Great Day For Justice

Amid little fanfare, yesterday the Mexican Supreme Court(is that an oxymoron?...just asking) reversed a decision barring extradition of Mexican criminals facing a life sentence here in the US. The vote was 6-5 in favor of the reversal, but it is a victory nonetheless. This gives prosecutors here in US like Steve Cooley/Tony Rackaucas the ability to finally get some justice for cop killers and other violent felons. Here is a link to the story.

Breaking....John & Ken Are Really Pissed Off At John Campbell

I don't know if I've ever heard John Kobylt as mad as just heard him. Apparently John Campbell's people(Dave Gilliard & Jim Terry) have made the decision to boycott/not show up to the Ayres Hotel Monday in Laguna Woods for a discussion/debate with Jim Gilchrist a day before the election. Kobylt even went so far as to say that Campbell might be their next victim for political human sacrifice and they are going to make his next year in Congress "a living hell". Instead John Campbell has decided to show up at Mr Republican kool-aid himself's show, Hugh Hewitt. I like Hugh's show, but he doesn't have a tenth of the audience that John & Ken have. I guess Campbell thinks that the race is in the bag. He could be right, but it doesn't make sense to piss off John & Ken after all the airtime that they have given Campbell over the years. They just called him an "open border David Dreier like kiss ass", heh heh. That was a good one.

****************Evening Update***************************

John Campbell was just on John Zieglar's show and was asked if he had David Dreier's endorsement. He hemmed and hawed and basically said that he doesn't want an endorsement from David Dreier. That's funny. You know it's bad for Dreier when a guy like John Campbell views you as political kryptonite. Zieglar also asked him about the Jim Gilchrist radio ad running on KFI. Obviously he thought it was all lies, but he just doesn't sound comfortable when he is being asked tough questions. I guess it's to be expected. Zieglar asked some good questions.

Benedict Arnold Schwarzenneger

The news is not good out of Sacramento this morning. In what can only be described as a sellout to the conservatives who elected him, he has hired former Gray Davis deputy chief of staff, Susan Kennedy to be his Chief of Staff. What, was Bob Mulholland unavailable? Amazing. I myself even voted for Arnold over Tom McClintock. I won't make that mistake again. It just goes to show that RINOs can never be trusted with any power because they will turn to the darkside eventually. I am done with Arnold. This is a complete surrender. Everyone knows that staffers run the show for their bosses. It's safe to say that he's not running for re-election. How much do you want to bet that Tokkie Williams gets his death sentence commuted to life in prison now? I'd say the odds are very high.

48th CD Race Update

As I was driving into work this morning from Irvine to Huntington Beach on the infamous 405 freeway, I couldn't help but notice all the Gilchrist signs on the overpasses that are very visible to cars driving under them. They were on the Culver Dr, Jamboree Rd, and Harvard Ave overpasses. They look really good. Kudos to whoever put them up. As most of you know, I have basically taken the general campaign off. The last few special elections took a lot out of me and I needed a break. I have been concentrating on work. I have taken some time to respond to a few local reporters for a quote or two, but other than that I haven't been very plugged in to the Gilchrist campaign like I was in the primary. I hope Jim wins, but reality is telling me otherwise. He has had no absentee ballot chase like he needed and that was real disappointing. He may be competive again with Campbell on election day, but the race will have been decided already from the absentees. I hope I am wrong about my gut feel of the race. I would love nothing better than to see Jim go back to DC and start busting heads on immigration and other conservative issues that have been neglected since the GOP has been in control.

Duke Cunningham To Plead Guilty

I just heard on KFI radio that Duke Cunningham is going to plead guilty to tax charges on the sale of his house. I'm not sure if it's a felony charge or misdomeanor. If it's a felony plea then he will probably have to resign his house seat immediately. This would set up another special election for a GOP House seat in Southern California.

*************11:05 UPDATE****************

Duke admits to bribery and a whole laundry list of other charges. It's real bad. He is going to be forced to resign. There's no way that he remains in office.

************12:30pm UPDATE*********************

He has in fact resigned effective immediately. I hope it was worth it Duke. I'm guessing not. I hate the fact that this gives the Democrats even more ammo for the coming mid term elections. I also wonder how many other Congressman have gone down this road and just haven't been caught yet. I wouldn't be gloating if I were the Democrats, but it's too late for that. Just look at the thread over on Daily Kos.

Now we have another open cluster f*ck election in socal. I don't know San Diego politics much, but this open primary thing is another good opportunity for a self funded RINO to slip through. I think I'm going to have to support Howard Kaloogian. He is a good strong conservative and Bill Morrow is a little to cozy with unions for my taste.

Lastly There's no truth to the rumor that President Bush called Mr. Cunningham after his resignation and said "you're doing a helluva job there Dukey or Dukestir"

Dump David Dreier

A few of you may have noticed that I added a site on my blogroll called Dump Dreier. It is run by John De Gennaro. John started his site up last year during John & Ken's Political Human Sacrifice. As we draw closer to the GOP primary for the 26th CD here in California, you can rest assured that David Dreier has a big target painted on his back by his reckless votes for an open border and his waterboy image of being Vincinte Fox's Congressional lobbyist on behalf of all the illegal aliens residing here in the US. Unfortunately, it looks like John March is not going to run against the liar, but there are a few others who are lining up to take Dreier on.

Oh No........

Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson have decided to call it quits. Gee I never thought that this would happen, NOT. Again I kind of ashamed to be posting about this, but I'm no different than most people out there who like to watch a good train wreck as it happens live. Their MTV show was pretty funny at certain times. I'll always remember how dumb Jessica is. My favorite moment of her was when she was eating some "Chicken of the Sea" Starkist Tuna and she thought she was actually eating chicken. That's too funny. So even though she isn't the brightest bulb on the tree, I read that she did manage to make $35 million dollars last year. I guess the joke is on me.

Breaking News... RINO Jim Kolbe Retires

Good news from the state of Arizona tonight. Eleven term Rep Jim Kolbe has decided not to seek re-election in his southeast Arizona district. Good riddance I say. There was no truth to the rumor that he and David Dreier were boyfriends(Kolbe is an openly gay guy and Dreier just hasn't been outed yet....sorry, another poor attempt at humor). This guy was a waterboy for the open border lobby. Already running hard to replace him is Arizona state rep and Minuteman Randy Graf. This is a huge opportunity to send a good solid conservative to Congress. This will be also be a huge test for the Club For Growth. If they endorse a country club/open border Republican over Randy Graf then I will have to seriously reconsider my membership with the group. I'll have more to say about this race as it heats up some more.

Thanksgiving Thoughts

As the time draws near to one of of my personal favorite holidays, I just wanted to say that I'm thankful for a lot of things in my life. This year has gone by way to fast so far. Tomorrow I will spending the day with family as should everyone. My wife is cooking up a bachnallian feast fit for a king. So I hope everyone has a great Turkey Day and don't forget to root on those Dallas Cowboys and Detroit Lions, someone has to.

USC Jokes

Here is a reprint from some of my famous all time funny USC jokes. Go Bruins!

This is for all you Orange County USC graduates out here. They grow on trees down here.
1.What do USC and UCLA students have in common? They both got in to USC
2.A Trojan grad and a Bruin grad were on death row. The warden came to them to ask them if they had any last requests. The Trojan said, “I’d just like to hear ‘Conquest’ one last time.” When the warden asked the Bruin what his last request was, he replied, “kill me first.”
3.Did you hear the library at USC burned down?
They lost both books, and one hadn’t even been colored in yet.
4.A guy in a bar leans over to the guy next to him and asks, “Wanna hear a USC joke?” The guy next to him replies, “Well, before you tell that joke, you should know something. I’m 6’ tall, 200 lbs., and I’m a USC graduate. The guy sitting next to me is 6’2”, weighs 225, and he’s a USC graduate. The fella next to him is 6’5” tall, weighs 250, and he’s a USC graduate. Now, you still wanna tell that joke?
The first guy replies: “Naw, not if I’m gonna have to explain it three times.”
5.Members of the USC football team were placed in a remedial English class. “Because we are all new on campus we are going to start with the basics,” the professor explained. “Does anyone know what comes after a sentence?” All of the players raised their hands. “The appeal!” they all shouted with pride.
6.Q: What are the best four years of a Trojan’s life?
A: Third grade
Q: What does a Trojan and a bottle of beer have in common?
A: They’re both empty from the neck up.
Q: Why doesn’t USC have ice on the sidelines?
A: The guy with the recipe graduated.
Q: What do you get when you drive slowly by the USC campus?
A: A degree.
Q: What does the average USC player get on his SAT’s?
A: Drool.
My personal favorite:
Q: How do you get a USC graduate off your porch?
A: Pay him for the pizza

Q & A With Gustavo Arellano Of The OC Weekly

Since Gustavo didn't print what I emailed back to him after his questions from last week, I will post my responses to him here on Powder Blue Report.

Allan,

It's Gustavo Arellano from OC Weekly. I'm doing a story on the Republican Party's war against Jim Gilchrist and wanted to quote you since I enjoy your articulate defense of Gilchrist and attack on John Campbell in the local blogosphere. If you are interested, can you answer these questions?

*Why do you think Republicans are scared of a Gilchrist candidacy as opposed to Gilchrist, the private citizen behind the Minuteman project?

Gustavo, a better question would have been....why do
you think the Republican intelligencia/hierarchy/party
bosses are scared of Jim Gilchrist, because when you
say Republicans, it doesn't mean the GOP rank & file.
We love what Jim Gilchrist stands for. The rank &
file aren't concerned with whose turn it is to run
like the bosses are. We aren't concerned that Jim is
not a polished politician. We just want the laws
enforced that are on the books already and we want the
party to get back to its roots of smaller government.
The party bosses are scared of Jim Gilchrist because
they know that their bosses in DC have screwed the
pooch on the issue of illegal immigration by flatly
ignoring the issue while it has continued to fester
unabated. It's the number one issue for Republicans
right now and the face of the party, George Bush, is
pro amnesty so there has been a lot scrambling to try
to innoculate their candidate(Campbell) from looking
weak on illegal immigration which he is. Deep down
the party bosses know that the silent majority of
their members support Jim and what he has done.

*Who do you think support Campbell? Gilchrist?

Campbell has the support of the entire party aparatus
and most local elected and un-elected politicians.
They are afraid to go on record supporting Jim because
they fear the recriminations if they publicly
supported someone like Jim who is not technically a
Republican even though his positions more closely
mirror what the base of the party stands for. I do
not have that fear. I have also come to know that
John does not care much for grassroots support from
local GOTV groups. He ignored them until it was time
to run for Congress. In fact he flew out a bunch of
DC hacks to OC before the primary because he didn't
have much of a local grassroots effort. It all gets
back to Campbell just not exciting the base of the
party. The people who support Jim are people like
myself who are tired of the doublespeak and inaction
on illegal immigration and other conservative issues
near and dear to us. We are not part of the county
party establishment. We are more concerned about
country and principles than party. We recognize that
if Jim gets elected, he goes to DC with a mandate to
put this issue of illegal immigartion front & center
of the national debate. We see what has happened to
once proud cities like Santa Ana and Los Angeles
turned into ghettoes. They are now overrun by illegal
immigrants. We do not want this spread to other
communities in Orange County. We just want the
current laws enforced. We would never send our kids
to school in these neighborhoods where English is a
second language and learning does not happen.

*Do you think Campbell has shifted his position on
illegal immigration due to Gilchrist, or does it remain the same? What is it?

Absolutely he has shifted his position on illegal
immigration. This is man,Campbell, who voted to give
illegals in state tuition benefits, voted for illegals
to be able to use matricular consular cards as IDs to
open bank accounts and get home loans, and told a
Register reporter that they(illegals) are here so we
might as well give them the benefits. Once he
realized that he was on the wrong side of this issue
and now wanted to run for Congress, he had to do
something fast. So he hired Dave Gilliard and
Gilliard came up with a brilliant plan to start a
petition drive for a California Border Police
Initiative. Who was the first person to co-sponsor
this? That's right John Campbell. Amazing how that
works.

Also, what do you do and where do you live? Just a
brief line so I can include with the plug for your blog. If you can send
me back responses to these questions by tomorrow morning, I'd appreciate
it!

I am a full time managed futures specialist/investment
advisor. I raise money for alternative investments
like Commodity Trading Advisors which are similiar to
hedge funds. I have lived in Irvine my entire life
except when I lived up in Long Beach while attending
Long Beach St University. I went to Our Lady Queen of
Angels School in Newport Beach for grade school and I
graduated high school from Mater Dei in 1988. I'm
recently married w/no kids yet and still living in
Irvine to this day.

Respectfully,

Allan Bartlett
Irvine,CA

Another Police officer Killed By An Illegal Alien

R.I.P Officer Jackson

What can I say. Another police officer has been killed by an illegal alien. The officer's name is Brian Jackson. He was a five year veteran of the Dallas Police Force. How many more times does this have to happen before we get serious about enforcing our immigration laws? Why won't our elected officials just enforce the current laws? This is madness. Officer Jackson was killed while pursuing the suspect on foot after a domestic disturbance call. Thanks again David Dreier. Keep up the great work on Bush's amnesty errr guest worker plan.

IRC Volunteer Appreciation Party Roundup

We had a great turnout tonight up here in Turtle Rock in the heart of conservative Irvine. Even John Campbell showed up to thank our volunteers. Also making an appearance was State Senate conservative candidate Diane Harkey. It was a fun party. The highlight of the party was Senator Campbell speaking about what he wants to accomplish back in DC. It was heavy on the war on terror. He sounded animated that the GOP was not on offense right now and we need get back to offense. He's right about that. I actually got a chance to speak with him for about one akward minute. He said that he was reassured in a private meeting with President Bush that amnesty is off the table for right now. That remains to be seen. We'll have to see what happens, but I don't have any trust with the President on this issue to do the right thing. I was glad that John showed up to thank all the volunteers in person. I told him that I will be his biggest cheerleader if goes back to DC and votes the right way on the issues that matter. I'm glad that I stood up for principle and we had a good healthy debate about the issues in this campaign. The consensus from speaking to most of the IRC leadership and rank & file was that this contested race for the 48th CD is nothing but a net benefit to John Campbell if he gets elected on Dec 6th. I stood up on principle when most people would not even though they felt like I did that Senator Campbell made a lot of bad votes on illegal immigration while he was in Sacramento. It's water under the bridge if he gets elected as far as I'm concerned if he starts voting as a true conservative.

Lastly, here is a little bit of gossip that I won't attribute to anyone, but I was asking around about who the GOP is going to run against the Agran/Dornan corrupt machine next year in the Irvine City Council elections. I can report that we do indeed have some interesting developments in the race. The rumor is that we are going to put together a reform slate with one Democrat on the ticket who despises Larry Agran and knows how he operates. Any idea of that Democrat of principle is? My source said it was none other than Chris Mears. I don't have the names of the Republicans yet, but this is certainly good news. Contrary to what some people might think(Phil Paule), I am not going to be one of those GOP candidates.

Here's a picture from last night. From left to right that's my wife Lynn, yours truly and Senator John Campbell. For full disclosure I am still going to vote for Jim Gilchrist, but if John wins then I will take a wait and see attitude and if if he does well during the next eight months before the next June primary, I will gladly support him. He needs to put some "proof in the pudding" for me and a lot of others though before we'll fully support him.

Slow Week

It has been a depressing week for me. I've been sick since last Wednesday and I'm just starting to get better finally. I really haven't been able to do much of anything except sit at home and surf the net and sleep. I did get an interesting mail piece from the Campbell campaign today slammimg Jim Gilchrist again. I'm surprised that I haven't seen more mail from the Campbell campaign. They must be feeling really good about things over there. I have to admit, it's been a weird campaign ever since the primary. People definately have election fatigue. I predict the turnout for the Dec 6th election to be around 15% with 70% of the vote coming from absentees. No one is paying attention to this election. I'm pretty much just laying low for now. I did speak with Gustavo Arellano of the OC Weekly last week about the campaign and gave him some choice quotes about my thoughts on the OC GOP party hierarchy. I'm curious to see how he quotes me from our email conversation. Lastly, tomorrow is the Irvine Republican Council's volunteer appreciation party. Even though we didn't win any of the ballot questions statewide last week, it's nice to be able to get together with like minded individuals trying to make a difference. We are going to be a force in the 2006 elections.

Dangers Of Hedge Funds

The regulation of financial markets has been changing a lot recently. This especially true with hedge funds. Professor Bainbridge has written an excellent post about how these new SEC regulations on hedge funds are reducing clients' liquidity in a crisis. Basically the new regs state that you have to lock up your investment for a period of two years before it is liquid in a hedge fund. Since I raise money for Commodity Trading Advisors, I have a huge selling advantage over hedge funds because a managed futures investment is 100% liquid. You don't have to tie up your money for any length of time.

My Opinion On Adding Links To My Blogroll

I must get at least 3 or 4 emails every week asking me to add someone's new blog to my blogroll list. I appreciate the fact that they are trying to add traffic to their new site or whatever other motivation they have, but I'll add your site if I think that it's worth a read to and my readers. I'm not going to add you just for the sake of adding you. Most bloggers do that and it kind of annoys me, but to each their own I guess. All the links on Powder Blue Report are sites that I click on regularly and I am going to keep it that way. I don't want a thousand different links on my site. This blog is a reflection of me and my personality. It's nothing personal if I don't add you. I probably just don't think your site is worth it or interesting to me. I am in the sales business though so I understand that it doesn't hurt to ask. If you don't ask, you won't get anything.

I Want To See A Lot More Of These Stories

Some motel operators in a Phoenix suburb were indicted on charges that they rented rooms to undercover federal agents posing as migrant smugglers and coached them on concealing their activities. Here is the link

John & Ken In Murrieta Today

Well I sit here at my house sick as a dog and I turned on KFI to see what the boys were talking about today and the issue they were talking about was...drumroll, illegal immigration. I want to thank John & Ken again for doing all they can to get the Cal Border Police Initiative on the ballot. Even though they don't get that many signatures from doing a live remote show, they get to keep hammering away at the issue of illegal immigration. There is another benefit of getting this initiative on the ballot. If it gets qualified to get on the November 2006 ballot, Arnold and the Republicans will have a huge issue to rally around. It would be kind of like what happened back in 1994 with Prop 187 and Pete Wilson. He was trailing badly in the polls, but Pete endorsed and campaigned on a pro 187 platform and he was elected in a landslide. That is why this issue is so important.

As I was typing this, I just got done hearing Jim Gilchrist & Chris Simcox on J&K. Jim laid out the details of his past bankruptcy and the left wing kooks that have been following him around. I pretty much stopped helping Jim's campaign because Jim was not helping himself out by fundraising, but I might start helping again if Campbell's team keeps up his gutter campaign against Jim and doesn't talk about the issues in this election. Campbell's surrogates have been running a great smear campaign against Jim during the last month with push polls and whisper campaigns about Jim being some kind of left wing whacko which is the furthest thing from the truth and they know it. I guess it's all part of John's big plan to not talk about his horrible record on illegal immigration. This is a dirty business and I now know why good people don't run for office. It's because of crap like this.

The next person on the show was Dana Point Councilwoman Diane Harkey. Kudos to Diane for taking leadership on the immigration issue because yesterday she got the Dana Point City Council to go record as supporting the Cal Border Police Initiative. The vote was unanimous at 5-0. Great Job Dana Point. This gives me a great idea. I'm going to call Steven Choi and Christina Shea to ask them to agendize a resolution for next Irvine City Council meeting to support the Cal Border Police. This should be fun to see Larry Agran, Beth Krom and Sukkee Kang put on record for this issue.

Another Pat Buchanan Gem

by Patrick J. Buchanan
Posted Nov 10, 2005

With the rout of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's initiatives, Democratic victories in New Jersey and Virginia, and President Bush’s free fall in national polls on job performance, credibility and character, the Republican Party is in imminent peril of losing the country.

Indeed, since 9/11, the party has indulged in a willful self-delusion that it has become America’s Party. The Bush triumph in 2004, talking heads brayed, settled the matter: Red State America has triumphed over Blue State America. The future belongs to us.

This was always hyperbole. Where Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan rolled up 49-state landslides in re-election runs, Bush won 31 states, losing every state north of the Potomac and east of Ohio, two of the three great industrial states of the Midwest, Michigan and Illinois, and he was skunked on the Pacific rim. Had Kerry hammered him on trade and lost jobs in Ohio, Bush would be a one-term president.

What killed the first Bush presidency and is ruining the second is the abandonment of Reaganism and his embrace of the twin heresies of neoconservatism and Big Government Conservatism, as preached by the resident ideologues at The Weekly Standard and Wall Street Journal.

Under Bush I, taxes were raised, funding for HUD and Education exploded, and a quota bill was signed under which small businesses, accused of racial discrimination, were made to prove their innocence, or be punished, in true Soviet fashion.

Under Bush II, social spending has exploded to levels LBJ might envy, foreign aid has been doubled, pork-at-every-meal has become the GOP diet of choice, surpluses have vanished, and the deficit is soaring back toward 5% of GDP. Bill Clinton is starting to look like Barry Goldwater.

Both Bushes abandoned the economic patriotism that had put America and Americans first—for free-trade globalism. Result: the most massive trade deficits in U.S. history, the gutting of our industrial base, the loss of millions of manufacturing jobs, and the largest wealth transfer of all time with technology, factories, high-tech and high-skilled jobs pouring out of America into Asia.

Working America and the middle class have been sacrificed on the high altar of the Republican Moloch of Free Trade. And how have our Chinese brothers reciprocated our magnanimity?

Both Bushes embraced the “open borders” immigration policy the Wall Street Journal has trumpeted for two decades. Result: We have 10-15 million illegal aliens in our country, among whom gangs like the murderous Mara Salvatrucha are proliferating. Native-born California taxpayers are fleeing the Golden State, as Third World tax consumers pour in. So great is the crisis on the Mexican border even the liberal Democratic governors of New Mexico and Arizona have declared states of emergency. Meanwhile 35,000 U.S. troops stand guard—on the border of South Korea.

The late editorial editor of the Journal, Robert Bartley, once said, “I believe the nation-state is finished.” He and his progeny have surely done their level best to bring that about.

As the country we grew up in becomes unrecognizable, we still hear the Journal, that good and faithful servant of the U.S. Business Roundtable, warning us not to oppose open borders. Meanwhile, our very own Dr. Pangloss, Ben Wattenberg, warbles on about our being the “first universal nation” and, in echo of M. Dominic de Villepin, burbles, “Isn’t diversity wonderful!”

In foreign policy, Bush I was an internationalist out to build a “New World Order” after the Cold War. However, post-9/11, Bush II converted to a neoconservatism that calls for unilateral American intervention in the Middle East and the Islamic world, to bring down dictators and establish democracy.

Thus, in March, 2003, Bush, in perhaps the greatest strategic blunder in U.S. history, invaded an Arab nation that had not attacked us, did not want war with us, and did not threaten us—to strip it of weapons we now know it did not have.

Result: Shia and Kurds have been liberated from Saddam, but Iran has a new ally in southern Iraq, Osama has a new base camp in the Sunni Triangle, the Arab and Islamic world have been radicalized against the United States, and copy-cat killers of Al Qaida have been targeting our remaining allies in Europe and the Middle East: Spain, Britain, Egypt and Jordan. And, lest we forget, 2055 Americans are dead and Walter Reed is filling up.

True to the neoconservative creed, Bush launched a global crusade for democracy that is now bringing ever closer to power Hamas in Gaza and the West Bank, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and Syria, and Shia fundamentalists in Baghdad and Basra.

Democratic imperialism is still imperialism. To Arab and Islamic peoples, whether the Crusaders come in the name of God or in the name of democracy, they are still Crusaders.

When Ronald Reagan went home to California, his heirs said, “Goodbye to all that,” and embraced Big Government conservatism, then neoconservatism. If they do not find their way home soon, to the principles of Taft, Goldwater and Reagan, they will perish in the wildness into which they have led us all

California On The Brink

After last nights election debacle here in California, there is not much to be optimistic about. I love Arnold's enthusiasm, but that is not going to cut the mustard. We are one step closer to financial ruin in our state. All this election did is just postpone the obvious. We won't be able to borrow any more money and the Democrats will raise taxes unless Arnold vetoes it and holds firm. If I were him, I would just shut the government down when the next budget comes up for a vote. It's obvious the Democrats are going to raise taxes. They are now a wholly owned subsidiary of the public employee unions.

Turnout Sample At 4:15pm In Irvine

I just got home from work and did a quick recon mission to my polling place up here in Turtle Rock. There are 1883 registered voters here in the precinct and as of 4:15pm, a total of 275 had already shown up to cast their ballot. That's a 14.6% turnout so far for everyone in Santa Ana or Rio Linda. I also just heard on KFI that the absentee ballot tally is over 250,000 in OC at this point with over 60% of them from Republicans. That's a 49% turnout for absentee ballot voters. If this is true than the county GOP party is to be commended for out hustling the union thugs/Democrats so far. I'm cautiously optimistic at this point.

Election Day In California

It's time to exercise our franchise and get off your collective asses and vote. There are a lot of important issues on the ballot today that need your help. The state needs to be reformed and the slate of propositions 73-77 all need a YES vote. The other can be discarded(78-80). We also had a few local measures in Orange County on the ballot. I voted no on all of them and I recommend everyone else do the same. I will report back around 4pm with some turnout sampling in some local precincts here in Irvine.

Weekend Recap

It was an interesting weekend for me. It started out with a visit from my in-laws on Saturday morning. After doing some work on the house, I settled in to watch the UCLA/Arizona game. Oops. UCLA was probably the worst #5 ranked team in the country and they got exposed by Arizona. They ended up losing 52-14 and they can now go back to being the gutty little bruins. All hope is lost for the battle of Los Angeles. We will be USC's bitch for another year I'm afraid.

My Sunday was devoted to organizing and walking precincts for the special election this Tuesday. I walked an entire precinct by myself and my wife also walked one here in Turtle Rock where we live. I get pumped up walking precincts because I always end up meeting and talking with some great neighbors about our political situation here in California and the nation. I am what the county GOP calls a "community leader" which is that I am charge of ten precincts here in the southern portion of Irvine. I think we have a good shot to pass Arnold's slate of propostions, but it will all depend on turnout. If I had to guess, I would say that props 73-77 are going to pass.

Lastly, I want to report that I was push polled again last night by the Tarrance Group which is Ed Goeas's organization. It was for the runoff 48th congressional district election. It was a doosy. Credit to Gilliard et al for a hard hitting push poll. Even though it didn't work on me(for obvious reasons), I'm sure it was effective for other voters. They hit all the Green Party stuff, Jim's bankruptcy, etc. This race is all but over.

P.S. How could have I forgotten about the Hitler errr I mean History Channel's series on the Crusades that watched last night on the tube. It's fascinating stuff for someone like me who didn't really pay attention to my world history class at Mater Dei. Now I know why the muslims hate us so much and vice versa. We've been fighting each other for hundreds of years.

How Soon Until France Surrenders.....Again!

My over/under on when France will surrender to the muslim immigrants is about a week. France has a storied history on surrendering. It is said that the only wars they have ever won were civil wars, LOL. It's true. The muslim youth are said to be fed up with living conditions and lack of opportunities in France. If that's the case then they should go back to where they're from.

In all seriousness though, this was bound to happen when you have the amount of unchecked immigration that France has. When the immigrants don't assimilate, you will start seeing these problems arise more and more. Anyone see any similarities here in the US? I sure do. We have had unchecked illegal immigration for over thirty years now and look at what has been happening to California as a result of it. One drive through Santa Ana or East L.A. provides a look into a culture of people that have not assimilated to life here in the United States. How long will it be until they start rioting here because they're unhappy in the US for whatever reason? The liberal/multicultural/open border apologists still want unchecked immigration to this day. President Bush wants to give amnesty to all these lawbreakers for the sake of "being compassionate" not to mention that he is doing his best to pander to the "hispanic vote" because he doesn't want to offend all the illegals. It's truly sickening. If you want to see what's happening in France right now happen over here, just keep voting for politicians that give aid & comfort to these people.

Jim Gilchrist On Hugh Hewitt's Show

I didn't actually get to hear the audio of the interview, but Hugh's producer Duane has transcribed the interview and provided the audio here. I thought is was a fair interview. Jim should be asked some tough questions about his positions and personal dealings and he was. I wish Hugh would ask John Campbell some tough questions too, but I guess we'll leave that to John & Ken. This has been an exhilarating campaign for me personally. I've learned a lot about what happens on the inside of a congressional campaign. There were some pleasant and not so pleasant surprises for me. One of the best things about these types of campaigns is all the great people I've met and connections that I've made. I jumped on the Gilchrist bandwagon early because Jim has such a great message. I knew that with Jim running as an independent, there would be little margin for error. Alas though, there have been a lot of mistakes made by Jim's campaign. I say that as a loyal supporter of his. Most of the mistakes could have been overcome if the candidate had raised a substantial sum of money, but Jim just doesn't have the type of personality to get on the phone and ask for money. I wish it were different, but he is just terrified of picking up the phone and asking for money. Without the necessary money to run a campaign, he is going to be dead in the water. With Jim's message, he could be raising a crapload of cash from local donors and donors across the country who are fed up with the national GOP party commitees. All those people that are telling the RNC, RNSC, and the NRCC to buzz off, still want to give to good candidates and issues. I am one of those people. It's moot point though because he won't do it.

So where does this leave us? It's obvious that without the money to run an effective campaign that John Campbell is going to be the next Congressman from the 48th district. John's tenure for the next year will be his probationary period for me. If he votes right on illegal immigration and other conservative issues near and dear to me and others then he will be getting my vote in 2006. If he decides to appease President Bush though and vote for the McCain/Kennedy amnesty bill and other legislative abominations, then I and others will simply not support him. It's easy. You do what's right and you will have no problems with the voters. Hopefully John realizes what a mistake it was to have the kind of attitude on illegal immigration that he came in to office with back in 2000. Time will tell I guess.

Fed Raises Rate Another Quarter Point

The Federal Reserve(not federal and no reserves) raised the short term interest rates again today by another quarter point. The hits just keep coming.