.

THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CALIFORNIA - This site is dedicated to exposing the continuing Marxist Revolution in California and the all around massive stupidity of Socialists, Luddites, Communists, Fellow Travelers and of Liberalism in all of its ugly forms.


"It was a splendid population - for all the slow, sleepy, sluggish-brained sloths stayed at home - you never find that sort of people among pioneers - you cannot build pioneers out of that sort of material. It was that population that gave to California a name for getting up astounding enterprises and rushing them through with a magnificent dash and daring and a recklessness of cost or consequences, which she bears unto this day - and when she projects a new surprise the grave world smiles as usual and says, "Well, that is California all over."

- - - - Mark Twain (Roughing It)

Thursday, October 31, 2013

Democrat Senator accepted $88,000 in bribes



"Corruptus in Extremis"
This Democrat pig had his snout shoved deep in the trough.


(Sacramento Bee)  -  State Sen. Ron Calderon accepted about $88,000 in bribes from an undercover FBI agent posing as a film studio owner and a Southern California hospital executive during a wide-ranging probe into his conduct as a legislator, according to a 124-page affidavit published online Wednesday by cable news network Al Jazeera America.

No charges have been filed against Calderon, a Democrat from Montebello. His attorney, Mark Geragos, did not return calls Wednesday.

The federal affidavit, filed as the FBI sought a search warrant for Calderon’s office, alleges that he worked with interest groups in a pay-to-play fashion, accepting money in exchange for promises to carry or amend legislation to their benefit.
 
It details an arrangement to funnel money for the Calderon family’s later use through a nonprofit organization run by his brother Tom Calderon. It describes an instance in which Calderon hired a female undercover agent as a staff member as a favor to another undercover agent despite her apparent lack of qualifications for the job. It says that as Calderon steered legislation, he asked those he thought would benefit to secure jobs for his children, Jessica and Zachary.

“One way you could be a real help to (my daughter) is, you got any work?” Calderon said to an undercover agent posing as the film studio owner during a June 2012 dinner in Pico Rivera, according to the affidavit.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2013/10/30/5867780/california-state-sen-ron-calderon.html#storylink=cpy

“I told you, man, anything you can do, any help you could do for my kids is, is – you know that’s, that’s diamonds for me. That’s diamonds.”

The agent was asking Calderon to change California’s tax credit program for filmmakers so that smaller productions would qualify for the credit. Under a bill Calderon carried in 2009 and an extension passed in 2012, productions that cost at least $1 million and are shot in California can enter a lottery to get a tax break. The affidavit describes Calderon talking to the undercover agent about getting the threshold lowered to $750,000.


I doubt Calderon will remain anal retentive for long



The FBI raids Calderon's office.

In August 2012, the agent told Calderon at a meeting that he had put Jessica Calderon on the payroll of his film studio to help the senator and that he hoped Calderon could help him in return by trying to alter the bill.

Calderon said he could be helpful, and reminded the agent that Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg supported lowering the threshold.

“That is why it is all about relationships,” Calderon told the undercover agent, according to the affidavit.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2013/10/30/5867780/california-state-sen-ron-calderon.html#storylink=cpy

After the undercover agent boasted to Ron Calderon about securing $50,000 a year from a three-picture deal, the two discussed what to do with the windfall.

“I mean, if there is something that you think that I can do to help you out with that fifty each year, you tell me. And, I will set it up,” the agent said, to which Ron Calderon, according to the affidavit, replied, “Right.”

Over time, Calderon drew down the $50,000 by asking for a $3,900 deposit into the Ron Calderon for Controller 2014 committee; a $25,000 infusion for his brother’s nonprofit, Californians for Diversity; and money to cover Calderon’s airfare to Miami, the affidavit states.

For the full article go to Sacramento Bee

The Los Angeles County based Senate District 30 includes the cities of Bell, Bell Gardens, Commerce, Cudahy, East La Mirada, Huntington Park, La Mirada, Montebello, Norwalk, Pico Rivera, Santa Fe Springs, Whittier, and South El Monte.  The district also includes parts of East Los Angeles, Los Angeles and South Gate, and the communities of Florence-Graham and Hacienda Heights.

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

California resident: ‘I was all for Obamacare’ until I got the bill'



"From each according to his ability . . . "
  • Democrats fuck over everyone in California with any money with huge increases in insurance costs.
  • Democrats forced Blue Shield of California to cancel the health insurance of 119,000 customers.
  • Democrats forced Kaiser Permanente to cancel the health insurance of 160,000 customers.


Welcome to the People's Republic of California where those who work for a living have their money stolen by the state and re-distributed to those with "needs" all in an effort by Democrats to buy votes.

California residents are rebelling a bit against Obamacare, with thousands shocked by the sticker price and rethinking their support, saying that what seemed wonderful in principle is not translating so well into reality.

As Pam Kehaly, the president of Anthem Blue Cross in California, reported, she received a letter from one woman who saw her insurance rates rise by 50 percent due to Obamacare.

“She said, ‘I was all for Obamacare until I found out I was paying for it,’ ” Ms. Kehaly said, in the Los Angeles Times.


Several hundred thousand other Californians in coming weeks may be feeling the same pinch, as insurers drop their plans and push them onto exchanges, medical analysts say. Blue Shield of California sent letters to 119,000 residents last month announcing the plans don’t meet federal mandates reports the Washington Times.

Kaiser Permanente, meanwhile, is canceling about 160,000 of its customers’ plans — about half of its base, the Los Angeles Times said. A majority of those who are being booted off their plans will face a rate increase from Obamacare.

“This is when the actualy sticker shock comes into play for people,” said Gerald Kominski, director of the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, in the Los Angeles Times. “There are winners and losers under the Affordable Care Act.”

Jennifer Harris, Fullerton resident, said she was shocked to receive a letter from her Health Net Inc. insurer that her plan — which costs $98 a month — was being dropped. The cheapest plan she said in the Los Angeles Times that she found is $238 a month.

“It doesn’t seem right to make the middle class pay so much more in order to give health insurance to everybody else,” she said, in the report. “This increase is simply not affordable.”

Middle-income earners will see their rates, on average, rise 30 percent in California, some experts estimate.

 
 

Saturday, October 26, 2013

Total Recall - Getting rid of anti-gun Democrats


Assemblyman Tim Donnelly (R), center, flanked by Tim Knight, who led the recall
movement in Colorado against two state legislators for their support of gun-control
laws, and Jennifer Kerns, founder of Free California

Recalling Anti-Gun Democrats
Prediction:  The California GOP will hide under their
desks in fear of offending someone, somewhere.


To recall Socialist anti-gun Democrats the people will have to take matters into their own hands.

A few years ago when recalls were launched against tax increasing Republican they failed.  The state and local GOP leaderships protected the tax increasers.

The strategists who orchestrated recalls of two Democratic state senators in Colorado are bringing their campaign to California, where legislators passed a series of gun-control measures earlier this year.

Jennifer Kerns, a former California Republican Party spokeswoman and the consultant behind the Colorado recalls, said Thursday that her group would begin collecting the signatures necessary to oust several state legislators.

This month, Gov. Jerry Brown (D) signed several bills that will restrict sales of high-capacity magazines and access to firearms for the mentally ill. But Brown vetoed two bills the National Rifle Association had threatened to take to court reports the Washington Post.


One bill would have defined some rifles and shotguns as assault weapons; another would have banned semi-automatic rifles.

Both measures, introduced by Democrats, passed on party-line votes.

“The Second Amendment, I think, is the new third rail in politics,” Kerns said in an interview. “Because it’s not just a budget vote or a procedural vote, it’s a constitutional right.

“Make no mistake, the gun bills Jerry Brown signed were the strictest in the nation. As of last spring, we thought Colorado had the strictest in the nation. California just surpassed that,” Kerns said.

Republican Assembly members Tim Donnelly, Brian Jones and Shannon Grove will help spearhead the recall initiative. At a news conference Thursday, Donnelly, who is also running for governor, said the Democrats’ votes for gun-control legislation was cause enough to mount the recall efforts.

“Every single assemblyman and state senator swore an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution,” Donnelly said, according to local news outlets. “When they violate that oath by trying to erase the Second Amendment, I think we have a duty for those who swore that oath to remove that threat.”


Kerns said her coalition, which includes Gun Owners of California and will operate under a 501(c)(4) umbrella group dubbed Free California, will weigh how California legislators voted on a dozen gun-control bills, and the political performance of their districts, before kicking off drives against specific members.

But she told California media outlets that five Democratic incumbents were likely to be targets of the recall efforts — Assembly Speaker John Perez, Assemblywomen Lorena Gonzalez and Sharon Quirk-Silva, and state Sens. Ben Hueso and Norma Torres.

“I think the list will continue to evolve. We’re still looking at the numbers,” Kerns said in an interview.

State law [pdf] allows voters to recall legislators by collecting thousands of signatures. Recall backers must turn in a number of signatures equal to 12 percent of the total number of votes cast in the previous election.

That means recall backers will have to collect more than 15,800 valid signatures to recall Quirk-Silva, who represents an Orange County district, or as few as 3,055 signatures to recall Gonzalez, who was elected to a San Diego area seat in a special election this year.


2009 California Recall Attempts
Conservative voters were pissed off at corrupt Republican legislators voting 
to fuck the people with higher taxes.  Recall attempts were started and failed. 
Naturally the "moderate" GOP circled the wagons to protect the tax increasers.

  • Senator Roy Ashburn, 18th Senate District
  • (Inyo, Kern, San Bernardino, and Tulare counties)
  • Filed by Michael Moore and 50 others (3/10/09)
  • Failed to qualify for the ballot

  • Senator Roy Ashburn, 18th Senate District
  • (Inyo, Kern, San Bernardino, and Tulare counties)
  • Filed by Michael Moore and 79 others (3/20/09)
  • Failed to qualify for the ballot

  • Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
  • Filed by John D. Fusek and 110 others (3/20/09)
  • Failed to qualify for the ballot

  • Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
  • Filed by ET Snell and 112 others (3/23/09)
  • Failed to qualify for the ballot

  • Assemblyman Anthony Adams, 59th Assembly District
  • (Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties)
  • Filed by ET Snell and 112 others (3/23/09)
  • Failed to qualify for the ballot

  • Assemblyman Anthony Adams, 59th Assembly District
  • (Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties)
  • Filed by David Bartels and 54 others (4/13/09)
  • Failed to qualify for the ballot

  • Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
  • Filed by John D. Fusek and 119 others (4/17/09)
  • Failed to qualify for the ballot

  • Assemblyman Jim Silva, 67th Assembly District
  • (Orange County)
  • Filed by Bradford Bach and 49 others (4/20/09)
  • Failed to qualify for the ballot

  • Senator Bob Huff, 29th Senate District
  • (Los Angeles, Orange, and San Bernardino Counties)
  • Filed by Paul Griffin and 49 others (5/06/09)
  • Failed to qualify for the ballot

  • Assemblyman Jeff Miller, 71st Assembly District
  • (Orange and Riverside counties)
  • Filed by Jeffrey Sawyer and 48 others (5/19/09)
  • Failed to qualify for the ballot

  • (www.sos.ca.gov/)


    Friday, October 25, 2013

    Cost of 4 mile long L.A. street car route doubles to $328 million



    Welcome to the People's Commune
    • The virtually bankrupt city of L.A. wants to spend $125 million on a new streetcar that will travel only four miles.
    • Now cost estimates have more than doubled, to as much as $327.8 million.  Yet more proof that liberals have no clue how the real world works.


    Welcome to the People's Commune of Los Angeles where every liberal wet-dream spending program ever conceived can come true.

    Democrat run Los Angeles is imploding with debt.  But with mountains of debt City Hall staffers have kept mum about concerns that the cost estimate for reviving downtown's streetcar system was not detailed and the price tag could balloon, according to a newspaper investigation.
       
    The Los Angeles Times cites records that show aides to Councilman Jose Huizar were reluctant to incorporate higher estimates into public discussions, partly because of concerns they could slow the streetcar system's progress reports the San Jose Mercury News.
    . 
    .
    Officials recently announced that cost estimates have more than doubled, to as much as $327.8 million. Earlier budgets had not accurately accounted for inflation or the potentially high cost of relocating utilities.
    .
    The route probably will be shortened, no longer passing by two high-profile venues, the Walt Disney Concert Hall and the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.    
    .
    Huizar's chief of staff, Paul Habib, explained that earlier not enough engineering work had been done to move beyond "guesstimates."    
    .
    When downtown voters agreed last winter to bring back the Los Angeles streetcar, they were pitched a $125 million plan, with funding split between federal grants and a new property tax.    
    .
    The concern now at City Hall is that with no clear way to close what could be a $200 million funding gap, the federal grant could be in jeopardy, potentially delaying construction by several years.


    Also see Bankrupt Los Angeles votes to build a $125 million streetcar


    The Los Angeles Red Car Rail System Built in 1901.
    .
    Government Insanity

    #1)  First you build an extensive light rail system.
    #2)  Then you tear down that extensive light rail system.
    #3)  Now you raise taxes to build another light rail system
    to replace the light rail system you just tore down.
    .
    Yes, the Government is run by idiots.

    Pacific Electric had over 500 miles of inter urban track in Los Angeles in the early 1900's. The image shows the "Red Cars" stacked for sinking in Los Angeles Harbor - sunk ostensibly for "fish habitat", but really sunk for General Motors Corporation profit.

    Wednesday, October 23, 2013

    GOP casts votes to increase your taxes


    Senate GOP Leader Bob Huff voted with Democrats for more taxes.

    Why does the GOP even exist?
    If the pitiful and spineless Republican legislators cannot oppose new taxes
    then what is the point of a Republican Party even existing?


    (From Cal Watchdog)  -  Last month, Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law a $2.3 billion tax extension. The measure, authored by a Central Valley Democrat, passed both houses of the legislature with overwhelmingly Democratic support.

    Yet, the multi-billion dollar tax extension, a Democratic creation, couldn’t have passed the legislature without the help of Republican lawmakers.

    Nine Republican legislators, a majority of whom have signed the no-tax pledge, delivered critical votes to ensure that the $2.3 billion tax extension reached Brown’s desk.
    GOP Assemblyman Katcho Achadjian
    voted for more taxes. 

    Assembly Bill 8 by Assemblyman Henry Perea, D-Fresno, extended the sunset date on various vehicle taxes and fees. The additional revenue will go toward programs for the construction of hydrogen fueling stations and the Carl Moyer Memorial Air Quality Standards Attainment Program, which provides taxpayer-funded grants for businesses to buy new eco-friendly engines and equipment. It also postpones new regulations by the Air Resources Board, a move which is praised by businesses and criticized by environmental groups.

    According to the bill analysis, it extends until January 1, 2024:
    • $8 increase of the smog abatement fee;
    • $0.75 fee increase on tire sales;
    • $3 increase of the annual vehicle registration fee;
    • $2 surcharge for local air districts on vehicle registrations;
    • $5 increase of the fee for special identification plates for construction equipment, farm trailers, cotton trailers, logging vehicles and cemetery equipment;
    • $10 and $20 increase for vessel registration.
    “This is horrible news for taxpayers because California motorists will now be paying $2.3 billion in additional taxes and charges,” writes Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association. “Adding insult to injury, taxpayers will find their hard earned dollars being used to subsidize programs such as the purchase of all electric cars, like the Tesla that, even with the taxpayer provided discount, can be afforded only by a handful of wealthy individuals.”
    .

    GOP votes for AB8

    .
    In the State Assembly, Republican Assembly members Katcho Achadjian of San Luis Obispo, Frank Bigelow of Madera and Kristin Olsen of Riverbank voted for AB8, giving Speaker John Perez the 54 votes needed to pass the bill off the Assembly floor. If any of the GOP Assembly members abstained in that floor vote, the bill would have failed. Both Olsen and Achadjian voted for an earlier version of the bill in June.

    The vote wasn’t nearly as close in the state Senate. But that didn’t stop Senate Republicans from delivering more votes for the controversial tax extension. Senate GOP Leader Bob Huff was joined by his Republican colleagues Anthony Cannella of Ceres, Bill Emmerson of Redlands, Jean Fuller of Bakersfield and Andy Vidak of Hanford in voting in favor of the multi-billion tax extension in the September 11 floor vote.


    For the full article go to Cal Watchdog.com


    A Blast from the Past
    Back under GOP Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Republican legislators and the leadership voted to screw over the voters with endless new spending, debt and increased taxes.  It is nice to know that the Republican Party has not changed.
     
    "I'll be back for your wallet."

    Monday, October 21, 2013

    A 93-year-old lives off the land in the California Wilderness


    Jack's Santa Lucia Mountains, Big Sur, CA

    Days Gone Bye
    The 93-Year-Old Legend Living Off the
    Land in the California Wilderness


    (Editor  -  93 year old Jack English is living the Jeremiah Johnson dream that pulls at the hearts of so many of us.  It brings to mind the Golden State of old before so-called "progress" gave us the gifts of overpopulation, pollution, slums, gang wars and endless traffic jams.)


    There’s a man living in the Ventana Wilderness in central California’s Santa Lucia Mountains who has been the fascination of many for years. Why? Because he’s 93 years old, lives alone five miles from the nearest road (the way he likes it) and has a different view of life.

    “I’m just different than most people. I’d rather go back than go ahead,” Jack English said in a recent video by filmmaker Grace Jackson. It’s one of several videos and photo stories featuring the man who makes violin bows.
     
    Living in a cabin made from materials off the land, English can go up to two weeks without seeing a single person reports The Blaze.
     

    He said he “fell in love” with the area when he first stepped foot on it, coming to hunt deer at 11 years old. Decades later he learned an isolated parcel was being auctioned and he bought it.
     
    “I think the main thing is that it doesn’t change,” he said of the property. “It seems to be the same as when I first come here.
     
    He had always wanted to set up his permanent residence there, but his wife, Mary, and other responsibilities prevented him from doing so. It was on his last visit to the hospital where Mary was being treated for cancer that she gave him permission to move there after she died. And he did.

    “Life has its problems, but it’s like my wife always said, ‘it’s how you contend with those problems that will be the result,’” he said. “I look back and I really did have a good life.”

    “I’m different, I know, and this is an individual thing,” he continued. “It’s the kind of life I like, and that’s why I’m here and that’s where I hope I’m going to be ’til the end. Maybe with luck I can make it.”

    Jack English
    Jack lives alone on an isolated piece of property in
    California’s Ventana Wilderness.
    (Image source: Vimeo screenshot)

    Jack's cabin.
    Jack English, a widower in his 80's, owns land in the middle of Pine Valley in Ventana Wilderness. He stays here during the summers, constructing bows for string instruments. The bows are prized by professional musicians around the world for their fine craftsmanship and materials. Jack uses rare hardwoods from rain forests, mother of pearl for inlays and the finest hair for the bowstrings.
    .
    Jack invites hikers into his cabin for tea and to share stories. He owns a home in Soquel up Rodeo Gulch. Jack's wife, Mary, who passed away in 2000, started a lovely garden with strawberries and fruit trees, and Jack continues the garden in her honor.

    The meadow above Jack's cabin.


    A picture of Mary English. We do believe Jack English wrote
    “scrumptious” on this photograph.
    (Image source: Vimeo screenshot)

    Jack's Mountains.
    This is what the entire state of California used to be.
    Now it is mostly wall-to-wall traffic jams, smog and gang wars.

    Saturday, October 19, 2013

    LA Times bans letters from climate skeptics


    A recent meeting of the LA Times Editorial Board.


    All the news that won't be printed
    • The LA Times won't print letters to the editor they disagree with.  Gee, tell me something I don't know.  Over many years they have never published even one of my letters so fuck 'em.  I don't buy their leftist paper any more.  Let them go out of business.


    The leftist Democrat boot-licking Los Angeles Times is giving the cold shoulder to global warming skeptics.

    Paul Thornton, editor of the paper’s letters section, recently wrote a letter of his own, stating flatly that he won't publish letters from those skeptical of man’s role in our planet’s warming climate. In Thornton’s eyes, those people are often wrong -- and he doesn’t print obviously wrong statements.

    “Simply put, I do my best to keep errors of fact off the letters page; when one does run, a correction is published,” Thornton wrote. “Saying ‘there’s no sign humans have caused climate change’ is not stating an opinion, it’s asserting a factual inaccuracy,” reports Fox News.


    What amounts to a ban on discourse about climate change stirred outrage among scientists who have written exactly that sort of letter.

    "In a word, the LA Times should be ashamed of itself," William Happer, a physics professor at Princeton, told FoxNews.com.

    "There was an effective embargo on alternative opinions, so making it official really does not change things," said Jan Breslow, head of the Laboratory of Biochemical Genetics and Metabolism at The Rockefeller University in New York.

    “The free press in the U.S. is trying to move the likelihood of presenting evidence on this issue from very low to impossible,” J. Scott Armstrong, co-founder of the Journal of Forecasting and a professor of marketing at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, told FoxNews.com.

    Happer, Breslow and Armstrong are among 38 climate scientists that wrote a widely discussed letter titled “No Need to Panic About Global Warming,” which was published in The Wall Street Journal in Jan. 2012.

    The letter argued that there was no compelling scientific argument for drastic action to “decarbonize” the world's economy. It generated such extensive public debate about man’s role in global warming that the Journal published a second letter from the group a few weeks later.


    Who needs newspapers when you can Blog?
    Dead tree based news is so 18th century.
    With the Internet you can read news from around the world.




    It's called Freedom of the Press.
    In the olden days you went out and purchased a printing press, spread the news around the community and called yourself a reporter.  Today you buy a computer, spread the news around the community and call yourself a reporter. 
    .
    Nothing has changed, the political hacks and liars still hate to be reported on by the media no matter what form it takes.  Just when the Statist scum think they have the Elite Media under their total control, then along comes the Internet.  Suddenly the bought and paid for Media Elites have been bypassed. 
    .
    Today every person on earth with a computer can publish an Internet newspaper.  Self righteous leftist rags like the L.A. or New York Times are no longer needed to read the news. 


    Friday, October 18, 2013

    How California Republicans voted on debt deal




    House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi observed Thursday that 62 percent of House Republicans voted against the deal that reopened the federal government and raised the debt ceiling to avoid the first-ever U.S. default. The “no” votes included a majority of California’s GOP caucus.

    Seven California Republicans voted “yes.”

    All 198 sitting House Democrats voted for the agreement.

    See the roll call vote here.

    California Republicans voting “no”:

    John Campbell, R-Irvine, Jeff Denham, R-Turlock (Stanislaus County), Duncan Hunter, R-Alpine (San Diego County), Doug LaMalfa, R-Richvale (Butte County), Tom McClintock, R-Elk Grove (Sacramento County), Dana Rohrabacher, R-Costa Mesa (Orange County), and Ed Royce, R-Fullterton (Orange County).


    California Republicans voting yes:

    Ken Calvert, R-Corona (Riverside County), Darrell Issa, R-Vista (San Diego County), Kevin McCarthy, R-Bakersfield, Buck McKeon, R-Santa Clarita (Los Angeles County), Gary Miller, R-Rancho Cucamonga (San Bernardino County), Devin Nunes, R-Tulare, and David Valadao, R-Hanford (Kings County).


    (San Francisco Chronicle)





    Tuesday, October 15, 2013

    The SEIU just bought the California GOP



    Party For Sale
    California's Republicans bailed out by unions
    • The Republican Party’s 7-figure debt had been paid off. Even more stunning was the news of who paid it: the SEIU.
    • SEIU California officials have launched a Republican political action committee.


    (Washington Times)  -  California’s unions have positioned themselves for a perpetual power grab against the political parties. To this end, they are attempting to achieve a stranglehold on political contributions, making their money the most important money that either party can receive.

    The dead hand of government dependency weighs heavy on California’s politics. California’s Democrats have nearly obliterated the Republicans on their triumphant march to a welfare state. This is dangerous for the unions, whose support of Democrats is unnecessary if Democrats face no organized opposition. They are therefore uniting to prop up the GOP and keep the war going. Giving money to the GOP helps prevent a Democratic political monopoly, holding the Republicans up as a threat to Democratic power that will never actually materialize.


    So why would the California GOP sell out to the Service Employees International Union – the SEIU?
    .
    On October 4-6, 2013, the California Republican Party (CRP or CAGOP) held its Fall Convention at the Hilton Anaheim Hotel. This year’s theme, under the direction of newly elected Chairman Jim Brulte, was “Building from the ground up.”

    For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. This year, the CRP Fall Convention set the tone for big changes in the Party. But do these changes include partnership with the SEIU? Has California’s GOP sold itself by taking money from SEIU?

    California Republicans continue to decline. The number of voter registrations fell statewide to below 30 percent. People are not joining the party; zero to slow growth makes all the party’s existing problems worse.

    Republicans hold no statewide offices in California. Their numbers in the California State Assembly are too small to have any meaningful impact on legislation. California is essentially a one-party state.
    .
    Given that situation, those in attendance at the GOP’s Fall Convention were stunned at Brulte’s announcement that the Party’s 7-figure debt had been paid off. Even more stunning was the news of who paid it: the SEIU.

    California Republican Party boss Jim Brulte.

    What did that cost the California Republicans?

    Brulte began his CAGOP debt removal strategy just this year. When he took over the party, he called his job “more like a bankruptcy workout.” At the time, he put the Party’s debt as high as $800,000.

    On June 9, 2011, The Blaze Reported that SEIU California officials had launched a Republican political action committee. Their goal is to support candidates from right-leaning areas to Sacramento who put practical solutions to solve problems above strict conservative thinking.

    “Our legislators are harangued by radio talk show hosts like John and Ken and D.C. ideologues like Grover Norquist,” said Bob Schoonover, president of SEIU Local 721 in Southern California.

    Schoonover, a registered Republican, said lawmakers are afraid to do the right thing. “We’ve lost the art of compromise that allows us to make deals in tough times,” he said.

    On June 10, 2011, News PopZero blog asked questions about the potential issues with SEUI’s objective. For starters, “the union likely will try to discourage Democrats from running in that district. Instead, the union will back a moderate Republican — and ask Democratic voters to do the same — in hopes that the moderate can advance to the general election and defeat whatever conservative Republican candidate emerges in a Republican district.”

    In a story titled “Teachers union, SEIU open wallets to California Republican Party,” the Sacramento Bee reported that in recent weeks the California Teachers Association PAC donated $10,000 to the California GOP, SEIU Local 1000 donated $15,000, and the California Correctional Peace Officers Association donated another $3,000. Representatives of all three of these powerful public sector unions attended CRP’s Fall 2013 Convention, and some members welcomed them with open arms.


    Chairman Brulte has taken charge by raising money faster than the last two chairmen, Tom Del Beccaro and Ron Nehring. The CRP has raised over $3.0 million so far this year and is on a fast track to total financial recovery.

    As a proportion of total public sector union funds, the donations to California’s GOP are not large. The CTA has 325,000 members who on average pay well over $1,000 per year in dues. The CTA spends about 30 percent of its funds on political activities, or about $100 million per year to influence politics in California. So why would Brulte take money from unions who spend nearly all of their political resources on liberal causes and support Democratic candidates?

    When Brulte was asked about this by a group of reporters, he emphasized that taking these contributions is part of a larger strategy to engage and encourage Republican members of public sector unions. He said:

    “There are Republican members in almost every union I’m aware of. A significant percentage of SEIU 1000 members are Republican. Forty percent of the CTA members are Republicans. For years, those Republicans have been trying to get their leadership — most of whom are activist Democrats — to give some of that money to Republicans. I’ve been working with the Republicans in these unions, and they have been encouraging their leaders to take some of their dues money and give it to Republican causes.”

    If the CTA membership is as high as 40 percent registered Republican in a state where only 28 percent of the electorate is registered Republican, why has it taken this long for members to put pressure on their union leaders to give money to Republicans? In October 2012 according to Mary Kay Henry, then President of the SEIU, about 30 percent of SEIU members voted Republican and an additional 20 percent were independents.


    SEIU members should be very concerned about this kind of “pay-for-play” bargaining on their behalf. If the SEIU wants to be taken seriously as an organization, they need to do more than show concern for supporting Democrats who promote their initiatives. They need to be concerned about wasteful spending and government programs; after all, SEIU members pay those taxes as well.

    Do the 30 percent of the SEIU members who are Republicans have any control to how their dues are donated to parties? No. A year ago, Veritas O’Keefe’s organization sent out an email explaining the impact of this collusion between union leadership and the Democrats.

    “Since 2005, labor unions have reported spending $4.4 billion on political activity, with the vast majority of that money going to Democrats like Robert Menendez, despite the fact that half of SEIU members identify as Republicans or Independents! Besides an obvious conflict of interest, the worst part about the financial arrangement between unions and elected officials is that much of the money going into campaign coffers comes from compulsory membership dues. In other words, union members are forced to pay for political candidates or activities they may not even support.”

    If Republicans who are union members want to keep their jobs, they know the GOP is not welcomed by the SEIU, and they have kept their voices quiet. When asked whether or not accepting money from public sector unions might help legitimize public sector unions, Jim Brulte was emphatic.

    The union strategy on political contributions will have an effect on the CAGOP in time. Whether this is a strategy to influence both parties or an attempt to be responsive to members, it puts the unions in a more powerful positions with both their traditional friends — the Democrats — and the Republicans.


    Read more: Washington Times.
     


    Monday, October 14, 2013

    Brown vetoes radical gun control bill



    Democrats Assault 2nd Amendment
    Up for re-election in 2014, Jerry Brown vetoes several
    nasty anti-gun bills in a pure CYA move.


    People's Republic Governor Jerry Brown vetoed a bill Friday that would have imposed the nation's toughest gun ownership restrictions on Californians, saying it was too far-reaching.

    The legislation would have banned future sales of most semi-automatic rifles that accept detachable magazines, part of a firearms package approved by the one-party controlled Democrat legislature's attack on gun ownership.

    It was lawmakers' latest attempt to close loopholes that have allowed manufacturers to work around previous assault weapon bans. Gun rights groups had threatened to sue if the semi-automatic weapons ban became law reports the Associated Press.


    "I don't believe that this bill's blanket ban on semi-automatic rifles would reduce criminal activity or enhance public safety enough to warrant this infringement on gun owners' rights," the Democratic governor wrote in his veto message.

    He also noted that California already has some of the nation's strictest gun and ammunition laws.

    The legislation was among 18 gun bills considered by the governor as he works toward a Sunday deadline to act on bills sent to his desk last month. He signed 11 firearms bills into law and vetoed seven.

    Read more here: http://www.islandpacket.com/2013/10/11/2733104/brown-vetoes-bill-banning-semi.html#storylink=cpy

    The bill sought to ban the sale of assault rifles, but Brown objected that it also would have applied to low-capacity weapons commonly used for hunting, firearms training and target shooting, and some historical and collectible firearms. Brown also didn't want thousands of legal gun owners to have to register their existing weapons as assault rifles and be blocked from selling or transferring the weapons.

    "That was, without a doubt, the most egregious piece of anti-gun legislation ever brought to a governor for his signature," said Clint Montfort, an attorney with Michel and Associates, West Coast counsel for the National Rifle Association. "We appreciate that the governor has respected the rights of California gun owners."

    Read more here: http://www.islandpacket.com/2013/10/11/2733104/brown-vetoes-bill-banning-semi.html#storylink=cpy

    Brown approved a measure making California the first state to impose a statewide ban on lead bullets for all types of hunting. Hunting with lead bullets already is prohibited in eight counties with endangered California condors. About two dozen states also have partial bans, mostly in sensitive wildlife refuges.

    But Brown rejected a bill that would have required owners whose firearms are lost or stolen to promptly notify law enforcement. The governor noted he vetoed a similar bill last year and still doubts that criminalizing the failure to report missing weapons would help law enforcement track down gun traffickers or those prohibited from owning weapons.

    Read more here: http://www.islandpacket.com/2013/10/11/2733104/brown-vetoes-bill-banning-semi.html#storylink=cpy

    Sam Paredes, executive director of Gun Owners of California, said gun owners' rights groups will consider mounting recall campaigns or election-year challenges against Democratic lawmakers who voted for the gun bills. Final votes on the legislation occurred last month, just as two Colorado state lawmakers were recalled for supporting tougher gun laws in that state.

    Paredes predicted lawsuits challenging bills that require safe storage of handguns, Skinner's high-capacity magazine bill, and legislation requiring that buyers of rifles and shotguns pass a safety test.

    Still, he said, "We were only shot in the heart six times instead of 12 times, and I guess we should be happy with that."  

    Read more here: http://www.islandpacket.com/2013/10/11/2733104/brown-vetoes-bill-banning-semi.html#storylink=cpy

    Thursday, October 10, 2013

    Democrats let nurses, midwives perform abortions



    Welcome to The People's Republic
    California has illegal aliens acting as
    lawyers, non-doctors performing abortions,
    and sub-humans as politicians.


    Comrade Governor Jerry Brown has signed a bill that will allow nurse practitioners, certified nurse midwives and physician assistants to perform early abortions.

    The legislation by Socialist Democratic Assemblywoman Toni Atkins of San Diego would let those professionals perform what are known as aspiration abortions during the first trimester. The method involves inserting a tube and using suction to terminate a pregnancy.

    The Assembly passed the bill on a 50-25 vote in May reports the San Jose Mercury News.
    .


    "is the only state to make real progress to protect abortion rights," said Elizabeth Nash, state issues manager for the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive-rights research group.

    "This is just a common sense measure," she said. "The state recognizes that abortion is not always available when needed and that advanced practice clinicians are well-placed to provide those services."

    But Brian Johnston, executive director of the California ProLife Council, said the bill "isn't about helping women so much as about promoting abortion."

    Johnston said the reason the Legislature had to pass such a law was that enough "honest doctors have read the Hippocratic oath."

    "What this is doing is creating a whole new pool of abortionists. It's surgery by people who are not surgeons," said Johnson, who is also the National Right to Life Committee's Western director.