It seems that everyone is now noticing just how special California is. A very thorough and well written piece appearing on Morning Edition today. See here for audio and a well written report.

If you read this blog you know the basic story. California requires a two thirds majority to pass budgets and tax increases. The Democrats are three votes shy of this majority and they have been going to the Republicans, hat in hand since last May to try to get the state revenues and expenditures in some order.

In the meantime various state services are shutting down. Tax refunds are not going out and we have begun a round of layoffs.

Of course the report ends with the obligatory optimistic conclusion. The Democrats will find some final concession - they will promise to throw illegal aliens out of school, or fire the entire University of California faculty and staff and send students in the state to The University of Phoenix or something - and when they find that magic concession the budget will be approved, bipartisan compromise will be justified and all will be well.

Coming from the East they just do not know our Republicans, although the talk radio commentators that they quote in the report should begin to give them a clue. Listen to the audio. These guys cannot speak a sentence without using an obscenity. They obviously have serious rage issues.

Or the folks at NPR could just read their own report and discover that the Republicans in the California Senate just ousted their own leader for his participation in crafting the compromise just rejected and no one, not even the so called moderates, voted against this. Which would imply that they want to reopen negotiations.

And they aren't even serious about negotiating here, as the story shows:

Some Senate Republicans want to focus on closing the deficit in the fiscal year that ends June 30 rather than focusing on the two-year shortfall. They want the immediate deficit closed with cuts and shifting money from other accounts.

So the governator is laying off workers, which just rewards their bad behavior.

Here goes. Wonkstradamus predicts that any concession the Democrats make will be met with further demands, that everything will be suddenly open to renegotiation and the whole process will drag on until the State of California goes bankrupt and takes a major west coast bank with it.

He hopes that he is wrong.