Word: california
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...marriage opponent MISS CALIFORNIA obviously not opposed to naughty, naughty pictures...
Another moment of truth has arrived for California. Back in February, the budget deal crafted by Arnold Schwarzenegger and the state legislature temporarily kept the Golden State financially solvent. In Tuesday's special election, the electorate must choose among a range of propositions aimed at solidifying that compromise and helping shore up California's shaky finances. So far, however, nearly all the ballot propositions are trailing in the polls - and that could rock the state as hard as a major earthquake. (As if on cue, a sharp 4.7 temblor rattled Los Angeles on Sunday night, raining broken glass...
Even if the controversial budget measures pass, state officials say California must still trim $15.4 billion from its budget. If the propositions fail, as the polls portend, Schwarzenegger says the necessary cuts climb to more than $21 billion. (His proposals do not include tax increases. The governor and legislators already filled a $40 billion budget hole in February in part with $12.8 billion in temporary tax hikes...
...crisis is compounded by the way California's government works. In most states, the legislature can pass a budget by simple majority vote. The politicians haggle and horse-trade, but a budget eventually gets passed and life moves on. In the Golden State, bitter partisanship is exacerbated by a constitutional rule requiring a two-thirds majority in the legislature to pass either a budget or new taxes. Meanwhile, the state's nearly 100-year-old system of ballot initiatives has progressively tied state government in Gordian knots...
...result, California's budget process has an Alice in Wonderland quality. One confused voter, in an online letter to the Los Angeles Times, quoted Winnie the Pooh: 'This all makes my head hurt a bit." Regarding Proposition 1A, which would place long-term spending restrictions on state government and extend already approved taxes up to two years, the voter wrote: "Why do they need a new rainy-day fund when we already have two? ... The rest of the measures are even more confusing and convoluted. How can they expect us - with our own lives to manage - to sort...