Calitics - Recommended Diaries

Better Ten Innocents hang than one Guilty Go Free

dkirk — Tue, 06 May 2008 20:01:35 GMT

It takes a lot for me to go through the effort of actually making a diary or a post about something related to politics. In perusing today's news out of Indian, I hade this article get me made enough to post: http://www.breitbart.com/artic...

About 12 Indiana nuns were turned away Tuesday from a polling place by a fellow bride of Christ because they didn't have state or federal identification bearing a photograph.
Sister Julie McGuire said she was forced to turn away her fellow sisters at Saint Mary's Convent in South Bend, across the street from the University of Notre Dame, because they had been told earlier that they would need such an ID to vote.
The nuns, all in their 80s or 90s, didn't get one but came to the precinct anyway.
"One came down this morning, and she was 98, and she said, 'I don't want to go do that,'" Sister McGuire said. Some showed up with outdated passports. None of them drives.

This Republican law should be enough reason to not only show up and vote for a Democrat in November, but to do everything you can to get him or her elected by giving, volunteering, and anything else that can be done. When we have states that would prefer to keep 90-year old nuns from voting than risk one invalid voter casting a ballot, we have some serious problem in our country. Especially when there has never been a case of illegal votes being cast being proved.

We need to change the Supreme Court again, when they allow a 6-3 vote like this to take place. What's next? Eliminating the concept of innocence until proven guilty? I'm sure they'd just love to hang people for crimes whether they were committed or not just to 'keep the system safe'.

Bah!

Will There Be an LGBT Legislative Caucus after November? Yes!

MadProfessah — Thu, 08 May 2008 18:18:18 GMT

Although there have been reports that the California LGBT Legislative Caucus is in danger of extinction the truth is that in January 2009 it is very likely that it will be as large as ever.
The only current members of the LGBT Caucus who are not termed out are State Senators Christine Kehoe and Carole Migden. However, Migden is facing a tough primary fight which she is very likely to lose.

Here is a table showing the members of the LGBT caucus for the current legislative sessiob and a projection of what the caucus will look like after being sworn in in January 2009.

January 2007                       January 2009
Assembly                         
Mark Leno (AD-13)                  Tom Ammiano (AD-13)
John Laird (AD-27)                 John Perez (AD-46)
                                   Chris Cabaldon (AD-8)
State Senate
Christine Kehoe (SD-39)            Christine Kehoe (SD-39)
Carole Migden (SD-3)               Mark Leno (SD-3)
Sheila Kuehl (SD-23)

In addition, there's the possibility that Laurette Healey may win her primary to replace
Assemblymember Lloyd Levine in the 40th Assembly District and it's possible that Greg Pettis will win his primary in the 80th district (but it's unlikely he will win the general election in this Republican-leaning district).

CA-42: Unity Campaign - One Voice

Ron Shepston for Congress — Wed, 07 May 2008 21:45:39 GMT

We can talk about "unity" -- but the meaning of that word varies depending on the reader. I want to drive home the meaning for you, to tap into the energy and synergy that comes from people striving for a common goal. In the netroots, I'm sure a lot of people will assume that I mean unity of the Presidential candidates.

That is part of it. Click on the picture to sign our pledge for unity.

(Misha, me & Dave in front of Democratic Party Of Orange County banner. We will be adding LA and San Bernardino Counties)

But we want to go further than that. We want to take this beyond gimmicks. We want to take this beyond cliche'. As my friend Dallasdoc says "Think movement".

This campaign has never been about me. It's been about all of us coming together to change the face of American politics to make the changes we know need to be made.

When we first started to talk about using the power of the netroots the idea was to unite around an existing candidate. We looked and looked but couldn't agree. We knew the best choice would be a true netroots candidate. We wanted someone who came from the netroots first. But that desire was much more than symbolic. Someone from the netroots had a certain mindset and was driven to learn and know the truth. Despite what Markos said this was beyond partisan politics. We called it reality-based. It still is though now we recognize that reality has a distinct liberal/progressive bias.

In today's diary I want to show you what is happening in our part of the world. Not many people saw this but it was the beginning of an idea for us.

When Dave came up to me at the caucus and said he wanted to help with a local race I was excited but hadn't as yet realized the significance of that first meeting of two people who had a common though not shared goal. That was soon to change.

I started as a frustrated citizen now I'm running for Congress. From the beginning the vision was to make this a viable campaign that had as it's goal no less than changing the face of American politics. Many of us were and are tired of politics as a game. We thought that collegiality only worked when everyone played by the rules. Winning wasn't the goal but doing the right thing was. We saw that the value of honest competition between the right and left would result in a better America. We also saw that honesty and integrity was no longer part of politics today - if it ever was. It was replaced by winning at any cost.

We are not naive enough to think that we can't play the game of politics. We are not so naive to think that we can just dance in and have the political world cave under our vision and shower us with money. We wanted to include the voters as participants rather than spectators.

We started before Obama had announced or anyone else for that matter. We had a great start and as often happens to real people, things happen and real life intrudes on dreams. We lost some momentum due to the passing of my mother and the Santiago Fires but we pushed on and rode through the night. We got stronger through adversity.

Now, we are on fire and we have grassroots support from Obama delegates Dave Walsh 42^ndCD, Gustavo Delgado 40^thCD and Clinton delegate Misha Hower 47^th. We have super volunteers Chuck Schofield, Dot DeLeon, Alisa Riso, Richard Cassiere, Nora Fugato and Courtney Rychel. We have Silverado grassroots activists Linda May and Connie Nelson. We have Joe Wilson and a great shot at Valerie Plame after the primary.

I really didn't want to block Courtney's picture.

So, let's use both pictures to get the full banner and everyone in.
(Chuck, Dot, Richard, Misha, Courtney, me, Belinda, Dave, Gustavo, Nora, Alisa) Can you feel the energy? Look closely and remember. Our future leaders will come from this group and others like them. They are amazing.

We have a professional staff with a record of winning elections and we have major online members here and elsewhere on board via email and telephone consultation.

We have Republicans, Democrats, Decline To State, business leaders, labor unions, teachers, grassroots activists, Democratic Party officials and blogs.

That list will continue to grow as people hear about us.

As some of you may know Kossack Gilda Reed lost in LA-01 but she made some noise and focussed attention on some real problems. She also showed that WE are not simply 17-year-old kids typing away in our parents' basement.

I think the online community is still somewhat in the early adopter stage and changing the face of American politics will not happen overnight. The members of this community can't help everyone of us equally. Some of those getting help will be adopted and some will spring from the community.

Many members will continue to sit on the sidelines but many will also jump into the fray and support those who run. I'm happy with what's happening and happy with the support we're getting. It is what it is and we have adapted to the circumstances.

This is all a bit scary and extremely exciting. We've come a long way from dday's question "Ron, don't you live in Gary Miller's district". We expect to go a lot further.

Won't you join us and sign our pledge of Unity Campaign - One Voice.

Stories from the Strike: Dale Brown

Jennifer Kelly — Wed, 07 May 2008 19:00:56 GMT

Dave Johnson has been posting about this strike and its big picture implications, but I also wanted to share some of the individual stories from the workers on the front lines. Here's Dale Brown from Sacramento:

I've been with Inter-Con at Kaiser South Sacramento for a year. I'm constantly worried about getting sick. Working in a hospital, I'm exposed to illness and danger all the time. Without paid sick leave, Inter-con officers either have financial hardship if we take off of work, or are forced to work while sick. If I were to have to miss even one week I would be in danger of losing my apartment.

I'm a single mother, and the insurance plan is too expensive for me to enroll my 2 children. It would cause me hardship even just to buy the Inter-Con/Kaiser plan for my kids.

Recently I had to tell my daughter that we couldn't afford to pay for cheerleading or volleyball because of the low pay-and no raises--paid at Kaiser to Inter-Con officers. That's not a situation a parent should ever have to face.

I am fighting for a union because we deserve better. We protect Kaiser and its assets, but Inter-Con isn't even willing to sit down and hear us out. That is just wrong.
But Inter-Con is breaking the law and violating our civil rights. They're threatening and harassing workers, pulling people aside and interrogating them. I hated to go on strike, because we all want to make sure that Kaiser patients and employees are protected. But Inter-Con's breaking the law so we had no choice.
Dale Brown, Kaiser South Sacramento Medical Center

I am an organizer for SEIU.

Mark Leno, Marin Firefighters, & Tri-Tip

Mark Leno Campaign — Tue, 06 May 2008 20:25:44 GMT

The Marin Firefighters joined volunteers this weekend as they took to the streets and phone lines to help elect Mark Leno to the State Senate. Phone bankers and precinct walkers enjoyed barbeque tri-tip, curtsey of the Marin Firefighters, as well as delicious homemade chili. Mark Leno fired up the crowd of more than 50 energized volunteers before they talked to voters about his unparalleled legislative record— fighting for universal single-payer health care, better schools, a cleaner and sustainable environment, improved transportation and renewable energy. Thank you to the Marin Firefighters and our dedicated volunteers!