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[12/30/05 Friday]

[Carol Platt Liebau - editorial director CaliforniaRepublic.org] 12:03 am [permalink]
Hollywood Stars Shining Much Less Brightly Here is one of the most outrageous stories of recent memory (Wesley Pruden comments here).

Apparently, Wayne Newton and Robin Williams are having a hard time lining up Hollywood "talent" to go to Iraq to entertain the troops -- the troops, mind you, that provide them with the freedom to make huge sums of money for engaging in a pleasant occupation under pleasant conditions (resulting, all too often, in a trashy or silly product). (As you may recall, I've been critical of Hollywood's response to the War on Terror, generally).

Now, celebrities are afraid, so it seems, that deigning to entertain the troops will be construed as an endorsement of the war, and -- heavens! -- that wouldn't do at all. Might be bad for the career, or result in some odd glances at the fashionable cocktail parties.

Barbara Streisand, Alec Baldwin and all the rest of the summer soldiers and sunshine patriots needn't waste any of our time suggesting that they "support" the troops, if not the President. Obviously, they don't. If they did, they and the rest of the "stars" could stand a little inconvenience, or even a little threat to their trainer-toned (or not, in the case of Baldwin & Streisand) behinds.

Kudos to Jessica Simpson, Kelly Clarkson, country singers Mark Wills, Craig Morgan and Keni Thomas -- and Drew Carey, rock musician Henry Rollins, Gary Sinise, comedian Tom Green and model and Fox sports commentator Leeann Tweeden.

And, yes, kudos to Al Franken. He may be an idiot, but he's willing to go entertain the troops -- which is a lot more than one can say for most of his brethren on the left. [Liebau Blog]

[12/29/05 Thursday]

[Hugh Hewitt - senior columnist] 12:03 am [permalink]
The Lost, Very Lost Angeles Times: Fake But Accurate Again! From Monday's front page story in the Los Angeles Times, "Wolves Thrive but Animosity Keeps Pace":

But now, as the Fish and Wildlife Service ponders a delisting plan that would turn over management of the wolves to the states, federal officials are balking at plans they fear would allow hunters to exterminate whole packs.

In Wyoming, for example, Gov. Dave Freudenthal last April decreed that the Endangered Species Act is no longer in force and that the state "now considers the wolf as a federal dog," unworthy of protection. The governor's declaration reflects the views of hunters and ranchers that the wolves are decimating elk herds and devouring cattle and sheep. Some rural residents say they fear that wolves may prey on children.Idaho, home to the largest population of wolves in the West, has been the least welcoming. Officials say hundreds of wolves have been shot, in violation of federal law. A recent spate of poisonings has not only killed wolves, but dozens of ranch dogs and family pets that ingested pesticide-laced meatballs left along wildlife trails, state wildlife managers say.

No, Gov. Dave Freudenthal really didn't tell the federal government to go to hell or say that wolves are "federal dogs" in Wyoming, despite what a major national newspaper told its readers Tuesday.

"Oh, boy, that never happened," the governor's press secretary, Lara Azar, said Tuesday afternoon.

What started out as a bogus news release written as an April Fool's joke by Afton outfitter Maury Jones has turned up as fact in the media -- unfortunately, for the second time, according to Azar.

And from the Times?

Los Angeles Times deputy metro editor David Lauter called the error unfortunate. "We hate when this kind of thing happens, and we correct it as quickly as we can," he said.

"The reporter saw it on the Internet and had talked to the governor in the past, so she was familiar enough with the way he talks and writes that she thought it sounded authentic and she didn't check, which she should have," Lauter said.

[12/28/05 Wednesday]

[Mediacrity] 12:04 am [permalink]
Comic Relief at the L.A. Times In what appears to be a light-hearted end-of-the-year prank on its readers, the Los Angeles Times yesterday published an op-ed article on how reporters in the Middle East aren't "telling it like it is." That's not funny. What's funny was the choice of author: Robert Fisk!

Why did the clowns at the LA Times editorial page give a forum to Fisk's predictable, putrid, phoned-in rant? Oops! I just answered my question. [go to Mediacrity blog]

[12/27/05 Tuesday]

[Ken Masugi - Local Liberty Blog - Claremont Institute] 12:01am [permalink]
Brokeback Border Romances betweenborder patrol agents and illegal immigrants (Nicholas Riccardi, LAT).[visit Local Liberty Blog]

[12/23/05 Friday]

[Ken Masugi - Local Liberty Blog - Claremont Institute] 12:01am [permalink]
Weintraub on McClintock Property Rights Amendment Dan Weintraub wonders whether the McClintock amendment might become California and the nation's new Proposition 13. See our property rights and redevelopment files for some background. - But why circulate two petitions at the same time? The one effort would seem to undermine the other. [visit Local Liberty Blog]

[12/22/05 Thursday]

[Carol Platt Liebau - editorial director CaliforniaRepublic.org] 12:03 am [permalink]
The Dems' Impeachment List Barbara Boxer is apparently seeking counsel on whether President Bush has committed an "impeachable offense" by authorizing warrantless electronic surveillance of those with ties to Al Qaeda for national security purposes.

It's always a good thing when Barbara Boxer seeks guidance, because so far, there's been scanty evidence that she can figure out anything on her own.

The problem is that she's listening to moonbats like John Dean, who, having been a vocal critic of the Iraq war and the President -- aside from his own illegal behavior -- is hardly a reliable guide on anything. Even his calls for the President's impeachment are not new . . . and he's at it again.

Boxer, Dean and their ilk demonstrate just how little they care about the war on terror. Just imagine how it would encourage, delight, embolden and inspire Al Qaeda to see President Bush impeached for his efforts to deter their attacks, and distracted by the political garbage emanating from their willing handmaidens on the left!

I say to the Democrats: Go for it -- impeach Bush, and see how the public feels about the President's efforts to keep them from being attacked, vs. your efforts to protect the potential attackers. While you're at it, don't forget to impeach Carter ("Attorney General is authorized to approve electronic surveillance to acquire foreign intelligence information without a court order"); Reagan (who also signed an executive order allowing warrantless searches of "a foreign power or an agent of a foreign power"), and, of course, Clinton.

And in the impeachment articles, don't forget every legislator or judge who allowed the surveillance to go forward while believing it to be illegal (including the grandstanding Clinton appointee who now finds it prudent to resign from the FISA panel), who would also merit impeachment, having acted as accessories to the President's alleged lawbreaking.

Indeed, keeping silent in the face of the supposed rampant illegality is itself a failure of a senator or judge's oath to protect and defend the Constitution; those who attempt to escape blame by asserting that they remained silent in the face of the alleged illegal acts for "national security reasons" only emphasize the lack of judgment and total disregard for national security that The New York Times -- and the official who leaked to it -- displayed in publishing the story in the first place. [Liebau Blog]

[12/21/05 Wednesday]

[Ken Masugi - Local Liberty Blog - Claremont Institute] 12:01am [permalink]
Illegal Immigration and Crime Episodes like this drive us crazy and fill us with admiration at smart police work (H.G. Reza, LAT). An illegal immigrant was deported to Mexico just after forensic evidence pointed to him as the murderer of an elderly Santa Ana couple. But a smart detective figured he would be back to visit his family. They caught him 30 minutes after setting up the surveillance.

Vietnamese immigrants give $1 million to Coastline Community College (Mai Tran, LAT). Thank goodness it wasn't to UCI. [visit Local Liberty Blog]

[12/20/05 Tuesday]

[12/20/05 Tuesday]

[Nick Winter-Found in the ebag from FIRE] 12:02 am [permalink]
Cal State San Bernardino Spikes Christian Student Group Nationwide Attacks on Campus Religious Organizations Continue California State University at San Bernardino (CSUSB) has refused to recognize a Christian student organization for requiring its members to live according to the group's religious faith. The Christian Student Association (CSA) at CSUSB contacted the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) for help after the university said that the group's statements on faith and sexual morality were “"not permissible."”

"Time after time, college administrators have robbed students of their fundamental freedoms of association and religion, so CSA's situation sadly comes as no surprise,"” remarked FIRE Director of Legal and Public Advocacy Greg Lukianoff. “"CSUSB, like so many other universities, is misusing nondiscrimination policies to tell Christian students that they cannot associate based upon the dictates of their faith."”

[12/19/05 Monday]

[Ken Masugi - Local Liberty Blog - Claremont Institute] 12:01am [permalink]
Scientology's Top Gun How the Church of Scientology works on a Hollywood star (Claire Hoffman and Kim Christensen, LAT). Among the others they've converted: John Travolta, Kirstie Alley, Juliette Lewis, Isaac Hayes, Anne Archer, Jenna Elfman, Beck and Chick Corea. -- Could Intelligent Design ever flourish in Hollywood? Dumb question, sorry I asked. [visit Local Liberty Blog]

[12/15/05 Thursday]

[in the ebag - Chuck DeVore - Assemblymember, columnist] 12:02 am [permalink]
DeVore v, PUC: Assemblymember DeVore is not pleased with the unelected Utilities Commission's latest agenda-driven vote...

President Michael Peevey
California Public Utilities Commission

Dear Mr. Peevey:

It is my understanding that the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) plans to implement a regulation tomorrow (12/15) that would allow for $3.2 billion dollars of ratepayer money to be used to subsidize rooftop photovoltaic solar power systems. This letter serves to express my disapproval. The impact of this decision will serve to exclude the development of future technology; it is undemocratic, and wholly unethical. Let me explain.

The PUC’s decision to move forward with this specific type of technology excludes the possibility of using a variety of previously identified technologies that could be obtained through competitive free market forces. Previous legislation has proven that it is the legislature’s goal to encourage the innovation of renewable energy that is procured based on the lowest cost regardless of technology.

The California Legislature tried and failed this year to do legislatively what the PUC, an unelected regulatory body, is planning to do through regulation. I have read the grant of authority statutes that the PUC is using to justify this decision and find them vague at best. I do not believe it was the Legislature’s goal to give the PUC such sweeping authority as you are preparing to exercise on Thursday.

Further, the effect this decision will have on all but the wealthiest Californians makes this proposed shifting of ratepayer resources from the middle class and poor to almost exclusively the rich especially troublesome. It is the low to middle class who will shoulder the cost of the rising rates used to subsidize the instillation of solar panels almost entirely on the homes of the wealthy. For, quite simply, only those people with significant disposable assets will spend $30,000 to install a photovoltaic power system on their home that, even with PUC-forced subsidies, still cannot even pay for the carrying costs of the interest incurred on the borrowed funds.

Again, how does it help California consumers, taxpayers, industry, and business to subsidize a source of energy that rates as about nine times as costly as competing power sources? How does your pending decision make California more attractive to the kinds of electricity-intensive manufacturing industries that can give good jobs to many Californians?

I implore the Commission to not succumb to the pressure to employ regulatory power to select energy technology winners and losers – especially when the winner selected, in this case, is not at all cost-effective. Rather, an alternative and cost-effective way to boost California’s power output without generating an ounce of carbon dioxide would be to allow the replacement of the steam turbine generators at San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station. Such an upgrade would generate more power without the installation of a new power plant.

A more responsible and visionary idea for the PUC to pursue would be to lobby for the construction of new, modern, clean and safe nuclear power plants capable of producing enough cheap energy to eliminate the present need to burn carbon-based fuels, while enabling inexpensive production of hydrogen for vehicle use. In that regard I remind the Commissioners that had America continued constructing nuclear power plants at the rate we were in the 1970s, we would be easily meeting our Kyoto Treaty protocols today.

It is my hope that the PUC will not vote to implement this regulatory scheme, and that we can find other sources of energy that will serve our needs without unfairly burdening ratepayers who have no financial ability to participate in the proposed subsidy program.

Sincerely,

CHUCK DEVORE
Assemblyman, Seventieth District
cc: Commissioner Geoffrey F. Brown
Commissioner Susan P. Kennedy
Commissioner Dian M. Grueneich
Commissioner John Bohn

[www.ChuckDeVore.com]

[12/14/05 Wednesday]

[Ken Masugi - Local Liberty Blog - Claremont Institute] 12:01am [permalink]
Eastman on Justice Nominee Corrgian The OCR editorializes with cautious optimism about Supreme Court nominee Carol Corrigan. Claremont Institute Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence director John Eastman is quoted:

"She's no Janice Rogers Brown," John Eastman, a professor at Chapman University Law School, told us, referring to the conservative/libertarian justice who vacated this seat to become a judge on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. "So the true believer who was there is no longer there" on California's top bench. "But there are precious few in the country who are that good."

He added that conservatives he has talked to "are hopefully optimistic" about the Corrigan nomination. "She's not a firebrand and won't create a big stir or controversy.

[12/13/05 Tuesday]

[Ken Masugi - Local Liberty Blog - Claremont Institute] 12:01am [permalink]
Negative Book Review of the Year: Schwarzenegger on Tookie Williams' Books From the Governor's response to Tookie Williams' clemency plea (h/t, Flashreport):

Williams has written books that instruct readers to avoid the gang lifestyle and to stay out of prison. [footnote 5: Williams’ perennial nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize and Nobel Prize in Literature from 2001-2005 and the receipt of the President’s Call to Service Award in 2005 do not have persuasive weight in this clemency request.] In 1996, a Tookie Speaks Out Against Gang Violence children’s book series was published. In 1998, “Life in Prison” was published. In 2004, Williams published a memoir entitled “Blue Rage, Black Redemption.” He has also recently (since 1995) tried to preach a message of gang avoidance and peacemaking, including a protocol for street peace to be used by opposing gangs.

It is hard to assess the effect of such efforts in concrete terms, but the continued pervasiveness of gang violence leads one to question the efficacy of Williams’ message. Williams co-founded the Crips, a notorious street gang that has contributed and continues to contribute to predatory and exploitative violence. [footnote 6: Breaking the cycle of hopelessness and gang violence is the responsibility of us all, not just the most affected African-American or inner city communities. It is important to work together with respect, understanding and patience if we are to one day succeed.]

The dedication of Williams’ book “Life in Prison” casts significant doubt on his personal redemption. This book was published in 1998, several years after Williams’ claimed redemptive experience. Specifically, the book is dedicated to “Nelson Mandela, Angela Davis, Malcolm X, Assata Shakur, Geronimo Ji Jaga Pratt, Ramona Africa, John Africa, Leonard Peltier, Dhoruba Al-Mujahid, George Jackson, Mumia Abu-Jamal, and the countless other men, women, and youths who have to endure the hellish oppression of living behind bars.” The mix of individuals on this list is curious. Most have violent pasts and some have been convicted of committing heinous murders, including the killing of law enforcement.

But the inclusion of George Jackson on this list defies reason and is a significant indicator that Williams is not reformed and that he still sees violence and lawlessness as a legitimate means to address societal problems. [Footnote 7: George Jackson was a militant activist and prison inmate who founded the violent Black Guerilla Family prison gang. Jackson was charged with the murder of a San Quentin correctional officer. In 1970, when Jackson was out to court in Marin County on the murder case, his brother stormed the courtroom with a machine gun, and along with Jackson and two other inmates, took a judge, the prosecutor and three others hostage in an escape attempt. Shooting broke out. The prosecutor was paralyzed from a police bullet, and the judge was killed by a close-range blast to his head when the shotgun taped to his throat was fired by one of Jackson’s accomplices. Jackson’s brother was also killed. Then, three days before trial was to begin in the correctional officer murder case, Jackson was gunned down in the upper yard at San Quentin Prison in another foiled escape attempt on a day of unparalleled violence in the prison that left three officers and three inmates dead in an earlier riot that reports indicate also involved Jackson.]

There is also little mention or atonement in his writings and his plea for clemency of the countless murders committed by the Crips following the lifestyle Williams once espoused. The senseless killing that has ruined many families, particularly in African-American communities, in the name of the Crips and gang warfare is a tragedy of our modern culture. One would expect more explicit and direct reference to this byproduct of his former lifestyle in Williams’ writings and apology for this tragedy, but it exists only through innuendo and inference. [visit Local Liberty Blog]

[12/12/05 Monday]

[Ken Masugi - Local Liberty Blog - Claremont Institute] 12:01am [permalink]
In Defense of John and Ken I have criticized John and Ken for their "Tookie Must Die" segment but not on the grounds the LA Times sets forth in an analysis in their Calendar section (Scott Martelle). John and Ken will broadcast live from San Quentin this Monday, at 3 p.m.

Unfortunately, what Martelle would call an elevated discussion is in fact an evasion of the issue and an endorsement of the pro-clemency side. Quotations come from John and Ken critics and the predictable apologists for the leftist view of the death penalty and race. No one who is pro-death penalty is quoted on that side (other than John Kobylt). So it's the thoughtful ones versus the troglodytes. The article--does anyone edit this stuff?--is a laughable example of the LA Times at just about its worst--printing leftist banalities and writing as though no other thoughtful opinions exist that might be somewhat critical of John and Ken and yet insistent that justice be carried out. [visit Local Liberty Blog]

[12/9/05 Friday]

[Found in the ebag-California Republican Assembly] 8:21 am [permalink]
CRA Urges Republican Party to Reconsider Endorsement of Schwarzenegger Unanimous Vote by California Republican Assembly Executive Committee Demonstrates That Volunteers Are Unhappy With the Governor

The state’s oldest Republican volunteer organization today called on the California Republican Party to reconsider its pre-primary endorsement of Governor Schwarzenegger for re-election in 2006.

“It was a unanimous vote of our Executive Committee,” announced Mike Spence, President of the conservative California Republican Assembly. “This should send a very strong message to the Governor and the State Party leadership that the grass-roots volunteers are not happy.”

Concern about the appointment of liberal Democrat Susan Kennedy as the Governor’s Chief of Staff fueled the vote.

“Clearly, the appointment of Susan Kennedy doesn’t sit well with Republicans,” noted Spence. “But there are other issues as well, and California Republicans are reaching the breaking point.”

Spence pointed to the Governor’s proposed $50 billion “infrastructure bond plan” and the appointment of Democrats to judicial positions and other posts in his administration.

“We applauded the Governor for pressing his reform agenda in the recent special election,” he added. “But the Governor is alienating the millions of California Republicans that make up his base.”

The CRA is currently running an online petition asking the Governor to rescind the appointment of Kennedy. The petition can be found at www.CaliforniaRepublicanAssembly.com/alert.htm.

The 27 members of the Executive Committee of the California Republican Assembly voted unanimously on the question: “Should the CRA ask the CRP to reconsider its pre-primary endorsement of the Governor?”

[The California Republican Assembly, made up of local units throughout the state, incorporated on July 12, 1935. It is the oldest Republican volunteer organization in California.]

[12/8/05 Thursday]

[Ken Masugi - Local Liberty Blog - Claremont Institute] 12:01am [permalink]
Who Should Control School Districts? Los Angeles Mayor Villaraigosa wants greater control of LA Unified School District schools (Richard Fausset and Joel Rubin, LAT). But the problem is LAUSD covers cities outside LA proper. Should their education be under control of a mayor of another city?

The Los Angeles Unified School District is the second-largest in the nation, encompassing 710 square miles. The district's boundaries are so convoluted that the Los Angeles County Registrar of Voters and L.A. Unified disagree on whether they include 27 or 29 other municipalities. (They agree that the district serves two dozen unincorporated parts of the county.) Voters in the outlying areas, who the registrar says total more than 249,000, have a say in selecting representatives on the seven-member school board. But they cannot vote for L.A.'s mayor.

Political scientist and Institute Fellow Brian Janiskee has underlined the chaos that accompanies decentralized government. Often thought to be the conservative's friend, such fragmentation in fact abets irresponsibility, corruption, and ineptitude. Far from bringing power to localities, it simply builds up the bureaucracy. See an exchange on this issue here and here. All articles are from Local Liberty newsletter; subscriptions still free, for now.

Mayoral advisor Thomas Saenz may give the game away in his proposal that the state empower LA to take over the district--which would result in some cities seceding from it:

To ensure that voters outside the city are not disenfranchised, Saenz believes it also will be necessary to pass state legislation allowing a takeover. That approach, he said, would technically give those voters a say in the process, because they have the power to choose their representatives in Sacramento. Saenz believes this dual city-state strategy may also be wise because the state Constitution is vague about whether the city or the state has the ultimate power to change the district's governance structure. [underscore added]

Saenz wants more power for the mayor, with questionable results for the smaller cities in the district. Others prefer a referendum of local voters. See the useful map accompanying the article.

Janiskee will have more to say about the quality of education in the next issue of Local Liberty newsletter. [visit Local Liberty Blog]

[12/7/05 Wednesday]

[Bill Leonard, contributor, Member CA Board of Equalization] 12:03 am [permalink]
UC Favors Racial Discrimination UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau recently announced his encouragement for students who wish to repeal the anti-racial discrimination law known as Proposition 209, which banned racial considerations in university admissions and employment. In the kind of doublespeak only understood in an ivy tower, he said he wanted the power to discriminate racially so that he could meet his definition of non discrimination. Maybe we should just sell off UC Berkeley so that we could balance the state budget and get rid of state sponsored racism at the same time. [Leonard Letter]

[12/6/05 Tuesday]

[Ken Masugi - Local Liberty Blog - Claremont Institute] 12:01am [permalink]
Congressional Hearings on Counting Illegal Immigrants I have argued that illegal aliens should not be included in the census, as their presence contributes to malaportioned electoral districts and unconstitutional "voter dilution" of citizens living in districts with fewer illegals. Accordingly, under section 2 of the fifteenth amendment congress may legislate against counting illegals. Congress hasn't acted on my idea, but it will entertain well-intentioned but fruitless constitutional amendments requiring that only citizens be counted.

On Tuesday, December 6, 2005, at 10:00 a.m., in Room 2247 of the Rayburn House Office Building, the House Government Reform Subcommittee on Federalism and the Census will conduct an oversight hearing entitled “Counting the Vote: Should Only U.S. Citizens Be Included In Apportioning Our Elected Representatives?”

House Joint Resolution 53, introduced by Representative Candice Miller, is a constitutional amendment mandating that only U.S. citizens would be counted for purposes of apportionment. The purpose of this hearing is to examine the possible impact this legislation would have on the House apportionment, the Electoral College, and the Census Bureau.

Miller's proposal to amend the 14th amendment here. Unfortunately, it would also wind up affecting more than the census but the whole of U.S. civil rights law--to good effect in many instances but in questionable ways in others. It has no chance of passage.

Abigail Thernstrom, rising to the defense of Samuel Alito, has a more sober way of reading the 14th amendment's equal protection demands, in the area of reapportionment. [visit Local Liberty Blog]

[12/3/05 Monday]

[Ken Masugi - Local Liberty Blog - Claremont Institute] 12:01am [permalink]
Tookie Williams Nobel Prize Nonsense Consider the full-page ad in Saturday's LA Times, signed by, among others, Mario Cuomo, Jesse Jackson, Desmond Tutu, Russell Crowe, and several other entertainers. We disposed of this Nobel nonsense months ago here. "The standards for nomination are extraordinarily low: As I read them, a part-time junior college teacher of psychology or ethnic studies could be a nominator. Patterico has been campaigning for someone to nominate him for a Peace Prize.

Flap posts graphic photos of Williams' victims. SERIOUS WARNING: I mean really graphic.

Eugene Volokh reiterates this point in the LAT. "It would surely be helpful to readers if news stories mentioning Williams' nominations — or, for that matter, any Nobel peace or literature prize nominations — stressed how unselective the nomination process is." [visit Local Liberty Blog]

[12/2/05 Friday]

[Ken Masugi - Local Liberty Blog - Claremont Institute] 12:01am [permalink]
Terminator II: Second Thoughts on Susan Kennedy My fellow conservatives may well be right about Kennedy setting a leftish agenda for the Governor. Is he reverting to his Terminator II character—a cyborg who takes whatever appearance he wills? But whatever his appearance he retains his evil soul.

Some, and I underline some, of the concern that Schwarzenegger will move left may be overwrought. That he appointed a leftist activist may say less about the paucity of Republican talent than it does about the bureaucratized nature of our current politics. I offer this example, some of which may be relevant.

When I worked as an assistant to Clarence Thomas, then-Chairman of the EEOC, he appointed as his chief of staff a smart and talented liberal Democrat. (She succeeded a conservative Republican, who was shot down by the Republican Senate for another position.) Despite the skepticism of some on our staff, she turned out to do an amazing job for him and is now, after other distinguished appointments, the Chief Marshall of the SCOTUS. The EEOC is going to advance liberal positions now matter what is done with it. But Thomas succeeded, with the help of his chief of staff, in advancing many of the reforms of the agency by getting it out of the class-action, quota-driven Eleanor Holmes Norton era. The EEOC is less of a danger to liberty now than it had been or threatened to be.

Will the relationship between Schwarzenegger and Kennedy and the results they produce be a similar one? California is obviously more diverse than a federal agency, but our politics, especially in Sacramento, have become so bureaucratized that the similarities may be more instructive than the enormous differences. Much depends of course on Kennedy’s ambition. Is she at her core an ideologue or does she enjoy wielding power to produce results? Those who know her and have worked with her say the latter. She may be more a-moral rather than the evil genius many conservatives hold her to be. As such, she and the Governor may be a perfect fit for each other.

There's that old joke about the rattlesnake with the punch line: "You knew I was a rattlesnake when you picked me up."

Our earlier post on the Kennedy appointment. Be sure to visit StopSusanKennedy.com. [visit Local Liberty Blog]

[12/1/05 Thursday]

[Eric Hogue - radio talk show host KTKZ - Sacramento] 12:01 am [permalink]
Kennedy's Direction as Chief of Staff? How bad is it? I'm not going to lie, it doesn't look good folks...

The announcement of Susan Kennedy as the Governor's new Chief of Staff has unleashed a fury of conservative screaming inside of the state's Republican Party. I'm sad that it takes an event like this to bring the conservatives out of their apathetic state. Where was this outcry and passion on Tuesday, November 8th?

The question that is being asked in Sacramento tonight; "where does this leave the Republican Party and where is 'this' administration headed come the turn of the year?" As far as hope, there is some - not much - but some to focus on this evening.

From sources inside of the Capitol, and those who have worked along side of Susan Kennedy in the past, I'm being told that she is somewhat a fiscally sound idealist. She is comparable to the governor's fiscally conservative ideaology of smaller government freeing up successful business, with lower taxes upon the workers of the state. This is some good news.

In the past, Kennedy has been tough on the PUC Board, and she has verbally gone after Democrats continual 'tax and spend' growth of government. She might be a mirror image of Schwarzenegger when it comes to business and economics.

The real damage comes in relationship to policy. Being the Chief of Staff, she will be involved in the establishment of the governor's agenda.

• She married her partner on a trip to Hawaii, so she is an active supporter of Assemblyman Mark Leno's "Same Sex Legislation".
• She is also sympathetic to Assemblyman Gil Cedillo's legislation that would offer driver's license to illegal immigrants for California.
• From a couple of conversations today, Kennedy will be friendly to Universal Health Care, as well as Universal Day Care.

...just a few of her ideals that she will carry to the side of Governor Schwarzenegger.I'm still trying to determine her leanings educationally on legislative policy.

Being the Chief of Staff, Kennedy will not be the lone 'agenda setter', the governor's administration still has some conservative guard to challenge any liberal legislation, and there are two names to watch for an indication as to how far this administration will travel to the left for the new year.

If we have a resignation of Legislative Affairs Secretary, Richard Costigan, or Deputy Legislative Affairs Secretary, Cynthia Bryant, then we have a major problem.

Costigan and Bryant are the indicators. If they are gone in the next few weeks, California has a new party affiliation in the governor's office, the office will have moved from fiscally conservative Republican to moderate Independent.

We'll be watching to see who makes it through the Christmas Season in the horseshoe. [Hogue Blog - email: onair@ktkz.com]

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