Free Republic

Reporting from Los Angeles and Sacramento - Starting Sunday, cash-strapped California will dig deeper into the pocketbooks of wage earners -- holding back 10% more than it already does in state income taxes just as the biggest shopping season of the year kicks into gear.

David Harmer, the Republican candidate for Congress in California's special election in their 10th congressional election, does have a chance of winning this election today. While running in a district which has not elected a Republican in decades, their last Congresswoman easily claimed victory with near 70% of the vote, and it is rated D+11, does not seem possible. Then again, 2009 has not been a normal election year, as we have two interesting Gubernatorial elections on the eastern seaboard, a special congressional election which has the Nation watching in Upstate New York, and the future of the Conservative movement,...

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with U.S. Bank, NA, of Minneapolis, Minnesota, a wholly-owned subsidiary of U.S. Bancorp, to assume all of the deposits and essentially all of the assets of nine failed banks. The nine banks were closed this evening by federal and state bank regulators, which appointed the FDIC as receiver. The nine banks involved in today's transaction are: Bank USA, National Association, Phoenix, Arizona; California National Bank, Los Angeles, California; San Diego National Bank, San Diego, California; Pacific National Bank, San Francisco, California; Park National Bank, Chicago, Illinois; Community...

I just this clip from Monday. Click Source above or use this link. http://www.fubho.net/?p=281

In what could prove to be bad news for local oil producers and those seeking employment in the West Kern County oil patch, California Assemblymen Pedro Nava (D - Santa Barbara) has called for a 10 percent oil severance tax on all oil produced in California. "California oil companies are getting a free ride," said Nava. "California is the only major oil producing state that does not charge a severance tax on oil extraction. California has been giving away public assets to Big Oil for far too long." Nava, who is a democrat candidate for California Attorney General next year,...

Why isn't there a independent candidate in California to take on Pelosi? The country would back and send gobs of money to that campaign. Doug Hoffman in NY is doing it despite the rinos. Where are the conservatives in California, or have you all been Arnolded? I believe if a TRUE CONSERVATIVE would emerge, Sarah Palin would endorse that candidate. One of you CA Freepers needs to throw your hat in the ring and make it happen. We really to dasshole pelosi.

With the nomination of Democratic Congresswoman Ellen Tauscher to a high level position in the Obama administration, a special election has been called for the vacant congressional seat in California's tenth congressional district, a traditionally liberal district, however, with a special election looming, anything can happen. Republican David Harmer is seeking to replace Tauscher in the United States Congress, restore Conservatism to the district, and ride on a wave of anti-government feelings which has circulated across the Nation. While Harmer might have more momentum then Republicans have previously had while running in this district, the district is D+11, supported Obama...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Bsb2l-C7MM

Carly Fiorina is emerging as a potential GOP challenger for the US Senate seat of Bay Area liberal Barbara Boxer next year, and the prospect has energized the California Republican Party. Not yet an official candidate, Ms. Fiorina is the former CEO of Hewlett Packard (HP) and was an economic adviser to Sen. John McCain’s presidential bid last year. Like Meg Whitman, who just announced her campaign for governor, Fiorina is a newcomer to politics with very deep pockets. She has registered a campaign committee that reportedly had a strong presence at the state GOP convention this past weekend in...

Belmont, Calif., Sep 24, 2009 / 03:38 am (CNA).- Notre Dame High school in Belmont, California has responded to reports it had been registered to show films and use school materials produced by a homosexual activist group. The school says it has not shown such films, has not used related materials and has also requested it be removed from the group’s website and database.Youth in Motion, a partnership between the Gay-Straight Alliance Network and the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) media group Frameline, claimed on its website that over 200 California high schools and middle schools had signed up...

About This Video Title: National Impact Description: How California's crop crisis is affecting America's produce WATCH THE VIDEO!

http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-7715-Portland-Civil-Rights-Examiner~y2009m9d15-ACORN--Exposed-in-San-Bernadino If it is not yet apparent that ACORN is a corrupt organization that encourages a culture of corruption within its ranks, here is further video evidence; this time from San Bernadino California. In this expose, an ACORN employee admits to murder of her husband, threatens another individual also in the video. She also admits to having run an “escort” service, and gave advice on how to educate (or not) the underage girls that “Eden” was going to be housing and using in the brothel she was attempting to get ACORN’s assistance in financing. Between the corporate practice of using...

Assemblyman Michael Duvall (R) Orange County is caught on a hot mic speaking about spanking and more; talks about relationship with woman 19 yrs younger than the married father; runs from reporter than avoids him.

As the fire and homicide investigation continues, officials say several firefighters were exposed to cyanide gas in two separate incidents as they were mopping up hot spots near the small city of Acton on the northern edge of the massive blaze. The poisonous cyanide fumes are suspected in acute breathing problems suffered by Los Angeles firefighters battling the Station Fire in the Aliso Canyon. One firefighters suffered life-threatening respiratory arrest and remains in hospital after she was knocked out by noxious fumes on Sept. 1 near Acton. Two days later, six firefighters suffered severe breathing difficulties in another part of...

And in a big way. A lot of you have seen the great ads produced by a group called Catholics Come Home. The ads, evidently, are working. And spreading. From the Los Angeles Times: The Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento is home to nearly 1 million Catholics. On a typical Sunday, less than 137,000 can be found in church. Now, using a strategy straight from the secular playbook, its leaders hope to lure back those who have drifted. The diocese and nearly a dozen others across the country are preparing to air several thousand prime-time TV commercials in English and...

SAN FRANCISCO — With the close of this year’s legislative session fast approaching, a bill that would ban gun shows at the Cow Palace in Daly City is expected to go before the state Assembly by Sept. 11. SB 585, authored by Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, was approved in a 21-18 vote by the state Senate in June. The local community — the Cow Palace sits on the border of San Mateo County and San Francisco — doesn’t like the gun shows because they encourage illegal gun sales and violence, Leno told The Examiner. The location is near Sunnydale...

Michelle Malkin: Independent TV documentarian Jan Helfeld asks California Democrat Rep. Pete Stark about the national debt and the economy. Stark tells him repeatedly to “shut up,

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Authorities say a man who shot and killed two men and wounded another in a Sacramento apartment early Monday was acting in self-defense. Sacramento County Sheriff's Sgt. Tim Curran says authorities declined to arrest the 26-year-old man after witnesses reported that the three men confronted the man outside his apartment, then broke in and continued the attack after he had retreated inside. Investigators say during the attack, the man retrieved a handgun and shot all three attackers. Two of the attackers died at the scene. The third, a 23-year-old, was taken to a hospital. He is expected...

California has long been a gun control breeding ground. It has some of the strictest gun control laws in the country, and though has a process for obtaining a license to carry a concealed handgun, it is a "may issue" permitting process meaning California sheriffs can issue licenses but only if they want to. Most don't. That may be changing for on sheriff as budget cuts have forced him to realize that some people really are on their own and need to be able to protect themselves. "I think in the interest of doing right by the public and the...

A retired Navy petty officer is encouraging fellow gun owners to bring unloaded weapons to weekly rallies in Escondido next month to strike a blow for the right to bear arms. Gerald Reaster, 69, said the purpose of the rallies, which will begin Tuesday, is to assert Second Amendment rights and the freedom to carry unloaded firearms openly without a license, as allowed by state law, The San Diego Union- Tribune reported. “I am a disabled vet, a member of the American Legion, a good patriot,” Reaster told the newspaper. “The older I am, the more I see the need...

love the Kern River. I've probably driven there a hundred times or more over the past 20 years. But it can be a dangerous place for the young, the inexperienced, the careless, as evidenced by a sign warning of lives lost just before you enter the gorge en route to Lake Isabella from Bakersfield. Which makes this Bakersfield.com report even more sobering: Pools now claiming more victims than Kern River... So far this year there have been seven drownings in pools compared to just four in the river... So far, five local children under the age of 10 have drowned...

Thomas Aquinas College is not your typical modern university. Students read the classics, not textbooks. Girls must wear skirts or dresses to class. There’s a curfew of 11 on school nights. Yet the conservative Catholic college, nestled in the hills of Santa Paula, is attracting national attention for its small classes, generous financial aid and strong academics. U.S. News & World Report this month ranked it among the nation’s top 100 liberal arts colleges.... Above all, Thomas Aquinas is known for its Great Books program. Instead of using textbooks, students learn every subject — from literature to science — by...

Courtesy Chris Bunch for Congress Related Articles * Make politicians prove they support the Second Amendment * 2009 NRA Director candidate questionnaire We have a politician principled enough to give us what most will not: unequivocal answers on his support for the right to keep and bear arms. Meet Chris Bunch, Republican candidate for California's 10th Congressional District, a seat vacated by (F-rated gungrabber) Ellen Tauscher, who has taken a position in the Obama administration, where I guess she figured becoming Undersecretary for State Arms Control gives her the chance to effect even more disarmament. This has necessitated a special...

California Republican Party leaders, in a move that could reshape state primary-election politics, are preparing a move to bar decline-to-state voters - now 20 percent of the electorate - from casting a GOP ballot in statewide and legislative primaries. The proposed bylaw to the state Republican platform, which delegates will decide at the party convention next month in Indian Wells (Riverside County), has riled some business leaders and Republicans. They say it could be disastrous for the party's future and could relegate Republicans in the state to "permanent minority" status by keeping independent voters from supporting Republicans in primary elections....

The California legislature passed AB 400, its transparency legislation today that requires state expenditures over $5,000 to be posted online with contextual information detailing the purpose of the expense, allowing taxpayers to see how their money is being spent by the state. While Gov. Schwarzenegger had signed an executive order that required all contracts over $5,000 to be posted on his website earlier this year, this (once the governor signs the bill) would be the first time transparency has been codified into law in the Golden State – and it’s a long-overdue step for a state that has been plagued...

The quiet streets of this San Diego seaside community were awakened to the Second Amendment rights as 12 Californians walked the sidewalks with their firearms. Six of the 12 open carriers were women and six additional non-carriers handed out informational fliers to anyone who was interested. Most of residents were curious about what was going on, some thought the open carriers were a part of law enforcement and a few were offended, but the morning event ended with educating the public about their right to carry a gun in the state of California. Of course there are a few rules...

LOS ANGELES -- David Gerboth is a captain in the San Diego Fire Department, but he spent most of last summer crisscrossing California putting out wildfires. There were the 16 days battling a fire in Hayfork, 720 miles to the north. Then he spent 21 days fighting other blazes that burned 86,500 acres. As California's wildfires consume more land each year, the state is increasingly relying on firefighters like Mr. Gerboth. Under state mutual-aid agreements, he and thousands of other local firefighters are organized into teams that can be quickly dispatched to fight a fire in a neighboring county --...

Obesity is the elephant in the room of health care reform, a public health catastrophe that kills more than 100,000 Americans a year, cost the nation $147 billion last year and threatens to shorten U.S. life expectancy for the first time since the Civil War.....

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. -- A resident shot and killed an intruder in southwest Bakersfield after the suspect shot the resident twice, a Bakersfield Police official said. At 11:11 p.m. Thursday, police received a report of a shooting at an apartment in the 1800-block of Canter Way, police said. Police said they found an adult man outside the apartment suffering from two gunshot wounds to the torso. The man informed officers that the suspect was still inside the apartment. Officers entered the apartment and found Roosevelt Mitchell III, 21, dead with a gun. The victim told them he was home with his...

“I guess Mother Nature was a drag queen and she’s looking down on us today because it is absolutely beautiful out here,” drag entertainer Symone said. “I think it’s our biggest Pride ever! The floats were amazing and people have been so receptive,” she added. From booby burlesque beauties and leggy can-can dancers to uniformed Mounties and scantly-clad politicians, the parade, boasting 150 entries, was a spectacle of celebration and awareness centered on the theme of education, celebration and liberation. Parade organizers estimate that 530,000 people battled record-breaking heat to attend Vancouver’s 31st annual Pride parade this year — sporting...

July 10, 2009. Competitive Enterprise Institute. I know that everybody likes to poke fun at California – but I can tell you right now that despite all of its problems, California remains one of the best places in the world to build a successful small business. All you have to do is start with a successful large business. Laugh if you will, but let me remind you that when these policies finish wrecking California, there are still 49 other states we can all move to – and yours is one of them. I should also warn you of the strange...

I am a lifetime law-abiding gun owner and avid shooter. In my life I have had many occasions to buy firearms for sporting purposes. I have not had a need to own an AK-47 nor an opportunity to try one. I am told it is the finest assault rifle ever made. If I am in a situation wherein the AK-47 is the best choice, then I need to get one and I believe that I have that right guaranteed by the Second Amendment. Assuming that situation is in defense of my home or country, if an AK-47 makes the difference...

EUREKA CA (Humboldt County) Aug 5th 2009, Old Glory Radio - The Eureka Ca office of Congressman Mike Thompson (D) Ca 1st Cong. Dist, (North Coast of California) confirmed to Old Glory today that the Congressman is not currently planning on staging a single public town hall forum during the August break. While the Democratic Congressman hides under his desk and will only schedule controlled “phone” sessions, hundreds of residends of the 1st Ca. Cong. District are flooding the offices with calls demanding he come out from under his desk and face the people. Cong. Thompson’s local office (707) 269-9595

In a departure from its long-time complacence over illegal signs, the city recently fined a gun show promoter $4,600 for illegally tacking more than 40 posters around town. The move spurred complaints of selective and politically motivated enforcement, but city staff said it was just part of a new, "stepped up" effort. Gilroy's zoning laws bar "any off-site advertising signs" that are not on the same physical site as the business they are advertising. This includes those ubiquitous, rectangular, neon green, orange and red signs stapled to phone poles, fences and facades, often on properties lacking on-site supervision. The small,...

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - U.S. judges on Tuesday told California to prepare to release more than 40,000 of its 150,000 inmates to reduce overcrowding in state prisons, which suffer from massive healthcare problems. The cash-strapped state already plans to release ailing and short-term inmates for budget issues. That would clear up to 37,000 beds over two years, estimated California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Secretary Matthew Cate. But he said an order from federal judges would set a "dangerous precedent" and argued at a news conference that California had cleaned up prisons and hired medical professionals to fill chronic gaps...

Four Sacramento County Sheriff's cars pulled up in front of David Woods's house. He tried to explain to them what happened. But the lead deputy cut him off: "Yeah, that's fine. Put your hands behind your back." David said, "No, wait, she stabbed me ... there's the knife. See the knife? See my neck wound? See?" "Put your hands behind your back. Turn around," the deputy replied. "No," David protested. "She stabbed..." The deputies drew their weapons. David's little daughters came running out of the back bedroom pleading, "Leave Daddy alone! Mamma tried to hurt him with a knife!" One...

Last edition, I mentioned the e-book version release of my book Safe Streets In The Nationwide Concealed Carry Of Handguns. At the core is the formula for how to get back your safe streets. Does it work? It works. In Los Angeles, Angelinos felt the loss of seventeen year old Lily Burk. Lily was stalked and robbed by someone who should have remained in jail. Lily was abducted, coerced into making. repeated attempts to obtain money from her credit card, and then slashed and beaten to death, left in a car in Los Angeles’ Skid Row district. Here in L.A....

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals just agreed to host another shootout over gun rights. The court decided Wednesday to review en banc a panel ruling that had significantly broadened Second Amendment protections by applying them to state and local governments. This holding, arrived at by Judge Diarmuid O'Scannlain, is at odds with other rulings from around the country -- including one penned by 2nd Circuit Judge Sonia Sotomayor. The 9th Circuit panel had still upheld an Alameda County, Calif., ordinance that forbids a gun show at a public fairground. Thus neither side had asked for en banc review....

The deal to close California's $26 billion budget deficit included a plan to drill for offshore oil, drawing allegations that the fiscal crisis was used for a backroom deal following rejection of the idea by state regulators earlier this year. Democrats agreed to Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's request to expand drilling from an existing platform off Santa Barbara to generate a one-time $100 million advance royalty payment this fiscal year and an estimated $1.8 billion in royalties over 14 years. It would be the first new offshore oil drilling on state lands in four decades since a blowout on a...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders announced today that they have reached a deal to close California's $26.3-billion deficit and begin paying all of the state's bills again. The agreement does not include any broad-based tax increases, they said, and relies largely on deep cuts in government services to wipe out the deficit.

With the state budget in meltdown and Dems and Reps still battling over closing that $26.3 billion deficit, is there an opportunity for another political party -- a moderate party planted in the middle of the road -- to make gains in the Golden State? snip---------------------------------- "One in five voters are registered decline-to-state -- and a third of Californians consider themselves "middle of the road'' politically,'' according to PPIC survey last May... snip---------------------------------- a motto: "Be moderate and start a revolution."

BLUE DOG DEMS CAN KILL OBAMA HEALTH CARE REFORM There are EIGHT "Blue Dog Democrats" who sit on the Energy and Commerce Committee. If these eight Democrats do not support the legislation, passage would likely not succeed. It is CRITICAL to contact them TODAY and make your voice heard. John Barrow (GA-12) p: (202) 225-2823, f: (202) 225-3377, email. Bart Gordon (TN-06) p: (202) 225-4231, f: (202) 225-6887, email. Baron Hill (IN-09) p: (202) 225-5315, f: (202) 226-6866, email. Jane Harman (CA-36) p: (202) 225-8220, f: (202) 226-7290, email. Jim Matheson (UT-02) p: (202) 225-3011, f: (202) 225-5638, email. Charlie...

(AP Photo/El Monte Police Department) It all started out with a kick to the head. True, the suspect was not exactly one to elicit sympathy, but that's not the point. A free society cannot tolerate police acting outside the law to administer physical punishment. Except Dean Scoville, "Associate Editor of Police Magazine and a retired patrol supervisor and investigator with the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department," disagrees with that: There was a time when post pursuit ass-kickings were obligatory. Cops knew it, suspects knew it, and there are enough old timers on both sides of the fence that will verify the...

One might think that the forcible citizen disarmament lobby in California (ranked by the Brady Campaign as the number one, most tyrannical) would consider their work there to be just about finished, and move on to disarm some other state. This, after all, is a state that bans certain guns because of their color, bans faux "assault weapons" from a list so expansive (far more so than the expired federal AWB) it includes even some single-shot rifles (because they're .50 caliber), is the only state so far to have mandated "microstamping," etc. Unfortunately, though, to believe that the California gun...

Bank of America will accept California IOUs, but it won’t credit depositor accounts for at least a week. The fine print was included in an interview in Monday’s American Banker with a BofA spokeswoman.

Judge Vaughn R. Walker Sacramento, Calif., Jul 1, 2009 / 06:02 pm (CNA).- The U.S. District Court has agreed to allow ProtectMarriage.com to defend   Proposition 8 in a lawsuit, after the state's Attorney General, Jerry Brown, refused to do so. The ruling will allow the coalition to defend the successful California initiative from last November that restored marriage to being only between a man and a woman in the state constitution. Andrew Pugno, general counsel for ProtectMarriage.com, has said that he is “pleased that the court will allow us to defend marriage and the will of the people against challenges to...

In his last homily as parish priest Sunday, the Rev. Jerry Ryle discussed Jesus' shortest sermon. The priest then faced the overflowing crowd at Sacramento's St. Philomene church and told parishioners what to expect from his sermon that morning."I'm going to go a little longer," said Ryle as parishioners laughed. "I have a lot to say."For 41 years, Ryle has presided over daily Mass in the Diocese of Sacramento. Now the priest is retiring, one of nine clerics officially stepping down today. Their retirements – the priests have served for decades and hold senior positions – are having a ripple...

*SNIP* California has 55 electoral votes. A Democrat can't win the White House without winning California. "Obama to California: Drop Dead," is not the kind of Sacramento Bee headline that the president or his party can afford.

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- An off-duty police officer shot and wounded two men who had assaulted him in a crowded stadium parking lot after a Colorado Rockies-Los Angeles Angels game, authorities said Thursday. The officer, who was walking to his car with his wife and two small children about 25 minutes after Wednesday night's game, was hit in the head with beer bottles, police Sgt. Tim Schmidt said. The officer called a dispatcher at his department and asked for help, saying two men had choked him and asked him to get away from his car, Sgt. Rick Martinez said. The officer...