Well, tomorrow is when the State Legislature reconvenes. The Assembly and Senators return from the four corners of the earth to finish out this years legislative session after a 30 day summer recessduring which, shamefully, abalanced budget was not agreed upon. There has been some discussions lately amongst budget negotiators. Will that result in a balanced budget soon, or by Halloween? Will there instead be, as Senator Denham proposed,a "continuing resolution" as a stop gap spending measure to pay the states bills to the vendors, the clinics, etc.,those that expect them?

If no budget agreement, I hope so…the legislature’spoll ratings hang in the balance! The polling done on the deceptive term limit extension initiative fortifies the opinion the public has of the legislature…people do believe that it kicks legislators out sooner, so they favor the initiative…for now. Wait til they hear… Read More

Union Now!… While on vacation, I did take note that the fellow travelers in attendance at the first annual dailykos convention a couple of weeks ago called for a bloggers union. They don’t get compensated for their blogging, no fringe benefits, not even anemployer for most of them … but they want a union. Kinda difficult at the bargaining table when there’s no management sitting across from you. Maybe they want the government to pay for their web opinions. This, apparently, is another example of that referred to as "the dumbing down of America." Or, perhaps, Amerika.

Jon, waddayya think, do you have a large enough blogpen of correspondents here at FR for us to form a union? Mike Spence can be Johnny Friendly, and in between Jim Lacy and Mike Houston we’ll have the legal waterfront covered. I coulda been somebody, if you had only paid me.

Kudos to North County Times on GOP Budget Holdouts…. It’s worth repeating that a local paper gets it. From Thursday’s… Read More

Check out my photo on the front page of yesterday’s San Jose Mercury News (at the bottom). You can see the large version of that shot on our About The FlashReport page… (h/t to Edwin Garcia of the Merc for sending the link to this graphic!).… Read More

On this quiet Saturday, enjoy some of the top stories on the main page, including a FRONT PAGE profile of the FlashReport in the San Jose Mercury News, great news about the State GOP alleviating itself of a $3 million debt, and a profile in the LA Times on State Senate Republicans in this budget impasse.

If you have a few minutes, below you can listen to a great speech given by Ronald Reagan, before he was elected President, speaking out against socialized medicine.

Care to read comments, or make your own about today’s Daily Commentary?

Just click here to go to the FR Weblog, where this Commentary has its own blog post, and where you can read and make comments.… Read More

Sunday will be one month since 23 Korean Christian medical volunteers were kidnapped by the Islamist Taliban , while working in Gazing province in Afghanistan. Two of the male volunteers, one a co founder and minister of a large Christian church in Korea, were murdered. Two of the women have been released. The Korean government is reportedly "negotiating" with the kidnappers. Payment for the hostages is widely anticipated.

While press reports have declined in the US, the hostage crisis gets white heat coverage in Asia. Here in Los Angeles, an organization called Concerned Citizens for Korean Hostages in Afghanistan urged in a press conference the release of the captives. Many different religious groups joined in the demand for the release. The controversial Muslim Public Affairs Council MPAC [ see HERE at this link ] joined this group. Recently MPAC was listed by the US Attorney General’s office as an unindicted co-conspirator in a criminal case of funding Hamas.… Read More

On this quiet Saturday, enjoy some of the top stories on the main page, including a FRONT PAGE profile of the FlashReport in the San Jose Mercury News, great news about the State GOP alleviating itself of a $3 million debt, and a profile in the LA Times on State Senate Republicans in this budget impasse.

If you have a few minutes, below you can listen to a great speech given by Ronald Reagan, before he was elected President, speaking out against socialized medicine. … Read More

I received some calls and emails today telling me that the link I used in my post about Assembly candidate Sam Wakim’s faux illegal-immigrant driver’s license was wrong.

It wasn’t — just outdated because the user had chosen to make it private or take it down.

Well thanks to the wayback machine you can find a February 2007 version of Sam Wakim’s rather weird personal website here.

Just a quick reminder to those candidates that post on the Internet, it’s kind of like Las Vegas "what happens on the web stays on the web."… Read More

As the Vice Chairman, South, of the California Republican Party, I can tell you that I am very excited by the following news. The ‘infamous’ $3,000,000 loan that the state GOP has on the books from last years election… is going bye bye.

The California Republican Party has released the following statement to the press, so I feel it is okay to now share it on the FlashReport (I have a fidiciary obligation as a party officer that requires that I do things a certain way)… The California Republican Party has obtained commitments to retire its $3,000,000 loan obligation from Larry Dodge and Paul Folino and their affiliates on or before February 15, 2008. The CRP sincerely appreciates the generosity of these two pillars of our party and their faith and commitment to the CRP and Republican principles. The CRP also wants to thank Governor Arnold… Read More