Every summer a new crop of America’s finest young men and women arrive at a place high above the Hudson River in upstate New York. That place is the United States Military Academy at West Point. It is here that they will take their first steps in becoming our nation’s military leaders of tomorrow. Over the course of the next four years they will learn many things.

But on that first day they will learn 12 very important words. “A cadet will not lie, cheat, steal, or tolerate those who do.”

This is the Cadet Honor Code. It is simple, straightforward and “lie, cheat, or steal” at West Point has a broad definition to cover any unethical or immoral behavior.

Recently here in California, we had a video surface that showed two Republican legislators waiting for a formal hearing to begin engaged in a conversation about the sexual exploits of one with a married female lobbyist who has two children. Assemblyman Mike Duvall, the person who made the disgusting comments, is also married with two children. It has been replayed too many times to count and I will not dignify what was said by repeating it here.

You’ve got to love the cable TV pundits, has-been political hacks and bloviators who were “analyzing” Sarah Palin’s decision to resign as Governor of Alaska.

They never saw it coming, but somehow they now know her motives. In fact, they have never bothered to get to know her or try to understand where she was coming from. They are content to talk behind her back and gossip like a bunch of Old World WASPs at a restricted country club, making fun of her because she is not one of “them” all the while vowing to do whatever it takes to keep her and her working class family out of their exclusive club.

I am sure that in the Hamptons and Martha’s Vineyard over the 4th of July weekend our “betters” in the Establishment are all having a good laugh about the rube from Alaska and how they drove her out of politics. And that includes the establishment people in both parties, better known as the ruling class. Republican or Democrat, there isn’t a dime’s worth of difference between them.

A few weeks ago, I wrote a piece titled “A Real Lawman” about the potential candidacy of Tom O’Brien for Attorney General. As you might recall Tom is the extremely effective U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California. He has an impeccable record in fighting crime from human trafficking to cybercrimes to white collar fraud. He has also tackled street gangs in Los Angeles.

I have just learned that Tom has decided against a run for Attorney General at this time. That’s too bad. Not just because I think he would have been a formidable Republican candidate, but because all Californians will not have the opportunity to have someone of his caliber and character as their chief law enforcement official.

The California Republican Party is at its lowest point in decades. If ever there was a time for new faces and new solutions to old problems that time is now. Tom would have brought new energy and vitality to a party that desperately needs it.

While almost every politician in America was stumbling all over themselves to be photographed with a shovel or some other tool of manual labor on Earth Day, a California company announced that after 65 years it was closing its doors effective immediately.

Gregg Industries is a foundry in El Monte and it has been in operation since 1944 when California was a critical player in FDR’s “arsenal of democracy”. They didn’t make planes or tanks. But they made some of the critical engine pieces that drove tanks in war and the bulldozers and heavy equipment that built postwar California.

They were due to close on April 30, but decided to close today, a week early.

Why? What was the rush?

Enter the Environmental Storm Troopers of the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD).

Elections are like trains or buses. There is always another one coming. And it looks like the 2010 election cycle is already heating up. The election on May 19th should give us a good indication of what we might expect next year. Looking at the voter’s mood as of today the letter next to a candidate’s name that will be the scarlet letter is not “D” or “R”, but “I” for incumbent.

But most of the 2010 talk has been about who will be the candidates for governor. However, with apologies to Lt. Governor Garamendi, the second most important constitutional office is that of Attorney General. Other than the occasional news story saying that San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris and maybe LA City Attorney Ricky Delgadillo, both Democrats are looking at the race, we haven’t heard much about what Republicans are up to.

It has come to my attention that a number of prominent law enforcement officials from across the state have been encouraging former naval aviator and current U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California Tom O’Brien to run for Attorney General.

During the Cold War when the Soviet Union and the United States each had formidable nuclear missile arsenals aimed at each other’s cities and military installations, there was a doctrine of military strategy called M.A.D. or mutually assured destruction.

According to Wikipedia, “The doctrine assumes that each side has enough nuclear weaponry to destroy the other side and that either side, if attacked for any reason by the other, would retaliate with equal or greater force. The expected result is an immediate escalation resulting in both combatants’ total and assured destruction”.

I was reminded of this doctrine as I read the threats from the dedicated partisans on both sides of the aisle who were apoplectic about the California state budget that is pending in the Legislature. The unions are threatening their patrons, the Democratic members, with retribution at the ballot box if they vote for this budget and some Republicans are threatening their members with excommunication from the party if they vote for it.

Obituary

Postpartisanship (Born, November 4, 2008 — Died, February 9, 2009)

Postpartisanship, which was born only a few short months ago and was destined to usher in a new era of American politics and government died yesterday in a traumatic accident in the White House East Room where President Barack Obama was holding his first news conference as President.

President Obama, while denying any responsibility for the incident, nonetheless could be seen and heard at the scene attacking Republicans and downplaying the need for their input in his stimulus package as he blamed all the country’s problems on the eight years of the Bush Administration.

When postpartisanship, who was seated in the minds of the assembled reporters and pundits, heard those comments early in the press conference, it had a violent seizure and collapsed in those same reporter’s and pundits minds. Efforts to revive it were unsuccessful.

“He who troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind and the fool shall be servant to the wise of heart.” –Proverbs 11:29

In recent days, some members of the Assembly Republican caucus have faced withering criticism because they said they would consider tax increases if coupled with a hard spending cap and permanent spending cuts, along with concessions relaxing some labor and environmental laws to act as a stimulus for the beleaguered economy. Mind you, they said they would consider increases and have not actually voted on any.

Radio talk show hosts are calling for the Republicans’ heads on spikes and feeding their listeners red meat flavored with the names of these members. They are threatened with bullying tactics and cries of ending their careers.

Others have proposed resolutions to change the party’s by-laws to censure and even campaign against Republicans who vote for any tax increase. These resolutions would be brought before the delegates to the California Republican Party at the convention at the end of the month in Sacramento.

Granite Workers to Get Part of Stimulus Plan – Speaker Pelosi has announced that, under the stimulus plan now before Congress, a special commission will be formed to find a suitable mountain near Mt. Rushmore to carve the likeness of Barack Obama. This will be a big boon for the granite workers of America who have been struggling as the need for granite countertops in suburban kitchens has declined dramatically with the foreclosure and credit crisis. “President Obama is such a transformational figure that we believe he should have his own mountain sculpture near Mt. Rushmore”, said the Speaker.

Obama Inks Book deal for White House Memoirs – After a brutal bidding war between America’s top publishers, Simon and Schuster has purchased the rights to President Obama’s memoirs for a cool $1 billion. Simon and Schuster CEO Carolyn Reidy said in a statement that, “We believe that in eight years this book will beat the #1 bestseller of all time, the Bible.” She went on to say that, while the company does not have the $1 billion to pay President Obama, they hope to have raised it by 2016 through “a series of bake sales and car washes to be held around the country.”

Today is the day that Governor Schwarzenegger was scheduled to deliver his annual State of the State Address to a joint session of the Legislature, and by extension the people of California. Since he has postponed his speech until January 15th, allow me to fill the void for all you who have been waiting to hear what he has to say,

I don’t know about you, but when he does speak to the people, I do not want to hear any high falutin’ rhetoric about California being the seventh largest economy in the world or what wonderful global warming laws (I’m sorry, climate change laws) we have passed that nobody yet knows the cost of.

No, what I want to hear is some honest, brutal talk about how bad things really are without false hope, phony budget numbers or unattainable political promises. No talk of anything other than the fiscal mess we are in and how we can get out of it, and how we are going to pay for the many problems we have neglected for so long.

So for all you political junkies who can’t wait until January 15th, here is my suggestion to Governor Schwarzenegger for his upcoming State of the State speech.