This comes from Assemblyman Chuck DeVore here in California, who on this subject is on the same side as the sometimes controversial Congresswoman Maxine Waters.

It seems DeVore and others in the State Assembly are trying to pass Resolution 119 which marks “Tibet Day.” ACR 119 is bottled up by Assemblymember Ted Lieu’s (D-El Segundo) Rules Committee, with the Democratic leadership in Sacramento refusing to allow a vote on the measure due to its controversy.

Meantime, at the same time the Democrats in the The California State Assembly hold up the condemnation of China, it passed a measure that memorializes the United States Fish and Wildlife Service to list both polar bears and penguins as needing protection under the federal Endangered Species Act.

ACR 119 marks the People’s Republic of China:

…egregious violations of human rights including the repression of political, civic, and religious groups such as Tibetan Buddhists, Catholics, Protestants, Falun Gong practitioners, Muslims, democracy advocates, labor organizers, lawyers, journalists, environmental activists, political dissidents, and other innocent people; the illegal harvesting of vital body organs and coercive third-trimester abortions; the perpetuation of slave labor camps; and the deprivation of basic fundamental freedoms of expression, assembly, and religious beliefs…

The Rest of this article is ACCORDING TO DeVore’s Blog. Click over to check it out.

You’ve all asked for them, so here are some pictures I have taken around Northern California the last month or so. As most of you know, I love to take pictures and these are just some of the latest. Any questions about them I can answer. Enjoy!

While some polling stations will close as early as 12:30 pm today (West Virginia’s Republican-only caucus), California voters can select their candidate until 11pm pacific time. That means this race will be one of the most exciting (history making in terms of the number of primaries today) and perhaps toughest to call. California has the most delegates to offer and winning there could – very late in the day – turn an already very close race.

There are a number of articles today – the Wall Street Journal among them – that explains how differently the Democrats and Republicans allocate delegates in different states and then there are those states on the Republican side that offer “winner take all” races. Candidates today are voting in their homestates and making whatever last ditch efforts they can to visit other states the polls suggest they should.

I’ll be following it all (confession: politics junkie) and co-hosting with Bret Baier two hours of our “You Decide 2008″ coverage on Fox News Channel from 3-5 am eastern (just after those all important California polls close)…

…so tell me this…

1. till what time will you be tracking the results of the 24 primaries being held today and

2. what are your predictions for the Republicans and Democrats tonight?

UPDATE: SENATOR JIM DEMINT WILL BE ON OUR SHOW THIS SATURDAY BETWEEN NOON AND 2PM EASTERN. POST YOUR COMMENTS AND I WILL READ AS MANY AS I CAN ON THE SHOW.

Ralph wrote The Colby Files “how about a blog about Berkeley trying to boot the troops”. To the point, some folks in Berkeley California and the City Council there say it’s no place to recruit. Here’s just the latest on this story from foxnews.com:

Friday , February 01, 2008

WASHINGTON —

U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., says the City of Berkeley, Calif., no longer deserves federal money.

DeMint was angered after learning that the Berkeley City Council voted this week to tell the U.S. Marine Corps to remove its recruiting station from the city’s downtown.

“This is a slap in the face to all brave service men and women and their families,” DeMint said in a prepared statement. “The First Amendment gives the City of Berkeley the right to be idiotic, but from now on they should do it with their own money.”

“If the city can’t show respect for the Marines that have fought, bled and died for their freedom, Berkeley should not be receiving special taxpayer-funded handouts,” he added.

In the meantime, a senior Marine official tells FOX News that the Marine office in Berkeley isn’t going anywhere.

“We understand things are different there, but some people just don’t get it. This is a part of the military machine that gives them the right to do what they do, but what they are doing is extreme,” the official said.

DeMint said he will draft legislation to rescind any earmarks dedicated for the City of Berkeley in the recently passed appropriations bill — which his office tallied to value about $2.1 million. He said that any money taken back would be transferred to the Marines.

DeMint’s office provided a preliminary list of items that would be subject to his proposal:

— $975,000 for the University of California at Berkeley, for the Matsui Center for Politics and Public Service, which may include establishing an endowment, and for cataloguing the papers of Congressman Robert Matsui.

— $750,000 for the Berkeley/Albana ferry service.

— $243,000 for the Chez Panisse Foundation, for a school lunch initiative to integrate lessons about wellness, sustainability and nutrition into the academic curriculum.

— $94,000 for a Berkeley public safety interoperability program.

— $87,000 for the Berkeley Unified School District, nutrition education program.

The Marine official, speaking with FOX News on Friday, said Marine Commandant Gen. James Conway scoffed at the news, but there are no plans for to protest the City Council’s decisions. There are definitely no plans to move the recruiting station either.

“To actually put something into law that encourages the disruption of a federal office is ridiculous. They are not going to kick a federal office out of its rightful place there, and this is not going to discourage those young patriots who want to be Marines,” the official said.

The Berkeley City Council this week voted to tell the Marines their downtown recruiting station is not welcome and “if recruiters choose to stay, they do so as uninvited and unwelcome guests,” according to The Associated Press.

The council also voted to explore whether a city anti-discrimination law applies to the Marines, with a focus on the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that prevents open homosexuality in the military.

The council also voted to give the antiwar group Code Pink a parking space in front of the recruiting office once a week for six months, as well as a protest permit.

The Marine recruiting office in Berkeley has been open for about one year, but has been the subject of recent protests by Code Pink members.

I’ve been steaming over this story since I was a guest on Red Eye Wednesday. On that show, I asked residents opposing this recruitment office whether they’d like to replace the brave men and women who are signing up to protect ALL OF US.

WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY TO THE CITY COUNCIL AND RESIDENTS OPPOSING THIS?

As some have requested, I have decided to post some fall/winter pictures from around Northern California. This is a beautiful time of the year in this part of the country.