links for 2008-12-19

Proving that no good deed goes unpunished, the state's high court on Thursday said a would-be Good Samaritan accused of rendering her friend paraplegic by pulling her from a wrecked car "like a rag doll" can be sued.
California's Supreme Court ruled that the state's Good Samaritan law only protects people from liability if the are administering emergency medical care, and that Lisa Torti's attempted rescue of her friend didn't qualify.

Justice Carlos Moreno wrote for a unanimous court that a person is not obligated to come to someone's aid.

"If, however, a person elects to come to someone's aid, he or she has a duty to exercise due care," he wrote.
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Flap smellls a recall of the California Supreme Court brewing. Waht a ridiculous decision.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said he will not sign a package of bills Democrats sent him today to increase taxes and make program cuts, an $18 billion effort passed without Republican votes.

The governor said the package did not include provisions to stimulate the economy by loosening environmental standards, making more use of contractors on public projects and give him flexibility to furlough state workers without union intervention.

Republicans claimed the Democratic package was illegal because it raised $9.3 billion in taxes without a two-thirds vote. But Schwarzenegger did not criticize that approach.

Reporting from Sacramento — Sidelining the Legislature's minority Republicans, Democratic lawmakers today passed an $18-billion plan to ease the state's financial crisis through higher gas, sales and income taxes and cuts to schools and healthcare.

But Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced he would veto the package, saying it did not go as far as he wanted to stimulate the economy.
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Arnold is vetoing the measure for the wrong reasons. But, Flap will take it.

Gavin Newsom held his second town hall-style meeting of his campaign for governor Tuesday night, this time fielding questions from Santa Rosa residents.
Many of their inquiries had to do with local issues. But then came the no-brainer question: Mr. Mayor, Sen. Dianne Feinstein has been nominated as chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, a promotion that almost definitely takes her out of the governor's race. Care to comment?

"Yes, she is, thank you and goodnight," Newsom said with a grin. The room burst into laughter and applause. (You can't say the mayor doesn't know how to work a crowd.)

In all seriousness, Newsom told the audience, he'd be very surprised if Feinstein decided to run, given the power associated with the Intelligence Committee job.
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Flap bets Jerry Brown is relieved as well – damn relieved.

Reporters Jump All Over Mostly Silent Princess Of Camelot; Mayor Of Syracuse Doesn't Offer Endorsement
Who Should Get Senate Gig? Siena Poll: Cuomo 26, Kennedy 23
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Caroline has it in the bag. Cuomo will run for Governor as Paterson steps down.

California may soon have more bankrupt towns on its hands.

The city of Vallejo, Calif., gained national attention earlier this year by filing for Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection. Now, two neighbors are fighting to avoid the same fate, as the state's economic crisis spreads.

Isleton and Rio Vista, small towns roughly 50 miles northeast of San Francisco, say they have begun consulting with bankruptcy lawyers as they draw up plans to deal with their mounting budget crises. The towns' leaders say they hope to avoid bankruptcy, but concede the move may eventually be their only option.
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Where is Arnold?

A new military plan for troop withdrawals from Iraq that was described in broad terms this week to President-elect Barack Obama falls short of the 16-month timetable Mr. Obama outlined during his election campaign, United States military officials said Wednesday.
The plan was proposed by the top American commanders responsible for Iraq, Gen. David H. Petraeus and Gen. Ray Odierno, and it represents their first recommendation on troop withdrawals under an Obama presidency. While Mr. Obama has said he will seek advice from his commanders, their resistance to a faster drawdown could present the new president with a tough political choice between overruling his generals or backing away from his goal.
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Want to be Obama stays with their recommendtions?

Elián González could play a role in next month's confirmation hearings for Barack Obama's nominee for attorney general.

Last week, eight Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee fired off letters to the William J. Clinton Presidential Library and Museum in Little Rock, Ark., and Attorney General Michael Mukasey seeking any documents prepared by Eric Holder or his staff on a variety of Clinton-era controversies, including “the April 22, 2000, raid in Miami, Florida, by Border Patrol agents to take Elián Gonzalez into custody.''

Holder served as deputy attorney general during the raid in Miami. His role as an Obama presidential campaign advisor prompted a small contingent of Cuban exiles to protest outside Obama's speech to the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Miami in June.

Attorney General-designate Eric H. Holder Jr. told Congress under oath that he had "only a passing familiarity" with the criminal case against billionaire Marc Rich before President Clinton pardoned the fugitive financier in 2001- testimony that is now raising concerns among lawmakers reviewing Mr. Holder's nomination.

Correspondence with the Justice Department and testimony secured by Congress from other witnesses show that 15 months before the pardon, Mr. Holder met privately with Mr. Rich's attorney and received a presentation about what Mr. Rich's defense believed were flaws in the government's case.