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...Under the governor's plan, nearly 1 million middle-class people would be caught in a tough bind, those experts say: They earn too much to qualify for the insurance subsidies Schwarzenegger wants the state to provide but not enough to afford comprehensive coverage. Only those whose yearly earnings are less than 250% of the federal poverty level — about $25,525 for individuals and $51,625 for families of four — would qualify for the proposed subsidies. People earning more would be required by law to have, at a minimum, a high-deductible catastrophic insurance plan. Such policies, which the administration says cost about...

ARE Californians taxed too much, or not enough? Taxes are the central question of how to fund Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's massive $12 billion expansion of government-run health care with its 4 percent payroll tax, 4 percent hospital tax and 2 percent doctor tax. Ironically, Schwarzenegger lambasted Phil Angelides during last year's gubernatorial campaign for wanting to raise taxes by $7 billion to create a new government health care entitlement. Angelides argued mightily that his proposal amounted to fees, not taxes. But the governor called Angelides' "fee" a "tax," so a "tax" it was. Now that Schwarzenegger is proposing a government...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, attending a California YMCA Youth and Government conference on Thursday, said he won't sign a bill to allow gay and lesbian couples to marry in California if the measure is passed by the Legislature. Asked by a high school student if he would sign a gay marriage bill, the governor said: "No. I wouldn't sign it because the people of California have voted on that issue." He was referring to the passage of Proposition 22 in 2000 to limit marriage to a man and a woman. Last year, the Republican governor cited the same initiative in vetoing...

Only three hours before addressing California's semiannual state Republican convention, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced the appointment of two Democrats to the state Air Resources Board. Environmentalists and Democrats cheered the appointees to the commission given the task of overseeing the implementation of last year's landmark global warming agreement. The new members of the air board are Jerry Hill, 59, a member of the San Mateo County Utility Sustainability Task Force and the Bay Conservation and Development Commission, and Daniel Sperling, 55, founding director of the Institute of Transportation Studies at the University of California, Davis. "These are great appointments. These...

When politicians break their pledges not to raise taxes, they come up with the darnedest evasions. Take Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who wants to levy new charges on California doctors, hospitals and employers to help pay for his $12 billion health-care plan. "It is not a tax, just a loan, because it does not go for general [expenditures]," he told the Sacramento Bee last Thursday. "It goes back to health care." A loan? The first reaction of many Californians was: What state office will I be able to go to and get my loan back--perhaps with interest? It's preposterous, for example,...

Paved with good intentions, California's proposed road to Universal Health Coverage will lead straight to chaos. The Governor's January 8th, 2007 proposal aims to provide relief for Californians suffering under a healthcare system in desperate need of repair. It does not lack noble goals. What it lacks is common sense. Achieving a workable solution first requires that we understand the problem. For 4.8 million uninsured Californians, no further explanation is necessary (the often-cited figure of 6.5 million refers to those uninsured "at some point" during the prior year, including many who are currently covered). But for the rest of us,...

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger kicked off his first full term in office this week by announcing during his state-of-the-state address that he intends to implement a state health insurance plan to cover all residents, including illegal aliens. But before riding the universal health care train too far, Gov. Schwarzenegger might want to make a stop in Nashville to see exactly how such a plan has actually worked for Tennessee, where that state's abysmal TennCare program has forced dozens of hospitals out of business, pushed thousands of doctors and other health care professionals out of the state, destroyed any semblance of...

A lame-duck governor morphs into a Bill Clinton-Phil Angelides composite on policy and rhetoric. “That depends what the definition of ‘is’ is.” — Soon-to-be-disbarred William Clinton, speaking to the Lewinsky grand jury and showing that weasels know well how to use weasel words. Of the many indignities Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has inflicted of late on common sense and fundamental Republican principals, his support for the long-held socialist dream of state-run health insurance is perhaps the worst. As if his support for this deformed monster of public policy weren’t enough, he adds the insult of hiding behind weasel words as shamelessly,...

(snip) Many conservatives rallied around his candidacy because they believed that he truly understood the need to control the size of government and reduce the tax burden on businesses and families. Today, many of those early Schwarzenegger supporters feel he has walked away from his commitment to curb the growth of government. His health-care proposal, which proposes a new tax on California businesses, and his State of the State address, which called for more spending and doesn't fundamentally deal with the state's spending problem, didn't do much to alleviate that concern. Rather than tell Republicans he is abandoning them, and...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Hobbling to his inauguration on crutches, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger promised Friday not to be beholden to a political party in his second term and declared that "centrist does not mean weak." Nursing a badly broken right leg, Schwarzenegger missed the first part of the program before coming out to deliver his speech. Centrist "does not mean watered down or warmed over," he said. "It means well-balanced and well-grounded." The Republican governor said his dismal year in 2005, when a clash with the state's public employees union cut his approval rating in half, had awakened him to a...

Too much testosterone can kill brain cells, researchers said on Tuesday in a finding that may help explain why steroid abuse can cause behavior changes like aggressiveness and suicidal tendencies. Tests on brain cells in lab dishes showed that while a little of the male hormone is good, too much of it causes cells to self-destruct in a process similar to that seen in brain illnesses such as Alzheimer's. "Too little testosterone is bad, too much is bad but the right amount is perfect," said Barbara Ehrlich of Yale University in Connecticut, who led the study. Testosterone is key to...

Some of Hollywood's most reliable and generous donors to the Democratic Party — Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and media mogul Haim Saban — are endorsing Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's bid for reelection. Their support is partly a matter of friendship over partisanship. But it could deal a blow to the governor's main opponent, state Treasurer Phil Angelides, by signaling to other Democrats that it's acceptable to embrace a Republican.

SAN JOSE, Calif. - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger holds a solid lead over either Democratic challenger in a head-to-head battle in the November election, at least among those who have a preference, but 30 percent of likely voters remain undecided, according to a nonpartisan poll released today. The survey, by the Public Policy Institute of California, is wide ranging but a theme emerges: The news is good, or at least better, for the governor on virtually all fronts - and it's clear his two Democratic challengers have a lot of work to do. One-on-one, Schwarzenegger holds an 8 percentage point advantage...

The California Democratic Party is asking for an investigation of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sen. John McCain for alleged violations of campaign finance law. The allegations center on a scheduled March 20th fund-raiser in Beverly Hills in which donors have been asked to contribute up to 100 thousand dollars for the governor and the state Republican Party. McCain is the featured speaker at the event. At issue is whether McCain's appearance violates restrictions on federal officeholders taking part in events that solicit political funds. Ironically, McCain is being accused of violating a law he helped write. Katie Levinson, a spokeswoman...

January 24, 2006--California's Republican governor is neck and neck with either of two potential Democratic challengers.In a match-up with State Treasurer Phil Angelides, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger leads Angelides 41% to 39% (see crosstabs). Matched with State Comptroller Steve Westly, Schwarzenegger trails 39% to 40% (see crosstabs).In mid-December, our polling showed Angelides leading Schwarzenegger 44% to 40%. Westly led him 46% to 39%.Much of the incumbent's political muscle, dramatically displayed just a little more than two years ago in a post-recall election victory, seemed to turn to flab last year. A recent "move to the center" may be converting some of...

GOP activists are set to issue resolutions denouncing Schwarzenegger's key actions. Republican activists are poised to denounce every major action Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has taken in the past few months - from appointing a Democrat chief of staff to proposing a massive statewide building plan to growing the state budget deficit. Drafts of five resolutions, which declare their grievances with the governor, were circulating this week and will probably be discussed as part of a meeting today in Palm Springs among the party faithful, including several leaders from Orange County. "The governor's had a free ride from the conservatives ever...

Political parties in California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Austrian hometown have started a petition drive to remove his name from a sports stadium. The dispute stems from the governor’s decision to deny clemency to Stanley Tookie Williams. The co-founder of the Crips gang was executed early Tuesday in San Quentin State Prison for four 1979 murders. Opposition to the death penalty is strong in Austria, and the once-popular Schwarzenegger has lost much of his shine since becoming California governor for refusing to spare convicted murderers on death row. The outcry was especially sharp after the clemency denial for Williams, who had...

The past few weeks have been a wakeup call to those Republicans, and especially those conservatives, who got stars in their eyes and supported movie star Arnold Schwarzenegger for governor during the historic Gray Davis recall campaign. On the heels of a decisive defeat in the recent special election for his reform ballot initiatives, the Terminator is acting like he wants to terminate his alliance with the Republican Party. Since he has failed to even slow the nonstop spending of the California Legislature, Arnold's false reading of the election-results tea leaves has now led him to join the Democrat Party...

California Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's appointment of longtime Democrat, lesbian activist and pro-abortion leader Susan Kennedy as his chief of staff is more evidence of The Terminator's disdain for social conservatives. But the move also illustrates the strong collaboration between homosexual activists and the abortion lobby. For years, the two radical social movements have worked hand in hand to destroy the primacy of marriage and family and the Judeo-Christian sexual ethic. All too often, pro-life conservatives looked the other way when ostensibly pro-life politicians and clerics embraced or ignored the homosexual agenda, as if the two issues were not closely...

Team Arnold lost his Big Four measures -- Propositions 74 through 77 -- on the California ballot Tuesday because this band of political hired guns deserved to lose. They ran a cynical campaign. After Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's big recall-election win in 2003 and his successful fight in 2004 against some well-funded ballot measures -- like the two Big Casino measures and a three-strikes makeover that rode high in the polls until he opposed it -- the team figured he could sell anything to the California voter. So they didn't do a careful job of lining up initiatives with curb appeal...