Arnie far too busy to save future Donda Wests

Arnold Schwarzenegger - who is still California's governor as it turns out that wasn't all a dream after all - managed to build up a legislative backlog during the time it took to sort out the state budget. As a result, he's decided he's just going to veto a whole slew of bills because, frankly, he can't be arsed to find the time to do his job properly and, given the choice between listening to the democratically-elected representatives of the people and, you know, his plans, he's going with the plans.

There's an insane number of bills falling because of the Republican's time crunch, but amongst them is what's been known as the Donda West bill. Introduced in response to the death of Kanye West's mother, the legislation would have called for cosmetic surgery patients to be given a medical and a doctor's clearance before undegroing any procedures. Apparently, Schwarzenegger doesn't consider this to be a priority, and isn't going to let saving people's lives keep him from the golf course.

Donda doc bails on King

Jan Adams, the doctor whose cosmetic surgery has been linked to the death of Donda West, walked off a live Larry King interview yesterday, claiming the West family had asked him not to take part.

Which might be true, but there's something a little showy about starting up a live TV interview before "remembering" the family of a woman who died shortly after you operated on her had asked you not to appear, isn't there?

Donda's doc: Sorry, but it wasn't my fault

The very-public death of Donda West continues, with Dr. Jan Adams, the cosmetic surgeon whose had been reducing breasts and tummy-tucking prior to her death issuing a statement:

"I first want to express my deepest condolences to the West family at a very difficult time," Adams said Tuesday in a statement read by Williams. "Out of respect for the West family and in the absence of other verifiable information, any comment from me without first discussing that information with the family would be unprofessional."

Happily, it appears that it's not unprofessional to chat with TMZ:

Adams, 53, told celebrity Web site TMZ.com that West's death was not caused by the surgery, but could have been caused by a heart attack, a pulmonary embolism or vomiting.

Adams has, so far, paid out nearly half a million dollars to settle malpractice lawsuits.

Donda West: respect and speculation

As someone testily points out in the comments on the original story about the death of Donda West, the reports on her death this morning make no mention that her death came during a medical procedure; however, they did last night.

The confusion seems to have arisen due to the way the story has come out. The Associated Press story captures just watch a botch this was:

Donda West died Saturday night in Los Angeles, said the spokesman, who asked for anonymity because not all family members had been notified.

Can you simultaneously be anonymous and a spokesperson? And if you know that you shouldn't be talking about something because family members are still in the dark, does not revealing who you are make your position more or less untenable?

Managementobit: Donda West

According to reports on ABC News, Donda West, Kanye's mother, has died "during a medical procedure."

Donda had been a professor at Chicago State University; just as her son dropped out of a course there to become a rapper, she, too, quit the uni to become his manager.

Earlier this year, she published a book, Raising Kanye: Life Lessons From the Mother of a Hip-Hop Superstar, during publicity for which she compared her son to Jesus. She was listed as CEO of West Brands LLC.