The Governator continues to go where no Governor has gone before and will go on MTV's "Pimp My Ride" to pimp his ride. Actually, several other Governors have appeared on reality shows before. Michigan's Governor Jennifer Granholm tried out for "America's Next Top Model" and former Governor George Allen is all set to appear on the new reality show "I Swear I'm Not a Racist" along with Don Imus and Michael Richards.
SchwarzenWatcher Pimps His Ride
Day Around the Bay
-The Governator has a health care plan and the Chron breaks it down. Arnie's actually getting good press from this, except with these guys. Or these guys.
Day Around the Bay
-Pelosi's in charge.
-The Governator gets his inaguaral today too even if he's still laid up.
Day Around the Bay
-Oakland's New Year's Resolution? Less homicides.
-The Governator has to miss parts of his own party due to his broken leg.
Day Around the Bay
-Last night, a vigil for the slain officer, Bryan Tuvera, was held at St. Mary's. There will be a funeral procession today which will affect traffic as Geary will be closed.
Day Around the Bay
-Another quake hit the Berkeley area, this time around 2.8. That's the fourth in that area over the past week and the fifth in the Bay Area. Maybe this is a good time to get that Earthquake Kit we've always dreamed about getting.
Day Around the Bay
-Suspect who shot and killed the member of the SFPD was an escapee from a prison-camp.
Day Around the Bay
Oh, who cares about news when the title of the NEXT HARRY POTTER BOOK HAS BEEN ANNOUNCED. OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! WE'RE SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
All right, enough of that.
Day Around the Bay
-Homeless people are rousted from Golden Gate Park. We have them coming back to the park in three weeks in the SFist office pool.
Day Around the Bay
-Yesterday, on a beautiful, sunny September afternoon (before the fog rolled in), blues was heard, butless leather chaps were worn, and freaky people danced. We stayed in.
Who Reads Yesterday's Papers
>-The Governator signed a heapload of bills on Friday and vetoed a few. The two that are attracting the most attention are bills banning the use of certain supplements for High School athletes and further restrictions on the selling of video games to kids. Why they're so high profile, besides the obviousness of a down-on-his-luck politician resorting to the ole "Save the Children!" politicking, is because in both cases, he went against two industries-- video games and nutritional supplements-- in which he had financial stakes in. And we're pretty sure we can say we have the only Governor who can claim that.
SchwarzenWatcher: These Boots Were Made for Walkin' Edition
The Governator is sinking in the polls like a ton of steroid-abusing bricks -- in fact, he may not bother to run for another term. The movie star is actually dodging cameras when he's not dodging reporters' questions. And now he's facing new questions about the costs of his photo-op filling in a San Jose pothole.
Arnie Presents a Very Special Election
The Governator made the inevitable official as he officially announced that the great pissing contest known as the "Special Election" is now going to happen. The announcement came today in a speech broadcast live, something we're sure is already causing most news operations fits as the editors try and figure out a way to justify leading with the Michael Jackson story. Basically, the election will be primarily to vote on three resolutions-- teacher tenure, a state budget cap, and the actually-not-a-half-bad-idea-redistricting plan. All told, estimates are that the election will run a tab of at least $70 million dollars, meaning that the only people psyched about this are TV stations who know they'll be rolling in ad money for the next five months. Now that the election has been announced, a feeding frenzy has broken out between partisans on both sides as they figure out a way to tickle the proverbial voter g-spot in order to get their supporters out to vote. Republicans have put on the ballot resolutions on union dues and parental consent abortion laws while the Democrats have put on the ballot resolutions on prescription drugs and energy regulation. And since the Democrats are pushing for a prescription drug plan, the drug manufacturers have pushed one of those phony baloney resolutions that have no purpose other than to confuse the hell out of everyone so that nobody votes for either one.
What to expect over the next few months? Wall-to-wall TV ads, Arnie going across the country to suck up more corporate money, totally lame witticisms from political hacks, one side yelling "you are" while the other side yells "no, you are!" and friends and family from the East Coast calling to make fun of us. Hopefully, somewhere in all this, somebody will be able to answer the biggest question of all-- is this any way to run a state?
Drink When He Says "Special Interests"
The Governator delivered his State of the State last night. We were stuck at work so we missed it and had to read the transcript and listen to the audio of the speech and the reaction from Don Perata [RealPlayer from the Sacramento Bee]. Like any salesman, Schwarzenegger led off with a telling joke:
Get Ur Geek On
The Governator's new appointment as head of the DMV, Joan Borucki, has suggested that instead of a gas tax, all cars in California be equipped with a GPS device so that they can be taxed by miles travelled on California roads instead, because more efficient cars mean less gas sold and less revenue from gasoline taxes. As Joshua Fruhlinger of Engadget points out, "Larry David would be charged as much to go 10 miles in his Prius as the Governator would in his Hummer." And just ask Scott Peterson - those GPS things make it really hard to get across the border ahead of the law.
Pumping Up...The State Deficit
SFist is a big fan of Arnold Schwarzenegger movies, at least a few of them. We're not necessarily so pleased with his latest project. In fact, not a single Bay Area county voted to give him a starring role as The Governator. We're a little leary of those slick Hollywood types ever since former Governor Ronald Reagan shut the doors on California's state-run mental health facilities, leaving the patients to fend for themselves in our communities.

