Cathy Calfo, campaign manager for Democratic gubernatorial candidate, state Treasurer Phil Angelides responds to a question concerning audio tapes of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, during a news conference in Sacramento, Calif., Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2006. Calfo acknowledged that the Angelides campaign had downloaded an audio file of a private meeting in which the governor remarked on a Hispanic legislator’s fiery temperament. Calfo went on to say that the campaign had done nothing wrong because the file was available publicly on the governor’s Web site.

AP: Rival admits leaking Schwarzenegger tape

The campaign of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Democratic rival acknowledged Tuesday that it downloaded — and leaked to the media — a recording of a private meeting in which the governor described a Hispanic legislator as having a “very hot” personality.

But Cathy Calfo, campaign manager for Democrat Phil Angelides, said the campaign had done nothing wrong because the file was available publicly on the governor’s Web site.

“No one hacked,” Calfo said at a news conference to address the role played by the Angelides campaign, first reported by The Sacramento Bee. “They accessed information that was available to the public.”

Schwarzenegger spokesman Adam Mendelsohn said someone would have had to snoop to find the audio file.

“The file that was leaked to the Los Angeles Times was in a private area of the governor’s server not accessible to the public without manipulation of information,” he said.

Phil Angelides has been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. The Flap amounted to not much but this revelation on how Angelides’ staff HACKED the Governor’s website will SINK his campaign like a stone.

Flap hears the FAT LADY singing the final chorus on this race.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger listens while California Assemblywoman Bonnie Garcia, R-Palm Springs, left, talks about tape-recorded comments the governor made about her at a news conference in Santa Monica, Calif., Friday, Sept. 8, 2006. Schwarzenegger apologized Friday for saying during a closed-door meeting that Cubans and Puerto Ricans are naturally feisty and temperamental because of their combination of ‘black blood’ and ‘Latino blood.’ Garcia said she was not offended by the governor’s comments. Garcia earlier told the Los Angeles Times that she often calls herself a ‘hot-blooded Latina.’

So, Flap wants to know……was it Bob Mulholland behind this leak HACK?

Update:

MM comments on who REALLY looks STUPID here – THE LOS ANGELES TIMES.

You know who else looks stupid here? The Los Angeles Times. Nice going, tools.

Can you imagine the LATimes editors accepting a leaked tape from GOP operatives and splashing its contents all over the front page in a last-ditch attempt to humiliate a Democrat governor?

Bias? What liberal bias?

INDEED….

Previous:

Arnold Schwarzenegger Watch: Arnold Apologizes over “HOT” FLAP

Technorati Tags: ArnoldSchwarzenegger, BonnieGarcia, PhilAngelides, CathyCalfo, BobMulholland

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger listens while California Assemblywoman Bonnie Garcia, R-Palm Springs, left, talks about tape-recorded comments the governor made about her at a news conference in Santa Monica, Calif., Friday, Sept. 8, 2006. Schwarzenegger apologized Friday for saying during a closed-door meeting that Cubans and Puerto Ricans are naturally feisty and temperamental because of their combination of ‘black blood’ and ‘Latino blood.’ Garcia said she was not offended by the governor’s comments. Garcia earlier told the Los Angeles Times that she often calls herself a ‘hot-blooded Latina.’

AP: Schwarzenegger Apologizes Over Remark

The Audio is here and The Quote:

On the recording, Schwarzenegger describes Republican legislators as the “wild bunch” and, referring to Garcia, casually says that “black blood” mixed with “Latino blood” equals “hot.”

“I mean, they are all very hot,” the governor says on the audio recording. “They have the, you know, part of the black blood in them and part of the Latino blood in them that together makes it.”

A Schwarzenegger Macaca moment?

Doubtful……

Technorati Tags: ArnoldSchwarzenegger, BonnieGarcia

Charles Meyer, who farms 2,600 acres south of Fresno, Calif., is among a growing number of people who advocate legalizing the cultivation of industrial hemp. “The fact we’re not growing it is asinine,” Mr. Meyer said.

New York Times: California Seeks to Clear Hemp of a Bad Name

Charles Meyer’s politics are as steady and unswerving as the rows of pima cotton on his Central Valley farm. With his work-shirt blue eyes and flinty Clint Eastwood demeanor, he is staunchly in favor of the war in Iraq, against gun control and believes people unwilling to recite the Pledge of Allegiance should be kicked out of America, and fast.

But what gets him excited is the crop he sees as a potential windfall for California farmers: industrial hemp, or Cannabis sativa. The rapidly growing plant with a seemingly infinite variety of uses is against federal law to grow because of its association with its evil twin, marijuana.

“Industrial hemp is a wholesome product,” said Mr. Meyer, 65, who says he has never worn tie-dye and professes a deep disdain for “dope.”

“The fact we’re not growing it is asinine,” Mr. Meyer said.

Things could change if a measure passed by legislators in Sacramento and now on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s desk becomes law. [The bill reached Mr. Schwarzenegger last week; he has 30 days to sign or veto it.]

Seven states have passed bills supporting the farming of industrial hemp; their strategy has been to try to get permission from the Drug Enforcement Administration to proceed.

Of course, it is asinine and Governor Schwarzenegger will probably sign the bill. Flap uses a hemp based moisturizer for his feet and it works well. There are many non-illegal uses for this crop and should be permitted.

Domestic hemp production was promoted in World War II but later outlawed. Hemp twine was on sale this month at the 15th annual Hempfest in Seattle.

But, will Schwarzenegger pick a fight with the federal government over this issue?

Probably

It won’t be the first or the last time for Arnold.

In North Dakota, the state agricultural commissioner, Roger Johnson, has proposed allowing hemp farming, and has been working with federal drug regulators on stringent regulations that would include fingerprinting farmers and requiring G.P.S. coordinates of hemp fields.

“We’ve done our level best to convince them we’re not a bunch of wackos,” Mr. Johnson said.

Fifteen years ago, he noted, there was little market for canola, which is now a major crop produced for its cooking oil. He sees hemp in a similar vein and dismisses the fears that it would lead to criminality.

“It would take a joint the size of a telephone pole to have an impact,” he said.

Captain Ed has Time To Legalize Hemp? And Perhaps Marijuana?

Technorati Tags: Hemp, ArnoldSchwarzenegger