"The Supreme Court's ruling backing Oregon's physician-assisted suicide law has
energized advocates pushing a similar measure in the California Legislature, where the thorny moral question appears to be the most contentious social issue lawmakers will debate this year," writes Lynda Gledhill in the Chron.
"'I'm elated,' said Assemblywoman
Patty Berg, D-Eureka, one of the authors of the bill. 'There are individuals in both houses who had said maybe we should wait and see how the Supreme Court rules. I think it provides permission for individuals to re-look at
this bill.'"
Meanwhile, the AP reports that
Clarence Ray Allen's heart kept on ticking until extra drugs were needed to execute him, and the Department of Corrections
wouldn't have had it any other way. "Anticipating a possible replay of his September heart attack, Allen had asked prison authorities to let him die if he went into cardiac arrest before his execution, a request prison officials said they would not honor."
"'
At no point are we not going to value the sanctity of life," said prison spokesman
Vernell Crittendon. '
We would resuscitate him.'"
The Department of Irony was not available for comment.
"Crittendon explained that executions are scheduled for one minute after midnight because the death warrant is only valid for that day,
giving authorities time to treat an inmate's ailments, then kill the prisoner without having to seek another order."
Now,
that is government waste.
Capitol Weekly's Malcolm Maclachlan reports on a new
conservative alumni group that is keeping tabs on professors it deems too "liberal," and paying students to help
"The Web site,
www.uclaprofs.com, lists
31 current and former professors in disciplines such as African-American studies, Chicano studies, education, history and political science. These names are linked to detailed profiles of professors and their activities. There is also a
ratings system in which faculty are rated from one to five "black power" fists to indicate how radical they are.
Members of the group's advisory board include Congressional candidate
Bill Morrow, former Congressman
Jim Rogan, and California Republican Assembly President
Mike Spence.
"'The joke is always the UCLA is ACLU rearranged,' Spence said. 'There is a radical, left-wing bias among faculty, not just at UCLA but at other colleges as well. I don't think there is a problem with sharing that information.Professors' right to privacy is outweighed by citizens' right to know that their tax dollars are being used to fund "anti-American" activities, Spence said.
'I wish every UC had a group like this,' Spence added."
Speaking of UC, the Joint Legislative Audit Committee voted yesterday to authorize the state auditor to
conduct a wide ranging audit of the University of California's compensation practices, reports Jim Sanders in the Bee. Requester of the audit and Assembly Speaker
Fabian "Núñez, in a statement to the legislative committee, accused UC of '
flagrant disregard for the use of taxpayer dollars.'"
"'They have raised fees on students year after year, and then turned around and gave almost a billion dollars in raises, bonuses and other compensation to their top staff,' he said."
"
Paul Schwartz, a UC spokesman, said there is no objection to the audit."
"'We welcome the audit and the opportunity to discuss with the state our ongoing challenges in keeping UC competitive, including in the area of compensation, especially in light of the repeated budget cuts of the last several years,' he said."
Meanwhile, legislative leaders joined the governor yesterday to announce that they will expedite a bill to
provide $150 million to expand access to prescription drugs for seniors and the disabled, Hank Shaw writes in the Stockton Record.
But, Dan Walters finds an
alternative reason for the press event. "The real reason for Tuesday's gathering, therefore, was for some mutual back-patting - part of the Capitol's election year effort to burnish its collective image in reaction to polls indicating that Californians hold all of the building's denizens in great disrepute."
Walters argues the prescription drug legislation as one of the smaller areas Democrats are willing to help the governor on, but that doesn't mean that there is a new era of cooperation in the Capitol. "Do Democrats really intend to help Schwarzenegger by doing a big deal on infrastructure, as he hopes, or are they ensnaring him with little things while planning to torpedo his bigger ambitions?"
"It's the biggest political question hanging over the Capitol these days."
Speaking of the spirit of bipartisanship, local labor leaders are fuming at former SF Mayor
Willie Brown for
arranging an appearance by Gov. Schwarzenegger at a labor breakfast celebrating the Martin Luther King holiday."
"'
We've spent a year and a half, and millions of dollars fighting this SOB,' San Francisco Labor Council head
Tim Paulson said of the governor. "For him to come to this breakfast was an absolute insult."
"
Willie was pimping him in front of us,'' Paulson said. "Willie has gone over to the other side."
The Merc News reports that former Director of Finance and Dean of Berkeley's Haas School of Business
Tom Campbell is
a finalist for the presidency of the University of Arizona.
"'He was nominated. He's been very happy at Berkeley,' said
Kevin Spillane, who has advised Campbell's political campaigns for years. 'I think he loves being dean, but obviously when you are talking about a university president, any academic would want to consider it seriously.'"
The state was
sued by a coalition of youth advocates for failing to reclassify certain alcoholic beverages as distilled spirits rather than beer, writes Edwin Garcia for the Merc News.
"The so-called
alcopops are illegally sold as flavorful beer, sometimes next to the sodas they mimic, according to the lawsuit filed by 13 plaintiffs, including Alameda County, the California Council on Alcohol Policy and the San Dieguito Alliance for Drug Free Youth."
All of the members of the youth groups who filed the suit were immediately beaten up after school by the jocks and stoners.
"At a news conference where they announced the lawsuit, Sens.
Carole Migden, D-San Francisco, and
Liz Figueroa, D-Fremont, also pledged to push legislation to reclassify the beverages, which contain about 6 percent alcohol -- roughly the same as beer -- as distilled spirits and to ban advertising aimed at teenagers."
"Legislation last year to keep alcopops in the same category as beer was vetoed by Gov. Schwarzenegger, who said the matter needed further debate."