While legislatorstussle over how to fix the current gap in the state’s budgetdeficit, at least they addressed last summer’s budget deficit.

Right?

Maybe wrong.

As part of thecompromise that closed that gap – then at around $17 billion –legislators and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger agreed to put a ballotmeasure before voters sometime in 2009 that would borrow againstfuture lottery revenues, with the understanding voters had to givethe okay to overhaul the lottery in such a way as to increase itsrevenues for the state.

In an attempt to reach new audiences to get the word out about California's budget deficit, the governor's office has created a new online widget that marks how many days the Legislature has gone without passing a new budget and displays the amount of money the state is losing by the second.

Last week, President-elect Barack Obama nominated Hilda Solis

to the position of Labor Secretary. This marks yet another time when

Obama has turned to the Golden State for guidance in his cabinet, as Solis is the representative of California's 32^nd district, and I am sure that those people who elected her to this position must be very proud.

I

am also sure that they must have very bad taste, for this is the second

The California Independent Voter Project would like to wish all of its supporters, their families, and their loved ones a Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday Season. For the a-religious: we hope you are in good spirits. During these hard economic times, it is more important as ever to reflect on the invaluable presents those we love give us everyday. Many of us bought or made gifts that best represent our appreciation for them within the means we have to express them; a way to emphasize our appreciation for their honesty and respectfulness.

The last few days have seen a great deal of vitriol from all sides commenting on California's sad budget situation. Democrats and left leaning commentators railed against a Republican plan that proposed about $22 billion in budget "solutions" only to be followed by a similar right side hyperbolic rage against a "majority vote" Democratic plan that would have trimmed about $18 billion from the $40 billion or so 18 month cavern.

In a previous article,Iwrote that Governor Schwarzenegger could vastly improve his conduct ifonly he obeyed the injunction "Don't just do something, stand there!"However, given the actions of the Democratic members of California'sLegislature, Schwarzenegger's previous blunders havenot had a good week, at least where logical consistency is concerned.From the Democrat's absurd budget proposal to

In a move that smells strongly of the old strength and decisivenessthat brought him into office, Governor Schwarzenegger has rejected themost recent Democratic budget plan as being insufficiently concernedwith cutting the right programs and with raising the right taxes,according to the Los Angeles Times.Thisrejection comes on the heels of a bit of truly dirty politicalmaneuvering, in which the Democrats managed to squeeze $9.3 million intaxes out of Californi

It is fully 233 years since the American colonists first declared "notaxation without representation" and struck back against their"virtual" representation in the British Parliament. Those times don'tseem so long ago, however, when one considers what the CaliforniaLegislature has just decided to do - namely, raise taxes by 9.3 billion dollars without so much as a vote from the GOP minority.

This week, President-elect Barack Obama selected Nobel Prize winner andCaliforniaresident Steven Chu to serve as his energy secretary in the incomingadministration. On the surface, this pick appears to be a ratherinspiredchoice -- after all, how often is it that a man with a Nobel Prize inscientificresearch actually has the policy chops to work in a presidentialadministration? No doubt, coming off the heels of such choices as GaleNorton,countless of the supposed advocates of "competence" are getting smalltingles down their spine.

It’s a funnything: the elementary and high school education centers acrossCalifornia do not appear to be showing improvements, and yetfunding for public schools is at an all-time high across the state.