Free Republic

Lawmakers on Wednesday reacted skeptically to a controversial new proposal to lower public employee pensions throughout state and local government. "Frankly, I just don't see this happening," said Sen. Alex Padilla during a joint meeting of committees that oversee public employee compensation. The Los Angeles Democrat was referencing a week-old report by the bipartisan Little Hoover Commission that calls for radical changes to public pensions to keep them from "crushing" government. ....suggestion would let state and local officials unilaterally freeze current employees' pension benefits and then reduce pension credit earned for future years on the job. But the crisis is...

LOS ANGELES – Gov. Arnold Schwarzeneger says welfare recipients can no longer use state-issued debit cards at medical marijuana shops, psychics and other businesses whose services have been deemed "inconsistent with the intent" of the program.

CRP Fall Convention, Indian Wells, California — With the grassroots assistance of the Alameda County GOP and the Sonoma County GOP, the largest State Republican Party in the nation has adopted an official Party position in full support of legislation aimed to Audit the Federal Reserve (HR 1207 and S.604).

Goodbye, Gringo America It’s payback time for white America. “America’s Palestinians” are on the march, chanting “Ahora es la tiempo por audacia”! Thousands of Latinos are gathering this Independence Day to celebrate the Farce of July. This annual all-day concert and street fair is held on Cesar Chavez Avenue in East Los Angeles - - the heart of the barrio. The event is sponsored by the Aztlan Underground to uphold the claim that the Southwest portion of the United States had been stolen from Mexicans and Mexican Americans ...... Members of the Aztlan Movement and La Raza (of which Supreme...

Orange County has given birth to and/or nurtured its share of people and organizations that have powerfully impacted the Republican Party -- for good or ill. Richard Nixon was born here, and Ronald Reagan's political home base was here. The state's two leading GOP groups -- the Lincoln Club of Orange County and the New Majority -- also originated here. The Lincoln Club was formed in the wake of the bitter 1962 gubernatorial primary between Richard Nixon and Joe Schell. The purpose was to "build Republican strength by lowering the intensity of intra-party warfare and making party politics more orderly...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - It's darn hot in California, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez agreed Saturday as temperatures climbed to triple digits. There the Republican governor and Democratic speaker diverged in their weekly radio addresses, as the speaker criticized the governor for not doing enough to boost electricity supplies after two days of power-shortage warnings in Southern California. Nunez, of Los Angeles, evoked the rolling blackouts that gripped the state in 2000 and 2001, and criticized the governor for vetoing his bill last year that would have re-regulated California's electricity market. The jousting came a day after a...

RICHMOND, Calif. (AP) - A man who made threats and was seen leaving suspicious packages on an Amtrak train was being questioned Wednesday by the FBI as a bomb squad examined the items, police said. The man, described as Middle Eastern and in his mid-30s, was approached by an Amtrak ticket taker and apparently became agitated after being told he had missed his stop, Lt. Mark Gagan said. The man said "the train was going to fall into the sea and the train was going to disappear," according to Gagan. Business and homes in the area were evacuated after an...

Nativo Lopez may be a bad omen for Gov. Gray Davis. Last month, Lopez, a little-known school board candidate in Santa Ana, was recalled by local voters, who accused him of fiscal mismanagement and failure to enforce California's Proposition 227, which limits bilingual education in our schools. A landslide 71 percent of the populace -- less than the 75 percent of Californians who disapprove of the job Davis is doing -- voted him out. And Lopez' malfeasance was minor compared to what many people believe Davis is guilty of. Historically, Californians have tried to recall their governor 31 times. Each...