San Franciscans are infamous for their “creative” ways of demonstrating their liberal/socialist ideology. But I think this time they’ve gone too far. The International Herald Tribune is reporting that there is a group of citizens campaigning to place a measure on the ballot renaming the Oceanside Water Pollution Control Plant the “George W. Bush Sewage Plant.”

The “Presidential Memorial Commission of San Francisco” came up with their idea in the place where all truly brilliant ideas are birthed: a local bar. Not only is this proposal completely disrespectful to the office of the President of the United States, it is a waste of taxpayer money. For all its claims to be the international city of “tolerance,” San Francisco isn’t sending a very tolerant message about President Bush and his administration.

Regardless of your political opinion of any given president, the office they represent should not become the object of… Read More

Four years ago I got a call asking if I would speak to some high school students at the RNC Convention in New York City. The caller told me I would be on a panel with Mike McCurry, President Clinton’s press Secretary. Immediately I was worried that this panel was mismatched.

The group was the Junior Statesman Symposium at the RNC. The Junior Statesman Foundation is the partner to the Junior State. The Junior State is a non-partisan, student-run civic education organization. It was started in California seventy-four years ago but has since been formed in other states.

The Foundation supports the activities of the Junior State and conducts several summer school programs at prestigious campuses like Stanford, Georgetown, and Yale. They also offer several week-long programs that encourage civic responsibility among high achieving high school students.

I had the chance to go to the Summer School programs at UC Davis (now at Stanford) and Georgetown when I was 25 years younger and 200 pounds lighter. I can say it changed my life.

They have added the weeklong symposium at both the RNC and DNC Conventions. This is the… Read More

Besides the decision overuling the District of Columbia handgun ban, the U.S. Supreme Court issued an important opinion today in the case of Federal Election Commission v. Davis, holding that yet another part of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform law violates the First Amendment.

The Court found that the so-called "Millionaire’s amendment," which establishes elevated contribution limits for non-self-funding candidates for Congress running against well-heeled self-funded candidates, is unconstitutional because it imposes different contribution limits for candidates running against each other.The opinion reaffirmed the opinion in the famous Buckley v. Valeo case which held that a candidate’s expenditure of personal funds for him or herself is a right based on First Amendmentprinciples tofully "advocate his own election." The Court found there was not a sufficient elimination of corruption or the perception of corruption to justify unequal contribution limits just because one of the candidates hasheavily funded themselves.

The court made the right decision.… Read More

FR Publisher Jon Fleischman is in the midst of a multi-day trip to the State’s Capitol, maintaining, renewing and initiating contacts to better serve FR readers. This morning we’re pleased to offer this guest commentary from Lester Snow penned exclusively for the FlashReport. Snow serves in the Schwarzenegger Administration as the Director of the State Deparment of Water Resources…

FR Publisher Jon Fleischman is in the midst of a multi-day trip to the State’s Capitol, maintaining, renewing and initiating contacts to better serve FR readers. This morning we’re pleased to offer this guest commentary from Lester Snow penned exclusively for the FlashReport. Snow serves in the Schwarzenegger Administration as the Director of the State Deparment of Water Resources…

Various factors have contributing to the drought conditions we currently face. The Sierra snowpack is only 67 percent of normal,… Read More

The Supremes ruled on the DC handgun ban, effectively invalidating it–according to news breaking right now. Here is the Post’s brief.

Politico looks at incumbent losses and the defeat of longtime Utah Rep. Chris Cannon,here.

California electeds get some ink on climate change legislation, here, from Politico.

Congressman Mike Pence, a leader among house GOP conservatives, pens a RedState column on the fairness doctrine, here, over at RedState.com

Politico looks at Bob Barr’s candidacy for POTUS.

And George Will writes on the impacts of immigration policies on California’s tech sector, from today’s Post.

California Rep. Mike Honda is quite the vocalist, from Politico.… Read More

Congressman Devin Nunes (R), Tulare, representing the Central Valley of California, appeared on Hannity’s America this past week and hit it out of the park on the subject of oil exploration. See the video here. Its great stuff and should be shared wide and far……………..

Nunes is clear, concise and strident in his opinions and recitation of the facts. Great stuff.… Read More

AB 1634 just got out of Senate Local Gov’t this morning. The bill has been changed, amendments make it into a kind of 3 Strikes bill for pet owners. If you get caught with a non-fixed animal that is not permitted to be that way it’s a $50 fine the first time, $100 the 2nd anda mandatory spay/neuter on the 3rd occurance with the pet owner paying for the costs.

Cats only get 2 strikes…which will make dog owner/cat haters giggle and probably cause a rash of discrimination lawsuits. But wait, if cats have 9 lives then that must mean 18 strikes, which is unfair to dog owners and will thencause…… Read More