[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

Cross-posted on Calitics. 

In yesterday's Fresno Bee, the editorial board takes a whack at Prop 93. Fair enough, I can handle a little criticism. But I'd like to go through this a little bit.

"Term limits should be changed. They haven't worked as well as voters once hoped. The net effect of term limits has been to reduce the experience level of those who serve in Sacramento, elevate the role of special interests and their lobbyists, and turn electoral cycles into an unending marathon on fundraising and focusing on the next job, rather than on California's increasingly serious problems."

Now that's something I can agree with, and something that I'm guessing most progressives would agree with. So, a reasonable start there. But then they get into their hang up: redistricting. Why are term limits and redistricting related? Why because the governor said so of course! Silly Californians. 

There's more...

by Brian Leubitz [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

Original cartoon published Aug. 24, 2003 in The Fresno Bee. Republished courtesy of SW Parra © 2003

By Frank Pecarich
Retired Soil Scientist

I was born in Bakersfield and lived there until I graduated from college. In the Fall of the year, the leaves dried and fell to the ground and the smell of autumn was in the air. Football in Bakersfield in the 1960’s was an iconic ritual and virtually everybody in town was caught up in it.

Well, I don’t live in Bakersfield anymore but in addition to football in the Central Valley it appears that there is a continuing iconic rivalry which is getting to be of huge proportions. It too can be compared to a rival football ritual. A couple of years ago a Fresno Bee article and political cartoonist Steve W. Parra, captured our imaginations by having beleaguered Dean Florez fill in for Charlie Brown and the annual ritual of Lucy Van Pelt, aka Nicole Parra, pulling the football away from Charlie just as he was about to kick it.

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

In an op-ed in today's Los Angeles Daily News, Speaker Fabian Nunez has some strong words for school districts who punish children for the financial difficulties of their parents. "If the "dunce cap" were still in use as a schoolhouse punishment, there are several school officials in California who need to be assigned corners and fitted for cones. According to newspaper reports -- and I'm sure Charles Dickens is looking down at those reports with a nod of professional respect -- children in some California school districts are being publicly shamed simply because their parents have neglected to keep the students' pre-paid lunch accounts fully up to date."

Speaking of dunce caps, the big Central Valley papers are calling out Governor Schwarzenegger today over the California Air Resources Board scandal. "This last-minute jockeying doesn't speak well for either CARB or Schwarzenegger's inner circle," the Fresno Bee declares. And the Bakersfield Californian says that after our "chest-beating show" combating global warming, "Californians deserve some straight answers and a straightforward air pollution cleanup strategy from their governor."

by Robert in Monterey [courtesy of Calitics: Soapblox California - Front Page]

Will California's high speed rail project survive Arnold's budget cuts - and if so, how will it get built? George Skelton's Monday LA Times column turns its attention to the issue, with some important insights about the current status of the plan. With an excellent excoriation of Arnold Schwarzenegger's unwillingness to lead on the issue, despite his public claims of support for the project, Skelton also questions some recent decisions of the California High Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) regarding the implementation schedule of the project.