Calblog

No Charlie Chan

The Fox Movie Channel starting showing all the Charlie Chan movies Mondays at 8. The first week, we missed it because I forgot that we're in the west and that means Mondays at 5. Then there were one or more weeks of not being home at 5. (I do have to work sometimes).

Today, both the Calblog husband and I got home early and settled in. No movie. A search of the web resulted in this pop-up window message on the Fox Movie Channel website:

Fox Movie Channel will discontinue the broadcast of the Charlie Chan mystery films.

In the hope that this action will evoke discussion about the progress made in our modern, multicultural society, we invite you to please click CONTACT US to send us your thoughts on the matter.

Argh. Complex storylines, Chan's intellect. They were great movies. Yes, I know the accent was overdone but it was so overdone, it was cartoonish. It's not like I'm going to show it to the kids and they will suddenly think differently of Chinese people or any particular Chinese person.

We're headed to Blockbuster to rent one. You can all think what you want of me.

Scoop from LA Observed

Kevin Roderick at LA Observed has the news on editor changes at the LA Times.

Hilary Signs Books

Lonewacko went to the Hilary book signing in Pasadena yesterday.

The Calblog family and some friends who like the Clintons went to the Absolut Chalk festival a few blocks away and went to the bookstore after Hilary left. Usually, Vromans will have a few signed books left over, which our friends would have liked. There were no signed Hilary ones available though, just a stack of leftover unsigned ones. Draw your own conclusion.

The Budget and the Recall

In a comment to this post, Kevin Drum asked a reasonable question:

I dunno, they started the recall about seven weeks after the election, didn't they? Exactly what happened in seven weeks?

Is it really true that Davis hid the size of the deficit? I'm really asking. It's just that I thought it's been pretty common knowledge for a long time.

My recollection was that, yes, it had happened soon after the election and that it appeared that Davis had hidden the size of the deficit. However, I hate to make a factual statement like that based on my memory, since, like many people, I usually remember my conclusion and not the underlying details. I also wanted to link to a live story, not a pay-to-look archive piece.

I have finally found something that summarizes the situation that I remember and was on the web at the time of Davis' announcement.

While the announcement by the Governor confirmed what many legislators and advocates have widely predicted, policy makers and advocates were stunned by the growing massive shortfall. The shortfall of nearly $35 billion means that his January 10 2004 budget proposal must now fill a gap that is nearly $14 billion larger then what was officially projected in November. At that time in November, the Legislative Analyst Office projected a budget shortfall of over $21 billion. The Governor, at the time did not confirm those numbers, but later, on December 6, when he called released his proposal to cut $10 billion in spending in the current 2003 budget, said the deficit was billions of dollars worse than any current projection.

So the increase from $21-36 billion (a 67% increase) was announced by Davis just 4 weeks after the election and there was no explanation that I know of about why he suddenly discovered this right after being elected.

I do think this is an important point to debate for those who want to know why we should recall him when he won the election fair and square. Feel free to present contradictory information.

UPDATE: From the comments, it seems I was unclear. My point wasn't that there was no reason to recall him in December. My point was that there was no reason for Davis to suddenly discover the new numbers in December. The information was presumably available to him before the election a month earlier. In fact, I am pretty sure the recall was announced right after the announcement of the new amount.

Gloom and Doom

The Washington Post is predicting gloom and doom. CA is only hours from financial disaster. Drudge has it top of the page. It's all the Republicans' fault:

For weeks, the state's budget has been hostage to an intensely partisan political war over taxes and spending that is now getting even more bitter and complicated because of a Republican-led campaign to recall Davis from office.
. . .
But Republicans are refusing to consider any tax increase
. . .
But Democrats see other motives. Some are accusing GOP lawmakers of deliberately dragging their feet on the budget in the hope that will hurt Davis politically and strengthen the recall campaign

Poker Blog

I love poker. I particularly love online poker where I can sit in my favorite spot on the couch, watch a little TV and talk to the kids. I might play better poker without the distractions but the first and last time I was in a casino, that was not the case. I don't pay particularly well but I'm learning, I like it and I don't bet more than I can lose so it's become a rather relaxing hobby.

If you like poker, or just want to read about it, check out love and casino war. Good writing on a great topic.

The Automat

The joy of having a blog is I get to write about whatever I want. In addition, I've never limited myself in topic to the law or even California, so I really have free range, perhaps to the consternation of my readers. Today, you lucky readers, you get the Automat.

My children were born the same year the last Horn & Hardart Automat closed so they have no experience with an Automat. However, I was surprised that the Calblog husband had only a vague idea of what an Automat is. I wonder if soemone who is turning 36 today would know what it was.

First, the links. The Smithsonian magazine has an ode to the Automat. Early pictures of the founders and the restaurant here. An advertisement for the Automat is here. Finally, the picture of the Automat which matches the visual image in my is mind is here.

The Automat was fast food before we had McDonalds. The big Automat in New York City was near Radio City Music Hall and it only added to the excitement of a trip to Radio City to stop at the Automat for lunch. All the food in the Autmat was divided into single serving portions in the largest vending machine there was. An entire wall was divided into square shelves behind individual clear doors with knobs and a coin slot that took nickels. Some foods cost one nickel and, in those high priced sixties, some foods cost several nickels.

The Smithsonian article said that hot food was served from a buffet. My memory, though, is of the dessert section with cheesecake being dispensed out of the world's bigest candy machine. It was a kid's dream during an era when Sammy Davis sang Candyman and we dreamed of a place where you "can even eat the dishes."

I miss the Automat.

Spelling

I have lost the ability to spell. My kids did it to me. The way I spell and the way most people spell is without thinking. You write the words and when you read them over, they look right ot they look wrong. Sure there are some simple rules we learned when we were young. Most of the spelling bee champs learn even more rules, which is why in a spelling bee, you can ask what language the word derives from so you can figure out which rules you should apply. However, most of us, read, and see the same words over so that when it's misspelled, it looks "wrong."

I expected the kids would get to that point, too. It hasn't happened. I don't know why although I do know that poor spelling by children is a common complaint in this community and the school periodically announces a new program to try and fix it.

So the kids spell bad. Often. I have seen so much bad spelling that everything looks wrong. I try to correct their spelling and I find myself sitting there wondering why I can no longer spell words that never presented a problem.

Blogger had a spellcheck. MT doesn't have one that I can find and it's driving me batty.

The Gift Economy

Dean has put out a remarkable piece about the "economy" of blogs, which is very successful and not based on money. Since I always aspired to that Star Trek federation utopia where there is no money (although they regularly write in money-type systems like credits), I think Dean's hit upon what I like about blogging and being part of the "community."

Pasadena Recall Rally

Calblog husband, Calblog twin, Maddy, and I went to a Recall Gray Davis Rally in Pasadena this afternoon. I intended to go as a quiet observer. I forgot the first rule of traveling with Madeleine. If there's a camera, we must be in front of it. Look for us on CNN, KTLA and KCAL. Madeleine is the only 11-year-old Caucasian girl. She broke open the pinata with Davis' face on it.

Highlights:

The rally only drew 75 people. Bad news for them. Good news for those of us who hate crowds.

It was sponsored by the 44th Assembly District Republican Central Committee. They see this as the first step in taking back the state for Republicans.

Speakers included Mark Selzer of the Libertarian Party (who oddly enough didn't know who Howard Kaloogian when they met before the speeches started), Howard Kaloogian, who runs RecallGrayDavis.com and Tom McClintock, who is likely to run on the recall ballot and who appears to be the choice of the Republican rank and file.

Kaloogian said they are at over a million signatures. He said that the opposition has sent two people to debate him at speaking opportunities. Bob Mulholland kept saying that the campaign was a fraud. When that didn't pan out, Art Torres took the lead, claiming the Bush White House was behind this. Kaloogian said that the Bush White House is focussing on nothing but getting Bush reelected.

Budget Watch

Highlights of the crisis:

July 1 is the first deadline that matters. Although the budget is supposed to be passed by June 15, over the years, that has become a goal, not a deadline. The Legislature rarely makes that goal, even in years that there isn't a crisis.

On July 1, some money stops flowing out from the state. Technically, those payments will be delayed but some state-funded programs live hand-to-mouth and cannot weather a delay.

At the end of July, the bridge loan runs out and the effects will be deeper.

Yesterday, the Democrats brought their proposal for a vote. It included higher taxes and therefore needed a two-thirds vote. Without Republican votes,the higher taxes can't pass and they didn't.

In addition, the Democrats put up what they call the Republican plan. The Republicans said that it didn't match their plan, that it had at least a dozen differences but that they couldn't put their plan together by Monday night. (Yes, as a Republican, I am deeply embarassed.) The Democratic version of the Republican plan did not get any votes. Zero votes. They spent time debating it and then it got zero votes.

Now, it's the weekend and everyone's gone home. Davis is in NY telling the legislators that they should do something.

It'll be ugly very soon.

News coverage: The LA Times, the Sacramento Bee, and the San Francisco Chronicle.

Blog coverage as I find it.

UPDATE: California Insider has a far more optimistic response:

For all their huffing and puffing, the Democrats and Republicans in the Senate are less than $2 billion apart on a $71 billion general fund.

Go read the whole thing.

Oh dear

Note to self: Turn off FoxNews before leaving the house.

Recall Run Through the Blogs

For a long time, I was the only one blogging regularly about the recall. I had friends who thought I'd gone off the deep end. I'd practically beg other bloggers to join in.

Those days are gone. I am no longer the only one. I'm not even the best or the most comprehensive anymore.

California Insider reports on Secretary of State tactics to delay the election.

Pathetic Earthlings reports on the tactics of the anti-recall folk.

UPDATE: Do not forget the usual bevy of material at Prestopundit.

Recall: Issa's past

So the last few days have brought us "news" that Issa was involved in his brother's scheme to steal his car for insurance. (See sample reaction here and here and here and here.) Why the quotes around the "news"? It isn't new. I was pretty sure I'd see it before and I have.

I went back through my old recall posts. Most of the links are outdated now and I can't tell you if the now de-linked articles were rife with details. I can only pull up the Sacramento Bee articles. On 4/25, there was a report in California Insider that Democratic insiders were circulating a memo about Issa's past.

A month later, the car theft itself is mentioned in passing in a Bee profile.

Although the articles I found don't have details, I do think the delinked ones do because nothing in the Chronicle story surprised me and it's not as if I'm hanging out at parties with anti-recall activists spreading the news.

Sacramento Ag Conference

Despite the protests, the international conference on bioengineered foods was a success.

Bar the Doors

Now here's a fine quote from the Chicago Sun-Times article on Clinton's speech to Rainbow/PUSH:

Some audience members marveled at Clinton's support for issues that matter to them.

"He gave insight to things that we overlook," said Ryan Fields, 20, a Morehouse College student from the Beverly neighborhood. "It's like the Trojan horse. The [enemy] warriors are coming out at night, and that could mean slavery, if we allow it."

I Must Be Adopted

My father thinks that not a single blogger writes as well as Maureen Dowd.

Weblogs and Business

Corporations large and small pride themselves on creating an image bigger than life. Along the way, we've lost touch with not only ourselves but also the people we communicate with. If companies don't move toward authenticity, personal voice, passion, freer speech, truth, and reality, they'll continue to loose touch with customers.

Kathleen Goodwin, writing in support of corporate weblogs, "in the wake of ClickZ's first Weblog Business Strategies Conference."

Another One Bites the Road

California Insider reports that George Radanovich has pulled out of the race.

Maddy is 11

My daughters have their own blog. Apparently some readers are unclear on the fact that Maddy is 11. Occasionally, the comments go way over her head. Here's a portion of this morning's comment:

4) How do you feel about the diversity rationale set forth by the Supreme Court in their opinion on the Grutter case? Is there any merit in seeking diversity, or is a homogeneous student body just as good or better than a diverse one?

Maddy is unlikely to respond appropriately.

Recall Summary

The official count at the county recorders has about 40% of signatures turned in. There's much news about this being below what the recall backers are reporting. Recall that the campaign workers are checking signatures before turning them in, making the accuracy rate higher than usual, and the turn-in rate slower than usual.

Budget Update

The LA Times reported that the current Democratic budget proposal relies on the vehicle license fee and a half-cent sales tax hike to close half the budget gap, having backed off an income tax increase (which would have been directed at the highest bracket) and increased tobacco taxes.

I am not sure why backing off the tobacco tax gave the Democrats any political advantage. There's little to no public support for tobacco in this state. I'd speculate that either 1. the tobacco companies still had some clout or 2. it just wouldn't raise enough money to matter.

There's a bridge loan of $11 billion that's set to run out in August but some recipients of state money may not get paid on July 1. Payments would be made up later but it will be difficult for some facilities, such as Medi-Cal clinics, to bridge the gap.

UPDATE: Pathetic Earthlings translates the vehicle license fee into dollars.

Ch-ch-changes

The kids have their own movable type blog. In honor of their move, I have taken over editting functions so you can read their preteen thoughts without their preteen grammar and spelling.

Feeling Old

Trivial Pursuit is releasing its 20th anniversary edition.

Archaelogical Proof of Exodus

I don't know if this will lead anywhere but I find this story interesting.

Prop 13 challenges

The Oakland Tribune reports on a community meeting in the East Bay discussing ways to change Prop 13 limits on property taxes in order to increase funding for schools, public health and all those other things that taxes are spent on.

Hancock's amendment, referenced in the article, would exempt commercial, non-farm, property from the current provisions limiting reassessment. Commercial property would be reassessed every year, although it would still be taxed only at 1%.

Since Prop 13 was passed by the people, the bill is a resolution to propose another amendment to the people and the people would have to vote on it, perhaps on the Nov ballot.

Sacramento Protests

The engineered foods controversy hits California as protestors gather in front of a conference discussing the new advancements in the field. From the Mercury News:

Event organizers are convinced that the latest scientific breakthroughs are helping to fight hunger by developing pest-resistant crops. However, opponents say the meeting is an undemocratic forum where corporate leaders are attempting to sell their genetically modified products to developing nations.

Nearly 1,000 protesters attempted to disrupt traffic around the convention site in downtown Sacramento by marching through the streets and briefly blocking intersections. Small groups of masked demonstrators overturned dumpsters, but at times, other protesters moved them back to the sidewalk.

Grumble, mutter, grumble, mutter. Glad to see the undemocratic forum is being disrupted by those very democratic protestors.

Novak: Davis to resign?

It's the idea of Jerry Brown and Barabara Boxer.

Analyzing the Recall

When you sleep late, your buddies are kind enough to do the morning legwork for you. Prestopundit points to this piece in the Sacramento Bee in which the editorial staff and two political scientists discuss the recall on the record. Maybe I like it because they agree with me on the facts:

There are no limitations as far as Ken and I can tell on what you use the recall for. There are lots of ways you can remove people -- through impeachment and forfeit your office, etc. -- that actually are geared to malfeasance, something that you've done which is clearly a violation of the law and therefore you forfeit your office. That's not the case with the recall from what we can tell. The recall basically is up to the voters to decide.

Feinstein won't run

Feinstein has announced that she will not put her name on the ballot if there's a recall election. She's adopted the party line:

"I view this recall as a very flawed process," said Feinstein, who defeated a recall measure when she was mayor of San Francisco in the 1980s.

"The recall is really there for gross moral turpitude, corruption or some extraneous terrible circumstance in which you have to remove somebody from office," she said. "Now the state's having a rough time. So is every other state in the union right now."

The LA Times Doesn't Reform

Hugh Hewitt is so worked up by today's LA Times that he's posting on the weekend.

It isn't hard to cover California politics. But it does require integrity. Even though Carroll has called for integrity, his troops aren't listening. Or maybe they have no idea what it entails. But covering for a desperate governor using illegal gambits to skim money from even the poorest Californian is surely not what Carroll had in mind

UPDATE: LAObserved does a fine rebuttal.

UPDATE: And the debate continues over at damnum absque injuria.

The NY Times on the Recall

The NY Times has weighed in against the recall. My turn for a fisking.

During his campaign for re-election, Mr. Davis failed to warn voters about the breadth of the budget problems around the corner. Now many people want to hold him accountable. They are justified in their criticism, but wrong in their proposed solution. The recall effort is disturbingly dishonest. It is not oriented in favor of healing California's crisis, but is driven by wealthy individuals seeking to advance their own careers by exploiting a political disaster.

Daivs failed to warn us of a $38 billion deficit while running for reelection but it is the recall that is dishonest. The recall that is expressly authorized by the California Constitution. As for wealthy individuals advancing their own careers, let's not forget the money Davis spent in the Republican primary to make sure Riordan wasn't in the eventual election to pull the votes of Democrats who wouldn't crossover for Simon.

Leading the pack is Representative Darrell Issa, a Republican multimillionaire businessman who failed to win his party's nomination for the 1998 California Senate race. Mr. Issa, who has been a congressman for only three years, would like to be Mr. Davis's successor — under California law, voters supporting the recall will simply check off their choice for a new governor from among a long list of volunteer candidates. Bill Simon, who was defeated by Mr. Davis in last year's elections, and Arnold Schwarzenegger have also expressed interest in running.

I guess we're supposed to be upset because the only replacement choices are Republican. Exactly who determined that no Democrats are on the list? Oh yeah, the Democrats who one by one take themselves out of the race. Next.

So far, none of Mr. Davis's prospective replacements have come forward with a comprehensive plan for how to steer California out of the red. California Republicans and potential candidates haven't provided meaningful alternatives to Mr. Davis's plans for closing the budget gap aside from further unpopular public service cuts. They've devoted much more energy to exonerating themselves for any role in creating the current crisis.

I haven't any of them exonerating themselves nor coming forward with a plan. Other than Issa who formally announced a week ago, no one else has said they are running. Perhaps when they start campaigning, they'll address that. But since they haven't before announcing their candidacy, let's not have the election at all.

Mr. Davis may have provided less than impressive leadership during the state's doomed energy deregulation project, but deregulation was, after all, the Republicans' idea and the creation of Gov. Pete Wilson, Mr. Davis's predecessor. Mr. Davis was forced to use state funds to purchase energy for the state when the utility companies went bankrupt, but it was representatives of the Bush administration who resisted his pleas for some controls on excessive profit-taking by the energy industry. And in Washington, Republicans have been very reluctant to help bail out floundering state governments. When President Bush was busy planning for tax cuts, Democrats proposed an alternative economic plan that included large amounts of financial aid to troubled states. Mr. Issa should have been lobbying for that plan rather than collecting signatures for a recall.

You will hear this a lot, boys and girls. It was energy deregulation by the Republicans than got us into this mess. I have looked at these numbers. At best, under Davis' own view, the energy issue accounts for $9-11 billion. We've got another $25 billion+ to talk about. That's with Davis' "blame it all on the Republicans" spin.

Some pro-recallers argue that there's always a possibility of stumbling on a candidate possessed with the genius to save California from bankruptcy while simultaneously sparing tax hikes and public service cutbacks. It's worth the risk, they say, since there's not much more to gain by keeping Mr. Davis.

Gee, we can't get anyone better so we should keep Davis when the Constitution allows us to remove him. Remember the California Constitution allows this remedy. Here's the message recall sends: Perform or you're out of here. You don't have an automatic 4 years.

But there is. California is already well known for the influence of money in state policy — those with the most money, not necessarily the most sense, usually win the state's endless string of proposed ballot referendums. The proposition to recall Mr. Davis has become a realistic threat only since Mr. Issa started pouring hundreds of thousands of dollars from his own fortune into a larger-scale campaign, making the traditionally expected — but usually ignored — gubernatorial recall effort a forefront issue. Allowing money to popularize and influence recall efforts the way it has other propositions is not good policy or precedent.

Davis is known as a pay for play politician by all but his most devoted supporters. Now that Issa's laying out money, we're going to complain. One detail: There's a limited benefit to Issa's money. He gets the recall and his name on the ballot but does not boost his own standing in the race but doing so.

The status quo may not look promising, but entrusting the world's fifth-largest economy to a relative stranger through a recall effort led by people who have often been part of the problem is not any more comforting. Despite romantic delusions of popular upheaval against a disliked leader, a sounder method of keeping leaders accountable already exists: voting. Mr. Davis well knows his political future is riding on his actions in the coming weeks. If he cannot deliver a balanced budget or avoid taking unpopular steps toward achieving it, he's done politically. No coup d'état à l'argent necessary.

Try to stay with me here. The recall is an election. We vote on removing Davis and selecting his replacement.

Hat tip for the NYT piece: Molly.

Recall Focus Group

From my email:

WANT TO BE ON NATIONAL TELEVISION?

Dear interested focus group members:
We are doing a very special live show that is a focus group
talking about Arnonld Schwarzenegger's possible run for governor
on Friday June 27st
To qualify, you must be an opinionated and outspoken person
aged 23 and up with strong personal views about the situation in
California
If you meet these criteria, we want to put you on MSNBC.
We are conducting the focus group to discuss U.S. politics
and U.S. involvement in Iraq. Details are as follows:
Friday night June 21st [sic - probably the 27th above]

The time is from at night, exact time unknown and will be
live in LA

Thanks,
Joseph Randazzo
Associate Project Director
The Luntz Research Companies

Dems lose Latino Support

From PR Newswore:

In the 2000 presidential elections, Al Gore received 65% of the
Hispanic vote. A new Bendixen poll conducted for NDN and released this week
shows the 2004 Democrat presidential nominee getting 48% of the Latino vote, a
dramatic 17-point drop. In contrast, the President's job approval rate
among Hispanics remains strong at 64%.

Too late

Norma McCorvey's request to reopen Roe v. Wade has been dismissed as untimely. Go figure.

I assume that she gets to appeal.

Dean was Right

Life is better now that I'm on MT. I was loading a page on Blogspot this morning and it took forever. My new page loads faster, annoys me less and probably annoys other people less.

I've also gotten a lot more traffic since moving -- about twice as much.

Despite Maddy's acceptance of Blogspot's limitations, I may move her too. I say her because Amanda has announced that her light posting on The Twins tell the Truth is because she doesn't like to blog. Can you imagine?

Recall Scoreboard

Cruz Bustamante has taken himself out of the race.

Bill Simon is still floating that trial balloon.

Negotiating -- The First Step

I like to settle cases. The first thing I do when I'm hired to represent a client (as opposed to being hired as the neutral) is try to settle a matter. I keep trying until it's resolved. Often there's some resolution to be had after trial.

As a corollary to that, I usually enjoy the process of negotiating. I like sitting down and sorting out the various competing interests and trying to settle things in a way that somehow meets those various needs.

I also spend a lot of time analyzing my negotiations and trying to improve things. Recently, I hit upon the number one step in any negotiation. Unless both sides take this step, there is no negotiation and I get really irritable.

Step one is acknowledging there is a dispute. By that, I mean each of you must realize that the other side disagrees with your position and that the other side believes in its position. Occasionally, I run into someone who believes that their side is correct and the other side knows it and is trying to cheat them.

As a result, the "negotiation" goes like this:

We want A, B and C.

I am not giving you A, B and C.

Will you agree to give us A?

Yes.

Good. Now what about B and C?

What do you want?

B and C.

What do I get?

We won't sue you for A, B and C.

You're not entitled to all of that.

Well, that's what we want.

And around we go. By the way, the agreement to A lasts about 30 seconds. in this process. Any ensuing litigation will cost both clients a lot of money until someone somehow convinces each of them that the other side honestly believes in their position.

Recall Reads

I'm in the middle of a bunch of stuff but I'll have some posts up later. Meanwhile I recommend the following:

A lot of recall news at Prestopundit. All good reading.

Xrlq's rant against Taxspenders Against the Recall.

Attention Please

Tomorrow is Howard Owen's birthday and I expect to see many comments on his page tomorrow.

Norma McCorvey

The woman formerly known as Jane Roe has filed a long declaration. It makes for sad and odd reading. In picking her alias, they started with Jane Doe. Changing the last name first, they moved through the whole alphabet and got to R, decided it sounded good and picked Roe. Roe wasn't already a fictional name then, as it is now? then they needed a first name, so she suggested Jane after a childhood imaginary friend. Didn't we start with Jane?

She also claims that she didn't know what an abortion was. In paragraph 6, though, she starts her story by asking women at the dr's office where you could get an abortion. By paragraph 12, apparently days later, she's telling her father she has no idea what it is because she hasn't looked it up in the dictionary yet.

Now, in full disclosure, in keeping with my Catholic background, I am pro-life. Yet, I see absolutely nothing in her declaration that tells me Roe should be overturned.

What the declaration does raise with me is a question that's bothered me for years. It seems because abortion is a right, someone somewhere forgot it is also a medical procedure. Many legal abortion clincs don't seem any cleaner or safer than the way back alley abortions were described in the pre-Roe days. In fact, I had some support for legalized abortion because women were at such a huge risk from the illegal abortions and my pro-life nature did not think women should die because they were getting a medical procedure in deplorable conditions, even if I opposed what they were doing. I suppose now it's a little better because women can go to the hospital w/o fear of consequences if there's complications. Still, the stories of clinics (and I have heard others from people with no pro-life agenda) trouble me.

Why isn't anyone doing anything to correct that situation?

The Anti-Recall Group

The groups Taxpayers Against the Recall does indeed have a website.

Recall Candidates

I heard a rumor at lunch that Simon had announced this morning. I haven't found any confirmation.

California Insider reports that three Dems have promised not to run: Treasurer Phil Angelides, Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer and Controller Steve Westly.

UPDATE: Add Insurance Commissioner Garamendi to the list.

Budget

The compromise budget plan is out. No one but the two sponsoring lawmakers have supported it.

Who drives?

Jimspot says he's the man, he gets to drive. Now, I have very few gender role issues in my brain and I certainly don't pass many on to my children but this one is hardwired.

We passed some neighbors in the car this weekend. My girls waved to their friends. I twisted around and said "wow, look at that, they're all in there and the mom is driving." Nearly crashed the car in my astonishment. Yes, I was driving too but the Calblog husband wasn't with me.

AJ must consider obesity in disability claim

From the Mercury News:

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found an administrative law judge's analysis erred when it did not take into account Carmen Celaya's status as an illiterate underrepresented claimant ``who likely never knew that she could assert obesity as a partial basis for her disability,'' Judge Betty B. Fletcher wrote for the 2-1 majority.

Norma McCorvey aka Jane Roe

She was the Jane Roe in the original Roe v. Wade. She has since become become born again and anti-abortion. The TV this morning brought news that she along with her current set of lawyers are filing a petition to reopen the original case. I'm having trouble finding any coverage on the news sites yet, except for this piece on Worldnet Daily, which failed to tell me the one piece of info that I wanted to know -- why on earth should she be allowed to reopen a 30-year-old case. Ok, she shouldn't, but I'd like to see the motion, not the emotion.

I did learn that Jane Roe never had the abortion and she lied about the circumstances of her pregnancy. I also learned that the lawyers in Roe v. Wade didn't care about her and only wanted to change the law. We are supposed to believe that her curent lawyers are different. Color me skeptical.

As the legal issues become news, which may be a while since we must care about Norma first, I'll post the analysis.

UPDATE: To be fair, the Worldnet article does summarize the arguments but it's difficult for me to analyze the analysis.

WMD

Howard Owens makes an interesting point regarding Bush and the WMD. How is it the anti-war segment could complain before the war that Bush's case wasn't strong enough and now complain that Bush lied by overstating the the case?

Unclear on the Concept

There was a quote in the Mercury News this morning that seemed to me rather, uh, dumb. I was going to mention it but I let it slode. Then I saw it trumpeted loudly on the official recall site. Either I'm missing something or a lot of other people are.

Here's the quote:

``I want to register to vote specifically to get rid of Gray Davis,'' she said. ``This is worth everything.''

I thought that only registered voters could sign the petiition. This woman had better hurry or her signature will get disqualified. Do we really want to trumpet unregistered voters signing?

Proposed Compromise Budget Expected Tomorrow

Late story from the Mercury News:

One day after missing the constitutional deadline for adopting a state budget, two lawmakers from both parties said Monday they have a compromise spending plan to present to the Legislature.

Assemblymen Keith Richman, R-Granada Hills, and Joseph Canciamilla, D-Pittsburg, are expected to unveil their budget plan Tuesday at a news conference -- but so far they are not disclosing any details.

Indian Gaming -- the Good and the Bad

The 157-member Santa Ynez Band of Chumash is getting so much money from casino gaming that they are sponsoring classes in the Chumash language, otherwise about to be lost.

Meanwhile, the 582-member Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria, composed of Coast Miwok and southern Sonoma County Pomo, has no land but wants to start a casino. They are currently looking in Sonoma, raising environmental concerns.

Scratch n Sniff Movies

We saw the Rugrats movie. We made a stop at Burger King for the Big Kids Meal and the scratch and sniff card. I didn't think it was worth the trip but the kids did.

The Mercury News reports on a trademark dispute between Viacom and the guy who distributed Odorama cards with his 1981 movie "Polyester." Viacom and the Mercury News think there's no viable claim because the trademark was never registered.

Yet, no one addressed common law trademark law. The TM on the original cards indicates that it was never registered. For that you need the R. I'd have to do the research to opine seriously on the issue but 1981 seems to be a long time ago if there's been no use since then

Recall -- again

The Orange County Register became the first paper to endorse the recall. (Hat tip: Xrlq).

Reporting from the trenches

I was invited to the Firestone weekend referenced in the last post. Not only was Parsky there, but Issa spoke to the group. It is one of the premier Republican events in CA.

I could have afforded it but I didn't go. No first-hand reporting. See the last note about needing to do some other things in life. As we move towards the campaign season of '04, I do plan on attending events and giving Calblog readers and the Political State Report news that isn't in the papers. I need to carve out some more time first.

Recall News You Can't Really Use

The challenge: bring you all the recall news, blog about something, anything, besides the recall and still have time for a life.

Six articles on the recall top the Rough & Tumble news summary today, not including the article below, blamed the stall in negotiations with the Indian tribes on the recall. Before I got to them, I hit Political State Report and commented on the latest recall thread, thusly:

It's almost a given now that the recall will get on the ballot. While you'll see a lot of news about it being "likely", that's not the issue now. Here's the current issues:

The question that has not rippled up but I think will be more important than the current speculation: what kind of campaign will Davis run?

I spoke too soon. Davis' campaign is rearing its head. The OC Register reports:

For Gov. Gray Davis, battling the polls and a millionaire's money to keep the governorship, the gloves came off - and none too soon, his political aides believe.

"It's being organized and financed by a bunch of rich losers, nothing but a bunch of losers running around talking to one another," the normally restrained Davis told the Register. "They want to throw the state into reverse." Davis spent Friday in campaign-style events pushing his state budget proposals, and Saturday doing the same in radio talk shows.

The Chronicle reports that Davis plans to paint the recall as a right-wing conspiracy.

Gerald Parsky, the top Bush-guy in CA, told Republicans at the annual Firestone weekend that Republicans need to have a candidate in the recall in line with the President.

Here's my non-scientific temperature of the world:

California based news organizations are all over this now.

The national news is picking it up. I see it pretty regularly on FoxNews now and the Washington Post had it page one. If anyone sees it on the nightly news shows on the networks, I'd like to know about it.

Yet, at dinner last night, with educated CA-news readers, knowledge was thin. They knew there wazs a petition out (an improvement over a couple of months ago) but had no idea of the next steps.

I think there will be a lot of surprised people in another 30-45 days.

Blogging the Recall on FoxNews

Tony Snow had the talking heads discussing the recall on Weekend Live on Fox News this morning. USC professor and Democrat Susan Estrich said the chances of the recall getting on the ballot are better than 50-50%. She called the plurality vote for a replacement "ironic" which is not a word I would have used. Other than that, she also called the recall fun for pundits several times but we already knew that.

Rich Galen of Mullings.com says he wrote about the recall early because he always thought it had legs. He introduced the Fox News audience to the idea that this recall could be better for Democrats than for Republicans.

Tony Snow thinks both parties will try to settle on one candidate. (Note to Tony: try and do are very different). He asked Galen who would want to inherit the mess. Galen thinks the new gov will blame it on Davis and the pressure will shift to the state legislature.

When all is said and done, shifting pressure to the legislators will be a good thing for California.

Indian Gaming will Not Contribute as Much

In January, Davis proposed collecting $1.5 billion from the Indian tribes who are allowed to have casinos in the state. (requisite snide coment: more than we got from the FERC vistory).

Now it's down to $680 million and it looks like he won't get even that much.

Pete Wilson vs Boxer

Pete Wilson is reportedly considering running against Boxer in '04.

My prediction: Wilson's main purpose is to draw media attention while other potential candidates trying to get strong enough to launch a viable campaign.

Grassroots Recall Support

Emotions are running high. The California Business Roundtable opposed the recall. Its members are now feeling the wrath of their fellow consumers. The LA Times reports:

Hundreds of e-mails and phone calls have been sent to Bechte