Well, the more things change the more things stay the same. Drudge is linking to a Reuters story concluding that the vote margin now indicates a winner in the Mexican presidential election held yesterday. At print time this morning (fromwhich I compile the main page), the national and state papers still thought the election was up in the air.

Felipe Calderon Hinojosa, theNational Action Party’s nominee for President of Mexico, the so-called conservative of Vicente Fox’s own party in the race, has declared victory. But Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the leftist of PRD, reserved the opportunity to challenge the election and throw the… Read More

It will come as no surprise to regular readers of the Flashreport that I spend a lot of time contemplating the slow, steadydecline of the GOP. It is indisputable that we hold power in Washington presently primarily due to the strong economy and decisive approach to the war against terrorists. But these are the kinds of things we are to expect a GOP government to do – so enough patting ourselves on the back for Reaganism 101.

When you combine these two policy achievements against our lack of leadership on other issues of the day – immigration, Medicare, Social Security and general government reform, and mix in a sprinkle of Pelosi, Reid and Dean, it’s not much of a surprise that we continue to eek out a majority every two years.

Tucker Carlson pens a piece for the Cato Institute on the present GOP woes and you might want to take a look this week if you get a chance.

Happy 4th!… Read More

Bill Bradley, the LA Weekly columnist and former political colleague of Tom Hayden, Jane Fonda and Bob Mulholland, offered some friendly advice to FlashReport readers in a comment he posted on FR that you may have missed:

“OK, as a longtime Democratic advisor at every level turned analyst and columnist, here is my take on your situation.

“You do not live in Utah, you live in California.

“Your governor actually has his program together now and knows what he is doing.

“Deal with it.” – Bill Bradley

Bradley has been around California politics a long time (not a reference to his age, just a tip of the hat in respect to his experience in the biz) and is one of the state’s more interesting political writers, due in large part to the personal friendships and contacts he’s cultivated over the years with union leaders, campaign consultants (of both parties) and pseudo-politicos like Warren Beatty and Rob Reiner who always surface just in time to make politics… Read More

Last week the weather in Sacramento was in the low 100’s. So, of course, I chose last week to take down a lengthy fence, overgrown with various trees and thorny shrubs on both sides, along two sides of my property. My father and I labored mightily – digging out concreted posts, sawing down tree limbs as thick as pythons, moving literally tons of wood, and in the end building a structure that vaguely resembled the wall that kept King Kong on his side of Skull Island in the old black and white movie.

I didn’t build the fence because I hate my neighbor. Admittedly, he is a‘progressive’, as is virtually everyone else in my Curtis Park neighborhood, and I am conservative.We disagree on a number of political and cultural issues that we rarely discuss. I have a Bush sticker on my car. He has a sign in his window opposing the war (strangely, he also has an old poster of Darth Vader displayedin his garage. When I pointed out that Darth Vader was hardly representative of progressive values he gave me a look that could melt butter and said that James Earl Jones – the voice of Mr. Vader – got shafted financially. I let it… Read More

Last week the weather in Sacramento was in the low 100’s. So, of course, I chose last week to take down a lengthy fence, overgrown with various trees and thorny shrubs on both sides, along two sides of my property. My father and I labored mightily – digging out concreted posts, sawing down tree limbs as thick as pythons, moving literally tons of wood, and in the end building a structure that vaguely resembled the wall that kept King Kong on his side of Skull Island in the old black and white movie.

I didn’t build the fence because I hate my neighbor. Admittedly, he is a‘progressive’, as is virtually everyone else in my Curtis Park neighborhood, and I am conservative.We disagree on a number of political and cultural issues that we rarely discuss. I have a Bush sticker on my car. He has a sign in his window opposing the war (strangely, he also has an old poster of Darth Vader displayedin his garage. When I pointed out that Darth Vader was hardly representative of progressive values he gave me a look that could melt butter and said that James Earl Jones – the voice of Mr. Vader – got shafted financially. I let it… Read More

This entry may be a tad too personal for some tastes. Yet, as I have been on vacation this past week, I’ve had some time to think about my decision earlier in the week that I would not run for re-election this year to the La Mesa City Council, where I have served since late 1990. (The story ran in the SDUT on Thursday, even referencing the FlashReport, of all things.)

The response has been a blessing, quite frankly. Most emails have been very supportive, and only a few have questioned why I wouldn’t inform them in advance of the decision (it was clearly only my wife’s and mine to make). Still others have tried to read between the lines of my statement that I want to spend more time with my family, especially now that my daughter is entering kindergarten.

Have we become so jaded about politicians that we automatically assume whatever is said is simply spin? I guess so. But, what I said is what I meant.

Some have… Read More

Sometimes, a decision on how to vote on legislation comes easily. For example, it wasn’t hard to vote to cut the death tax, or to complete the mission in Iraq, or to improve enforcement along the border, or to crack down on child Internet predators. But some votes are not so easy. This week, such a vote occurred in the House. Yesterday, the House voted 232-187 to pass the Deep Ocean Energy Resources (DOER) Act of 2006. This bill completely modifies the existing moratorium on offshore drilling for energy off all of the nation’s coasts. I voted no. First, a little background. I am firmly opposed to drilling off the shores of California. If people in Louisiana want to drill off their coast (and they do) that’s fine. But California is different. A pristine, unobstructed ocean is as essential to our economic prosperity as it is to our spirit which is uniquely and quintessentially Californian. We face energy issues and we need more sources of energy in the U.S. But California can provide more renewable energy, hydroelectric and solar energy than other states, while keeping California prosperous and beautiful. Part of the… Read More

Team Sports are very important in the USA. Today as you pass parks there are various sport teams playingin almost every one of them. In American high schools even sports that are individual are organized into teams. I know people can tell from my physique I was a four-year Varsity swimmer. As a younger kid, I spent three glorious years in my local little league. My nickname was "The Statue". Why? I didn’t swing my bat the entire first year. I do have a great story about my first hit if you ever want to hear it. I usually spent three innings in right field (of course right field) praying along with my coaches and other players and their parents that no one would pull the ball and hit to me. Get the picture. The only person that thought I was good was my Mom, who still doesn’t know any of the rules about baseball. … Read More