Last night I was watching the movie “Dave” on DVD, a great political comedy made about 10 years ago. There were a lot of cameos of real politicians (some still in office), of Jay Leno, assorted political talking media heads, Oliver Stone and Larry King, and lo and behold–Arhnald! I had forgotten all about Arnold’s brief appearance in the movie, and when I first saw it 10 years ago, I held a very different opinion of the man.

Those were the years before he became a public schmuck. He seemed so nice, so caring, involved in so many projects to help children. In fact, I had high hopes for him as a governor of California because he wasn’t a professional politician and because he had enough of his own money to stave off parasites.

I was wrong. Arnold became a class A++++ schmuck. The people of California feel the same way, because every one of his initiatives was struck down. And now, Arnold has seen the light when it comes to that “special interest group” known as nurses.

He’s giving up the fight. The California Nurses Association has scored a resounding victory, not just for the nurses of California, but for those all over the country. They whipped the butt of the man who loves to kick butt. Arnold’s ass must be one bloody mess.

From the Seattle PI:

Days after a stinging defeat at the ballot box, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has laid another political battle to rest: he is no longer feuding with California nurses over staffing levels.

Without his legal challenge, the state rule requiring one nurse for every five patients stands. Nurses union Executive Director Rose Ann DeMoro called the decision “an enormous victory” because Schwarzenegger “is going to stop going after registered nurses and patient ratios.”

For the past year, Schwarzenegger tried to block the rule in favor of a 1-to-6 ratio, a fracas that escalated in December 2004 when he labeled the union a special interest and boasted, “I’m kicking their butts.”

Does this mean that we can finally get on to the business of safe health care? I’m sure that the bitching and moaning will continue, and many facilities will circumvent the ratio law by simply laying off ancilliary help. So the nurse may have five patients as dictated by law, but she will also become unit clerk, janitor, nurse’s aide and maybe even short-order cook. And for the hospitals who try to continue to make the nurses’ life hell, and overwork the staff, they will find themselves with a perpetual shortage.

But the facilities who decide to give up the fight, and decide to maintain the ratio law to its fullest along with treating their nursing staff like the professionals they are, they will soon wonder what the fuss over a so-called shortage is all about.

At any rate, this is a grand victory for nurses. And poor Arnold, nobody wants to play his game.

Great opinion piece this morning in the San Jose Mercury News, about the continuing and spiraling downfall of the FDA. What next, I wonder. Will the FDA soon be using “Intelligent Design” to make its scientific decisions, or advocating prayer as a contraceptive?

The article is about none other than our friend, Plan B, and how the FDA royally disgraced itself by kissing the ass of the Bush administration. The same administration which doesn’t believe in global warming, I should add, and wants schools to teach that having premarital sex leads to lonliness and substance abuse, will turn you into a toad, and that girls needs a Prince Charming to save them. I kid you not (well, except about the toad) but these ideas are part of the abstinence-only sex education programs that our taxes pay for.

The Government Accountability Office, Congress’ investigative arm, said last week that top FDA officials had decided to block sales of Plan B before a scientific review had been completed. It also charged that some of President Bush’s political appointees took “unusual” steps to impede the approval process.

The unfortunate result is that a safe, effective contraceptive that should be widely available to American women to prevent unwanted pregnancies is being needlessly withheld. Congress should pressure the administration and the president to overturn the decision.

So Congress, are you still with us? How about ordering an exhaustive cleaning house at the FDA? Why are we supporting an agency that appears to do nothing more than cause scandals?

The most absurd aspect of the decision is the notion that Plan B is an abortion issue. It’s not. Plan B does not interfere with an existing pregnancy. Instead, the FDA delayed a decision for months while trying to get a read on whether Plan B would have an impact on the sexual activity of teenagers. Never mind that the FDA has never before considered the impact of a contraceptive on sexual behavior as part of its approval process.

Nevertheless, the evidence is now in. Plan B does not promote promiscuity. The FDA scientific review couldn’t turn up any evidence that it results in an increase of sexually transmitted diseases, either.

But the Bush administration just doesn’t want women to have access to the contraceptive. Not after some conservative groups inaccurately dubbed it an abortion pill. The irony is that if Plan B were available to women over the counter it could reduce the number of abortions in the United States.

This really is the most idiotic part of the debate, and the one which makes you lose your breath over the mindlessness of the people who oppose it. The availability of Plan B does not “convince” people to have sex, even though neo-conservatives in the Bush mode continue to parrot that phrase like it’s the gospel truth. I suppose if they continue to repeat it, maybe they think it will become true.

The other sad part of this is that increased availability of Plan B with DECREASE the rate of abortions. Again, it is pathetically naive to think that if a woman can’t obtain Plan B, and ultimately becomes pregnant, that she will suddenly be transformed by a maternal instinct and give birth. The reality is that she will probably abort it.