California's Senate Bill 777 is a grossly mis-guided bill which orders public schools to remove the words mom/dad and husband/wife from the classroom.

Adding to the strangeness, the bill requires California public schools to allow students to 'choose their own gender' when deciding whether to use the boys/girls restroom or boys/girls locker room.

The intent was to avoid discrimination against gay and trans-gendered students, but the result defies common sense.

Petition signatures are required to be received by January 4th, 2008 in order to help repeal SB 777.

With '08 upon us the staff and I are busy planning a range of topics to tackle in the new year.

First on the list of course are the upcoming elections: Presidential, local San Diego, statewide California, and any campaign that becomes newsworthy for wildcard reasons. (Just as California's special election to replace Duke Cunningham captured national attention in '06).

This year the California Primary has been moved up to Super Tuesday -February 5th- and in the process leveraging the importance of California voters. We can expect the candidates to start spending advertising money and time in the Golden State during January and likewise...expect key presidential candidate guest appearances on the radio show in January as well.

While I learned from my days on Wall Street never to pretend to have a crystal ball, there are some trends I do see developing on the presidential campaign trail.

Most noteworthy is the rise of John McCain. After picking up the endorsements of three key newspapers plus Democratic Senator Joe Lieberman, McCain seems to be shrewdly spending his assets in states where he can gain the greatest benefit.

McCain, for example, is content to let Mike Huckabee and others spend their evangelical capital in places like Iowa and South Carolina- where he has little hope of winning in the first place- while he spends his time campaigning in Romney's backyard, New Hampshire...where McCain has now pulled even.

Imagine the media bounce to be gained when he follows a weak Iowa performance with a strong New Hampshire comeback.

San Diego's 52nd Congressional district race is one which I find intriguing.

You have 31 year old Duncan Hunter Jr.- served three tours in Afghanistan- who has all the connections, name recognition and money...but the idea of someone running merely because he is the son of a famous Congressman has many east county republican voters rankled.

Many voters are not even aware of the names of the other candidates in the race. One candidate however to keep an eye on is Bob Watkins.

A 51 year old self made business man who has built an international management consulting business- from the ground up- in to a multi-million dollar operation employing over 2400 people in several cities. Watkins has also been involved in local San Diego republican party issues for several years. If he ever manages to gain public awareness, he should become an interesting candidate to watch.

Other topics on our radar screen in 08:

1. Raising legal defense funds for Private First Class Corey Claggett
2. Continue to raise public awareness (and money) in issues involving Military Injustice
3. Helping overturn SB 777
4. The effects of flouride in San Diego's water supply
5. San Diego's water supply shortage
6. Ramos-Compean

...Along the way, as always, we will spice things up with humor, light-heartedness...and of course your ideas you bring to our attention.

Happy New Year,

Rick

Christmas time, of course, is a time of gift-giving and this week there was plenty of giving on the campaign trail...and great gift ideas shared on the radio show.

On the campaign trail Senator John McCain not only received his Christmas Day gifts early...but they came neatly wrapped and tied with a bow.

This week three newspapers- two major and one small- gave McCain their endorsement: The Des Moines Register, Boston Globe and Portsmouth (NH) Herald.

Adding to McCain's 'bounty under the tree' was democratic Senator Joe Leiberman's (NY) endorsement of the newly-revived candidate.

There appears to be no truth to the rumor that Fred Thompson will give his supporters the gift of a campaign complete with purpose and energy.

Our Technology Contributor Oscar Rodriguez joined the show and informed listeners of a great, practical, money-saving gift idea. It is from a company called Ooma, which allows you to replace your telephone land line with an internet-based line...net result...NO CHARGES FOR DOMESTIC PHONE CALLS- LOCAL AND LONG DISTANCE- EVER!

We also heard from Mark Dian, owner of City Boxing in San Diego, the gym I recently joined. For the gift of health and fitness, City Boxing is unrivaled.

Besides owing a gym, Dian is also a manager of world class fighters. The fighters (boxing, jui jitsu, kick-boxing) works as trainers at City Boxing.

All gym members receive training from a world class athlete...at no additional charge! Personally I have never experienced anything like this in a gym before.

We hope you receive the gift of your dreams and desires!

We have received SEVERAL email messages from people asking how they can listen to past broadcasts of The Rick Amato Show.

This is a friendly reminder that you can listen to archive programs by clicking the Podcasts/Archives section.

We provide the date, name of guest and brief description of the show topic when choosing which show to listen to.

The Rick Amato Show is also available in the Apple itunes store.

One of the interesting stories to come to light in the aftermath of the Southern California wildfires is that of a local home builder which makes fire resistant homes.

Tridipanel, based in Vista, CA, is the maker of natural disaster proof homes.

Currently the public is largely unaware of the availability of the technology used by Tridipanel, but if that changes- and it should- it could revolutionize the way homes are constructed, and eliminate or lessen the potential damage caused from
natural disasters such as tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes and wildfires.

According to CEO Ron Hadrian, the homes are made of concrete with an exterior faced to give it an attractive appearance.

The price point is consistent with traditionally constructed homes.

One San Diego resident who lost his home in the '03 Cedar Fire, rebuilt his new home using the Tridipanel system and says we wishes he knew about the company earlier.

To date, the company's customer base has been built primarily on word of mouth referrals from existing owners and by people researching alternative building methods online.