Governor, tell us you're joking about building state prisons in Mexico.

More absurd ideas may have arisen out of the Capitol in recent history, but none quite so impossibly impractical has made it out the mouth of a governor not nicknamed Moonbeam.

First, the context. This wasn't something Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger muttered in the gym locker room, though for all we know that's where the idea originated. (The governor's office remains coy about exactly who came up with this notion of sending thousands of undocumented inmates to specially built prisons south of the border.)

This was a straight-faced statement at the Sacramento Press Club, where the governor knew he was on the record…

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Monday that the state could save $1 billion by building and operating prisons in Mexico to house undocumented felons who are currently imprisoned in California.

The governor floated the idea during an appearance at the Sacramento Press Club in response to a question about controlling state spending. His speech came on the same day that changes in prisoner parole and credits for time served took effect.

"We pay them to build the prisons down in Mexico and then we have those undocumented immigrants be down there in a prison. … And all this, it would be half the cost to build the prisons and half the cost to run the prisons," Schwarzenegger said, predicting it would save the state $1 billion that could be spent on higher education…

State officials are warning 441 applicants for peace officer jobs that a laptop computer containing their psychological evaluations was stolen in Mexico this month. The applicants included candidates seeking jobs as California Highway Patrol and correctional officers. State Personnel Board spokeswoman Sherry Evans says everyone seeking peace officer jobs must undergo psychological testing. Raw data from the screenings were in a laptop that a contract psychologist took on vacation…