The problem in the stae is we are a political 50/50 bar: Blue state on the outside (Southern California and the Bay Area) and red on the inside (everything else). Remember, we're the state that gave the country Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan.

The legislature is in potential gridlock with urban Democrats fighitng Republicians, but the real wild card is the ballot initiative process. Every election you have propositions targetd by special interist groups specifically desinged to cancel out the conflicting ballot initiative. The process was created to overcome the gridlock in the state legislature, and guess what, we're gridlocked again! Hijacked by special interists on both sides and the Governarator. Don't blame me, I voted for Arianna Huffington.

As a California voter all of my life, I am at the point where I will not sign any petition to place an initative on the ballot. All too often, the real intent of the measure is hidden, stealth virus like, in the details.

Yes we're a mess, but I am willing to be that our mess is similar to other state governments, there's just more of us.

With the shameless manipulation, of what used to be law, in presidential signing statements, I have to ask:

Why bother with Congress at all? We should just annoint him King George the 1st and go on from there.

At lease we'd know what to expect from a despot rather than a selected official masquerading as one.

Achieving a state of maximum entrophy is a worthy cause.

Look, I've been there and done that and let me tell you: You have got to look out for yourself. Loyalty does not meen diddly when you are out of work and missed a great opportunity.

If the company is on its last legs, your leaving will be a signal, might start the stampeed and you can save a few othres lives.

I've stayed around to the end, was the last person out the door turning off the lights, and know what it is like to miss out on something good due to misplaced loyality.

Run, Don't Walk.

Buddy Boy: Endless sunshine and palm trees? That's why we call it LaLa Land.

Frozen Neon Citron

2 shots lemon vodka

1 oz Midori Melon

1/2 oz hpnotic

juice from 1 lime.

Place in blender filled with ice and whip.

Rum Cosmo Freeze

2 shots Bacardi O

2 shots Cranberry juice

Juice frm 1 lime

Place in blender filled w/ ice and whip.

I could not agree more. I have to spend a week a year above 8000 ft breathing clean air, surrounded by trees, boulders and the big shoulders of the Sierra Nevada.

Backcountry California is still a very, very special place.

You forgot, or maybe did not use one long enough, the unbelievably crappy construction you get for your $200 investment in a Jawbone. I had 2 self distruct when the plastic charger cover literally ripped off the back end of a carapace when disconnecting from the charger.

I like the sound quality, and the deisgn is heads over heels above the rest, but for long term usability, it sucks.

"a vigilante who seems to represent the reckless but still principled justice of those unconstrained by a poisoned bureaucratic system"

THAT is a truly epic quote. Remember, "it's all in the game."

McNulty sitting there, listening to the FBI describe him to the last detail was outstanding. I wonder if the season is going to end with McNulty having been fired for making up the serial killer case, thrown out by Beadie, living drunk under the bridge?

Just another "Country Club Republician" approach. Do you think for a moment that Oil Companies will not simply raise prices 5% and swallow the extra profit margin?

Come January '09, when the new Democratic majority congress is being assigned office space by the newly elected Speaker Hillary Clinton, Lincoln Davis is going to discover that his newly reassigned office space features his own urinal right next to his desk and a very nice black and white mini tile pattern on the floor.

Go to iTunes, do a search for Alan Goldman or The King of Romance. Download "You Just Can't Make This S**t Up.

"Although I assume somewhere Keith Olbermann's head has just exploded in outrage over being left off of the list."

I think, due to the know size of Olberman's ego, that was exactley the point.

Buzzkill Moment: It is all about infrastructure. With the electrical power grid in precarious shape (if you live in Southern California, you understand), what do you think will be the impact if the country transitions to vehicles powered by the outlet in your garage? There is no real slack time for electrical generation these days, particularly during summer months.

What is the solution? Coal, solar, wind, nuclear? Everything is interconnected these days, one solution will develop another problem.

Tehy've gone the way of the Passenger Pigeon, the Dodo, the Ford Edsel and Pinto, the 8-track tape the BetaMax video recorder and the GOP. The photo of "W" in black crocs was, IMHO, the kiss of death.

"Just as Los Angeles pretends to be a suitable home for several million human beings, when it is, in truth, a horrible sprawling sham packed with overpriced stucco hovels on tiny tracts of land."

You must live in a dingy apartment someplace glamorus like Van Nuys, North Hollywood, or Atwater? The fire is about 3 miles from my home (which is not overleverged by the way), and I didn't find your comments in the least bit funny.

I have loved her music ever since I heard her sing Ecclesiastis: Free My Heart live on KCRW.