My hometown supervisors again set up The City for national ridicule and general hilarity, this time with the ban on Mcdonald’s Happy Meal toys. I guess it is a good thing that in these trying times we can offer ourselves up to the rest of the nation as civic clowns to help lighten the national mood.

I fully understand that – in the most progressive major city with the most progressive governing body in the country – it is impossible for them to resist the temptation to occasionally succumb to their core belief that no one is capable of making decisions for themselves or their family without their benevolent dictates guiding forcing us in the right direction. But… when even the Daily Show is pointing and laughing – you’d think our Supes might get a clue.

t. Carly Fiorina and Barbara Boxer met for their first (and potentially only) debate of the election season. It is one of the “dirty dozen” bubble contests that will determine whether the GOP retakes the majority in the Senate.

Proponents and opponents of gay marriage, the end is nigh. The ruling today was a thing of beauty, not just because Prop 8 was overturned, but because the language in the decision basically positions Gay Americans as equal to every other American in every single way. And, the cherry on top of the judicial sundae? [...]

I wont be nearly the first person to be writing about California’s Proposition 14. I’m coming late into the game, having only listened to the vague positive talking points of the California Independent Voter Network (CAIVN), and their allies, who have talked this proposition up. But I began to see some dissent, and took at [...]

Heard about this? Well, you will. Basically, open primaries are where the top two vote getters move on to the general, with the hopeful net result being that Dems and Repubs wouldn’t have to appeal to the more extreme elements of their party to get to the big show. Here’s more… So, no more party [...]

Reuters Link…

California Court of Appeals says no to Proposition 14 opponents, which is good news for independent voters. From CAIVN: “The Court rejected the CSEA language, preserved the lower court’s language, and ordered the restoration of the Legislative Analyst’s prediction of cost savings associated with the measure.” And open primaries gaining support in Pennsylvania and Illinois. [...]

More commentary this weekend on California’s Proposition 14 “top two” open primary referendum after Judge Allen Sumner’s ballot wording ruling on Friday. The ruling was seen as a win for independent voters by attorney Harry Kresky of IndependentVoting and by Californians for an Open Primary/Yes on 14… Meanwhile, state Rep. Hunter Greene, a Republican who [...]

Sacramento Superior Court Judge Allen Sumner is expected to rule today on the ballot language for Prop 14. Leading independent Attorney Harry Kresky speaks out on the legal fight over the “top two” open primaries referendum: “When the California legislature voted to put Proposition 14 on the ballot this June, it crafted a summary of [...]

Independent voters in California (aka “decline to state”) vote in primaries at the whim of the party big-shots. And California Dems (including the school employees union) are playing some bad language games trying to dissuade voters from supporting Proposition 14, the “Top Two” open primary referendum on the ballot for a vote in June that [...]

Gergen served up a softball and Scott Brown knocked it out of the park. “It’s not Ted Kennedy’s seat. It’s not the Democrat’s seat. It’s the people’s seat.” If Brown wins, this may be the moment that put him over the top.

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]