Last night Governor Schwarzenegger vetoed a bill that was written after Kanye West’s mother Donda died during cosmetic surgery. During her autopsy, it was discovered that she suffered from high blood pressure and had a blockage in a cardiac artery. Schwarzenegger said he didn’t sign the bill because California’s massive, nearly three month long budget approval delay caused such a time crunch that he could only deal with the most essential bills.

A measure intended to prevent cosmetic surgery-related deaths fell victim to a rash of vetoes Sunday by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The bill was written after the death last November of Donda West, mother of rapper Kanye West. The 58-year-old woman died one day after breast reduction and liposuction surgery, and an autopsy found health problems, including high blood pressure and cardiac artery blockage.

The cosmetic surgery bill, AB 2968 by Assemblywoman Wilmer Amina Carter (D-Rialto), would have required people to undergo a physical examination, give a complete medical history and get a doctor’s clearance before undergoing plastic surgery. It received almost-unanimous support in the Legislature.

In vetoing the measure, Schwarzenegger said this summer’s historic, 85-day delay in passage of a state budget left him with time to enact only the highest-priority legislation for California. “This bill does not meet that standard, and I cannot sign it at this time,” states the veto message, which he applied to dozens of others Sunday. Schwarzenegger has until midnight Tuesday to sign or veto all of the nearly 900 bills sent to him by the Legislature last month. If he does not act, those bills become law.

[From the Los Angeles Times]

In related news, Kanye is hosting and performing at a benefit concert for the Dr. Donda West foundation in Washington D.C. on November 4th. The focus of the benefit is to encourage young adults to get out and vote.

There are a lot of things I would trust Arnold Schwarzenegger to do, and do well. I would trust him to snap a pencil in half with his thumb. I would trust him to snap a third-grader in half with his thumb. And for some reason, I would trust him to catch a bullet with his teeth, because something tells me he’s awesomely coordinated like that. I would not, however, trust him in the finer points of contract negotiations, anything involving money or numbers in general, and anything getting a ton of press. But Arnold is a little slicker than I thought – not only is he trying to mediate the dispute between the Writer’s Guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, but he’s trying to do it quietly behind the scenes. He’s a better politician than I thought.

In talks unbeknown to even his top aides, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has spoken to representatives on both sides in this week’s Writers Guild of America strike against the studios and networks. Schwarzenegger, whose lengthy, successful career in the film business before coming into office in 2003 gives him a certain cachet in the matter, has been speaking with WGA members as well as studio execs heading the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.

In addition to his own words of advice, the governor has had staff members reach out to both sides, as well as to the federal mediator trying to get them to hammer out a deal about future residuals and other issues. “We’re interested in helping both sides resolve this issue any way we can,” says a member of Schwarzenegger’s team. With the federal mediator involved, there is not much sway the governor has over actual negotiations, however.

[From Politico.com]

Arnold actually makes a lot of sense as a negotiator, in terms of his history. I wouldn’t exactly call him a skilled politician, but once in a while he’ll do something really impressive and surprise me. I wouldn’t rule him out. There really hasn’t been any good news coming out about negotiations – all we’re really hearing is that more and more people are joining the strike. The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers is being pretty quiet. Something tells me we’ll be re-watching old episodes of Seinfeld for a good chunk of 2008.

You know those people in…say…political positions that shouldn’t be left alone to speak in public? Well, it appears that Arnold is one of those people. In an interview with the British branch of GQ mag the California governor that the only drug he ever was high on was “pumping iron.” When asked about his documented use of marijuana in a 1977 film called “Pumping Iron,” he retorted with:

“That is not a drug. It’s a leaf,” Schwarzenegger told GQ. “My drug was pumping iron, trust me. “What would you rather have? A politician taking stuff and not saying, but making the best decisions and improving things? Or a politician who names all the drugs he or she has taken but makes lousy decisions for the country?” Schwarzenegger was quoted as saying. A politician’s job is to do what’s best for the people and to improve the country, the economy, the environment. Why should I care if a politician takes sleeping pills every night so long as he can do his job?”

[Associated Press]

Reps for Arnold are already on damage control. Aaron McLear, Schwarzenegger’s press secretary, defends his retort by using the old stand-by… “it’s important to keep that quote in the context of the environment where it was said.” He also assures the public that Arnold does in fact realize marijuana is a drug.

“Of course the governor understands marijuana is a drug. It’s like when he goes on Leno or the Daily Show, if you took something like that out of context, it might seem shocking but it was in a silly entertainment context.”

The December issue of the mag is packed with political garble and practiced answers. Perhaps I am being too hard on him. He also listed Tony Blair (former British Prime Minister) and Mikhail Gorbachev (Soviet Leader) as some of the greatest leaders in history. Those are better answers than Jessica Simpson would give if you asked her what a hypotenuse is.

Picture note by Jaybird: Header of Arnold at a Florida Summit on Global Climate Change on July 13th. Image thanks to PR Photos.

The people of Austria went all out for Arnold Schwarzenegger’s 60th birthday Monday. Not only did officials in Thal Bei Graz - the small village where Arnold was born – declare it “A Day for Arnold,” they also had a special birthday Mass for the former bodybuilder/actor/governor, and a ceremony with the mayor. There were strudels, schnitzels, a brass band, and most importantly, the original address numbers from the house where Arnold was born. Apparently the numbers were also retired, similar to what’s done for famous athletes. Town Mayor Peter Urdl said “This belongs to him. No one here will ever be assigned that number again.”

It doesn’t appear that Schwarzenegger was present for the ceremony, but simply that it was done in his honor. When interviewed by Vienna newspaper Kronen Zeitung in Sacramento, Schwarzenegger was asked what his birthday wish was, and it was actually pretty good.

“’My wish is that this great country [the U.S.] once again gets the reputation it once had around the world.’”

[From the Washington Post]

It’s nice that he was realistic enough to admit that America’s reputation is really lacking. The interviewer also asked what Arnold would ask for if a magic fairy appeared and granted him five wishes (I’m guessing she’s their star reporter now).

“Schwarzenegger said he hoped for continued married bliss with his wife, Maria Shriver; that they would be good role models for their children; for political success in the rest of his term as governor; and for continued health and vitality.

“’When my father turned 60, I was just 20, and at the time he seemed terribly old. Now I’m 60, too, but I don’t feel old at all,’ he said.”

[From the Washington Post]

That was only four wishes, so I’m going to assume he counted his birthday wish as the fifth. Bad math, Arnold. All of the things he said sounded pretty sane and level, especially for a guy that’s a bit of a kook. Arnold’s birthday honor was an especially big deal because Austrians had soured a bit on the governator after he didn’t block the execution of a gang member in 2005. Austrians, and Europeans in general, do not support capital punishment. The execution led to protests in Austria, which culminated in the renaming of a soccer arena in Graz, which had once been named after Schwarzenegger. Apparently that really annoyed him, and he severed ties with the city. Things seem to be going a little better for him, at least in his birth city, if the massive “A Day for Arnold” celebration is any indication. I mean yes, they renamed a giant stadium to hurt his feelings, but they did retire the numbers to his house, so that’s almost as big an honor.

Header image is from the Florida Summit on Global Climate Change on 07/13/2007, thanks to PRPhotos.

RadarOnline uncovered this raunchy old picture of Arnold Swarzenegger fingering some chick at a restaurant while his buddies laugh and look on. There are plenty of frat boys who wouldn’t pull a stunt like this and allow themselves to be photographed.

His movies are as far from Oscar-worthy as Bush’s performance as commander in chief is to winning a humanitarian award, (ok, maybe they’re closer in some cases, like “Twins”) so that could explain his poor reasoning.

This picture isn’t surprising, considering that Ahnald admitted in 1977 to enjoying orgies with other horny bodybuilders.

Here’s what he said in a Oui interview at the time.

It looks like “the serious stuff” for Arnold now involves controlling the seventh largest economy in the world.

The closeup on this picture skeeved me out almost as much as learning what a “Dirty Sanchez” was, so look at it at your own risk.