I feel dumber for having seen this, but it’s so hilariously clueless that I couldn’t stop watching.

(Stolen from BTB. Thx Doug!)

Looks like they’ve finally come to an agreement, but at the expensive of the poor and elderly.
From LA Times:
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders announced Monday that they had reached a deal to close California’s $26.3-billion deficit and begin paying all of the state’s bills again, potentially ending months of partisan wrangling and a cash [...]

After I read Matt Taibbi’s piece about Goldman Sachs gaming the oil/gas marketplace and wrote my own response, I started to think about the massive $24.3 billion budget deficit in California, and I wondered, “How could they get that far in the hole?”
Sure, the global economy has tanked the past couple years and revenues aren’t [...]

They’re seeing red in the Golden state.
From Reuters:
California’s controller said on Wednesday that he would have to issue IOUs in a week if lawmakers can’t quickly solve a $24 billion budget deficit, and the state’s treasurer plans to tap a reserve fund to meet debt service costs.
The measures came as a budget crisis deepened in [...]

California voters had their say and now Schwarzenegger is doing what needs to be done.
From Mercury News:
In a state that long has prided itself on its social safety net, it could well go down in history as the most drastic reduction in social programs ever. And billions in further cuts will be unveiled later this [...]

This was a bit of a surprise when I heard about it, but apparently Ted Olson has joined forces with the Equal Rights Foundation and they’ve just sent out a press release about yesterday’s decision.
Here are some key excerpts (.pdf) …
“Yesterday, the California Supreme Court said that the California Constitution compels the State to discriminate [...]

Anybody who reads this blog knows where I fall on the gay marriage issue, but the Supreme Court of California wasn’t reallly deciding the validity of gay marriage itself, so the ruling was actually dead on in my opinion.
This article from Bloomberg points out why…
The court legalized gay marriage a year ago before California voters [...]

This is a pretty big stake in the ground, because they’ll be using California’s standards…the toughest in the nation.
No doubt you’ll be hearing that this is bad for business, but that’s what they said about seat belts, airbags and every other time CAFE standards were raised. And I think we’re all fairly aware that the [...]

This came as a bit of a shock to me, but Arnold is definitely one of the most moderate Republicans I’ve ever seen and is willing to take chances giving his unique position as a Republican Governor of a solidly blue state. Also, let’s not forget that the state voted to okay medical marijuana back [...]

It could be a political ploy, but one never knows with Arnold…
From NY Times:
If Republican candidates for governor of California are hoping for an automatic high five from the sitting governor, they ought not to get too comfortable.
When asked Friday after giving a speech on health care in which he highly praised President Obama and [...]

It’s happening a lot more now that other loans besides the subprimes are coming due.
From North County Times:
Ward Hanigan, a San Diego investor who purchases foreclosures, agreed that the longer foreclosure procedures produce artificially low inventory numbers, with no recovery in sight for the region’s housing market.
“It’s like an oil pipeline; it used to be [...]

For years I’ve been arguing that the government should simply get out of the institution of marriage all together, and some folks in Cali are trying to put that idea into motion.
From The Herald:
California’s top election official gave two Southern California college students the go-ahead Tuesday to start collecting signatures for a proposed ballot initiative [...]

The biggest economy in America is now suffering from double digit unemployment.
So what about underemployment? Well, that’s probably closing in on 20%.
Just thought you should know.

The California Republican Party is in a sad state of disarray.
After formulating a budget compromise with Democrats and a handful of dissident Republicans, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger skipped the party’s state convention in Sacramento and headed to a Governor’s conference in Washington, D.C.
Undoubtedly, that was a wise move on his part. Schwarzenegger is going to be [...]

The state is so cash strapped that they’re giving their residents $3.5 billion worth of IOUs on tax returns and making workers go without pay two days out of the month, as mentioned in the title above.
From AP:
State agencies scrambled in the days before the furloughs took effect to avoid confusion for the public, such [...]

Christopher Beam of Slate talks about the recent seismic shift in the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
Out: Rep. John Dingell of Michigan, the tough, cantankerous eminence grise of the House Democratic caucus (he’s 82), who was so deferential to Detroit as chairman of the House energy and commerce committee that Lee Iacocca once said he [...]

Douglas W. Kmiec, a high profile lawyer in the Reagan and Poppy Bush administrations, lays out what he thinks is the solution to this gay marriage mess.
Essentially, get the government out of the business of religious marriage, and instead create civil unions for all that are legally recognized by the government. That way you have [...]

Well, they ruled on it once this year and looks like they’ll have to do it again thanks to the passage of Prop 8.
From AP:
The California Supreme Court on Wednesday accepted three lawsuits seeking to overturn Proposition 8. The amendment passed this month with 52 percent of the vote. The court did not elaborate on [...]

“This dialogue about ‘we have to go back to our core values.’ What is that? How far does ‘core’ go back in history in America. Thirty years? Fifty years? Because we know that Teddy Roosevelt talks about universal healthcare. I think it’s all nonsense talk.”
- Arnold Schwarzenegger on This Week with George Stephanopoulos
Looks like Obama [...]

Jon Meacham and Ashton Kutcher discuss Prop 8…

I agree with both of them, but Ashton more so. The idea that people voted on somebody else’s rights and relationships is crazy.
In the end, I wish the government would get out of the business of marriage and set up a separate civil union system so people [...]