End of Schwarzenegger era draws new media interest

Ex-official seeks clemency in deadly crash
Published: Dec. 15, 2010 at 2:38 PM Sacramento, Dec. 15 (UPI) -- The family of an ex-state official in Prison for killing three women and a toddler in a drunken crash has asked California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for mercy. Roberto Vellanoweth's family asked the Governor, in a letter, to either pardon him or commute his sentence of 17 years and eight months, The Sacramento Bee reported Wednesday. The letter reminded Schwarzenegger he appointed Vellanoweth, now 66, to the Board of Optometry and...

Appeals court halts sale of Calif. state buildings
(12-13) 21:57 PST San Jose -- A state appeals court abruptly halted this week's scheduled sales of 11 state properties Monday, including the California Supreme Court and Public Utilities Commission headquarters in San Francisco, while it considers opponents' arguments that the deal is an illegal giveaway of Taxpayer funds to private profiteers. The order by the Sixth District Court of Appeal in San Jose was a stunning turnabout from a San Francisco judge's decision Friday that opponents had no...

Daring Vegas Heist Gets Gunman $1.5M in Chips
Like this Story? Share it: (CBS/ AP) Authorities will be looking out for anyone trying to cash high-denomination chips at the posh Bellagio resort after an armed bandit stole at least $1.5 million in casino chips and fled on a motorcycle. The thief took chips ranging in value from $100 to $25,000 early Tuesday, Police said. However, he might find it hard to redeem the chips at any other casino except the Bellagio, an Italian-themed casino with a wall of famous fountains along the Las Vegas Str...

FDA Weighs Mercury Use in Tooth Fillings
Like this Story? Share it: The American Dental Association and the government insist that traditional metal dental cavity fillings are safe, but as Dr. Jon LaPook reports, the FDA wants to take a second look. (CBS) Many people have silver fillings in their teeth called amalgams. Dentists put in more than 50 million of them annually. The Food and Drug Administration looked Tuesday at whether they may be hazardous, CBS News Medical Correspondent Dr. Jon LaPook reports. Ross Prevett, 46, suffered...

Robert Gibbs Believes Congress will Read 1924-page Omnibus Bill; Gets Laughed At by Press Video 12/14/10
Here is video of White House Press Secretary telling the Press Corps that many members of Congress will be up late reading the 1924-page Omnibus Spending Bill between now and the 22nd or 23rd of December. CBS News’ Mark Knoller asked Gibbs if he really believed they would read that, and Gibbs responded that he “takes them at their word.” This drew laughter from the White House Press Corps. ...

Mother killed, 6 hurt in gunbattle at California mall
© AP Photo A yellow TARP covers the body of a woman who was killed after being caught in the cross fire between two groups in a strip mall in Sacramento, Calif., Tuesday, Dec. 14, 2010. Sacramento - A mother loading her 2-year-old son into an SUV was killed Tuesday and six others were wounded in a gunbattle at a strip mall in south Sacramento, authorities said. Two men were inside Fly Cuts & Styles barber shop just before 1 p.m. when two other men came in and started shooting, said S...

Jerry Brown warns educators to brace for more cuts
(12-15) 04:00 PST Sacramento - -- Gov.-elect Jerry Brown said Tuesday that public schools in California should brace for more Budget cuts when he presents his spending proposal in the next few weeks to solve the state's $25.4 billion Budget Deficit. The Democrat called education and Public Safety the pillars of a civilized society but warned that the magnitude of the deficit problem facing California is "unprecedented in my lifetime" and that the state must prepare for drastic changes. "I can...

CA Court halts sale of state assets to close budget gap
 With a growing state Deficit and and unbalanced Budget, the state of California decided to hold a going out of business sale, and unload some of its inventory of Real Estate in order to narrow the distance between the state’s appetite for spending and financial reality. Governor Schwarzenegger, in a rare display of Free Market thinking and political fortitude, asked the legislature for the authority to sell some of its assets, in an attempt to balance the state’s Budget, as is ...

Ask Gov. Schwarzenegger to Release Human Trafficking Victim Sara Kruzan with Time Served
Targeting: Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (CA) Sixteen-year-old Human Trafficking Victim Sara Kruzan was sentenced to life in Prison without Parole when, in a desperate act to escape captivity, she shot her pimp. When Sara met G.G., the 31-year-old man who would become her pimp, she was only 11. G.G. groomed Sara two years before he raped her. By then, his control was complete and he forced her into Prostitution. Sara and the other girls who G.G. exploited were out on the streets from 6pm to 6am, e...

JOEL KOTKIN: Hasta La Vista, Failure. Schwarzeneggers fiscal street cred was undermined by his
JOEL KOTKIN: Hasta La Vista, Failure. “Schwarzenegger’s fiscal street cred was undermined by his support for unessential new bond issues for such things as Stem Cell research and High-speed Rail. He threw financial prudence out the window in order to appease his business cronies and faithful media claque, particularly those working for mainstream eastern media.” And, I think, his wife. In retrospect, you ...

Sacramento Bishop A Smooth Operator
In a ground breaking interview with Sacramento’s News and Review weekly newspaper, Bishop Jaime Soto, gave a masterful performance dodging the Social Issues and stressing the Gospel message and sticking to the party line on Abortion and Homosexuality. The difference between Soto and former Bishop Weigand is that Soto smiles at you while he is telling you to shove it. He is a natural politician. For instance when asked by interviewer, Jeff Vonkaenel, of the News and Review about ordaining w...

Governor-elect Nikki Haley on Hannity
She hasn't been in the limelight so much. Good to see her. I'm envious for the people of South Carolina, considering California's election of Jerry Brown to a third term. And pay attention at the clip to how Governor-elect Haley speaks to federalism and states' prerogatives on health, taxes, and social policy. A woman of the people. Nice. ...

Poll: D.C. elites down on Palin
Published: Dec. 15, 2010 at 12:03 PM Former Governor of Alaska Sarah Palin speaks during a Republican National Committee (RNC) get-out-the vote rally in Anaheim, California on October 16, 2010. Palin and RNC Chairman Michael Steele held the rally to raise money for the RNC. Republican Gubernatorial Candidate Meg Whitman and Senate candidate.Carly Fiorina were not among Palin's so-called Mama Grizzlies on hand for the rally. UPI/Jim Ruymen WASHINGTON, Dec. 15 (UPI) -- A huge majority of Wash...

Gifts for ROFTERS #2
Last year you gave your favorite ROFTER a gift subscription to First Things. But what can you give them this year? How about a book by a contributor to First Things. Over the next few days I’ll be highlighting works by our editors, Bloggers, frequent writers, and editorial Board Members. Today we’ll look at books published by our family of bloggers: The Anchoress Elizabeth Scalia, et al., Disorientation: How to Go to College Without Losing Your Mind Evangel Matthew Lee Anderson,...

Alison Rose Levy: Wisdom 2.0 Panel Explores the Power of New Media for Inner and Outer Transformation
Social Media has the power to connect us like never before, but the constant buzz of new messages, tweets and information can also fragment focus, induce a frenzied pace and produce overwhelm. Perhaps we need a new name for this state of constant information consumption -- Attention Excess Disorder? Yet what are the actual up and downsides of social media's impact on spiritual awareness, compassion, authentic interconnection and social transformation? To explore these questions, Wisdom 2.0 ho...

A Prayer Request for My Friend, Andrew Lawton
Those of you who read The Shack regularly will be familiar with Andrew Lawton. He has two very successful websites, Strictly Right and Strictly Pop, co-hosts the widely-heard Strictly Right Podcast, and is a major figure in Canadian conservative political circles. He’s not just a master of New Media, but he’s also an all-round good guy and my friend. I got news today that Andrew is in the Hospital with a Serious Illness. I’m not sure exactly what the illness is, but I know...

Bridging the Gap
We asked Jim Goldgeier to say a bit more about the new International Policy Summer Institute; a collaborative initiative from Duke, Berkeley, and GWU to bridge the gap between policy makers and political scientists, something that is dear to our hearts here at the Monkey Cage. Below is Jim's description and his invitation to participate (see also Stephen Walt's comments here). Back in 1993, Al...

Hey Lefties Ignorance of the Law Doesnt Hold Up In Court
There’s been a lot of debate over the constitutionality of ObamaCare. Those on the left have been pretty arrogant about the whole subject - they’ve scoffed at anyone who questions the legality of the Legislation. James Taranto makes the case in The Wall Street Journal that ignorance is no defense. Our position was not that ObamaCare was clearly Unconstitutional or that it was likely to be struck down, merely that there were serious constitutional arguments against it that had...

Gordon Brown: Morals can Prevent Future Economic Crises
While Congress grapples with Tax Cuts and Unemployment Benefits for Americans, former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown says he has a solution for avoiding another worldwide economic crisis. It boils down to morals, he said. In his new book, "Beyond the Crash: Overcoming the First Crisis of Globalization," Brown suggests globalizing Regulation of banks. He told CBS News senior White House correspondent Bill Plante on "Washington Unplugged" Monday that in most fields value is placed on people...

2012 Candidates Weekly Update 12/14/10
Religious Right: LGBT Activists call on Huckabee to break ties with Lou Engle (Advocate, 12/13). 2012: Believes he is best prepared to “bring in ethnic voters than most Republicans” (National Journal, 12/13). Haiti: Travels to Haiti with Franklin Graham, Greta van Susteren (CBS News, 12/13). Wikileaks: Claims that WikiLeaks exposes failure of neoconservative Foreign Policy (The Nation, 12/13). Tea Party: Paul’s ideas gain traction as House GOP embraces the Tea Party (NYT, 12/12...

Ken Cuccinelli: Health Care Mandate Like Forcing People to Buy Guns
President Obama's Health Care overhaul faced an important setback Monday, when Judge Henry Hudson ruled that a key provision in the bill, known as the Individual Mandate, is Unconstitutional. The ruling was a victory for Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli who, many believed, faced a certain defeat in the courts. He joined CBS News chief Washington correspondent Bob Schieffer on Tuesday's Washington Unplugged and explained why the individual mandate is detrimental to the Constitution. He ...

CBS News on John Boehner Interview: Real Men Do Cry
Newly-elected House Speaker John Boehner gave an extensive interview to CBS News’ 60 Minutes, and the way they teased the thing in promos, I’m surprised they didn’t do a mock-up of a Crying Game poster. In a 13 minute interview, was the crying the real takeaway? Sure, the guy has been known to squirt a few in the past (and been mercilessly mocked for it), but surely, there were more noteworthy things to focus on. Having watched the interview, Boehner does cry with comical frequ...

It's not too late for Boomers to get in shape
USA TODAY and CBS News explore the aging of an iconic generation. For more, go to boomers.usatoday.com and cbsnews.com and watch CBS' Early Show, 7-9 a.m. ET. Nancy Garvey had to quit the Tennis routine that kept her slim and fit when she was younger. She fractured her kneecap on the court, and that was the end of that. It was also the end of slim and fit. At least for a few years. But now Garvey, 63, has her groove back. She takes Pilates and Zumba classes and throws in a "little weight trainin...

Condoleeza Rice Destroys Katie Couric on the Removal of Saddam Hussein in Iraq Video
Here is a great video of former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice destroying CBS News’ Anchor Katie Couric’s attempts to cast dispersions on the Bush Administration’s decision to go to war against Iraq to take out Saddam Hussein. Couric tried the typical liberal approach of projecting backward from what we found out after war to the decision on whether we should go to war. Rice would not let her get away with the assertion that there was real doubt as to whether Saddam Husse...

60 Minutes Overtime: Lesley Stahl Really Likes Republican John Boehner, "He Was So Authentic...I Think People Are Really Going T
This was posted on the CBS News website, Lesley Stahl talks about her interview with John Boehner. At the 3 minute mark, Stahl asks Boehner about getting emotional, during his explaination, Boehner breaks down again (at 3:15) ...