, and now that I am out. Since my involvement in politics comes from my commitment to the principles in which I believe, and not from a desire to get a paying job or even a desire to get something from my friends in politics, I have always had no problem criticizing the Governor when I thought he did wrong.

But I also believe that I should be equally quick to praise the Governor when he does something right. And so, my hat is off to the Governor for his record breaking… Read More

Last week Pacific Justice Institute announced that it would sue the government on behalf of a Roseville couple whose marriage license was denied by the state for writing “bride” and “groom” on their same-sex-marriage-friendly license. Apparently the Department of Public Health didn’t want to remind voters of this major loss to heterosexual couples (the vast majority of those married) and announced on Friday that starting November 17, the marriage licenses will once again include “bride” and “groom.” However, each party will have the chance to choose their title, as “bride” and “groom” is an available option for each person.

It seems like every part of the government is tinkering with marriage these days—despite the people’s clear decision in favor of traditional marriage. The highest court overturns Proposition 22, the governor publicly denounces Proposition 8, the attorney general rewrites the ballot language to bias voters, and then the Department of Public Health alters… Read More

Assemblyman Chuck DeVore is not shy about his support of the American Jewery. Irvine has a thriving Jewish Community and while DeVore is not Jewish himself, he is always on hand for community events and milestones.

Last month a new Orthodox congregation dedicated its new facility in the heart of Orange County, Chuck was there. This article appeared in the October edition of Orange County Jewish Life. … Read More

Mike Lumpkin is well-spoken and professional, a retired Navy Seal commander and genuinely nice guy. If he were a Republican running for local office, the GOP might very well be touting his credentials. But, for whatever reason, Lumpkin is running as a “suicide” Democratic candidate in a strongly Republican congressional seat, one that will stay in that column even in the worst of GOP national scenarios four weeks hence.

For all the saber rattling by Lumpkin supporters before the primary that the 52nd Congressional District would be different this November, things are quiet now. His partisans (well, a handful of ‘em at least) once filled the local blogs with “talk” of change in the conservative East County seat.

Duncan D. Hunter is well-spoken and professional, a former Marine lieutenant, current captain in the USMC Reservesand genuinely nice guy. He is also a conservative Republican. He cakewalked to a primary win, literally blowing the other GOP contenders away, while mathematically showing what many political folk knew all along – that a Democrat ain’t gonna win this seat.

All of a sudden, it seems, the Lumpkin backers knew they… Read More

Federal Government – BROKE. California – BROKE. County Governments – BROKE. City Governments – BROKE. School Districts – BROKE.

There is the scorecard. And this is just what we know about government budgets and balance sheets. The unfunded pension, welfare and health care liabilities aren’t even known to most citizens or elected officials. They don’t even think about it. Many of them don’t have the intellectual capacity to even understand it.

We, as taxpayers, have provided record – let me repeat – record high levels of revenue to all levels of government – and it has been squandered. How do I define squandered? My definition is simple – there has not been an improvement in government services remotely commensurate with the increase in spending – thus, government has pillaged the taxpayer. And the taxpayer is helpless. Most of us have just thrown up our hands. The Pirates have taken over the ship.

The solution favored by a slight majority of the country is to elect someone to the Presidency who is without any peer in utter lack of experience. Obama has… Read More

Either it’s a classic pr bungle or a brilliant covert strategy. Superficially it appears that the McCain team’s very public but unprecedented announcement, McCain was "abandoning" Michigan cannot be seen as a sigh of of strength. All polls during the summer months showed a close race. In fact, the Michigan GOP raised an unprecedented $8,000,000 the strongest effort in memory. The state Chairman himself was not informed. He read about the evacuationin the press.

Still, it must be a McCain campaign ruse. Let the Obama folks think they got a state where they lost badly to Hillary.

Just today Sarah Palin was quoted in writing an e-mail " Oh come on, you know, do we have to? Do we have to call it there? Todd and I, we’d be happy to get to Michigan…I want to try."

Looks like we have a solution. Send Sarah to win.… Read More

Not since Ronald Reagan’s final campaign rally at Orange County’s Mile Square Park on the eve of the 1984 election, have thousands of Californian Republicans gathered.Neither Bush could do it. None of last year’s Republican presidential candidates could fill the Home Depot Tennis Center.

The Center has 13,000 court side seats. All those seats plus the suites were filled to capacity. Still thousands more were slowly streaming into the stadium quickly filled up the court yard. Thousands more found standing room around the rim of the stadium. Over 20,000 people were there to celebrate, shout and scream. It was a party. Lots of families, lots of color, and a whole lot of women. Yet, the clouds overhead were threatening with a little misty rain.

The crowd waited patiently for hours. The tickets were hard to get. Many people had to give several hours at local McCain/Palin HQ’s to get inside. It was hard to imagine our side could fill a stadium, with a few days notice and no advertising in LA.

StateCRP Chairman Ron Nehring, started the show by giving acheerful talk inspiring the troops. Next Tony Strickland, in the state’s… Read More