http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/calinitiatives/ en-us Fri, 19 Jun 2009 03:07:21 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2274924/posts New poll finds only 33 percent of Americans favor, a 9-point drop since April The number of Americans who support same-sex marriage has plunged over the last few months, according to a new poll. The CBS News/New York Times study found that 33 percent of respondents favor same-sex marriage. That represents a 9 percent drop since April. Everett Rice, legislative coordinator for the California Family Council, said he has a theory about the decrease. "People really recognize their core and their values, their heritage," he said. "When people want to go in and redefine that, it really goes against everybody's... CitizenLink http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2274924/posts#comment Fri, 19 Jun 2009 03:07:21 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2273851/posts Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger today told a federal court in San Francisco that the state does not dispute that Proposition 8 may violate the federal Constitution and called for quick action to resolve the legality of the ant-gay measure law. "Plaintiffs' complaint presents important constitutional questions that require and warrant judicial determination," the governor said in a written response to a federal challenge of the anti-gay marriage ballot measure. " In a constitutional democracy, it is the role of the courts to determine and resolve such questions. … The administration encourages the court to resolve the merits of this action expeditiously."... Los Angeles Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2273851/posts#comment Wed, 17 Jun 2009 21:04:05 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2273803/posts Two of California's top pollsters said Tuesday that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and some lawmakers are miscasting last month's special election as a clarion call against any new taxes to solve California's fiscal crisis. Instead, pollsters Mark DiCamillo and Mark Baldassare characterized the May 19 vote against five budget measures as an order to a dysfunctional state government to fix California's budget mess – and do so quickly. "We've heard a lot of people say the vote means 'no new taxes.' I would question that," said Baldassare, survey director for the Public Policy Institute of California, in the pollsters' joint appearance... Sacramento Bee http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2273803/posts#comment Wed, 17 Jun 2009 19:59:24 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2259856/posts With the ink barely dry on the California Supreme Court's decision upholding a ban on same-sex marriages, proponents are already preparing new political and legal efforts to overturn the ban. But at least some pollsters and legal experts think those efforts may be too soon to have a good chance to succeed. "I think the pro-side would have a significant challenge in 2010," said Mark DiCamillo, director of the Field Poll. "I think it would be less of a challenge in 2012." DiCamillo's observation was echoed by Mark Baldassare, director of research at the Public Policy Institute of California. "It... Sacramento Bee http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2259856/posts#comment Thu, 28 May 2009 15:07:42 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2258510/posts Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger considers himself a glass-half-full guy, and he ended his California Small Business Day speech in Sacramento with a dose of optimism. But it seemed clear the governor has just about had it with California's governance system, especially after last week's special election was a colossal failure. Though he blamed many of the state's budget problems on the current economic collapse, he said part of our woes are "self-inflicted." "California hasn't had a responsible fiscal system since Earl Warren in the late '40s and early '50s," he said. The governor ticked off a number of complaints about the... SacBee: Capitol Alert http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2258510/posts#comment Tue, 26 May 2009 19:22:03 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2258199/posts California is facing economic failure resulting from years of a liberal legislature pursuing a liberal version of utopia. The liberal utopia has become the Forgotten Man's hell. California has been at the forefront of many trends in America including a tax revolt that led to Proposition 13. Is it time for a repeat? Californians have just given the raspberry to the state's legislature's plan to fix the current budget deficit. Had the initiatives passed, California would only be under water by $15B as opposed to the current $21B, and that number is sure to rise as unemployment in the state... The American Thinker http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2258199/posts#comment Tue, 26 May 2009 10:20:52 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2257520/posts CALIFORNIA FINDS itself in more than a bit of a bind: Facing at least a $21 billion budget deficit, the state could run out of money in a matter of weeks. Borrowing to help fill the hole will be challenging and expensive, given that California has the lowest credit rating of all 50 states. Last week's warning by Standard and Poor's to Britain about a possible debt downgrade will make risky government borrowing even more difficult. The state would like to see Uncle Sam pick up part of the tab; but as steeped in the bailout business as the feds... Washington Post http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2257520/posts#comment Sun, 24 May 2009 23:58:17 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2257282/posts ... Like other states, California is suffering from a collapse in tax revenues brought on by the recession. Unlike other states, it suffers from severely dysfunctional politics, including gridlock-inducing budget procedures and a deeply anti-tax strain that plays itself out in endless voter referenda, dating back to the Proposition 13 property tax cap from the 1970s. As a result, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared recently that more tax increases are politically impossible. Yet, his proposed spending cuts are also unappealing, if not impossible, including slashing education and health care funds and releasing prison inmates early. What the Obama administration should make... New York Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2257282/posts#comment Sun, 24 May 2009 12:33:38 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2257420/posts By a nearly two to one margin, California voters rejected the “compromise” tax hike propositions put on the ballot by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) and the Democratic majority of the state assembly. Assembly Speaker Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles) called voters’ rejection of the measures “a tragic error.” “It’s a demonstration of lack of trust in those of us charged with governing this state,” Bass said. “We tried to minimize the pain. Now, it will be severe.” “Now we will get to see how voters like having their kids home early from school, paying for their own medicine, dodging the thousands... A Semi-News/Semi-Satire from AzConservative http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2257420/posts#comment Sun, 24 May 2009 18:23:54 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2257126/posts Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and many leading California politicians have been warning of dire consequences if the state's voters rejected their five budget-related initiatives on Tuesday's ballot. The combination of so-called reforms and large tax increases wouldn't have come close to fixing the states' problems even if they passed, according to the governor's own budget projections, so voters should shrug off any of the blame politicians are laying at our feet. Legislators and the governor are hired, so to speak, to deal with the government's budget, and they are the ones who continue to fail at their jobs. It is clichéd,... Orange County Register http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2257126/posts#comment Sun, 24 May 2009 00:39:41 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2256939/posts As bad as California's budget crisis is for the state's $1.8-trillion economy, just wait. It could get worse. The spectacle that played out in the national media this week of a state unable to get its fiscal act together is reinforcing the notion that the Golden State is a rotten place to do business, experts say. Corporate leaders and Wall Street investors, watching the daily festival of seeming incompetence, political partisanship and governmental dysfunction, could be persuaded to limit or eliminate their investments here. ... The budget crisis threatens to further weaken the state's job market, which lost 63,700 more... LA Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2256939/posts#comment Sat, 23 May 2009 17:26:12 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2256195/posts Americans should look carefully at the anti-politician, anti-government mood exhibited in California this week. Just as Proposition 13 and the anti-tax movement of 1978 were the forerunners of the Reagan presidential victory, so the results of Tuesday's vote are a harbinger of things to come. The repudiation of the California establishment in the series of initiative defeats could hardly have been more decisive. Five taxing and spending measures were rejected by 62.6 to 66.4 percent of the voters. That is a consistent majority of enormous potential. An even larger majority, 73.9 percent, approved the proposition limiting elected officials' salaries when... WaPo http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2256195/posts#comment Fri, 22 May 2009 12:35:30 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2255972/posts SACRAMENTO - Not that Gov. Schwarzenegger and state legislators needed any more bad news, but the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office Thursday said the state's budget deficit looks to be more than $24 billion. The governor's Department of Finance just last week had pegged the shortfall at $21.3 billion if a package of budget-related ballot measures went down in Tuesday's election, which they did. The analyst said it calculations indicate the number may be $3 billion higher. In unusually frank language, the analyst also sounded an alarm over a major element of the governor's plan to rebalance the state's budget. A... San Diego Union - Tribune http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2255972/posts#comment Fri, 22 May 2009 01:39:38 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2255878/posts Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Thursday that he and lawmakers will try to quickly solve the state's $21.3 billion deficit without taxes, gimmicks or much borrowing. The Republican governor told reporters after a prayer breakfast in the capital that voters sent state leaders a clear message during Tuesday's special election: Live within your means. Schwarzenegger said he took that as a sign voters want more cuts to state programs. He also has proposed selling state assets such as San Quentin State Prison, the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and CalExpo, the state fairgrounds in Sacramento. "All of us have to do the... NBC11 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2255878/posts#comment Thu, 21 May 2009 23:12:03 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2255801/posts Tuesday night was tough for Sacramento: State lawmakers were handed a decisive defeat as voters rejected a series of ballot initiatives that would have allowed lawmakers to raise taxes and raid designated state funds to close a massive hole in the budget. Now the state legislature must work with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to craft a budget that reduces spending to levels that neither wants to accept. Their only alternative is to beg President Obama for a bailout on top of the stimulus funds Congress has already approved. Proposition 1A offered the carrot of a spending cap in exchange for the... National Review http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2255801/posts#comment Thu, 21 May 2009 21:18:53 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2255746/posts SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – California's struggle to fund its budget deficit faced fresh problems on Thursday, after U.S. Treasury Secretary Geithner refused to use bank bailout money to help state finances, and the state's fiscal watchdog objected to a plan to sell warrants to raise cash. California faces thousands of job cuts and deep spending cuts to state health, education and other services as the nationwide economic slump has reduced tax revenues. On Wednesday, voters soundly defeated ballot measures to bolster the state's finances, leaving Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and lawmakers facing a budget gap of more than $21 billion. Early... Reuters on Yahoo http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2255746/posts#comment Thu, 21 May 2009 20:20:26 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2255680/posts Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner expressed skepticism Thursday that he could help California out of its budget crisis without congressional action, raising the prospects of a battle on Capitol Hill, where even the states own delegation is split. Just days after California voters rejected a series of state-budget ballot measures, debate erupted in Washington over whether the federal government should provide a loan guarantee that Golden State officials say they need to avert a cash crisis. Geithner was barely in his seat at a congressional hearing on an unrelated subject when Texas Congressman John A. Culberson, a Republican, asked: "Mr. Secretary,... Baltimore Sun http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2255680/posts#comment Thu, 21 May 2009 18:44:35 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2255661/posts Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who was slammed within Republican ranks for supporting a tax increase to pass a state budget in February, said he will not support hitting voters' pocketbooks again. "There's one thing for sure," he said. "There will be no revenue increases. This means cuts, cuts, cuts, and living within our means. That was the message of the people." The Republican governor said he may reconsider the notion of short-term borrowing of $7.5 billion from the investment market and local government to help ease the shortfall. Sacramento Bee http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2255661/posts#comment Thu, 21 May 2009 18:13:20 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2255490/posts California, the sunny incubator of America's future, has relished its role as a leading indicator of political trends. On Tuesday, it became what it thinks it should be, the center of attention, but not in the way it wants to be. Its voters, at last sensible, rejected, by an average of 65 percent, five of six ballot propositions. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the "post-partisan" Republican, and the partisan Democrats who control the Legislature promoted the propositions as efficient for and essential to eliminating the state's budget deficit, which will now be $21 billion. So California may become the next target for... Sacramento Bee http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2255490/posts#comment Thu, 21 May 2009 14:57:25 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2255474/posts In the end, the only question about Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's package of budget-reform measures was: How badly will they lose? For weeks before Tuesday's special election, polls inside and outside of the campaigns had shown that California voters were mad at politicians and eager to express that anger on election day. Voters crushed Propositions 1A through 1E, which Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders said were desperately needed to avoid a new budget meltdown. At the same time, voters overwhelmingly approved Prop. 1F, which stuck a virtual thumb in the eye of Sacramento politicians by banning any raises when the state faces... San Francisco Chronicle http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2255474/posts#comment Thu, 21 May 2009 14:42:52 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2255360/posts California voters Tuesday put the truth to the lie that the tax rebellion has come to an end. Almost two-thirds of the electorate (65.4 percent) cast ballots against Proposition 1A, a measure which would have increased taxes in the cash-strapped "Golden State" by $16 billion. Voters in the state that, in 1978, gave birth to the modern tax revolt proved once again that the political pundits who the Republicans need to give up their anti-tax stance in favor of a platform that acknowledges the need for expanded government services that appeal to constituencies like those that shop at "big box"... U.S. News and World Report http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2255360/posts#comment Thu, 21 May 2009 11:55:14 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2255337/posts The subject of Arnold Schwarzenegger bores me. I wrote ceaseless columns on this site warning Republicans and conservatives that he would govern as a liberal and operate as a Trojan Horse for the Dems. During an appearance on the now-defunct CNN show Inside Politics, I said that he could become "the Jim Jeffords of the West Coast." For my troubles, I was dismissed as an out-of-touch, maniacal, abortion-obsessed pinhead. Now to hear the same country-club Republican jackasses who sabotaged Tom McClintock and parachuted Arnie into office whine about his liberal legacy is just boring. You made this slipshod bed; lie... American Spectator http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2255337/posts#comment Thu, 21 May 2009 10:25:00 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2255404/posts Californians said "no" loud and clear; "no" to new taxes, "no" to the Terminator, and "no" to Gen. Colin Powell, who said that Americans simply lust after paying new taxes to finance their pet government programs. "The hell we do," the majority of tax-weary Californians replied at the ballot box. Last night, Californians who voted blue last November voted red. The referendum gave Californians a chance to let lawmakers know what they thought of their performance and to decide a course of action for the state that would have prevailed far into the future. They told them in no uncertain... townhall.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2255404/posts#comment Thu, 21 May 2009 12:48:29 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2255312/posts (CNSNews.com) – Californians have been paying increased taxes since February, but Tuesday they spoke out clearly they don’t want those temporary tax hikes to last longer than planned. Voters in the Golden State overwhelmingly rejected five of six ballot measures in a special election Tuesday – saying no to tax increases, increased state borrowing and earmarks for education. “No” votes exceeded 65 percent in all but one measure, which passed. It prevents lawmakers and public officials from receiving pay raises in years when the state is running a deficit. CNS NEWS.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2255312/posts#comment Thu, 21 May 2009 08:49:42 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2255301/posts California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday criticized his own constituents who this week overwhelmingly rejected tax increases to meet a massive $21.3 billion budget gap, highlighting the tightrope officials nationwide are walking in dealing with both hard economic times and the growing anger of the electorate. Sixteen states already have raised taxes to shrink mounting deficits, and 17 others are proposing increases for next year, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a liberal think tank that tracks fiscal issues. The increases come as the federal government is considering new taxes on items ranging from health care benefits... Washington Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2255301/posts#comment Thu, 21 May 2009 08:18:32 GMT