Today the United States Olympic Organizing Committee has decided to choose Chicago over Los Angeles as the site for our country’s bid to bring the 2016 Olympic Games to America. The field had already been narrowed down to these two finalists.

I guess this is good news or bad news depending on how you look at it. I will let other people share their perspective, but I will tell you that as far as I am concerned, this is great news on two levels.

From a concerned-taxpayer perspective, I was very disturbed to see the State of California provide a financial guarantee (courtesy of taxpayer dollars) in case the games lose money. How much? If the games were to tank financially, we’d be on the hook for up to $250,000,000.00.

Let me share another perspective on why this is good news for… me. I love the Olympic Games. There is almost nothing the beats being present to watch the best athletes in the world compete against one another! To give you an idea of my enthusiasm, in 2004, I made… Read More

– Senator Feinstein is under scrutiny for some of her/her husbands dealings…I have always preached that we should all be careful what we wish for. If she has a true financial conflict of interest based on the law. Shame on her. If there is not legal conflict, only one that is perceived. Shame on her accusers.

– I don’t know much about the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) other than I pay it. And it is a major disincentive for charitable giving. Once the AMT kicks in, the deductions you take for contributions to non-profits often times fall out.

– State Senator Abel Maldonado is right. Mission San Miguel and others like it that dot the California landscape and shaped our history should be eligible state funds for rehab. I am not sure it isn’t the job of the Church or private sector or some non-profit (for which you won’t get a tax deduction for giving to because of the AMT) but if state funds are being used to fix up… Read More

– Senator Feinstein is under scrutiny for some of her/her husbands dealings…I have always preached that we should all be careful what we wish for. If she has a true financial conflict of interest based on the law. Shame on her. If there is not legal conflict, only one that is perceived. Shame on her accusers.

– I don’t know much about the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) other than I pay it. And it is a major disincentive for charitable giving. Once the AMT kicks in, the deductions you take for contributions to non-profits often times fall out.

– State Senator Abel Maldonado is right. Mission San Miguel and others like it that dot the California landscape and shaped our history should be eligible state funds for rehab. I am not sure it isn’t the job of the Church or private sector or some non-profit (for which you won’t get a tax deduction for giving to because of the AMT) but if state funds are being used to fix up… Read More

This is my Friday the 13th blog. Diane Dimond wrote a great book about Michael Jackson’s infidelities called "Be Careful Who You Love." Given the New York Times report today about Karl Rove’s emails, one could also say, "be careful who you email."

Pesky Congressional Democrats are seeking copies of Rove’s emails as further proof of misdoing regarding the U.S. Attorney scandal, which itself is a scandal, since the President has constitutional authority to appoint and remove U.S. Attorneys.

Nevertheless, Congressman Waxman (D-LA, CA) insists that according to the "Presidential Records Act," a sort of Freedom of Information Act ("FOIA") applied to the White House, that he is entitled to copies of all of Rove’s emails, even those sent and received through a private RNC system set-up in the White House.

Who knows how this will resolve itself. It is all a bunch of foolishness from the Democrats anyway, since between 1933 and 1981 there are probably 50 years of incriminating interoffice memos between Democratic Presidents, Congressional democrats, and the DNCabout… Read More

This tidbit appeared in the Capitol Morning Report today: Today is the last day to take the "Waterless Urinals 101" class at the Cal/EPA building. The building manager, Thomas Properties Group, has offered the class three times this week to prepare male staffers for urinals that not only don’t flush but have no water. The secret is a urine-trapping cartridge that replaces the drain of a traditional urinal. The urine flows through the cartridge and is sealed beneath a check valve made of the same material used for leg urinals for astronauts. Odors are also sealed beneath the valve. Urine then flows down through the building’s plumbing. (Plain urine, it seems, is no more corrosive… Read More

One would think from Dennis Hollingsworth’s bill package this year that he’s got it out for sexually violent predators or something, or maybe even that he believes the state should be trying to protect kids. Now, there’s a thought. Perhaps that’s why he’s the legislative chairman of Project KidSafe.

Kudos to Sen. Hollingsworth for focusing onlegislation where it will mean the most. If another legislator has a set of bills as "KidSafe"-oriented as this one, let’s pay some tribute there as well…just let me know.

Now, if we can just get the majority party to support a few of these:

Project KidSafe: Sexually Violent Predators (SVPs)

Falsifying Registration Information: In October 2006, a Sexually Violent Predator named Matt Lyon Williams was released unconditionally in East San Diego County and proceeded to register as a transient. His case revealed several loopholes in the sex offender laws.… Read More

As if newly elected OC Supervisor Janet Nguyen didn’t have enough to deal with (having just won by three votes and still facing a legal challenges to her seat) this morning the Capitol Morning Report pulled a two-year-old press release from the CalChamber web site talking about their support for Supervisor Nguyen’s run at Assemblyman Van Tran’s 68th Assembly District seat (even though Van is not termed out until 2010. NOT TRUE (well the part about the Chamber support is or was…read on).

Back when the jockeying for Joe Dunn’s 34th Senate seat was happening Assemblyman Van Tran was the likely GOP nominee and at that time then-Councilwoman Janet Nguyen was on track to run to replace Tran. Janet Nguyen a former local chamber government affairs exec. had the support of the CalChamber. When Tran decided to stick it out in the Assembly, the whole thing became moot.

According to FR publisher Jon Fleischman, who has been in contact with the Capitol Morning Report and CalChamber today, the correction will be published tomorrow.

While it might have been a fun war to watch, don’t count on… Read More

Earlier in the week, I posted on a decision by the Court of Appeals in Orange County agreeing to hear arguments on a writ filing on behalf of Trung Nguyen, who won the election day balloting for First District Supervisor, but in a recount, was deemed by the Orange County Registrar of Voters to then be the loser. Janet Nguyen was sworn in after being certified with margin of votes you could count on two hands. Anyway, I threw out an amazing statistic about how the Appeals Court only hears 1 in 100 or so writs that are filed with the court, and made it sound like that hurdle had been jumped by Trung’s legal team.

In another reminder of why we should let lawyers blog about this legal-beagle stuff, I was wrong. The Court has not agreed to hear the matter, they have agreed to take written testimony on why they should or should not hear the matter.

So while I would imagine it is not that easy to get even to the point where the Appellate Court wants to hear such arguments, Trung Nguyen’s legal challenge to the original Judge’s… Read More