SACRAMENTO -- A little over a year ago, I wrote that California's state government was in the worst mess I had ever seen. At the time, Gov. Gray Davis was paralyzed by the threat of the recall election. The Democratically controlled Legislature was out of control, making monumental mistakes like passing the politically unacceptable immigrant driver's license bill and acquiescing in the car tax increase. Since then, a lot has happened. Davis lost his job, and Arnold Schwarzenegger swept into office promising a whirlwind of reform and "action, action, action." But how much have things really changed? It's fair to...