Today's Fresh Meat

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

California elected officials got a raise yesterday, with a 5% hike going to the Attorney  General and Superintendent ofPublic Instruction and 2.75% hike going to just about everyone else,the Los Angeles Times reports. Gov. Schwarzenegger has never accepted astate salary, but if he ever changes his mind, he can now cash in with$212,179 a year. John Garamendi, meanwhile, is busy saving the whales(see above) for a price of $159,134. Legislative leaders will receive $133,639while rank and file members get $116,208. A reasonable increase, givenmany of these politicians have families. But (and no disrespect to Mr.Garamendi) is saving the whales really worth $159 grand?

People often forget that it's a crime in this country to engage in"plotting to overthrow a peaceful regime" (not the precise words, I'msure). So what are we to make of the nearly 1,500 Hmong Americans who rallied outside the capitol yesterday in defense of Gen. Van Pao, who called for the violent overthrow of theCommunist Laotian government? The Laotian government denies abusing theHmong people, but a credible body of evidence suggests otherwise.Regardless of whether Pao is a rightful criminal, what his supportersdid is uniquely American and entirely patriotic: they took the streetsand aired their grievances, and we're all better for it.

Dan Walters' column in today's Sacramento Bee says in no uncertainterms what many of us have been saying for months, that, and I quote, "ideologically,you couldn't slice a piece of tissue paper between Democrat (Gray)Davis and Republican (Arnold) Schwarzenegger." To be fair,Walters goes on to say that the two are about as stylisticallydifferent as two can get: Davis preferred a cautious,non-confrontational approach, while Arnold talks of "blowing up boxes"and tackling issues head-on. On problem in which Arnold has not beenafraid to go out in front, and Davis was certainly was, is buidling aperipheral canal to deal with our problems in the Delta River. I don'tknow if Arnold is right or wrong (and many environmentalists havelegitimate concerns), but he's out there.

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Photo courtesy of Rolf Hicker