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It always amazes us that relationships can completely fall apart, when on the surface, it appears to be a complete fairytale story. Arnold and Maria were the original odd couple. Kennedy Camelot and German Bomb Shelter Guard meeting somewhere on the margins of society. In 1986, Arnold was Pumping Iron, doing steroids and marijuana in Santa Monica on Muscle Beach. Maria was a legacy news reporter and media mover interviewer. This relationship seemed doomed from the start. Everyone thought Maria just wanted Arnold for his body. Everyone else thought Arnold wanted Maria for Entertainment Tonight and media access.
The years came and went and they had beautiful kids…..they had a beautiful home. Arnold proved that with a little access and credibility an Average Arnold could do absolutely wonderful things. His action movies skyrocketed family resources and m0ney. His support of the Special Olympics, no matter whose idea was brilliant. Arnold’s concept to edge into politics at the margins of Liberal Republicanism was a master stroke considering the fact that Maria was considered a heir apparent Democratic icon as the death of John John Kennedy cut like a knife into the Kennedy mystique. Arnold enjoyed rabid discussions on holidays with Ted Kennedy and the rest.
The timing couldn’t be any better when Gray Davis “screwed the pooch” in California and became the target of a recall effort which allowed Arnold to step up to the plate and make his mark to be political in addition to a giant Action Movie money maker. There were those at first that thought he couldn’t do it….that he was just another empty headed movie star that needed everything written down for him before he could perform. Maria stepped up and added the heart and soul of the “women’s vote” when she stated without equivocation that “Arnold was the man!” Don’t forget that this came right in the middle of several accusations by former movie females that they were groped and grabbed without tripidation by “The Arnold”! The charges were that “The Gropenator” was not worthy to be the next Governor of California. That tag line didn’t hang on when the votes came in.
Then came his first election and recall: Beating the likes of Carlos Bustamonte and Mary Cary (the soft porn star) – Gray Davis was recalled and the Austrian from Graz became Governor of California. His first thought was to join hands, sign Kum-By-Ya and move California out of debt and overspending. Then came the fires, the earthquakes, the mudslides and the floods. Arnold did very well in front of the camera, standing with the first responders in his many assorted Eisenhower jackets with various messages. Arnold did good. Maria was working like crazy behind the scenes on the women’s issues and supported “The Arnold” every step of the way.
When the “Save our State Initiatives” failed at the polls and were defeated soundly by the Employee Unions, Liberal Democrats and Moderate Republicans Arnold got depressed. He hired a Democrat as his Aid-de-Camp and more or less found out how duplicitous, misrepresenting and brutal “The Real Politics of California” really are. After than Arnold just hung on, smoking his cigars, drinking his brandy and becoming more and more bored every day until he walked away from the Governor’s Mansion of the mind……and let Downtown Jerry Brown take the seat of power.
It didn’t take long for Arnold to realize that being a retired Governor of California is not exactly makings for a steady seat on Meet the Press or Face the Nation. Arnold should have asked Pete Wilson and Gray Davis…. but he wouldn’t have believed them anyway. Maria tried to be understanding, but Arnold just couldn’t let that big beautiful ego of his grasp that “starting over from scratch” is what has to happen after Governor. The movie deals were not exactly jumping off the page and Maria wasn’t quite ready to go back to the days of 5 Hummers in the driveway, 50 stuntmen partying in the back house and the smell of cigars and brandy everywhere! Arnold needed to grow up and into doing for others rather than doing totally for himself.
In the words of Mel Brooks: “It’s good to be King!” Sorry our dear Arnold we love…..King no more! After 25 years of great accomplishments, the time has come for Arnold to “get a grip”. Arnold cannot any longer be “The Star”…..he needs most to be “The Statesman”. Arnold needs to grow up just a little. Not much you understand. He needs to keep his odd-ball sense of humor and he needs to keep having fun with first responders. Most of all however, “The Arnold” needs to do what he can to help Governor Brown unravel the debted State of California! This is not the time to dip his cigar into the brandy, lean back in high back chair and ask for more dancing girls. Arnold needs to become if nothing else…..a spectatular dad. A spectatular roll model for kids around the country. A motivated and dedicated moral force for good.
The sad tale of Maria and Arnold will eventually come out in excruciating detail. Our hearts go out to the entire family. Arnold took a dollar a year to be our Governor of California. He did a more than adequate job replacing Gray Davis. Arnold represented our state with class. No major flip flops or moral dilemmas occured on his watch. Oh sure, he could have done better……but name just one former Governor that couldn’t have done better – as well.
We wish Maria and Arnold great things in the future……they made us proud and we are saddened that their relationship has taken this serious turn of events.
“Arnold represented our state with class”…….. Hmmmm
I wonder which class was it but it wasn’t a middle one for sure.
The guy is a looser, including his muscles and testosterone.
You can’t use iron to pump up the brain unless you will use it the adverse way.
The menopausal crises is the only a life left for Arnold the girlie-man who was terrified by unions.
Wouldn’t be surprised if he would be found, during his filming of the Terminator, in the David Carradine’s closet erotically asphyxiated.
The BUMPER:
Tiger Woods is a very bad man.
*So glad to see the “Unusual Suspects” make their intelligent comments on the state of human affairs. Thank God they don’t do anything to protect Dogs and Kitties.
By the way, Nancy Sinatra was never Governor of California….Harry Lime…never! She did know Sam Giancana however! Did you know Sam too?
“Nancy Sinatra was never Governor of California”……….. Hmmmmm
Did I ever implied that she was?………
Listen to the lyric Ron!…… That is why the songs are sang for.
“The timing couldn’t be any better when Gray Davis “screwed the pooch” in California and became the target of a recall effort which allowed Arnold to step up to the plate and make his mark to be political in addition to a giant Action Movie money maker.”
What REALLY went down;
From Armed Madhouse, Greg Palast’s
“…….Peninsula Hotel, Beverly Hills. May 17, 2001. The Financial Criminal of the twentieth century, not long out of prison, meets with the Financial Criminal of the twenty-first century who feared he may also have to do hard time. These two, bond-market manipulator Mike Milken and Ken Lay, not-yet-indicted Chairman of Enron Corporation, were joined by a selected group of movers and shakers — and one movie star.
Lay, who convened the hugger-mugger, was in a bit of trouble. Enron and the small oligopoly of other companies that ruled California’s electricity system had been caught jacking up the price of power and gas by fraud, conspiracy and manipulation. A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon it was real money – $6.3 billion in suspect windfalls in just six months, May through December 2000, for a half-dozen electricity buccaneers, at least $9 billion for the year. Their skim would have been higher but the tricksters thought they were limited by the number of digits the state’s power-buying computers could read.
When Ken met Arnold in the hotel room, the games were far from over. For example , in June 2003, Reliant Corporation of Houston simply turned off several power plants, and when California cities faced going dark, the company sold them a pittance of kilowatts for more than gold, making several million in minutes.
Power-market shenanigans were nothing new in 2000. What was new was the response of Governor Gray Davis. A normally quiet, if not dull, man, this Governor had the temerity to call the energy sellers “pirates ” — in public! — and, even more radically, he asked them to give back all the ill-gotten loot, the entire $9 billion. The state filed a regulatory complaint with the federal government.
The Peninsula Hotel get-together was all about how to “settle” the legal actions in such a way that Enron and friends could get the state to accept dog food instead of dollars. Davis seemed unlikely to see things Ken’s way. Life would be so much better if California had a governor like the muscle guy in the Speedos.
And so it came to pass that, in 2003, quiet Gray Davis, who had the cojones to stand up to the electricity barons, was thrown out of office by the voters and replaced by the tinker-toy tough guy. The Governator performed as desired. Soon after Schwarzenegger took over from Davis, he signed off on a series of deals with Reliant, Williams Company, Dynegy, Entergy and the other power pirates for ten to twenty cents on the dollar, less than you’d tip the waitress. Enron paid just about nothing.”
Seriously, What did you expect?
For seven years, Arnold lived Monday through Thursday (seldom on Fridays) in a Hotel in Sacramento, away from his family. Thats about 1,500 nights away from ones wife and kids.
This is NOT how you keep a marriage together.
They are Full of shit first of all, his charachter has been exposed, he is a managed personality. Second of all, if he wasn’t so egotistical he would have moved the family to Sacramento or declined the temptation to run for Governor.
But, like most humans he couldn’t resist the tempation.
Most interesting is Willie brown’s 2004 comment about Schwartzneegers housing choice:
POLITICAL AND MARITAL SUICIDE.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=te9fqm6rUPY
Harry Lime….please listen to the words of this song……it is your theme and you should
take credit for it. If you get the time….rent the movie….and you can figure out the rest.
Interesting!
*
Anonster……whoa…..great urban legend stuff there. It is so plausible we almost can buy it.
The major problem with your scenario is: Key Lay and Jeff Skillings were already in bed with
George the 1st…..for over 8 years before the neophyte “The Swarts” raised his head. The big money came from all over the State however. Much came from out of state no doubt…..because with Gray sitting in the catbird seat in California….there was a very good chance he would be running against Young George the 43rd when he came up for re-election and may have actually pulled it off…if it hadn’t been for 911, Ken Lay and Jeff Skillings piling that big money into George’s Campaign….as you say.
The problem with all these conspiracy theories is: They are theories! We need documented testimony from the likes of Bernie Madoff and other very credible sources. How about asking Jeff Skillings himself. Maybe Sirhan Sirhan can join in the discussion group.
At any rate, thanks for your thoughts……they are stimulating, if yet just another unproven conspiracy theory!
Winships;
Enron Emails Show Arnold Agreed with Lay
by medleysoul, Fri Aug 11, 2006 at 10:59:29 AM EDT
read it easier here: http://www.thepacificpeace.blogspot.com/
see the dkos comments here: http://medleysoul.dailykos.com/
These e-mails show that, during the California Energy Crisis, Arnold:
1. Met with Ken Lay.
2. Was lobbied to end the investigation into Enron.
3. Agreed with Ken Lay’s solutions.
To find these emails for yourselves,
1. Go to http://fercic.aspensys.com/… and sign in
2. Bubble the “Enron Email (.pst)” option and click “open selected database.”
3. The names of the 2 emails to search for are “CEO meeting update” and “Materials Ken Lay Used.” Also, click on the attachments links in the emails.
Karen Denne was the Vice President of Public Relations for Enron. Jeff Dasovich was Enron’s Director for State Government Affairs. Arnold didn’t sign the letter because days after the meeting, a sf gate article came out exposing the meeting. I don’t know how to bold so I’ll capitalize all the important parts.
THE CEOs WOULD BE WILLING TO SIGN IT____IT’S IMPORTANT TO KEEP ENRON OUT OF THE PICTURE___ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER – PRESIDENT, OAK PRODUCTIONS ____ A “BACKGROUNDER” PROVIDED TO THE BUSINESS LEADERS THAT KEN LAY MET WITH LAST WEEK ____DON’T MAKE MATTERS WORSE…COUNTLESS INVESTIGATIONS INTO ALLEGATIONS THAT SUPPLIERS MANIPULATED POWER PRICES
FROM : Karen Denne
TO : Steven J Kean, Richard Shapiro, James D Steffes, Janel Guerrero, Mark Palmer, Susan J Mara, Sandra McCubbin, Paul Kaufman
CC : Jeff Dasovich
SUBJECT :CEO Meeting Update
DATE = 05/21/2001 00:54:00 GMT
ATTACHMENT =
00000000B0B613B606DAD611826300065B5E8D32 448F2400.#1.LACEOMeeting.doc
00000000B0B613B606DAD611826300065B5E8D32 448F2400.#2.SFCEOMeeting.doc
MESSAGEID :
00000000B0B613B606DAD611826300065B5E8D32 448F2400
BODY :
The CEO meetings on Thursday went very well, and we had great turnout.
Attached is a final list of who Ken met with and a list of who we invited.
The takeaway from both meetings was to draft a letter outlining our
five-point solution proposal, and the CEOs WOULD BE WILLING TO SIGN IT and
send to the governor and legislators. Jeff and I drafted the letter and will
finalize and send it to the CEOs on Monday. I also think we ought to
consider placing full-page ads with the letter and enlisting some of the CEOs
to attend editorial boards. At this point, IT’S IMPORTANT TO KEEP ENRON OUT OF THE PICTURE. We’ll route the letter when it’s finalized. kd
Los Angeles CEO Meeting
May 17, 2001
Attendees
Mayor Richard Riordan
Eric Moses – Assistant Deputy Mayor
Kevin Sharer – Chairman & CEO, Amgen Inc.
Sarah Jensen – Vice President of Engineering and Operations, Amgen Inc.
Ray Irani – Chairman & CEO, Occidental Petroleum Corp.
Robert Day – Chairman, CEO & Managing Director, The TCW Group
Selim Zilkha – former CEO, Zilkha Energy
Tom Patterson – Partner, Sidley & Austin
Robert Sinnott – Senior Managing Director and Chief Investment Officer, Kayne Anderson Investment Management, LLC
ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER – PRESIDENT, OAK PRODUCTIONS
Bruce Karatz – Chairman, President & CEO, Kaufman & Broad
Michael Milken – President, Foundation of the Milken Families
Ken Lombard – President, Magic Johnson Theaters & Johnson Development
FROM: Jeff Dasovich
TO: Sandra McCubbin, Susan J Mara
DATE = 05/21/2001
TIME : 11:00:00 GMT
SUBJECT : Materials Ken Lay Used
ATTACHMENT =
00000000B0B613B606DAD611826300065B5E8D32 C4912400.#1.California Electricity Solution 0510.doc
00000000B0B613B606DAD611826300065B5E8D32 C4912400.#2.California solution0516.ppt
MESSAGEID :
00000000B0B613B606DAD611826300065B5E8D32 C4912400
BODY :
—– Forwarded by Jeff Dasovich/NA/Enron on 05/21/2001 10:56 AM —–
Jeff Dasovich
Sent by: Jeff Dasovich
05/21/2001 10:17 AM
To: Linda Robertson/NA/Enron@ENRON, Richard Shapiro/NA/Enron@Enron,
skean@enron.com, Janel Guerrero/Corp/Enron@Enron, Paul
Kaufman/Enron@EnronXGate, Daniel Allegretti/NA/Enron@Enron, Howard
Fromer/NA/Enron@Enron, Susan M Landwehr/NA/Enron@Enron, mpalmer@enron.com,
James D Steffes/NA/Enron@Enron
cc:
Subject:
On the call on Friday, Linda asked if we could distribute materials
developed/used recently in California regarding the crisis and solutions to
try to resolve it. ATTACHED ARE:
A “BACKGROUNDER” PROVIDED TO THE BUSINESS LEADERS THAT KEN LAY MET WITH LAST WEEK.
A power point presentation that is a “higher level” discussion of the more
detailed “backgrounder.”
If I missed anyone, please forward along. If anyone has any questions, give
me a call at 415.782.7822.
Best,
Jeff
Comprehensive Solution for California
The key components:
– Increase supply–California must build more power plants
– Decrease demand–California must get prices right so consumers have financial incentives to conserve
– Make the utilities creditworthy–California’s electric rates must cover utility costs, past and future
– Get government out of the power-buying business–California has no expertise, the private sector does
– Get deregulation right this time–California needs a real electricity market, not government takeovers
1. Increase Supply
The Problem–Not enough supply to meet demand
– Unless new generation is built in California, there is no solution.
– Over the past decade, additions to California’s stock of power plants have been negligible
Growth in California for the period 1990-1999
Employment 12%
Population 16%
State economy 45%
Electronics and instruments industry 62%
Communications industry 80%
Natural gas use 6%
Electricity use 9%
Peak electric demand 15%
Peak demand in Silicon Valley (1996-2000) 33%
Power Generation Capacity 2%
The Solution–Build more power plants
– The Governor has taken some important first steps by using his executive powers to streamline plant siting
– According to the California Energy Commission, California has approved 13 power plants totaling 8,512 MWs
– California will need every one of those plants–and more–to dig itself out of its energy hole
– The Governor has also appointed a “supply czar” who’s sole mission is to ensure that the plants that receive permits don’t face unnecessary impediments during the construction phase
– If those plants don’t get built on, or ahead of, schedule, California’s energy crisis will persist
DON’T MAKE MATTERS WORSE
– Unfortunately, other actions taken by the California’s political leaders threaten to seriously discourage power plant investment in California. These actions include:
– Legislation that would 1) impose a “windfall profits” tax on power sold in California and 2) make it a felony to sell power at a price that California finds “unreasonable.”
– Continued calls for price controls in wholesale power markets–as every experience with price controls shows, price caps won’t lower electricity prices, they will only create shortages (“black outs”)
– COUNTLESS INVESTIGATIONS INTO ALLEGATIONS THAT SUPPLIERS MANIPULATED POWER PRICES
– Endless statements by California’s political leaders accusing power suppliers of criminal activity–and worse
– In this environment, it may not matter how many power plant approvals California rushes through the process, capital markets may simply refuse to invest
– The problem is exacerbated by the global shortage of turbines on the market. In the competition for scarce turbines, the actions and strong rhetoric of California’s political leaders have created a “anywhere but California” attitude among those who possess the turbines
– To get new power plants built, California must do everything it can to attract capital to the state
– The rhetoric and bad legislation–and the signal they both send to the capital markets–must end
Likely retort from advocates of investigations and high-pitched rhetoric
– “These bills (and the rhetoric) aren’t serious and likely won’t pass. They are merely a tactic to bring the suppliers to the bargaining table and get them to forgive a portion of the utilities’ debt.”
Response
– We have a legal system and a set of laws to address allegations of price manipulation.
– Allegations of manipulation should be addressed using the means available.
Every rhetorical statement and piece of bad legislation has two effects: 1) they create uncertainty in the markets, and uncertainty makes electricity prices go up; and 2) they incent capital markets to look outside of California to invest
– Both outcomes are hurting California–time and resources are better spent achieving a solution
The rest basically says that California must let rates rise and that it should reinstate direct access and stop purchasing energy for consumers.
When Taking the poll, don’t forget what Lay said, “In the final analysis, it doesn’t matter what you crazy people in California do, because I got smart guys who can always figure out how to make money.”
Sad.
He was a bad Governor, what makes you think he’d be a better Father or Husband?
*Anonster, good work there. When the numbers run up pass $100 Billion bucks in overcharges…..it does start to get your attention.
Didn’t we have an Attorney General at the time? Seems we never heard Tom McClintock screaming from the rafters to have the Attorney General chase the evil ones down. In fact,
the lack of “beeps” coming out of the California Legislature were defeaning. You could hear
a pin drop. We do recall….no pun intended, that Gray started making sounds like an old AG circa 1900 after he knew that he was headed for retirement in Sun City.
If in fact Arnold exhanged rings and made promises to Ken at these meetings…the most he could have gotten was Campaign Treasure. As a relative newcomer to California politics, Willie Brown or anyone else in charge would have laughed Arnold off the new found stage in record time. Arnold did not come in with a mandate. A demand for change….maybe….the very first TeaBag effort….if you would consider it was a bi or tri-partisan election effort….to rid our state of Gray.
At any rate, we commend you for your documentation and follow through. Excellent really!
Today Schwarzenegger publicly announced facts about his separation.
The BUMPER:
Can you do me a favor comrade Vern and change videos to this one:
Somehow it got screwed UP comrade Vern
Please remove the above two urls
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCZO9xeYA8g&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByL0AMdkRqs&feature=player_embedded
and insert new following one url
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6S9ecXWCBCc&feature=related
thanks
Heads up the Winships:
Looks like the ‘sweetheart deal” was over at least 10 years ago when The Governator banged a domestic employee. He’s had a secret son for years.