I have spent a number of years complaining about the interactions between Democrats and Republicans, but after the recent events involving the Keystone XL and civil liberties cave-ins, I've decided it's time to stop complaining and embrace the madness.
But I also feel like there's an ugly edge to all this...that hasn't really been fully exploited.
I mean, Republicans have tried to force through a lot of disgusting ideas this Congress as they've held various bills hostage, but it seems like, if they really tried, they could do so much more.
But I'm not here to complain, I'm here to help; that's why today we'll be trotting out a few ideas of our own that Republicans can attach to bills throughout 2012, with the assistance of certain errant Democrats.
It'll be fun, it'll be festive, but most of all...it'll be an exercise in Civic Responsibility, and in these difficult times, that's something we could sorely use.
I got a weird little story about my friend Blitz Krieger to bring to you today.
He's had a crazy car problem, he has, and over the past few months he thought he had found a solution - in fact, he thought he had found the solution of his dreams - but in the end, he's discovered that the things you dream about often don't go according to plan.
The way it's worked out for him so far, it's been a lot of anticipation followed by a sudden wave of frustration, but I feel like he's a lot better off having his particular problem with his car...because if he'd had cancer instead, he'd surely be dead by now.
It has been a tough news weekend for the United States.
I've been blocking out news coverage today and cringing every time I hear a partisan or pundit prognosticate about the decline of America, or our supposed shuffle closer to doomsday.
My heart breaks hard every time I think about the selfless men and women we lost in Afghanistan this weekend. Brothers and sisters alike, it seems almost trivial to sit here tonight and type--a freedom they have won for me--while so many are facing grim realities and long, tense moments of combat half a world away.
It's easy to lose focus of who you are and what you stand for in times like these.
Tonight, I'm reminded of a famous speech given by a wartime American president from Illinois (emphasis added):
"It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."
It is easy to cower in the face of disappointment or unspeakable tragedy, to cave to the demands of those playing the temporary game of political opportunism. In these times, we should not forget who we are:
by California Labor Federation Legislative Director Angie Wei
Assembly Republican leader Connie Conway has an answer to just about any question directly relating to our budget crisis. “No.” No revenues. No vote of the people. No Republican budget proposal. No closing corporate tax loopholes. No spending cuts. No, No, No, No, No.
Conway explained her caucus’ flurry on “No’s” to the LA Times recently:
The reality of it is, if we put up a ‘budget’ of our own it will get picked apart, criticized.
That may be a good answer for a politician. But it’s the last thing we need to hear from a public servant.
The Orange County GOP has chosen this middle-class burg as their laboratory and given pink slips to 213 employees, even before making any analysis of whether his planned outsourcing makes any fiscal sense.
Mayor Pro Tem Jim Righeimer has been beating his chest on John and Ken and appearing all over the local news in Southern California.
Riggy's spiel always includes his description of the pension crisis in Costa Mesa, which he describes like this, "Ten years ago Costa Mesa paid 5 million for public pensions. Now we pay 15 million a year, and CalPERS projects that five years from now we will be paying 25 million. His allies point to this scary, scary graph that was presented at a study session in Costa Mesa in February.
There's only one problem. It's phony as a three dollar bill. Click "There's more" to see an honest graph.
As soon as Jerry Brown’s State of the State was finished, like clockwork, the Republican responses deploring Brown’s call for voters to have a voice on whether we extend existing taxes or cripple public education and other vital services started pouring in. The temerity of this governor, suggesting voters should have a say in how we solve the state budget crisis! they said. Voters told us in past elections what they wanted so we don’t have to ask again, they reasoned. It’s all the unions’ fault! they cried.
Edit by Brian for space. See the extended for more.
NEWS RELEASE
Lutz for Congress 2010
http://www.VoteRayLutz.com Media Contact: Brennan Purtzer, Media Director
619-447-3246 / brennan@VoteRayLutz.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Lutz slams Filibuster of $30B Bill for Small Business
REPUBLICANS ARE "SABOTAGING" OUR ECONOMY FOR POLITICAL GAIN
FIDUCIARY RESPONSIBILITY VIOLATED BY REPUBLICANS, SAYS LUTZ
SAN DIEGO COUNTY (July 29, 2010) - "This is destructive and intentional: I'm telling you all - it's sabotage," said Ray Lutz, the Democratic Challenger to California's 52nd Congressional Seat (East San Diego County). Lutz was responding to Senate Republicans who filibustered a bill that would create a $30 billion lending fund for small businesses.
"These clowns are working against America, fighting a bill to help the small business fabric of America, the workhorse of job creation," Lutz said. "While they cater to their Wall Street masters, they are shirking their fiduciary duty to work FOR America. Republicans are hoping the recession "double-dips" before November, so they can 'win.' The fact that our political system produces officials who actively work against our economy shows us that the system is truly broken."
Lutz has proposed a green energy plan that would create 1.5 million jobs and cure the nation's dependency on foreign oil, pushing for solar and biofuel development in a modern "war on energy." "We have plenty of work to do, plenty of jobs in our new green economy, but we need to embrace the future and move away from our broken past. My opponent, Duncan D. Hunter, is part of that past and part of the 'just say no' Republican Party that is betting against our country."
The Lutz campaign has a VIP and fundraiser event tomorrow, Friday, July 30, 4-7p.m., in San Diego's Gaslamp District at the Tequila 100 Bar & Grill, 756 Fifth Ave. Everyone is invited.
If you look at the California GOP, especially the grassroots activists, consistent across all of the (oh, so many) demographics, you will see a shared hatred of paying their fare share. Sure, they'll take from the government, in tax credits and bailouts, but when it comes to putting money into the kitty, well, that's just unAmerican. Because government doesn't really do anything. Or, as Craig T. Nelson says at about the 4:10 mark in this clip, "I've been on food stamps and welfare. Anybody help me out? No."
Yes, it's that kind of crazy that rules the "Grand Ol' Party" these days. And so if you've ever had the temerity to ever support a tax, ever, in your life, for any reason, no matter how good, prepare to bear the mark for the rest of your life. Take Steve Poizner for example, Steve Harmon at MediaNews takes a look at how his past, rather lukewarm, support for some taxes makes the right-wingers very suspicious.
"I absolutely do not buy his sudden fiscal conservatism," conservative blogger Warner Todd Huston said. "His entire history suggests otherwise."
Poizner's campaign went so far as to erase a passage earlier this month from his campaign Web site indicating his association with EdVoice, an education advocacy group he cofounded in 2006 that backed a losing ballot initiative, Proposition 88. The measure would have raised parcel taxes by $500 million. Poizner, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur, insists that he had resigned from the EdVoice advisory board over his opposition to the parcel tax, an assertion backed by Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, who cofounded EdVoice.
*** *** ***
"It's all kind of sketchy," said Eric Hogue, a conservative radio talk show host who interviewed Poizner on his Sacramento-based show last week. "When did he have his meeting with the board? When did he resign?" (CoCo Times 8/27/09)
Oh noes! He kind of, sort of, maybe supported a parcel tax for education. That would be terrible. Now, the Right and their friends in the media say that the Democratic Party and the Left thinks in a similar way.
Except that would be categorically false. It doesn't take long to think of examples, and you don't really have to go back that far. Just look back at the budget fights over the past 8 months. In both fights, Democratic values have been tossed out the window. Core Democratic constituencies, including labor, the poor, and the elderly, have lost. Yet, how many recall attempts have we seen of Democratic legislators who supported the budget package?
None. While on the GOP side, Anthony Adams and a number of other Aye votes for the February package are fighting for their political lives.
The Republicans have gone so far in the quest for one single principle, that they have lost all perspective. They trade in quality schools, they trade in law enforcement, they even trade in prisons. All in the name of taxes.
That's not a political party. That's a fringe interest group. The thing that I don't understand is why the Republicans merit so much coverage. Perhaps the media needs to give some attention to the new parties (PDF). I'm thinking a big story on the Anarchy and Poverty Party. Or perhaps that is just a faction of the GOP, being a little more honest about what they plan for California.
Joe Matthews has an outstanding column up at Fox & Hounds. It seeks to isolate the question of property taxes, and whether Prop 13 is the best resolution. And to address this question, Matthews pulls out the ol' WWMFD question - What would Milton Friedman Do?
Matthews has an interesting position from which to comment, primarily because he conducted an interview with "Uncle Milton" in 2004, just two years before his death. He has some pretty choice quotes from that interview on the question of Prop 13:
When the subject turned to Prop 13, which he had strongly supported in 1978, Friedman said he thought the measure had proven to be "a mixed bag." He did not regret his vote for Prop 13 because it had sent a tax-cutting message that was important for that time.
* * *
But as a matter of current policy, he said, Prop 13 was problematic. "It's a bad tax measure because the property tax is the least bad tax there is," he said. "Think of the original and indestructible properties of the soil. The least dangerous and harmful tax is a tax on something of which there is an inelastic supply." He argued that protecting Prop 13 was far less important than cutting other taxes, particularly on the income and sales we need more of.
See, the thing with the Republican Party today is not they are principled conservatives ideologically opposed to progressive goals. That sort of logical consistency would block much good progressive legislation, but it wouldn't have lead us to the free-fall in which we currently find ourselves. Protecting Prop 13 no longer has anything to do with conservative goals or low-tax policy, but it has everything to do with a mindset. From Matthews:
Yes, it's conventional wisdom that raising property taxes is politically impossible in California. But why is that true? It's true because California's conservatives and Republicans have become a party of no. If a proposal increases taxes in any way, they're against it. In doing so, they ignore the teachings of an economist that they claim to revere.
For more than a generation, conservatives have protected the "least bad tax" to the exclusion of all else. So even as income and sales and all kinds of taxes - with their negative effects on the economy - grow (they're up again this year), the Prop 13 tax limits remain sacred.
Principled conservatism is frustrating, but you can predict principled conservatives. You can work with principled conservatives. However, you can't work with a Zombie Death Cult, hell bent only on their own bizarre politics while entirely ignoring good policy
In a recent op-ed, Congressman Tom McClintock (R- Roseville) made the claim that Obama's stimulus bill would cost over $200,000 per job, and that conservative free-market policies would ultimately prevail in the end over the "tax-borrow-and-spend policies" of the Democratic Administration.
And who did he blame for those policies???
The guy he just barely beat in the race for Congress, Charlie Brown.
Dear Senator,
Neither you nor I have a Nobel Prize in economics. But Paul Krugman does. And he says you are wrong about the stimulus. Not just wrong, but dangerously wrong.
You may think both Krugman and I are dangerous commie pinkos. But both of us have been right about the economy. You have not.
If you had been right that tax cuts and the free market can cure all ills, we would not be in the situation we're in right now. You got your chance to prove your ideas. And they failed. We have all paid for their failure.
Now we are poised to pay again for your stubbornness and stupidity.
Xposted 9/19/2008 7:27 AM PDT on in my BluePalmSpringsBoyz blog on MyDesert.com
As everyone knows by now, this is an historic election year. However, the County of Riverside, and its office for voter registration, has shown incompetency beyond what we have come to expect from them. The County has now run out of voter registration forms, according to George Zander, Desert Stonewall Democratic Club President, and John Eldridge, Julie Bornstein for 45th Congressional District staffer.
For months, the state of California and the county of Riverside have known that this would be an election of more than note. Democratic voters' interest increased during the primary season, especially during the race between the first major candidate of African-American descent, Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL), and the first major woman candidate, Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY). Voter turnout for Democratic primaries across the country eclipsed previous turnout.
That alone doesn't mean they will do the right thing and stop blocking the revenue question, but it will be hard for them to ignore it forever. Over the last few weeks and months, we've seen a fair number of stories about people that will be harmed by the budget cuts. Today, add the Sacramento Bee to the list:
Low-income families like the McGriffs would be particularly hard hit under the governor's plan because they receive assistance from different state programs. The couple live off a $1,544 monthly Social Security income, rely on government-sponsored health insurance and stay out of costly nursing homes through an in-home care program – each of which has been proposed for reductions by the governor as the state faces a $15.2 billion deficit for the fiscal year beginning July 1.
The GOP's position that we have a spending problem is based almost entirely on beliving that people like the McGriffs are not worthy of our money. Or that our teachers do not need raises. Or perhaps it is that they belive our public safety officers just make too much money.
The 'waste, fraud, and abuse" line can only go so far. Furthermore, I'd venture to say that the waste, fraud, and abuse in our state government runs substantially lower than most Fortune 500 companies. The state doesn't have hang-out rooms for its employees like Google, no wealth of free snacks lies hiding in the break rooms of our state government offices. No, this is about providing services for real Californians. And now the media is waking up to these facts.
(Emily beat me to it, but I will add a bit of context to her post.--Julia - promoted by Dante Atkins (hekebolos))
UPDATE: by Julia I just want to add some context here. This ad is titled "Yacht Party 2". It would not exist without help from CNA, so major props to them. Today Arianna Huffington sent out an email to Courage Campaign members asking for their help to get this on the air, part of which is excerpted on the flip. We are going up in Sacramento to start, but the more donations, the more we can expand the buy.
This is very much a non-traditional ad and builds upon the first "Yacht Party" we produced that was inspired by Dave.
Republicans Vote Against Moms; No Word Yet on Puppies, Kittens
By Dana Milbank
Friday, May 9, 2008; A03
It was already shaping up to be a difficult year for congressional Republicans. Now, on the cusp of Mother's Day, comes this: A majority of the House GOP has voted against motherhood.
On Wednesday afternoon, the House had just voted, 412 to 0, to pass H. Res. 1113, "Celebrating the role of mothers in the United States and supporting the goals and ideals of Mother's Day," when Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.), rose in protest.
"Mr. Speaker, I move to reconsider the vote," he announced.
Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Fla.), who has two young daughters, moved to table Tiahrt's request, setting up a revote. This time, 178 Republicans cast their votes against mothers.
It has long been the custom to compare a popular piece of legislation to motherhood and apple pie. Evidently, that is no longer the standard. Worse, Republicans are now confronted with a John Kerry-esque predicament: They actually voted for motherhood before they voted against it.
Republicans, unhappy with the Democratic majority, have been using such procedural tactics as this all week to bring the House to a standstill, but the assault on mothers may have gone too far. House Minority Leader John Boehner, asked yesterday to explain why he and 177 of his colleagues switched their votes, answered: "Oh, we just wanted to make sure that everyone was on record in support of Mother's Day."
By voting against it?
If Boehner's explanation doesn't make much sense, he's been under a great deal of stress lately.
OMG! Can you imagine if Democrats did that?
First vote here; second vote here. (Click on party name to see invividual members).
If you think he's been under a lot of stress, you ain't seen nothin' yet!
Voting against motherhood!
Well, I'll give them this: at least they were honest for once.
And yes, since one of those voting against was Dana ("Taliban") Rohrabacher, a small portion of whose district falls into the Random Lengths News circulation area, I do feel honor bound to see that this runs in our paper. His district is R+6, and Debbie Cook is gunning for him.
Calitics Bonus! California Republicans voting against Mothers Day:
Brian Bilbray Mary Bono Ken Calvert John Doolittle
David Dreier Elton Gallegly Wally Herger Duncan Hunter
Darrell Issa Jerry Lewis Daniel Lungren Kevin McCarthy
Buck McKeon Gary Miller Devin Nunes George Radanovich
(XPosted 4/19/2008 8:33 AM PDT on MyDesert.com in BluePalmSpringsBoyz blog.)
...Pettis has the support of all of the Democratic Clubs that have endorsed to date, the most active union leadership and membership, and the community.
Pettis has thus far been endorsed by the Desert Stonewall Democratic Club, the Inland Stonewall Democratic Club, the Palm Springs Democratic Club, the Pass Democratic Club, the San Diego Democratic Club, the San Diego Democratic Women's Club. He has been endorsed by former-Brawley Mayor Orbie Hanks, Cathedral City Councilmember and Candidate for Mayor of Cathedral City Paul Marchand, former-Cathedral City Councilmember Sarah Digradi, former-Coachella Mayor Juan DeLara, Coachella City Councilmember Gilbert Ramirez, Desert Hot Springs City Councilmember Karl Baker, El Centro City Councilmember Sedalia Sanders, Palm Springs City Councilmember Ginny Foat, Palm Springs City Councilmember Rick Hutcheson, former-Rancho Mirage City Councilmember Jeanne Parrish, and former Candidate for the 80th AD Bonnie Garcia.
He also has the endorsement of such local Democratic Party activists as Roger Tansey, Vice-President, Bob Silverman, Treasurer, James Reynolds, Secretary, Greg Gonzalez, Steering Committee, Donald W. Grimm, Ph.D, Public Relations Committee Chair, Richard Oberhaus, Steering Committee, and other Desert Stonewall Democrats as well. Pettis enjoys the support from Chuck McDaniel and Will Pieper, Co-Chairs of the Desert Hot Springs Democratic Club, from Sandy Eldridge and David Pye, Co-Chairs of the Palm Springs Democratic Club, and from Jacqueline Atwood, President, and Betty McMillion, Vice-President of the Pass Democratic Club, and Arnie Kaminsky, President of the Sun City Democratic Club.
Pettis has the active endorsement and support from the major local unions including the American Federation of State, County, and Munipal Employees, the Building Trades of California, the California AFL-CIO, the Cathedral City Professional Firefighters, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 440, the Riverside/San Bernardino Counties Central Labor Council, the San Diego/Imperial Counties Central Labor Council, and Teamsters, Joint Council 42.
Received this press release today from the Greg Pettis for CA 80th Assembly District campaign. Pettis presently has the overwhelming support of labor and LGBT groups in his race to replace the termed-out, thank the deity, State Assemblywoman Bonnie Garcia (R-CA). Pettis, much to the chagrin of his opponents, is also picking up key endorsements from the ethnic minority and multicultural communities.
Pettis has also significantly outraised and outspent his Democratic opponents each reporting period. According to The Desert Sun, in the last reporting period, Pettis raised and spent more monies than all of these Democratic opponents combined. Of interest, Pettis also outraised his presumptive Republican opponent, Gary Jeandron, by a significant margin!
Add to this the fact that the current voter registration favors the Democrats. Thanks to the local Democratic clubs, activists have shifted the 80th AD voter registration from a majority Republican in 2000, to a more than 15,000 voter advantage at present. And, this does not include the Decline to State voters which have been since 2004 trending Democratic. Bodes well for a Pettis candidacy in November 2008.
Here is the text of the press release:
For Immediate Release
April 8, 2008
For More Information, contact Richard Oberhaus 760-413-7938
Cathedral City Councilmember Greg Pettis picked up four critical endorsements in the last week from labor and a Latino group, both keys to winning the 80th Assembly District.
XPosted 4/7/2008 11:46 PM PDT on MyDesert.com by BluePalmSpringsBoyz
Overheard Saturday night at the Democrats of the Desert Awards Banquet at the Las Rancho Palmas Resort, the decision to seek to close the Cathedral City medical marijuana clinic was made by Mayor Kathy DeRosa (R), Mayor Pro Tem Charles England (R), and Councilmember Chuck Vasquez (R-Closet Case) who voted to close the clinic.
Councilmember Greg Pettis (D), Candidate for the CA 80th Assembly District, and Councilmember Paul Marchand (D), Candidate for Mayor of Cathedral City, voted to support the clinic but were overruled by the Republican majority on council. In fact, Pettis was slated to appear at an event to support medical marijuana patients at Copy Kats last night, but the event was postponed.
As a team that has spent a tremendous amount of time, especially over the last four years investigating and exposing these groups, here is a little history about where front froups came from.
The modern political front group actually got its start about 50 years ago in the tobacco industry. As the Surgeon General targeted cigarettes and scientific studies were being publicized about the dangers of cigarettes, the tobacco industry, quite simply, created their own front groups in order to counter the real groups.
They said, "Doubt is our product," and they used well-funded front groups to fool the public into believing there were "two sides" to the story that tobacco use cased cancer and other diseases.
What are the characteristics of those groups that help define a front group today?
Well, for one, the proponents are paid mercenaries, not concerned citizens.
The second characteristic of these groups is that they are launched fully-formed and well-funded, often directly from Washington, D.C. The funding comes from few sources, and the front group is designed to push yet mask the agenda of these few funders. The day that Freedom's Watch launched out of DC, it had $15 million in the bank and completed TV commercials.
Contrast this with say, MoveOn.org, which was launched from an online petition by Wes Boyd and Joan Blades in California and grew into an organization as thousands upon thousands of concerned regular citizens joined. Or VoteVets, launched by Jon Soltz living in his office in New York.
Movements come from outside in, ground up. Front groups are launched fully formed, top down.
One of the clearest ways to see this is to look at the traffic that two sites receive.
If you head on over to www.alexa.com and compare MoveOn with Freedom's Watch, you'll see a clear fact - Freedom's Watch doesn't get any traffic - there is no support from the ground up, there is only the front, from the top down.
Finally, while Joan and Wes have always been and always will be involved with MoveOn, just as VoteVets is always going to be Jon Soltz's group, the heads of front groups like Freedom's Watch will change.
It appears that Bradley Blakeman is now the President, former George Bush spokesperson. He wasn't the head of it when it launched. And six months from now, it will be someone else.
The donors and the missions of front groups remain, the employees change, a lot.
