In a season of wild stories, here's the next one: Governor Arnold is facing a recall, just as his state is falling apart and some crucial healthcare bills are waiting to be signed. This new threat to his term opens a window of opportunity to push some of those bills through.

He's got no one to blame but himself.  There's a ridiculous case of budget gridlock hitting California right now...the budget is historically late, key bills are stalled, the most vulnerable among us are threatened, and there is not a single Republican willing to support the budget proposed by either Republican Governor Schwarzenegger or the legislative Dems.  

Into this tinderbox, the California Correctional Peace Officers Association (CCPOA) has just thrown a match.  They've started the process to recall Arnold Schwarzenegger, an accidental governor who assumed office when his processor was recalled.

There's more...

Maybe I'm seeing things too optimistic, but stepping back from the details of the healthcare reform movement, and looking at the big national trends, there is reason to hope that the movement in California for guaranteed healthcare will lead the nation along a path to progress.

Obviously in many ways the situation is different...labor unions are stronger in California than they are nationally, (and led the way in defeating the insurance industry-backed fake healthcare reform bill offered last year by Arnold Schwarzenneger and former Speaker Fabian Nunez), and the healthcare grassroots might be more developed as well.

But the underlying economics are the same...workers, families, employers and the state budget alike are all being crushed by out-of-control costs for insurance premiums, deductibles, and co-pays, all for a service that places us last in the industrialized world, and to subsidize a health insurance industry that plays no role in the delivery of patient care.

So let's just take a look at the evidence that suggests California is leading the nation:

There's more...

Disclaimer: I volunteer as the Netroots Outreach Coordinator for the Mary Pallant Campaign

Mary Pallant's campaign (which I have written about here, here, here and elsewhere) got a big new boost today: the endorsement of progressive CA State Senator Sheila Kuehl.

There's more...

It's must see TV for the nurses and patients, as they vlog their famous invasion of the Capitol last week to kickoff the campaign against a bad healthcare deal concocted in California by an unholy alliance of Governor Arnold, the legislature and the big insurance corporations.  The movement for guaranteed healthcare and nurse power is heating up around the country...take a look!

...cross-posted at the National Nurses Organizing Committee/California Nurses Association's Breakroom Blog, as we organize to make 2007 the Year of GUARANTEED healthcare on the single-payer model.

There's more...

The UAW's strike against GM is not just about their members' healthcare...but also about the healthcare of millions of people not represented by a powerful union.  We'll look at the potential impact of this historic strike and what it means for workers and the nation that is healthcare increasingly becoming the central issue for labor, both in bargaining and activism...

...cross-posted at the National Nurses Organizing Committee/California Nurses Association's Breakroom Blog, as we organize to make 2007 the Year of GUARANTEED healthcare on the single-payer model.

There's more...