From our "
Just What the Governor Needed" Files... "A disruption along a major transmission line and higher than predicted temperatures
prompted utility officials to order rolling blackouts throughout Southern California on Thursday, leaving between 250,000 and 500,000 homes and businesses without electricity for 30 minutes or more, utility officials said."
Proposition 80 proponents were seen giving offerings to Apollo on the Capitol's west lawn.
"Despite lasting only a brief period, the event was one of the largest electrical shortages to hit the region since the power crisis of 2000-01 and prompted Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger to make an emergency stop at Cal-ISO's headquarters in Folsom for a briefing. Eager to stem fears of a renewed energy shortage, officials stressed that Thursday's outage involved power transmission and not supply."
"'We need to upgrade the system -
I've inherited an outdated system,' [Schwarzenegger] said. 'This is the system that caused the problem four years ago - we want to upgrade the system and reform it.'"
Haven't we heard that line before?
Bill Lockyer went on the offensive against pharmaceutical companies, joining more than twelve other states in alleging the companies inflated drug prices paid by the state for poor residents. "In a lawsuit filed Thursday in federal court in Boston, California Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer said the companies supplied inflated prices to industry publications used by Medi-Cal to reimburse healthcare providers for drug costs."
"'We're dragging these drug companies into the court of law because they're gouging the public on basic life necessities,' Lockyer said in a statement. 'The days of prescription pricing fraud are over.'"
The Bee
quotes the AG, "We're starting at the top,' he said. '
We're going after them and their obscene profits.'"
Apparently, the AG is using the same playbook as the
Yes on 78/No on 79 political consultants.
Speaker
Fabian Nuñez skipped session to
visit with Mexican President Vicente Fox. "The 20-minute conference did not produce any groundbreaking initiatives - Núñez cannot make commitments on behalf of state government - but the session was filled with political and symbolic significance as illegal immigration is an increasingly contentious issue."
Meanwhile,
Republican lawmakers joined Nuñez's call for the governor to join New Mexico and Nevada in declaring a state of emergency due to illegal immigration. "'There is no question the problem of illegal immigration has reached emergency proportions,' said one of the lawmakers, Assemblyman
Ray Haynes, whose Murrieta district covers parts of Riverside and San Diego counties. He said migrant trafficking often makes people in his district fear for their lives.
Chon Gutierrez's tenure at the state lottery
came to an end yesterday, and he insists that he left on his own terms. "'No one with the lottery asked me to step aside and no one from the Governor's Office asked me to step aside,' said Gutierrez, who also served as lottery director from 1987 to 1991."
In
Take Me Out to the Ball Game news, the California Democratic Party is planning to disrupt the guv's trip to see the
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim of California of the United States of America next week. "Bring a sign and your message for Governor Arnold to see. Invite your friends and co-workers to sit in sections with you and
make creative statements against the coming special interests' Special Election and the flawed propositions Arnold supports.
Come sit with friends and enjoy this interstate baseball game,
a little beer, some peanuts... and giving Arnold a piece of your mind!
But the e-mail concludes with this helpful post-script: "Might be a good idea to
bring your signs in under your shirt, in a tote, etc."
Next up from the Democratic Party:
Helpful shoplifting hints!From our
What to Give the Governor for Christmas files, we suggest something along the lines of what the Thai Prime Minister has been using to
deal with the press. Thai Prime Minister
Thaksin Shinawatra has long complained of press criticism. But he sought to turn the tables Thursday with a new tactic -
sounding a buzzer every time reporters ask questions he deems "not constructive."
"To the surprise of journalists and colleagues alike, Thaksin
raised a handheld buzzer - which displayed an 'X' sign - from behind the podium
to indicate his disapproval of some questions asked at the first in a new series of weekly news conferences.
"The button-pushing Thaksin sounded the alarm when a Thai newspaperman asked why the government had failed to seek parliamentary consent before introducing an emergency decree in the volatile southern provinces, where a Muslim insurgency has taken hold.
'Not constructive!' he exclaimed, referring to the reporter's question and a related one about whether foreign terrorists might be linked to the rebellion."
Such a buzzer certainly would make the guv's press conferences more entertaining.
In keeping with our theme of the week, and since it's Friday, we conclude with not one but two stories about animals: One about pit bulls, another about paparazzi.
The California Highway Patrol released the transcript of the 911 call Scarlet Johansson made after hitting a car with her SUV as she was being chased by professional stalkers.
Dispatcher: The other vehicle - do you know what it is?
Johansson: The other vehicle is a [calls to other driver] what kind of a vehicle do you have? A green [to other driver] what is it? [to dispatcher] A Daewoo.
Dispatcher: Daewoo - ok. And about the media - are they starting to, are they starting to cause problems?
Poor little Daewoo.
And finally, after yet another pit bull mauling, this time in San Diego, Sen.
Jackie Speier sent out a press release calling for passage of her legislation. "Research shows that the majority of dog attacks are caused by un-neutered males," the release states.
We're putting that one in our
"As it is With Dogs, So It Is With Humans" File.