As the next Congressional fight over payroll tax extensions and unemployment benefits and pipelines gets set up in the next few weeks for either its final chapter or to be kicked down the road a bit farther, one or the other, you're going to hear a lot from our Republican friends about how much they value work and workers; most especially, they'll tell you, they value American jobs for American workers.
After all, they'll say, creating American jobs is the most important thing of all.
But if we were to look back over just the last few months, some would tell us, we could quickly find examples of how Republicans promote ideas that don't seem to value work or workers at all, much less American jobs.
Well as it turns out, "some" seem to be right; to illustrate one of those examples we'll look back a month or two or three to a time some Republicans might wish was long, long, ago, in a galaxy far, far away.
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 wanted to give you an update on my congressional race.
On Monday, the LA Times reported some good news about California's redrawn Congressional districts. According to the Times, Republican "party leaders aren't happy about the situation. Some say privately that the GOP could lose up to five of its 19 California congressional seats."
However, the Times also quotes David Wasserman, editor of the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, who said "there are some Republican opportunities" as well. Specifically, Republican strategists have targeted my race because Congressional District 24 "has been made more compact and more evenly divided between Democrats and Republican voters." LA Times link
Without question, my district is the toughest Democratic-held seat to defend in California. The district has the slimmest margin of Democratic voters in the state.
During my time in Congress, I have developed strong relationships with the residents of my district. But the Republican playbook is to "nationalize" this race and try to distract voters from my solid record working as their representative in Washington and providing effective constituent services.
Already Karl Rove's SuperPAC Crossroads GPS has run a false TV ad criticizing me for supporting Healthcare reform. The National Republican Campaign Committee also ran a TV ad against me in the district that the Washington Post factchecker debunked, giving it "4 Pincocchios!"
There are at least three Republicans who have indicated they may run. Millionaire Abel Maldonado is running and has already invested $250,000 of his own money in the race. Tea Party favorites Tom Watson and Chris Mitchum are also running and they tied for first place in a recent straw poll, showing their ability to energize the Republican base.
Meanwhile, I'm not taking any chances. Our experienced campaign manager, Kris Pratt, is on the ground now and we're staffing up our finance and field teams so we can be ready for 2012.
I know there's a big bulls-eye on my race, so I'm reaching out to you and progressive activists across California. I hope you'll play a big role in my campaign. You can reach us at lois@cappsforcongress.com or get involved at www.cappsforcongress.com
We need your help to organize in my district and raise money so we can communicate with voters. We need to win seats like CD24 to take back the U.S. House of Representatives.
So I hope you'll join me in 2012 and help us keep California's beautiful Central Coastal district blue.
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.
With only a longshot of a federal court challenge remaining, it looks like the new Congressional maps will go into effect for the June "primary" election. And with that, there is the possibility of a few seats changing hands in the House. Currently, we have 19 Republicans and 34 Democrats, but if Nancy Pelosi is to retake the gavel, she'll likely need to pick up a few next year.
In Larry Sabato's 2012 House ratings (h/t Bee), which are something of an institution among the many prognosticators in the business these days, he thinks there is at least one "likely" pickup for Democrats.
Who's that, you ask? Well that would be one Jerry Lewis, the self-dealing walking corruption scandal. I mean, any Republican has to know it is bad when Andrew Breitbart's website sends a letter to Speaker Boehner against you. He's avoided a couple vigorous challenges in the last few go-rounds. However, his district has changed since 2010. He now is in a district that went for Obama by 7 points and could end up getting even a smidge crazier if a few incumbents end up jumping around. At this point, Russ Warner and Renea Wickman are the two Democrats campaigning.
But, there is one other large factor out there that Tony Quinn brings up today at Fox and Hounds:
December's Field Poll on the 2012 presidential contest, which shows President Obama leading Mitt Romney by 10 points and Newt Gingrich by 20 points, also gives us a few clues about the outcome of next year's congressional races. The survey suggests that if Romney heads the GOP ticket, Republicans might do all right in the congressional contests; if Gingrich heads the ticket, they could take a bath.
That is because federal races have now become nationalized, and California voters may be less likely to split their tickets between president and congress than they were in the past. California had very few hotly contested congressional races under the gerrymandered plan in effect for the past decade. The 11th Congressional District that covered parts of the East Bay and San Joaquin County was the only one to change hands; Democratic Rep. Jerry McNerney won it by ousting a Republican incumbent in 2006.
A Gingrich nomination could result in another Obama blowout similar to 2008 numbers. With these new maps, that could very easily end up with another seat or two in the Democratic column. And with the very real possibility of control of the House being determined by a few seats on either side, it could make a very big difference across the country.
After doing a bit of mountain hiking a few days back, I had a chance to get involved in a great afternoon conversation with the Alliance for American Manufacturing's Mike Wessel, who also serves as a Commissioner with the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission; the conversation was about how we're doing when it comes to our relationship with China.
As it turns out, the two events went well together, because what I'm hearing from these guys is that we have a great big ol' mountain to climb if we hope to get back to a level playing field in our interactions with this most important country.
There's news to report across a variety of issues; that's why today we'll be talking about trade, human rights, cybersecurity, poverty and development, and the methods by which you can apply "soft power" to achieve hard results.
The entirely unanticipated result: all of this will reveal the naïveté of Ron Paul when it comes to foreign policy; we'll discuss that at the end.
I hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving. I am glad to be back on the campaign trail, fighting to fix our broken economy and restore the American Dream for millions of hardworking middle class families.
You know what the problem is with America?
The poor don't get just how great they have it.
I've hear this a lot lately; the basic thrust of the discussion is that all those cars, TVs, DVD players, refrigerators, and stoves that have found their way into the homes of the economic underclass are proof there's really no such thing as "poor" in America.
If they were truly poor, the argument goes, well...think recycled corn.
And if the poor want things to get better, let 'em pull themselves up by their own bootstraps - and if they can't, then let 'em rot, because that's the best thing for the economy.
But I don't buy all that, and by the time we're done today, I hope to have given you a whole new perspective on how jobs get created in this country.
I'm on a mission to restore the American Dream - and I know that to do that, we're going to have shake things up in Washington. It's time we fundamentally change our priorities; and that starts by putting pressure on our leaders to act on creating good jobs and stop protecting unnecessary tax breaks for the wealthiest one percent.
(Welcome to Mr. Hernandez! Check out his website! - promoted by Brian Leubitz)
In the midst of economic and political turmoil, it is difficult to imagine and embrace the fundamental values that we as Americans believe in; the things that make our country the greatest nation on earth. Sadly, these tough times have made far too many middle class families believe that the American Dream is far from reality.
But I can tell you it does exist. And I am living proof of it's incredible promise.
Meanwhile, the GOP leadership asks us to consider absurd bills like H.R. 1505, which this week passed the House Committee on Natural Resources, where I sit as a Member. This legislation will hand over control of all public lands within 100 miles of the borders - like our national parks, forests, and beaches - to U.S. Customs and Border Protections. Ironically, it's named the National Security and Federal Lands Protection Act. Under H.R. 1505, without any public notice, U.S. Customs and Border Protection could build roads and gates and install surveillance equipment in places that Americans treasure - from Glacier National Park in Montana to Cleveland National Forest in California and Olympic National Park in Washington. This legislation would, in effect, hand over the keys to many of the most beautiful places in America - places you and I own as the birthright of being an American, places that with proper stewardship our great grandchildren will one day own too.
(Welcome to Rep. Lois Capps - promoted by Brian Leubitz)
By Rep. Lois Capps
Dear Calitics community:
After following your smart takes on California and national politics, I thought it was time I joined the conversation. Here's my first post -- an update on my congressional campaign.
First, thank you for many years of support. Without the help of grassroots activists, I never would have been elected to Congress. And I never would have been able to write the Nurse Reinvestment Act to address our nationwide nursing shortage, help get Health Insurance Reform enacted, protect our coastline from more offshore drilling, vote against the Iraq war, stand up for a woman's right to choose and provide more opportunity for the middle class. I'm proud of my record and can keep going, but my message today is about politics.
This election is different.
There has been a lot of discussion here about the redistricting commission and their new maps.
The new, final map makes my 24th district the toughest Democratic seat to defend in California. No other congressional district has lost as many registered Democrats as mine. For the past ten years, my district had an 18% Democratic registration advantage. Now the seat has only 3% more Democrats than Republicans.
I don't feel very good about this country this morning, and as so many of us are I'm thinking of how Troy Davis was hustled off this mortal coil by the State of Georgia without a lot of thought of what it means to execute the innocent.
And given the choice, I'd rather see us abandon the death penalty altogether, for reasons that must, at this moment, seem self-evident; that said, it's my suspicion that a lot of states are not going to be in any hurry to abandon their death penalties anytime soon now that they know the Supreme Court will allow the innocent to be murdered.
So what if there was a way to create a compromise that balanced the absolute need to protect the innocent with the feeling among many Americans that, for some crimes, we absolutely have to impose the death penalty?
Considering the circumstances, it's not going to be an easy subject, but let's give it a try, and see what we can do.
I took a break to enjoy the holiday, as I'm sure many of you did, but my inbox kept busy, and on Friday came a doozy, courtesy of the Washington Post.
You remember that little bit of a banking crisis we had a couple of years back, where banks around the world might have possibly, maybe, just a little, conspired in a giant scheme to package toxic mortgage loans into Grade A, investment-ready securities instruments, which then blew up in everyone's faces to the tune of a whole lot of taxpayer bailouts?
Well all of a sudden, it looks like an agency of the Federal Government is looking to do something about it, in a real big way.
Last Friday the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) announced they're suing 17 firms (I'll give you a list, bit it's pretty much all the usual suspects); depending on who you ask the Feds are seeking an amount as high as $200 billion.
As Joe Biden would say, it's a big...well, it's a big deal, anyway, and that's why we're starting the new week with this one.
Well, not that they really have anything to do with each other, with the exception of the fact that Lynn Woolsey has supported marriage equality from way back in the day. Woolsey voted against DOMA in 1996, as did many California Democrats. In fact of the 67 House no votes on DOMA, my quick counting showed at least 16 Californians, or nearly double the percentage of Californians in the House.
No, the Prop 8 case is also up today. The Supreme Court will consider whether the proponents of Prop 8 have standing to appeal Judge Vaughn Walker's decision.
The California Supreme Court will hear arguments Tuesday on whether conservatives who sponsored Proposition 8 are entitled to appeal last year's federal ruling that overturned the 2008 same-sex marriage ban.
The court's ruling, due 90 days after argument, will determine whether all initiative sponsors in California are legally entitled to defend their measures in state court when the governor and the attorney general refuse. (LA Times)
To be sure, it is far from clear which way this decision will go. Prior case law, from my reading, seems to lean in the favor of no, they can't appeal and do not have standing. However, the issue is a little gray, and that's why the question was certified to the CA Supreme Court. Unfortunately, the Court did not choose to expedite the process, but we should have a decision before December or so.
However, you can also watch the argument live on CalChannel, either on your cable provider or online at calchannel.com. The hearing starts at 10AM.
When last we met, it was to discuss a Big Idea that the Obama Administration might apply to get some job creation going, despite a difficult Congress; the Big Idea was to look at the "Buy American" provisions that exist in our laws, regulations, and Executive Orders and see if we could practice a bit of "jobs arbitrage" by not just meeting the "Made in USA" requirements when governments across this country make purchases, but exceeding them.
(As it stands today, pretty much any "good or service" with more than 50% Made in USA content qualifies as a Made in USA purchase, even if 49% of the "good or service" comes from somewhere else).
At the time, I told you that if all went well we could look forward to comments from both Labor and the Administration as to the practicality of the Big Idea, and as it turns out I have comments for you that hit close to that mark - and a bit more besides:
On Saturday I just happened to bump into Congressman Adam Smith (WA-09); in the course of that conversation I told him what we're doing here, and he wanted to offer a few thoughts of his own...and when you put all that together, I think we're going to have a lot to talk about.
I have not been talking about the insanity around the debt ceiling and debt and deficit and the efforts of Republicans to drive us all off the cliff, but I am today - and I'm going to do it by allowing you to grab ahold of this problem and see for yourself just how unbelievably bad this manufactured crisis is going to be.
You will hear a lot of conversation about the consequences from others; today, however, you are going to get the chance to be both the President and the Secretary of the Treasury, and you will get to decide for yourself exactly what bills the Federal Government should and should not pay as the cash runs out if a deal is not made by the time borrowing authority runs out.
At that point you'll be able to see what's coming for yourself - and once you do, you won't need me to tell you what ugly is going to look like.
(FNS - Washington, New Germany, April 17, 1947) America's new Führer, Adolf Hitler, announced today that his official War History would in fact acknowledge that one of the biggest contributing factors to the defeat of the Allies was the insistence of the former United States of America on sticking to its Balanced Budget Amendment, which left them unable to fund the wartime conversion of the US economy for the benefit of the Alliance.
"All those ideas Mr. Roosevelt spoke of", said Hitler, "Lend-Lease, modular shipbuilding, War Bonds, secret weapons...in the end, all of them were just words, since the Americans' Congress was never willing to allow the country to fully fund its war effort."
By now you have heard that President Obama has chosen to throw Social Security and the Medicare and Medicaid Programs over the side of his proverbial fishing boat as bait to see if he can get Republicans to give him another really lousy compromise, much as he did last December when he gave up billions upon billions of deficit reduction in order to help Republicans preserve tax cuts for billionaires.
And it looks like the President doesn't really lose if you or I get hurt here: in fact, it seems that, in his eyes, it's to his advantage to fight against his own base as he seeks to be "the adult in the room" in the runup to the '12 election.
So we're going to have to find a way to put The Fear on this guy - and I think I've got a plan to force this President to listen.
And it works like this: if this President ain't gonna be moved by our message...we do it by holding the rest of his Party hostage.
