As I sit here reading the want ads and dreaming of a better life outside of my current prison employment, I'm having an "Only in California" moment and its quite a disturbing flashback. Once upon a time when I was a young and impressionable civil servant, I was on the fast track to being promoted up the ladder and was taking test after test to leapfrog into a great paying job with power and a healthy retirement package. I wasn't the typical complacent employee as I often took tests two steps above my current paygrade because I was impatient with working my way to the top. I studied and practiced and managed to stay in the top 10 of those hiring lists along with employees far more experienced than I. But alas, my efforts were in vain. After chasing a particularly daunting promotion and acing a vigorous interview, I received a fateful call that opened my eyes to the ugly side of civil service. What happened? An ominous voice on the phone told me that I wouldn't be given the job because I was not a Male Hispanic. WTF? Isn't that discrimination? Denying someone a job because of their sex and their race? They said no. They called it Affirmative Action. I called it a major ass-fucking. I have a richly diverse background that includes many races so I couldn't believe this was happening to me. And as if things couldn't get any worse, while I was still reeling from this little slice of reality, the State sent me a letter asking me to define in specifics my exact race. I wrote them a letter back telling them it was none of their business what I was and that if I got promoted it would be because I worked hard and earned it. They wrote me a letter back labeling me a "White Woman". Because the State of California couldn't cope with something other than black or brown (I don't think "Two or more Races" even existed then) I was labeled as plain wrap and moved to a shelf along with 5,000 other mislabeled and clueless palefaces.

It appears that this has become a habit with the State of California. They can't find a spot for you or a mold they can squeeze you into so they lump you someplace where they won't have to deal with you. In fact, this practice has become the new mantra for the Republican Party. Every day I see commercials for the upcoming June gubernatorial elections and they always end the commercial with "Isn't it time for a Republican?" Now I know that politicians think we are all stupid and can't find our asses with a mirror and an embedded GPS chip but we've had a Republican Governor for the past seven years. Arnold is and always has been a Republican! And Steve Poizner and Meg Whitman are the GOP primary candidates so whats with the party confusion?

Why is it that every time a GOP candidate defies the ridiculous hard right line of the party, he gets lumped in with the Democrats? Maybe we should change our symbol from a donkey to a trashcan to hold all these cast-off Republicans. Personally, I think us Democrats should have a say in who gets to be called one of us and that Republican rejects should be put through a naturalization process just like immigrants. They should have to spend seven years learning liberalism, take a test and swear to abandon their dictatorial morality and fear mongering. But hey, maybe this relabeling is just their version of Affirmative Action!