Gropenator Ahnold

Is doing at least one thing right, pushing California to be green. The recent California fires:

...to Linda Adams, who heads California's Environmental Protection Agency, it is only a sign of things to come.

"We can expect a lot more of this. More fires, more drought. This is global warming," says Ms Adams.

While the administration of President George W Bush has been accused of wilfully ignoring climate change, the State of California has already taken unilateral action.

[snip]

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has charged Ms Adams with implementing what she calls "the most comprehensive law in the world to reduce greenhouse gas emissions".

She is referring to Assembly Bill 32 (AB32), or the Global Warming Solutions Act, passed last year by California's Democratic-led assembly, with the backing of the governor, a Republican.

[snip]

The legislation obliges California to cut emissions back to 1990 levels by 2020. Work has begun on quantifying the level of emissions, after which a cap will be enforced, and industries will be able to buy and sell permits allowing a certain amount of pollution.

[snip]

While California's law has yet to be implemented fully, it is already being used as a template for nationwide action that American environmentalists hope will turn their country from a laggard on climate change, to a leader.

Fabian Nunez, the speaker of California's state parliament, says that was exactly the intention.

"If you look at Congress and the White House you would think that climate change is not a big issue with Americans, but that is false. The growing awareness about climate change across America has been incredible," he says.

"The intent for us when we passed AB32 was not only our commitment to California; there is a sense of state activism.

"When you look around and see that our president has essentially turned a blind eye to the issue of climate change, it raises a lot of concerns. So we wanted to help put the pressure on the federal government, and we think that's worked quite well thus far.

Update: Other things Ahnold is not doing so well.

Cookie Jill from skippy the bush kangaroo:

gov. seeks to cut mental services for homeless

a nationally lauded program that has helped thousands of mentally ill homeless men and women break the cycle of psychiatric hospitalization, jail time and street life is now on gov. arnold schwarzenegger's list of budget cuts.