This article in the Times is fascinating. There are too many things to excerpt, so you're going to have to just trust me and read the whole thing.

Remember when I mentioned that some of the conversations I've had with my fellow Californians about the impending recall vote would make your damn head spin? No? Me neither. But, anyway, there's a great article (which can be found here) in the Village Voice about Rick Perlstein's recent visit to California to figure out this whole recall thing. Part of it involved picking people at random. Like this:

I move on to my next Republican. He has a company that sells roofing materials. When I ask him why he thinks Davis should be recalled, he echoes a criticism of Sacramento Bee columnist Dan Weintraub: that Davis counted on continued high stock-market returns while planning state employees' pension fund contributions. I observe this was a common enough mistake to make at the time. He returns a thoughtful retort—a conservative one, you might say: "You don't base your future on the high-rolling returns in the stock market. We all know that the stock market has ups and downs." I can't stop myself before I bait again—"So you're against things like putting social security money in the stock market?" I predict what his answer will be. Bingo: "No, I'm not against that at all. In fact I'm for that."

Luckily, he heard from some clearer-thinking people:

I flip on KFI, Southern California's "More Stimulating Talk Radio." Later this week in Sacramento, a recall campaign organizer will tell me that, since political parties are so organizationally weak these days, talk radio hosts are the modern-day equivalent of ward bosses. He courts them as one of the most important parts of any political campaign he runs. Here is how these particular ward bosses—KFI's notorious "John and Ken," John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou—are mobilizing his flock. I turn on my tape recorder as soon as I hear the word "treason." . . . that's what it's all about. When you heard it today, it all clicked; it's about allowing illegals to vote . . . They're talking about Davis's decision to sign a bill allowing undocumented immigrants to apply for drivers' licenses. The policy rationale is that since illegal immigrants are an economic necessity and a fact of life in California, and since you cannot survive in California without driving, Mexicans are driving so cautiously for fear of getting caught without a license that they constitute a safety hazard. The political rationale is winning the anti-recall votes of legal immigrants. John and Ken spy other motives. All these overeducated wienies at the Los Angeles Times, when are you going to ask about illegal aliens voting in U.S. elections, in California elections, with these drivers' licenses they're going to have . . . I pass a blonde woman in a black BMW convertible with the license plate LOVINLF. . . . Davis knows this. . . . That's the real plan, that's what they talk about when they are in their dark rooms at night. . . . Which explains, they have already noted, the goal of the Democrat running on the ballot to replace Davis: Bustamante is going to be running as the first governor of the northernmost province of Mexico. That's really what he's doing here. . . .

And then an elected official on the same topic:

I interviewed Dana Rohrabacher in his backyard—"my office" he says. He pours chardonnay, while telling me why he's supporting Arnold even though he's not as conservative as he would like. I mention the crazy conspiracy theory I heard on talk radio today. "They think it's so illegals can worm in there and vote." I'm nervous he'll think I'm trying to bait him into endorsing it. "Of course it is!" he shoots back, unabashed. "Our state is being overrun, and our country is being overrun." "By the way, illegal immigration is not just Mexico now," he volunteers, warming to the subject. "Just take a look at all the Chinatowns around the country. They're exploding in population. . . . They come in when they're sick so they can get free health care."

Dr. Hibbert: Why do we live in a place where the stupidest run everything and the smartest have no say? Maybe I should just move back to Alabama.

Michael Johnston, a notorious preacher who had walked away from his gay lifestyle in order to convert others to the straight and narrow (and to help them become narrowly straight), has apparently walked back to his gay lifestyle:

Ex-gay leader experiences ‘moral fall’: Five years after starring in a national advertising campaign claiming gays can change their sexual orientation, Michael Johnston experienced a “moral fall” and left behind his ministries, two conservative Christian groups that worked with Johnston confirmed this week... Johnston appeared with his mother, Frances Johnston, in a controversial print ad under the headline “From innocence to AIDS.” A similar television commercial also appeared in 1998, dubbed “Mom.” “My son Michael found out the truth — he could walk away from homosexuality. But he found out too late — he has AIDS,” Frances Johnston says in the television commercial... Johnston now apparently becomes the second star of the campaign known to have failed in maintaining his “ex-gay” status, and the scandal surrounding both ex-gay leaders was uncovered by the same enterprising gay activist. John Paulk, who appeared in the 1998 ex-gay ads and on the cover of Newsweek with his “ex-lesbian” wife Anne Paulk, was spotted in a popular gay bar in Washington, D.C., in September 2000. Wayne Besen, a former communications staffer with the Human Rights Campaign, photographed Paulk in the bar, Mr. P’s... After Paulk’s gay bar visit three years ago, Exodus International, a leading ex-gay organization where Paulk served as board chair, placed him on probation and removed his voting rights. Six months later, Exodus restored Paulk to the board, although not as chair. At the time of his fall, Paulk also served as manager of the Homosexuality & Gender Department at Focus on the Family, a Colorado-based group that opposes gay rights... Paulk wasn’t the ex-gay movement’s first brush with scandal. Gary Cooper and Michael Bussee organized the 1976 conference of ex-gays out of which Exodus International was formed. But Cooper and Bussee later fell in love with each other and left their wives to live together as a couple, becoming frequent talk show guests in the 1990s. And Wade Richards, an “ex-gay” featured in a 2000 press conference by anti-gay groups, came out as gay again in an interview with the Advocate several months later.

It seems like San Diego is the place to be for politics right now. At least, that's what I gather from this WorldNetDaily article:

Congresswoman at XXX-rated sex meeting: Against a backdrop of the pink, blue and lavender-striped bisexual flag, [Rep. Susan Davis, D-Cal.] and executive director Joan Garry of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation addressed an estimated 500 attendees.... A workshop on "Hosting Sensual/Sexual Parties" instructed participants on how to hold sex orgies in hotel rooms and private homes. Said presenter Tom Limoncelli, "I think sex parties are a way to change the world." Among the tips offered:

• Designate separate spaces for kinky sex and socializing;
• Place containers of condoms, gloves and dental dams around the room accompanied by waste baskets;
• Decide on a particular fetish theme;
• Determine whether to hold "sacred sexuality" and magic rituals;
• Conduct a "safer sex" educational session before the party begins;
• "Plant" people within the group to start sexual activities

On Saturday morning, David Longmire, a "Body Electric School-trained Sacred Intimate" from Seattle, demonstrated "erotic touch" on fully nude male and female models. Female model "Gabriela" disrobed before participants, then lay on a table while Longmire demonstrated his methods on her backside and frontal private parts.

James, please tell me you didn't miss this!