The governor yesterday came out strong against Democratic proposals for health care reform, and
tried to woo business leaders to support his plan.
The Bee's Kevin Yamamura reports: "Schwarzenegger, addressing 1,500 business leaders at the 81st annual Sacramento Host Breakfast, defended his plan as 'shared responsibility.' But he took a sarcastic tone in skewering Democratic proposals, which he dubbed "creative ideas."
"He said a single-payer proposal by Sen.
Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica, would create a government-run health system that would fare no better than the state's crisis-ridden prison health care system.
"He also criticized a plan 'where the employers should have the whole burden,' an apparent reference to a proposal by Assembly Speaker
Fabian Núñez and Senate President Pro Tem
Don Perata requiring employers to spend at least 7.5 percent of payroll on health care."
"'Now, that is, of course, also something that we don't like very well,' Schwarzenegger said. '... So I believe in shared responsibility. And I can guarantee you that my proposal that I have is the best, and I think that's the one that we should all go with.'"
But LAT's Robert Salladay hones in on the real news made at the breakfast: The guv
will not take any part in Terminator 4.
"'And people ask me all the time about, 'They just announced they're going to do another Terminator movie, Terminator 4. Don't you want to do that? Don't you miss that?' ' the governor said today. 'And I always tell them no, I don't miss it at all, never think about it. I love my job, I love serving the people of California, it is the greatest thing I've ever done.'"
But, Salladay notes,
later in the speech, he repeatedly used lines from the movie: "You know, last time I was here I said to all of you that, 'I'll be back,' and so it is so nice to be back here again." And: "But you know my opinion about job killing bills. I mean, that's what we have done for the three years, is we said hasta la vista, baby, to those bills. Exactly. And that's what we're going to do the next four years, terminate those bills."
And finally, at the end: " Thank you very much, and I'll be back."
"State Attorney General
Jerry Brown appealed Tuesday to the Environmental Protection Agency for a waiver so California and 11 other states can impose rules on car and truck emissions more stringent than those permitted by the Clean Air Act in an effort to combat global warming," writes David Whitney in the Bee.
"Later, Brown took his message to Capitol Hill, telling the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee that nothing is more essential now than for the United States to act boldly to curb carbon dioxide emissions that most scientists believe are causing the Earth to warm at a dangerous rate.
"'
This is bigger than Iraq,' Brown told the Senate panel, headed by Sen.
Barbara Boxer, also a California Democrat. '
It is bigger than immigration. It's not tomorrow, but it's coming around. The stakes have never been higher.'
"But there was no indication that Brown's pitch would move the EPA to grant the needed waiver that has been pending since 2005. Bush administration critics, including Brown, charged that the EPA is stalling any action in concert with the U.S. auto and petroleum industries."
"Parents who rear some of California's nearly 80,000 foster children
joined a San Jose lawmaker Tuesday in demanding that the state increase the payments they receive - typically $425 to $597 a month - to supply food, clothing, shelter and other necessities to kids who have been removed from their biological families because of abuse or neglect," writes Edwin Garcia in the Merc News.
"Their low-key protest on the steps of the state Capitol, in the form of a news conference, sought to highlight Assembly Bill 324, which proposes to boost the reimbursement rate by a modest 5 percent and ensure future raises by adjusting the payments to the cost of living.
"'The average kennel charges you $620 a month for taking care of a dog,' said the measure's author, Assemblyman
Jim Beall, D-San Jose, 'so our kids don't even get as much money as a dog.'"
With logic like that, it's amazing we even
have a Legislature...
"State Sen.
Carole Migden, who rear-ended a motorist near Fairfield on Friday,
may have been involved in an accident earlier the same day, the CHP said Tuesday after reviewing 911 calls from several motorists," reports Greg Lucas in the Chron.
"One motorist reported that he saw the San Francisco Democrat
driving erratically and strike a guardrail on Highway 80 near the Highway 37 exit in Vallejo on Friday, while another reported that he was berated by Migden after witnessing the rear-end collision.
"The first report to the CHP about an erratic driver thought to be Migden was made by a motorist in Emeryville.
"CHP officers were already looking into Migden's collision with a 2005 Honda sedan that was slowing to stop at the intersection of Beck Avenue and Highway 12 in Solano County.
"'We're now looking at two accidents. We're trying to figure out exactly where she hit the guardrail,' said CHP Officer
Marvin Williford.
"Williford said, based on witness accounts, the CHP officer had narrowed where Migden struck the center divider to a three-quarter-mile stretch.
"'She even stated Friday that she brushed up against something. She just wasn't sure what,' Williford said. 'We're looking for paint transfers. Unfortunately, that guardrail has been pretty banged up over the years.'"
Here's a hint...look for the empty latte cup...
"The L.A. County Federation of Labor
dropped its long-standing support for state Sen. Jenny Oropeza on Monday, endorsing her opponent in the race to succeed the late Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald," reports the Daily Breeze's Gene Maddus.
"
The County Fed, the region's most influential labor organization, voted Monday night to put its considerable backing behind Assemblywoman Laura Richardson."
Anyone taking bets on how Richardson is going to vote on those Indian gaming compacts when they come to the floor?
And from our
Tiptoe Through the Tulips Files, a big get well soon to
Paula Abdul who found out what we at the Roundup already knew --
chihuahuas can be dangerous. Abdul "lost her balance while trying to avoid stepping on her pet chihuahua at home and fell, breaking her nose and toe, her publicist said on Tuesday."
"'I took a nasty fall ... trying not to hurt my dog. I bruised myself on my arm ... my chest, my waist, all the way down to my hip. All for my little chubby Tulip,' she said. 'The dog, I saw her .. I just remember saying, 'Oh my God, I'm going to do a face plant.'"
"The pain was so bad, '
I screamed like a little baby would scream," she recounted."
"The dog, Tulip, was unscathed in the accident."
