You Tube of Ron Paul On Tonight Show

Live In Los Angeles....Bruuuuuuuce

It's been a hectic 24 hours for me. After a frantic day of work yesterday putting out some fires, I rallied enough to drive up to the old LA Sports Arena to see the best live concert anywhere. I'm speaking about Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band. I didn't have a ticket, but that didn't concern me because on almost any night Bruce is in concert, he has ticket drops right before the show starts. Last night was no different. I scored first row Loge seats right next to the stage for face value as you can see from the picture from from my cell phone! I will never go through Ticketmaster again. They are a joke. There was also plenty of tickets trying to be sold by scalpers who were taking a bath on their investment. You could have gotten into the show last night for half price of face value(about $50). He's playing again tonight...Anyone wanna meet me up there to see a great show? As usual, it was an awesome show. The Tour is to support Bruce's new album Magic. It's one of his best pieces of work IMO. Here's the set list:

Radio Nowhere
No Surrender
Lonesome Day
Gypsy Biker
Magic
Reason To Believe
Candy's Room
She's The One
Livin' In The Future
The Promised Land
Town Called Heartbreak
Backstreets
Working On The Highway
Devil's Arcade
The Rising
Last To Die
Long Walk Home
Badlands

Girls In Their Summer Clothes
Thundercrack
Born To Run
Dancing In The Dark
American Land

Lastly, here's a pic of USC Coach Pete Carroll who I spotted watching the show from the side of the stage. He's the one with gray hair and black jacket. The LA Times had a story on Coach Carroll last week about how a Bruce Springsteen song "Growin Up" inspired him after his tenure was finished with the NY Jets. Anyway, he flashed a big grin and the SC two finger fight on gesture to everyone when he was spotted by us.

OC Sheriff Mike Carona Indicted

It's all over but the shoutin' for Mike Carona, aka the "Little Sheriff" according to the LA Times. An indictment against the Sheriff will be unsealed as early as today. When asked to comment about the indictment, Carona spokeman Mike Schroeder deadpanned that Sheriff Carona is

"focused on the fires".

Hehehe. Classic. He's focused on the fires alright. He's focusing all his energy on stamping out political and legal fires he's created for himself. Unfortunately for him, the hole is to big to get out of now. The Sheriff should resign over this abuse of his office(alledgedly). He can have his day in court, but he needs to resign ASAP because he has lost the moral authority to govern.

I can already see the fallout from this development. This is a huge black eye for the county party. They went out of their way to endorse the Sheriff for re-election even though many things were already known about the Sheriff's handling of his office. It doesn't speak well for the persons who went to bat for the Sheriff(they know who they are). I'm sure they are very embarrassed by these developments as well, but the party could have been spared this extra embarrassment if they would have allowed the first vote not to endorse the Sheriff to stand.

I also want to give a shout out to Lt. Bill Hunt(ret.). He ran against Carona's corruption and almost got the race into a runoff situation. I believe he should be appointed Sheriff when Carona resigns. He's been put through hell by the Little Sheriff just for having the gall to run against his boss. He's got some big time karma working for him right now.

Lastly, huge props go to R Scott Moxely of the OC Weekly. He was a lone voice in the wilderness uncovering Mike Carona's corruption and reporting it in the OC Weekly. He has done the county a huge favor by keeping on this story. I wish there a lot more Scott Moxelys in the county.

This Is Cool

Ron Paul has a new piece of campaign literature out. We in the Paul campaign like to call them "slim jims". They are on good card stock and about 9x3 inches. Why am I posting about this you may ask? Well because the campaign put a picture of me in the background on the slimjim w/Dr. Paul as you can see from the photo here! I think's it's pretty cool. They didn't even ask for my permission, but I hereby grant it to them and I don't want any royalties or any form of compensation at all. The picture was actually taken this past April at the CRA State Convention in Ontario. Ron spoke to us at a Saturday luncheon there and I had a chance to speak w/him for few minutes about the commodities markets and the state of his campaign.

Staggering Ten Year Costs Of Iraq & Afganistan War

Today the Congressional Budget Office came out with a ten year estimate of the cost of the Iraq & Afganistan wars. It has a mind blowing $2.4 trillion dollar price tag to it. That's right. This pretty much blows out of the water the argument that a lot of my conservative friends make about wanting smaller government. They're giving pure lip service. How in the hell can you have smaller government when your bankrupting the next generations to come. This cost amounts to a tax of $8k on each person in the US. George Bush is making Ted Kennedy blush with this kind of big government. I believe Hillary said something the other day that America can't afford all her ideas. I'll do you one better Hillary...America can't afford any more Bush ideas either, especially another costly war in Iran.

Modjeska & Silverado Canyons Ablaze Now

This is just so sad to watch. These canyons on the front side of the Santa Ana Mountains have been my playground ever since I was young. I've used them for hiking, off roading, hunting, fishing, and for just taking a scenic cruise. I knew this day of reckoning was near, I just didn't know exactly when it would come. These canyons haven't burned in a long long time. The fuel in there is thick. In a sick perverted way, this is natures way of renewing itself. Fires are essential for the health of forests. The people that live in these areas should well be aware of the risks that come with the beauty of the place. So while I'm very upset that these fires were deliberately set, it shows that mother nature is still in charge.

As an aside, I got to watch some of the news conference about the Santiago Fire with Assemblyman Todd Spitzer and OC Fire Chief Chip Prather. Wannabe Assemblyman Neil Blais was also getting some face time standing behind Prather & Spitzer. Good job getting on TV Neil nodding your head in assent every time Todd & Chip uttered a word.

It's A War Zone In Socal

I've been through a lot of fires living in Southern California, but this is the worst fire event ever. There's conflagrations burning in every socal county right now. As I flew into John Wayne Airport yesterday from San Francisco, I had a birds eye view of all the fires and smoke. It was scary. It was the worst turbulence I've ever experienced in a plane. Kudos to the Alaska Airlines pilots who got us down safely.

I'm watching the news this morning and it looks like the little mountain city of Running Springs is screwed. There's fires burning everywhere. I read that the Irvine fires were deliberately set. I hope they catch that guy and put him in jail for a long time. He is a real sicko. Be safe out there everyone.

Nike Women's Marathon...San Francisco Style

This past weekend was the Nike Women's Marathon up in San Francisco. I got to hang out with most of the women in my life...Lynn, my sister Amy, and my mom to celebrate life and how precious it is. My other sister Jaime couldn't make it up there. It was a powerful event in my life. Not only was Lynn running the marathon, but Amy was also walking the half marathon. Amy is just a month removed from her last radiation treatment for Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma and she finished the half marathon with flying colors. She is completely cured now, save for the semi-annual checkups she has to attend.

So Saturday night before race day, there was a big pasta/carb loading party at the Moscone Center. As we walked into the Convention Center, there were hundreds of Team in Training volunteers, coaches, & mentors clapping, yelling, and ringing cow bells to get everyone pupmed up. It worked. I was overcome with emotion as I walked through the line of TNT greeters. I was thinking about how just six months ago I had heard the news that my little sister was diagnosed with cancer. Now she is all better and it's because of groups like Team in Training that are raising millions of dollars on her and others' behalf to fund cutting edge research on blood cancers. I can't say enough about this group. The night only got better. TNT asked my sister to speak in front of the 9000 people at the dinner. What can I say. My sister is now a rock star. She gave a powerful 10 minute speech that had me in tears as well as lots of others who were there on behalf of a friend or family member affected by this insidious disease. The night was awesome.

There was about 23,000 people that did the race. Almost 6000 of them, including Lynn and Amy were with Team in Training. Together we raised over $18.5 million dollars this weekend for cancer research. What better way to spend a long weekend.

This was Lynn's first marathom and she fought through all the pain and suffering it brought and finished strong. I think she's addicted to these now. She's vowing to do the OC Half Marathon in January and the LA Marathon with her brother Mark this March.

A Peek At Some Ron Paul Donors

The WSJ had a great article on some of the professions listed for some Ron Paul donors. Look at the creativity of a few of them:

Wade Talkington of Panama City, Fla., who donated $1,000 to Paul, lists his occupation as “tax slave to the Federal Govt.” Erik Hovden of Olalla, Wash., is the “Head slacker in Chg” at Simpson LLC, and housewife Pamela Schuberg of Moorpark, Calif., a $2,300 donor, lists her employer as “our children.” Donald Cowles lists himself as self-employed and his occupation as simply “Capitalist.” Griswold Draz of Wellfleet, Mass., a $500 donor, is a self-described “curmudgeon,” and Andrew Maul of Pittsburgh, Pa., is a “Citizen Fighting Tyranny.” Others are more coy. James Harper of Vancouver, Wash., a $600 donor, offered “guess? ;)” as his occupation

My personal favorite is tax slave to the Federal Government. Truer words never spoken.

Major Screw Up By "Friends of Monsignor John Urell" Blog

This is rich. So Matt Cunningham of OC Blog and Rancho Santiago Community College District board president John Hanna are in very hot water right now for releasing an unredacted memorandum of the recent Orange Diocese sexual abuse settlement. First they set up a website to defend the indefensible and now they're releasing confidential settlement memorandums with victims names unredacted. I have to say that this is reprehensible conduct at the least and potentially criminal conduct at worst even if it was a mistake. These memos could only have been leaked to them by Diocesan attorneys. What the hell are they thinking? John Manly is going to nail them to the cross for this(no pun intended). They have since all but taken down their website defending Msgr Urell. I really just don't understand how they could do such a thing.

Ron Paul Receives The Most Donations From The Military Again

There must be something about Ron Paul's message that is attracting active armed service members to flock to his campaign and donate. The numbers are in for the 3rd quarter and Dr. Paul has over $40k in donations from military members. The next closest candidate is McCain with over $21k. It's not even close. Now the men and women in the military are spamming the campaign with campaign contributions. Who knew.

Exhibit A On Main Stream Media Bias Against Ron Paul

Here are the facts. The Conservative Leadership Conference was held this past weekend in Reno, Nevada. Mitt Romney and Duncan Hunter showed up and gave speeches. Ron Paul was not there. He was in NYC raising $$$. The conference held a straw poll of attendees. The vote was overwhelmingly won by Ron Paul. MSNBC reports on the straw poll. Can anyone guess what the headline that Chuck Fraud err Todd wrote for his MSNBC article? Here's what the headline read...ROMNEY LOSES NV STRAW POLL. It wasn't "Ron Paul wins landslide straw poll victory" or "Paul wins poll despite not being there". What a joke. The comment thread is golden though on this article.

Western CPAC Wrapup

I attended both days of the first annual Western CPAC this past Friday & Saturday. It was an interesting convention. The Irvine Ron Paul Meetup group sponsored a booth there and we turned out to be the only presidential campaign with a presence there. I had a chance to speak with a lot of people about Ron Paul's campaign. One of the people I had a chance to speak with for a bit was State Senator Tom McClintock. Tom gave a great speech Friday night about all the new regs the Legislature was passing on global warming. I'm going to post the speech when it is put on Tom's website CARE. I guess I will also break some news here Powder Blue Report this morning. I asked Sen McClintock if he is going to endorse Ron Paul for President. Tom interviewed Ron on Roger Hedgecock's show a month ago and sounded all but on board the campaign. He told me point blank if Ron Paul gets over 10% in the polls, he is going to endorse his campaign for President. This is huge news. Tom McClintock is the gold standard here in California for Republicans.

One of the best panels at the convention was the new media/blogging panel led by Chuck DeVore. They talked about all the new media available for campaigns to take advantage of i.e. blogging, Meetup groups, Facebook, My Space, etc. Technology is changing so fast these days and campaigns need to use these new tools to add to their effectiveness. I've found out myself how powerful these new campaign tools are by helping organize a Ron Paul Meetup. We have over 300 people now in my local area that have signed up to help the Paul campaign out. I think other campaigns that ignore this new technology are shooting themselves in the foot.

Western CPAC

I'll be over at the Fairmont Hotel in Newport Beach today and tomorrow for the first annual Western CPAC. The Irvine Meetup Group for Ron Paul has purchased a booth and we will be there making our presence known. I'll be doing some blogging from the event as well. There's actually a meeting tomorrow at the hotel on blogging led by my Assemblyman Chuck DeVore. I'm looking forward to that.

OC Register: The Ron Paul Phenomenon

The Register had two great editorial/opinion pieces this morning by Alan Bock and Steven Greenhut. Alan's article was on the Ron Paul phenomenon and Steve's was about Hillary Clinton.

Movie Review of "The Kingdom"

Lynn and I went and saw The Kingdom last night. This was one of those few movies that when you see the preview, you know you have to go see this movie. I was not disappointed. It's part CSI and part war on terror. Jamie Foxx plays a FBI agent that leads a special agent team over to Saudi Arabia after a terrorist attack inside a compound for US workers. While over there, the agents are hamstrung by Muslim culture and rules telling them what they can and cannot investigate. Eventually the team is allowed to dig a little deeper thoughout the movie and they end up being targets themselves for jihadist terrorists. It's an action packed movie that keeps you on the edge of your seat for the whole movie. It also has a political kinda ending. I won't spoil it. You should go see the movie for yourselves.

Jon Stewart Is My New Hero

I try to watch the Daily Show with Jon Stewart as often as I can. I missed the show the other night when Jon had Chris Matthews from SoftballHardball on. I think Chris was expecting Jon to bow down to him and kiss his ring or something. Instead Jon proceeded to rip Matthew's new book called Life's A Campaign. Luckily for me and my readers we have the Internet/You Tube. Here is the interview in its entirety.


Stewart is right to rip Matthews and the politicians he bows down to. These are some of the most egotistical fake people I have ever met in my life.

Ron Paul Raises Over $5 Million For the 3rd Quarter

Money talks and bulls*** walks as they say. Ron Paul's money is speaking loud and clear right about now to the political establishment. The best part about the number is the cash on hand. He has over $5.3 million on hand. He doubled his money raised from last quarter while all the other GOP candidates fundraising slowed down. This campaign is about to get real interesting. Here's the press release from the campaign.

An Open Letter from The Founders Of The Country

Founding Fathers

Sam Adams, James Madison, Ben Franklin, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, & John Adams

In 1776, the founders risked their "lives, fortunes, and sacred honor" to set up a free and prosperous nation. They warned us that it was our responsibility to keep it that way. But we didn't listen to their wise advice.

As a service to America, they have come out of retirement to issue a final warning

An Open Letter To The American People

We the Founders

Warned you of the dangers of excessive taxation. Now you labor nearly six months of the year to pay taxes at all levels as your economy suffocates under this cruel burden.

Warned you of the dangers of foreign entanglements. Now thousands of men and women suffer and die in foreign lands while your government plans a military draft.

Warned you of the dangers of government spending. Now your growing national debt stands at 8 trillion dollars and your babies are debt slaves from the day they are born.

Warned you of the dangers of a private Central Bank(The Fed) and a debt-based monetary system. Now you drown in credit card debt as you lose your homes to foreclosure.

Warned you to obey the Constitution because power corrupts. Now a secretive government can spy on you and detain you at will under the guise of "National Security".

Warned you of the dangers of political parties. Now you have two powerful parties that conspire against the people, plundering you while they pretend to oppose each other.

Warned you to keep your nation sovereign and independent. Now you submit to the U.N. and NAFTA authority as your borders are deliberately left open to endless illegal immigration.

Warned you to be distrustful of government. But you believed the sugarcoated falsehoods of ambitious politicians and now you no longer know who to trust or what to believe.

Warned you of the importance of an honest, independent, and unbiased press. Now your centralized "Mainstream Media" is full of propaganda, distortions, and omissions.

Warned you that the price of liberty was eternal vigilance. But while you were distracted by ballgames and TV shows, government stole your liberty and bankrupted your children.

For these reasons, WE THE FOUNDERS support

Ron Paul

We advise you to support his presidential candidacy with your time, fortune, and sacred honor.