Or, the "How to Know You’re In Good Company" Award…

I know this isn’t state news, although I’m sure the incidentwill be late nite talk show and Handgun Control fodder for several days…

If my memory of history serves me correct (and please tell me if I’m wrong), the last person other than Harry Whittington who can actually say they were shot by a sitting vice president was Alexander Hamilton. Of course, Secretary of the Treasury Hamilton died within the next day or so, after his duel with VP Aaron Burr.

So, Harry, consider yourself in very esteemed company…and only you lived to tell about it.

I’ll let some statistician let us know what the odds are now….

You can always email me a history lesson here.… Read More

Los AngelesCounty Supervisor Don Knabe faces criticism over his ethics. The Los Angeles Times reports that the Board of County Supervisors approved a contract with a company that hired a lobbying firm that employs his son AND then hired Knabe’s wife after approval. See the article here.

His critics agree that he did nothing illegal. I know Knabe and his is a good man. He’s not as conservative as me or Mike Antonovich, the other GOP Supervisor, but he generally votes pretty good.

I don’t believe that Knabe did anything to warrant this attack, except be a Republican. That’s my point. The Congressman under fire, Susan Kennedy and now local guy like Knabe Have to live a higher standard. I made that point in one of my first posts back in November 2005. See it here.… Read More

There are a lot of interesting stories today.

The "must read" of the day is a column from veteran Los Angeles Times columnist George Skelton. I don’t always agree with what George has to say. As a matter of fact, if I did, George would tell you that HE would be worried. George isn’t conservative, let alone as conservative as me.

But today he has written a column looking at the growing controversy surrounding the hire, last December of Democrat Susan Kennedy to be his Chief of Staff. I have said (repeatedly) that I support this Governor – I think he is a smart, capable leader. But the decision to bring back the Deputy Chief of Staff to the disgraced and recalled Gray Davis sent a chilling message to those of us that see this Governor as being totally against anything that Davis stood for — especially the ‘pay-to-play’ perception that permeated that administration.… Read More

There are a lot of interesting stories today.

The "must read" of the day is a column from veteran Los Angeles Times columnist George Skelton. I don’t always agree with what George has to say. As a matter of fact, if I did, George would tell you that HE would be worried. George isn’t conservative, let alone as conservative as me.

But today he has written a column looking at the growing controversy surrounding the hire, last December of Democrat Susan Kennedy to be his Chief of Staff. I have said (repeatedly) that I support this Governor – I think he is a smart, capable leader. But the decision to bring back the Deputy Chief of Staff to the disgraced and recalled Gray Davis sent a chilling message to those of us that see this Governor as being totally against anything that Davis stood for — especially the ‘pay-to-play’ perception that permeated that administration.

So while my personal… Read More

I had the opportunity to witness what political philosopher Edmund Burke called society’s "little platoons" in action last Wednesday morning. I was at St. Anthony Claret School in Anaheim on Wednesday for a special assembly to recognize the Children’s Scholarship Fund for enabling 24 students of this lower-income parish to benefit from a parochial school education.

A little background: The CSF was started in 1998 by investment banker Ted Forstmann and the late John Walton to provide partial tuition assistance for low-income families to send their children to private schools.

The… Read More

Okay, this has nothing to do with State politics, but its a slow newsday, and I feel some pity towards the leftists out there. So here goes.

Advice for Liberals Liberals, I understand your plight. You are out of power in America, and cannot believe it. Your intellectual superiority and moral supremacy make you crazy when you compare yourselves with Neanderthal Republicans. With the GOP making a mess of federal finances and ignoring the crisis on our Southern Border, can you capitalize electorally in 2006 and 2008? I have some advice that might help you. Take heed. Stop it with all the hate, rage and anger. Remember, "Hate is not a Family Value". If you do persist in hating, try to hate Al Quaida as much as you hate President Bush. Advocate a balanced federal budget and find a program or two that could be cut. You’ll get Republican votes if you do that. Also, the public doesn’t like taxes that much you might want to soft pedal on that. Adopt a pro –… Read More

After taking a minute to read the top story on the Drudgeport, where Vice President Cheney apparently accidentally unloaded some buckshot into a buddy while out hunting, I made my way on an afternoon tour of some of the politic blog sites. I came across a great entry by LA Weekly columnist Bill Bradley on his New West Notes site.

Bradley talks about Assembly Democrats meeting in Monterey at their retreat – and about the power of the Democrats "Anchor Tenent" – the California Teachers Assocation.

His post begins like this:

Pete McCloskey, the former anti-Nixon Republican who is now an anti-Bush Republican, will receive a larger ratio of favorable media coverage vs. actual votes received than any American politician since Ralph Nader. Since announcing his intention to run in the GOP primary in California’s 11th congressional district against incumbent Richard Pombo, McCloskey has been the subject of rapturous profiles in most California newspapers, all of which frame his previous time in Congress by fawning over his role in the creation of Earth Day, his opposition to the Vietnam War, and his calls for the impeachment of Richard Nixon.

The fact that McCloskey is running against Pombo, who has been the subject of a continuing series of articles about his fundraising practices, his association with former Majority Leader Tom DeLay, and his well-known hatred for the environment, makes this even an easier story to write. The implication underneath this McCloskey media bandwagon in clear: if only Republicans were smart… Read More