Free Republic

<p>Zombie Boy -- a model and artist known for his extensive tattoos, including of a skull and brain on his head -- has died of an apparent suicide, Canadian media reported.</p> <p>Zombie Boy, whose real name was Rick Genest, died around 5:00 pm (2100 GMT) on Wednesday, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation said, citing police sources. He was 32.</p>

Budget analysts, Wall Street bond-raters and state lawmakers are casting doubt on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's claim that his proposed spending plan for next fiscal year could wipe out California's chronic budget deficit. On Friday, the state's nonpartisan legislative analyst blasted Schwarzenegger's plan in unusually forceful terms. "We believe that the fiscal benefits of many of the budget's key proposals are overstated," Legislative Analyst Elizabeth Hill wrote in her annual critique of the spending plan, kicking off months of negotiations in the capital. "While any budget is subject to risks and uncertainties, we believe that the number and magnitude of these...

Publisher's Note: As part of an ongoing effort to bring original, thoughtful commentary to you here at the FlashReport, I am pleased to present this column from Mike Genest. Genest is the Director of the California State Office of Finance, appointed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. In this column, Genest addresses the issue, from his perspective, about whether Governor Schwarzenegger's new healthcare proposal includes new taxes or not (he says not). Jon Coupal, President of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, also pens a column today, where he takes the opposite view. [Dead Parrots and Tax Increases] Enjoy - Flash Some have...

Republican Gov. Schwarzenegger and the Legislature's Democratic leaders are patting each other on the back for their recent collegiality and pledging that they'll jointly fashion a multibillion-dollar infrastructure improvement program this year. Quietly, however, major conflicts are emerging on how the massive public works program would be financed, mirroring the division that underlies the state's 5-year-long political stalemate over closing the state budget deficit. Schwarzenegger wants infra- structure bonds to be largely financed from a budget that already is gushing red ink and is resisting major new taxes, such as a boost in the gasoline tax. But his approach would...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger Thursday appointed longtime Republican budget adviser Michael C. Genest to serve as his third finance director in little more than two years. Genest, 58, spent five years as the head budget aide to Senate Republicans before joining Schwarzenegger's finance department in 2003 as chief deputy director. He has been the acting director of the Department of Finance since September. Assemblyman John Laird, D-Santa Cruz, chair of the Assembly Budget Committee, described Genest as a "a strong conservative with a pragmatic streak."

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Thursday named veteran fiscal officer Mike Genest as the state's director of the Department of Finance, the second high-profile appointment the governor has made in as many days. Genest, 58, replaces Tom Campbell, who has returned to his post as dean of the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley. Campbell had been on leave for several weeks before the Nov. 8 special election, traveling the state to promote Proposition 76. The spending cap initiative was one of four Schwarzenegger proposals rejected by voters. A Republican, Genest was a member...

State Finance Director Tom Campbell stepped down from his job Wednesday to take a two-month unpaid leave and campaign on behalf of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's budget control and redistricting initiatives on the November special election ballot. "Tom's ability to articulate the need for budget reform and his knowledge of the budget make him uniquely qualified to be a fantastic asset to the campaign," Schwarzenegger said in a prepared statement about Campbell, who had already been on leave as dean of the University of California, Berkeley, Haas School of Business. Campbell, a former state senator and member of Congress, will be...