Kay Ryan, our new Poet Laureate

Photo by Alan Dep

Okay, Arnold, do you want the Mel Gibson or Isaiah Washington suite at the foot-in-mouth rehab?

Gov. Arnold Scharzenegger, who has done nothing to stop runaway production from leaving California to set up shop in Canada or other states, has basically told Spanish language media that they should drink the kool-aid. speaking before the convention of National Association of Spanish Journalists, Arnold exhorted Spanish speakers, "You've got to turn off the Spanish television set." Sacramento seems to be unaware of the financial benefits of California being the center of Spanish language media. For being such a savvy businessman, he seems rather willing to stick it to the entertainment media.

Perhaps he is unaware that Los Angeles, not Miami (yet), is the center of the Spanish language media. 38 million people -more than the entire population of Canada- watch Spanish language media in the US. 60% of bilingual households are cited as preferring Spanish language media, even though they may speak English outside the home.

Arnold also said, "...when I came to this country, I very rarely spoke German to anyone." Gee, Arnold, is that because not that many people in the US speak German?

The Latino vote is largely credited with giving Schwarzenegger, who had no previous political experience, his gubernatorial win. I guess he isn't running for office again. And he ought not to expect Spanish language media to carry any of his movies anymore, either. That goes for all of Latin America, too.

And when is he ever going to get around to learning how to say, "California?"