Despite what you may have heard about Mel Gibson’s critical remarks regarding the Republican Administration, you can be sure that his political leanings trend toward conservative values. Recently, a letter arrived at our household from the McClintock for Lieutenant Governor organization. The letter itself was from Mel Gibson who endorsed Tom McClintock to be California’s Lieutenant Governor.

Excerpts from the letter:

When I find that rare politician who will stand his ground for what is right–no matter what the pressure or consequences–I take notice.

During the recall election in California, I saw such a person. He stood solidly for principles that might not be politically correct — but that were right and true. And because he stood his ground, millions of Californians heard his message and recognized that it was the direction California needed to take. And even though he didn’t win their votes, he won their hearts and minds.

[ . . . ]

I am convinced that there is no one on the political scene today who can articulate these positions more clearly and compellingly. Tom McClintock proved in the recall election that he can reach voters across a wide political spectrum — by the end of that campaign, he had the highest approval rating of any of the candidates among ALL voters!

And here’s some of Tom McClintock’s conservative credentials from his website:

First elected to the California Assembly at the age of 26, McClintock quickly distinguished himself as an expert in parliamentary procedure and fiscal policy. He served in the Assembly from 1982 to 1992 and again from 1996 to 2000. During these years, he authored California’s current lethal injection death penalty law, spearheaded the campaign to rebate $1.1 billion in tax over-collections to the people of California, and became the driving force in the legislature to abolish the car tax. He has proposed hundreds of specific reforms to streamline state government and reduce state spending.

In 2000, McClintock was elected to the California State Senate, where he has continued to develop innovative budget solutions such as the Bureaucracy Reduction and Closure Commission and performance based budgeting, and to advocate for restoring California’s public works.

I understand why voters in California vote the way they do — they continue to elect liberals and get higher taxes and liberal social programs. I blame that on voter ignorance and union-sponsored political commercials filled with lies and deceptions. What I don’t understand is why the voters in New Orleans reelected the incompetent Ray Nagin to another term as mayor. I would think that they would be smart enough to see through all the post-Katrina rhetoric and send Nagin packing after his dismal performance in crisis and the racist rhetoric that followed. I guess I was wrong.

Image: Nagin sleeping on the job.

Read Michelle Malkin’s post-mortem on the New Orleans mayoral race, The Definition of Insanity.

Celebrating Armed Forces Day is a long-standing tradition in Torrance, California. There are numerous events taking place throughout the day. There is a parade in the afternoon with military units, equipment, and bands, punctuated with flyovers of military aircraft at one point.

Later, there will be static displays of equipment at the local mall, and two concerts (free) by the U. S. Army Band. This year, Torrance high school students tied yellow ribbons around trees lining the parade route in recognition of our brave men and women serving throughout the world.

More images from the 2005 parade can be seen at this website.

Here’s an excerpt of an article from the local newspaper website:

Torrance to honor military with parade on Saturday

The 47th annual Armed Forces Day event singles out Army for special recognition. It’s the longest-running military-sanctioned parade in U.S.

With its phalanx of tanks, jets and hundreds of military personnel, the invasion of Torrance is ready to begin. The annual Armed Forces Day Parade is once again hitting town Saturday.

After 47 years, the parade is an enduring tradition. And this year’s salute to the military will continue the custom.

[more]

Already with a reputation of having the worst airport security, the worst airport management and named by the Airline Pilots Association’s as one of the worst operational airports in America, LAX Management now reaches a new low — they are planning to divert an estimated 3.3 million dollars of annual airport revenues to unauthorized social programs — programs that are likely to be managed as poorly as the airport itself.

From the South Bay Daily Breeze:

FAA questions LAX use of airport funds to pay for job training

Federal authorities raise concerns about a pledge by Los Angeles International Airport to spend millions of dollars on job training and recruitment programs in nearby neighborhoods.

Those programs were supposed to help low-income people living with the noise and hassle of the airport find jobs there. They were an important element of recent deals that eased community opposition to the airport’s modernization plan.

But the regional office of the Federal Aviation Administration warned in a letter this week that the airport does not have authority to spend money that way. The job programs, it wrote, are not directly related to airport operations or air transportation and therefore cannot be funded with airport revenue.

[more]

The giveaway at LAX to the surrounding area amounts to a “bribe” for allowing airport expansion and improvements. I think the whole thing stinks and ought to be investigated by federal authorities.

The Senate passed a bill that would make English the “common and unified” language of the United States. Now, perhaps, states like California can stop all this bilingual publishing at taxpayer expense. (I know — that would be too much to expect from the bunch of liberals in Sacramento.)

I watched the White House press conference yesterday. Long-time press corps matriarch Helen Thomas tried to rant about the administration’s international surveillance of potential terrorist communications. She repeated her talking points over and over while Tony Snow diffused her poison apples until she was silenced by this last exchange:

Image: Helen Thomas prepares a poison apple for Tony Snow

Thomas: Privacy was breached by turning over their phone numbers.

Snow: Well, again, you are jumping to conclusions about a program, the existence of which we will neither confirm, nor deny.

Thomas: Why? Don’t you think the American people have a right to know–

Snow: Because–what’s interesting is, there seems to be a notion that because the president has talked a little bit about one surveillance program and one matter of intelligence gathering, that somehow we have to tell the entire world we have to make intelligence gathering transparent. Let me remind you, it’s a war on terror, and there are people–I guarantee you, al Qaeda does not believe–

Thomas: He doesn’t have a right to break the law, does he?

Snow: No, the president is not talking about breaking the law. But al Qaeda doesn’t believe in transparency. What al Qaeda believes in is mayhem, and the president has a constitutional obligation and a heartfelt determination to make sure we fight it.

Tony then went on to the next reporter while the wicked witch Thomas sputtered her way to silence.

Perhaps James Taranto of National Review Online made the best point about Tony Snow’s value to the White House when he wrote this about Thomas in his Best of the Web column yesterday:

Crazy Aunt Snowed Under

All you have to do to win an argument with Helen Thomas is let her gibber; she discredits herself with her outlandish and tendentious statements. It’s to Snow’s credit that he’s not satisfied outwitting her by default but instead used her embarrassing performance to make a serious and substantive point. This is what we need more of from the White House.

More and more I think Dubya made an excellent choice when he named Tony Snow to be Press Secretary.

For about $700 each, the California Highway Patrol will acquire nearly ten thousand new American-made Smith and Wesson semi-automatic weapons to replace aging armament; some of these aging weapons having delivered over one hundred thousand rounds.

CHP will buy 9,700 new guns - sacbee.com

The California Highway Patrol is buying 9,700 semi-automatic pistols from gun maker Smith & Wesson Corp. in a deal the CHP says is worth $6.6 million. Delivery of the .40-caliber firearms will start in June and be completed over the next 18 months, Smith & Wesson Vice President Liz Sharp said. The new firearms will replace older Smith & Wesson pistols that CHP officers have carried as their primary service weapon since the 1990s, Sharp said.

Leland Nichols, Smith & Wesson’s chief operating officer, said the Springfield, Mass.-based company was “honored” that California’s premier law enforcement agency had decided to stick with his company’s guns.

“They are happy with the brand and happy with the reliability and durability,” Nichols said. “They have some units that have fired over 100,000 rounds.”

We’re happy to see that the CHP is buying American and buying much needed replacements for our first responder patrolmen and women.

Cap’n Bob & the Damsel will be transitioning to a new server this week. I expect there to be some period where access is not available, and a period where restoration to full functionality will be taking place. I apologize in advance to users of our blog and users of our Never Forget 9/11 Tribute. I hope to have most functionality restored quickly.

Note: if you are displaying the tribute on your site, you won’t have to do anything special. I have tested this using Firefox™ and IE6™ and both browsers handle the missing resource gracefully.

This will be the last post until after the transition.

We’ve been seeing this TV spot ad for a few weeks now, and I finally found it on-line thanks to GOP Bloggers who referred us to UnionFacts.com. Unions universally cripple employers, but tragically, here in California, they have brought public education down to the lowest levels of functionality. This not only hurts the taxpayers, but the students. It’s time for competition in the learning system and to run racketeering teachers unions out of power.

Check out this ad and the UnionFacts.com website:

The Center for Union Facts | UnionFacts.com

Running nationally this week, our new commercial asks what you love about your union: is it the forced dues, political spending, discrimination, or corruption?

My opinion? The only difference between organized labor and organized crime is the way the second word is spelled.

Some lovely colorful daisies for all the MOMs out there!