CNN’s Double Hypocrisy on Leland Yee

by Whitney Pitcher

At Breitbart, Tony Lee writes of  CNN’s hypocrisy in their refusal to cover the gun trafficking charge levied at current California state senator (and secretary of state candidate until Thursday ), Leland Yee:

CNN dismissed complaints that the network was not covering last week’s shocking arrest of Democrat Leland Yee, the California state senator who was arrested for alleged arms trafficking and bribery, and falsely asserted that it does not give attention to state senators and secretary of state races.

That standard did not apply to Texas state Sen. Wendy Davis, whom CNN covered relentlessly. This was long before she even considered a gubernatorial run after filibustering a bill to ban abortions after 20 weeks and make those conducted before then safer.

Viewers and readers on Friday complained that the network, just like Politico, was not reporting or discussing Yee’s scandal online, and the official and verified @CNNWriters account tweeted to one critic that ignoring Yee’s arrest was standard practice.

Lee then linked a tweet from CNNWriters’ account which notes that CNN covers state senate and secretary of state races “just about never”. As he notes, CNN covered Texas state senator Wendy Davis extensively. The comparison of Davis vs. Yee illustrates CNN’s hypocrisy quite well, but what if we looked at CNN’s coverage of Yee vs. Yee? Let us flashback to 2010, shall we?

You may recall that Governor Palin gave a speech at California State University-Stanislaus in 2010, a speech that brought in record fundraising for the university. However, this particular speech may be better known as “bendystrawgate”.  California Democrats , including then attorney general and current governor Jerry Brown, wanted to investigate the contract that the university made with Palin for her speech. That contract included such diva-like demands as bendable drinking straws. The horrors! However, Brown was not the only Democrat to request the investigation. As CNN reported in April 2010 (emphasis mine):

Attorney General Jerry Brown opened an investigation Tuesday into the finances of the California State University Stanislaus Foundation, which raises money for the university and booked Palin to headline its June event.

“We are taking this action to make sure that the money raised goes toward the intended educational purposes and not a dollar is wasted or misspent,” said Brown, a Democratic gubernatorial candidate.

State Sen. Leland Yee, also a Democrat, has demanded to see the speaking contract, citing the public records Act. At a Tuesday news conference, Yee said any destruction of requested documents violated the law.

CNN’s claim that they do not cover state senators is bogus, and if they were to argue that they don’t cover state senate races, it should be noted that Yee was running for re-election to the senate in 2010. In fact, the CNN story linked above came just 5 days after Yee announced his re-election.

It’s no wonder that Governor Palin noted the media’s constant need to distract from the truth and selectively cover “local” politics.

For more on this, please see Gary’s posts from Friday.

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Disgraced California Democrat Gun Trafficker Leland Yee’s Links to New Jersey and Muslim Terrorists

By Gary P Jackson

When talking about California state senator Leland Yee’s arrest for gun running and conspiracy charges, we can’t overemphasize the fact that Yee was not only dealing in rifles, but also shoulder fired missiles, to be acquired from Muslim terrorists in the Philippines, where Yee said he hoped to “hide out” soon.

Eileen Hart send us a tweet outlining the Yee connection back to New Jersey.

Leland Yee gun trafficking and the New Jersey Connection http://t.co/NoElZL34w5 @SheridanFolger @sirtatters @Gary4205 @clarencesilkwow

— Eileen Hart (@EileenHart1) March 28, 2014

From her website:

Yesterday, FBI arrested California State Senator Leland Yee for accepting campaign donations in exchange for helping broker an arms trafficking deal and political favors. A cargo ship filled with automatic weapons, missiles and rockets was to come to the Newark Port in New Jersey.

Leland Yee was California’s top gun control advocate. In partnership with the leader of an Asian gang syndicate, who goes by the name of “Shrimp Boy.” His real name is Raymond Chow. His criminal history of racketeering and robbery which landed him in San Quentin Prison. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison for gun charges as well as Heroin trafficking. He was released in 2003 for testifying against an associate in the criminal organization.

The cargo ship was to be filled with automatic weapons, missiles, rockets and ammunition. WHY was an exchange to take place in Newark, New Jersey? If the cargo ship was to be delivered to other criminal entities; terrorists and the like, wouldn’t it go its direct course without fear of being seized? There was no reason why that cargo ship didn’t go directly through the South Pacific into Asia. WHY NEW JERSEY? The timing of these anti second amendment bills being passed and this case happening at the same time are extremely suspicious.

In New Jersey, we law-abiding gun owning citizens are in the midst of a very contentious round of new anti second amendment bills that are being passed in the New Jersey State Assembly and its Senate in Trenton, New Jersey.

Eileen goes on to note the NJ legislators are looking to pass highly unconstitutional anti-gun laws. and notes the huge RADICAL Muslim population in her state.

Another angle I am looking at is the radical Islamists who reside in New Jersey. In February of 2014 chose Mohammad El-Filali as its new leader. He was the executive director of the Hamas linked Islamic Center of Passaic, New Jersey. He has refused to condemn Palestinian suicide bombers and is known to compare Israel to Nazis.

Very much worth reading more here.

Of course, as you know, we’ve written about Governor Chris Christie’s DIRECT TIES to Hamas terrorists, on several occasions. These are some of the Palestinians mentioned in Eileen’s article.

Yee was charged with six counts of depriving the public of honest services and one count of conspiracy to traffic in guns without a license. He did not enter a plea. He was being held on $500,000 bail, and his passport has been confiscated.

If convicted on all the counts against him, Yee faces up to 125 years in prison.

Palin Hatin’, Anti-Gun CA Senator Leland Yee Arrested By The FBI on GUN TRAFFICKING Charges

By Gary P Jackson

Our readers will know the name Leland Yee quite well. He’s the California legislator who tried to use the power of his office to force California State University at Stanislaus to cancel a fundraising speech that was given by Governor Sarah Palin back in 2010. A speech that, by the way, earned more money for the university than any other in it’s history!

Managing Editor Stacy Drake, a Californian, wrote several articles detailing both Yee’s and Governor Jerry Brown’s despicable attempts to silence free speech and Governor Palin. You can refresh your memories, or catch-up, here.

Yee is a big time dirt bag, one of the worst. Before the bodies were cold after the Sandy Hook shootings, Yee was out there pushing gun ban legislation. The bill, which passed the California legislature, was so radical, so Un-American, and so unconstitutional, Governor Brown was forced to veto it!

Yee is, in fact, one of the anti-gun, anti-Second Amendment lobby’s biggest players in California. So …. this bit of news makes normal, every day, run of the mill liberal hypocrisy seem insignificant!

You see Yee has been arrested by the FBI on numerous charges, including gun running, corruption, and more.

There are 25 others, including some with ties to violent gangs, and organized crime, accused in the conspiracy by the FBI:

The affidavit names Yee and 25 others, including Raymond Chow, a onetime gang leader with ties to San Francisco’s Chinatown known as “Shrimp Boy,” and Keith Jackson, Yee’s campaign aide. Jackson is accused of multiple counts of fraud and conspiracy to commit fraud.

Chow and Yee were arrested Wednesday during a series of raids in Sacramento and the San Francisco Bay Area.

According to court documents, Yee performed “official acts” in exchange for donations from undercover FBI agents, as he sought to dig himself out of a $70,000 debt incurred during a failed San Francisco mayoral bid.

Yee is also accused of accepting $10,000 in January 2013 from an undercover FBI agent in exchange for making a call to the California Department of Public Health in support of a contract was considering.

The agent who discussed arms with Yee presented himself as a member of Ghee Kung Tong, a fraternal organization in San Francisco’s Chinatown that Chow reportedly headed. It was among the sites searched Wednesday.

CBS reports a “Muslim separatist group was involved in all of this as well: [emphasis mine]

SAN FRANCISCO — A California state senator who advocated gun control legislation asked for campaign donations in exchange for introducing an undercover FBI agent to an arms trafficker and told him how to get shoulder-fired automatic weapons and missiles from a Muslim separatist group in the Philippines, according to court documents unsealed Wednesday.

The allegations against state Sen. Leland Yee were outlined in an FBI affidavit in support of a criminal complaint. The affidavit accuses Yee of conspiracy to deal firearms without a license and to illegally import firearms. He was arrested Wednesday and appeared later in federal court, where bail was set at $500,000.

Yee’s arrest came as a shock to Chinese-Americans who see the senator as a pioneering leader in the community and a mainstay of San Francisco politics, said David Lee, director of the Chinese American Voters Education Committee.

“That”s shocking news to me,” San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee said when asked about Yee’s arrest, according to CBS San Francisco. “It’s many years of public service so, I don’t know what’s occurred there … I hope for the best.”

Yee is also accused of accepting tens of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions and cash payments to provide introductions, help a client get a contract and influence legislation. He or members of his campaign staff accepted at least $42,800 in cash or campaign contributions from undercover FBI agents in exchange for carrying out the agents’ specific requests, the court documents allege.

Yee discussed helping the agent get weapons worth $500,000 to $2.5 million, including shoulder-fired automatic weapons and missiles, and took him through the entire process of acquiring them from a Muslim separatist group in the Philippines to bringing them to the United States, according to the affidavit by FBI Special Agent Emmanuel V. Pascua.

He was unhappy with his life and told the agent he wanted to hide out in the Philippines, according to the affidavit.

“There’s a part of me that wants to be like you,” he told the undercover agent, according to the affidavit. “You know how I’m going to be like you? Just be a free agent there.”

The introduction with the trafficker took place at a San Francisco restaurant earlier this month, according to the documents. Yee said he wouldn’t go to the Philippines until November.

“Once things start to move, it’s going to attract attention. We just got to be extra-extra careful,” he said, according to court documents.

Sounds like Yee was ready to flee the United States and maybe even join this terrorist group. I hope there is a nice warm cell waiting for Yee down at Gitmo!

There’s a lot of things surrounding this guy. His campaign fundraiser, Keith Jackson, was charged in a murder-for-hire scheme, but besides the gun trafficking charges, Yee is also mixed up in a serious pay-for-play deal.

The FBI affidavit summarizes numerous events as: “Senator Yee would engage in official acts… in exchange for campaign donations and money.”

During the sting, Yee told one confidential source, “By helping me get elected means I’m gonna take actions on your behalf. That’s one thing you gotta understand.”

In October 2011, an undercover FBI agent asked Yee if there were a way to contribute money outside of his campaign for mayor of San Francisco. Yee told him he could “contribute unlimited sums to a committee supporting a ballot measure for school funding that Senator Yee also supported. Senator Yee explained that the ads for the measure would feature Senator Yee in a positive piece supporting schools and education.”

Yee was a favorite of the education establishment. [Teachers unions] The Community College Association, the higher education affiliate of the California Teachers Association, named Yee its “Legislator of the Year” in 2012. CTA itself endorsed Yee in his 2010 state senate campaign.

It’s interesting to note that in all of the breathless coverage by the media of Yee’s arrest, not ONCE do they mention he is a DEMOCRAT.

Stay tuned, there is more to come!

Sarah Palin Earns Money… Get Over It

By Stacy Drake

I wanted to address this a couple days ago but I’m just getting around to it now. Considering this is an ongoing “non-troversy” for the left and their media, I figure it sort of has indefinite relevancy.

At the beginning of this week, the leftist media spent dozens of man hours spewing out the same, tired old theme. That being the fact that Sarah Palin makes money and for some reason the world should be outraged about it. I understand why they would try this trick in the beginning. I get that the left has to throw the entire kitchen sink at Governor Palin, due to her Teflon ‘mojo.’ But still, I find this absolutely ridiculous. They are making themselves look very foolish to anyone paying attention.

After the speech Palin gave in Turlock for the 50th Anniversary of CSU Stanislaus, and the subsequent harassment she, as well as the organizers of the event received for doing such – it goes back to this theme. It is a pure political strike conducted by left-wing officials and their close friends in the press. No other former public servant, or possible future candidate has had to deal with this sort of scrutiny on their wallets. You just never see hundreds of stories all lined up disclosing the amount any other candidate is paid for anything they do, unless they are corrupted or abusing tax-dollars. Well, Sarah Palin has never been corrupt, she is a private citizen, getting paid with private dollars, and the only one getting abused here are her and her family.

What happened in California was an embarrassment to me as a Californian. Yes, I have to live with these left-wing lunatics. And no, having their heads examined doesn’t help. Fortunately for me I live in a military city, so I am surrounded by level-headed, reality based folks. My friends in Los Angeles are not so lucky.

I think one of the worst aspects of the treatment Sarah Palin received in California, is that it was started by government officials. Jerry Brown made a mockery of his elected office by assisting in the stunt created by the future wannabe Candidate for San Francisco Mayor, and former Hawaiian shoplifter, Leland Yee. I wrote about this before here and here.

They tried to bully the organizers of the CSU event and bully Sarah Palin with the use of orchestrated theatrics for the all too available news cameras, and with the help of “dumpster diving” students. By the way, to those young girls that went dumpster diving for this state government witch-hunt… That was really lame. I’m in my early thirties, but have things changed that much since I was your age? I wouldn’t have been caught dead digging in the trash for “The Man“ back then. Lame.

Governor Palin asked Jerry Brown from the podium at the speech in Turlock a very interesting, very valid question. She said, “This is California. Do you really not have anything better to do?” Great question, governor! I happen to know for a fact that he does.

California is a mess any way you slice it. I have never witnessed Jerry Brown do anything with his department to help correct the dire state of our state. In fact, Jerry Brown is the person most responsible for unionizing the public employees here with SEIU, whose pensions are one of the main culprits for the current fiscal mess that IS California. And guess what… Jerry Brown earns his income from tax-dollars so perhaps a little more scrutiny on Moonbeam is a good idea.

Back in March, I wrote a post about this ongoing phony outrage over speaking fees, and why I think the left uses this trick to put a wedge in between Sarah Palin and her supporters. It said:

This is why Governor Palin’s detractors are never concerned with the speaking fees of Al Gore or even Mitt Romney. They aren’t members or leaders of the working class. They are fellow members of the same elite establishment that leftist media belongs to.

So the main reason for such reporting and documenting of every dollar Sarah Palin makes is nothing more than the establishment and the lefty press trying to put a wedge between Palin and her supporters. They think, falsely that Governor Palin will lose some of that “street cred” they admit exists if she makes some money. Just look at any comment section of a mainstream news site. You will no doubt see any number of leftists repeating the same meme that “she’s only in it for the money!” … Rubbish!

Working class Americans who support Governor Palin mostly come from a conservative worldview. The left seems to be confusing their own populist rhetoric with the true concerns of the modern populist movement. Conservatives don’t begrudge people for making an honest living. And while the left constantly tries to say she is paid too much for giving speeches and such, these people are no experts on the going rate of high profile speakers. It’s just more phony negative narratives about Governor Palin from the left.

While I still agree with my own assessment there, I think it is more than that at this stage. I think it is also a diversionary tactic meant to drown out Governor Palin’s message. As Don Surber noted the other day in his piece titled “AP fights to cover a speech it then didn’t cover,” he said (emphasis mine):

The Associated Press and other news organizations fought to get permission to cover the speech.

But what exactly did Palin say?

One cannot tell from the Associated Press. All the story talked about was the process. The story was long on Dumpster-diving students who tried to get her speech engagement contract and other liberal-manufactured controversies around the woman’s speech.

But the speech itself?

Garance Burke of the Associated Press failed to report it. His whole story was about the various controversies stirred up by liberals.

You can read his entire article here

So there you go… The media is actively helping their political allies mask out Sarah Palin’s words and push phony controversy to dilute what the public at large thinks about her. If it causes a rift with her own supporters, well then that’s fine too for these people who are nothing more than undercover activists.

I do wonder however, if they realize what a bunch of outright hypocrites they look like. They take home a paycheck. They think they serve the public, yet none of them are disclosing all the fine details in the contracts with their employers. Doesn’t the public have a right to know? Why are their companies making money? Aren’t they supposed to be serving the greater good?

It’s nonsense, they know, Governor Palin knows it, those of us paying attention know it, and the general public with busy lives trying to make ends meet – the one’s these people give no credit of processing any intellectual prowess – they get it too. The only people “outraged” by Governor Palin making an income are people who are faking it for political reasons.

Brown Plays Dirty Politics with Palin Speech, Says… HuffPo?

By Stacy Drake

I’ve covered Senator Leland Yee’s little crusade against Governor Palin’s speech extensively. Come to find out Leland is gearing up to run for the San Francisco Mayor’s office. He wouldn’t have started this spectacle against a fundraiser to jump-start his own fundraising efforts, would he? The left does claim that Palin brings in lots of money for democrats, and the DNC has used her name in the past to rally their unhinged base. Fear and hatred being the primary motivating factors, I would say it’s a safe bet.

It appears that Leland Yee isn’t alone in using this trick. Richard Grenell, the former Director of Communications and Public Diplomacy for the United States Permanent Representative to the United Nations posted an article called “Jerry Brown’s “Investigations” Are Campaign Stops” on Saturday at the Huffington Post. Judging by the reaction of the comments over there, the normal readership is not too happy about it either. He states:

It must be campaign season. How else do you explain Jerry Brown’s recent fascination with investigations and allegations announced with lots of media in tow and advantageously timed to benefit traditional Democratic constituencies and issues? There is no doubt that the Brown campaign committee and political advisors are strategically planning the roll-out of official attorney general “investigations” to maximize public attention and perception. But what is most troubling about Jerry Brown’s use of the Attorney General’s office to campaign for his
return to the governor’s mansion is that his cavalier press conferences, media interviews and announced investigations are only chasing Democratic political issues while ignoring real public safety concerns. Brown has turned the Attorney General’s Office into a political machine with subpoena power — and Republicans and their allies are the target.

In the month of April alone, Brown has launched investigations to embarrass Sarah Palin, aggressively promote union membership, clear ACORN of criminal activities, play catch-up on the Wall Street scandal by trumping up charges against Wall Street giant Moody’s, go after an oil company politically active in defeating California’s new green house gas emissions law, and grab headlines on issues ranging from home foreclosures to former child star Corey Haim’s death. In just one month, Brown has shown that his race for governor starts by using his legal office to help traditional Democratic allies beat back their opponents. The tactics Jerry Brown
is using and the public position he is abusing leaves the public with no other choice but to ask Brown to give up his position as the top law enforcement official in California if he is to run an honest campaign for governor.

Brown has promoted his investigation of Sarah Palin’s speech at California State University Stanislaus nationwide in an attempt to raise campaign money from Democrats across the U.S. By using the Attorney General’s office to investigate the Democrat’s favorite villain, Brown has turned the AG’s office into his political fundraising operation. It just isn’t credible for Brown to suggest that Palin’s speech contract deserves the scrutiny of the top law enforcement agency in California — no matter what the details of the contract are. Brown’s hyperbolic and emotional rants on the issue just don’t pass the straight-face test.

[…]

The business community is being bullied by Brown and his team through Chicago-style politics. If Jerry Brown wants to restore California to its golden days, then he should start by stepping down as attorney general and giving the citizens confidence that the highest law enforcement official in the state will not also be running for governor at the same time.

I couldn’t agree more… For both Leland Yee and Jerry Brown to use public resources to pursue their political gain in the name of being ‘watch-dogs’ for the people of California and their public funds is laughable on it’s face. Here these guys pull from the public treasury, money it does not have, to persecute someone who is accepting PRIVATE funds to help raise money (no doubt the money spent by private donors is an investment they will see a large return off of) for a PUBLIC institution. Nobody does irony quite like California does irony.

The California Persecution of Sarah Palin

by Stacy Drake

California Democrat Legislator, Leland Yee is up to his old tricks… And no I don’t mean he was caught soliciting prostitutes again or stealing suntan lotion from the store. He is grandstanding again over the speech Governor Palin is to deliver at the California State University Stanislaus’ 50th Anniversary Gala on June 25th. I wrote about this the first time I had heard that Yee was making an issue out of this, but now he seems to have doubled-down on crazy.

(Cover of the 1979 Dead Kennedy’s single album “California Über Alles” featuring then Governor Jerry Brown. The song focused on the band’s concern of what they called “hippie-fascism.”)

While California falls to pieces, the second most powerful democrat in the state spends his time trying to silence Sarah Palin by getting college students to play along with his little charade to his other willing accomplices in the news media. The most outrageous development however is that the Attorney General of California, Jerry “Moonbeam” Brown has launched an official investigation into the group that hired Governor Palin to speak. Brown does claims however, that “this is not about Sarah Palin.” Oh really? I don’t recall any other speaker on a college campus sparking an investigation from the state government before. Then again, this is a state that hires, with taxpayer dollars, self proclaimed Communists to speak to the kids everyday! No need for an investigation there… After all, they are the types our own president ‘sought after’ when he attended college. But I digress.

From the AP:

California Attorney General Jerry Brown said Tuesday his office had launched an investigation into the finances of a state university foundation and the alleged dumping of documents related to Sarah Palin’s upcoming speech at the school.

Brown also intends to look into whether the California State University, Stanislaus Foundation violated public disclosure laws.

…

The investigation came after students at the school retrieved five pages of the contract with Palin last week from a campus trash bin after hearing administrators might be shredding it.

State Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, who has been seeking details of Palin’s compensation package for several weeks, released copies of the paperwork earlier in the day.

…

The students who found the document said they acted on a tip that documents were being shredded when campus staff members were supposed to be on furlough.

“I was informed that there was suspicious activity taking place at the administration building, which I found very alarming,” said 23-year-old Ashli Briggs, a junior at the school.

Briggs contacted senior Alicia Lewis, 26, who went with several other students to investigate. The building was locked and gated, but the students were able to retrieve piles of paperwork, including the contract document, from a nearby trash bin, Lewis said.

On Tuesday, Briggs and Lewis gave Brown’s office material they said came from the trash bins, including two boxes of documents and two trash bags filled with shredded files.

The contract pages have Washington Speakers Bureau printed at the top and a contract number. The speakers bureau did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Yee called the incident “a dark day for the CSU.”

“This is our little Watergate in the state of California,” he said Tuesday at a news conference where he was joined by Briggs and Lewis.

This AP post left out the big revelation in the documents these young women so courageously found. In what many are now mockingly calling “Strawgate,” they say the documents state that Governor Palin had supposedly requested “bendy straws” and water while at the University. I know, I was just devastated to learn that the woman I looked up to for so long as a patriotic heroine, actually uses straws! Just horrible… Who knows if I’ll recover or not. [sarc]

The author of the article did manage to find someone on campus with some sense. Russell Giambelluca, the university’s vice president of business and finance said:

“No one at the university was advised to destroy specific foundation documents, and staff members routinely shred and dispose of paperwork that is no longer needed.

Regarding the excerpt of Palin’s contract, he said: “I find it interesting that among shredded documents you find one that’s completely intact related to the contract.”

So do I. This whole thing insults the intelligence of anyone they are selling it to. Do they honestly expect us to believe that there is some big campus conspiracy to cover up the fact that Governor Palin drinks water from a straw? On a California campus no less! Or is it that fee she is being paid by private donors they (who is “they” anyway) were trying to cover up? This is just stupid. But by all means, gubernatorial candidate, SEIU tool, and democratic political hack Attorney General Moonbeam, launch an investigation with our money. Go ahead and prove the utter corruption and stupidity of this state’s government for all the country to see.

In the end, Yee and Brown are just looking to disclose that fee that Governor Palin is to receive to take a political shot her. It’s that long standing narrative the left uses against her to try and drive a wedge between her and her base. The one that doesn’t work but they just keep using it anyway. It’s been going on since the RNC wardrobe smear and by using the courts and launching official investigations, along with their friends in the press, It will continue on to the next dollar Sarah Palin makes.

(Photo Courtesy of Toki De La Vega)

California Lawmaker Targets Sarah Palin, Proves Why State is Such a Mess

by Stacy Drake

Governor Palin is scheduled to speak at the California State University Stanislaus’ 50th Anniversary Gala on June 25th. The CSU press release states:

This is a black-tie fundraising event, hosted by the CSU Stanislaus Foundation.

The evening will begin with a reception at 6 p.m. followed by a five-course dinner and then dancing… Proceeds from this black-tie event will benefit the University.

Needless to say, news of Governor Palin’s appearance didn’t go over too well with certain members of the not-so tolerant, left-wing California educational establishment. We all know what great proponents of free speech leftist college students are these days. An organized faction of CSU students has already set up a Facebook group in “protest” of her selection. I know, shocking isn’t it. Another group of radical leftists are angry that Governor Palin talks and wish that she would just “shut up.” Amateurs…

(Left-Wing Radical Cornel West & Senator Leland Yee)

The second highest ranking Democrat of the California State Assembly, Senator Leland Yee (D-San Francisco) is also rather bothered by free speech and is stepping in to, at least make sure Governor Palin’s speaking fee is publicly disclosed. Yeah, because that’s not on ongoing political attack against Sarah Palin or anything, THANK YOU certain bloggers.

Yee said the CSU Stanislaus community is “still reeling from a wave of state budget cuts and student fee increases — deserves to know what the foundation is spending on speaker fees.”

Matt Swanson, president of the foundation’s board of directors points out the major problem with Yee’s premise. Swanson stated that all the money to fund the event would come from private donations, adding: “We don’t use university money or public money for anything, not just this event.” Not to mention the fact that the event is a FUND RAISER, intended to RAISE FUNDS. I’m sure the university will benefit greatly from the gala.

California State Legislature

My beautiful state is home to one of the most inept, corrupt, and ideologically stupid governments in the country. Watching the California State Legislature conduct it’s business is probably a lot like watching drunken teenagers with a stolen credit card and Dad’s car. The last letter I sent to my state representative was to voice my displeasure with her and the others for taking a group trip to Europe to “see how Europeans govern.” I kid you not… That was awhile back but I realize that speaking my mind to these people is akin to telling Nancy Pelosi that you don’t like Obamacare. They could care less about your opinion unless you are handing them large stacks of cash or big blocks of voters they can hook with some sort of entitlement. I am neither, so I rarely ‘contact my representative,’ it’s a waste of time, frankly.

Senator Yee didn’t make the trip to Europe. Instead he and another state senator headed off to Asia at that time, to… I’m not sure, the reporter from the LA Times didn’t ask. It matters not, the taxpayers picked up the tab and nothing was gained by the State of California, as far as I can tell.

I found it entertaining that the man known for his four year crusade to place the letter “M” on video game boxes, missed such a key, yet widely known detail of the foundations event before he went running to the press with his version of ‘Palin Gotcha.’

Perhaps Senator Yee has been spending too much time cruising for prostitutes in the Mission District of San Francisco to make sure his staff covered all of their bases. Maybe he was too busy figuring out new ways to mandate mind-reading for store clerks that not only did he accidentally shoplift a bottle of “Tropical Blend Tan Magnifier oil” but he also forgot to check the California State University Stanislaus’ foundation event policies.

I’m not sure… I do know that Senator Leland Yee is the wrong person to pick a baseless political fight with a giant like Sarah Palin. This state is in serious trouble and it’s jokers like this that got us to this point. Solutions to the financial crisis, the over-crowded prisons, the ridiculous environmental policies, the enormous taxes, the unemployment, all of the problems this states residents face daily are never addressed in the legislature. Instead, we have the second most powerful member of the assembly, who is not a good man by any stretch, addressing speaking fees at a university gala. Is there any wonder why California is such a mess?