Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger typically attaches a message to bills he signs or vetoes telling lawmakers why he took the action.

But a Democratic assemblyman who heckled the governor during a recent event in San Francisco may have received more than one message: the veto letter itself, and a not-so-subtle rebuke creatively hidden within it.

Like a find-the-word puzzle, a second message is visible if one strings together the first letter of each line down the left-hand margin of the letter. If read in that way, a common four-letter vulgarity followed by the letters “y-o-u” is visible:

http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/MSNBC/Sections/NEWS/A_Politics/AB1176_Ammiano_Veto_Message.pdf

“My goodness. What a coincidence,” said Schwarzenegger spokesman Aaron McLear. “I suppose when you do so many vetoes, something like this is bound to happen.”

Schwarzenegger’s veto messages are sent to the lawmakers who authored the bills, and posted on the governor’s Web site. McLear noted that the left-hand margin of past veto messages has spelled out words such as “poet” and “soap.”

The target may have been San Francisco Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, who had sponsored a bill that would have granted the Port of San Francisco expanded financing power to redevelop a former shipyard into a new neighborhood.

“Kudos to the governor for his creative use of coincidence,” said Ammiano’s spokesman, Quintin Mecke. “You certainly have to have a sense of humor in politics. Unfortunately, this humor came at the cost of the Port of San Francisco.”

Whether coincidence or smackdown, the phrase contained in Schwarzenegger’s Oct. 12 veto message could be seen as retaliation for Ammiano’s behavior during a local Democratic Party fundraiser earlier this month in San Francisco.

Schwarzenegger, a Republican, had been invited to the event by former San Francisco mayor and Assembly speaker Willie Brown, a Democrat.

His appearance at the Fairmont Hotel caught many of the attendees by surprise and came after a summer of contentious budget negotiations that forced lawmakers to cut billions of dollars from core state services, including education and health care programs.

On a video clip of the governor’s appearance, Ammiano can be heard shouting “you lie” and other derogatory phrases as other attendees booed and heckled Schwarzenegger’s brief speech.

After the governor left, Ammiano took the stage and gave a rambling diatribe in which he criticized Schwarzenegger for a wide variety of perceived offenses. In part, the freshman lawmaker was upset that Schwarzenegger had vetoed bills in 2005 and 2007 that would have legalized gay marriage.

The governor has said the issue should be decided by voters or the state Supreme Court. Schwarzenegger also opposed Proposition 8, the initiative voters passed in November to ban same-sex marriage.

Mecke, Ammiano’s spokesman, said the lawmaker wants to move on.

“We will call it even and start with a clean slate with the governor from here on out,” he said.

Originally posted 2009-10-28 16:22:36.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Texas Governor Rick Perry is furious that Texas is losing its sovereignty, because of the Stimulus Bill, and so he is striking back with strongly worded statements about how much he hates the feds.

“States’ rights” is usually just code for “racism,” but in Rick Perry’s case he is just mad as hell about how he is being forced to spend billions of dollar in federal stimulus money in ways the federal government demands, rather than just blowing it on bribing Rush Limbaugh to move to Austin or whatever.

So he joined some state legislators in supporting a Texas House bill affirming Texas’ sovereignty under the 10th Amendment.

It also designates that all compulsory federal legislation that requires states to comply under threat of civil or criminal penalties, or that requires states to pass legislation or lose federal funding, be prohibited or repealed

Yes well we hope they do pass this bill, mostly because of that last bit, about the federal funding “incentives” for passing new laws. That was a favorite tool of Reagan and Bush II, who used it to raise the drinking age and enforce federal marijuana laws with raids on legal medicinal marijuana clinics and other fun things like those (and the Supreme Court has said that it’s kosher).

If Texas actually becomes a legal underaged .10 blood-alcohol content spliff-smoking 100-mph libertarian autobahn paradise we will take Perry at his word, that he is concerned about the constitution and not just looking to aid his reelection bid by going hard-line anti-feds making him help poor people. Also if all that happens we might just move there! Who doesn’t love getting wasted and speeding with high school seniors?

So don’t you dare give Rick Perry some of the money necessary to fund the state’s bankrupt unemployment trust fund and expect him to do something about that forthcoming $750 million shortfall! (He would really appreciate more federal help with those wildfires, though!)

Source

Originally posted 2009-04-14 10:11:46.

Popularity: 1% [?]

CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) – More than 100 protesters chanted “war criminal” and flung shoes in Calgary on Tuesday, angry that former U.S. President George W. Bush was in the Canadian city to give his first speech since leaving the White House.

At least two demonstrators were hauled away by police after brief skirmishes, as 1,500 business people in the oil patch city waited outside a convention center for an hour to pass through tight security and enter the C$400-a-plate ($315) luncheon.

Media were barred from covering the invitation-only event, during which Bush had been expected to reflect on his eight years as president.

According to sources who attended, he conceded that his administration spent its final days “bailing water” to keep the U.S. economy afloat.

However, the Obama administration should not let government become a substitute for the free market, and it should also avoid becoming more protectionist on trade matters, he was said to have remarked.

Although he was not Bush’s first choice as president, Barack Obama has his full support, he said.

The luncheon crowd was friendlier than the one outside.

“He is a war criminal who fought an illegal war, and there are some who say he was never elected democratically, so there are some who say he should be arrested as soon as he comes here,” said a woman dressed as a Guantanamo Bay prisoner, who called herself Ivana Nomobush.

She had brought with her a makeshift “shoe cannon” that catapulted footwear, but complained that security personnel were not letting her use it.

The shoe theme is an homage to Iraqi reporter Muntazer al-Zaidi, who was sentenced last week to three years in prison for hurling his shoes at Bush in December.

The reaction was in stark contrast to President Barack Obama’s first official visit to Canada last month, when he was fawned on by citizens and politicians alike.

A handful of demonstrators came out in support of the former president, who left office in January, having suffered plummeting popularity due to more than five years at war in Iraq and an economic meltdown.

“We wanted to welcome George W. Bush and let him know that everyone’s not opposed to his presidency,” said Jeff Willerton, who held up a pro-Bush placard. “I think under the circumstances he was one of the better presidents we could have asked for.”

As center of Canada’s oil industry, Calgary is known as one of the country’s most conservative cities.

By the turnout among its business community for the speech, it is clear that Bush can still draw a crowd, city councilor Joe Ceci said.

“But it’s this crowd that gratifies me even more,” Ceci said of the demonstrators. “Just to see Calgarians interested, aware, and just kind of speaking up, and speaking up for things anti-war.”

Source

Originally posted 2009-03-18 09:56:24.

Popularity: 1% [?]