Today's Fresh Meat

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

As if the California Republican Party weren't in shambles already, the San Francisco Chronicle reports that the GOP's newly hired top financial officer, an Australian, was ordered deported in 2001, jailed three years later and is now suing the state for $5 million. That must inspire confidence.

A report prepared for the Schwarzenegger administration obtained by the Sacramento Bee extols the virtues of privatizing the state lottery system, which proponents say could lead to increased revenue for publiceducation. It's a risky proposition, to say the least, and it dependsupon a massive PR campaign and increase in availability of lotterytickets. Not to mention the policy is a regressive tax in disguise, aslottery users are disproportionately poor and middle class.

State Sen. Joe Simitian recently dared a computer hacker to use his plastic ID card to break into the capitol after hours. The hacker did it without a sweat. Now the Senator iscarrying legislation that would mandate security measures on themicrochips contained in government IDs, calling it a matter of basicprivacy. If it's that easy to infiltrate the state government, Simitianis probably right about the need for new law.

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