Steve Frank is publisher of the California Political News and Views, and a Senior Contributor to CaliforniaConservative.org. He is also a consultant currently working on gambling issues and advising other consultants on policy and coalition building.

“Chicago — The YearlyKos Convention is attracting national notoriety for how bloggers are changing the political and media landscape. But while the spotlight is shining on a few of the 1,400 online pundits convened here who draw more readers than a lot of daily newspapers, the next frontier of political blogging will be led by people like Phillip Anderson.

Nevertheless, the mop-haired New Yorker already has the state party chair asking him for help reaching liberal voters. His allure: Local bloggers can influence the outcome of small elections.” —
Joe Garofoli, SF Chronicle, Saturday, August 4, 2007

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The Democrats understand the political power of blogs. All the Democrat presidential candidates attended a blogger convention in Chicago. The GOP has no such similar event. Most Democrat candidates have sections of their campaigns devoted to bloggers. Note that even county and state Democrat chairs work closely with bloggers–I know of no such effort on the GOP side While conservatives use talk radio to it’s maximum affect, we do not use bloggers as well. A month ago I was on a panel, moderated by CRP Vice Chair Tom Del Beccaro, with Carla Marinucci and Dan Weintraub. Both of them agreed that the Internet and blogs can have a strong influence on elections. OK, GOP leaders, lets catch up and pass the Democrats. We need the blogs to pass along information, direction and action items. Until we make full use of it, the Democrats will have the advantage. Pass this along to your friends and to GOP leaders. What do you think, how can we make better use of the blogs and the Internet? do you think the blogs are over rated?

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Steve Frank is the publisher of California Political News and Views and a Senior Contributor to CaliforniaConservative.org. He is also a consultant currently working on gambling issues and advising other consultants on policy and coalition building.

Read more of his work here or at his blog.

“A jury recommended the city should pay $3.7 million to a Fire Department captain who claimed he was retaliated against for refusing to give preferential treatment to a female recruit.
. . .

Lima claimed in his May 2006 lawsuit that he was discriminated and retaliated against because he was a male and applied the same standards in training a female recruit that he would have done had she been a man.” — LA Daily News, 6/09/2007

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We expect fire fighters to conform to certain standards. If a fire breaks out we want them to be able to be physically capable of putting out the fire and savings lives. It does not matter if the firefighter is male or female, just that they are cpabale of doing the job.

Looks like the LA Fire Department is more concerned about affirmitive action then they are about safety.

This lesson will cost the taxpayers $3.7 million plus legal fees.

Here a Captain was treating all firefighters equally and he got into trouble.

They are playing with our lives. This must end. who will be brave enough to file a lawsuit to protect the community, our lives and our property. It is obvious the the LA Fire Department is mor einterested in discrimination than in safety—no wonder insurance rates are so high!

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Steve Frank is the publisher of California Political News and Views and a Senior Contributor to CaliforniaConservative.org. He is also a consultant currently working on gambling issues and advising other consultants on policy and coalition building.

Read more of his work here or at his blog.

Totally unnoticed. Maybe it was the immigration bill, the War in Iraq, Anna Nicole Smith, who knows why the media never mentioned that Senate Democrats passed a bill with the largest tax increase in history. They will now be able to spend $200 billion more. That means families and businesses will have $200 billion less. That means Americans have $200 billion less in freedom. Every dollar of taxation is a dollar less of freedom.

Now the bill goes to the House. Will McNerney, who ran against Pombo as a “conservative” on taxes, vote against it and protect the folks in his District? If he votes for the tax increase, he can never explain away the vote. Note that they “only raise taxes on the rich and on dividends.” Of course, the rich invest to create jobs. This means $200 billion worth less of jobs. This means retirees will get $200 billion less in pensions. This means economic dislocations. You can’t tax the rich, without making everyone else poor. But the Democrats love the poor–that is why their policies are meant to hurt so many.

What do you think, would you vote to tax the rich? Write your thoughts directly on the web site for all to see and discuss. Please pass this article to your friends and families, let them know what the media won’t tell them–a Democrat tax increase is coming. Click here to read the complete Robert Novak article.

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Steve Frank is the publisher of California Political News and Views and a Senior Contributor to CaliforniaConservative.org. He is also a consultant currently working on gambling issues and advising other consultants on policy and coalition building.

Read more of his work here or at his blog.

“So, how is it that nobody else ever seems to get called on the carpet for their lies and exaggerations? How is it, for instance, that every liberal from Ted Kennedy to Jesse Jackson can get away with pretending that American blacks are still living like slaves, and that four decades after the Civil Rights Act, the only thing keeping blacks out of the cotton fields are Democrats in Washington?

And, finally, how is it that Jimmy Carter, that sanctimonious phony who was a disaster during his four years in the White House and a disgrace in the quarter of a century since, can pass himself off as equal parts statesman and saint?”

It is time to tell the truth. Either Jimmy Carter needs to be in a home for assisted living or he is a nut. I believe he is a nut. He had a failed term in the White House–and ever since then he wanted to prove why he failed. His economics destroyed jobs and families. His foreign policy enslaved millions. His defense policies killed millions. But he believes he was right, so why not denounce those that call terrorists, “terrorists”, instead of the Carter term, “freedom fighter”. If high taxes were bad, why not higher taxes to see if he just didn’t raise them enough.
(continue reading post »)

Private schools participating in voucher programs in the Milwaukee, Cleveland and Washington, D.C., districts are much less segregated than public schools, according to an eye-opening new analysis that also finds that segregation levels in private schools generally are not substantially different from those in public schools.

“But this potential for desegregation in private schools is hindered because many students can’t afford private school. School vouchers overcome the monetary barrier, enabling private schools to make desegregation a reality.”

Most big city school districts are segregated. Thanks to the radicals belief that education is gained not through quality teaching, parents involvement, superior material, but through putting students on a bus for up to two hours a day, government education is as segregated as the KKK would love. Those that can afford it, take their children out of the “system” and send them to private schools or home school.
(continue reading post »)

“No sooner did Congress authorize construction of a 700-mile fence on the U.S.-Mexico border last week than lawmakers rushed to approve separate legislation that ensures it will never be built, at least not as advertised, according to Republican lawmakers and immigration experts.”

Surprise, surprise. What Congress gives, Congress takes away. In the last days of the Congress, both the House and Senate passed bills that would allow the construction of a 700 mile fence–or so we thought. As Perot said, “the devil is in the details”. Looks like everyone in Congress winked and had their fingers crossed behind their backs when they passed the “Border Fence” bill.

It is nothing of the sort. In fact, it is the type of legislation that makes people feel sick about government and politics. They tell us one thing, send out press release busting their buttons. But the truth is just the opposite of what they are crowing about. This measure along with the Presidents call today for a “path to citizenship” for those that have violated our immigration laws, will cause some GOP’ers to lose — when their base realizes they had been had by the DC crowd.

“You can’t kick 12 million people out of your country,” President Bush said at the White House celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month. “We must figure out a way to say to those that if you’re lawful and if you’ve contributed to the United States of America, there is a way for you to eventually earn citizenship.”

Does anybody buy this? (continue reading post »)

The Seattle Times reports “House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi wants the House Ethics Committee to put Republican leadership under oath to find out what they knew about Congressman Mark Foley’s inappropriate communications with Congressional pages.”

Then President Bill Clinton had not been sending inappropriate suggestive emails and instant messages to a young intern, an act certainly repugnant no matter the authors’ politics. He had reduced the previously revered Oval Office, to just a personal sexually perverted play pen.

If “hypocrisy” was a political party, it would be called DEMOCRAT.

Jesse Jackson, Mel Reynolds, Tom Foley, Lyndon Johnson, I could go on–the Democrats are filled with current and former leaders, in and out of elective office that abused their position for sex.

How can we forget that the Democrats gave THREE standing ovations to Massachusetts Democrat Congressman Gerry Studds, after he admitted he had an on going sexual relationship with a 17 year old page. Studds stayed in Congress for 13 more years after the Democrats censured him, then gave him three standing ovations. (continue reading post »)

Remember “California Kids First”, the state commission led by Rob Reiner. It received money from tobacco taxes especially geared to this Commission and its goals to “help” children. It has been several months and the Attorney General can’t even spell Reiners name or remember who is “investigating” the $23 million (that we know of) that was ripped off for purely political purposes. This was a theft larger than the one of the corner liquor store, where the culprit got 3-5 years in prison. Of course this was Rob Reiner and he did it for a “noble” cause.

Now the same people behind that tobacco tax have come up with a new “noble” cause. This noble cause will help the hospitals take care of the poor and needy–that is what they say it will do.

Instead it provides for legal cover for hospitals to do the following:

1. Allows the hospital to operate with a special exemption from anti-trust laws. Remember Tenet Healthcare–that was the hospital chain (which could have received money from this measure) that was found price gouging the poor. The exemption would help price gouging hospitals, protecting bad acts by hospitals.

Mother Jones: Pocket Protector
KB Forbes has become one of America’s most powerful advocates for the uninsured, chiefly by attacking hospitals’ practice of billing uninsured patients up …

2. It would amend the California constitution to include illegal aliens under 19 (who are under the poverty level) to get free health care. This is done by doing away with the proviso in the California Healthy Families Program that only citizens and legal immigrants qualify for this “service”.

3. Prop. 86 allows unlimited prices for services to the poor in emergency rooms–this then allows the hospitals to use tax dollars to subsidize their treatment (by calling it an emergency) of every illegal alien that walks in the door with a sniffle.

4. Government can’t monitor the political use of $23 million of tax money for political purposes from tobacco taxes, then how can it monitor two billion dollars a year?

5. Of course, this is a good program since it sets up “needed” mandates, that go on, regardless of the money available. As taxes on cigarettes go up, and as people stop smoking, the revenues will go down. But, the mandates will stay in place–try taking away a “needed” service, just try. That means the General Fund will either have to raise regular taxes or cut other services–since services are never cut–this is a tax increase down the road on businesses and families. (continue reading post »)

“No, I didn’t write that headline just to get you to click through to my column. All right, maybe I did a little, but there really is no better way to describe it.

Come on, you know you got goosebumps. How I do love to see the fairer sex meting out justice. When called upon, this 51-year-old nurse’s hands went from mothering to manslaughter in seconds flat…”

The police can not be everywhere. We the people have the right to defend ourselves. It is time to fight back. The women in these story fought back and protected home, property and lives. Imagine if everyone was capable, in one way or another to defend themselves and others? I have no problem with criminals being afraid of who they are picking on. Maybe we need a TV show, not on bad bathrooms, but people who defend themselves and how they do it. (continue reading post »)

“I have recently been very critical of Governor Schwarzenegger’s veer to the left, most specifically his deals with Democrats on hiking the minimum wage, putting price controls on pharmaceuticals and punishing California businesses in the name of reducing ‘greenhouse’ gases. These are all awful policies which in both the short and long run hurt California’s economy, its businesses and its citizens. The Governor was just flat out wrong to embrace any of them, and got terrible guidance from his staff on these matters.”

This is crunch time — 45 days to the election. The GOP nominee for Governor, is playing with the Democrats to get re-elected. No one, maybe not even Arnold, knows how he will govern over the next four years. We do know that Angelides is a MoveOn.org radical, having no redeeming values to the families and businesses of California. It is not enough for Arnold to win, we need real Republicans as Lt. Governor, Controller, Secretary of State, Attorney General and Insurance Commissioner. We need to pick up at least two Assembly and one State Senate seat. This can happen, with an Arnold landslide. We already know there will be a low voter turnout. Our folks need to turn out. The unions are spending $25 million for TV ads and turn out–we need to match them.

An Arnold victory north of 10 points will bring in a couple of our nominees–20 points like Davis over Lungren in 1998, will bring in the whole group. If we want to rebuild the California Republican Party, we need Chuck, Tom, Tony, Steve and Bruce…they will be the base of a new GOP. Bill Saracino and I have been friends for more than 40 years, I trust him. This piece is one of his most penetrating and inspiring.

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Steve Frank is the publisher of California Political News and Views and a Senior Contributor to CaliforniaConservative.org. He is also a consultant currently working on gambling issues and advising other consultants on policy and coalition building.

Read more of his work here or at his blog.

Full article by Saracino follows (continue reading post »)