Guvinator Update

With Arnold Schwarzenegger on something of a PR offensive of late it is important to remember his humble start as a brandy-sniffing hunk of beefcake.

Comments

[chthus]

Tangentially on the subject of CA politics, here's this little bit of fun. What do you do when cars become too efficient and gas tax revenue wanes?

"States Mull Taxing Drivers By Mile"
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/02/14/eveningnews/main674120.shtml

[Twba]

If you drive a car, I'll tax the street
If you try to sit, I'll tax your seat
If you get too cold, I'll tax the heat
If you take a walk, I'll tax your feet
'Cause I'm the taxman
Yeah, I'm the taxman

[Pavel]

I dunno about humble start. Have you seen Pumping Iron? He sniffed more than brandy I'll tell you that much.

[pragmatist]

Egads! He sniffed more than brandy??? In some ways this guy sounds eerily like a, uh, libertarian type? Someone like this on the national scene might breath some life back into politics.

If only Bush fought half as hard for the federal budget, he might even justify himself.

[The 500-lb Elephant]

Why can't someone like Arnie call the boomers and Gen-Xers on their Drug War bullshit? Something like:

"My fellow Kahlee-phone-yuns, when were were younger, we did some foolish things. Many of us drank to excess. Many of us smoked some Mother Nature. Some of us popped pills, snorted lines, shot dope. The 5-ton elephant in the room that the governement doesn't want to acknowledge is that we all survived, we didn't become strung-out dope fiends, and we didn't knock over convenience stores to finance our fun.

The time has come for us to stop pretending that ALL chemicals we put into out bodies are going to destroy us. We all know the truth. We LIVED the truth. As of now, this administration will seek to repeal all drug prohibitions in the state of Kahlee-phone-ya. I expect every legislator who broke a prohibition law to support this effort. If they do, we wil win, 75-25.

Are there some people whose lives are ruined by drugs? Yes. So, we will divert half of the funds we now spend on prosecuting and incarcerating drug offenders into rehab and health programs. The other half of those funds will be returned to the taxpayers. We will examine the demand for rehab in 2 years, and I expect we will find that we can refund even more money to the taxpayers.

All state prisoners convicted solely of possession and distribution charges are hearby pardoned. All persons awaiting trial solely on state charges of possession and distribution are now free to go; the charges are dropped.

I expect the local police departments will disband their narcotics units, and put those fine officers to work solving property crimes.

Fellow Baby Boomers. You know in your heart that the War on Drugs is phoney. You know in your heart that the War on Drugs will never be won. You know in your hearts that the War on Drugs is wrong. It is time to end this farce, to stop persecuting people who are just looking to have some fun, to stop wasting our money and our time, to stop being self-righteous hypocrites.

Are you with me, Kahlee-phone-ya?"

If anyone could pull this off, it'd be an Arnie. He's been willing to point out those 5-ton elephants before. He just might be able to shame the general population into admitting their hypocritical support for the War on Drugs, and get them to go along with decriminalization.

[Ironchef]

"the governor wants automatic spending cuts to be imposed when expenditures exceed revenue"

Look at what Ahnuld wants - reasonable restraints on spending.

Is there no limit to his madness! The horror.

[sage]

Ironchef,

He also wants the power to fire teachers that don't do their job. I'm telling you, CA has a loose nut at the helm.