Wow, did Gov. Arnold really do this?

[JasonEvans]

You folks have got to read this (http://tinyurl.com/yz7p89x). Warning, it contains a curse commonly referred to as "The F-word." If you cannot stand reading that word, do not click on the link.

I hesitate to post this, fearing it may turn into a debate on CA politics and their controversial governor, but I have to know if folks think the above linked note from the Governor was intentional or an accident.

--Jason "wow... just wow" Evans

P.S. - I had to create a fake tinyurl just to get the link to work through the DBR language filters.

[OZZIE4DUKE]

That's funny.

[YourLandlord]

Bravo!

Although, it should be noted there is a line above that, that says "I am returning..."

So, in reality, it says "I *&^% you"

And since it's going to San Francisco, maybe it was meant as a compliment?

[moonpie23]

Goooo!!! Get to da choppa !! Nowwww !!!

[bigj4194]

that's fantastic.

[JasonEvans]

So, do you folks think it was intentional?

While I find it more than a little amusing, I am not sure I want my elected officials resorting to juvenile stuff like this.

OTOH, who hasn't wanted to say @#^@!#^ You!! to a bunch of politicians lately?

--Jason "I think it was an accident... it just has to be" Evans

[allenmurray]

So, do you folks think it was intentional?

While I find it more than a little amusing, I am not sure I want my elected officials resorting to juvenile stuff like this.

OTOH, who hasn't wanted to say @#^@!#^ You!! to a bunch of politicians lately?

--Jason "I think it was an accident... it just has to be" Evans

I think it was intentional. The wording of the letter seemed unnatural and forced, like they were trying to get something to fit. At first I thought it was pretty funny - then I rememberd that we have 24/7 news shows and a very media-saavy generation of kids, and I'm still old-fashioned enough to think that adults should try to set examples for children.

Here is a great scenario - the gov. goes to speak to a school group somewhere and a clever middle school student will ask him about it. The student will stands up at the school assembly and says, "Gov. - why did you say '^&%# you' in a letter you wrote"? Then the student gets suspended from school for using foul language in school.

My guess is that soon a staff memeber will take responsibility and swear that the governor knew nothing about it. He/she will be reprimanded and the whole thing will go away.

[BD80]

So, do you folks think it was intentional?

While I find it more than a little amusing, I am not sure I want my elected officials resorting to juvenile stuff like this.

OTOH, who hasn't wanted to say @#^@!#^ You!! to a bunch of politicians lately?

--Jason "I think it was an accident... it just has to be" Evans

My money is on a spoof. I think I have seen something similar.

[allenmurray]

My money is on a spoof. I think I have seen something similar.

I think it has been established that the letter is genuine. The question is intentional vs. coincidence.

[JasonEvans]

My guess is that soon a staff memeber will take responsibility and swear that the governor knew nothing about it. He/she will be reprimanded and the whole thing will go away.

Yup, and I think that is what actually happened. Regardless of what I think about his leadership, there is just no way The Governator knew about this or approved it.

--Jason

[DevilAlumna]

Well, it's on this site:

http://gov.ca.gov/pdf/press/2009bills/AB1176_Ammiano_Veto_Message.pdf

I have a hard time believing a spoofer has a plant in the state government web site team.

[YourLandlord]

So, do you folks think it was intentional?

While I find it more than a little amusing, I am not sure I want my elected officials resorting to juvenile stuff like this.

OTOH, who hasn't wanted to say @#^@!#^ You!! to a bunch of politicians lately?

--Jason "I think it was an accident... it just has to be" Evans

Read the second comment, posted by the author --

"UPDATE: Aaron McLear from the governor's press office just called. When I asked him if the "(redacted) You" message was intentional, all he would say was "what a strange coincidence." He was clearly being sarcastic.

Tweedle, that pretty much confirms it -- these guys knew exactly what they were doing."

[77devil]

Given the regular vitriol between the Governor's office and the legislature, I believe it was intentionally devised by staff and fully disclosed to the Governor who chose to sign it. He's term limited with a year and a few months left in office. The infighting has been this hostile.

[JasonEvans]

Read the second comment, posted by the author --

"UPDATE: Aaron McLear from the governor's press office just called. When I asked him if the "(redacted) You" message was intentional, all he would say was "what a strange coincidence." He was clearly being sarcastic.

Tweedle, that pretty much confirms it -- these guys knew exactly what they were doing."

That update was not there when I first posted this. Thanks.

Wow-- that really lowers my opinion of Ahnold. Coded swears are the stuff of 5th graders, not folks responsible for one of the largest and most important economies in the world.

--Jason "really patetic" Evans

[budwom]

I know from very personal experience that this "first letter of a line" trick is at the very least 45 years old, and probably much older. It led to a pretty sensational series of events at my school in Wallingford, CT, and anyone who was there during that timeframe remembers it as if it were yesterday.

[JasonEvans]

I know from very personal experience that this "first letter of a line" trick is at the very least 45 years old, and probably much older. It led to a pretty sensational series of events at my school in Wallingford, CT, and anyone who was there during that timeframe remembers it as if it were yesterday.

Details, please.

-JE

[YourLandlord]

I know from very personal experience that this "first letter of a line" trick is at the very least 45 years old, and probably much older. It led to a pretty sensational series of events at my school in Wallingford, CT, and anyone who was there during that timeframe remembers it as if it were yesterday.

Tweet the deets, baby!

[DukieInKansas]

Wouldn't the letter have gone out on letterhead? It was interesting that the copy on the website didn't show the letterhead. I'd be curious to see that copy to see if the words still lined up that way.

[allenmurray]

Wouldn't the letter have gone out on letterhead? It was interesting that the copy on the website didn't show the letterhead. I'd be curious to see that copy to see if the words still lined up that way.

It depends on how they made the pdf. I think the statement from the governor's press office makes it clear that somebody (maybe not he governor himself) knew the deal. Innocent coincidence seems highly unlikely.

[YourLandlord]

Wouldn't the letter have gone out on letterhead? It was interesting that the copy on the website didn't show the letterhead. I'd be curious to see that copy to see if the words still lined up that way.

Cause they write a document in Word then print it on letterhead paper. When they make the .pdf directly from the Word document, there is no letterhead.

[budwom]

In a nutshell: I went to a very strict boarding school. Lots of rules, honor codes, traditions and the like.
A senior who wrote for the school newspaper wrote an unremarkable column about who knows what. Nothing of particular interest.
But he made the mistake of showing a friend in the dining hall what he had done, by circling the first letter of each paragraph with a pen.
It spelled out F**K and the school name.
One of the teachers found this lying on a table, and the proverbial jig was up. The senior, who had already been accepted at Yale, was tossed out, never to return, though he somehow managed to finally enroll at Yale.

All that was fairly standard stuff. Much administration huffing and puffing about the school's image, traditions, honor, etc, Not The Way We Do Things kind of talk. Then, to avoid further embarrassment, the headmaster and administration asked all 550 students to turn in their copies of the offending issue, so all evidence of this misadventure would be destroyed. As if it never happened.

Some copies were in fact returned, but hell, this was a collector's item, so a lot of people kept the issue.

So a few days later we had our Sunday chapel service (we had mandatory chapel seven days/week, which is why my churchgoing is now paid up for life) which usually lasted about an hour. For some reason, the principal speaker droned on and on, and the service lasted an unprecedented 90 minutes or more.

But there was a reason for this. While all of us were neatly tucked in chapel in our little sportcoats and ties, a dozen or so faculty members, and a dozen or so student lackeys, were sweeping through each and every room on campus (roughly 300 in total), opening every drawer, looking under every bed, snatching every copy of the paper they could find. Which was about all of them.

Of course, someone quickly discovered what had happened, and there was an understandable amount of outrage, given that traditions of trust and honor didn't usually allow for faculty burglary, at least in our minds. Lots of very angry kids for quite some time.

But what was especially funny was that the faculty burglars and their running dog student compatriots took the 400 or so issues of the paper they found....and threw them in the dumpster in the basement of the dining hall where they were quickly discovered and re-distributed by the student body.

All in all this was a much bigger deal than the time the headmaster's pet otter killed the school physician's dachshund (I actually saw this happen), and that was a fairly big deal, too.

[DukeUsul]

Can I pust a DREADED HUFFPO article without this getting flagged as PPB content? I hope so.


FOUL LANGUAGE WARNING AHEAD
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/27/schwarzenegger-sends-lawm_n_336319.html

According to the sources in the story, the gov's office has had a history of these first letter coded messages. Definitely not a coincidence.

[YourLandlord]

Can I pust a DREADED HUFFPO article without this getting flagged as PPB content? I hope so.


FOUL LANGUAGE WARNING AHEAD
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/27/schwarzenegger-sends-lawm_n_336319.html

According to the sources in the story, the gov's office has had a history of these first letter coded messages. Definitely not a coincidence.

...of course, when you send out dozens of memos, there's a good chance some of them will *happen* to have 3 and 4 letter words spelled out by pure coincidence.

Of course this case was (hilariously) intentional, but no need to make it something more than it was.

Unless, over the course of his entire reign, he has written a book based on words from the first letters of his memos. That would be epic.

[YourLandlord]

All in all this was a much bigger deal than the time the headmaster's pet otter killed the school physician's dachshund (I actually saw this happen), and that was a fairly big deal, too.

Holy !!!!.

[budwom]

And slightly more of a brouhaha than the time Pren C. went to the baseball field (equipped with the really old kind of scoreboard ) and stuck a distinct part of his anatomy thru the opening labeled "balls," just as a faculty wife and her toddler ambled by. Laughs all the way around...

[Indoor66]

Can I pust a DREADED HUFFPO article without this getting flagged as PPB content? I hope so.

I figured and hoped that HuffPo (and other highly partisan blogs - and links thereto) material would disappear from this board with the demise of the PPB. I guess not. :( :mad:

[Duvall]

I figured and hoped that HuffPo (and other highly partisan blogs - and links thereto) material would disappear from this board with the demise of the PPB. I guess not. :( :mad:

If your web browser requires you to open every link on the page, it's probably time to download a new one.

[Indoor66]

If your web browser requires you to open every link on the page, it's probably time to download a new one.

Nice.

[g_olaf]

So, do you folks think it was intentional?

While I find it more than a little amusing, I am not sure I want my elected officials resorting to juvenile stuff like this.

OTOH, who hasn't wanted to say @#^@!#^ You!! to a bunch of politicians lately?

--Jason "I think it was an accident... it just has to be" Evans

Not sent to "a bunch" of politicians, but one in particular. San Francisco Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, who authored the bill.

And Ammiano isn't just any politician... He's a former stand-up comic, who, when Arnold dropped in at a bay area gathering last month, told the governor that he could "kiss my gay a--".

BTW, Ammiano laughed off the whole thing.

[g_olaf]

I figured and hoped that HuffPo (and other highly partisan blogs - and links thereto) material would disappear from this board with the demise of the PPB. I guess not. :( :mad:

Do you want a link from the San Francisco Chronicle (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/10/27/MNBN1ABKB8.DTL&type=politics&tsp=1)?

[HaveFunExpectToWin]

What a great story. The reaction by Ammiano's staff is good too. No need to get all fake offended.

I'd like to think that Arnold came up with it, but I doubt it. It would be best had he delivered the veto in person much like in this NSFW clip.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inTRblYTevk

Arnie movies never get old to me.

Edit - or this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4EQG08N0vY&NR=1 or this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeV-DI09Q3w&feature=related

[Wheat/"/"/"]

Wow-- that really lowers my opinion of Ahnold...


Would actually raise my opinion of Ahnold...(but I doubt he ever saw it and a staffer probably wrote it).

Of course, it would be my nature to just write out the code horizontaly and spare the small talk with a SF politician ;)

[Jim3k]

Would actually raise my opinion of Ahnold...(but I doubt he ever saw it and a staffer probably wrote it).

Of course, it would be my nature to just write out the code horizontaly and spare the small talk with a SF politician ;)

Easy Big Fellah! Ammiano is pretty smart and savvy no matter what your political persuasion might be. He's generally open to his constituents and is a policy wonk on top of being a moderately decent comedian. I'm pretty sure you'd enjoy talking to him. Most everyone does.

And Arnold is now a lame duck, so aside from the veto pen, his power is short.

What the state needs is someone to begin a constitutional re-write. Arnold could be interested, but he's not. Ammiano might actually play a role in such an endeavor. He's definitely a good government politician.

[Wheat/"/"/"]

Easy Big Fellah! Ammiano is pretty smart and savvy no matter what your political persuasion might be. He's generally open to his constituents and is a policy wonk on top of being a moderately decent comedian. I'm pretty sure you'd enjoy talking to him. Most everyone does.

And Arnold is now a lame duck, so aside from the veto pen, his power is short.

What the state needs is someone to begin a constitutional re-write. Arnold could be interested, but he's not. Ammiano might actually play a role in such an endeavor. He's definitely a good government politician.

I'll take your word for it, because I really don't follow Cal politics and have no idea who Ammiano is...But I do know Pelosi is a SF gal and am not a fan...note the ;) back there at any rate:)

[YourLandlord]

I'll take your word for it, because I really don't follow Cal politics and have no idea who Ammiano is...But I do know Pelosi is a SF gal and am not a fan...note the ;) back there at any rate:)

Ammiano told the Governor of his state to "kiss my gay as*"

so he's got that going for him. which is nice.

[Wheat/"/"/"]

SoJason, you're tellin' me he's got spunk in the trunk?:)

[Tom B.]

But I do know Pelosi is a SF gal and am not a fan...



At the risk of taking this further in the direction of a PPB discussion....

To be accurate, Pelosi isn't a "SF gal" -- she's a Baltimore gal who moved to San Francisco. Her political roots are in Maryland, not California. Her father, Thomas D'Alesandro, Jr., was a Maryland congressman for eight years and later mayor of Baltimore for 12 years, and her brother, Thomas D'Alesandro III, also was a mayor of Baltimore.

[bigj4194]

Here's Ahhhhnold's response from the white house
http://www.politico.com/politico44/perm/1009/arnold_total_coincidence_af8d9fb8-4854-435c-adc5-77e9044eb284.html

[Wheat/"/"/"]

At the risk of taking this further in the direction of a PPB discussion....

To be accurate, Pelosi isn't a "SF gal" -- she's a Baltimore gal who moved to San Francisco. Her political roots are in Maryland, not California. Her father, Thomas D'Alesandro, Jr., was a Maryland congressman for eight years and later mayor of Baltimore for 12 years, and her brother, Thomas D'Alesandro III, also was a mayor of Baltimore.

I learn something new every day around here...thx

[2535Miles]

While I find it more than a little amusing, I am not sure I want my elected officials resorting to juvenile stuff like this.

Tis a tad bit late to worry about elected officials resorting to juvenile stuff.
At least we don't throw punches in Congress. Take your pick. (http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Parliament+fight&search_type=&aq=f)

[DukieInKansas]

Tis a tad bit late to worry about elected officials resorting to juvenile stuff.
At least we don't throw punches in Congress. Take your pick. (http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Parliament+fight&search_type=&aq=f)

Yet.

[2535Miles]

Yet.
It's congress, not the PPB. ;)

[DukieInKansas]

It's congress, not the PPB. ;)

With the members of Congress being in closer proximity to each other than the members of the form PPB were, I'd bet on them throwing the first punch. ;)

[Tom B.]

At least we don't throw punches in Congress.


Well, at least not in the last 153 years. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Sumner#Antebellum_career_and_attack_by_Pre ston_Brooks)



(Maybe the Senate chamber needs one of those OSHA-type workplace safety signs that says, "Days since this workplace has experienced a lost-time incident: 56,045.")

[BD80]

Well, at least not in the last 153 years. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Sumner#Antebellum_career_and_attack_by_Pre ston_Brooks)

(Maybe the Senate chamber needs one of those OSHA-type workplace safety signs that says, "Days since this workplace has experienced a lost-time incident: 56,045.")

Wouldn't that actually be 13,344 days in session since a lost-time incident?

One of the few intentions of the founding fathers that has been honored, nay cherished: legislators treating their duties as a part-time job.