In a state facing yearly budget deficits, other victims have fallen prey to the California government's financial mismanagement.

In a move angering many students enrolled in the University of California education system, the UC Board of Regents overwhelmingly voted for a 32% tuition fee increase (or $2,500) effective summer 2010.

An LA Times article outlines the centrist make-up of the GOP candidate field for the 2010 gubernatorial race.  Much like Arnold, Poizner, Whitman, and Campbell are campaigning on a strong, fiscally conservative bent and a moderate stance on controversial social issues. Many pundits believe Jerry Brown, if he runs uncontested on the Democratic side, will attempt to launch a more centrist campaign as well.

Meg Whitman isn't the only woman running for Governor.  Chelene Nightingale is also running for governor on the American Independent Party ticket, and she is proposing some novel solutions to help rescue California from the abyss.  At this time, the media and political pundits view her as an irrelevant candidate, but keep in mind, the media has obsessed over the typical, high-profile candidates for years, and the state has become the laughingstock of the Union.

California politics keeps digging itself deeper and deeper into a hole.  Two Representatives, Maxine Waters and Laura Richardson, are under full-scale investigation by the House Ethics Committee, and Jerry Brown's office may have engaged in illegal tape recordings of conversations with news reporters.

In 2009, the Obama administration and Congress predicted the nearly $800 billion stimulus bill would cap national unemployment at 8.1% and create/save 3.5 million jobs over a two-year period.  More specifically, the White House predicted that the stimulus bill would add 396,000 new jobs to California through December 2010.  Thus far, none of these predictions appear to be panning out.

Over at Free & Equal, ballot access expert, Richard Winger, delivered a point-by-point rebuttal of Jonathan Alter's advocacy of a top-two, open primary system in Newsweek.  Here is the full text of Winger's press release:

Over at Townhall.com, columnist Paul Jacob excorciates California's 2010 "Top-Two" open primary initiative on the 2010 ballot.*  Pointing to Washington state as the most recent example, Jacob posits that an open primary will further entrench incumbents and restrict authentic voter choice.

In late August, Voter/Consumer Research conducted a comprehensive public opinion survey detailing voter attributes, stances on key legislators, views on the state's most pressing matters, and preferences regarding the 2010 nonpartisan open primary initiative.  Legislators, candidates, consulting firms, and news outlets will want to take a close look as the California primary process could face major restructuring when voters head to the polls in June 2010.   Please refer to the attached file for an in depth statistical analysis.

As the President addressed in his speech last Wednesday, some scary terms have been thrown around lately. One of which is “death camps.” Rarely have such topics from Phantom Planet managed to make their way into a presidential address. The term has come as a result of the fear and panic being created regarding the H1N1 strain of influenza. While many are nervously searching the web for surgical masks by the bulk, others are just as nervous that perhaps this is exactly the response the government is trying to produce.