In the wake of the failure of the five finance measures on California’s ballot yesterday, George Will forecasts further decline for the Golden State:

Now California’s mostly Democratic political class will petition Washington for a bailout to nourish the public sector that is suffocating the state’s dwindling — and departing — private sector. The Obama administration, which rewarded the United Auto Workers by giving it considerable control over two companies it helped reduce to commercial rubble, will serve the interests of California’s unionized public employees and others largely responsible for reducing the state to mendicancy.

Looks like the columnist has found his way back to Olympus.

Our Governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger doesn’t seem to be able to translate the personal popularity he has long enjoyed in the Golden State into success for the initiatives he has put on the California ballot.  This goes for conservative as well as liberal polices.  In November 2005, voters rejected, albeit not as decisively as they rejected the more liberal “reforms” yesterday,  four propositions he had placed on the state’s ballot for reforms favored by conservatives.

In the wake of the defeat of those conservative reforms, he tapped Susan Kennedy, a “former acolyte of radical activists Tom Hayden and Jane Fonda” as his Chief of Staff.  Now, in the wake of the defeat of liberal measures, will he move in the opposite direction, firing Ms. Kennedy and tapping someone with a background in conservative activism as his top aide?

Kennedy had been deputy chief of staff to Gray Davis, the Democratic governor Schwarzenegger ousted in the 2003 recall.  Thus, barely two years after his election on a reform agenda, the Republican Governor began to return to the policies voters rejected when they elected him.  And yesterday, we rejected policies nearly identical to those which helped spur Davis’s downfall (and Arnold’s rise).

As John Hinderaker puts it, as “governor of California,” Schwarzenegger “lacked the will or the conviction to buck the liberal tide.“  He didn’t buck the tide; he tried to ride it.  And unlike the surfers who flock to our coasts, he couldn’t keep his balance on that most demanding and fickle of waves.

His fall began in 2005 when he failed to enact conservative reforms which, among others things, would have cut the public employee unions’ power and held the line of state spending.  Instead of seeing the defeat as an obstacle to be overcome and thus strenghtening his resolve to push responsible reform, he caved to those who had defeated him.  Hardly the mark of a principled man.  And the sign of someone lacking the determination of the action heroes he played on the silver screen, often relentless in pursuing their goals.

The overwhelming defeat of the five tax-hiking proposals, including one which would extend  tax hikes for two years, shows that even citizens in “blue” California are willing to tolerate reduction in services in order to hold the line on state spending one of the core ideas of the GOP resonates with voters.  The referendum results show that budgetary restraint is a winning issue.

But, it wasn’t just the defeat of the budget measures which provide signs of hope for the GOP.  While perennial politician and ardent left-winger Paul Koretz clings to a 335-vote lead over David Vahedi for the District 5 seat in City Council, the fact that the margin is so close in a very, very liberal district.  To be sure, Vahedi is not a Republican, but he had built of coalition of neighborhood activists and other concerned citizens upset at the status quo in the City.  He ran at the outsider fighting a liberal City Hall.

The real sign of hope for the GOP though came in the race for City Attorney, when San Pedro lawyer Carmen “Nuch” Trutanich shellacked City Councilman Jack Weiss, the more liberal candidate who was backed not just by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, but also by the Democratic Party and labor unions.  Those unions ran harsh ads attacking Trutanich alleging he represented polluters.  But, thse ads didn’t seem to resonate.

Despite the assistance he received from the Mayor and the labor unions, Weiss lost by over ten points.  It wasn’t even close.

What these elections indicate is that certain ideas which have long defined the GOP resonate with voters, even in “blue” states like California, even in liberal cities like Los Angeles.  Yesterday’s results suggest that should the GOP returns to its principles and run against machine politics with reform agenda, they could see themselves returning to the majority, even if jurisdictions where they have long been written off.

Bwa-ha-ha.

CREW [Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington] learned today that the Obama administration is opposing our request that the Supreme Court reconsider the dismissal of the lawsuit, Wilson v. Libby, et al. In that case, the district court had dismissed the claims of Joe and Valerie Wilson against former Vice President Dick Cheney, Karl Rove, Scooter Libby and Richard Armitage for their gross violations of the Wilsons’ constitutional rights.

Agreeing with the Bush administration, the Obama Justice Department argues the Wilsons have no legitimate grounds to sue. It is surprising that the first time the Obama administration has been required to take a public position on this matter, the administration is so closely aligning itself with the Bush administration’s views.

And yeah, I KNOW that Joe’s last name is technically “Wilson” — but you KNOW *he* wants it to be Plame (more attention and $$) and frankly she wears the pants in the family from what I can tell.

Man, this is toooooo rich.  Obama Voters=SUCKERS!   LOL.

-Bruce (GayPatriot)

Just about two weeks ago, at the same time we were switching to a new server, the hard drive on my primary computer crashed, forcing me to take this machine in.  Today and over $500 later, I have this Mac back, my hard drive restored, having lost only some old mail.

I can only blame myself for the loss and the cost.  This has happened before.  I should have backed up my files more often.

As I waited from the folks at the store to get back to me, letting me know whether they could recover the lost data, I did a more extensive review of my own finances than I normally do, seeing if I could come up with some more savings to make up for the cost of the repairs.  And I realized that had I been more prudent, I could have saved upwards of $500 over the past year by sacrificing only the convenience of having a home fax with a separate fax line.   (I canceled the line.)  The additional savings would come from always doing what I normally do–paying my bills on time.

I realized that, over the past year, I had lost about $120 in late payment fees to my various credit cards.  To make sure I have no further late payment fees, I’m making one minor adjustment in my habits–I’m paying off each bill as soon as it comes in.

At the same time as I realize what I could do to save money, the Democratic Congress has passed legislation “to limit the penalties on riskier borrowers.”  To make up for the lost income, credit card companies will be changing their policies, causing those who pay off their bills on time to subsidize those who don’t.  People with credit problems will thus be a little less responsible for their own folly, while those more careful with their money will help pay off their debts.

Guess, I was wrong to review my own finances to see how I could save a little money; I should instead haved asked Uncle Sam or a favor.  I mean, isn’t that the way things are in Barack Obama’s Washington?

Preview of the new ABC TV series “V” — a remake of the NBC alien series from the 1980s.

-Bruce (GayPatriot)

Hot off the wire:

GOProud Applauds Introduction of the Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations Bill
Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) lead co-sponsor in the Senate
and Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) lead co-sponsor in the House.

(Washington, D.C.) – Today, the bipartisan Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations (DPBO) bill will be introduced in both the House and Senate. Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) is the lead co-sponsor in the Senate and Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) is the lead co-sponsor in the House.

“GOProud applauds the bipartisan, bicameral introduction of the DPBO bill,” said Jimmy LaSalvia, Executive Director of GOProud. “GOProud strongly supports this common sense legislation.”

Senator Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) join Collins and Ros-Lehtinen as original co-sponsors.

“Passage of the DPBO bill would make retirement benefits, healthcare benefits and life insurance benefits available to domestic partners,” continued LaSalvia.

“As conservatives, we believe that the federal government should take its cues from the successful practices of private enterprise. With more than half of Fortune 500 companies offer domestic partner benefits, it is clear that the time has come for the federal government to do the same.”

“GOProud looks forward to building conservative support for the passage of this legislation,” said LaSalvia.

Major kudos to Senator Collins and Rep. Ros-Lehtinen — she is one of my favorite Members of the US House, I might add.

And I would also note that it seems to me (and I am certainly biased as the Treasurer) that GOProud is doing a lot more to advance gay conservative causes in the past few weeks than Log Cabin Republicans did for the past few years.

I’m just sayin’.

There is a LOT more to come.  Thanks to Jimmy & Chris, GOProud is on Capitol Hill talking with leading GOP lawmakers on a regular basis.  It is a great time.

-Bruce (GayPatriot)