“Health Net Inc. said Monday that it has won a five-year contract worth about $50 million per year to provide counseling to members of the U.S. military and their families.”

An opt-ed piece in the New York Times has raised some provocative issues about California and the future of the United States:

SOMETHING interesting is happening in California. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger seems to have grasped the essential truth that no nation — not even the United States — can be managed successfully from the center once it reaches a certain scale. Moreover, the bold proposals that Mr. Schwarzenegger is now making for everything from universal health care to global warming point to the kind of decentralization of power which, once started, could easily shake up America’s fundamental political structure.

Governor Schwarzenegger is quite clear that California is not simply another state. “We are the modern equivalent of the ancient city-states of Athens and Sparta,” he recently declared. “We have the economic strength, we have the population and the technological force of a nation-state.” In his inaugural address, Mr. Schwarzenegger proclaimed, “We are a good and global commonwealth.”

Political rhetoric? Maybe. But California’s governor has also put his finger on a little discussed flaw in America’s constitutional formula. The United States is almost certainly too big to be a meaningful democracy. What does “participatory democracy” mean in a continent? Sooner or later, a profound, probably regional, decentralization of the federal system may be all but inevitable.

“Lawmakers announced bills to provide more than $1.2 billion in grants, low-interest loans and assistance to growers and workers affected by a recent crop freeze, last year’s heat wave and flooding. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., introduced a bill Wednesday that would speed help to communities that lost an estimated $1.2 billion last month in oranges, tangerines, avocados and other crops nipped by the cold. Rep. Jim Costa, D-Fresno, and Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Tulare, planned to introduce a similar bill by Friday. ‘We have communities that are now experiencing, as a result of the freeze, in excess of 50, 60, 70 percent unemployment’, Costa said.”

The Los Angeles Times has reported that 24 year old blogger Josh Wolf, who has been in jail for 171 days, is now the longest incarcerated Journalist in U.S. History. Wolf defied a federal grand jury’s order in July to hand over raw footage of anarchists clashing with police in San Francisco. While he claimed 1st amendment protection, a Judge found him in contempt of court and ordered him to the federal detention facility in Dublin, California. A police officer was injured in the anti-globalization protest that Wolf filmed in July 2005, and outgoing U.S. Atty. Kevin Ryan’s office was investigating whether protesters tried to set fire to a police car. A statement attributed to Wolf recently was posted on his blog: “If the U.S. attorney can compel journalists to testify about what they’ve learned through their work and to force them to turn over their unpublished materials, then not only will the public be unable to trust reporters, but journalists themselves will become de facto deputies and investigators”.

“In its anxious search for energy security, the United States has embarked on a risky strategy to arm and train the militaries of oil-producing West Africa, all as part of an expansion of the Global War on Terror. Over the past 15 years, amidst a deepening crisis in the Middle East and tightening petroleum markets, the U.S. has quietly institutionalized a West African-based oil supply strategy… In a new International Policy Report published by the Center for International Policy in Washington, D.C., three University of California experts report on the motives, actions and potential consequences of this strategy, and argue that militarization policies are not only short-sighted but also deeply flawed.”

A $500,000 award from U.S. Labor Department awarded to stimulate small business entrepreneurship in Lassen, Plumas and Modoc and 17 other Northern California counties will stimulate the entire region’s economy, according to an editorial in the Lassen County Times. “The only way to address the national challenge of global competition is by building strong regional economies,” said Assistant Secretary of Labor for Employment and Training Emily Stover DeRocco. “By bringing together all the key players including research universities, venture capital firms and traditional organizations of economic and workforce development, regions can optimize their ability to innovate.” U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao said, “Investing in area workforces through this collaborative approach will boost the entire region’s economic vitality.”

“The U.S. Department of Agriculture has designated 18 California counties disaster areas in the aftermath of prolonged freezing temperatures last month that damaged more than $800 million in citrus crops… The USDA Farm Service Agency, which administers the emergency loan program, will consider applications from growers who have suffered at least a 30 percent crop production loss.”

“The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has lost an 18-month legal battle with California-based American Small Business League, forcing NASA to provide detailed information that proved the agency had exaggerated its small business contracting statistics for 2002, 2003 and 2004. The ASBL filed the suit in San Francisco federal court after NASA refused to comply with a Freedom of Information Act request as well as a second formal appeal for information that revealed billions of dollars in contracts that NASA had reported as going to small businesses actually went to many of the nation’s largest defense and aerospace contractors, such as Lockheed Martin and Boeing.”

Northrop gets $200M deal for B-2 support
The U.S. Air Force has given Northrop Grumman Corp. a one-year, $200 million contract to implement a more efficient maintenance process for the nation’s B-2 stealth bomber fleet.
Northrop is the prime contractor for the B-2, which was brought into the USAF in 1993. Los Angeles’ Northrop (NYSE: NOC) is the nation’s third-largest defense contractor and largest shipbuilder.
Los Angeles Business Journal