Arnold sworn in as Governor of California!

On Monday November 17th, Arnold Schwazenegger was sworn in as the 38th Governor of California. Accompanied by four out of five former California Governors, Arnold took the oath in Sacramento from California's chief justice on the steps of the state capitol. With his hand upon the Bible and his wife by his side, he vowed to upend the political culture and humble the special interests through decisive action that would amount to the "Miracle of Sacramento."

Although the event was billed as 'low key', an audience of 7,500 attended, thousands of whom
stood by and watched on big-screen televisions, applauding Arnold 24 times during his 12 minute speech, the loudest ovation coming when he renewed his promise to roll back the state's car tax. Celebrities in attendance consisted of Dennis Miller, Jamie Lee Curtis, Danny DeVito and Rob Lowe. Eraser co-star Vanessa Williams sung the national anthem, whilst 700 journalists and 50 news teams from all over the globe covered the event.

Calling himself "an idealist without illusions", Governor Schwarzenegger took immediate charge of California, repealing the unpopular car tax that was approved by former Governor Gray Davis,
issuing 'Executive Order 1', which will repeal the $4-billion increase. He also called the Legislature into a special session to deal with the state's budget mess. In the sessions, which began today, Arnold hopes that lawmakers will place two measures on the March ballot - an amendment which will place a cap on state spending and a bond to pay off the debts brought about by the past few years of which Davis was in power.

In a speech, Schwarzenegger promised to spend the next three years rebuilding the state's
economy, protecting the needs of children and the elderly and breaking the hold of special
interests.



"I enter this office beholden to no-one except you, my fellow citizens. I pledge my governorship to your interests, not to special interests".

Promising to put the state's finances in order, he added "I will not rest until California is a
competitive, job-creating machine."

The Hollywood career that created Arnold the Terminator and the Barbarian was not brought up. Instead, it was the bodybuilding career, which created Arnold the actor, that was mentioned. "I
learnt something from all those years of lifting and training hard, when I didn't think I could lift another ounce of weight. What I learned was that we're always stronger than we know, and
California is like that, too. There is a massive weight we must lift off our state."

So Arnold is now in charge and running California his way. We hope that he is sucessful in this, and that he can bring California back to it's former golden self. If anyone can do it, ARNOLD can!!