In a NY Times editorial, state lawmakers are exhorted to "find their spine" on prison reform.  While praising Schwarzenegger for his commitment to spend more on education than on prisons, the editorial blasts his alternative proposals to pass yet another constitutional amendment to limit state spending or to privatize the entire prison system.

Later today, Governor Schwarzenegger will unveil yet another budget plan sure to make everyone cringe.  After closing last year's $26 billion deficit through accounting gimmicks, tax hikes, and spending cuts, the state is facing a $21 billion deficit over the next 18 months.

Although campaign finance laws limit the amount an individual can donate to a particular candidate, a California Watch Investigation shows that several influential party donors, on both sides of the aisle, are dodging the rules by funneling money through local party committees.  County parties, in many hotly contested races, have become middlemen in money laundering schemes, acting as distribution centers for big do

Columnist Byron Williams has made a provocative claim that is sure to challenge California voters.  Instead of incessantly blaming the Governor and legislature for the state's current predicament, perhaps voters should take a long, hard look in the mirror.  While state government has failed the people in numerous ways, the people have elected these politicians, and the people have voted for several propositions, often contradicting each other at times, that generate massive deficits.

Governor Schwarzenegger outlined several, key proposals to reform an out of control budget, stimulate job growth, prop up the housing market, and provide better care for veterans.  Here were the highlights:

Former San Francisco Mayor and Speaker of the House has some harsh words to say about the need to reform our civil service:

"The system was set up so politicians like me couldn't come in and fire the people (relatives) hired by the guy they beat and replace them with their own friends and relatives. 

Over the years, however, the civil service system has changed from one that protects jobs to one that runs the show."

Since the Christmas day bombing, it's been popular to trash Obama for his administration's failure to thwart the attack; a failure of intelligence.

Just a little flash-back, here are some responses from Bush administration officials to the attack on 9/11:

Cybersitter, a California software company, is suing the Chinese government and two Chinese tech firms over stolen computer code. Cybersitter is alleging that China pirated its software program, called Green Dam Youth Escort, and attempted to install it on over 53 million computers.  Green Dam is utilized to block pornographic and violent websites, but computer experts fear that China tailored it to the monitoring of sensitive, political and religious speech.

According to the latest economic forecast, California has exited the worst of the Great Recession, but faces another two years of a long, slow, and painful recovery.

When Arnold Schwarzenegger became Governor of California in 2003, the first thing he should have done was get Gary Johnson on the phone. You see, Gary Johnson was elected Governor of New Mexico for two terms during the 1990s. Like California it was a Democrat-leaning, Western state with serious budget issues. Over the eight years of his remarkable tenure, Gary Johnson managed to tackle a lot of the same problems California faced in 2003 and still faces today.