The Terminator falters out of the gate….

Arnold Schwarzenegger's transition from movie star to gubernatorial candidate hit its first rough patch Friday as he ducked questions about the state's fiscal crisis, gay marriage and workplace benefits.

[...]

Asked on ABC's "Good Morning America" about gay marriage, he replied: "I don't want to get into that right now."

Asked about a news report quoting aides saying he was open to tax increases, Schwarzenegger said: "I can't imagine anyone on my team said that." He said that his solution was not raising taxes or cutting programs, but to "bring businesses back to California." But Schwarzenegger offered no strategy for attracting business. In fact, he has argued for reversing an increase in the car tax — which would cost the state treasury billions — even as he has advocated for more spending on school buildings and teacher hiring.

[...]

On NBC's "Today Show," interviewer Matt Lauer pressed him. "You talk about the budget deficit. You talk about the energy crisis, the slumping economy, people leaving California. Give me some specifics, Arnold. How are you going to turn it around?"

Schwarzenegger offered no details, focusing his answer on the governor:

"Well, I think the first and most important thing is to know that it takes leadership, because Gray Davis is saying he has the experience and all of those things. We have seen now what happens. He has sold himself as the man that has experience you cannot buy. What happened with all his experience? Look at the situation we're in right now."

Asked later in the same interview whether he would disclose his tax returns, as candidates for high office typically do, Schwarzenegger fiddled with his earpiece and said he could not hear the question. (In an appearance in Bellflower later Friday, Schwarzenegger said he would make disclosure but did not say when. "Absolutely. I have nothing to hide," he said.)

This man is as competent to govern the State of California as the sad-sack eldest son of a well-heeled New England political dynasty is to govern America.

I guess we should thank our lucky stars that, under the U.S. Constitution, a foreign-born naturalized citizen can’t be elected president.

Of course, Bush wasn’t elected, was he? So ultimately, a constitutional amendment could put anything up for grabs along with the governor’s office of the most-populous state of the union.

Jeeze, I wish I had confidence that California voters will reject this inarticulate, overblown Hollywood buffoon. But Minnesota voters put Jesse Ventura into the governor's mansion. And look how many people actually did vote for Bush!

Speaking of which, Bush endorsed Arnold today, elevating the political discourse in his inimitable fashion.

"Yes, I think he'd be a good governor," Bush said. The president did not say if he would campaign for Schwarzenegger.

A lighthearted Bush added: "I will never arm wrestle Arnold Schwarzenegger No matter how hard I try, I'll never lift as much weight as he does."

Awwww, shucks....

Complete story here.

California's next governor...?

TERMINATED TAKE: Arnold Schwarzenegger has some big ideas when it comes to running for governor -- but he was definitely thinking small when it came to shooting that bathroom dunking scene for his new action flick, "Terminator 3."

"I saw this toilet bowl," Schwarzenegger told Entertainment Weekly in its July 11 edition. "How many times do you get away with this -- to take a woman, grab her upside down, and bury her face in a toilet bowl?"

But, the Mighty Terminator adds: "I wanted to have something floating there."

Ughhh.

"The thing is, you can do it," Arnold argued, "because in the end, I didn't do it to a woman -- she's a machine! We could get away with it without being crucified by who-knows-what group."

Maybe -- but in the end, the "floating" idea was itself terminated.

"They thought it was my typical Schwarzenegger overboard."

From here.

Join Stop Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The violence in Iraq is escalating....

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Aug. 7 — A car bomb exploded today outside the Jordanian Embassy here, killing 11 people and wounding at least 65, in the bloodiest day since the Bush administration declared an end to major combat operations in Iraq on May 1.

The bomb exploded at 11 a.m., as many Iraqis stood about the entrance waiting to apply for visas. The force of the explosion blew a 30-foot-wide hole in the wall that separates the embassy from the street, hurling bodies and shrapnel and debris hundreds of yards. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

In addition,

Unidentified militants detonated a bomb on an American Humvee shortly after the car bombing, opening a ferocious, two-hour gun battle in the heart of one of Baghdad's most prosperous neighborhoods. Three soldiers were wounded in the firefight, officials said, while witnesses said two soldiers in the vehicle had been wounded as well.

Late Wednesday, two American soldiers died when they drove into an ambush in central Baghdad, the Central Command said.

I have so much to say about this, and yet it seems so futile. I’ve said it before, as have many anti-war activists. Indeed, as have wise persons throughout history: Violence begets violence.

What scares me is that it’s just a matter of time until the car bombs and martyrs start exploding on U.S. soil as well.

Complete story here.

Jerry Springer will not run for the Senate....

in Ohio so he can declare for the governor's race in California.

JUST KIDDING!

Although at this point, nothing would surprise me about the California recall.

OHIO: JERRY SPRINGER IS NOT A CANDIDATE To the relief of some national Democrats, Jerry Springer said that he would not run for the United States Senate in Ohio because he could not escape "the clutter" of his television show, where guests often brawl. Mr. Springer, a former Democratic mayor of Cincinnati, had hired a team of consultants and had traveled the state widely for months, testing the waters for a 2004 campaign against the Republican incumbent, George V. Voinovich. In a news conference, Mr. Springer said he thought voters were receptive to his populist message, but he said he was "not the perfect messenger," acknowledging high negative ratings in some polls.    James Dao (NYT)

That he would consider running for any political office is an indication of how low this country has sunk.

Complete story here.

Must see to believe....

Thanks to This Modern World, for the link to this limited-edition, 12- inch figure of George Bush in a naval aviator flight uniform. It's a "meticulous 1:6 scale recreation of the Commander-in-Chief's appearance during his historic Aircraft Carrier landing" on May 1, 2003. I kid you not.

I can think of a few fun things to do with this "fully poseable [sic] figure"...

Was this the plan all along...?

If so, I never saw it coming!

SAN DIEGO – Republican Congressman Darrell Issa, who bankrolled the effort to recall Gov. Gray Davis and was one of the first to say he wanted to replace him, tearfully said he will not run in the Oct. 7 election.

His announcement comes a day after actor and fellow Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger entered the race.

The congressman from Vista had gone to the San Diego County Registrar of Voters office in Kearny Mesa ostensibly to join the race officially.

But as his supporters stood around him holding posters touting his candidacy, Issa became the latest to reassess his or her aspirations in light of the breathtaking changes threatening to reshape California's political landscape.

Other declared candidates are independent Arianna Huffington, Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante, and state Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi (the latter two both Democrats). With until Saturday to declare, political analysts are forecasting a field of hundreds. One analyst, on NPR this morning, predicted 400.

And remember, all you need is a majority of those who bother to vote to win.

Complete story here.

Hasta la vista, Davis....

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 6 — The recall election on Gov. Gray Davis of California took stunning turns today, as one of the state's most respected elected officials, Senator Dianne Feinstein, announced that she would not run to replace Mr. Davis, and Arnold Schwarzenegger, a politically untested movie star, announced that he would.

As extraordinary bookends on a day of fast-moving events, the two decisions could not have been more dissimilar in style and substance. Public opinion polls have identified Ms. Feinstein, a Democrat, and Mr. Schwarzenegger, a Republican, as among the most popular alternatives to Mr. Davis, who faces a recall vote on Oct. 7.

I thought Arnold's recent disavowals were purely strategic, designed to give this evening’s announcement even more punch.

If Feinstein persists in staying out of the race, I fear Schwarzenegger will be the state’s next governor.

If the stakes weren’t so incredibly high, this circus would be hilarious.

Complete story here.

Very troubling....

One of Europe's leading scientists yesterday raised the possibility that the extreme heatwave now settled over at least 30 countries in the northern hemisphere could signal that man-made climate change is accelerating.

"The present heatwave across the northern hemisphere is worrying. There is the small probability that man-made climate change is proceeding much faster and stronger than expected," said Professor John Schellnhuber, former chief scientific adviser to the German government and now head of the UK's leading group of climate scientists at the Tyndall center.

Prof Schellnhuber said "the parching heat experienced now" could be consistent "with a worst-case scenario [of global warming] that nobody wants to come true". He warned that several months' research would be needed to analyze data from around the world before scientists could say why the heatwaves are so intense this year.

"What we are seeing is absolutely unusual," said Prof Schellnhuber. "We know that global warming is proceeding apace, but most of us were thinking that in 20-30 years time we would be seeing hot spells [like this]. But it's happening now. Clearly extreme weather events will increase." [asides are in the original]

While Europe burns and 1,500 people die from heat prostration in India, President Bush continues to scoff at global warming and Republicans blocked efforts last week by Senators John McCain and Joseph Leiberman to force a vote on their bill limiting greenhouse gas emissions. (The vote has been postponed until the fall.)

As that famous margarine commercial used to exclaim—was it in the 1970’s?—“You can’t fool Mother Nature.” We’re risking not only rising sea-levels, but large-scale agricultural failures, droughts and ensuing famines that could make those the world has already experienced pale in comparison.

On the other hand, some scientist fear that the rising temperatures could trigger the next ice-age, which—according to ice-cores in Antarctica and the Arctic—is about due anyway.

What are you doing to help? I’ve traded my gas-guzzling clunker (the only kind of automobile I can afford) for a bicycle. That’s right: I actually live and work in Southern California and do not own a car. It can be done.

Stories here and here.

I expected more….

Terry Gross just interviewed Bill Maher on Fresh Air. You know, he's not as radical as I'd expected. He said he was only “40-60” against the Iraq war, and he added that even if you were against the war, you should “support the plan now because it may have been Bush's war, but it's America's peace."

I don’t understand that logic. If the invasion of Iraq was morally wrong, fiscally indefensible and logistically unwise, what makes the occupation any different?

One glaring difference is Americans keep dying almost everyday. That ups the potential political cost for Bush and his Neocon cronies. They will never quit Iraq due to morality, fiscal considerations or because the occupation actually increases the risk of terrorist attacks at home. But they might leave if the U.S. body count grows too high.

How sad.

The best we can do now, it seems, is invite in the United Nations and hope—hope!—they don’t rebuff the overture on account of the way Bush spurned them prior to the war.

I was really disappointed in Maher.

Not sure how I feel about this....

New York City officials said yesterday that they planned to systematically review biological evidence from hundreds of unsolved sex crimes, with the goal of indicting the unidentified attackers based on their DNA profiles before the 10-year statute of limitations runs out.

Under the initiative, called the John Doe Indictment Project, prosecutors, investigators and scientists will seek to tie the most serious unsolved sex crimes to specific DNA profiles, then file charges even before they have linked a name to the DNA or have arrested a suspect.

Complete story here.

The beginning of a trend...?

For the first time since the government started keeping statistics, California has lost more residents to other states than it gained.

WASHINGTON — Although the state's population continues to grow because of immigration, more people left California in the last half of the 1990s than moved in from other states, according to a U.S. Census Bureau report released today.

More than 1.4 million people in the U.S. migrated to California from 1995 to 2000, while 2.2 million left — the highest migration numbers in the country. That exodus is "unprecedented," said Hans P. Johnson, a demographer with the Public Policy Institute of California, an independent San Francisco research organization.

Even so, the state's estimated population was still a whopping 35.1 million in 2002.

The article says a big reason people are moving is the cost of housing, and I can vouch for that. I saw a sign yesterday advertising a two-bedroom house for rent in my neighborhood for $2,200/month!

Complete story here.

Victory for transgendered rights....

I almost missed this, it slipped by so quietly. From what I can gather, it wasn't even mentioned in the L.A. Times.

CALIFORNIA: NEW BAN ON BIAS Gov. Gray Davis has signed a bill banning housing and job discrimination against transgender people, making the state the fourth to extend such protections. The measure, signed on Saturday, will take effect on Jan. 1. The new law prohibits discrimination against people whose "perceived gender characteristics are different from those traditionally associated with the individual's sex at birth."  (AP)

Complete story here.

Congratulations...!

It's about time!

MINNEAPOLIS - The Episcopal church made history today when it elevated an openly gay priest to bishop, ending months of bitter dispute that culminated in 11th-hour accusations about Rev. Canon V. Gene Robinson's character.

Robinson, a 56-year-old divorced man with two adult children, has lived with his partner, Mark Andrew, for 13 years. He was elected bishop this summer by the priests and lay leaders of the Diocese of New Hampshire, and secured the backing of priests and lay deputies for his election on Sunday.

Today a majority of the nation's dioceses - 62 out of 107 - approved his election at the church's national General Convention in Minneapolis, a church spokesperson said this evening, making Robinson the first openly gay man to be approved as a bishop in the church's history.

Complete story here.

Chaos in Iraq....

Anne Garrels’ from Baghdad this morning on NPR described 120-degree heat, traffic-clogged streets, rampant unemployment, intermittent electricity, alcohol and pornography on open display and violent crime.

That's liberation for ya!

The L.A. Times put a face on the story:

BAGHDAD -- A man walked into Dr. Mohammed Alrawi's private clinic in an upscale part of the capital last Sunday moaning and complaining so loudly of kidney pain that he was ushered straight past waiting patients.

Inside, the "patient" immediately pulled out a pistol and shot the doctor through his right eye, killing him.

As the gunman dashed out, he passed Alrawi's wife, Bushra, who also practices medicine at the clinic. "I looked at his face. I will never forget that face," she recalled.

"I went to my husband. I saw him collapsed in his chair. I hugged him while his blood covered the floor."

Murder is stalking this city. In the aftermath of the U.S. campaign to oust Saddam Hussein, residents who have no memory of violent street crime during his iron-fisted rule are now being terrorized by killers — not to mention thieves and vandals — whose motives range from retribution to rapaciousness. The crime wave poses a challenge for the U.S.-led occupation as it grapples with a multitude of problems — electricity shortages, joblessness and a guerrilla campaign among them — that have destabilized this shattered country. Iraqi police have started to work, but ineffectually. They defer to the U.S. soldiers, who often have no clue about what is going on in the streets and alleys around them.

Alrawi, 52, was a former dean of Baghdad University, physician to Hussein and chairman of the Iraqi Physicians Syndicate. His family believes he is a victim of reprisal killings aimed at members of Hussein's government.

Why isn’t the American public demanding Bush's impeachment for this monumental squandering of lives and taxpayers’ money?

Complete story here.