Global warming may be a double-edged sword for Republican politicians in California this year.Seema
Mehta and Maeve Reston report, "For months, Meg Whitman
and Carly Fiorina have struggled with
competing imperatives: appeasing members of their party who want to
suspend the global warming bill while wooing environmentally-conscious
independent voters who could carry them to victory
in November.
"Fiorina's
uncertainty produced one of her most difficult moments
during her first
debate with Sen. Barbara Boxer last week, when she
was repeatedly
pressed for a position on Proposition 23 but declined to give one. She
came out in support of the ballot measure two days
later.
"Whitman has yet to be pinned down.
What is this, the World Wrestling Federation or a govenror's
race? But we digress...
"Their
reticence may also reflect divisions in the business
community over
the measure, which would suspend the global warming
law until
unemployment drops to 5.5% or lower for one year. Opposition to the
November measure is particularly strong in the Silicon
Valley, their
home turf and an area they have mined for campaign
contributions.
One scheduling note: Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger sets off for Asia Thursday
with hundreds of bills on his desk and no budget deal
in place.
Schwarzenegger met with legislative leaders Tuesday
and all sounded more
optimistic tones about a possible budget deal.
Wyatt Buchanan reports, "The six-day trip to China, Japan and South
Korea is the governor's first trade mission in more
than three years. He
plans to tour the company making components for the
eastern span of the
Bay Bridge and ride high-speed trains in all three countries.
"Business leaders from the Bay Area, Los Angeles and
other parts of
the state are joining Schwarzenegger, who leaves Thursday
and returns
Sept. 15. The trip comes amid the second-longest budget impasse in
California history and, unless leaders at the Capitol
come to an
agreement before Thursday, Schwarzenegger's absence
probably will mean
little action on that front.
"The governor defended the timing of his trip, which
has been planned for months.
"Just because there is inaction in the Legislature
when it comes to
passing a budget doesn't mean there should be inaction
in the governor's
office," he told reporters last week.
Steve Lopez offers some free political advice to Jerry Brown .
"Look, I'm aware that politicians are loath to offer
up details
in the midst of a political campaign for fear of being
held to promises
or being picked apart by opponents. And Brown no doubt
would prefer to
hammer Whitman for seldom having voted, for being in
bed with Wall
Street's worst villains, for trying to buy the governorship
and, of
course, for not having a plan of her own other than
cynical and
non-specific promises — such as her vow to eliminate 40,000 state jobs.
"But
after rolling out of bed at the crack of dawn on a
holiday, I would
have liked some clue as to how Brown intends to fix
the structural
deficit, restore pride to public education and give
the unemployed some
hope of finding work. If it's not about a plan, what's
he here for?
Budget cuts have forced Los Angeles public schools
to delay the start of the new school year.
"The Tuesday after Labor Day marks the traditional
opening of the
academic year for students in the Los Angeles Unified
School District,
but not this time around.
"Budget cuts have resulted in a shorter school year
and unpaid furlough
days for teachers and other employees. That reality,
combined with the
Jewish High Holy Days, has pushed things back to Sept.
13.
So why are students already attending public schools
in some parts of the nation's second-largest school system? That's because of another recent
development: a desire by some
principals to start school earlier so their students
have more
instructional days before the annual state standardized
tests in May.
California regulators are seeking nearly $10 billion in damages from PacifiCare for nearly 1 million violations of state law in a two-year period.
"California regulators are
seeking fines of up to $9.9 billion from health insurer PacifiCare over
allegations that it repeatedly mismanaged medical claims,
lost thousands
of patient documents, failed to pay doctors what they
were owed and
ignored calls to fix the problems.
"In court filings and other documents, the California
Department of
Insurance says PacifiCare violated state law nearly
1 million times from
2006 to 2008 after it was purchased by UnitedHealth Group Inc.,
the
nation's largest health insurance company by revenue."
"Regulators said the companies broke promises to maintain
smooth
operations for 130,000 of PacifiCare's customers, resulting in what
insurance officials nationwide believe is the largest
fine ever sought
against a U.S. health insurer.
And finally, from our They Call That Science? Files,
Reuters reports, "Men hoping to impress women on the
dance floor now have science to
help them. A European study has found that men who
move their necks and
trunks more to the beat are most likely to attract
women.
"British and German researchers filmed 19 men, aged 18-35, with a 3-D
camera system as they danced to a basic rhythm, and
then mapped their
movements onto featureless, white, gender-neutral humanoid characters,
or avatars.
"A group of 37 heterosexual women was asked to rate the dance moves
of the avatars, which gave no indication of the men's
attractiveness,
to help identify the key movement areas of the bodies
that decided if
their dancing was "good" or "bad."
"The study, which also involved German's University
of Gottingen, found
that eight movement variables made the difference between
a "good" and a
"bad" dancer. These were the size of movement of the
neck, trunk, left shoulder and
wrist, the variability of movement size of the neck,
trunk and left
wrist, and the speed of movement of the right knee.
The study found that female perceptions of good dance
quality were
influenced most greatly by large and varied movements
involving the neck
and trunk. The speed of the right knee movements were
also important in
signalling dance quality."
Ok, men. Get in front of those full-length mirrors, and get those right knees moving....
