Free Republic

Low levels of vitamin C were associated with higher levels of high sensitivity C-Reactive protein (hsCRP) and shorter intervals without major cardiac issues or death for heart failure patients, in research presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2011. Compared to those with high vitamin C intake from food, heart failure patients in the study who had low vitamin C intake were 2.4 times more likely to have higher levels of hsCRP, a marker for inflammation and a risk factor for heart disease. The study is the first to demonstrate that low vitamin C intake is associated with worse...

A Recap Of the CRP Platform Committee Activity At the Convention There is much to be said about the California Republican Party’s Fall Convention held in downtown Los Angeles last weekend. Presidential candidates and a straw poll, great workshops and townhalls, tributes, speeches and more. The better part of a thousand GOP activists, donors and leaders descended on the L.A. Live! Marriott-Ritz hotel, across from the Staples Center (we were the pre-show for the Emmy Awards, I guess). This column, however, is devoted to only one aspect of the convention – the ongoing process of the quadrennial adoption of the...

Hello fellow supporters of the tea party movement. As you've probably heard reports about over the past 24 hours, Nancy Pelosi is making a push to get a vote through on their Big Government health care plan and are suggesting they might have the votes lined up within the next week. Call Congress at (202) 224-3121 and tell your Member of Congress you OPPOSE the PelosiCare bill. Then, for those of you living in California, come join us for the big Tea Party Express rally against the Big Government health care scheme at our rally at the Hyatt Regency's convention center in Santa Clara,...

Enlarge ImageEvolving evidence. In a massive study, C-reactive protein didn’t boost the risk of heart attacks.Credit: Wikipedia A new study may be the last word in a controversy that's plagued cardiovascular disease research for years: whether a marker of inflammation known as C-reactive protein (CRP) drives heart attacks and strokes. In a survey of more than 128,000 people, researchers have found that genes that raise CRP levels don't make cardiovascular disease more likely. Although the study arrives at the same conclusion as earlier work, its massive size makes it statistically the most powerful test yet of this question and...

This just in from friends on the scene... California Republican Party (CRP) opposes Prop 1A-1F Mike Villines & Tom Campbell had spoken in favor of 1A and Steve Poizner against.

Associated Press Study says cholesterol drug taken by millions can reduce the danger ORLANDO, Fla. — Statin drugs, taken by millions of Americans to lower cholesterol and prevent heart disease, also can cut the risk of developing dangerous blood clots that can lodge in the legs or lungs, a major study suggests. The results provide a new reason for many people with normal cholesterol to consider taking these medicines, sold as Crestor, Lipitor, Zocor and in generic form, doctors say...

Measured by a simple blood test, c-reactive protein (CRP) has vexed scientists for years. People with elevated CRP levels tend to be at higher risk of a heart attack, but does that mean the protein is causing arteries to clog and these people require medication? A study of nearly 51,000 people in Denmark says no. Although the study is far from the last word, researchers say it will likely shift the debate about how to use CRP in guiding treatment. The work also underscores a relatively new way to uncover a single factor's influence on disease: by isolating it genetically...

The last few days there has been quite a bit of discussion about the sudden circumstances surrounding the abrupt departure of the California Republican Party's Chief Operating Officer. To those who are still interesting in rehashing this matter... Get over it. It's time to move on. The guy omitted key information when he applied for the job. When it was revealed, he quit.

State Republican Chairman Ron Nehring has the distinction of being the first California Party State leader to go outside the United States to hire people to run the State Republican Party. Moreover, there appears to be a prima facie case that he has hired people to run the California Republican Party that may be illegal aliens or people who have fraudulently secured work papers, or both. There are two men, an Australian and a Canadian. We will discuss the Canadian in another installment. First, there is Australian citizen Michael Kamburowski – who runs the day-to-day Party for Nehring. He says...

Dear Fellow Republican, Over the last few days, there has been some discussion in blogs and among CRP members regarding the state of the California Republican Party’s finances. There has been speculation about the Party’s debt and how it will be retired. Let me set the record straight. It is true that we incurred debt during the 2006 campaign to finance our unprecedented efforts on behalf of our candidates. Some of the money was an investment in building the infrastructure that will be vital to our work in future elections. Governor Schwarzenegger and his team know that our efforts were...

Associated Press Study Says New Blood Tests Are No Better Than the Old Methods for Predicting Heart Attacks (AP)—New blood tests that doctors hoped would more accurately predict which patients are headed for a heart attack or stroke are no better than cholesterol levels, blood pressure and other conventional measurements, a study found. Doctors in recent years had become excited over substances in the blood that appeared to be powerful new predictors of a heart attack. These substances included C-reactive protein, or CRP; homocysteine; and BNP, or B-type natriuretic peptide. An increasing number of family doctors have been ordering expensive...

In the late nineties some GOP leaders pushed to take over the CRP and local GOP county committees with a simple mantra: Ideology doesn't matter, what matters is the "nuts and bolts" of party building. Basically, the goods they sold said the party should focus on registering voters, GOTV etc.... Of course most were moderates (who would lose part campaigns if ideology was a factor) and their successful campaign culminated in the much-heralded CRP Parsky Commission reforms of 2001. Below are some thoughts I have about improving the CRP. I never bought the complete abandonment of ideology from the party...

GOP Unveils Television Ad Criticizing Garamendi’s Role in Executive Life Scandal The California Republican Party launched a television spot Monday that criticizes John Garamendi’s role in the Executive Life insurance scandal. In what could easily be described as an Enron-type scandal, Executive Life Insurance Company was destroyed and the assets seized in 1991. California’s biggest insurance scandal is also one of the most complex cases in California history. Many Executive Life policyholders hold Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi responsible for seizing the company and selling off the assets to a disreputable junk-bond artist and a French government-owned bank for a huge...

California Republican Party Releases New Video - "A Public Life - the Tom McClintock Story" A new DVD highlighting the public life of State Senator Tom McClintock was unveiled this weekend during the California Republican Party's state convention in Los Angeles at the County Chairmen's Association. The response by the county chairs was tremendous and created a buzz the rest of the weekend. There are some people in government who have the courage to stand up for what they believe in, who believe that the people should decide how their own money is spent, who believe strongly in the fundamental...

As Arnold Schwarzenegger addresses hundreds at the California Republican Party convention in Los Angeles Saturday, Democrats are doing their best to plumb the governor's sometimes uneasy relationship with his own party. It's a cynical attempt by Democrats to pry a wedge between the governor, his allies and their voters, Republicans assert. The governor is raising tons of cash for other statewide candidates and up to $25 million for the party, which will pay for joint mailings and phone banks. California Republican Party chairman Duf Sundheim said Schwarzenegger has been "a tremendous asset" helping the party raise money for its turnout...

With President Bush down in the polls, gasoline prices on the rise and the electorate dismayed by the lack of progress in Iraq, California Republicans gathered here Friday for their final statewide convention before the Nov. 7 election. Former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore urged the party faithful to focus on the domestic issues of taxation, government spending and education, rather than the national security. But he was optimistic the GOP could win in California and praised Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for resisting tax increases. "One state where we have the best chance to bring us back is California," he said....

When the California Republican Party meets in convention this weekend in Century City, the delegates will consider several resolutions on illegal immigration. Instead of complaining about the federal government's failure to secure our borders, most of these resolutions focus on state policies that can be improved to solve the problem. The first resolution discusses local government housing vouchers that are often used to provide “affordable housing” at taxpayer expense to illegal aliens. The City of Los Angeles is the largest offender. The second resolution demands that California begin enforcing its own laws for payroll tax withholding, workers' compensation, job safety,...

Call to the Convention Letter by Chairman Duf Sundheim The Summer 2006 Convention at the Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles is rapidly approaching and you won't want to miss it. Governor Schwarzenegger heads the program, but that is just the beginning. Governor Romney, one of the leading candidates for the 2008 Presidential election, our excellent slate of statewide candidates, and other events insure the convention will be a national level event. The last three years have been some of the most successful in the history of the California Republican Party. This November's election will determine whether that period was...

Toscana Country Club Indian Wells, California 6:05 P.M. PDT THE PRESIDENT: Please be seated. Thanks for coming. The lesson of the 1994 fundraiser is, I should have had a better chairman. (Laughter.) I want to thank you all for coming. I really appreciate your support for the Republican Party. We're the party that is the party of ideas, a party of optimism, and a party of people who know how to solve problems, which is exactly what we're doing. I, first, wish Laura were here. She's not, of course. About four people go through the photo-op line indicated that they...

In his State of the State address in January, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger promised he'd do a better job of listening to constituents. I hope he was listening Sunday. That's the day delegates at the California Republican Assembly endorsement convention in Bakersfield sent Schwarzenegger the following message. Want our vote next election? Then throw us a bone. Not even a heartfelt request from state Sen. Tom McClintock, candidate for lieutenant governor and favorite son of the CRA, could persuade delegates to endorse a Schwarzenegger/McClintock ticket. Not yet, anyway. An endorsement from the CRA -- the state's largest, oldest and likely most...

Thanks to a number of conversations with members of the Assembly Republican Caucus yesterday, the FlashReport is pleased to congratulation San Diego Assemblyman George Plescia on becoming the new Assembly Republican Leader! I'm sure there will be discussions taking place between Plescia and his developing leadership team, and the outgoing McCarthy. McCarthy has been showing strong leadership during the debate on the Governor's proposal Strategic Infrastructure Growth Bond and early budget talks. How this transition takes place remains to be worked out. On the staff side, I haven't heard any news on whether there will be wholesale change at the...

At the Republican convention in San Jose last weekend, conservatives tried to mildly chasten Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for his more-liberal policies, but they were turned back by a Republican majority more interested in winning elections and putting up a facade of unity than in making a stand for principle. I'm saddened by what the failed revolt means for the Grand Old Party. The Republican Party is far from perfect, but if it doesn't stand up for limiting government, then those ideas will have no prominent place in the governing debate. Until the November special election, the governor had done a...

SAN JOSE – Is Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger Republican enough? It's a question that has dominated the state GOP convention in the Silicon Valley this weekend and will be answered by more than 1,000 convention delegates in a floor vote today. Republican state Chairman Duf Sundheim described the discussion over Schwarzenegger's policies as a historic occasion. But party activists who accuse Schwarzenegger of rejecting his Republican mantle say what is transpiring is little more than a thinly veiled attempt to silence intra-party dissent. Saturday afternoon, a party committee that shapes such discussions at the convention effectively reduced a brawl over Schwarzenegger's...

California's best-known conservative, Sen. Tom McClintock, tried to unite its fractured Republican Party behind Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's reelection on Saturday, urging GOP loyalists to set aside qualms about his vast spending plans and envision the fiscal wreckage a Democrat could inflict on the state. Joining Schwarzenegger's drive to crush a conservative rebellion, the Thousand Oaks lawmaker reminded delegates at the state Republican convention that both Democrats seeking to replace the governor have backed not just higher taxes but also driver's licenses for illegal immigrants. McClintock's lunch speech to 500 delegates marked the party's most aggressive attack yet on the Democrats,...

"What do you think are greater - the differences among us as Republicans or the differences between us and the Democrats?" state Sen. Tom McClintock, a candidate for lieutenant governor, told hundreds of members attending the GOP's winter convention. "This is the election that will decide whether the recall was a fleeting curiosity or whether it was an historic turning point." On Saturday, party leaders rejected an attempt to rescind the GOP's early endorsement of Schwarzenegger's reelection. The governor's conservative opponents also were pushing resolutions critical of several Schwarzenegger proposal. The internal resolutions have little practical effect outside the GOP...

I want you to know that I approach this job with an immigrant's optimism, and a businessman's commitment to fiscal discipline and a father's desire to keep our children safe and healthy. I can honestly say to you tonight that it has been such a joy, such a privilege for me to serve the people of California. That's why I am humbled and so grateful to you for your support in the upcoming election. It is an honor for me to be on the ballot with men like Bruce McPherson, our Secretary of State, and with my friend Tom McClintock,...

It's party time―again. It's time for all the good, little, right-wing boys and girls of the OC, Inland Empire, and Central Valley to strut their stuff at the California Republican Party convention―again. Seriously, how many of these things do these guys have every year? Still, this one ought to be interesting. The PPIC poll out today shows Schwarzenegger has failed to gain traction with the public, despite his infrastructure bond marketing tour. In fact, Arnold's approval rating has tumbled down to 35 percent among all adults, dropping five points since January. Arnold was hemorrhaging support from the left and the...

Last spring, after the governor all but declared war on union leaders and other Democratic interests, Republicans sat and watched as the unions led an offensive that helped drag down the governor's poll ratings, and doom his special election agenda. Under the watch of new campaign manager Steve Schmidt and communications director Katie Levinson, both fresh off the plane from the Bush White House, Team Schwarzenegger is determined not to make the same mistake again. "For California Republicans who were frustrated last year by the lack of an aggressive response out of the governor's operation, they'll be very pleasantly surprised...

He may be assured of his party's nomination for re-election, but Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will find out next weekend how much he really has to do to win back the hearts and minds of the party's faithful. Still, Schwarzenegger's political advisers remain confident that the governor will retain the support of most party members. ''I think some of this is blown out of proportion,'' said Rob Stutzman, spokesman for the governor's re-election effort. ''You have a few vocal people who are speaking out and suggesting insanely stupid things to do. ''Then there are some that are a little disgruntled on...

SACRAMENTO - A conservative group has abandoned its effort to rescind the governor's endorsement at the state Republican Party convention next week in San Jose. The board of the California Republican Assembly agreed to drop the bid in return for having a public discussion at the convention on four resolutions that criticize Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's policies. Mike Schroeder, the conservative activist who wrote the resolution to withdraw the pre-primary endorsement of the governor unless he fired Susan Kennedy, his chief of staff and a recent Democrat party activist, said he agreed to table his resolution in a committee so there...

The influential California Republican Assembly over the weekend dropped its bid to yank the GOP pre-primary-endorsement of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, effectively leaving the measure dead in the water. Assembly President Mike Spence said today that his group's board of directors, by a majority vote via e-mail and phone calls over the weekend, opted to "stop efforts to rescind the CRP endorsement of Schwarzenegger and to focus our efforts on passing the other resolutions." Sen. Tom McClintock, R-Thousand Oaks, a candidate for lieutenant governor whom the Assembly endorsed in the recall election, persuaded the board to pursue policy instead of personal...

SACRAMENTO – Republican activists are gaining ground in a bid to get their party to denounce Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's spending policies. The chairman of the state party has agreed to help get three draft resolutions against the governor's budget, public-works and minimum-wage-increase proposals a "full and fair hearing" at the Feb. 24-26 GOP convention in San Jose. A controversial draft resolution - chastising Schwarzenegger's appointment of dozens of non-Republican judges to the bench - gained a key endorsement Wednesday by the California Republican Lawyers Association. "As the only chartered Republican lawyers organization in the state, we had to take a...

The California Republican Party has reversed an earlier decision not to credential bloggers at the February convention in San Jose.

If a Tory does not believe that private property is one of the main bulwarks of individual freedom, then he had better become a socialist and have done with it. Indeed one of the reasons for our electoral failure is that people believe too many Conservatives have become socialists already. Britain's progress towards socialism has been an alternation of two steps forward with half a step back. If every Labour Government is prepared to reverse every Tory measure, while Conservative Governments accept nearly all socialist measures as being “the will of the people,� the end result is only too plain....

Looks like the California Republican Party has been united around principle. Yesterday the language of the five resolutions dealing with the personnel and policy of Governor Schwarzenegger was released. It looks like Duf Sundheim, our CRP Chairman is now on Board at least two of the policy resolutions. He spoke with Aaron Park the author of the bond resolution and spoke to Aaron in regard to that resolution and the balanced budget resolution authored by George Park, Aaron's brother. This is good news that the Chairman of the California Republican Party is standing with the majority of the GOP'ers in...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said he heard the message in November when voters rejected his package of reform initiatives. He responded, in part, by appointing a Democratic chief of staff and outlining a $222 billion plan to improve streets, schools, levees and jails. But some among his Republican base have become disillusioned by his latest political swing. On Friday, they unveiled five proposed resolutions critical of the governor, to be considered when the state GOP holds its San Jose convention in two weeks. These critics say the governor cannot win re-election in November if he doesn't shore up support among grass-roots...

Whereas, the governor has proposed a “comprehensive proposal to upgrade the infrastructure of California, roads, water projects, schools, levees and hospitals, and Whereas, the people of California regardless of Party or ideology realize these needs on a daily basis and have been demanding that government take care of these projects to improve the quality of life, meet the needs of the people and businesses of California and provide the services government is suppose to provide, and Whereas, this is going to cost, at a minimum of $222 billion over a ten year period for a 20 year program, of which...

Whereas, the 2006-07 budget proposed by governor Schwarzenegger is $125 billion, 8% more than last year, which was 11% more than the year before, and Whereas, the proposed budget is $6 billion in deficit, which is covered by the $7 billion “surplus� from this years budget, and Whereas, due to the Davis deficits, we had to borrow through deficit bonds more than $10 billion that we are paying interest on, and Whereas, it is more prudent to pay off debt to save interest costs than to grow the budget and Whereas, we support the Governor when he said that we...

MINIMUM WAGE INCREASE HARMS POOR, MINORITIES, ECONOMY AND JOBS Submitted by Stephen Frank Whereas, the governor is proposing to increase the minimum wage by a total of $1.00 over two years, and Whereas, our current minimum wage of $6.75 is already one of the highest in the nation, and Whereas, a Wisconsin study shows that a raise in the minimum wage kept 44% of welfare mothers on welfare longer, the Mackinac Center for Public Policy June 1, 1998 talked about the effects on black teenage unemployment:http://www.mackinac.org/article.aspx?ID=356 "The bias of minimum wage laws against disadvantaged minorities has been conspicuous ever since...

Whereas, the Governor has appointed 118 Superior court judges, 59 Republicans, 47 Democrats and 12 Decline to State, including a large number of criminal defense lawyers and including those who have defended child murders and has overlooked qualified Republican attorneys in Counties where he has appointed Democrats, and Whereas, 3 of the last 4 judges to be appointed were Democrats, Therefore be It Resolved by the California Republican Party at convention in San Jose, California on February 26, 2006, that we strongly urge the Governor to appoint quality Republican Attorneys to the bench at all levels of the Judiciary and...

WHEREAS, Republican Governor and leader of our California Republican Party, Arnold Schwarzenegger has chosen to appoint lifelong democratic activist Susan Kennedy as his chief of staff and the most powerful person in his governor’s office, and WHEREAS, said Susan Kennedy, former Executive Director of the California Democratic Party, former President of the California Abortion Rights Action League, former Cabinet Secretary, chief fundraiser and enforcer for impeached governor Grey Davis has spent most of her adult life pursuing a partisan Democratic agenda for higher taxes, greater government spending, gay rights, abortion rights, organized labor domination of business, and other anti- republican...

The GOP will have its first completely "open" Presidential nomination process that year (no incumbent president, vice president or nominee for one of these offices will be on the ballot), with candidates like John McCain, George Allen, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, and perhaps even Condi Rice, seeking a chance to carry the Elephant Banner. Just as important, California Republican Party rules will encourage contestants to campaign here in spring 2008 if the nomination is still up for grabs as the snow melts in the Sierra. Why? In 1999, in a little remembered drill that nonetheless caused the Bush Campaign heartburn,...

Over the weekend California Republican Party leadership and activists met to discuss (among other things) whether or not to revoke the Party’s endorsement of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger who is seeking re-election this year. But the sad fact is that no matter what they decide, we (the GOP) will end up looking stupid. The CRP broke with a long standing tradition of not endorsing in GOP primaries when it voted to endorse the re-election of Governor Schwarzenegger more than a year before the campaign was to begin. Many warned against doing such, pointing out that there is no way to...

California Political Review'sCAPITOL WATCHA  SNAP-SHOT  OF  CALIFORNIA  STATE  CAPITOL  NEWSWEEK OF DECEMBER 9 -- DECEMBER 15        Schwarzenegger-CRP meeting continues governor's arms-length relationship with grass roots. In a stringently controlled setting reminiscent of the staged campaign events with selected audiences and pre-screened questions that preceded his November special election, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger met with state GOP Party leaders in what had been billed as an air-clearing opportunity for GOP activists unhappy about the governor's choice of former Gray Davis staffer Susan Kennedy as his chief of staff.      Before the meeting began, California Republican Party board members were informed they would be...

...The conservative betrayal Posted: December 9, 2005 1:00 a.m. Eastern © 2005 WorldNetDaily.com The past few weeks have been a wakeup call to those Republicans, and especially those conservatives, who got stars in their eyes and supported movie star Arnold Schwarzenegger for governor during the historic Gray Davis recall campaign. On the heels of a decisive defeat in the recent special election for his reform ballot initiatives, the Terminator is acting like he wants to terminate his alliance with the Republican Party. Since he has failed to even slow the nonstop spending of the California Legislature, Arnold's false reading of...

HOUSTON (Sept. 16, 2005) - Researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center and The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston have found that human fat cells produce a protein that is linked to both inflammation and an increased risk of heart disease and stroke. They say the discovery, reported in Journal of the American College of Cardiology, goes a long way to explain why people who are overweight generally have higher levels of the molecule, known as C-reactive protein (CRP), which is now used diagnostically to predict future cardiovascular events. And they also report...

SACRAMENTO -- A year after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger promised the most radical overhaul of state government in decades, only a fraction of 1,200 suggested reforms in a sweeping plan have been launched and many have been abandoned, critics say. Commissioned last year as part of Schwarzenegger's campaign vow to root out waste, the California Performance Review task force issued the 2,200-page plan Aug. 4, 2004. It proposed consolidating agencies, eliminating dozens of boards and commissions and shifting more power to the Governor's Office in a move they said would save $32 billion over five years. "This has been an utter...

A new and emerging understanding of how heart attacks occur indicates that increasingly popular aggressive treatments may be doing little or nothing to prevent them. The artery-opening methods, like bypass surgery and stents, the widely used wire cages that hold plaque against an artery wall, can alleviate crushing chest pain. Stents can also rescue someone in the midst of a heart attack by destroying an obstruction and holding the closed artery open. But the new model of heart disease shows that the vast majority of heart attacks do not originate with obstructions that narrow arteries. Instead, recent and continuing studies...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - A proposal that would let the California Republican Party make an early endorsement of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and allow early party contributions to his re-election campaign led a longtime activist to resign from a key party committee Friday. Dora Kingsley said the rule proposed by party Chairman Duf Sundheim for consideration at the party convention this weekend in Sacramento could bring criticism of Schwarzenegger. The state Democratic Party allows such preprimary endorsements, but Kingsley said the GOP rules prohibit them "in order to protect the integrity of the nomination process." Changing the rule could "lead to loss...

SACRAMENTO - To jump-start spending for Arnold Schwarzenegger's 2006 re-election campaign, California Republican Party leaders will seek to endorse the governor this weekend even before he officially declares himself a candidate. The move prompted a prominent GOP activist to resign from the party's rules committee in protest Friday, calling it an ill-advised proposal that will hurt the governor's credibility with voters and discourage primary competition. The party should first let Republican voters in the June 2006 primary cast their ballots, said Dora Kingsley, a veteran member of the state party. "It doesn't meet the smell-test," she said. "It puts the...