California Blog Roundup is on the flip. Teasers: Arnold & George: a visual history, California Progress Report, putting one’s money where one’s mouth is, a day of canvassing, the benefits of vagueness, lots of Doolittle and Pombo, and a bit of immigration.

This ‘n’ That

• The California Progress Report continues to be a great outlet for content from progressive groups in California. Here’s an article on TV competition. And two different pieces from the CNA on Clean Money: One, Two. And last, a piece on the California Compassionate Choices Act — who do you want making your decisions: you and people you love, or some religious extremists you’ve never met?
• Tom Hilton has some questions for anti-choice “moderate” Monika Rodman. I like this approach — make people deal with the legitimate consequences of their stated beliefs.
• Kaloogian supporters in CA-50 either “canvassed churchgoers” or “stuffed flyers under windshield wipers” in church parking lots on Sunday, says the discussion at SD Politics. I thought Sunday was a day of rest for the faithful, not a day of politicking. Must have been some other Bible I read.

Goobernatorial Race

• EmilyD of Daily Kos found a whole buncha pictures of Governor Schwarzenegger and President Bush together. No, Arnold’s not a Bush Republican. Pay no attention to these photos or his campaign team.
• Alliance for a Better California notes Arnold’s new ad, and says it ain’t surprising he’s running on his environmental record. It’s not bad (not awesome, either), and that’s about the only policy area where that’s true for the Governor.
• Bill Bradley ruminates on the Angelides and Westly ad strategies. And, he does some math resulting in an opinion that Angelides will have to raise taxes to do the things he wants to do. Westly, by comparison, simply hasn’t disclosed how he thinks he’ll pay for what he wants to do, so he dodges that bullet for now.

Doolittle, Do Less

• Dump Doolittle suggests that we should judge John Doolittle by the company he keeps. And, of course, he keeps company with his wife.
• Both Nite Swimming and Dump Doolittle report that John Doolittle posts at redstate.org (home of racist plagiarist Ben Domenech, among others). Doolitlle doesn’t, ah, acquit himself as admirably as one might hope.
• Last, Nite Swimming has a roundup of recent bad news for Doolittle.

Tell Me Pombo, Pombo, Pombo

• Say No To Pombo has an email interview with the three Democratic candidates for CA-11, asking them questions about the recent bankruptcy bill. Full o’ substance, and we like it.
• Richard Pombo, ever on the lookout for a handout, is “sponsoring” Medicare Part D seminars using industry front groups to explain the program. Of course, if the program weren’t such a train wreck, designed to subsidize the pharmaceutical industry, one wouldn’t need industry front groups to explain it. The thing would just work.
• Progressive 11th suggests that Richard Pombo should call the waaaahmbulance and stop blaming other people for reacting entirely appropriately to his badness.
• Pombowatch thinks that you can place a lot of the blame for the salmon closure squarely on Richard Pombo’s enviro-hating shoulders — he ignored the structural problems on the Klamath, and chose to externalize the effects to fishermen while he helped the farmers in his district. Oh, and then he blamed the Endangered Species Act.
• Defenders of Wildlife Action have a series of events, the first on April 15, 10.30 am, San Ramon Public Library for leafletting. Progressive 11th has a listing of other CA-11 events as well.

• ABC thinks about what I do of Schwarzenegger’s immigration op-ed — not much, because it says not much.
• Marc Cooper wants to blame the Senate Democrats for the failure of the half-baked compromise bill on immigration. D-Day explains why that’s ridiculous, even citing Orrin Hatch. Marc Cooper still blames the Democrats, and spins some implausible scenarios in which the immigration bill comes out of committee and doesn’t get completely perverted by floor amendments and conference committee. I kinda wonder if he’s been watching the way that Congress actually works under the Republicans.
• Cooper asks a good question here, though: “Where is the backlash?“
• The Citizens point out media bias in photo selection and cropping. Nifty.
• janinsanfran has photos from today’s immigration press event.

Down With Tyranny holds its nose and links to Howard Kaloogian’s most recent fund raising appeal in his campaign for Randy Cunningham’s vacated congressional seat in CA-50.

I won’t link directly to Kaloogian’s document for fear of contamination.

Kaloogian is a puzzle to me. He is either a right wing nut case with little conception of the real issues in this country; OR his is a tool of right wing puppet masters who want to make sure that the real issues in this country are kept hidden from its citizens.

Frankly, I don’t care into which of the two categories Kaloogian falls.  In either case he is a dangerous politician.

Kaloogian tars anyone who disagrees with his position, any position held by the extreme neo-con right or King George Bush as a “liberal.” That is the worst criticism that members of Kaloogian’s cult can come up with to use against an opponent. And, it is the one word that so scares the far right-wingers who support politicians like Kaloogian that they will immediately write a check to his campaign.

The fact that more than 60% of Americans disagree with President Bush’s policies and direction for the country means nothing to Kaloogian. All those people are either “liberals” or the victim of “liberal media lies.”

Kaloogian wants to make sure that the ultra-rich and big corporations avoid paying taxes. He has no problems with “earmarks” as a form of corporate welfare or as a means of rewarding campaign contributors. Kaloogian has no real coherent political position. He can only define himself by what he is against, not by any policies or positions that he advocates.

He has no interest in the issues that are important to the people living in California’s 50th Congressional District. He has no position on education. He has no position on lobbyist reform. He has no position on the environment. He has no position on transportation policy. He has no position on senior drug benefits. He has no position on support for military veterans.

Kaloogian’s most recent political positions have been against the United Nations, against national politicians who disagree with George Bush and against the concept of a free press telling the truth to Americans.

As I said, Kaloogian is either the willing tool of the American hating extremist on the right wing fringe of our society or he is one of the leaders of these fringe extremists. Take your pick.