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As major Capitol business and labor groups denounced a tax overhaul package released Tuesday by a blue-ribbon commission, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger essentially embraced the plan, whose key components would flatten the state's income tax and install a new form of consumption tax on businesses. The Republican governor said he would sign the plan if it landed on his desk in its current form, although he acknowledged that lawmakers should have the chance to analyze and "tweak" the proposal. Schwarzenegger called a special legislative session on Tuesday to deal with the package, and he said he wanted lawmakers to act on...

Energy: An amazing number of oil finds have been made this year, including the biggest in California in 35 years. If the world is running out of oil, why do we keep finding more of it? The mantra of the anti-drilling crowd has been that oil companies like to sit on their leases and the oil in the ground, hoping to drive up the price. They should use the leases they have or lose them, these critics say. They also like to add that the world is running out of oil so it doesn't matter anyway. Occidental Petroleum hasn't been...

Energy: An amazing number of oil finds have been made this year, including the biggest in California in 35 years. If the world is running out of oil, why do we keep finding more of it? The mantra of the anti-drilling crowd has been that oil companies like to sit on their leases and the oil in the ground, hoping to drive up the price. They should use the leases they have or lose them, these critics say. They also like to add that the world is running out of oil so it doesn't matter anyway. Occidental Petroleum hasn't been...

Environmentalism: Sen. Dianne Feinstein votes to deny water to California's drought-stricken San Joaquin Valley. Farmers, families and food are being held hostage to an endangered fish called the delta smelt. (snip) The Senate rejected the amendment by a largely party-line 61-36 margin, with Feinstein opposing the restoration of water deliveries to farmers. The California senator claimed she was blindsided by the amendment to the bill she was managing in the Senate, bizarrely comparing the move to a "Pearl Harbor." "No one from California has called, written or indicated they wanted this on the calendar," Feinstein protested.

Indian Wells, CA -- Greetings from the California Republican Convention, where we've already made a tactical error: We forgot to eat before the speeches. Do you know what the sound of 900 Republicans chewing sounds like? For all intents and purposes, this weekend is the kickoff for the 2010 campaign season and all the major statewide candidates are here. (Save for US Senate hopeful Carly Fiorina, who is undergoing her final two weeks of radiation therapy to treat breast cancer.) The next 40 hours are all about kissing up to the hardcore activists here. But before the smooches were planted,...

Delta smelts: Preferred over humans. Environmentalism: Sen. Dianne Feinstein votes to deny water to California's drought-stricken San Joaquin Valley. Farmers, families and food are being held hostage to an endangered fish called the delta smelt.There was a time when the San Joaquin Valley was the most productive agricultural region in the world. It was a large part of what made the Golden State golden.Now it's a place where farmers no longer farm, but instead line up at food banks to feed the families of those who once fed the rest of the country and a good chunk of the...

(09-25) 16:05 PDT SACRAMENTO -- Under fire from park supporters and the state's own attorneys, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said today that no state parks will be completely closed to help solve the state's budget woes. Instead, the governor's new plan, which some say is little more than a shell game to save face, would slash $14.2 million from the park budget this year by closing campgrounds and facilities on weekdays, reducing seasonal and administrative staff and cutting back on things like bathroom cleaning. The idea is to allow all 279 state parks to remain open this fiscal year. More options...

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is ready to put his star power to work for President Barack Obama on the environment when his own term ends next year, the former movie actor said on Thursday. Republican Schwarzenegger is arguably the biggest environmentalist in his party and razzed Washington, which is struggling to pass climate change legislation and prepare for international talks, for wrangling with other countries over global warming goals rather than setting an example. "Did we say China, you go first with human rights, and we will follow you? No. We led," he said in an...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger plans to sign a bill Friday establishing March 30 as "Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day" despite vetoing an identical proposal two weeks ago because he said lawmakers hadn't delivered major deals on water, prisons and renewable energy nor confirmed his priority appointments. "This bill does nothing to address any of these issues," Schwarzenegger said in his Sept. 8 veto message. "I look forward to considering this measure when these other major issues are addressed." Two weeks later and with the end of regular session behind us, lawmakers haven't delivered the major deals on water, prisons and renewable...

Arnie starred in a LOT of great action/sci-fi flicks in his day. I'd like the FReepers who watched these flicks to weigh in on this (a friend of mine and I got in an argument today about the best one - I won't reveal my pick just yet). The Terminator Total Recall Predator Commando Terminator 2 The Running Man

SEAN HANNITY, HOST: And ladies and gentlemen, you are looking live at the thousands of people who have shown up here in the Central Valley of California. They want their farms back, they want their jobs back, and they want the water turned back on. Now, tonight, you are going to hear from some of the politicians who are fighting on behalf of the citizens in this region. We will also talk to California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. And we will even hear from an environmentalist who is actually defending the government's decision that are responsible for drying up this once...

SEIU Shows Softer Side With Lawn Signs in Sacramento Area By Jon Ortiz Sep. 19, 2009 California's biggest state employee union has tried the fist. Now it's extending the hand. Service Employees International Union Local 1000 has planted nearly 15,000 lawn signs in the Sacramento region aimed at building public support for the 95,000 state workers it represents. The campaign is a courteous counterpoint to the angry rallies, aggressive ad campaigns and strike threats the union has employed in the last few months as it unsuccessfully pushed Republican legislators and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to ratify the local's stalled labor contract....

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will file a court-mandated plan today to ease prison overcrowding that appears to defy demands by a panel of three federal judges, the latest salvo in a long-running feud between state and federal officials over California's corrections system. The federal judges last month ordered the state to reduce its prison population by 40,000 inmates over the next two years in response to lawsuits alleging that overcrowding has led to unconstitutional and inadequate levels of medical and mental health care. Schwarzenegger's Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation intends to file an inmate reduction plan with the court today, but...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger apparently has been captivated by recent news stories about a conservative filmmaker who exposed misdeeds at ACORN, the national organization that serves low-income residents and has been involved in controversial efforts to register Democratic voters. The Republican governor sent a brief memo Wednesday to Democratic Attorney General Jerry Brown asking him to investigate ACORN's activities in San Bernardino. Two conservative activists have posted videos of their visits to ACORN offices around the country in which they posed as a prostitute and a pimp seeking advice. In San Bernardino's ACORN office, a volunteer who claims to be a...

Breaking

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed an executive order Tuesday moving him closer to vetoing renewable energy regulations that the Legislature approved last week. "It is terrible legislation," he said at a ceremony held at a Sacramento Municipal Utility District solar-energy farm in Rancho Cordova. Schwarzenegger said he's "more than happy to sit down with legislators any time" to continue to talk about California's ambitious plans to cut use of fossil fuels. The governor's order assigns the California State Air Resources Board – rather than legislators – the task of charting how utilities arrive at using at least 33 percent renewable energy...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's office said Saturday that he would veto legislation requiring a third of California's energy to come from renewable sources by 2020, choosing instead to mandate the change through an executive order. The Democratic bills that passed the state Legislature just before the end of the legislative session Friday would have set up the most aggressive renewable energy standards in the nation. But they also sought to limit the amount of energy from sources such as wind, solar and geothermal that could come from out-of-state. Schwarzenegger and some energy producers said the legislation would set...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will veto a pair of bills lawmakers passed early today to ratchet up California's renewable energy goals, a spokesman said this afternoon. The governor supports a requirement in the legislation that by 2020 at least 33 percent of all electrical power delivered to Californians come from solar, wind, geothermal, biomass or small-scale hydroelectric sources. But Schwarzenegger dislikes provisions that would limit the amount of energy utilities could purchase from out-of-California providers

With today the final day of the Legislature's session, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Democratic legislative leaders are pushing hard for passage of a law that would require that 33 percent of the power used in California be from renewable energy sources by the end of 2020. The main sticking point is over a bizarre proposal that all this power be generated in-state, even though California is fully integrated into a regional grid that helps keep reliability up and costs down. Our concern is much broader, however. A strong case can be made that the state, the nation and the world...

In the latest round of Capitol brinksmanship, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a bill honoring Vietnam veterans and threatened to kill 72 other proposals on his desk because he said lawmakers have ignored his priority issues. The Senate withdrew all of its 43 bills from the Republican governor's desk for temporary safekeeping. But in an act of defiance, the Assembly left on his desk a bill that would designate March 30 as "Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day." "I dare the governor to veto this bill," said Assembly Majority Leader Alberto Torrico, D-Newark, before the close of Tuesday's session. Shortly afterward, Schwarzenegger...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has demanded that both houses withdraw 73 bills awaiting action on his desk as an apparent bargaining chip in the final days of the session. He has threatened to veto any bills that he must act on by the end of business Wednesday. Though an e-mail circulated to Senate chiefs of staff says the request is to provide the governor's office with more time to act on the bills, an e-mail sent to Assembly chiefs of staff and a statement by Schwarzenegger's communications director point to the host of large issues still looming over legislators' heads with...

Authorities have traced the ignition point just off a public road and say they found the substance used to start the historic blaze, but they would not identify it. The so-called Station Fire has now consumed growth and structures on more than 150,000 acres, or more than 234 square miles. That's an area more than ten times the size of New York's Manhattan island. It's still not contained and has cost millions of dollars to fight with resources coming in from all over the country and Canada.

Reporting from Sacramento - California's high-speed rail commission, dominated by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's appointees, is set to award a $9-million contract today to a company led by the governor's top political advisor and his former campaign manager. The three commission staff members charged with recommending a public relations firm have advised the board to give the contract to Mercury Public Affairs at its meeting today. Schwarzenegger strategist Adam Mendelsohn is a partner at Mercury, as is Steve Schmidt, who managed the governor's 2006 reelection effort. Two members of the staff panel are former Mendelsohn colleagues. Ethics watchdogs raised questions about...

The unions are gearing up for a fight – again – with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. A coalition of national unions that includes grocery clerks, hotel workers, farmworkers, Teamsters and the Service Employees International Union dumped $1 million Tuesday into a campaign fund to fight a proposed water bond

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger wants to file an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court of a federal order to reduce the state's prison population by more than 40,000 inmates over the next two years, his office announced Tuesday. A federal three-judge panel last month ordered California officials to reduce the state's prison population because overcrowding has led to unconstitutional levels of care. The order required the state to present a reduction plan by Sept. 18. Schwarzenegger on Tuesday asked the panel to delay that order, a procedural move likely to be rejected. If that happens, the governor plans to file a...

Billing it as the largest state-sponsored green jobs training program in the nation, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger Monday announced a $75 million program to train 20,000 workers for environmental jobs. "We will need more workers to install the solar panels and insulate the homes and do all those things that we will need," Schwarzenegger said at an announcement at Los Angeles Trade Technical College. "We have two major problems in this state," he said. "We have high unemployment. That is crisis No. 1. Crisis No. 2 is the environment. This Clean Energy Workforce Training Program attacks both those problems."

Some scholars squabble about the particulars, but there is no question that democracy's roots go back at least 2,500 years to practices developed in the Greek city-state of Athens. But the adoption of a key pillar of democracy — the secret ballot — came far more recently. In England in the 1830s, disenfranchised working-class men and sympathetic members of Parliament launched the Chartist movement. The most crucial of its six objectives was universal suffrage for all men over 21, but not far behind was the secret-ballot provision. It took decades, but eventually the secret ballot became the democratic norm —...

California Assembly Speaker Karen Bass plans to strip the most controversial provisions from a Senate-approved plan that would have trimmed the state's prison population by 27,000 inmates. The Assembly version would keep about 10,000 more inmates behind bars and leave the state with a new, nearly $200 million budget hole, Bass said early Friday. Bass said the new plan -- to be considered Monday -- would do away with proposals by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to allow home detention with electronic monitoring for inmates with less than 12 months to serve, who are over age 60 or who are medically incapacitated....

In a visit to the Chino facility where inmates rioted Aug. 8, the governor complains that politicians have 'swept the problem under the rug for so long.' Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, after touring the site where a major prison riot occurred 12 days ago, said Wednesday that the state's prison system is "collapsing under its own weight" and called on lawmakers to make changes that could reduce overcrowding and spending on inmates. The governor and his corrections chief, Matt Cate, walked through the destruction at a housing unit for prisoners at the California Institution for Men in Chino, where 1,300 inmates...

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, filed suit Monday in San Francisco Superior Court to block nearly $500 million in Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's July line-item budget vetoes. Steinberg asked the court to prevent Schwarzenegger and state Controller John Chiang from imposing cuts to programs ranging from Healthy Families to the Department of Parks and Recreation. Chiang, a Democrat, is named in the suit as a formality because he is responsible as controller for carrying out Schwarzenegger's vetoes. The Republican governor, in signing the vetoes, said he was forced to cut a wide range of programs because the Assembly sent...

UNSATISFIED WITH the amount of spending reductions agreed to by the Legislature, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger used his line-item veto to cut another $489 billion out of the state budget. It may well be that even more drastic spending cuts need to be made, but the governor may have overstepped the law with his vetoes, not to mention the additional hardships that could be placed on needy Californians. The extra budget spending reductions he made at the end of July took nearly $80 million that pays for workers who help abused and neglected children and $50 million from Healthy Families, which...

Steinberg says he'll sue Schwarzenegger SACRAMENTO — Senate Leader Darrell Steinberg waded into a legal confrontation Friday with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, announcing he plans to sue the state's top politician for "abuse of his executive powers" by making a series of extra budget cuts worth nearly $500 million. The Sacramento Democrat called the cuts — blue-pencil line-item vetoes that fell particularly hard on the poor and disabled — illegal and unconscionable. "We elected a governor, not an emperor," Steinberg said in a Capitol news conference. "The governor forced punishing cuts on children, the disabled and patients (in a fight) that...

Eunice Kennedy Shriver, the 86-year-old sister of President John F. Kennedy, who founded the Special Olympics and championed the rights of the mentally retarded, has been hospitalized. A spokesman said Friday that Shriver's family was at her side at a Massachusetts hospitla. Shriver is also the sister of Sen. Edward Kennedy and the mother-in-law of California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. It was no immediately clear what ailment, if any, was affecting her. It was also not immediate clear how long Shriver has been hospitalized. Shriver is also the sister of Sen. Edward Kennedy and the mother-in-law of California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger,...

Here is video of conservative comedian Steven Crowder's newest video, where he has a hilarious interview with none other than California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Let's say it is very interesting! . . . . . . (Watch Video)

Throughout the course of American history people have prospered when government expansion and regulatory polices have been kept in check. On the national level during the 20th century this was evident during the administrations of Calvin Coolidge (1923-1929) and Ronald Reagan (1981-1989) — both drastically cut taxes, defended the private sector, curtailed the size and scope of government, and witnessed unprecedented economic booms. Conversely, people have suffered during administrations like Jimmy Carter’s (1977-1981) where taxes and regulations were rampant. In other words, freedom is profitable but progressivism, or “liberalism” as it is known today, is not. And this appears to...

It's a basic tenet of politics: When you get into a pissing contest with a skunk, you wind up smelling as bad as the skunk. Arnold Schwarzenegger forgot that lesson during this last budget fight. His polling numbers are almost as low as those of the Legislature. Unlike his past setbacks, when he was able to rebuild his image with newfound money, this time the economy is working against him. And from the looks of things, so is everyone else in Sacramento. I suspect his final cuts to children's health care and AIDS programs were made more out of anger...

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has sunk to an all-time low among Californians in a new survey that also finds that residents, while strongly in favor of environmental regulations, want to slow down on environmental reforms while the economy is still taking a beating. Schwarzenegger's job approval rating is now at 28 percent, according to a poll by the Public Policy Institute of California, comparable to the ratings faced by former Gov. Gray Davis before he was recalled in 2003. The poll of 2,501 adults was taken July 7-21, at the height of budget negotiations but before the $26 billion...

Here is video tonight of California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger with Greta Van Susteren talking about what it has been like to be Governor during such a dramatic budget crisis. Greta asked Arnold about the video he made for Twitter holding a knife. He said he had just gotten the knife as a birthday gift, and he just acted "a little over the top" by using the knife. Greta also asked Schwarzenegger if he would run for President if eligible (he is not eligible). Arnold said "Yes," he would because he always likes to shoot for the top. Schwarzenegger credits America...

Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press Schwarzenegger discusses the $85-billion revised state budget before signing it at the Capitol today. Calling the budget the 'good, the bad and the ugly,' the governor reduces funding to programs for children's welfare and healthcare, the elderly, and AIDS treatment and prevention.Reporting from Sacramento -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger today signed a budget plan approved by lawmakers to close the state's monumental deficit, using his veto power to impose nearly $500 million in additional cuts. The new reductions will affect child welfare and children's healthcare, the elderly, state parks, and AIDS treatment and prevention beyond...

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a package of bills on Tuesday to balance the state's budget, which should allow the state to stop issuing IOUs instead of paying bills and to prepare for a crucial sale of short-term debt. After weeks of negotiations, the Republican governor and top lawmakers in the Democratic-led legislature early last week agreed to several measures to close the state's massive budget deficit of more than $24 billion. On Friday, the legislature passed many of the measures to close most of the gap but left it to Schwarzenegger to use line-item cuts...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a package of budget bills Tuesday he said contained "the good, the bad and the ugly," including no new tax increases and deep cuts in education and health care. He said he was forced to make additional cuts in parks and child welfare services because lawmakers sent him a package that was $156 million in the red. "We are not out of the troubled waters yet," he said."We are ready if our revenues drop further to make the necessary cuts to again live within our means." Line items totaled $656 million, including cuts in the Office...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is expected to line-item veto more than $600 million in state programs to rebuild California's reserve fund when he signs a budget revision today. The cuts will not include a fourth state worker furlough day, Schwarzenegger's office said Monday. The governor's signature on an $85 billion general fund budget should conclude California's months-long dispute over how to bridge its latest shortfall and, leaders hope, ultimately end the state's reliance on IOUs. Schwarzenegger will exercise his line-item veto authority after the Assembly last week rejected nearly $1.1 billion in solutions that legislative leaders and the governor had negotiated...

Sacramento, Calif. (AP) -- Human services advocates say more cuts to health and welfare programs are likely this week when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger issues line-item vetoes before signing California's revised budget. State officials also are analyzing the plan passed by the Legislature to see if it will be sufficient to allow the state to get short-term loans and stop issuing IOUs.

In this uncertain moment for the party of Lincoln, behold the jaunty, robust specimen of Republican centrism. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of California strides into a conference room in his Sacramento office with a smile, having wrestled down his state’s mammoth budget deficit in a compromise with a Democratic-controlled Legislature. . . . . . Now, across the country, see the slight, dour spokesman for orthodox Republicanism. Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, leader of the shrunken Republican minority, will never be mistaken for a bodybuilder or a movie star. . . . . . Mr. Schwarzenegger does not rule out an...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Lawmakers on Friday approved a complex package of spending cuts, accounting maneuvers and raids on local government coffers to fill California's gigantic budget deficit, providing hope that the state might begin a slow climb out of a deep financial hole. ... The cuts imposed by the Legislature are extraordinary. The deal will mean teachers are laid off, college students will pay more, parks will be closed, and office buildings will be sold off. Lawmakers agreed the scope of the cuts was distasteful, but most said they had little choice. "The only way to do it is to...

Energy Policy: California regulators are ready to conclude that corn ethanol cannot help the state fight global warming. It seems they've discovered putting food in our cars would destroy the earth in order to save it. California regulators have apparently discovered it ain't easy being green. The California Air Resources Board began two days of hearings in Sacramento on Thursday on a proposed Low Carbon Fuel Standard which considers the carbon intensity of fuels during a given fuel's entire life cycle. The California Environmental Protection Agency apparently has concluded that corn ethanol would not help the state implement Executive Order...

More than 180 California cities have passed resolutions threatening to sue the state if lawmakers approve a budget plan that would seize $4.7 billion in local funds to help close the state’s massive deficit, according to the League of California Cities. Judy Mitchell, mayor of Rolling Hills Estates and president of the League of California Cities, described the budget proposal as a “ponzi scheme that passes off responsibility to future governors, legislators and to our taxpayers.” The plan announced Monday by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders uses a variety of means to essentially shift part of the state’s $26.3-billion...

A little subliminal messaging, perhaps?

Here is a video report showing California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger holding a large knife as he talked about making cuts to help with the disastrous budget shortfall in the state. He also joked about signing state-owned cars to be auctioned off in order to raise money for the state. . . . . (Watch Video)