A reminder that once a year, the elves here at the FlashReport take our annual vacation. Every year, the FlashReport publishes daily through the Friday before Christmas, and we restart our daily routine on January 2. For those looking at a calendar, that means that this Friday will be the last time our main page is updated for the year. This is traditionally a very slow time for political news.

That said, this particular year, because of the chaos caused by the chronic overspending of legislative Democrats, and the resulting budget mess, we will be keeping the FR blog open through the holidays, and will encourage our readers to check in regularly (normally we would shut that down, too!).

When we come back after the holidays, look for one new major feature on the site, and we’ll also be revamping our blogger row, with some new, awesome contributors joining our blog team.

As always, if you have any thoughts or suggestions about how we can improve FR, please share them with us. You can e-mail me here.… Read More

Today I am pleased to offer this guest editorial from longtime FR friend State Senator Jeff Denham…

One important step in solving the state’s budget crisis is to eliminate wasteful resources and look for potential opportunities to create new revenue without raising taxes.

One significant opportunity is to sell the 432 acres of pristine California land that houses San Quentin State Prison. This state property sits on a prime bay front section of Marin County and has the potential to provide the state with substantial revenue.

**There is more –… Read More

Today I am pleased to offer this guest editorial from longtime FR friend State Senator Jeff Denham…

This afternoon the liberal Democrats who have overspent California's budget into the deficit-mired creature that we have before us today are queuing up their latest attempt to stick-in to taxpayers. Speaker Karen Bass is telling all that this afternoon the lower chamber will have a vote on BILLIONS of dollars in higher taxes — and to that, Republicans should and must send a resounding message –NO WAY.

It doesn't take much of a look in the rear view mirror to know that as of today, we have had NO real cuts in state spending. In fact, the budget adopted after much agony a few months ago still managed to INCREASE (not decrease) state spending by a half a percent. Yes, all of the screaming by liberals and posturing by the unions was all over a “decrease in the increase” that they wanted.

Today's votes are critical in demonstrating that Republican resolve is strong — that without a permanent spending cap tied to growth in population and inflation, passed by the voters — tax increases are not even on the table for a discussion. Frankly, even then, they are a stupid idea in a bad economy.

I have… Read More

Last week, Assembly Speaker Karen Bass threatened that shemay very well "lock down" the California State Assembly next week, for the Christmas Holiday. In legislative parlance, a lock down is when the members of the Assembly are literally forced to stay in the Legislative Chamber and not allowed to leave. I know, it sounds very immature, but it is true. I guess Bass’ theory is that Republican resolve to not punish California taxpayers in response to the chronic overspending of the Speaker’s party is so fragile that the threat of missing church for Christmas mass, or missing a chance to sip eggnog, or not being able to watch their kids open presents under the family tree will cause some GOPers to suddenly embrace billions of dollars in devastating tax increase.

Below is a marquis that one of our loyal readers put together that really captures the essence of Speaker Bass and this very stupid idea.

You’re a mean one, Speaker Bass!!

… Read More

Last week, Assembly Speaker Karen Bass threatened that shemay very well "lock down" the California State Assembly next week, for the Christmas Holiday. In legislative parlance, a lock down is when the members of the Assembly are literally forced to stay in the Legislative Chamber and not allowed to leave. I know, it sounds very immature, but it is true. I guess Bass’ theory is that Republican resolve to not punish California taxpayers in response to the chronic overspending of the Speaker’s party is so fragile that the threat of missing church for Christmas mass, or missing a chance to sip eggnog, or not being able to watch their kids open presents under the family tree will cause some GOPers to suddenly embrace billions of dollars in devastating tax increase.

Below is a marquis that one of our loyal readers put together that really captures the essence of Speaker Bass and this very stupid idea.

You’re a mean one, Speaker Bass!!

Care to read comments, or make your own about today’s… Read More

At 2pm today, California’s Electoral College will meet in the Assembly chambers to cast their votes for president. Although this election didn’t turn out how Republicans had hoped, it’s still historic. The first African-American presidential nominee for a major political party and the first female on a Republican ticket made 2008 an intriguing political year. Today’s meeting of the California Electoral College also provides the opportunity to once again remind voters that the Constitutional Electoral College system is important to our republic.

Following the 2000 election, many Democrats called for abolishing the Electoral College to establish a direct, popular vote election. In their wisdom, our Founding Fathers understood that such a direct democratic vote would essentially disenfranchise voters who don’t live in larger, populous cities or states. Historian David Barton of Wall Builders has a fantastic article on his web site detailing the importance of the Electoral College.

Last session, Senator Carole Migden carried… Read More

Corruption: As the Senate continues to debate the fate of the Auto rescue plan, much of the news when I was in Washington this week centered on the corruption allegations concerning Illinois Governor Blagojevich. Those allegations are pretty astounding, and disgusting. Combine them with the news of Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK), Congressman William Jefferson (D-LA), former Governor Eliot Spitzer (D-NY), former Congressman Duke Cunningham (R-CA), and former Congressman Bob Ney (R-OH); one can get pretty cynical. And that’s just some of the recent convictions or indictments. There are others and a whole bunch more under investigation. What’s going on? Is everybody on the take somehow? No they’re not. But as the saying goes, evil triumphs when good men do nothing. And we have done lots of nothing lately. But the depth and severity of this scandal, along with what appears to be a lack of remorse on the part of those involved, just might change that. I applaud President-elect Obama and some other prominent Democrats in Illinois for calling for the resignation of Governor Blagojevich. I also applaud those in the Illinois State legislature… Read More