[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Robert Cruickshank

The best way to sum up the conservative Republican reaction to both the state's budget deficit and our economic crisis is "avoiding reality." From elected Republicans to their media outlets to their fanatic base, California's right-wing is finding itself having to become more and more extreme and divisive in avoiding the inevitable - higher taxes and more government spending as a solution to both our structural revenue shortfall and our worsening economic crisis.

And in the process, they're also having to rewrite history to avoid blame for those problems. Faced with widespread public outrage over the 10,000 layoff notices sent to teachers this week, among other concerns, Republicans have now decided to accuse Democrats of causing the crisis - even though it was Republican policies that created both the budget deficit AND the economic downturn.

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

by dday [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

Blogging here from Calitics east, as I'm in Philadelphia the next several days.  And I know that it's simply not de rigeur for an upstanding progressive blog to try and talk seriously about the Paris Hilton case, but hidden underneath it all is an untold story about the inadequacy of our prison system.

There's a tug-of-war between the Sheriff and the county lockup administrators, who are treating Paris like they do every other inmate of her station, and the judge and city attorney, who are keen on making her an example due to public outrage and the fact that it's just cool to hate Paris.  Here's the thing, folks: she was sentenced to 45 days.  As the LA Times reported today, the average time served for a woman in county lockups with that length of sentence... is 4 days.

Although Hilton has become a lightning rod for many who see inequities in the justice system, the reality is more complicated.

Because of overcrowding in Los Angeles County jails, release criteria now call for female offenders to be freed after serving 10% of their projected sentence. So for an inmate who, like Hilton, was sentenced to 45 days, serving no more than four days would be the norm.

over...