Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger received a gift of nine works of art by local school children yesterday. The artwork was created "to save public education" by children and their parents at the Davis farmer's market and third-graders at Dry Creek elementary in Roseville and included a piece titled, "Evil Money-Grubbing Robot Seeking to Destroy Public School."
Twenty students participated in the presentation and asked for the governor's help to get the framed paintings put on display in the Capitol.
“O reason not the need! Our basest beggars Are in the poorest thing superfluous. Allow not nature more than nature needs, Man’s life is as cheap as beast’s.” (Lear, II iv)
The Problem:
If there is any one area of American life that best expresses the adage “poverty in the midst of prosperity,” it must be housing. Even as thousands upon thousands of homes now stand empty, vast swathes of speculative suburban developments along the highways and hills of California turned into ghost towns, homelessness has increased. In Washington D.C, the number of homeless families has increased in the last year by 15%, with similar figures being reported in New York City and other metropolitan centers. Even when the sub-prime boom was spreading home-ownership wide and far and actually beginning to make headway against the unequal distribution of housing in America, in 2006, 8.8 million households were paying more than half their income in rent (I was probably one of them). Major systemic problems (the lack of affordable housing and workforce housing near where people work, the need to in-fill versus sprawl, racial and class discrimination) were not being addressed, even when the market was flush.
It isn’t flush now. If ever there was a need for proof that “spatial mismatch” and “credit discrimination” exist, we can find it in the fact that at a time when thousands of houses are empty rotting shells, that people who want and need housing are being turned away by banks who have suddenly become paragons of fiscal rectitude.
At the same time, the national unemployment rate currently stands at 9.4%. Within the construction industry, unemployment stands at 21%. Within California, the situation is even worse, with an overall unemployment rate of 11.5%, and a construction industry that’s down 150,000 jobs from last year. While I fully expect that the stimulative effect of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 will begin to ameliorate this situation within the next six months, I personally was calling for an even larger jobs bill at the time.
I think we can tackle both problems at the same time.
Those who follow this space closely will know that we, from time to time, scout around and see what the other members of my blogging community are up to.
The "Blogpower" bloggers are primarily based in the UK, but others are located in the US, Canada, Australia, Italy...and even the Sudan.
We'll see how they reacted to the US elections-and we'll discover that while many are happy, it's not all strawberries and cream out there.
We'll meet the happy, we'll meet the silly-and we'll meet the not-so-very-happy as well.
So with that said, let's head over to the UK, shall we?
I am looking for people who would be willing to collaborate with me in an attempt to continue something similar to a very comprehensive project that gave "grades" of gay rights legislative, judicial, and executive bodies on the federal, and state/provincial levels in the US, and even the rest of the world, that, until recently, was done by Bill Myers. You can see one of the latest versions of it available on the web here, courtesy of The Wayback Machine. I could especially use someone to keep track of events in California as they happen.
One hundred and ten Progressive Democrats of America members and their guests filled the center section of the Nuart Theater in Los Angeles for the premiere of Phil Donahue and Ellen Spiro's new film, "Body of War." It was a sold-out house and a very special evening for everyone lucky enough to have gotten their tickets in advance.
The "Body of War" is the story of Tomas Young and his journey from healthy young man from Kansas to that of the face and body of the broken warrior returning to his country, disillusioned by the lies that sent him to war and a leader who jokes about non-existent "weapons of mass destruction." Tomas begins his new life paralyzed from the chest down in a wheel chair. City riding in an unarmored Humvee on his first mission into Sadr City, he had been shot above the collarbone.
In North Carolina the excitement has spilled over to the down ballot races. It's the biggest year I can remember in my voting life. I was 14 the last time North Carolina had a say in who would be the Democratic nominee. I'm almost 46. At this rate it may never happen again in my life, so I'm enjoying every minute of it. I can even get past the negative ads so that I can celebrate the unprecedented voter registration numbers and so that I'm prepared to help the other North Carolina races take advantage of the organization efforts once all eyes are on to the next state.
The eyes of the nation are upon Pennsylvaia, but there's still a lot going on right here in California. So, here are a few stories of note:
(SacBee) Remember that big plan to privatize the lottery that was going to bring in billions upon billions of dollars? Well, it turns out that potential bidders don't really like the way our lottery works, and want us to make some changes before they'll pony up. Of course, that requires a vote of the people, so it might be a while before Arnold's billions come rolling in.
(LA Times) A federal court is hearing a class action lawsuit against the VA alleging gross incompetence. Over 120 veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan commit suicide, while the backlog for services grows. Good to see that the Bush Administartion supports the troops on TV, too bad they don't do it in real life.
(SF Chron) The fight between CNA and SEIU continues in court today, with SEIU arguing that CNA's restraining order violated the rules against SLAPP suits, thus infringing their first amendment rights.
The board (CCCC) that regulates salaries for elected officials meets at 10AM in Van Nuys. A note to you legislators out there, don't expect big pay hikes today. (h/t CapAlert)
Arnold has now dropped over $1.25 million into the redistricting initiative, and is hosting a fundraiser tonight. And, of course, he convinced his good friend "independent" Michael Bloomberg to drop $250K in as well. And oh, by the way, he still clings to the notion that McCain can win California. I think he should have a chat with Maria.
(SR P-D) Gas is expensive. Thanks for the insight there. I couldn't tell that by looking out the window, I need the media to confirm it for me. Incidentally, McCain's Dole-retread idea of pausing the gas tax would be disastrous for our infrastructure needs, and it's not clear that the oil companies would even pass the savings on to the consumer. Obama calls him out on it.
How's the tension at your favorite national blog community? Take a break from all the nastiness and drop by your favorite state blog for a change. Look in on our statewide and local races.....just stay away from the presidential primary threads. They bring a whole new meaning to March madness! Here are a few posts from last week and the roundup for March 14, 2008, over the flip...
I'm headed off to Texas here in a bit, and juls is off to Ohio. This weekend should be really interesting heading into what might be make or break primaries. Over the flip, check the 50 state roundup.
There are some interesting stories coming out of the 50 State community blogs. If you don't see your favorite state on the list check out the state blogrolls at Open Left and MyDD.
Thanks to Betsy at BlueNC for putting this together. In all the mad rush surrounding this time of year bloggers at the 50 State community blogs are busy staying on top of local news. It's a bit shorter than last week, but should give you some good reading over the weekend.
A personal thank you to Karl for putting together a comprehensive roundup for us last week and for helping me pull together submissions for this week.
Here's your 50 State Blog Roundup for the week of December 21, 2007:
This roundup comes through the fine work of the good folks at BlueNC. The really heavy lifting was performed by the excellent bloggers you'll find at each state site. Flip it for the good stuff...
Today's Blog Roundup is on the flip. Paid work is nuts this week, so just a link dump. Look for categories to return next week. Let me know what I missed in comments, or just use this as an open thread.
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger received a gift of nine works of art by local school children yesterday. The artwork was created "to save public education" by children and their parents at the Davis farmer's market and third-graders at Dry Creek elementary in Roseville and included a piece titled, "Evil Money-Grubbing Robot Seeking to Destroy Public School."