California is in an economic state of emergency.  With a punishing budget deficit, spending cuts and policy reform have become a necessity.  In Governor Schwarzenegger’s amended budget plan, the governor and his administration have proposed drastic fiscal reductions to social welfare programs such as CALWORKs, Medi-Cal, and Child Care Assistance.  These proposed cuts offer immediate relief to an ailing California economy.  However, this temporary relief comes at the expense of thousands of struggling families trying to make it through the worst economic fiasco they’ve seen in their lif

Governor Schwarzenegger is proposing the implementation of Automated Speed Enforcement, or ASE, systems across the state to offset proposed budget cuts to state trial courts. Not only does the proposed legislation to snag speeders in California lack any fiscal sense, it represents a direct assault on privacy rights as well as a severe conflict of interests for those prosecuting alleged offenders.

Sarah Palin has emerged as the unofficial leader of a national movement that is championing limited government, lower taxes, and less debt.  While Palin espouses a fiscally conservative platform, it would behoove supporters to test her platform against her record as a mayor, governor, vice presidential candidate, and grassroots celebrity.

In 2007, California produced 2.1% of its total electricity from biomass power plants. While this is just a small percentage of total power, it is unique in that the power generated is from what often would be dumped in landfills. In a very real sense, this power is created from our own garbage and leftovers. So, it’s a double win. New energy is created locally and what was an expense - trucking refuse to landfills and paying for the permits - now becomes an income stream, as the garbage gets turned into energy. 

It appears that recent government-proposed solutions to staggering financial circumstances are not working.  At the federal level, the Obama administration must deal with a pessimistic report that TARP funds aren’t lifting the struggling institutions it promised to help (TARP funds intended to assist in relieving the inflated housing bubble and in stimulating small businesses among other designated purposes).

I always thought I was an Evan Bayh Democrat. Today I became certain. In his surprise retirement announcement, Bayh was careful to make it clear that he had wearied of the partisanship on both sides of the aisle.

He identified specific irrational partisan acts by both Republicans and by Democrats.

But, the timing of his departure spoke loudly about his dissatisfaction with the entire Washington establishment.

The old animosity between the governor and state representatives was on full display again over the nomination and confirmation of Santa Maria Republican State Senate representative Abel Maldonado to the post of Lieutenant Governor. The aforementioned post is a plum job for whoever can get it, as the Lieutenant Governor is the number two in command in the state of California.  After the State Senate agreed to accept his nominee, the Assembly rejected Maldonado in what Schwarzenegger characterized as petty politics.

Governor Schwarzenegger’s independent streak, celebrated by some as a sign of his nonpartisan and judicious political philosophy, and lamented by others as an inability to deal harshly with people outside his own party, has once more begun to reappear. In his most recent budget plan, the Governor warns that, if federal bailouts are not forthcoming, he will intentionally delay the implementation of several tax breaks/credits which California has otherwise promised to extend, to the dismay of all voters for whom tax hikes are seen as correlating with economic downturn.

In a perfect world, we’d all be covered by health insurance plans that cost little or nothing, provide excellent coverage with low or no co-pays and are guaranteed for life.  In California, that world isn’t a fantasy.  It’s the normal life of retirees who worked under the CalPERS pension and benefits system that protects most state workers.  It’s a great system that – to some – represents the ideal way to meet the healthcare needs of an aging population.

Except for one problem:  the cost.