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Where does all that state money go?

California state government spent $145 billion last fiscal year, $41 billion more than four years ago when Gov. Gray Davis got recalled by voters. With all that new spending -- a whopping 40% increase -- we ought to be in a golden age of government with abundant public services for all.

So why does it seem like the quality and quantity of government is not all that different from 2004? How many of us feel like we are getting 40% more public services, 40% better schools, roads, parks and so on?

Some of it went to cover increases in the cost of living, and state spending naturally grows with the size of the population. But even adjusting for inflation and population growth, state spending is up almost 20% compared with four years ago, a big enough bump that ordinary Californians should be able to notice it. The state's financial statements describe where the money went -- the big gainers were education ($13 billion), transportation ($10 billion) and health ($10 billion) -- but not why these billions don't create even a blip on our day-to-day radar. More

3 SoCal hospitals accused of using homeless for fraud

On a Sunday afternoon two years ago, five homeless people being dropped off on Los Angeles' skid row by an ambulance caught the attention of police officers.

The officers videotaped what they thought was a case of hospitals dumping patients in a section of the city where few would notice or care.

But as investigators began to unravel the incident, they say they found something far different: a massive scheme to defraud taxpayer-funded healthcare programs of millions of dollars by recruiting homeless patients for unnecessary medical services.

The elaborate enterprise churned thousands of indigents through hospitals over the last four years and billed Medicare and Medi-Cal for costly and unjustified medical procedures, federal, state and local investigators said Wednesday. Those involved in the alleged conspiracy "ranged from street-level operatives to the chief executive of a hospital," U.S. Atty. Thomas P. O'Brien said. More

Assembly goes on vacation amid Cali budget deadlock

With the state budget far from resolved, the Assembly resumed its summer vacation Tuesday.

Members of the lower house contemplated two dozen bills before joining their Senate counterparts on holiday. Barring a budget breakthrough, both houses are scheduled to be dark until Aug. 4.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, meanwhile, ramped up his rhetoric over the lack of progress on the state's $101 billion general fund spending plan, which contains a $15.2 billion deficit. The governor admonished the Legislature for not meeting its June 15 constitutional deadline and noted that he has always turned in his spending proposal on time.

"I can only get the horse to the water," Schwarzenegger said, "but I can't make it drink." More

Algebra 1 to be required for all 8th-graders

All California eighth-graders in public school will have to take Algebra 1 beginning in 2011 under a policy approved Wednesday by the state Board of Education in an 8-1 vote.

The board decided to make algebra testing mandatory in the eighth grade over the strong objections of Jack O'Connell, the state's elected schools chief. O'Connell accused the board of demanding high standards while failing to tie them to extra resources needed to fix a shortage of math teachers and prepare thousands of disadvantaged kids for the rigorous class.

"I fear that we're setting our students up for failure," O'Connell said. "I pray that I'm wrong." More

Legislators lust for porn tax

Solving this year's state budget deficit will require some creative solutions. Democrats and Republicans agree on that.

But in an example of just how dysfunctional the state's finances are, take a look at one bill co-sponsored by Assemblywoman Cathleen Galgiani, D-Livingston.

The bill, AB 2914, would levy a tax on all services defined as adult entertainment, everything from entry fees at a gentleman's club to blue videos at your corner store.

Dubbed, naturally, a "porn tax," the bill would send revenues that could be used, in vague language, on anything that would address the societal costs of adult entertainment. That could be education, health and human services, environment (Paper used for men's magazines? Air pollution from cars driving to strip clubs? OK, maybe not). More

Lawmaker pushes for expansion of secret license plates

SANTA ANA – Assemblyman Sandre Swanson told the story earlier this month during a public radio show about confidential license plates intended to protect government employees from criminals.

Swanson wants to expand the program, which already shields the home address on record for nearly 1 million cars owned by public employees.

"We've had a code enforcement officer who was killed and his family murdered as a result of his information being obtained through DMV records," Swanson said on AirTalk on KPPC. "and so we've already had tragic examples."

But the Register was unable to find even a single example of a code enforcement officer killed because someone accessed their drivers' records. And neither could the lobbyist supporting Swanson's proposal. An aide to Swanson eventually acknowledged that the anecdote wasn't accurate. More

California Lawmaker Floats Balloon Ban

A California state senate committee Tuesday unanimously approved a ban on helium-filled metallic balloons.

The bill's sponsor, State Sen. Jack Scott, D-Altadena, said metallic balloons are responsible for hundreds of power outages every year when they drift into power lines.

"I don't want to be a party pooper, but these things are causing a lot more damage than people realize," Scott said.

The owner of the Sacramento Balloon Co. couldn't believe the legislature was considering the ban. Steve Rostratter said metallic balloons make up more than half his business.

"There are thousands of jobs in California in the balloon industry," Rostratter said. More

Scientists: Big Quake Likely in Cali

California faces an almost certain risk of being rocked by a strong earthquake by 2037, scientists said in the first statewide temblor forecast.

New calculations reveal there is a 99.7 percent chance a magnitude 6.7 quake or larger will strike in the next 30 years. The odds of such an event are higher in Southern California than Northern California, 97 percent versus 93 percent.

"It basically guarantees it's going to happen," said Ned Field, a geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Pasadena and lead author of the report.

The 1994 Northridge earthquake under Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley was magnitude 6.7. It killed 72 people, injured more than 9,000 and caused $25 billion in damage in the metropolitan area.

The damage created by an earthquake depends greatly on where it hits. A 7.1 quake hit the Mojave Desert in 1999 but caused only a few injuries and no deaths. More

Oakland cops: Mind if we search your house for guns?

OAKLAND _ A six-month pilot program where Oakland police officers would knock on doors and ask permission to search homes for guns got the green light from the City Council's public safety committee Tuesday night.

It goes to the full council Tuesday, when the council will meet at 6 p.m. at City Hall, 1 Frank Ogawa Plaza.

The consent-to-search program, as it is called, is based closely on a similar effort launched in St. Louis in 1994 and on ongoing programs in Boston and Washington, D.C. The idea is simple: To ask parents for permission to search their homes for weapons their children may be hiding.

Under the program, officers would request permission to search homes for guns. Guns would be taken away, but officers would not pursue prosecution unless the weapon was tied to a crime. More

DWP users asked to pay breast-feeding bill

Sidestepping any potential opposition from its commission, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power is shopping for a contractor to run pregnancy and breast-feeding classes for its workers for up to $50,000 a year.

Because the contract for "lactation specialist services" is less than $150,000, General Manager H. David Nahai can award it without seeking approval from the DWP board once the proposals are opened March 7.

But board member Nick Patsaouras criticized Nahai on Thursday for not bringing the controversial contract to commissioners for discussion.

"In general, I respect the general manager has the authority (to award contracts) under $150,000, but in this case some board members in the past expressed objections and so it should come before the board," he said.

Patsouras said it's inappropriate to continue the lactation program at a time when the utility wants to raise electric rates by 9 percent over three years and water rates by 6 percent over two years. More

Cops owe $170,000 from gun buyback

OAKLAND — When the lines at Saturday's three gun exchange locations snaked around several city blocks and the money ran out, Oakland Police Chief Wayne Tucker had a choice to make: Turn people and their guns away, or give them vouchers for a future payday.

Tucker opted for the IOUs. As a result more than 1,000 weapons were turned in — many by gun dealers — and the final tally was significantly higher than the 300 guns organizers expected to collect. State Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata raised about $80,000 from private donors, but the cash-strapped Police Department is on the hook for at least $170,000.

Just where the department will come up with that much cash is anyone's guess. "OPD is picking up the rest," said police spokesman Roland Holmgren. "Where will we get it? That's a good question. I don't think we've really identified that yet." More

Voting - California Style

With a potentially close Presidential primary between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in California it is important that independent voters—those who are not registered in a political party—know that they can vote in the Democratic primary and how they can do so.

If you are a registered Democrat, it’s easy—you will get a Democratic ballot to vote.

If you are an Independent (Not Registered with a Party), you can vote in the Democratic Primary for President—but you have to ask for a Democratic ballot—otherwise, all you get is one that lists the ballot propositions.

If you have requested a vote by mail ballot, and have not requested a Democratic ballot, bring your ballot to the polling place on election day, tell the poll worker that you want a Democratic ballot instead, surrender your old one to the poll worker, and get and vote your Democratic presidential primary ballot. More

Californians Approve Indian Gaming Increase

Los Angeles - Californians marked their ballots not only for their favorite presidential candidates Tuesday, but they also voted to allow Indian tribes to expand gambling in the state – a reversal of public sentiment toward that idea just a few months ago.

Voter approval of four citizen initiatives to expand Indian gambling operations came after months of TV ad wars and will result in the addition of enough new slot machines in California to equal the number at Las Vegas's top 10 casinos.

On another ballot measure calling for an adjustment in term limits for elected politicians, Californians refused to budge from their long-standing position that state legislators, in particular, need to be on a short leash. They rejected it 51 to 49 percent.

The huge spending on ads – $150 million on each side in the gambling propositions and another $7 million on the term-limits measure – showed the power of the purse to influence elections.. More

Kali Man Saves Year's Worth of Trash

BERKELEY, Calif. - Ari Derfel leads a trashy life. He just wants to remind everyone else that they do, too.

The 35-year-old Berkeley caterer said he has saved every piece of trash he has generated over the past year to see how much garbage one person creates.

The experiment began as a way to examine his own consumption habits, Derfel said, but grew into a statement about consumerism and the environment. More

Suit Over Socks Costs School $95,000

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - Officials in a Northern California school district might not think Tiggers are such wonderful things after agreeing to pay $95,000 in lawyers' fees to five families who sued the school over its dress code.

The parents went to court after a student was disciplined for wearing socks with the "Winnie the Pooh" cartoon character Tigger on the first day of school last year.

The district's superintendent said Thursday that the settlement money is for the plaintiffs' lawyers; the district is also on the hook to pay the lawyers it hired. More

Glendale pair may find pruning trees is costly

GLENDALE, CA - Taking clippers to a tree can be costly in Glendale, where a couple has been fined $347,600 for pruning 13 trees on and around their property.

City officials, though, say any attempt to collect the fine is on hold and they have no intention of charging that much.

It's just a matter of regulations not being properly tailored to fit the offense, officials said.

"None of us are going to put that kind of fine on the people," said City Councilman Dave Weaver.

Within the next couple of months, the City Council is expected to discuss the ordinance on which the fine was based - it's calculated based on a formula - and examine how it could be changed. More

Who's the red-light violator?

Dozens of cities across California still pay red-light camera vendors based on the revenue their tickets generate, even though such contracts have been outlawed by the Legislature and ruled illegal in Orange County court.

The details are technical and still contested but the spirit of the law is clear: Camera vendors shouldn't have a financial incentive to target motorists unfairly.

In Orange County, Laguna Woods has a contract that appears to be in violation of the law. Costa Mesa's contract doesn't meet the test of current law either, but because the contract was signed in 2003, before the law changed, it is not required to conform. City officials say they want to renegotiate to make their contract meet current law but haven't been able to reach agreement with their vendor. More

California’s legislature approves 1000 new laws annually

IN CALIFORNIA, IT BECAME ILLEGAL this year to tie up your dog, whether in a public or private place, for more than three hours. There’s also a new law barring Californians from removing more than 25 freebie newspapers from the stands. And for the inner boozer in all of us, California law now allows stores that sell alcohol to hand out free beer — as long as no more than eight ounces per person is served per day.

Those and dozens of other micro-laws were approved by the 2006 legislature and signed by the Governator last fall, though few Californians ever got the word. And now, amid widespread criticism over their failure to achieve much of merit, Sacramento’s 120 legislators have again sent to Schwarzenegger reams of new laws that illustrate their flair for high volume — and minutiae.

This year, in fact, the legislature accomplished so little — failing to address major issues like prison overcrowding or the state’s inadequate water infrastructure in the face of booming growth — that Schwarzenegger asked lawmakers back from their annual September break and into a special session to deal with health care reform, which foundered amid endless partisan sniping. More

Schwarzenegger approves spraying of biological agent

On September 9th, 2007 several planes hired by the State of California Food and Agricultural Department (CDFA) flying at an altitude of approximately 500ft sprayed the untested biochemical, CheckMate®OLR-F, on over 30,000 citizens in Monterey and other surrounding cities in California. This occurred without the permission of the citizens. The spraying continued for three nights from approximately 8pm to 5am. About 1,500 pounds of biochemical were dumped on the cities. Many citizens did not even know what was happening when the planes were buzzing overhead.

An 11 month old child nearly died from breathing difficulties. A six year old child developed asthma as a result of the aerial spraying. Over one hundred people signed affidavits stating that they got sick from the spraying. Hundreds of people had symptoms like; shortness of breath, headaches, dizziness, burning lungs, nausea, and muscle aches.

The excuse for aerial spraying is not a deadly disease carrying mosquito, but a moth whose larva may eat some leaves of some plants; called the Light Brown Apple Moth (LBAM). The CDFA considers the moth an invasive species since it is from Australia. More

San Francisco Plastic Bag Ban Goes Into Effect

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - Starting Tuesday, San Francisco shoppers will have one less choice in the checkout line. The city’s plastic bag ban goes into effect tomorrow, forbidding the use of traditional plastic bags by large grocery stores.

Paper and biodegradable sacks can still be handed out, but officials are encouraging shoppers to bring their own. "We really are trying to get the message home that what we really want you to do is bring your own bag,” said Alex Dimitriew of San Francisco's Department of the Environment. More

Schwarzenegger says marijuana is not a drug

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger says marijuana is not a drug, a British magazine reported. But his spokesman said the governor was joking.

Schwarzenegger told the British edition of GQ magazine that he had not taken drugs, even though the former bodybuilder and Hollywood star has acknowledged using marijuana in the 1970s and was shown smoking a joint in the 1977 documentary "Pumping Iron."

"That is not a drug. It's a leaf," Schwarzenegger told GQ. "My drug was pumping iron, trust me."

Aaron McLear, Schwarzenegger's press secretary, said the governor made the comments in a lighthearted context, noting his interviewer was Piers Morgan, one of the judges on "America's Got Talent." Morgan is a former British newspaper editor. More

Fabian Nuñez travels the world like a high-roller

As leader of the California Assembly, Speaker Fabian Nuñez has traveled the world in luxury, paying with campaign funds for visits to some of the finest hotels and restaurants and for purchases at high-end retailers such as Louis Vuitton in Paris.

It is not clear how these activities have related to legislative business, as state law requires, because the Los Angeles Democrat refuses to provide details on tens of thousands of dollars in such expenditures.

The spending, listed in mandatory filings with the state, includes $47,412 on United, Lufthansa and Air France airlines this year; $8,745 at the exclusive Hotel Arts in Barcelona, Spain; $5,149 for a "meeting" at Cave L'Avant Garde, a wine seller in the Bordeaux region of France; a total of $2,562 for two "office expenses" at Vuitton, two years apart; and $1,795 for a "meeting" at Le Grand Colbert, a venerable Parisian restaurant. More

Schwarzenegger Terminates Teen Tech Use While Driving

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed SB 33 by Senator Joe Simitian which bans teenage drivers from using all electronic devices -- such as cell phones, pagers and laptops -- while behind the wheel.

"The simple fact is that teenage drivers are more easily distracted. They are young, inexperienced and have a slower reaction time. We want to eliminate any extra distractions so they can focus on paying attention to the road and being good drivers," said Schwarzenegger.

According to the California Highway Patrol, cell phone use is a leading cause of distracted-driver accidents in California. A study conducted by Ford Motor Company revealed that teenage drivers are four times more distracted than adult drivers by cell phone use. More

Harvesting the Secret Gardens

An unprecedented collaboration among federal, state, and local agencies began a well-publicized blitz campaign in northern California’s Shasta County to root out illegal marijuana gardens hidden in national parks and forests – a phenomenon that occurs statewide and is partly the result of stepped-up eradication efforts and tighter border security.

At a news conference in Redding, officials involved in what is known as Operation Alesia trumpeted the successes of the three-tiered campaign, which involves at least 400 people from Shasta County law enforcement, the National Guard, and 15 other agencies. During the conference, Director of National Drug Control Policy John P. Walters described marijuana growing on public land as a threat to public safety and the environment, and referred to growers as “violent criminal terrorists.”

Only 20 percent of gardens on public lands are found and eradicated. Following the eradication of a garden, National Forest Service personnel remove irrigation piping, clean up contaminants and trash, take water and soil samples, and replant native vegetation to avoid soil erosion – a restoration process that cost $11,000 per acre.

“It’s like ‘Whac-A-Mole,’” says Bruce Mirken, director of communications for the Marijuana Policy Project, the nation’s biggest legalization advocacy group. “They will chase them out of one area, and they will turn up somewhere else.” More

Get a traffic ticket, your personal data goes to Mexico

In California, a traffic ticket has enough personal data for identity thieves to build a very comprehensive profile. There is name, address, make, model and license number of vehicle, name of insurance company and policy number, and other details to be found.

Ignoring this peril, several municipalities have contracted data entry from tickets to a company that sends them to Mexico for processing to the lowest bidder.

In response to public outcry, Orange County's Superior Court is halting the processing of traffic tickets in Nogales, Mexico.

Court officials amended the contract with the company that handles the tickets, Cal Coast Data Entry. Cal Coast will now process all of the court's tickets at its Cerritos and Phoenix locations.

"(The change) certainly wasn't because we lacked confidence in the contractor," said Chelle Uecker, assistant chief executive officer of the Superior Court of Orange County. "For us, it's the public's confidence – that's paramount to us."

The brouhaha erupted when KFI radio's "John & Ken Show" attacked the outsourcing and urged listeners to complain. Hundreds called and e-mailed the court and county supervisors.

Uecker said that critics had two primary concerns – security of the personal information once it crossed the border and the possible loss of jobs to Mexico. Uecker reiterated that the court felt comfortable with the security issue. More

State of California's Property Stealing Operation

Nearly 15 years ago, the state of California seized about $25,000 worth of stock that Richard Valdes had set aside and forgotten about.

He's been fighting to get it back almost ever since.

Valdes' stock was in an escrow account that the state declared dormant. But no one from the government tried to contact him before the shares were taken and sold. Valdes said he was effectively robbed of stock that would now be worth at least $100,000.

"It's unbelievable to me that they can destroy records and sell your property without notifying you," Valdes, 71, said. "I've lived in the same Newport Beach area for 50 years. It's very easy to get ahold of me."

Valdes is one of millions of people who have seen their financial accounts and safe-deposit boxes drained under the state's "unclaimed property" law, which generates about $400 million in annual revenue for Sacramento, according to the state controller's office. More

Beyond first class: Arnold travels, Cali pays

No one would be surprised to learn that Arnold Schwarzenegger travels in high style to international destinations like China and Israel in his capacity as governor of California. He's one of the planet's most famous men, and if he wants a private jet, fine.

But those of us who tend to fly coach were shocked to learn that Schwarzenegger, as rich as he is, doesn't pay his own way on private jets when going overseas the way he does when traveling in state. As it turns out, taxpayers are indirectly subsidizing his foreign flights and luxury hotel stays through a convoluted reimbursement strategy involving a secretive foundation, according to Thursday's Los Angeles Times.

In effect, every Californian who pays taxes is helping to underwrite the movie star lifestyle of a public servant. More

Living Large with Don Perata

State Senate boss Don Perata throws impressive parties, and this one was a doozy. The guests, some of Perata's best donors among them, feasted on buttery Dungeness crab and sipped California Chardonnay. Then they settled into their plush luxury box seats to watch the Oakland Raiders play the New York Jets in a game with playoff implications.

It was mid-December 2000, and the state senator had just dropped $43,600 on an oversize luxury suite at the Oakland Coliseum for a single afternoon of festivities. At the time he said he was trying to convince East Bay business leaders to buy suites of their own. But like his other ideas involving the Raiders, this one misfired. Team officials later said the bash produced zero luxury box sales.

Perata paid for the box, and the bash, from the treasury of one of his political campaigns. Since the state senator often transfers cash from one campaign to another, it is difficult to determine its exact origin, but public records suggest that most of it came from the Three Rs, a fund-raising committee Perata formed with then-Mayor Jerry Brown a year earlier to improve Oakland schools. The same month as the Raiders party, Perata transferred the remaining $32,668 from the Three Rs into his main Senate account and paid for the luxury box. In other words, money raised to help Oakland schoolchildren likely was spent on crab, wine, and football for a bunch of rich people. More

State senator rear-ends car while talking on cellphone

In a clear case of "do what I say, not what I do", State Sen. Carole Migden has rear-ended a car and injured a Vallejo woman. Migden was talking on a cell phone while driving through Solano County.

Migden last year voted for a new law that takes effect in July 2008 that will impose a minimum fine of $20 for anyone caught using a cell phone while driving without a headset, ear bud or other technology that frees both hands.

Migden, D-San Francisco, was driving her new state-issued 2007 Toyota Highlander Hybrid SUV at 10:40 a.m. on eastbound Highway 12 at Beck Avenue when she rear-ended Ellen Butawan, 31, of Vallejo, California Highway Patrol Officer Marvin Williford said.

Migden, 58, accepted blame Friday for the accident. More

Cali Teachers dropping out of school

Stephan Goyne entered teaching as a "fight the good fight" kind of guy, taking a job in East Oakland right out of college.

"I come from a family of teachers. It wasn't even a question of whether to do that," Goyne said. "The question was whether to do elementary, middle or high school."

But after six years in the trenches -- bumped from campus to campus, forbidden from organizing field trips and ordered to teach math only after lunch -- Goyne left teaching.

Teachers stifled by bureaucracy, faced with poor conditions and blocked from making decisions in their own classrooms are leaving the profession in droves, according to a new study released Thursday by Cal State University's Teacher Quality Institute. More

"Light Bulb Lloyd" wants to ban incandescent bulbs

A state legislator thinks it's time for California to retire the more-than-a-century-old incandescent light bulb technology and replace it with its cooler, energy-sipping, squiggly compact and toxic fluorescent counterpart.

A bill by Assemblyman Lloyd Levine, D-Van Nuys (Los Angeles County), would make the Golden State the first to make it illegal to sell incandescent light bulbs. Specifically, the legislation, which is set to be formally submitted in the Assembly in the next few days, would ban the old-fashioned bulbs between 25 watts and 150 watts by 2012.

But forcing such a change by 2012 is not only unfair, but technically difficult, a representative of one of the largest light bulb manufacturers said.

"It may not be rocket science, but it actually comes pretty close when it comes to making lighting products that are acceptable and safe," said Earl Jones, a senior counsel for GE's consumer and industrial division. "There are technology challenges to get them done by 2012." More

Schwarzenegger Plans to Insure Most Californians

Los Angeles , CA - A sweeping plan by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to guarantee health insurance for all Californians - including children of illegal immigrants - is being characterized both as a bold model for improving healthcare access and as a costly government intrusion that will hurt the state's economy.

Arguments for and against near-universal healthcare have already been fought out in the few other states that have moved ahead with health-insurance reforms, namely Massachusetts and Vermont. But the sheer numbers involved in Governor Schwarzenegger's proposal - a $12 billion price tag and coverage for 6.5 million people who currently don't have health insurance - are guaranteed to raise the stakes as the California legislature considers whether to approve it.

Among the ranks of the uninsured are about 763,000 children. Of the plan's overall cost, about $400 million would be spent on those minors, no matter what their immigration status is.

It should be noted that one Austrian embarked on an ambitious program of social services for the people of his nation-state over 70 years ago, and it ended with Jews being thrown into ovens. More

Farming, California Style

Pot farmers worked undetected for two to three years in the shadow of homes and hikers, nurturing plants that drooped under the weight of pungent marijuana buds, authorities who cleared out a record haul in Mission Viejo said Thursday.

Whoever was tending to the thriving pot farm at O'Neill Regional Park – likely underlings for a group or criminal cartel, authorities say – had showered their crops with love.

Because some plants had grown to 15 feet and were poking through a canopy of oak trees, sheriff's deputies on routine helicopter patrol late Tuesday could spot them – and then follow a mile-long, serpentine irrigation system that led to seven separate farms and three camps. More

The Wannabe Governor

Democrats and Republicans play this game in which they concede a position to the other party and run a non campaign against the candidate they conceded to.

A memorable example of this was in 1996 and the Republicans decided to concede the White House to Bill Clinton, so they put up Bob Dole to schlepp around the country and do everything but campaign for office.

This year the Democrats decided to concede the California Governor's race to Arnold Schwarzenegger, so they put up a non candidate named Phil Angelides. Mr. Angelides major claim to fame is that he bears a close resemblence to actor Herbert Anderson, who portrayed the father of the TV character Dennis the Menace.

So far Angelides has run an uninspiring campaign, offering no tangible plan or program with which to govern this populous state. It is unlikely that even a well orchestrated smear campaign by "Baghdad Bob" Mulholland will do anything to nudge Angelides into the governor's mansion.

"Baghdad Bob" Mulholland unleashed

There is a foul stench in California politics. It is likely from a Democratic Party operative known as Bob "Baghdad Bob" Mulholland.

If there is a rumor being pumped into circulation about Democratic Party enemies, then the more odious it is, the more likely that Baghdad Bob is skulking around in the background spewing forth the stench.

Mulholland started to show up on the media radar in 1992 after exposing how Republican Senate candidate Bruce Herschensohn visted a strip joint in Hollywood.

But his sleaze turned to menace in the campaign to smear Arnold Schwarzenegger during his run for governor. Mulholland warned Schwarzenegger that "real bullets" will be coming his way during his campaign to be governor.

"Schwarzenegger is going to find out, that unlike a Hollywood movie set, the bullets coming at him in this campaign are going to be real bullets and he is going to have to respond to them," warned Mulholland in an interview with a camera crew from ABC News.

Schwarzenegger's wife, Maria Shriver was very concerned about Arnold's safety after this comment by Baghdad Bob, as her family has a history with assassination.

As the 2006 campaign ramps up, if some odious "puke bomb" is thrown at the last minute to try to knock a few points off of Democratic Party opponents, then take a very close look at the source. Baghdad Bob will surely be lurking nearby.

Gray Davis, John Mark Karr not related

Los Angeles, CA - A spokeswoman for former California governor Gray Davis has issued a statement in which she says he is not related to Jonbenet Ramsey killer John Mark Karr.

"I know that there is a strong resemblence, and they are both very unusually looking men, but there is no familial relationship between the two", said spokeswoman Sandy Allenbricker.

"Mr. Davis wanted to be proactive and quiet the whispering campaign linking him with the accused killer, so I reiterate, there is no familial relationship between Gray Davis and John Mark Karr."

Davis was the first governor in California history to be recalled. Since leaving public office, Davis has been working with the law firm of Loeb & Loeb.

'Meathead Tax' goes down in election

The controversial Proposition 82 "Meathead Tax" was turned down by voters in the Tuesday primary elections.

Named after its proponent, Rob Reiner, who was a character in the 1970s sitcom All in the Family, the tax was to have funded state run preschools.

The measure was voted down with 61% of voters deciding against it.

The proposition has been plagued by scandal, with Reiner coming under scrutiny for his keeping his job with the state First Five Commission while at the same time campaigning for a proposition which would fund state-run preschools.

The attention caused Reiner to resign from his position with the First Five Commission on March 29, 2006. An audit of the commission's funds will be conducted in the face of accusations of misuse of state money for the political campaign for his proposition. Other election results

California students: Stupid or poorly educated?

A few decades ago schools in California provided a world class education.

That is different now, with many students passing through grades K-12 and not even attaining a ninth grade education.

This sad truth has been uncovered with the implementation of exit exams which need to be passed in order to graduate from high school. Several parents filed a lawsuit to eliminate the exit exam, claiming it was so hard that their children were not able to pass.

But how hard was it? Students have multiple guess questions with four possible answers. 60 percent correct answers will pass the English portion, while 55 percent correct will pass the math. So what amounts to a 'D' grade in math and English at the ninth grade level is required to pass the 12th grade and graduate. But this it still to hard for ten percent of students. More

Mark Leno - back with more fun and games

Taking a break from making California a cozy place for child molesters, Mark Leno, representing the 13th Assembly district of California, has decided that unlicensed drivers who kill or maim people deserve a break.

For four years, Russell and Judy Hawthorne worked tirelessly for legislation in the hope that something positive would result from their son's death. But the state Assembly's Public Safety Committee recently voted down AB2808. .

AB2808 proposed lengthening jail times for people who kill or injure someone while driving without a license. Currently, driving without a license is only a misdemeanor offense. The esteemed Mr. Leno is one of the bill's opponents. More

Welcome to Mexifornia

This image of a Mexican national flag flown above an upside-down U.S. flag was taken on 27 March 2006 at Montebello High School (MHS) in California during a student protest over immigration reform.

According to news reports, the flag incident was prompted and implemented not by MHS students, but by a large group of students from neighboring schools:

The incident took place about noon Monday, when a group of about 1,000 students from the El Rancho and Whittier Union High school districts marched through Pico Rivera to Montebello High, where students had walked out of classes in the previous week to protest proposed immigration reform legislation.

By the time they reached Montebello High, the campus was on lockdown, district officials said.

That's when the protesters took to the flagpole, added the Mexican flag and turned the U.S. flag upside down. The school's California flag was stolen in the process, [Assistant Superintendent Robert] Henke said. More

Oceanside school district bans patriotic clothes, flags

Oceanside, California - In the wake of last week's immigration-reform protests, one school district is taking drastic measures, banning all symbols of patriotism, both U.S. and Mexican.

Beginning Monday, the Oceanside Unified School District is banning all flags and patriotic clothing. According to school officials, some students are using the garments and flags to taunt classmates.

School officials in Oceanside now say that flags -- whether they are U.S. or Mexican or any other country's -- have now become a divider on campuses, saying that some students are using them to taunt other students. More

Police fire pepper spray at California high school students

A mob scene unfolded at Oceanside High School on Mission Avenue Wednesday morning when about 200 students tried to leave campus, only to be blocked by police officers toting pepper-spray pellet guns and wearing riot gear.

The scene at the campus subsided as school let out this afternoon and protesting students headed for the Oceanside Bandshell at the beach. Three boys have been arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon for allegedly throwing chunks of concrete at officers during the incident at the school.

Tensions arose at the school just before noon, when several hundred students tried to leave campus in protest of proposed immigration policies.

Officers shot pepper-spray-filled pellets at the ground as students shook a locked fence surrounding the school. The students were chanting, "One people united will never be divided."

After about an hour of tense standoffs, about 100 students were allowed to walk to the Oceanside Pier in protest while others were locked down in classrooms. More

Still a Meathead

Rob Reiner has come full circle. He first came to fame as a comedic actor with a role as "Meathead" Michael Stivic in the sitcom All In The Family.

Later on he directed several so called romantic comedies (essentially chick porn) which attracted a decent number of viewers.

Now he has gotten involved in politics, trying to do something "for the children" and has shown that he is once again a real meathead.

Reiner has served in recent years as the head of the First 5 California Children and Families Commission, a state group that provides services to young children. It is allocated about $114 million a year from a 1998 voter proposition authorizing a 50-cent tax on cigarettes that he promoted and has raised $4 billion for early childhood development and health care.

The First 5 panel was created by the ballot measure to administer 20% of the tobacco tax money. County commissions oversee the rest. Reiner has headed the First 5 commission since it was formed in 1999.

Reiner's First 5 Children and Families Commission spent $23 million from November to January on TV and radio ads touting the benefits of preschool. At the time, Reiner also was leading a drive to collect signatures for a ballot measure that would tax the wealthy to provide free preschool for 4-year-olds. The proposal qualified for the June 6 statewide ballot as Proposition 82.

So what you are looking at, is Reiner has had control of nearly a billion dollars of taxpayer money, and had used $23 million of it as seed money to get an initiative on the ballot to get even more funds, instead of providing services that the original initiative was sold to do. More

California "Pervert Caucus" give sex offenders a break

While many states are passing tougher laws to deal with sex offenders, particularly offenses against children, California has legislators who wants to let them get off easy.

Assemblyman Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, Jackie Goldberg and Lloyd Levine, both Los Angeles area Democrats, have opposed attempts to impose longer sentences on sex offenders, instead preferring to release them in the communities of the state to see what happens.

Now, in an election year, Leno and many Democrats tout his Assembly Bill 50 as the best way to increase penalties on molesters. Republicans, angry about Sacramento foot-dragging, are touting a much tougher November ballot measure, Jessica's Law.

Early on, AB50 was filled with loopholes that would make your skin crawl. For instance, Leno provided an "exemption" from felony charges if a suspect was caught with less than 100 pieces of child pornography. In a creepy all-time low, Assembly Democrats voted for Leno's plan to go soft on child porn. More

Governor Arnold performs bad motorcycle stunt

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger took a day off from promoting his massive state spending spree to go on a motorcycle ride with his son, and it went very wrong after he was involved in a motorcycle crash near his home in Brentwood on Sunday afternoon.

The movie star-turned-California Governor was out riding on his Harley Davidson bike with his 12-year-old son Patrick in the sidecar when he collided with a car reversing from a driveway.

Schwarzenegger was taken to St John's Hospital in Santa Monica where he received 15 stitches in his lower lip. Patrick was also treated for cuts and bruises. More

Warren Beatty: political hopeful?

During Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's tour to promote his failed ballot propositions, he was shadowed at times by Warren Beatty and Beatty's wife, Annette Bening. Some pundits think Beatty has a crossover political future. Beatty's onscreen political story was done in 1998 with his Bulworth, a political satire about a liberal California senator forced to resort to the right-wing politics of the day to retain his seat. Whether he can become articulate enough to string unscripted senetences together remains to be seen. This hilarious clip, a bit edited, has him rambling on while being interviewed by a radio station reporter. He comes across as sometimes condescending, and a bit of a smartass. Listen

California colleges stick it to Americans from other states,
subsidize illegal immigrants

If you come to California to attend state college, even from just over the state line, you will pay about three times the tuition that someone from in state will pay. But if you come to California from outside the USA, and do so illegally, you get your schooling at the lower rate with the taxpayer picking up the rest of the tab. If you can benefit from this, you owe a dept of gratitude to former governor Gray Davis, who ran a full time operation whoring out the state treasury to anyone who would come into his office bringing financial tribute.

Now this policy is under attack from lawsuits filed recently, alleging it is a violation of federal law. More

Arnold sells out to Agribusiness, compromises on child nutrition

What started as a bill which appropriated $18.2 million for a fresh-fruit breakfast program for low-income students, has morphed into something very different. The bill, unceremoniously re-referred to the Agriculture Committee, had reached the floor with its 12 references to “fresh” fruit and vegetables eliminated and replaced by a dozen references to “nutritious” fruit and vegetables. Lobbyists for the canning industry and the governor’s people, working discreetly behind the scenes, insisted on including canned fruit, which is often heavily adulterated with sugar, under the scope of the bill. More

Barbra Streisand blasts Minutemen

Sources placed close to singer Barbra Streisand report that she flew into a rage after learning that her difficulty in finding domestic labor was caused by the activities of the Minutemen on the U.S. border.

"Those Minutemen are EVIL!", Barbra shrieked.

"How dare they march around on the border and cause the supply of gardeners, maids and nannys my friends and I use to dry up", Barbra complained. " If we don't do something about it, before you know it we will have to pay someone a decent living wage for these services, and I cringe to think about how that would dip into my investment portfolio."

"My friends and I are suffering", she continued. "We have to something, even if it means trumpeting the Bush line about them being vigilantes."

Throwing her broom in a fit, Barbra reportedly said, " maybe we can whip up some hysteria to scare the Minutemen off."

Dude, Where's my Car?

30,000 state cars have gone missing in California, including half of the CHP units.

Cars and trucks, including fire rigs, prison vehicles and others in the state fleet have been lost by sloppy accounting techniques and mismanagement, as uncovered in a recent audit. More

Smog check program has rampant fraud, 2/3 failure rate at meeting clean air goals

The smog check program was designed in 1982 to identify cars that were running poorly and adding greatly to smog production. In 1995 the program was revamped, the so-called Smog II, and was supposed to more accurately identify pollutor. It failed miserably, and made a typical smog check cost hundreds and require two or more visits. Despite this, no state official has been fired. More

Give me your tired, especially your poor...

Despite false reassurances that they are only taking jobs that Americans rufuse to do, new INS guidelines permit immigrants and their children to use certain non-cash benefits and special purpose cash benefits without affecting their immigration status. More

Illegal Alien Lobby pushes for 'Illegal Alien Driver's Licenses' Bill

Faced with overwhelming public opposition and the passage of the federal REAL ID Act, State Senator Gil Cedillo (D-Los Angeles) has resorted to a watered down version of his perennial legislation to grant official state identity documents to illegal aliens. More

If 'Illegal Alien Driver's Licenses' bill fails, then buy a license

Even if State Senator Gil Cedillo (D-Los Angeles) fails to get his bill to grant official state identity documents to illegal aliens, they still have an option. Buy a licence from the friendly neighborhood DMV. More

Minutemen to reverse Illegal alien tide

The Minutemen, who last month stirred up the illegal immigration issue by exposing the porous nature of our U.S.-Mexican border, are now taking their fight against illegal immigration one step further. This month they will begin working at several area farms and picking their crops of lemons, strawberries and avocados to steal back the jobs that illegal immigrants have stolen from Americans. Radio talk show hosts John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou, "John and Ken" have endorsed this project and plan to do a live broadcast from a strawberry field in Campo, California.

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