2008 Year in Review

2008 has been one of the most exciting and interesting years we have had in a long time, with "Change" being the key theme.

The presidential election set records for spending and ended with the election of our nation's first Black President. The City of Sacramento also elected it's first Black Mayor, ignoring the fact that Sacramento County has and incumbency rate of over 75%.


All this and more will be discussed during this week's show.

To tune in simply go to http://www.deluzbrothers.com/ and click on the Listen Live Button at the top of the page.


You can even join the conversation by calling in at (347) 237-5073. We will be breaking down the upcoming election and much more. You don't want to miss the fireworks!


Details Below:

When: Friday, December 26th


Station: Blogtalk Radio

Live Audio Steaming at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/The-DeLuz-Brothers


TIME: 11:30-12 noon (PST)

Call in Number: (347) 237-5073

Forget The Sopranos, Goodfellas, The Godfather, The Departed.....

Just Read as Rahm and Blago go at it on federal wiretap.

This is some of the best gangster theatre in HISTORY! Rahm Emanuel is the MAN! All he needed to say to Blago is that "I will f#%@ing end you!" and it would have been perfect!!!

Note to the world: Do not mess with Rahm Emanuel!!!

What's up with the War on Christmas?

I'm tired of stores refusing to say Merry Christmas!

I'm tired of my Christmas festivities being called "Winter Festivities"

I'm tired being forced to accept Kwanzaa as a real holiday!


AND I'M TIRED OF THE WAR ON CHRISTMAS!!!

JESUS IS THE REASON FOR THIS SEASON!!! LIKE IT OR LUMP (OF COAL) IT!!!

All this and more will be discussed during this week's show.

To tune in simply go to http://www.deluzbrothers.com/ and click on the Listen Live Button at the top of the page.


You can even join the conversation by calling in at (347) 237-5073. We will be breaking down the upcoming election and much more. You don't want to miss the fireworks!


Details Below:

When: Friday, December 19th


Station: Blogtalk Radio

Live Audio Steaming at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/The-DeLuz-Brothers


TIME: 11:30-12 noon (PST)

Call in Number: (347) 237-5073

Governor finally agrees with GOP Legislators

Here is a quote from Gov. Schwarzenegger you won’t see in the main stream media:

"And now I understand when Republicans say they say that they are serious about negotiating, but when it comes down to the language itself, that’s where it will fall apart. And that’s exactly what happened this time."

He made this statement after pledging to veto the controversial budget fixed passed on a simple majority vote, in violation of the State Constitution (Click Here to Watch the Video).

What he was commenting on was the fact that when Legislative Democrats negotiate they say they will do one thing. But the devil is in the details-otherwise known as “Bill Language”. Meaning- the bill language that is offered by the Democrats often does not do what they said it would do. This is why it is a general policy amongst assembly Republicans to not agree to any idea- even in concept until you see it in writing. Furthermore, it explains why the GOP has insisted on their issues being address before even considering new revenues.

The truth is that Legislative Democrats don’t believe that they have to actually negotiate with Republicans. They ignore them whenever they don’t need their votes to pass legislation. No matter how salient a point they make may be, it often gets lost in the fervor of getting their bills through the legislative process. They simply state that they are willing to take a look into it as the bill moves along. The bill passes and nothing ever happens.

And when they do need GOP votes, Democrats don’t bother trying to negotiate in good faith. Rather, they try to pick off one or two votes with incentives that may help that member, but don’t necessarily address their overall policy concerns. Of course, the governor cannot necessarily complain about this tactic, since he often employees it himself.

If a deal is going to get done, it will only be when all sides are allowed to sit at the table and negotiate in good faith. All sacred cows need to be on the table- meaning that everyone is going to have to give up something in order to get something.

Did Prop. 8 pass by a landslide or did Obama barely squeak by?

The following commentary is from my good friend and fellow Red County Blogger, Mike Spence. He does a really good job of putting the Prop. 8 victory in persepctive.

Proposition 8 Did Better Than You Think.

The losers in the Prosotion 8 race have tried to portray their loss as a narrow one, caused by various boogeymen. (LDS Church, Black voters, etc...)

Ron Prentice of the California Family Council and ProtectMarriage.com compiled some statistics to put the win in context. Here are some of them:

The official Statement of the Vote has been released by the Secretary of State. Proposition 8 passed by a margin of 52.3% to 47.7%. Proposition 8 won by a margin of 600,000 votes: 7,001,084 to 6,401,483.

Prop. 8 received 2,150,000 MORE votes than did Arnold Schwarzenegger when he was reelected in 2006.

Prop. 8 received nearly 2 million MORE votes than Dianne Feinstein did when she was reelected to the US Senate in 2006.

Prop. 8 received 250,000 MORE votes than did John Kerry when he carried California in 2004.

Prop. 8 received 45,000 MORE votes than did Barbara Boxer in her landslide reelection to the U.S. Senate in 2004.

Prop. 8 passed with approximately the same percentage of the vote that Barack Obama received nationally.

So did Prop. 8 pass by a landslide or did Obama barely squeak by?

Holiday Wishes to My Liberal Friends!

To all of MyLiberal Friends:

Please accept with no obligation, implied or explicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasion and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all.

I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2009, but not without due respect for your sensitivities of the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great. Not to imply that America is necessarily greater than any other country nor the only America in the Western Hemisphere. Also, this wish is made without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wishes.


To Everyone else:

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

CA Assembly to vote on $5 billion in new taxes that they are calling “Fees”

Today, Democrats will be offering $5 billion in new taxes, calling them fees. It is believed that by calling them fees, they can be passed by majority vote, rather than the 2/3 vote requirement that is necessary to raise taxes: meaning, they could conceivably pass this without any Republican votes.

Admittedly, I am not sure that this is the case. But cut me some slack, Republicans just got the bill language an hour or so ago. So much for “Open and Transparent Government”.

We have also heard that there will be votes on some education issues and transportation issues, and possibly health and human services. Of course, Democrats may change the whole thing up. Heck, we may not see what is actually being proposed until the members walk into the chamber this afternoon. They have already changed the meeting time. Who knows what else will change.

The California Channel will be broadcasting this session live at 3 p.m. on many local cable channels, or on their live webfeed at http://www.calchannel.com/ . You can also listen to the session live by going to the Assembly’s webpage and clicking on “Floor Session” at the top of this page here: http://www.assembly.ca.gov/Committee_hearings/ . If you are unable to watch live, you will be able to retrieve the broadcast at http://www.calchannel.com/ later in the archives.

All In The (GOP) Family

Watching the Congressional Republicans these last few weeks, I was reminded of a sitcom from the early 1970s called "All In The Family" - a groundbreaking show that featured actor Carol O'Connor as Archie Bunker, a working-class, very outspoken man, prejudiced against everyone and everything not in agreement with his view of the world. His ignorance and stubbornness tend to cause his arguments to self-destruct. He often responds to uncomfortable truths by blowing a raspberry ("Thhpptpt!").

Like most Republicans today, he longs for simpler times, when people sharing his viewpoint were in charge, as evidenced by the nostalgic theme song, "Those Were the Days," the show's original title.

The Republicans are today's Archie Bunker, mal-adjusted to the world around them and constantly arguing out of tune with the realities of the day - and offering the American people a raspberry in response to crises. According to Politico.com, the GOP strategy is to blame the UAW and the Governor of Illinois for the fine mess we've gotten ourselves into.

Sounds like a raspberry to me.

Tell me, Republicans: the fact that none other than Dick "shoot'em right between the eyes" Cheney envoked the name of "Herbert Hoover" when attempting to encourage Senate Republicans to vote in favor of the relief package isn't supposed to mean anything to the American people? The fact that over 1 million people might be out of work right after Christmas, and that the American taxpayer will be on the hook to guarantee the pensions of those 1 million workers? THAT is sound fiscal policy? THAT is fiscal conservatism? Get real!

I do not like the idea of bailing out huge corporations. However, standing by and doing nothing while they go under, taking hundreds of thousands of working families with them, is not my idea of effective government. Something must be done - now.

I like Republicans. Some of my best friends are Republicans. Unfortunately, the one's in Congress belong to the "gang that can't shoot straight", and they think the American people are stupid.

We are not as stupid as you think! So, for voting against the Auto Rescue plan, I have just one thing to say you Repubicans - in a language you might understand: "Thhpptpt!"

The Culture of Corruption- Is it conservative or liberal?

Sen. Ted Stevens, Gov. Rod Blagojevich, Rep. Duke Cunningham and Rep. William Jefferson all have embarrassed their respective political parties with corruption scandals. And both parties have gone out of their way to point the finger at the other claiming that they are the cause of the "Culture of Corruption" in politics today.

So, who's right?

All this and more will be discussed during this week's show.

To tune in simply go to http://www.deluzbrothers.com/ and click on the Listen Live Button at the top of the page.


You can even join the conversation by calling in at (347) 237-5073. We will be breaking down the upcoming election and much more. You don't want to miss the fireworks!


Details Below:

When: Friday, December 12th


Station: Blogtalk Radio

Live Audio Steaming at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/The-DeLuz-Brothers


TIME: 11:30-12 noon (PST)

Call in Number: (347) 237-5073

Watch the “Why the GOP should cave!” dog and pony show LIVE!

Today at 3 pm the California Legislature will be holding a joint session to hear from the State’s fiscal leaders on why they need to address the State’s massive budget deficit ASAP. Featured speakers include State Controller John Chiang, Treasurer Bill Lockyer, Mike Genest, the Governor’s Director of the Department of Finance, and Mac Taylor, the state’s non-partisan legislative analyst. Each will speak for 15 minutes, and then there will be questions from the legislature afterwards.You can tune in and watch it live at CalChannel.com .

Sacramento Bee writers, Dan Walters and Jon Ortiz will also be hosting a live blog during the presentation at www.sacbee.com/live. That is how important this presentation will be.

But you can be assured that the bulk of the dog and pony show will be focused on why legislative Republicans should cave on their commitment not to raise taxes.

Bill Lockyer has already threatened to withhold the sale of any bonds until the budget is fixed. Furthermore, he would cease the flow of funds to current projects. Additionally, Governor Schwarzenegger has hinted at massive layoffs amongst the ranks of state employees, a proposal that will do more to influence Democrats than Republicans.

But what is missing from any discussions are the substantive requests that GOP legislators have put forward. Namely:

• Economic stimulus proposals (not tax cuts) for employers like:
o AB 32 implementation relief
o Repeal of eight hour overtime
o Regulatory relief

• Substantive budget reform like:
o A real spending cap
o A rainy day fund
o Providing flexibility to agencies (especially schools) on how they can spend their budgets.

• Ongoing spending reductions by:
o Consolidating agencies and departments with duplicative functions “Blowing up the boxes”
o Re-visiting collective bargaining agreements and related side deals.
o Reworking of funding formulas that demand so much of the state budget.


Even as Democrats declare “Everything needs to be on the table”. Please notice that these options will be found nowhere on that table. Not because Republicans have not proposed them. Rather, Democrats have killed them at every turn.

Where's my bailout?

Everyone from banks, the big 3 automakers to the State of California are all petitioning the Federal government for money… MONEY THEY DON’T HAVE!!!!!!

Where’s My bailout? That will be the topic of today's show.


All this and more will be discussed during this week's show.

To tune in simply go to http://www.deluzbrothers.com/ and click on the Listen Live Button at the top of the page.


You can even join the conversation by calling in at (347) 237-5073. We will be breaking down the upcoming election and much more. You don't want to miss the fireworks!


Details Below:

When: Friday, December 5th


Station: Blogtalk Radio

Live Audio Steaming at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/The-DeLuz-Brothers


TIME: 11:30-12 noon (PST)

Call in Number: (347) 237-5073