Hopefully I can make it…I am an upstanding citizen who works…

I’ll see what I can do.

Stay tuned for more information.

Aloha, folks!

As I was sitting on the beach waiting for a sea turtle to bring me a Pina Colada in a coconut–made by a trained monkey no less–I caught wind of a story that most people hadn’t even heard about. President Obama is crippling the tourism industry when he vacations in Hawaii.

Hawaii’s economy is driven by tourism and there are countless ways to have fun and enjoy the tropical beauty of the islands, and one of the best ways people can enjoy the scenery is from the air through an airplane or helicopter tour… except if President Obama is in town. Wherever the president goes, a ten mile no-fly zone follows him. That’s a sizable chunk of O’ahu–the island where Obama is staying.

From the Honolulu Star Bulletin:

“This is the peak of the tourist season,” said Rob Moore, president of the General Aviation Council of Hawaii. “Here is a president trying to promote more jobs, and by … visiting us, is all of a sudden impeding business.”

So while the president may feel entitled to a rest from jet-setting all over the globe to visit Copenhagen to do nothing, or to pick up his Nobel Prize for doing nothing, or to fail to convince the Olympic Committee to bring the Olympics to Chicago, does that give him license to shut down a vital part of the island-state’s economy? Especially when there are other islands that are just a beautiful (although, all of them are more beautiful than O’ahu) that would cause fewer disruptions to the community, especially when it is struggling to bring in every dollar it can during these troubled times.

After the cut is a map from the Star Bulletin that shows the extent to which Obama’s vacation will disrupt air tourism on the island.

Read–Honolulu Star Bulletin

Read–Yahoo

Keep it here for more election coverage!

UPDATE:

Conservative Chris Christie has been declared the winner of the race for Governorship of New Jersey. Moreover, incumbent Jon Corzine just conceded defeat to Christie live on FoxNews.

Across the river in New York City, the New York Post has called the mayoral race in favor of incumbent Michael Bloomberg. CNN also has the story.

Read–New York Post

Read–CNN

UPDATES from Mr. Harrington:  LOL @the people chanting “Yes we can!” at the Christie rally.

I do have to laugh at Barack Obama and Robert Gibbs…

Apparently, Bami isn’t watching the returns…Go ahead…keep your head firmly planted in your bum, Mr. President.  Americans are sending you a clear message.

Gibbs also said this isn’t a sign of what will happen in 2010…

“I don’t think, looking at the two gubernatorial races, you can draw with any great insight what’s going to happen a year from now,” he said.

Read–Politico

Still watching the Bloomberg results.  NBC had Bloomberg as winner, then reversed that, while the NYTimes continued to have Bloomberg as the winner…

Read–Politico

Christie: “We are going to pick Trenton up and turn it upside down.”

UPDATE:  What about Hoffman?

Chuck Todd tweeted:

“Don’t expect a #NY23 call tonight. None of the approx. 11,000 absentee ballots will even be COUNTED until tmro morning.”

UPDATE:  FOXNEWS just projected that Owens has defeated Hoffman.

UPDATE:  FoxNews confirms NYC Mayoral race.  Give Bloomberg the W.

Read–FoxNews

UPDATE:

UPDATE:  Hoffman may have conceded.  Working to confirm.

If this link is accurate, Hoffman has conceded…

Read–WWNYTV

Hoffman has conceded.

Read–Watertown Daily Times

He cited family and City-hall-duties.

The Dems currently do not have any candidates in the race.

Read–Sacramento Bee

Check out his press release and updates after the jump…

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 30, 2009
Contact: media@gavinnewsom.com

*** STATEMENT ***

It is with great regret I announce today that I am withdrawing from the race for governor of California.With a young family and responsibilities at city hall, I have found it impossible to commit the time required to complete this effort the way it needs to — and should be — done.

This is not an easy decision. But it is one made with the best intentions for my wife, my daughter, the residents of the city and county of San Francisco, and California Democrats.

When I embarked on this campaign in April, my goal was to engage thousands and thousands of Californians dedicated to reforming our broken system and bringing change to Sacramento.

I would like to thank those supporters, volunteers, and donors who have worked so hard on my behalf. I have been humbled by their support and am indebted to their efforts. They represent the spirit of change and determination essential to putting California back on the right track.

I will continue to fight for change and the causes and issues for which I care deeply — universal health care, a cleaner environment, and a green economy for our families, better education for our children, and, of course, equal rights under the law for all citizens.

The Philadelphia School District has decided to hold principals accountable for how many students eat breakfast at schools.

The school district in Philly serves approximately 160,000 students, and offers free breakfast to all students, regardless of income.  In the last year, it is reported that 54,000 of those students ate breakfast at school.  This move was enacted to increase the number of students who eat breakfast, according to Jonathan Stein, who is a lawyer with Community Legal Services.  Community Legal Services, along with Public Citizens for Children and Youth (PCCY)  were major players in enacting the move that will make Philly principals accountable for how many students eat breakfast at school.

Supporters claim that this will help the high percentage of students who come from high-poverty areas in Philadelphia.

Read–Philly.com

Now let’s examine some of the many things wrong with this issue.  However, I would like to begin by presenting some word definitions first.

Parent (noun): One who begets, gives birth to, or nurtures and raises a child; a father or mother. [American Heritage Dictionary]

Parenting (noun): the rearing of children [Dictionary.com]

Rear (verb): To care for (children or a child) during the early stages of life; bring up. [American Heritage Dictionary]

Now, the first question I would like to ask is:  Why shouldn’t the PARENTS of the child be held accountable for the rearing of their own offspring? I would (perhaps foolishly) assume that feeding your child would be one of the aspects of caring for a child during the early stages of life.  It is also to my understanding that the most common form of feeding in society is the three basic meals: BREAKFAST, LUNCH, and DINNER.  It is perfectly fine in my humble opinion if the schools wish to offer breakfast to students for a price (I will touch on the FREE breakfast issue later).  However, it is another thing entirely to take the responsibilty of providing breakfast to students from the child’s parents, and bestow it upon the school principal.  The idea of critiquing the principal on how many students eat breakfast at school is simply laughable.

Next, I would like to address the ever lessening role of parents in the raising and education of their children.  We have seen many times how schools are now given free lisence to do as they please in regards to what they teach students (e.g., singing praise to President Obama, among other things).  Parents should wake up, and take a more active role in the education of their students.  PARENTS are the one’s responsible in instilling values in their children, not the government’s schools.

Now we come to the free breakfast issue.  Let us remember that taxpayer dollars are the source of funds for public schools.  The supporters of this move claim that this is a help to those students coming from high-poverty areas in Philadelphia.  Now, I do believe that “high-poverty areas” contain families and people who do not make much money.  To people who do not make much money, they are eligible to recieve assistance from programs like welfare along with food stamps for well, food.  These programs are paid for by the taxpayer.  So if the taxpayer pays for the FAMILIES to have food to feed themselves and their children, why should the taxpayer also pay for the schools to give the students free breakfast?  The logic simply escapes me.  Although, none of this ridiculousness makes any sense to me.

The bill will now move to the House of Representatives for approval.

The bill would prove to be a major coup for prison security if passed, as the number of confiscated cell phones in prisons has increased dramatically over the past few years. In 2008, 847 illegal cell phones were confiscated in Maryland, 2,809 in California and 1,861 in Mississippi.

Currently, the FCC prohibits the operation of all cell phone jamming devices, but the bill would provide a means for either the Director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons or a State Governor to petition the FCC with a request to use a jammer in a prison. The FCC would then test and approve wireless jamming devices.

However, there are some considerations to be made. The jamming devices cannot in any way interfere with emergency or public safety communications and would have to operate only within a prison’s walls at the lowest possible transmission power and be capable of directionalized operations. If a device were to interfere with wireless communications outside a correctional facility the jamming devices would have to be shut down pending investigation by the FCC.

And should such interference occur, then it will be Cat Fancy time once again.

Read — WBAL

Well its about damn time.

Developing…

Read – The Sacramento Bee

The terror it filled our hearts with, the pain it inflicted on thousands of families all across the country will not and should never be forgotten.  Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls:

NEVER Forget that day.  NEVER Forget September 11, 2001.

God Bless the United States of America.

VIDEO–Fox News

California Republican Assemblyman Michael Duvall was talking to a coworker about an explicit sexual affair with Sacramento lobbyists…his microphone was on.

Good work, sir.  You are a moron.

Check out the video:

UPDATE:  The video has been taken off of youtube due to a copyright claim by CBS…working on getting another video..

Michael Duvall has resigned.

In a Statement from Duvall’s website denying an affair:

“I want to make it clear that my decision to resign is in no way an admission that I had an affair or affairs. My offense was engaging in inappropriate story-telling and I regret my language and choice of words. The resulting media coverage was proving to be an unneeded distraction to my colleagues and I resigned in the hope that my decision would allow them to return to the business of the state.”

“I am deeply saddened that my inappropriate comments have become a major distraction for my colleagues in the Assembly, who are working hard on the very serious problems facing our state. I have come to the conclusion that it would not be fair to my family, my constituents or to my friends on both sides of the aisle to remain in office. Therefore, I have decided to resign my office, effective immediately, so that the Assembly can get back to work.”

Read