I’m in New York City and attended the Memorial Mass for the Repose of the Soul of William F. Buckley, Jr., this morning, at St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Park Ave.

I learned that FlashReport’s Nick Romero also attended, but the church is of course huge and I did not see him, but we have been exchanging voice mails on our cells andwill be meeting forlunch shortly to discuss theMass.

This was a special memorial service, what us Catholics used to call a "High Mass." Much of the service involved singing, including the Gospel reading by the Rev. George W. Rutler, the principal celebrant. Incense, Latin, and formality were evident throughout the service, which had a definite "Buckley feel" to it. The celebrants did not insist on the "sign of peace" being exchanged among the people in the large audience, the "sign" was muted. I suspect Buckley wouldhave liked that.

I met, spoke with, and introduced Bill Buckley on a number of occasions as a result of my service as National Chairman of Young Americans for Freedom in the late 1970s. In fact, I succeeded his nephew, John… Read More

DENHAM LAUNCES NEW RADIO SPOT The campaign of Senator Jeff Denham against this dumb, politically motivated recall, has launched a radio spot (click on the link below this post to hear it!) which really emphases how every newspaper in the Senate District (as well as, frankly, most of the major papers around the state) have come out against the recall. I figure Senate President Don "The Golden Pig" Perata must be getting used to this. After all, all of these newspaper editorial board (which for the most part are left-leaning or worse) frequently supportive of the policy goals of liberal politicians. But this recall, like Proposition 93 (where again, the Lion’s share of the media opposed that power-grab) has left Perata isolated. No one thinks this recall is justified. When I talk to folks in Sacramento whom I would characterize as "more friendly" to the goals of the left in the legislature, even they roll their eyes and some even say, "Perata will be gone soon…" … Read More

Yesterday was a roller coaster ride of emotions as I spent the entire day at the capitol testifying in committee hearings. This part of the legislative year could be dubbed “the killing season” with all the great Republican bills dying premature deaths. Although it’s frustrating and infuriating to witness the lack of common sense or real empathy in the majority party, we can muster the fortitude to carry on by some of the encouragements I witnessed yesterday.

Senator Alan Lowenthal’s SB 1322, the bill that will allow communists to teach in public schools, passed the Senate Education Committee with flying (red) colors. The bill passed despite the moving testimony of my friend Alex Pop, a Romanian immigrant who was imprisoned for simply speaking out against the communist government in his country. Yesterday Alex celebrated his nineteenth year of escaping to America and freedom. Alex’s two sons will attend the Naval Academy and West Point and his daughter is Miss Northern California. Alex is the perfect example of the American Dream—he went from a communist prison for speaking against the government to actually addressing the… Read More

Hard to believe that this FlashReport video we took of Mitt Romney on the campaign trail, telling a joke to supporters, has been viewed over 17,000 times! … Read More

From today’s Wall Street Journal Political Diary E-mail:

The Color Purple

Are the Clintons feeling a little desperate? Bill flew into a tirade at last weekend’s California Democratic Party convention. He was there to schmooze local superdelegates on Hillary’s behalf when he encountered activist and Clinton-supporting superdelegate Rachel Binah, who had been a Bill Richardson supporter until the New Mexico governor dropped out of the race.

According to a report in the San Francisco Chronicle, Ms. Binah took the opportunity to criticize Clinton ally James Carville for describing Mr. Richardson as a "Judas" for his subsequent endorsement of Barack… Read More

What’s that smell?

It’s the stink Don Perata’s ethically challenged ways all over the attempt to recall Senator Jeff Denham. We’ve all heard that fable of King Midas who could turn things to gold with a mere touch. Well, here in real life, we have Don Perata, who can turn anything into a smelly quagmire of questionable ethics with his mere involvement.

It seems like forever that Perata has been under the cloud of an FBI probe, which is probably more like an ongoing feeding frenzy as he keeps acting like some dictator with a Nietsche complex (the rules of mere mortals don’t apply to The Don).

**There is more – click the link**

View Full Commentary… Read More

What’s that smell?

It’s the stink Don Perata’s ethically challenged ways all over the attempt to recall Senator Jeff Denham. We’ve all heard that fable of King Midas who could turn things to gold with a mere touch. Well, here in real life, we have Don Perata, who can turn anything into a smelly quagmire of questionable ethics with his mere involvement.

It seems like forever that Perata has been under the cloud of an FBI probe, which is probably more like an ongoing feeding frenzy as he keeps acting like some dictator with a Nietsche complex (the rules of mere mortals don’t apply to The Don).

In an article in today’s Merced Sun-Star Stephen Jones, the Merced County Registrar of Voters, has said that he will be filing an official complaint after the addresses given many petition gatherers working to qualify the recall were not residents of Merced County. An excerpt from the story…… Read More

At the start of the school year, my boss, AssemblymanBenoit, announceda new contest for high-schoolers in Riverside County, called "There Ought To Be A Law." This was a simple idea to promote civic involvement among our students, and it turned out to surpass all of my expectations! First, we were greatly impressed by the more than 200 submissions we received, a commendable effort by young people to be engaged in our State government.

(Caption: Assemblyman John J. Benoit, with RJ’s Law co-author Assemblyman Bill Emmerson, walking out of the Assembly Chambers with RJ Feild)

But one essay… Read More