Congress has been a place of little activity of any note for about the last month. I have told you that I expected this to be an unproductive year given the looming and very unpredictable election. But we are underperforming even my low expectations. It has been unexpectedly difficult to find agreement on the expiring Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), Farm Bill and No Child left Behind Reauthorization, not to mention take on the housing crisis, energy, budget, etc. The continuing Clinton/Obama battle is, I think, making consensus on things even among Democrats difficult, not to mention Republicans and the President.

So, since there’s no real news, here are some tidbits of thoughts and occurrences from the past month:

A few weeks ago, the House went into "secret session" to discuss the implications of passing or not passing the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (referenced above). When in "secret session" the House is swept for "bugs" and there obviously are no spectators and C- Span is turned off. Interestingly, the session is recorded and held as a classified document for 50 years or until Congress … Read More

Our state legislators will take up an important bill this morning dealing with your tax dollars and those who seek to use their position to unlawfully benefit themselves.

The California Assembly Public Employees, Retirement, and Social Security will be discussing Assembly Bill 1858, introduced by Assemblyman (and longtime FR friend) Kevin Jeffries, which if enacted would require any public employee who is hired after January 1, 2009 and convicted of a felony involving the abuse of his/her position to forfeit the government contributions made into the their pension plan, but would not affect the personal contributions made by the employee.

This common sense bill is in fact an extension of current law which maintains the same stipulation for elected officials. In spite of this, the bill seems headed for failure in committee today at the hands of union opposition.

Assembly Democrats have an opportunity to support good public policy and emphasize the integrity of public offices and stand against those who would steal from the California taxpayer.

Or, they have another opportunity to demonstrate the prevailing theory around the Capitol —… Read More

Fresno City Councilman Jerry Duncan is playing a leadership role at the local level in opposing ill-advised state legislation, authored by liberal Democrat Fiona Ma, that would put a huge new burden on California employers, both in the private and public sectors. We asked Duncan to share with FR readers more about this bill, and what he has been doing to try and stop it…. Keep up the good work, Jerry! – Flash

LOCAL LEADERSHIP IS NEEDED TO STOP ANTI-EMPLOYER LEGISLATION By The Honorable Jerry Duncan, Fresno City Councilman

The assault on California small business by members of the liberal left in the California Assembly is alive and well. The latest incarnation of this is the introduction of AB 2716 by Assemblywoman Fiona Ma, D-San Francisco and is backed by organizations representing over 1200 Unions. … Read More

Fresno City Councilman Jerry Duncan is playing a leadership role at the local level in opposing ill-advised state legislation, authored by liberal Democrat Fiona Ma, that would put a huge new burden on California employers, both in the private and public sectors. We asked Duncan to share with FR readers more about this bill, and what he has been doing to try and stop it…. Keep up the good work, Jerry! – Flash

LOCAL LEADERSHIP IS NEEDED TO STOP ANTI-EMPLOYER LEGISLATION By The Honorable Jerry Duncan, Fresno City Councilman

The assault on California small business by members of the liberal left in the California Assembly is alive and well. The latest incarnation of this is the introduction of AB 2716 by Assemblywoman Fiona Ma, D-San Francisco and is backed by organizations representing over 1200 Unions.

**There is more… Read More

The original oil tycoon John D.Rockefeller is crucified by historians for creating anti free trade monopolies but he has alsoproduced a miserable family lineage.Look at the great grandson Jay. Embarrassing.

Witness Senator Jay Rockefeller D-West Virginia. He just apologized to Sen. McCain for the most blatant insult of the political season. Have a read of an interview published yesterday and see if you agree.Rockefeller belies the democrat’s claim they represent the poor. Most of the fabulous wealthy senators are democrats. And who knew about how busy the Clinton’s have been since taking the White House furniture?

"McCain was a fighter pilot, who dropped laser-guided missiles from 35,000 feet," Rockefeller said. "He was long gone when they hit. What happened when they (the missiles) get to the ground? He doesn’t know. You have to care… Read More

Desert Taxpayers for Truth Launches Web & Video…

Desert Taxpayers for Truth (DTFT), a non-profit watchdog group from the Coachella Valley launched its website today: www.TaxpayersForTruth.com and announced the start of a series of TV spots that will educate voters about elected officials and their voting records.

The first video – a :60 barn-burner that out lines dubious disability claims, tax hikes and attacks on public safety — will begin airing tomorrow throughout the Coachella Valley and Riverside County.

You can view the videos from the website or on YouTube. Or tune in to most any TV station in Riverside County..

Word is this is just the start…and since DTFT is my client (yes, that’s a disclaimer) I might have an idea of what’s coming… Read More

Over at Capitol Weekly, they have a story up about how BIG LABOR passed a resolution demanding that Fabian Nunez give back $4 million to the California Democratic Party (we all know the CDP is a wholly owned subsidiary of the unions). Intepreting statements in the piece, it seems doubtful that Nunez is giving anything back.

But, let’s just say that Nunez would prefer to return the funds back in the form of some of his favorite products.

With their four million bucks, Nunez can buy the labor bosses:

139 bottles of rare Mouton Rothschild french wine ($28,750/bottle). 740 Monogram Motard Firebird hand bags by Louis Vuitton ($5400/purse). 548 Nights in the Belle Etoile Suite at the exclusive Parisian Hotel Meriece ($7300/night).

That said, it’s most likely that if the union bosses get anything, it will be 16,339,869 of these.… Read More

I may be late to this, but our friends over at Red State earlier today posted a blog letter signed by 13 authors calling on the President to boycott the upcoming Olympic Summer Games in China.

Last week I noted at OCBlog / RedCounty.com that Rep. Dana Rohrabacher had joined more than a dozen other members of congress in calling on the President to boycott the games.

Today the Congressman has a post up on USAToday.com (presumably in the paper too, but I haven’t been at a hotel today so I haven’t seen the paper).… Read More