Arnold Schwarzenegger turns 60 today. Here in this NWN video he declares
victory in his second landslide election as governor of California.
** GAVIN NEWSOM WALTZ TO RE-ELECTION IN SAN FRANCISCO. San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom now looks to have no serious opposition in his run for a second term this year. Former San Francisco Supervisor Matt Gonzalez, who ran a close race against Newsom in 2005, has decided not to challenge the youthful incumbent, according to sources close to Newsom.
Newsom, who went through a somewhat operatic divorce earlier in his term with prosecutor-turned-broadcaster Kimberly Guilfoyle, was rocked earlier this year by the revelation of an illicit affair, with a City Hall staffer married to his campaign manager, no less. He then revealed he had a drinking issue for which he would receive counselling. His enemies, who are mostly to his left — this won’t make much sense to people outside San Francisco, since Newsom is quite liberal — jumped all over him and the sensationalist media and blogosphere had a field day. It was embarrassing, and Newsom publicly copped to his weaknesses, but his job approval rating remained over 70% and candidate after potential candidate opted not to challenge the charismatic businessman-turned-pol.
** AS THE WORLD TURNS IN L.A. LA Observed reports that Corina Villaraigosa has engaged a very tough divorce lawyer to handle her case with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, the lawyer for “the former Mr. Whitney Houston, the former Mrs. Jean-Claude Van Damme, and the former Mrs. Axl Rose.” NWN readers know I don’t like these issues. But that’s tough to ignore.
** BILL MAKES PEACE. Former President Bill Clinton, addressing the Democratic Leadership Council conference in Nashville today, papered over last week’s dispute between his wife and and Barack Obama on the question of if, when, and how to engage with leaders of rogue nations. He allowed as how it needs to be done, defended the DLC against charges it didn’t care about the poor, and said the party has “great candidates.”
“I don’t want to get in the middle of that whole spat Hillary and Senator Obama had,” said the former president, “but there’s more than one way to practice diplomacy.”
Some polling I’ve seen today indicates that Obama got the best of the exchange with Hillary, which grew out of a small moment in last week’s CNN YouTube debate. I’ll write more about this later.
** LEGENDARY FOOTBALL COACH BILL WALSH DIES. Bill Walsh, who built one of the greatest pro football dynasties ever in the San Francisco 49ers of the 1980s and 1990s, died this morning at his San Francisco Bay Area home of Woodside from leukemia. He was 75.
Walsh, who made Stanford (!) a top team, was a brilliant man, a witty man, a classy man, a tough man, and a gentleman. Fascinated by all forms of conflict, not the least of them politics, he invented strategies that revolutionized the game of football. A moderate Republican when I met him, he also backed Democrats such as Gary Hart and Dianne Feinstein. Walsh was a master in identifying talent and a leader in promoting African American coaches, and long employed one of my UC Berkeley professors, fiery sociologist Harry Edwards, as a team consultant. For quite awhile, his acolytes coached a quarter of the teams in the National Football League. Today nearly half the teams in the NFL are headed by coaches that were part of the Walsh coaching network.
The 49er teams built and coached by Bill Walsh won three Super Bowls. Two others built by Walsh also won Super Bowls. The foundation that Walsh created made the 49ers a regular play-off team for two decades.
I remember Walsh saying that, in terms of spotting talent and developing that talent, if he saw that a player could do something once, he knew that the player, if properly coached, could perform in a similar way on a regular basis. Among many such things, Walsh developed two quarterbacks that no one else viewed as special, Joe Montana and Steve Young, into Hall of Famers. He drafted the greatest defensive back in the history of the NFL — All-Pro at every position in the secondary — a fellow from USC by the name of Ronnie Lott. And he found a little-known college receiver with less than Olympic speed at an even lesser known school in Mississippi and was patient with him through a rookie season of dropsies. His name is Jerry Rice.
While Walsh was also a great general manager, the teams that he personally coached played with force and finesse, and were virtually never out of any game, no matter the score. He will be missed.
** FRED THOMPSON’S INITIAL FUNDRAISING UNDERWHELMING. I’m hearing that Fred Thompson will report raising about $3 million during his June testing-the-waters phase. Which is apparently still continuing. This is much less than what most had expected, given the seeming great enthusiasm for the former Tennessee senator and Law & Order star in conservative circles around the country, and less than the $5 million reported internal goal.
Thompson has a fundraiser tonight in Washington. Intriguingly, John McCain has counter-programmed a Washington fundraiser.
** CALIFORNIA BUDGET UPDATE: NOT MUCH TO REPORT. The hyperpartisans of the right continue to issue declarations on blogs devoid of action in the form of any comments. Democrats counter in more conventional ways, but rather desultorily.
Meanwhile, I’m told that 2006 Democratic gubernatorial nominee Phil Angelides has this morning sent another e-mail to his list, urging calls to the offices of Democratic state senators to oppose the budget passed on a bipartisan vote in the Assembly. This continues to seem an odd move on his part, since the current leverage is hardly on the left.
** GORDON BROWN PLEDGES CONTINUED ALLIANCE WITH U.S. IN AFGHANISTAN AND IRAQ. Confounding many predictions of an impending British withdrawal from Iraq, new British Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced following meetings with President Bush that the UK is sticking around. “We have duties to discharge and responsibilities to keep in Iraq,” said Brown, who has appointed critics of former Prime Minister Tony Blair’s policies to his new administration. “The president and I are as one,” said Brown, on the importance of confronting terrorism around the world. Of course, British troops in Iraq will be playing a more hands off role, as discussed yesterday.
I suppose last month’s attacks on London and Glasgow just as Brown took over the premiership from Blair weren’t such a good idea after all.
** NO TERMINATOR 4 ANY TIME SOON. For those of you who’ve been waiting for the next installment in the Terminator movie franchise — and you know who you are — don’t hold your breaths. Remember that announcement a few months ago of new producers buying the rights from the old producers and announcing plans to move forward quickly on a fourth movie? It even occasioned some breathless reportage — based in part, as it turned out, from spurious reports issued by a fake entertainment website — that Arnold Schwarzenegger would be involved with the project, with both an acting role and an executive producer credit. Well, that wasn’t right, but a lot of journalist-type people were taken in.
In any event, the whole thing is hung up because one studio long ago during the bankruptcy proceedings of the original Terminator studio, Orion Pictures, bought the rights to distribute a fourth Terminator picture. And that’s throwing plans by the current producer/studio combo into a serious loop.
While the suits work all that out, Fox TV will have a spin-off TV series this coming season called The Sarah Connor Chronicles. It’s about the doings of the mother of the future leader of the war against the machines and that young son himself in between the second and third movies in the series. And, no, Schwarzenegger doesn’t seem to be involved with that project, either.
** U.S. SAYS SAUDI ARABIA UNDERMINING STABILIZATION OF IRAQ. US Ambassador to the UN Zalmay Khalilzad said yesterday that the Saudis are underminging the task of stablilizing Iraq. Saudi Arabia is known to be unhappy about the new US/Iran security committee that emerged from meetings to discuss how to rein in Shiite and Sunni militants. And Saudi sources have been funding Islamic extremists inside Iraq, as Iraqi officials continue to protest.
** NOW HERE’S A BIRTHDAY PRESENT. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger turns 60 years old today. (Actually, since he was born in Austria, he was already 60 hours before this was published.)
What’s he going to do? Go to Disneyland? No, he’ll be holding private meetings around the stalled California state budget. A fairly tough budget passed the state Assembly on a bipartisan vote, but is held up in the state Senate for reasons discussed at length below. California is one of only three states in the country that requires a two-thirds vote to pass its budget, and with 25 Democrats in the Senate voting for it, the plan needs two Republican votes. Right now it needs two. Actually, it needs one, unofficially.
** AL QAEDA’S AMERICAN PRISONERS STILL NOT LOCATED. American troops are now in the midst of a 78th day of searching for the remaining two US soldiers captured by Al Qaeda in an ambush south of Baghdad. They have had no luck so far. A video put out by Al Qaeda forces in Iraq claims that all three men were executed after being captured. But, with the exception of the Californian found floating in the Euphrates River, that claim can’t be confirmed. The US high command in Baghdad has revealed that ID cards for the other two American prisoners were found in an Al Qaeda safehouse on June 9th.
** Track global and national energy prices in near real time via Bloomberg. Crude oil prices are just below a one-year high at $77 per barrel.
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| Comments (80) |
THIS Arnold impression is much better.
I like the Arnold clones better.
The envy crowd’s got to love Schwarzenegger begging for another vote in the Senate on his birthday.
The envy crowd’s got to love Schwarzenegger begging for another vote in the Senate on his birthday.
This Schwarzenegger impersonator is one of the best I’ve ever seen.
Happy birthday, Arnold.
The Daily Times is reporting that Musharraf and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Benazir Bhutto are likely to meet in Abu Dhabi in September to complete a political deal before the presidential election expected later the same month. The 2 met on the 27th and the the “deal includes PPP support of Musharraf in the election in exchange for Musharraf’s retirement from the military”
This is good news if they can make it work!
Sorry Neo-Cons can’t charge into Pakistan now …we have to give this a chance to work …
There is a report out that U.S. President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown are holding talks today at Camp David with Miliband and Condi in attendance. Unlike the Bloomberg report of yesterday this report states that the issue of Iraq” will likely” be a big agenda item. this report also asserts that “Brown went to Washington to end speculation that he hoped to distance himself from Bush because of Iraq. Brown also refuted a report in “The Sunday Times” newspaper that Britain had spoken to the White House about possibly withdrawing its 5,500 troops from southern Iraq.
Gosh! It is a really busy day the Russians are here too!…Russian and the U.S. are starting up 2 days of talks in Washington beginning today to discuss U.S. plans to deploy a missile shield in Europe as well as Russia’s proposed alternative location.
and Russia’s Just Russia party will nominate Russian President Vladimir Putin as a presidential candidate in 2012…Gee, if he gets re-elected he can be President during the 2014 Winter Olympics!…I would like that! …I plan to go!
Good Grief and Treasury Secretary Paulson is in Beijing with Chinese Vice Premier and the governor of China’s central bank on the July today (31)…and he meets with President Hu Jintao on Aug. 1.
the Barclays deal and all that Russian-Chinese investment money (and estimated combined trillion by the end of this year) has the Germans, French and Congress nervous …the British see Barclays/Chinese deal as just a “normal transaction” …I side with the British on this one…its the way of the new world we operate in….
Reuters is reporting that Iraq’s Sunni Accordance Front accused Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki of pushing the Sunnis out of the government “Maliki is acting unilaterally … We are fed up with that.” The Sunni Accordance Front is THE Sunni party in Iraq and a coalition partner in the toddering Iraqi government….
The Saudis are understandably very unhappy …and will be more unhappy when Congress House members led by Nadler make good on their threats of impeding US arms package to SA…Nancy,Geesh Get some control there! and TRY TO THINK CERTAIN THINGS THROUGH!
Happy Birthday Arnold! Toodles!
Remember Michael Crichton’s “Rising Sun” about the nefarious Japanese taking over America? In particular LA and everything there?
Eh, not so much.
>the Barclays deal and all that Russian-Chinese investment money (and estimated combined trillion by the end of this year) has the Germans, French and Congress nervous …the British see Barclays/Chinese deal as just a “normal transaction” …I side with the British on this one…its the way of the new world we operate in….
Jul 30, 2007 10:02 AM
I’m sure the next Russian president will go along with that …
>Barbara :
and Russia’s Just Russia party will nominate Russian President Vladimir Putin as a presidential candidate in 2012…Gee, if he gets re-elected he can be President during the 2014 Winter Olympics!…I would like that! …I plan to go!
Jul 30, 2007 09:54 AM
That’s right. Dr. Hemlock was correct.
>Barbara :
There is a report out that U.S. President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown are holding talks today at Camp David with Miliband and Condi in attendance. Unlike the Bloomberg report of yesterday this report states that the issue of Iraq” will likely” be a big agenda item. this report also asserts that “Brown went to Washington to end speculation that he hoped to distance himself from Bush because of Iraq. Brown also refuted a report in “The Sunday Times” newspaper that Britain had spoken to the White House about possibly withdrawing its 5,500 troops from southern Iraq.
Jul 30, 2007 09:50 AM
She doesn’t really control people.
The Democrats are a conglomerate of fractious interests.
>The Saudis are understandably very unhappy …and will be more unhappy when Congress House members led by Nadler make good on their threats of impeding US arms package to SA…Nancy,Geesh Get some control there! and TRY TO THINK CERTAIN THINGS THROUGH!
Jul 30, 2007 10:08 AM
Right, but I don’t know what Bhutto can actually do to quell the rising Islamic jihadist problem.
>Barbara :
The Daily Times is reporting that Musharraf and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Benazir Bhutto are likely to meet in Abu Dhabi in September to complete a political deal before the presidential election expected later the same month. The 2 met on the 27th and the the “deal includes PPP support of Musharraf in the election in exchange for Musharraf’s retirement from the military”
T3 was a suckfest, right?
Wake me when they make The Running Man Too or True Lies 2: The Taskers on Vacation.
Actually, Terminator 3 was a huge hit.
It made it onto the Top 50 all-time global box office list the day before Gray Davis was recalled and Schwarzenegger was elected governor of California.
Oh, and when you watch the video above of Schwarzenegger’s second landslide election celebration as governor, you’ll notice it begins with Tom Arnold saying: “It’s official. There will be no True Lies 2.”
In many ways, True Lies 2 might have been Schwarzenegger’s biggest movie. It got postponed because of 9/11, and then because of the California governorship.
>Wake me when they make The Running Man Too or True Lies 2: The Taskers on Vacation.
Jul 30, 2007 10:46 AM
The global audience was duped on T3.
I saw it on USA and felt cheated.
“Right, but I don’t know what Bhutto can actually do to quell the rising Islamic jihadist problem.”
Musharraf has no choice but to make a deal with progressive forces to stay in power…you do NOT want a vacuum there…the army would not impose martial law with just him at the helm but with him not heading the military and with a coalition gov they might if needed down the line …they may just need to…
Islamist militants have renamed a mosque in the tribal district the “Red Mosque” and the BBC reported earlier today that the ” Militants have promised to create “Red Mosques” all over the country.” sooooooo….I think Bhutto and Musharraf really need to make that “deal” work….if they can hold elections ….and win as a coalition…that will help make going after the militants all the mor easier…US should not launch a major strike unless we want to topple the applcart…we hav eto give them a chance to make this work
Right, but as I said …
Right, but as I said …
Of course, a giant movie like that is designed for the big screen.
It certainly wasn’t the expected happy ending, was it?
I thought the plot was very ballsy for a big summer action movie.
>Juan Cortina :
The global audience was duped on T3.
I saw it on USA and felt cheated.
Jul 30, 2007 11:15 AM
Well wants the alternative? Are you saying we and/or NATO are the only ones that can do it? I disagree…
Few things send me in orbit more these days then this picking a public fight with the Saudis…it starte dwith that piece of legislation passed in June by House…This is a big mistake…
In any event today the Acting Russian Security Council Secretary and Saudi National Security Council Secretary-General Bandar bin Sultan will meet tomoorow (July 31) in Moscow “to discuss mutual security cooperation and the Middle East peace process” It’s now 11:02pm Monday in Moscow
On pakistan Musharraff/Bhutto deal…
Mr. Bradley “Right, but as I said …
”
Well whats the alternative? Are you saying we and/or NATO are the only ones that can do it? I disagree…
What I’m saying is what I said. Don’t expect it to solve the problem.
What I’m saying is what I said. Don’t expect it to solve the problem.
Angerlides is crazy, again. lol
The “problem” (which is not a Pakistani problem just perhaps the latest and most serious yet to raise its ugly head)won’t be solved for a decade or two…and if we continue on the path we are on or elect Rudy with more neo-con’s dealing with the “problem” …then just keep adding on the decades…
Of course it’s a Pakistani problem. It goes back nearly 30 years.
Pakistan insisted on funneling US aid during the war in Afghanistan against the Soviets. Pakistan favored the most vehemently anti-Western Islamist of the muj leaders.
After the Soviet defeat, Pakistani intelligence created the Taliban.
Dr. Khan attempted to peddle nuclear technology around the world before being reined in due to intense American and British pressure.
Militants are more than just a Pakistani problem …this is going on in every Muslim country in Afria ME and Central Asia to some degree…you hav eto think big picture an dlong term here with this issue
The US going into Pakistan would just light another fire…a huge one and get in over its head …the army better be prepared to fight tribal warfare style…i.e., throw away the book…because it will be really nasty…
at the same time we can not let them prevail in pakistan …it changes everything if they do…BUT we have to let Pakistanis try to be seen as resolving this…something similar could happen in Egypt tomorrow…we cannot just always being thinking about a strike as the answer/response…
Bill Walsh is one of the few coaches who left an indelible mark on their sport and can be legitimately mentioned in the same sentence with John Wooden.
Just in Peace, from a Cal guy.
Well not a pull out but perhaps a significant Pull Back from combat….
“Gordon Brown today used his first summit with the US president, George Bush, to hold out the prospect of withdrawing British troops from a combat role in the one remaining zone of Iraq they control.
The prime minister put no timescale on the move, which would see the UK troops pull back from combat to “overwatch” operations in Basra, the fourth and final Iraqi province in the hands of the British.
But, standing beside Mr Bush at Camp David, in Maryland, he said there was a “chance” that MPs could be informed of the step “when parliament returns”. The House of Commons returns from recess on October 8.” The Guardian
I already reported the Brits will be doing that, at the same time I reported Iraq would be a huge part of the Bush-Brown agenda.
I already reported the Brits will be doing that, at the same time I reported Iraq would be a huge part of the Bush-Brown agenda.
well here’s possible progress … President Abbas said today that he would welcome any push for “re-engagement with Hamas” provided the Islamist group relinquishes control of the Gaza Strip…this is after Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov called him the “lawful leader of all Palestinians” and a few days after a phone call with Hamas leaders…and Tuesday, Abbas meets w/Putin and then Prince Bandar is in Moscow tomorrow too ..its going on 1:00 am so in Moscow so we just might know how that meeting went by midnight!
Gosh! all these meetings …remember when summer was vacation time!
Yes I know and actually Brown has been pretty consistent even in his pre PM debates he stated he was not for an all out pull out of Iraq..it will be interesting to see how British press deal with their new PM carrying on the same policy more or less that they vilified Blair on…and the “Pull back” was started by Blair …
When will James Lipton interview Schwarzenegger?
Topics should include “Get to the chopper!” “Get down!” “Come with me if you want to live” and “Let off some steam, Bennett.”
I can see a resumed movie career for Arnold if he picks the right roles. Think Heston in True Lies. He’s got to play the Nick Fury head of an agency that sacrifices himself to save the “kid that reminds me of me” in the penultimate scene before The Rock takes out the big bad in the Act III.
He could have a Christopher Walken-like career and end up in every movie for a few years playing the same role.
“She doesn’t really control people.
The Democrats are a conglomerate of fractious interests.”
Well somebody better do something about Nadler and Weiner threats and shooting off their mouths …and they need to do it soon…
The deep politics of US and UK are transcendent.
“Representatives Anthony Weiner and Jerry Nadler introduced a plan to block the deal on the steps of the Saudi consulate in New York City on Saturday”
On their consulate steps!!??? This is terrible…that is their home away from home…there is an elaborate code that governs important social interaction in ones home…they are crazy picking such a public fight with the Saudis at this moment…something is off here…not clear if this is coordinated or just chaos but its bad news…
Just returned from the market and was listening to the 49er flagship station while driving. They are celebrating Bill’s life and perhaps that’s the way it should be. He was a brillant coach whose efforts brought joy to thousands of souls. Good idea to celebrate that.
Mr. Kid, I join your thoughts…may he rest in peace.
Bill Walsh was great. That was a moment that won’t come again. R.I.P.
Now Zalmay Khalilzad is backtracking on yesterday’s statements… telling reporters at U.N. headquarters in New York that Saudi Arabia was “a great ally” and friend of the United States …
The Bush Admin must just figured out nothing is going to go very far with the Internatl ME Peace Conf without Saudi cooperation …and that his remarks only encourage more aggressive antics of the Nadler, Weiner and House members…
We look and sound so foolish and more than a little desperate
Now Zalmay Khalilzad is backtracking on yesterday’s statements… telling reporters at U.N. headquarters in New York that Saudi Arabia was “a great ally” and friend of the United States …
The Bush Admin must just figured out nothing is going to go very far with the Internatl ME Peace Conf without Saudi cooperation …and that his remarks only encourage more aggressive antics of the Nadler, Weiner and House members…
We look and sound so foolish and more than a little desperate
Can’t both statements be accurate?
It is diplomacy, after all.
More like millions of souls, the Walsh-era 49ers were huge.
>Sacramento Solon :
Just returned from the market and was listening to the 49er flagship station while driving. They are celebrating Bill’s life and perhaps that’s the way it should be. He was a brillant coach whose efforts brought joy to thousands of souls. Good idea to celebrate that.