Online headline/story: "Calif.'s Budget Deficit Has Grown Larger * SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California's budget deficit has swelled to a projected $16 billion – much larger than had been predicted just months ago – and will force severe cuts to schools and public safety if voters fail to approve tax increases in November, Gov. Jerry Brown said Saturday. * The Democratic governor said the shortfall grew from $9.2 billion in January in part because tax collections have not come in as high as expected and the economy isn't growing as fast as hoped for. The deficit has also risen because lawsuits and federal requirements have blocked billions of dollars in state cuts." --Hmmm ... 'economy hasn't grown as fast as HOPED for'; 'lawsuits and federal requirements have blocked BILLIONS of dollars in state cuts'... Sounds like California is going to have to HOPE for CHANGE in California AND Washington in November! --- From a fellow BCer: New home protection sign alternative to "Protected by ADT" -

--- Online headline: "Harry Reid: Filibuster Rule Has 'Been Abused,' Needs Changing " -- Hmmm, just a little medeia grandstanding! See how he'll vote on such a bill after the November elections, and he becomes the minority leader. --- Online headline: "Facebook Co-founder Gives Up US Citizenship to Trim Taxes" -- Now for the better news... this means he won't be able to donate to or vote for potUS Arpege.... again. --- Latest from barackobama.com: "President Obama took a historic stand for equality this week. It's one of the defining moments of his presidency," -- Redefining marriage is a "historic stand"? With the polls still sliding down in the DIM&DUMBERat base for potUS Arpege, perhaps a "hysterical stand" is more truthful. --- One thing about the unemployment numbers neither the mainstream media nor potUS Arpege's spinmeisters will comment on is how many of the unemployed do not want to or cannot afford to take a cut in "pay" with a new job. --- I really do not follow John Edwards' trial as I do not believe the jury will convict him just as juries set OJ and Casey Anthony free out of confusement and frustration, but this tidbit needs airing - Online story: " After years of Edwards saying he had no knowledge of the cover up, prosecutors introduced phone records, voicemails and other evidence showing he was in frequent contact with Baron, Young and Hunter, all while his mistress was in hiding. Former members of Edwards' campaign also testified that Baron spoke of "moving Hunter around" in the candidate's presence and that Edwards told his speechwriter he knew "all along" what Baron was up to. However, in 14 days of testimony no witness ever said Edwards knew he was violating campaign finance laws, a key element of criminal intent the government must prove to win a conviction." -- "However, in 14 days of testimony no witness ever said Edwards knew he was violating campaign finance laws"... who among us hasn't heard that 'ignorance of the law is no excuse'? While I will not believe, under any circumstance, that John Edwards did not know the election laws/rules backwards and forwards, it's not me sitting on the jury Edwards and his team of lawyers accepted. --- L-E headline: "Russell County cigarette tax bill dies in Senate * Measure designed to benefit Fort Mitchell historical site" -- You know, taxing cigarettes is oxymoronic... at best.. At a time when government should be trying to rid dependence on such a health and environmental issue, government assigns new and higher taxes on cigarettes to support government new and old government programs. Government has now become dependent on wanting more and more people to start smoking. --- L-E headline duo: "Infant removed from Columbus home after doctor discovers three broken ribs" * "Man charged after throwing dog across living room" -- Sure is lucky for the man that he didn't break 3 of the dogs ribs, too. --- L-E story: "ADA, Ohio — Kelsey Griffith graduates today from Ohio Northern University. To start paying off her $120,000 in student debt, she is already working two restaurant jobs and will soon give up her apartment here to live with her parents. Her mother, who co-signed on the loans, is taking out a life insurance policy on her daughter. * “If anything ever happened, God forbid, that is my debt also,” said Griffith’s mother, Marlene Griffith. * Griffith, 23, wouldn’t seem a perfect financial fit for a college that costs nearly $50,000 a year. Her father, a paramedic, and mother, a preschool teacher, have modest incomes, and she has four sisters. But when she visited Ohio Northern, she was won over by faculty and admissions staff members who urge students to pursue their dreams rather than obsess on the sticker price. * “As an 18-year-old, it sounded like a good fit to me, and the school really sold it,” said Griffith, a marketing major. “I knew a private school would cost a lot of money. But when I graduate, I’m going to owe like $900 a month. No one told me that.” -- Wow! “As an 18-year-old, it sounded like a good fit to me, and the school really sold it,” said Griffith, a marketing major. “I knew a private school would cost a lot of money. But when I graduate, I’m going to owe like $900 a month. No one told me that.”"? Probably not true, but what 18 year old listens to her parents versus believing a college staff that promises her 'instant gratification' without explaining the consequences of her actions? Maybe the twp restaurants should look again to see if she's really qualified for her jobs there. --- I see the L-E has run another Karl Douglass column without identifying him as a paid member of the re-elect Sanford Bishop organization. Fortunately, Karl has had some pretty wise words to say about financial responsibility of our City, and today's discussion of his views on marriage are right on. Another paid Bishop staffer is our own City Council member, Evelyn Turner-Pugh. What a political triangle this creates. She works for Bishop, and her husband, Reginald Pugh is not only the head of the Urban League, but is also running for the seat currently held by the recently widowed Sen. Ed Harbison.