posted 07-28-2003 03:50 AM            

It was inspiring to see so many Californians turn up at the rally to remove Davis on Saturday. And, believe me, it's not just Republicans who want this guy removed. I think it's about 30% Democrats who voted to take him out. There were liberals, green party members, even self proclaimed socialists who got up before the podium to recognize reality on Saturday...And that reality is that the most corrupt, incompetent governor in California's history, perhaps US history, is on the verge of completely destroying the state and he needs to be removed if California is to survive.

The thing that worries me now is that if Republicans don't recover from lack of vision caused by over anxiousness, we are going to end up putting Gray Dufus right back in there. The reason for this is because this is not an election where there are primaries. Whoever, can get 65 signatures and 3500 dollars together can run in this thing...which means the votes are going to be split among these many people.

Even if Gray out Dufus has the lowest popularity of any governor in US history, he could still win because, the DemonRats will have only one other candidate to vote for, while Republicans candidates are falling all over themselves to run....and split up the conservative vote. I understand the enthusiasm, I appreciate their desire to save the state from certain destruction from Mr. Dufus. I understand their burning desire to repeal the tripling of the California car tax that Dufus ordered by executive fiat. Do poor people drive cars to work…or to take a sick person to a hospital…or to buy groceries? Poor people do…and Dufus just triple their tax. This act alone might have HOPEFULLY been his political death knell.

BUT

Republicans have got to get smart, and agree on ONE good candidate who can win and furthermore, one who is of solid substance and who can save the state. But now, we've got egomaniacal insult artists like radio talk host Michael Savage (sorry Seeker) jumping in there and exacerbating the problem. We don't need more dummies splitting up the vote, we need to choose one good guy. And forget Arriana Huffington and her dumb ass husband...that woman is an absolute basket case phoney, pure irritating liberal. I think she's even more irritating than Mech or KT if that's possible. You've gotta admit, a debate between Huffington and Schwarzenegger would be fascinating to watch though. Two people with these strong accents...one sounding like Zsa Zsa Gabore tying to rid the world of SUVs while she gets around in her corporate jet, and the other sounding like....well....Arnold. We'd turn on the TV set and wonder if we really were watching an American debate.

Now...Who do I think can win? Who do I think can really fix the state, and correct the damage Dufus has done to it? There's one guy....Tom McClintock, and the Republicans aught to just forget all these other half serious, good willed but, ego driven candidates and get behind this guy for the good and salvation of the state....because another year of Dufus and Mexico might just as well take California back. Of course then, they won’t want California because they don’t want to add to the problems to their third world country, by adding a third world state of California.

You want to see what happens when liberals control things people? Look to California...We've got business leaving like rats from a drowning ship. We don't have enough water or electricity to support the growing population (mostly illegals, btw). Instead Democrats want to give illegals free school, tax free jobs, and plenty of taxpayer welfare money…..The reason illegal immigrants are desired by Democrats because illegals represent the majority of their voting base. (And we wonder why the state is being destroyed)..

All the while, Gubernor Dufus took the state's largest surplus of 12 billion (after Pete Wilson's term), and turned it into the states largest deficit of 38 billion and growing despite growing state revenues. Just to put this in perspective here....that's more than all the deficits of every state in the US combined. And Gray Davis has accomplished this feat in only 5 years...And where did all this money go? No body seems to know. Schools are getting worse...not one new school or classroom was built with this missing money. Not one new road...and roads are getting worse...Not one new bridge...Not one new power plant (the energy crisis still remains)...Not ONE new reservoir for water...in fact, the water issue hasn't even been addressed. We have record unemployment here in California, except for state workers who are making more per capita than private citizens (taxpayers)….a definite indication that a socialist government is taking hold. This is one of the most if not THE most business unfriendly state in the Union, and people are going to Nevada to start up business....instead of California. Yes California is in a true crisis…in every sense of the word caused by the Democrat machine here. These are the politicians that Mech, Shitoga, Know This….and other leftists here on this board, are unwittingly trying to get elected to run the entire US (whether they know it or not).

California is just a microcosm of what you can expect nationwide if this happens. So to save the state, Republicans are just going to have to forget about egos and play it smart. We don’t need the Michael Savages of the world jumping in there right now taking votes away from the real candidate who can fix the damage Governor Dufus has caused. A vote for some ego driven hot air spouter with lack of vision like Savage takes away a vote from a guy like Tom McClintock who can save the state…and we all loose if we get Dufus back in there because we just couldn’t put ego aside. And yes, this means you too, Bill Simon and Richard Riordan…and even you Darrell Issa. You turkeys need to stay the hell out of it this time, and back McClintock for the good of the state…..and the United States…

California's Looming Free for All
NewsMax.com
Monday, July 28, 2003

With the election slated for Oct. 7 and candidates facing an Aug. 9 deadline to file for the race, California’s historic recall vote is poised to accelerate to a frenetic pace, hallmarked by uncertainty and bewildering questions.

"Will the Terminator run?” is one. Will a Democrat decide to take the plunge, stab Gov. Gray Davis in the back, and run? Who will emerge as the front-runner in a field that could have a dozen or more candidates?

So far, the field of declared candidates consists of U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa -- the conservative Congressman that backed the recall effort financially. Of course, there's Davis, running for "re-election" -- and Peter Camejo of the Naderite Green Party.

No Brutus has emerged among the Democrats. But one may. Former Congressman Gary Condit, a one-time friend of Davis who felt he deserted him during the Chandra Levy scandal, is being urged to run.

Davis hopes to keep the recall a simple choice between himself and the Republicans.

Davis' straetgy is simple: divide and conquer. With so many Republican, he could win with just a fraction of the vote -- one heavily represented by Democratic stalwarts: minorities, unions, teachers, feminists.

Davis is already mobilizing his left-center coalition. A leading abortion rights group has launched a nationwide e-mail campaign condemning the recall.

Davis is considered one of the nations’ strongest pro-choice governors. NARAL Pro-Choice America sent electronic missives to 100,000 of its members across the country encouraging them to fight the recall.

If the still undecided action star and Republican activist Arnold Schwarzenegger does not throw his hat in the ring by collecting 65 signatures and turning in $3,500 dollars, analysts suggest that former Los Angeles mayor Richard Riordan will jump in -- perhaps even running as an independent rather than as a Republican.

Last year's GOP gubernatorial candidate Bill Simon Jr., says he has made a decision about running but is not telling -- yet.

But so far, Simon has roused little popular support. And Reagan conservatives that make up the base of the California Republican party won't be supporting Schwarzenegger.

Today, conservatives are moving into two camps, one for Issa, and the other, Tom McClintock, a state senator from Orange County.

In what may be the beginning of a new candidate rush, former Republican congressman and U.S. Senate candidate Michael Huffington is reportedly preparing for a potential run – having paid up his $3,500 on Friday.

Meanwhile, political commentator Arianna Huffington, his ex-wife, and now a liberal, says she is being encouraged to run by floods of e-mails.

Offsetting Arianna may be talk radio host Michael Savage who says he may run. The San Francisco host was just fired by MSNBC. The conservative Savage is undaunted and says he wants to make his "culture, border, language" concerns the state's top priority.

If Democrats panic in the eleventh hour and decide to field an alternative to the wildly unpopular Davis (whose approval ratings hover at about 20 percent) will Sen. Dianne Feinstein or Leon E. Panetta, Bill Clinton’s White House chief of staff, take up the party’s baton?

Will former governor and mayor of Oakland, Edmund G. "Jerry" Brown Jr. remain on the sidelines?

On the Fringe

Some pundits are forecasting a long ballot crowded with fringe candidates like 26-year-old software engineer Georgy Russell, who features a Web site touting "Brains, beauty, leadership," and who maintains, "Californians deserve an alternative."

Then there is Los Angeles icon and blond bombshell Angelyne, noted for driving pink Corvettes, and for having her photo on billboards. Reportedly, she’s been thinking about a run for governor, having enjoyed recent success collecting the 20 signatures needed to qualify for a stab at a city council spot for the proposed Hollywood City. "I've never really thought about politics," she said.

The Sierra Club is sponsoring an event to serve as a forum to criticize the election as a threat to California's air and water.

Meanwhile, Davis hopes for a budget compromise and a final spending plan that will bleed off some of the building pressure. The state senate is scheduled to work Sunday night on approving the budget and getting it to the state assembly.

The other good news for Davis is in campaign finances. Under the state’s tough campaign finance rules donors will be able to give no more than $20,000 each to candidates, but Davis and his backers will be able to load up with unlimited cash since the new political reform laws don't apply to campaign committees formed to fight the recall.

Davis, who spent a record-breaking $70 million in his reelection victory last November, hopes to raise $20 million for the recall fight.

If Californians vote down the recall the rest of the ballot, representing the collection of candidate vying to take his place, becomes moot.

"This race is really about changing directions, not changing governors," Davis said in a recent speech.”

posted 07-28-2003 10:41 AM            

Got to give the Nazipublicans some credit though.

posted 07-28-2003 10:58 AM            

And Mech, as a Canadian, I do know something about California. How is it Bush and Enron's fault that Gray Davis took under the table kickbacks to line his own pockets by illegally locking California into high priced energy contracts? I mean...if you're Enron, and you buy off the California governor to accept outrageously priced energy contracts to sap the California energy consumer with the highest utility rates in the US for the next ten years,...how is that anyone's fault but Gray Davis' and Enron?...Ultimately Gray Davis' fault, really. Enron was just making some sound business decisions.

And how does this tie in with Bush again? I'm just waiting to see how you'll twist this one.

posted 07-28-2003 11:12 AM            

Bush gave Enron "hire and fire" authority over the FERC

posted 07-28-2003 11:18 AM            

The Hightower Lowdown
BY JIM HIGHTOWER

June 15, 2001:
PG&E's Flim-Flam
You don't have to go to a carnival side show to get suckered by the old shell game -- all you've got to do is be a customer of Pacific Gas and Electric, California's giant utility.

It's true that poor Pacific Gas and Electric is bedeviled by rolling blackouts, and it just filed one of the largest bankruptcies in history. This company is portrayed as the poster child of California's deregulation plan that left big utilities like it at the mercy of money-grubbing, out-of-state power traders.

Before you get weepy over Pacific's woes, however, consider three points. First, this utility demanded, helped write, and then lobbied through the legislature the deregulation plan it's now whining about. Second, Pacific Gas and Electric is a wholly owned subsidiary of PG&E Corporation, which also happens to be the third-largest power trader in America. Much of PG&E's power-trading profits come from selling power at high rates to California utilities, including its own subsidiary, Pacific Gas and Electric!

Third, while Pacific Gas and Electric is in bankruptcy, its parent company, PG&E, is wallowing in money. PG&E says it can't be held responsible for its subsidiary's debts, because it quietly snuck off to federal energy regulators just three months prior to Pacific Gas and Electric's bankruptcy filing and restructured the corporation in a way that separates the assets and profits of PG&E from its own utility.

An audit reveals that the utility recently funneled $4 billion to its parent corporation. So, the money it could have spent on efforts to avoid the rolling blackouts went instead to the very corporate structure that now washes its hands of its utility's debt.

posted 07-28-2003 11:22 AM            

Resume - George Walker Bush

Past work experience
Ran for congress and lost.
Produced a Hollywood slasher B movie.
Bought an oil company, but couldn't find any oil in Texas; company went bankrupt shortly after I sold all my stock.
Bought the Texas Rangers baseball team in a sweetheart deal that took land using taxpayer money.
Biggest move: Traded Sammy Sosa to the Chicago White Sox.
With my father's help and nearly the same name, was elected Governor of Texas.

Accomplishments
Changed pollution laws for oil and power companies and made Texas the most polluted state in the nation.
Replaced Los Angeles with Houston as the most smog ridden city in America.
Cut taxes and bankrupted the Texas government in billions in borrowed money.
Set record for most executions by any governor in American history.
Became president after losing the popular vote by over 500,000 votes, with the help of Republican appointments to the Supreme Court.

Accomplishments as President of the USA
First president in decades to execute a federal prisoner.
First president in US history to enter office with a criminal record.
First year in office set the all-time record for most vacation days taken by any president.
Appointed more convicted criminals to administration positions than any president in US history.
Set the record for the lowest number of press conferences than any president since the invention of television.
Signed more laws and executive orders amending the Constitution than any president in US history.
Presided over the biggest energy crises in US history and refused to intervene when corruption was revealed.
Presided over the highest gasoline prices in US history and refused to use the national reserves as past presidents have.
Cut healthcare benefits for war veterans.
Presidency was the most secretive and unaccountable of any in US history.
Members of cabinet were the richest of any administration in US history. ('poorest' multimillionaire, Condoleeza Rice, has a Chevron oil tanker named after her).
Created the largest government department bureaucracy in the history of the United States.
Administration had the least amount of congressional oversight than any in US history.
Hold the record for most corporate campaign donations.
Biggest lifetime campaign contributor, (also a friend) presided over one of the largest corporate bankruptcy frauds in world
history (Kenneth Lay, former CEO of Enron Corporation).
Spent more money on polls and focus groups than any president in US history.
Failed to get Osama Bin Laden 'dead or alive'.
Failed to capture the anthrax killer who tried to murder the leaders of our country at the United States Capitol building. Have no leads and zero suspects.
Removed more freedoms and civil liberties for Americans than any other president in US history.

Economic Accomplishments as President of the USA
Entered office with the strongest economy in US history and in less than two years every economic category plunged.
Spent the country's surplus and bankrupted the treasury.
Changed US policy to allow convicted criminals to be awarded government contracts.
First president in US history to have all 50 states bankrupted at the same time.
Presided over the biggest corporate stock market fraud of any market in any country in the history of the world.
After taking the entire month of August off for vacation, presided over the worst security failure in US history.
In first two years in office over 2 million Americans lost their jobs.
Cut unemployment benefits for more out of work Americans than any president in US history.
Set the all-time record for the most mortgage foreclosures in a 12-month period.
Set economic record for most private bankruptcies filed in any 12 month period.
Set all-time record for biggest stock market drop in its history.
Set all-time records for the number of administration appointees who violated US law by not selling huge investments in
corporations bidding for government contracts.
Shattered the record for biggest annual deficit in history.
Set the record for most campaign fund-raising trips of any other president in US history.
Set the all-time record for biggest annual budget spending increases, more than any president in US history, while at the same time proposing tax cuts.

International Accomplishments as President of the USA
Attacked and took over two countries.
First president in US history to order a US attack and military occupation of a sovereign nation.
First president in US history to unilaterally attack a sovereign nation against the will of the United Nations and the world community.
First president in US history to have the United Nations remove the US from the human rights commission.
First US president in history to have a majority of the people of Europe (71%) view my presidency as the biggest threat to world peace and stability.
Refused to allow inspectors access to US prisoners of war, as prescribed by the Geneva Convention.
First president in US history to have the United Nations remove the US from the elections monitoring board.
Set the all-time record for most people worldwide to simultaneously take to the streets to protest me (15 million people), shattering the record for protest against any person in the history of mankind.
Dissolved more international treaties than any president in US history.
Withdrew from the World Court of Law.

posted 07-28-2003 11:24 AM            

The East Bay Express, in its annual Year In Review issue, has published the most comprehensive summary I've seen yet of how the whole power crisis unfolded. This article makes it clear that, as I have said, prices were driven up by a flawed legal structure for setting spot prices for electricity by a pseudo-aution, rather than by any actual shortage. It also spells out that it was none other than Ken Lay, boss of Enron, who lobbied hardest to create this bogus price-setting mechanism. Apparently former governor Wilson didn't need a whole lot of persuading. It provided a perfect mechanism for instant profits within Enron's own commodities-trading system, which they designed for profiting off of fluctuations in electricity prices. According to this article, the stabilization of prices that followed Governor Davis's long term contracts was the main thing that pulled the rug out from under Enron and sent them into ruin, because they no longer had fluctuations to trade on. It also says that Ken Lay was virtually in charge of the Bush administration's energy policy during the crisis.

The medium through which this price fixing was accomplished was the California Power Exchange. Its removal fixed the most extreme part of the problem, but there are still significant remnants of the defective system in place. We are still vulnerable to more rounds of price gouging any time we aren't protecting ourselves with other measures such as long term contracts.

Ooooh boy, the Enron mess is getting messier and messier. The Big Five accounting firms may become the Big Four once they finish reaming out Arthur Andersen... though I've heard rumors that the other four are no less corrupt. We're learning that Enron had almost a thousand offshore tax shelters, many of them illegal if we only had a way of knowing about them, and that they paid no taxes in most years and got IRS refunds of nine digits. Stories are coming out about how even as Enron collapsed, they still kept writing checks to politicians in places like Sacramento. Most politicians weren't taking the checks any more, probably infuriating the Enron people by how they lacked the integrity to stay bought. (To their credit, some California legislators started sending those checks back as early as 2000.) Republicans are eagerly trying to point out that the Clinton people took comparable amounts of money from Enron to what the current administration has taken... but Clinton didn't let Enron pick half of his cabinet. The republicans are back in the infuriatingly familiar position of trying to defuse or explain away a scandal that none of them can really justify in their own hearts.

I think it is this maddening pattern of getting stuck with big scandals that led some of them to go after Clinton with such over-the-top rage. They saw their chance to finally get a democrat on the receiving end of a Watergate-sized scandal, and time and again their efforts came to nothing because the scandal they dug up, or made up, just wasn't scandalous enough. It just made them madder and madder. The ill-considered impeachment attempt was an outburst of frustration as much as anything else, and that enraged frustration was, I think, what drove them to pursue it to the point where it hurt them more than it hurt Clinton (as they could have seen for themselves if they'd kept cool and rational). And how many of them are now trying desperately to not notice that all the sorts of things they tried to paint the Clintons with are just what the Bushes are routinely guilty of? Hell, if this guy is telling the truth -- and if he is, he's in a position to know -- the Bushes can practically be considered an organized crime family.

The Public Utilities Commission is putting together a proposed plan for how PG&E can resolve its bankruptcy case. PG&E doesn't like the plan one bit... because it asks that PG&E's parent corporation actually spend the extra $5 billion it piled up during the shortage in order to pay off its child company's debts. Heaven forfend that they actually be held accountable for paying money they owe, if they prefer keeping the profits in one pocket and the losses in another.

The PUC says their plan would allow for a decrease in consumer electric rates within a year. PG&E's own proposed plan, on the other hand, is to remove some of the protections that keep them from raising consumer rates further. They would do this by handing over control of such protections to regulators of the Bush administration. Since the Bush administration's energy regulators were apparently more or less appointed by Enron, PG&E probably feels pretty safe in turning to them. That is... if the current officeholders don't get swamped by the widening scandal of Enron's collapse and the crookedness behind it. These regulators are described as "market oriented", which apparently means they see nothing wrong with a private company being entitled to keep all profits while simultaneously sticking somebody else with their losses.

To accomplish their plan, PG&E wants the judge to unilaterally overrule several state laws. Twenty state agencies, led by the attorney general, joined the PUC in urging the judge to put the brakes on this idea. The PUC's lawyers describe PG&E's tactics like this: they haven't even tried to negotiate with the state or their creditors to create a consensus plan to handle their debts, but have instead mounted "a frontal assault on the commission's and the state's regulatory authority."

posted 07-28-2003 11:50 AM            

Cause: Bush is (s)elected president
Effect: A multitude of problems that won't get fixed until a democrat takes office.

posted 07-28-2003 11:53 AM            

SAN FRANSICO CHRONICLE
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/07/23/BA253080.DTL

BEHIND THE COUNT: All eyes will be on the California secretary of state's office today for the big recall count -- but the real plays are going well behind the scenes.

The biggest question, of course, is whether Arnold Schwarzenegger -- who just got back from a European promo tour -- will make this the biggest story of the year by jumping into the fray.

And now that the clock is ticking, the time for playing cute is rapidly coming to an end.

"Everything is set up to go if he says 'yes,' but it's do-it-or-get-off-the- pot time," admitted one source close to the Terminator. "My expectation is that he's talking it over with his wife right now."

One of the keys in all this will be the final round of words between Schwarzenegger and former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan -- who is being urged to run by more liberal Republicans.

"The bottom line," our source told us, "is if Arnold goes, Dick won't. If Arnold doesn't do it, then it's highly likely Dick will -- it's between the two of them to hash out."

From what we've hear, the Republican hierarchy -- especially those close to former Gov. Pete Wilson -- would favor Schwarzenegger. At least that's the word that came out of the BOHEMIAN GROVE this past weekend, where a number of state and national GOPers, including presidential adviser KARL ROVE, happened to have gathered at a club getaway.

None of this would be good news for Gov. Gray Davis -- who hopes his opponents will be limited to conservatives like Bill Simon or San Diego-area Rep. Darrell Issa.

"There's no question Riordan would be the biggest problem of them all," said one Davis operative. "He's the most liberal, he has a strong name ID in Southern California and you can't pin him as a right-winger -- which is the whole key to the Davis strategy."

Chronicle columnists Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross appear Sundays, Mondays and Wednesdays. They can also be heard on KGO Radio on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Phil Matier can be seen regularly on KRON-TV. Got a tip? Call them at (415) 777-8815 or drop them an e-mail at matierandross@sfchronicle.com.

WHAT GOES ON AT BOHEMIAN GROVE???????????

Since 1873, the Global Elite Has Held Secret Meetings in the Ancient Redwood Forest of Northern California. Members of the so-called "Bohemian Club" Include Former Presidents Eisenhower, Nixon and Reagan. The Bush Family Maintains a Strong Involvement. Each Year at Bohemian Grove, Members of This All-Male "Club" Don Red, Black and Silver Robes and Conduct an Occult Ritual Wherein They Worship a Giant Stone Owl, Sacrificing a Human Being in Effigy to What They Call the "Great Owl of Bohemia."