ALAMEDA -- An East Bay woman who in 2007 allowed then Sen. Barack Obama to accompany her on her job caring for a homebound man during his presidential campaign has become one of thousands caught up in a power struggle between President Barack Obama and his administration and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger over whether the Golden State should collect billions in federal stimulus money.

To deal with the "fiscal emergency" in California, the Los Angeles Superior Court will be shutting down... once a month, that is.

Two pieces of legislation designed to strengthen thestate's governmental sunshine laws were recently approved by the stateSenate Judiciary Committee and will now go to the full Senate forconsideration.

State Sen. Leland Yee authored both SB 786 and SB 218,which if ultimately signed into law, would patch an important loopholein so-called "anti-SLAPP" (strategic lawsuits against publicparticipation) lawsuits and broaden the California Public Records Act,respectively.

California often gets a bum rap, as an ultra-liberal free-fall of taxation and unrestrained spending. What is often taken for granted is that Californians don't like to follow what is expected, and are known as huge innovators. California is a state of people with no desire to lower taxes?

Only two days after the second pointless special election in California's recent history, and the results are notencouraging for California's political class. What's more, if mostsources are to be believed, the turnout was apparently abysmal.

A day after an angry and frustrated Californiaelectorate trounced five of six measures on a special election ballot,an influential Bay Area business group announced their intention torestructure state government by holding a rare constitutionalconvention.

Now that the smoke has cleared and thepublic has spoken against all of the ballot measures that would require anychanges in taxing policies, the question before California remains: how do we solvethe fiscal crisis? A few suggestions follow:

To the Legislature:

-Do your job, and quit asking the voters to do it for you. Your current approach is obviously not working.

-Grow up. Real adults retreat from fixed positions when they must.

-Quit trying to satisfy all constituents. You've ended up annoying everyone.

Yourbudget deficit continues to grow by leaps and billions, and voters are tellingyou to stick your plan for closing part of the gap in your ear. What's the nextlogical move, state of California?

Continuedefending a law aimed at stopping children from buying violent video games -litigation that's already cost the state close to $400,000.

Explorer Scouts: they're the top-of-the-line Boy (and Girl) Scouts, and they take on environmental programs, create charities and generally do good throughout the land. So what a surprise it was to find that Explorer Scouts are being trained to carry weapons and supplement the U.S. Border Patrol down in Imperial County.

Aren't these the kids who are supposed to walk grandmothers across busy streets?

Ittook President Barack Obama less than four months in office to reversethe former Bush Administration's longheld policies opposingCalifornia's efforts to enforce tougher vehicle greenhouse emission andfuel efficiency standards.