Governor Paterson's favorite person in New York these days is probably Hiram Monserrate, the former New York State Senator whose political path has gone from switching parties to an assault conviction to expulsion from the Senate to campaigning for his old seat. Monserrate is a walking distraction, at least until Election Day tomorrow. (more...)

video California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was on ABC's “This Week” hosted by Terry Moran and dismissed the Tea Party movement. "The Tea Party is not going to go anywhere,” Schwarzenegger told Moran. “I think the Tea Party is all about just an expression of anger and dissatisfaction.” (more...)

Twitterers around the world are going nuts over a letter from Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to the California State Legislature -- and it's not as though they've all suddenly become state politics wonks.

No, they're focused on the left hand column of the letter, which vetoes a fairly obscure legislative finance provision. If you read the first letter of each line, it pretty unmistakably spells out "F*** You." (more...)

A new law in California will allow residents of the state to sue any media outlet that first publishes a picture that violates a "reasonable expectation of privacy" or was taken forcibly. The amendment, which goes into effect in January, makes it a crime to photograph celebrities in a "personal or familial activity," and introduces civil fines of up to $50,000. (more...)

video Over at Gossip Cop, a new video clip has surfaced of the First Lady of California, Maria Shriver, politely yet effectively dismissing a nagging paparazzo. The cameraman confronts Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's wife and son at the mall, calling himself a "big fan" before urging that Shriver "talk some sense into her husband." In a terse response Shriver says that she respects the freedom of the press before shooting back, "I think you can do better than this, okay?" and carrying on with her day. Check out the clip below: (more...)

Fox News, 9:53amET: This is the kind of chyron with a backstory. For those who didn't catch it yesterday, or aren't on Twitter, here's what you see: The governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, holding an enormous knife. Then the lower third has the news he's telling his "Twitter critics" to "take a joke." What? (more...)

While the freedom of the press guaranteed by the First Amendment has never been successfully challenged politically, it is now being challenged economically:  as a practical matter, the press is not so free.

In the hard new priorities of news management, dwindling resources struggle to keep coverage alive on essential routine beats, while the public-interest side of the business — investigative journalism,  the very heart and soul of journalism — is being unforgivably squeezed in the face of fiscal realities. (more...)