With the passage of the bill calling for a 90 percent tax onthe AIG bonuses, the three-ring economic, political and media circuscentered around the AIG bonuses has now officially entered the realm ofabsurdity, and looks to be spending the remainder of its existencethere.

Inan action that will no doubt have a chilling effect on those seeking tokeep California government and school districts operating in thesunshine, an Orange County school district board has successfullyconvinced a California appeals court that it not only has the right toshut down and cover-up dissent but also financially punish thoseseeking to expose the illegal actions.

In the Tony award winning musical Les Miserables,the student Enjolras leads his fellow students in two triumphal songs,singing about how their planned uprising against the Parisiangovernment is "the music of a people who will not be slaves again" andhow "there is a life about to start, when tomorrow comes." The title ofthe more well known one is "Do you hear the people sing" and itsgeneral gist is something along the lines of "Students of the worldunite! You have nothing to lose but your books, desks and report cards!"

There'snot nearly as much housing help as the $4 billion the BushAdministration deliveredin September. Of the $731million President Obama handed out this time, though, at least California got thelion's share.

HouseSpeaker Nancy Pelosi's request last week to U.S. Attorney General EricHolder to relax anti-trust regulations so that another Bay Area mediaorganization might buy or financially prop up the ailing San FranciscoChronicle constitutes a well meaning, if not deeply flawed gesture.

A few months ago, a set of lawsuits challenging the state's Prison Healthcare systemcame into the public eye, apparently claiming that the overcrowding andother adverse conditions in California's prisons were leading tootherwise avoidable deaths among inmates. In response, the courtappointed a receiver to try and reform the system, vesting thatreceiver with copious amounts of power and zero accountability.

Arlen Specter is like the guy with two potential prom dates, though by the end of next year he could be sitting home alone.

In the massive field of proposed remedies for California's fiscal insolvency and politically problematic system, a novel idea has come down the pike from Fresno.

Remember that part in "True Lies" where Harry Tasker, as played by Arnold Schwarzenegger, tells his family he's leaving for a technology conference in Europe? Later in the movie, his wife is talking to a friend, explaining how talk of the tech business is incredibly boring. Yet the audience knows that Harry Tasker is no businessman, but is actually the world's number-one spy. Well, California's number-one executive just went to Europe for a business conference, too... or did he?!

Yes, he did.

Theleast-surprising news of the past week: Despite months -- or was it years? -- ofblood, sweat, arm-twisting and deal-cutting that led to February's budget dealto seal what was then a $42 billion gap, a new deficit has popped up.

That'saccording to a report by the nonpartisan state LegislativeAnalysts Office released Friday.