Anthony York of Capitol Weekly is blogging from the DNC Convention in Denver. He just let us know that Hillary blew off (due to a "scheduling conflict" her welcoming remarks to the California delegation). Keep an eye on Anthony’s blog posts here.

Oh yes, for fair and biased coverage, look for Meredith Turney’s occasional updates on the FR Blog, and longtime FR friend and former State GOP Chairman Mike Schroeder’s blogs from Colorado… Read More

I’m sure many of you have heard of the colloquial expression, “That is a false choice…”

For those who haven’t heard of the expression, a “false choice” is when you provide two options, insisting that you have to choose one of them, when there are other viable options.

A false choice is what is being presented to Californians in the current budget debate when saying that to solve the budget crisis, we either need to raise taxes, or we need to raid special funds.

The painful reality for Democrats is that the other choice — the obvious choice — are more cuts — the kind of cuts that require a serious look at eliminating state departments or agencies, eliminating bureaucracy. Serious reduction in state spending means eliminating expensive state jobs.

The false choice must be discarded, and all of the pressure in this budget debate must be placed on more shrinking of a state government that has increased in size by 40 percent in just five years.… Read More

Demonstrating a complete lack of engagement in what should be a hands-on negotiating process towards a state budget, John Laird, the Chairman of the Assembly Budget Committee is partying up in Denver.

I guess Laird figures, as an ultra-liberal, that he is not going to support more cuts — I’m sure he’s ready to fly home to vote for a tax hike (don’t worry, there aren’t votes for one).

If Laird wants to avoid being booed in Denver, he’d best keep it quiet that he is, “that nut from California that wants to massively increase taxes on beer…… Read More

As a staunch conservative, attending the largest Democratic Party event has been quite an experience. There’s the obvious hostility towards John McCain and all Republicans. But there’s also a shocking amount of ignorance about important issues like national security. It’s actually quite sad to engage in discussions with people so close-minded that even broaching issues perceived as conservative or Republican elicits vitriolic reactions.

But apart from the clash of worldviews, there are many lighthearted, humorous occasions that accompany every political convention. For instance, running into the “Nader’s Raiders” in front of the capitol and being invited to their party this week. Nader for President sponsored the huge liberty bell balloon advertising his plea to be included in the upcoming presidential debates.

No political convention would be complete without a vast variety of paraphernalia, many very clever and funny.… Read More

As the Republican National Convention approaches (I fly out in one week – to provide FR readers with live updated from the ground throughout the big event), I am starting to get excited about a week in Minneapolis with thousands of fellow Republicans, unifying around our nominee, and celebrating a political party, that for over a century and a half has stood for freedom, limited government, and family values. I’m excited to be a member of the California delegation!

As a strong conservative, I have to admit that I was more than a little bummed earlier in the week when I received a press release from the outstanding free-market group, The Club for Growth, in which they were expressing their disappointment that a whole host of real taxfighting leaders nationally for the GOP do not appear on the convention program. Among those singled out by the Club for their absence are Senators Coburn and DeMint, the clear leaders for fiscal sanity in the upper chamber. There… Read More

This morning the Obsession team was at the anti-war protest on the front steps of the capitol. We obviously had to be covert with the blatant anarchist presence. There was a heavy police presence as last night several weapons, bricks and poles were found hidden in the capitol mall. The rally was fairly peaceful, apart from the hateful, vile rhetoric spewing from the speakers. Of course, Cindy Sheehan was in her element, along with the Green Party presidential candidates and other anti-war radicals.

At one point, FNC reporter Griff Jenkins approached the stage to try and interview disgraced CU professor Ward Churchill. He was rebuffed by burly “security” thugs and pushed back. A crowd had assembled around Jenkins and began chanting “F*** Fox News!” The whole time Jenkins maintained his cool but even from a few feet away, I was concerned about his safety and other reporters trying to cover the situation. One of our team members, Tom Trento, was right in the middle of the action and filmed the entire episode. At this moment, the protest is marching towards the convention center.… Read More

Monday’s schedule calls for our floor session in the afternoon, 1PM [or so] and also a key hearing of the Special Session Committee on Water. A couple water bond ideas will be heard [containing real storage?] as well as a bill on assessingthe green house gas effects by building water supply.

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday have nothing scheduled other than we are "on call of the Speaker." Friday has a floor session scheduled with Sunday being the last possible day to handle this years legislation [that is, without extraordinary steps to take any up after, such would require a super-majority to bring up]

Should be an interesting week, with bonds proposed and late nights likely.… Read More

As the Republican National Convention approaches (I fly out in one week – to provide FR readers with live updated from the ground throughout the big event), I am starting to get excited about a week in Minneapolis with thousands of fellow Republicans, unifying around our nominee, and celebrating a political party, that for over a century and a half has stood for freedom, limited government, and family values. I’m excited to be a member of the California delegation!

As a strong conservative, I have to admit that I was more than a little bummed earlier in the week when I received a press release from the outstanding free-market group, The Club for Growth, in which they were expressing their disappointment that a whole host of real taxfighting leaders nationally for the GOP do not appear on the convention program. Among those singled out by the Club for their absence are Senators Coburn and DeMint, the clear leaders for fiscal sanity in the upper chamber. There… Read More