Free Republic

MODERATOR: And now your two-minute closing statement, Senator McClintock: SENATOR McCLINTOCK: “The election in 13 days can be the historic turning point when California rolled back the taxes and the regulations that are choking our economy, when we reined in our out-of-control bureaucracies, when we restored our crumbling public works. To do so, we have got to have a governor that knows every inch of this government and is able to confront and challenge and defeat the spending lobby that now controls it. I am the only candidate at this table who has signed a no-tax pledge. I am the...

Grasshoppers invade U.S. West FRI Jun 13 2003 20:50:27 ET San Francisco (dpa) - Huge swarms of hungry grasshoppers have invaded the western United States, prompting agricultural experts to warn of damage unparalleled in decades. The plague has hit the states of Nevada, Utah and Idaho particularly hard and shows no sign of abating. ``This is bigger then anything we've seen in a long time,'' said expert Mike Cooper, quoted in ``The Idaho Statesman''. Cooper cited records showing the current swarms to be the largest since World War II. Officials in Idaho have posted warning signs near highways warning of...

<p>First came the "Deadly Dozen" attack ads, a photo lineup of U.S. Catholic senators who support legal abortion rights.</p> <p>Getting anyone to run the ads has been a bit of a puzzler for the American Life League, one of the nation's largest anti-abortion groups, but these folks are determined.</p>

AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JANUARY 21, 2003 CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE—2003–04 REGULAR SESSION Assembly Joint Resolution No. 2 Introduced by Assembly Members Jackson and Chan (Principal coauthor: Senator Karnette) (Coauthors: Assembly Members Berg, Bermudez, Calderon, Canciamilla, Chavez, Chu, Cohn, Corbett, Diaz, Dutra, Dymally, Firebaugh, Frommer, Goldberg, Hancock, Kehoe, Koretz, Laird, Leno, Levine, Lieber, Liu, Longville, Lowenthal, Matthews, Montanez, Mullin, Nakano, Nation, Negrete McLeod, Nunez, Oropeza, Parra, Pavley, Reyes, Richman, Ridley-Thomas, Salinas, Simitian, Steinberg, Vargas, Wesson, Wiggins, Wolk, and Yee) Yee, Correa, and Daucher) (Coauthors: Senators Bowen, Figueroa, Kuehl, Machado, Sher, and Torlakson) January 9, 2003 Assembly Joint Resolution No. 2—Relative to the 30th...

How has Roe v. Wade made a difference? Roe vs. Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court decision that makes abortions legal, is 30 years old this month. For abortion-rights supporters, it was a milestone. For abortion foes, it remains a dark day in U.S. history. We'd like to hear your feelings about the decision. Please send your brief thoughts on the issue to Deniene Husted at dhusted@pe.com

<p>A Concord mother is calling for the end of a sex education program promoting abstinence in the Mt. Diablo school district, because she says it gives students biased and graphic information about abortions.</p> <p>Renée Walker sent a letter of complaint to the district and state superintendent last week after discovering the eight-day CryBabies curriculum at her son's school is run by an organization that also operates pregnancy counseling centers with a reputation for being anti-abortion.</p>

The Richest Man in Town The small, every-day things make a Wonderful Life. William E. Saracino William E. Saracino is a member of California Political Review’s editorial board. This being my last column before Christmas, I invoke a point of personal privilege, opting out of my usual political ponderings to offer thoughts more apropos of the season. You don’t have to know me very well to discover that I think It’s A Wonderful Life is perhaps the finest movie ever made. Oh, not judging on technical standards, though the movie is quite well done. Wonderful Life is a great movie...

MEDI-CAL FRAUD. The Los Angeles Times’ Virginia Ellis reported on December 19, 1999 that the FBI estimated fraudulent spending of Medi-Cal funds cost taxpayers $1 billion. The system was “rife with fraud,” reaching 70 percent of billings for crutches, adult diapers, wheelchairs and other medical equipment. Cal-Tax searched news media reports for evidence of Medi-Cal fraud over the past two years and found that fraudulent activities apparently continue unabated and are much more pervasive than once thought. For example: Owners of a Glendale medical laboratory pleaded guilty to billing the Medi-Cal program for $19 million worth of bogus blood tests,...

<p>Section 17200 of the California Business and Professions Code prohibits businesses from engaging in "unfair competition" and allows both public prosecutors and private attorneys to seek civil penalties and damages. It is, however, much more than simply another law. It is an industry that employs, directly and indirectly, thousands of attorneys and generates untold millions of dollars in legal fees and damage payments. Simply put, any lawyer can file a suit against any business alleging unfair competition, since the standards of what constitutes the practice are very broad. The defendant must then decide whether to contest the suit, which is costly and runs the risk of an adverse verdict, or reach an out-of-court settlement.</p>

Montreal, Canada -- In what might be a world first, doctors at Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal transfused a woman suffering from leukemia with the umbilical-cord blood of her baby daughter. Seven months later, 27-year-old Patrizia Durante is in complete remission and credits her daughter with saving her life. "I gave my daughter life, and then she gave mine back," Ms. Durante said yesterday, cradling 13-month-old Victoria. "It's a miracle. She was meant to be born to save me." Umbilical-cord blood is usually banked for later use by the child should she develop a life-threatening illness such as leukemia. Dr....

Subject: 10 LIFE-CHANGING PHONE CALLS -- Please TAKE ACTION and FORWARD… Date: Mon, 28 Oct 2002 07:11:40 -0800 DON’T ASSUME THAT FRIENDS and FAMILY UNDERSTAND THE VITAL DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SIMON and DAVIS… As I have been walking precincts this weekend in support of God-fearing, pro-family candidates, I have been stunned to learn that many people of faith don’t understand the Godly and family principles that Bill Simon supports AND the stark contrast between Mr. Simon and Gray Davis. 10 LIFE-CHANGING PHONE CALLS -- SHARING THE TRUTH ABOUT BILL SIMON… We know that this hard-fought election will likely be a close...

During election years at Sacramento's St. Francis High School, students conduct their own campaigns, debates and elections. On Tuesday, it was Davis versus Simon, St. Francis-style. They may not have looked quite like the candidates they were portraying in their mock debate, but they sure sounded like them. "I've signed the nation's toughest gun safety legislation," said Cari Nelson, who portrayed Gov. Gray Davis. Or perhaps they sounded the way the candidates wish they could sound. "We are paying the price for timid leadership, narrow vision and an empty agenda," said Christy Workman, who portrayed Republican challenger Bill Simon. Reporters...

When the patient is as ailing as the state of California, the least we can ask of the physician is to do no harm. It is in that spirit that we endorse Bill Simon for governor. Don't laugh. And don't be cynical. Governance of this state, big and troubled as it is, is too important to be taken lightly. Everyone knows Simon has handled his campaign amateurishly, indifferently and without even much show of sincerity. It is hard to know what Rudolph Giuliani, the former mayor of New York and the only politician of any consequence to support Simon enthusiastically,...

Please come join us in welcoming Bill and Rudy this Sunday at the Burbank Airport at 9:45am. We need "hundreds" of supporters, so says the "chicken.” Please forward to all your email trees - this will be fun! 9:45 am AIRPORT GREETING -- Burbank w/ Former Mayor, Rudy Giuliani Location: TWC Aviation 10700 Sherman Way Burbank, CA 91505 (818) 441-0100 RSVP to sfrank@simonforgovernor.com

From: SF-List@caral.org [mailto:SF-List@caral.org] Sent: Tuesday, September 03, 2002 4:06 PM Subject: Join CARAL and Gov. Davis for a bill signing ceremony Circulate until September 5, 2002 CARAL and Governor Davis invite you to the bill signing ceremony for 3 pro-choice bills which CARAL has sponsored and/or supported. The bills are SB 1301 (The Reproductive Privacy Act), AB 1860 (EC in designated rape crisis centers), and AB 2194 (abortion training in residency programs). The bill signing ceremony is going to be on Thursday, September 5, at 1pm at the Civic Center Plaza. The Civic Center Plaza is located across from the...

University of Southern California April 19, 1966 This speech was delivered to an audience at the University of Southern California when Ronald Reagan was running for Governor of California. 3,389 words Each generation is critical of its predecessor. And as the day nears when the classroom and playing field must give way to that larger arena with its problems of inequity and human misunderstanding, it's easy to look at those of us already in that arena and demand to know why the problems remain unsolved. We, who preceded you, asked that question of those who preceded us, and another generation...

Dear Friends, The liberal media are at it again. They are trying to break up the solid support of conservatives for Bill Simon’s candidacy for Governor. Recent press reports indicate a so-called Republican organization is distributing a questionnaire regarding Bill Simon’s position on a host of issues. Unfortunately, many of the questions were awkwardly written and mislead many readers of Bill’s true position on issues. I talked to Bill Simon directly today. And, he reinforced my strong belief in his candidacy for Governor. Bill Simon supported Proposition 22 and actively opposed AB 25. On marriage he told me directly, “Many...

<p>Jane Doe planned her single parenthood carefully, wanting to avoid the potential custody battles of an adoption turned sour.</p> <p>She selected anonymous egg and sperm donors to create an embryo that would be hers alone.</p> <p>But what should have been a joyous and private event turned nightmarish when an embryo mix-up at a respected San Francisco fertility clinic caused her to bear another couple's child.</p>

Even after weeks of bad press and attack ads, Bill Simon is polling better than Gray Davis, according to Survey USA. The polling group says Simon leads Davis 47 percent to 45 percent. The Oakland Tribune also reports that "a recent poll by ABC7 Eyewitness News (a Bay Area station) shows Simon polling at 47 percent, compared with Davis at 45 percent." So an incumbent governor with an enormous campaign treasury finds himself in a competitive race with a political rookie. But is this the story? No, most journalists are far more interested in itemizing Simon screw-ups. Davis's major scandals...

The sex-abuse scandal currently rocking the Catholic Church and shaming its bishops to their emergency meeting in Dallas last week has angered, embarrassed, and distressed many Catholics, but I'm not one of them. I'm glad. Not for the pain that the young victims and their families have had to endure daily. Not for the ruinous financial cost (to be borne by the faithful Mass-goers who keep dutifully dropping their fivers into the collection baskets) — of the countless well-deserved lawsuits against the prelates across the country who covered up the priestly malfeasance for decades. Not for the aid and comfort...