Ah-nuld is begging the U.S. Treasury for $7 billion for the worsening economic crisis in the state of California…not that much money, considering what's been going on over in D.C. this week. Too bad he didn't come a day earlier so legislatures could just tack it onto the rest of America's rescue package:
The state of California is the biggest of several governments nationwide that are being locked out of the bond market by the global credit crunch. If the state is unable to access the cash, administration officials say, payments to schools and other government entities could quickly be suspended and state employees could be laid off.
"Absent a clear resolution to this financial crisis," Schwarzenegger wrote in a letter Thursday evening e-mailed to Paulson, "California and other states may be unable to obtain the necessary level of financing to maintain government operations and may be forced to turn to the federal treasury for short-term financing."
While this is more sad and depressing news, just imagine the last 'graph being written by that guy, and see if you can't perk yourself up a little.
Conventional wisdom says that blacks will turn out in droves in California — and in every other state — to support Barack Obama come November 4th. Conventional wisdom also says that blacks are a generally homophobic lot who will vote for the anti-gay marriage resolution that will be on the ballot in the Golden State. So we can conclude that on election day, blacks will greatly contribute to the end of gay marriage in California. Right?
Wrong, says Timothy Stewart-Winter in the LA Times. Sure, we all know that blacks will be voting in record numbers this election, he writes, but do we really know that blacks are more against gay marriage than anyone else?
Indeed, not a single celebrity died during yesterday's 5.8 earthquake in Los Angeles. But that's not the only (yes we're morbid) bad news: Mother Nature didn't hamper a single reality television show filming in the area. The jerkoffs on Big Brother, who aren't allowed any communication with the outside world, were told by producers that the reason the soundstage was shaking was not because Kirstie Alley had a new show filming next door, but because tectonic plates were moving about beneath them. But there is one minuscule bit of good news: On Sunset Tan, E!'s hopeless irrelevant show about skin cancer, "sales rep and cast member Holly Huddleston was stuck in a tanning booth when things started to vibrate during an FHM photo shoot."
Danny Casler of Huntington Beach is on the phone with CNN as an i-Reporter reporting about the 5.8 magnitude earthquake in the Los Angeles area. Casler says he first didn't realize he was experiencing an earthquake because he was on pain medication. He tells the CNN anchor he "usually" is not on said medication.
Beach blanket belligerence!
A group of paparazzi and the Malibu surfers who attacked them last weekend – to protect the privacy of Matthew McConaughey, say the surfers – have taken to Web site comment boards to taunt and threaten one another with promises of future attacks. What began as just standard American race-bating has become promises of a photographer vs surfer beach rumble, set to go down this Saturday. Unfortunately, we don’t think there’s enough time between then and now to come up with a way to knock Southern California into the briny depths, so, if you’re in the area, go and watch these idiots smash each other’s hollow heads like so many tan jack-o’-lanterns. And take pictures!
After the jump, some of the really witty verbal jabs.
That's what the writer's strike is estimated to cost California's economy through the end of 2008. Also: 100 days of a silent Hollywood helped the state enter a recession earlier than the rest of us. Score! [Variety]
… everybody benefits. Especially the economy. [RL]
Kanye West’s mother, Donda, who died of a heart attack after extensive plastic surgery, will live on forever in West’s song, “Dear Mama.” But she might also be remembered for spurring medical reform in California?
This is about the most iconic image you're going to see following yesterday's California Supreme Court ruling striking down a ban on gay marriage. Reads the caption: "A wedding cake is seen during a demonstration in West Hollywood, California, May 15 after the decision by the California Supreme Court to effectively greenlight same-sex marriage." [Photo: AFP]
If you're sitting near a TV today, you're rainy Friday is gonna get a whole lot gayer, courtesy Ellen DeGeneres: "A spy in the audience of this afternoon's taping of the Ellen DeGeneres Show tells us that after Ellen mentioned today's California Supreme Court ruling striking down the state's ban on gay marriage, she surprised everyone and announced that she was going to tie the knot with longtime girlfriend, actress Portia de Rossi. Portia was in the crowd and after she made the announcement, the studio audience went wild, giving the two a huge standing O." [TMZ] Also, Justin Timberlake is on today's show, so there's that.
Just after 1pm today, CNN reported that the Supreme Court of California upheld the ban on gay marriage in the state. One intsy wintsy little problem: The court voted to strike down the ban. CONTINUED »
Boy, oh boy! Things are probably hectic in California right now, where the Supreme Court ruled 4-3 that Proposition 22, a ban on gay marriage, is unconstitutional. That’s the good news, of course. The bad news is that the court also ruled that San Francisco “acted unlawfully by issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples in the absence a judicial determination that CA statutes limited marriage to union between a man and a woman are unconstitutional.” The 2004 marriages would thus be nullified, but who cares? Now they can have another wedding!
• Despite the insistence of George Contanza, double-dipping really is like "like putting your whole mouth right in the dip."
• If you're L.A., be sure to check out the weed vending machines. CONTINUED »
Throwing money at a magazine for the moneyed isn’t enough.
Six months after a redesign and a new tagline, the Sacramento magazine Prosper is closing. There’s still a chance the magazine will continue exist in online, but in the meantime, nearly 20 employees are getting laid off. Doesn't this feel like the build-up in some cheesy Christmas movie right before an angel saves the day?
The editors’ advice for starting a lifestyle magazine: Make sure people care about the lifestyle you’re depicting. Seriously, there's not even reality TV show about Sac-town.
TMZ paying off public officials for publicly available information? As if! But that's not the way California State Assemblywoman Julia Brownley sees it, which is why she's introduced legislation to make it illegal to pay for information about criminal investigations. (Why there aren't already laws on the books prohibiting these types of bribes is, um, a shock?) Brownley is blaming TMZ's supposed news gathering techniques for the early release of information pertaining to Mel Gibson's arrest, among others. Reports Harvey Levin's soapbox:
Brownley said, "Mel Gibson was one of those cases where information was given out before his due process was executed." Huh? You may recall, L.A. County Sheriff's officials lied to TMZ and other media the entire day following the arrest, claiming it occurred "without incident." Officials ordered the arresting deputy to rewrite his report, eliminating all references to "f**king Jews" and other bad behavior.
TMZ goes on to point out that Brownley represents the district where a slew of celebrities, like Gibson, reside … and how this all might be a ploy to raise some celebrity dolla dolla bills for a reelection campaign. That, or she's tired of not receiving an invitation to Mel's annual Hate-a-thon, which, we hear, always has those little shrimp hors d'oeuvres we love.
Editorial Director
