Lost in the drama of the California budget is one huge part of the story that is ignored by our hapless local press.

The Obama stimulus package will prevent the cuts to education, the tax increases and the unsustainable borrowing from being much, much worse.

According to the budget documents, if the state receives what it predicts from the federal stimulus package – more than $9 billion – there would be other benefits to the budget: borrowing would be reduced by roughly half, $950 million in cuts would be restored and the tax increases would be reduced.

And every Orange County Republican in Congress voted against the stimulus package, then self-righteously gloated over their unity. So they not only voted against the largest middle-class tax cut in the nation’s history, they also voted to fire teachers, increase California taxes, and borrow more against future revenues.

Against the backdrop of the steepest employment drop since the last depression, declining revenues, and and sharply falling demand that reinforces the downward spiral, these ideologues refused to act.

The other interesting fact about the California budget deal is that the federal stimulus package included “maintenance of effort” standards, so that if California had not worked to fix its structural deficit problem, our share of the stimulus package would have been denied, reduced, or waited for the processing of a waiver.

So we have one group of Republican asshats in our Congressional delegation who voted against the package that helped California craft a package to avert fiscal collapse, and state Republican asshats who refuse to admit that we needed to clean up the mess that Scwarzenegger created by restoring a little balance to our budget.

(Cross-posted from Orange County Progressive. )

Huntington Beach Mayor Debbie Cook opened the doors to the nerve center of her Congressional campaign today as the momentum builds for a victory in the June 3 primary and beyond.

Cook, who is running for the Democratic nomination in the 46th Congressional District, has garnered an impressive list of endorsements and is enjoying a successful fundraising campaign. Opening a campaign headquarters will support her growing corps of volunteers.

“I am looking forward to using the office here in Huntington Beach as a staging area for getting our message out to voters,” Cook said. “We’ll be working the phones and pounding the pavement to spread our message of fiscal responsibility in government, healing our economy, creating ‘green’ jobs and bringing our troops home from Iraq.”

Cook and dozens of volunteers celebrated the new campaign headquarters by participating in a nationwide voter registration and mobilization effort. Later, they walked precincts and concluded the day with a campaign kick-off party.

Say what you will about Dana Rohrabacher, but at least he’s got high entertainment value. Remember that classic oldie about the termite-caused global warming? Or who can forget everyone’s favorite: “Let the Prisoners Pick The Fruit”. So with everything falling apart around us, perhaps we could all use a little light-hearted cheer.

Like his latest talk about impeaching the president:

Speaking after the Federal Bureau of Prisons confirmed that agent Ignacio Ramos was assaulted by inmates in his Mississippi prison at the weekend, California Republican Rep. Dana Rohrabacher had a warning for the White House.

“I tell you, Mr. President, if these men — especially after this assault — are murdered in prison, or if one of them lose their lives, there’s going to be some sort of impeachment talk in Capitol Hill,” he said during a press conference in Washington, D.C.

“The president of the United States talks a lot about his Christian charity, and his religious beliefs,” Rohrabacher said.

“He now is showing a mean-spirited side to him, an arrogance, in which he will turn his back, even after one of these officers in prison has been brutally assaulted.”

Of course, he’s not talking about torture, violating the constitution, or damaging national security – he’s talking about illegal immigration.  But that’s “ok” – because what it shows is that NO ONE likes the job this guy’s doing.  Seriously, check out the comments at freerepublic.com.  A few of the gems:

Bush laughs at us who simply spew posts like this. We do not have power. We do not threaten his funds which come from the very wealthy who support his agrenda and have investments tied up in mexico. We do not threaten bad press or instability that would come with hundreds of thousands of illegals marchings.

Our only hope now is impeachment. And I don;t see enough support in Congress for that.

I can’t believe my President – the man I worked so hard to get in office – who I deeply believed in – has turned such a deaf ear on this issue.

I’d be ashamed if we turned a blind eye to give one of our own a pass on something so despicable in favor of ‘Party Loyalty’.

and my favorite…

Every day I’m feeling screwed.

These folks may differ with us in their views. But you don’t impeach a president for his views. You do it for his failure to do the job he took the oath of office for. On that we all seem to agree. Wake up America – Bush is not out to help anyone but the insanely wealthy. Could it really be up to Dana to show us the way?