Hey guess where the California Republican Party is having their next convention? Given CA’s financial state, maybe some place oh, fiscally conservative, socially responsible? You know, to let The People know what a grand old party they are, one that CARES and doesn’t spend profligately?

Oh whoops. Nope! The site of CRP’s convention is

Featured in Condé Nast Traveler’s 2007 Gold List of "World’s Best Places to Stay" and Travel + Leisure’s "500 Greatest Hotels in the World" 

Oh but wait, the rooms are being offered at a convention discount of $175. And for that, along with all the fun convention activities, comes :

Spa with lush garden

Golf Club House

Lounge with live entertainment

Room Service

36-Holes of Championship Golf

3 swimming pools & Pool Bar

Fitness Center

Tennis

Concierge

In-room movies

Complimentary in-room coffee

Complimentary newspaper

Wanna know what’s on the agenda the weekend of September 25 at the Renaissance Esmeralda Resort and Spa in Indian Wells, Ca? Along with a prayer breakfast, there are speeches from the three GOP gubernatorial candidates–Tom Campbell, Steve Poizner and Meg Whitman–and committee meetings, plus plenty of time to enjoy the spa or the 

savory Italian cuisine served in an elegant setting at the multiple-award-winning Sirocco restaurant, Voted as the "Best Italian" restaurant in the Coachella Valley by Zagat in 2005. For more casual fare, Cava (Breakfast Menu | All Day Menu) offers inventive California selections served indoors or on the poolside terrace.

As a cost-saving measure, remember

Also, Kids Eat Free for dinner in Cava with an paid adult entrée.

Should CRP members want to expand their horizons rather than their waistlines, workshops are available. CRP Technology Summit II features David Kralik, Silicon Valley Representative for Newt Gingrich’s American Solutions and

New areas of discussion will include advertising and marketing strategies, "metaverses" and mobile technology. Attendees will be able to enter a "hackathon" contest to build applications for the CRP over the course of the convention, help outline a plan for victory in 2010 using social media, and be trained in breakout sessions on the core principles of how to be successful online. 

This will be a natural segue into Networks Forum where participant will learn that

Republicans nationwide have recognized in recent election cycles the need for the party to improve its outreach, relationship-building, and talent-spotting skills in the various communities that make up our great nation, including ethnic, religious, professional, gender, age, sporting and special interest groups…The CRP’s Networks program is designed to increase voter registration in target communities; provide interactive opportunities for the party to increase its visibility in target communities through the use of surrogates, social networking tools such as Facebook and Twitter, new media tools including YouTube, as well as traditional grass-roots efforts; and identify up-and-coming Republican talent in all communities to run for public office and serve within the party.

Watch out Netroots Nation! The GeeOPee iz in ur intert00bs! Bof ov dem!

Other thrilling workshops include All Politics is Still Personal: Your Path to Public Service, Healthcare Forum III, and Money Matters: Winning the Battle for Fiscal Reform at the State and Local Levels, along with the ever popular buzz kill Protecting America in the New Missile Defense Age

Ballistic missiles tipped with nuclear weapons are the scourge of the 21st century. It is likely that there will be many more nuclear powers in the future -not less. There is no threat to the future of mankind that holds more dire consequences. A nuclear bomb detonated in space that cripples US electrical systems could result in the death of 90 percent of Americans. Recovering from a nuclear attack on a city could cost the equivalent of the entire nation’s wealth. This is deadly serious business. Missile defense is no longer simply Washington’s problem. Learn the essential facts about missile defense; why this debate is relevant to every community; and how communities can effectively engage in the national discussion.

 Oh and there’s a media panel with Andrew Brietbart and KERN/KMJ radio host Inga Barks discussing the continuing emergence of talk radio and the Internet as a major force in politics.

BTW, this swell event is called the CRP Fall Convention– and it sure feels like the conventions of old politics are due for a fall.

Mr. Bruce has an opinion on health care reform. And it’s nothing to scratch at.

Though he hasn’t signed the paperwork to make Harvey Milk Day an official state holiday, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and his wife Maria Shriver will be inducting the slain activist into the California Hall of Fame, along with comedienne Carol Burnett, romance author Danielle Steele, fitness and bodybuilding pioneer Joe Weider.

Also honored this year will be astronaut Chuck Yeager, former Intel CEO Andrew Grove, governor and U.S. senator Hiram Johnson, decathlete and philanthropist Rafer Johnson, industrialist Henry J. Kaiser, philanthropist and peace activist Joan Kroc, film-maker George Lucas, football commentator John Madden, and artist Fritz Scholder.

Travel writer Arthur Frommer, who name graces a best selling line of travel books (Full disclosure: I wrote the first edition of Frommer’s Las Vegas with Kids in 2003), wrote about Arizona on his website, frommers.com after a number of citizens showed near President Obama’s speech in Phoenix carrying guns. Obama who spoke in front of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, was in town, in part, to promote the state’s tourism industry. The New York Times, a partner site with frommer.com reports that Frommer wrote:

I am not yet certain whether I would advocate a travel boycott by others of the state of Arizona; I want to learn more about Arizona’s gun laws and how they compare with those of other states. But I am shocked beyond measure by reports that earlier this week, nearly a dozen persons, including one with an assault rifle strapped about his shoulders and others with pistols in their hands or holsters, were openly congregating outside a hall at which President Obama was speaking to the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

For myself, without yet suggesting that others follow me in an open boycott, I will not personally travel in a state where civilians carry loaded weapons onto the sidewalks and as a means of political protest. I not only believe such practices are a threat to the future of our democracy, but I am firmly convinced that they would also endanger my own personal safety there. And therefore I will cancel any plans to vacation or otherwise visit in Arizona until I learn more. And I will begin thinking about whether tourists should safeguard themselves by avoiding stays in Arizona.

Arizona has been boycotted before, most notably in 1987 when then Governor Meacham refused to make Martin Luther King Jr’s birthday a state holiday. Two years ago Tucson-based anti-immigration conservative crank Roy Warden called for a boycott of Arizona because:  

Pima County businessmen, backed by corrupt local public officials, have openly solicited Mexican Illegal labor to build economic infrastructure in southern Arizona, making Pima County "Ground Zero" when it comes to the subject of illegal immigration.

Arthur Frommer’s post drew immediate attention from the mayor of Phoenix Phil Gordon and Steve Moore, head of the Greater Phoenix Convention and Visitors Bureau.   The Arizona Republic reports the duo had a 20-minute phone conversation with the travel guru. Gordon said about the city:

It’s a great place to live, work, raise a family and particularly to visit. It’s unfortunate an individual expressing his beliefs (the man with the rifle) got the coverage he got because that’s not what Phoenix is about. Phoenix is one of the safest major cities in the United States.

 In his original post, Frommer tried to strike a non-partisan note:

I would feel as I do regardless of the political identity of the speaker whom these thugs attempted to intimidate. The continued tolerance of extremists carrying guns is a frightening development which strikes at the heart of the political process and endangers the ability to carry out a reasoned debate. Is there any responsible citizen of the United States who believes that people should carry guns to a public debate or speech?

but then brings up this point:

If Ronald Reagan were delivering a political talk in Phoenix, Arizona, would they have felt it was proper for protesters with guns to mill about outside the hall from which he would leave?

Frommer also overlooked that 11 states have open carry laws which allow guns to be carried without requiring the citizen to apply for any permit or license and 13 states permit open carry with restrictions.  And in 39 states guns can be carried with a permit, just like in our  national parks.

So should we boycott everywhere guns are allowed–even Yosemite or Yellowstone? Should states be penalized and loose tourism dollars because a dozen idiots show up with guns in public attempting to intimidate their fellows?

ZOMG. Florida’s governor, the oh-so-happily-married Charlie Crist, told a group real estate agents in Orlando that he prayed to God that Florida wouldn’t experience hurricanes, and God granted the request.

Crist explained that before his election in 2006, the state experience a total of eight hurricanes in 2004 and 2005.  Then he took a trip to Jerusalem in 2007 and placed a note in the Western Wall which read:

Dear God, please protect our Florida from storms and other difficulties. Charlie.

God listened then and has kept listening, since Crist has sent the same notes via friends each year since. And no hurricanes! But Crist doesn’t take credit:

I give that to God. But it’s nice.

Yes, and let’s remember all the practitioners of Santeria and other faiths in Florida who also have been praying for the same thing. No one has a monopoly on God.

Now if only they can pray for Crist to leave office and retire from politics. He has a future in acting–have you seen "Outrage"?

My friend Paula was busy snapping away outside today’s townhall with Rep. Waxman. You can see them all here.

It’s a crime story. But it’s also a war story about class warfare. And a vampire movie, with the upper 1 percent feeding off the rest of us. And, of course, it’s also a love story. Only it’s about an abusive relationship.

"It’s not about an individual, like Roger Smith, or a corporation, or even an issue, like health care. This is the big enchilada. This is about the thing that dominates all our lives — the economy. I made this movie as if it was going to be the last movie I was allowed to make.

It’s a comedy.

When House Rep. Henry Waxman scheduled a townhall on the environment, he had to expect it would end up being about health care. Who knows what the meeting was like–I was outside with the over 200 supporters and the detractors–less than 30, and only 4 of those had "Don’t Tread on Me" signs. UCLA had them ostensibly separated in different holding pens, though a few pro-reformers drifted over into the anti-reform, anti-Cap & Trade crowd, who were really disgruntled by their fellows’ poor showing.

No birthers in sight! But then what do you expect from UCLA, that bastion of lefty-politics and the Prada-clad, soy latte sipping tree huggers in Hollywood? Plus parking was $10, so that may have kept some conservatives away–like why give money to a Commie-re-education camp?

I learned something huge while I was there: The Obama/Hitler meme is big with LaRouche’s people.

Why is it when the tabloids report some juicy bit from a "friend" about the Palins, the right discounts it, yet they’re willing to report that a "friend of Michelle Obama’s" claims that her mom allegedly has consulted a practitioner of Santeria and allegedly had this practitioner visit her in the White House? Nancy Reagan had an astrologer guiding President Reagan’s moves, capitalist financier JP Morgan consulted an astrologer as well…And the problem is? This country has been built on religious diversity, a plurality of faiths combining toward the ideal of the American dream. 

The original article  about Michelle Obama’s mother, Marian Robinson, allegedly practicing a non-mainstream faith,  which was posted on Townhall and linked to by Wonkette has been removed, and probably for good reason (like it was untrue), but it does give us a chance to discuss women, religion and race in America.

The mother-in-law as witch can be seen in pop culture via the teevee series "Bewitched," and casting aspersions of magic on old women has long been a function of the frightened villagers for at least a millennium. Rumors of “witchcraft” led to the deaths of several hundred thousand during medieval times; and even today, in Third World counties, the elderly and children and abused and killed because their neighbors think they are “bewitched.”

Not all people who practice Santeria are of African decent; many are Hispanic and there are plenty of white people who follow the faith. Santeria is not witchcraft, unless you are bigot and think any religion that is not your own is “witchcraft,”  which seems to be a knee-jerk reaction in fundamentalist Christian sects.

Santeria combines Christian beliefs–including the saints and Jesus and prayers using the Psalms and the Lord’s Prayer–with traditional African beliefs. The Psalms have been used for ages in Judaism and traditional Christian religion for prayers and worship.

Some modern sects of fundamentalist, apocalyptic Christianity draw on the Psalms for imprecatory prayers, calling on God to destroy their enemies.  Santeria is concerned primarily with building a relationship with God, along with prayers for healing, success and a better life overall.

In some forms of Santeria there is animal sacrifice, the animals are killed in a humane manner then cooked and eaten. And the practice of sacrifice in Santeria is protected in some parts of the United States. While in some cases there’s occasional animal sacrifice,  that happens in the Old Testament, too. A lot. And the Old Testament is where Christian fundamentalists draw their fire and brimstone, their imprecatory prayers, and their weird prophecies.  

And speaking of fundamentalists, Saint Ronnie Reagan allowed his wife Nancy to have astrologer Joan Quigley visit her in the White House and cast horoscopes for him. Astrology’s influence was so great that on the President Reagan’s schedule, days were color-coded according to the astrologer’s advice to discern precisely which days and times would be optimal for the president’s safety and success.

Townhall’s histrionic panic, screaming “Witch! Witch!” at a beloved grandma is offensive to grannies, African Americans, and yes, to those who practice non-mainstream faiths. Like Nancy Reagan.

UPDATE: After we posted this story, Sue Brinkman, the author of the story we linked to, took down her article from the website  Living His Life Abundantly/Women of Grace. Hmmm…..But that supporter of free speech and truth (spit take), Matt Drudge has it posted.