More than a thousand RNs and other activists marched on Wall Street Wednesday, chanting "Wall Street got bailed out! We got sold out!"
They stood on the steps of Federal Hall across from the New York Stock Exchange and held signs - "Take it Back! Tax Wall Street" and "Heal America! Tax Wall Street" - so crowds of curious passersby got the message.
Pride at Work's latest stunt infiltrating the Westin St. Francis is now a YouTube sensation, generating over 35,000 hits yesterday. It was featured on two local evening news shows, the progressive webzine Common Dreams, and the LGBT blog Towleroad - and on countless Facebook pages. But besides being a fun video, it deftly shows how activists can adapt to new ways of getting their message out. Mass rallies are much less effective today than they were in the Sixties, but too often progressives want to re-live this era by using the same tools and expecting a different result. People don't get their news from just a few channels anymore, so it's possible to have a march with thousands of people with little effect. Today, ideas catch fire and take hold through online social networks. "Caught in a Bad Hotel" was not the first YouTube flashmob, but it was the first one with a political purpose. And hopefully, it won't be the last.
It has been an amazing week in Iran, and you are no doubt seeing images that would have been unimaginable just a few weeks ago.
For most of us, Iran has been a country about which we know very little...which, obviously, makes it tough to put the limited news we're getting into a proper context.
The goal of today's conversation is to give you a bit more of an "insider look" at today's news; and to do that we'll describe some of the risks Iranian bloggers face as they go about their business, we'll meet a blogging Iranian cleric, we'll address the issue of what tools the Iranians use for Internet censorship and the companies that could potentially be helping it along, and then we'll examine Internet traffic patterns into and out of Iran.
Finally, a few words about, of all things, how certain computer games might be useful as tools of revolution.
(Like all too many things in California, higher education has been decimated by thousands of cuts. - promoted by Brian Leubitz)
California Young Democrats ask: What happened to the Master Plan? Young Democrats mobilize across the State to demand Governor Schwarzenegger halt education cuts
Hundreds of California Young Democrats are up in arms today and will be flooding Governor Schwarzenegger's phone lines today and on Friday to protest his recent proposals to slash remaining education funding.
"Right when our state needs to make smart decisions to lift us out of this budget crisis, the Governor's decided that higher education-one of our state's most lucrative long-term investments-ought to be sacrificed," said Rocky Fernandez, President of the California Young Democrats. "Anybody who knows anything about our state could tell you that every dollar invested in education leads to three dollars in economic output. Governor Schwarzenegger is throwing away the tractor in favor of the shovel."
Governor Schwarzenegger's recent proposals to cut $87.5 million out of higher education coupled with a shortening of the academic year show a total disregard for the promise of California's Master Plan for Higher Education. Instead of investing in California's youth, students will start their semesters with nothing but enrollment and budget cuts.
"Students will not roll over and let the California Dream of higher education fade away, " said Charlie Carnow, Political Director of the California College Democrats. "We call on the Governor to join us in fighting for our state's future"
I have visited Temple Square in downtown Salt Lake City every winter to see the buildings and trees lit up for the holidays - and I promise it's the most beautiful sight you'll ever see. They won't turn on the lights for another 21 days, but I would have given anything to have been there tonight.
Sarah Palin, fresh off the Vice-Presidential debate that Joe Biden handily won, is coming to California this weekend, including a rally at the Home Depot Center in Carson. California progressives are ready for her and are going to roll out our own welcome mat, letting Palin and the public know that California does not support her or the far-right beliefs she espouses.
The Courage Campaign is going to greet her with an airplane banner over the Home Depot Center tomorrow that will read "Sarah Palin, Thanks But No Thanks: No on Prop 4!" Proposition 4 is the return of parental notification, and Californians deserve to know what Palin's stance is on Prop 4 and parental notification. In her interview with Katie Couric:
Katie Couric, CBS News: "If a 15-year-old is raped by her father, you believe it should be illegal for her to get an abortion. Why?"
Governor Sarah Palin: "I am pro-life. And I'm unapologetic about my position..."
In 2007 the Alaska Supreme Court declared a parental consent law as unconstitutional, a decision Palin called "outrageous." Her response was to appoint another conservative to the court, giving it a conservative majority.
Californians need to know that Prop 4 is an attempt by social conservatives like Sarah Palin to write their extremist beliefs into our state's laws. Especially as Prop 4 holds a narrow lead in the polls, it is important that Californians are educated about Prop 4's Palin-esque goals.
Courage Campaign members are helping to fund the banner - it's a people-powered action, as are all these protest actions. Donate $33 to help get the banner in the air tomorrow!
The California Democratic Party will be there as well. They'll be bringing a projection screen to a rally outside the Home Depot Center that will display questions for Palin - tough questions that the McCain-Palin campaign doesn't want asked - that Californians have sent via text message. For more info and to sign up go to www.cadem.org/palin.
California progressives are also organizing protests for tomorrow's Palin events. Community organizers are helping put together a protest at Home Depot Center, appropriately enough. Click here for more information. LA Indymedia has information on how to get tickets for the event. Orange County activists will be holding a rally at the OC Performing Arts Center near South Coast Plaza from 3:30 to 6 tomorrow afternoon.
The primary reason Republicans continue to hold the state hostage and deny us a budget is they are afraid that if they vote for a necessary tax increase, they will face a primary challenge from within their party, either for their current seat or for another office in the future. All such a challenger would have to do is say "Joe Blow voted for a tax increase" and the challenger, flush with money from the Club for Growth, the Howard Jarvis Association, and the other usual suspects will take out the incumbent.
The only way to challenge that calculus is to suggest that these Republicans will face a greater backlash from voters than from other wingnuts. California voters, especially those in districts represented by Republicans, hold the most leverage in the current budget stalemate. And as the Conta Costa Times notes (h/t to Donald Lathbury), voters are starting to use that leverage as California turns on the Republicans:
Republican and Democratic members of the "Al-Costa Budget Coalition" -- self-described as a group of more than 40 schools and nonprofits serving the elderly, people with disabilities, families with health problems and other residents of Contra Costa County and the Tri-Valley area -- met this morning with Assemblyman Guy Houston, R-Livermore, to urge a resolution to the state budget impasse....
Livermore Valley Joint Unified School District board member Bill Morrison: "I'm a fiscally conservative Republican, but I cannot see any way out of this big hole we are in without some reasonable tax increases."...
Mt. Diablo Education Association President Mike Noce: "Assemblymember Houston has to represent his constitutents, and polls show that the majority of the people in this district support new revenues."
Houston is running for Contra Costa County Supervisor, a run that is being jeopardized by his participation in the Republicans' hostage crisis. CoCo voters are certainly going to think twice about entrusting their local government services to such a reckless individual.Correction: Houston already LOST that race in the June election, and isn't running for any other office. Which of course makes his adherence to the GOP hostage plan even more ridiculous.
California is ripe for this sort of thing across the state, especially in red districts. Voters in Fresno, south Orange County, and the exurbs all want good schools, hospitals, and roads. They understand that tax increases are necessary not just to balance the budget, but to maintain the middle-class, keep families afloat, and keep our economy alive. And they're no longer going to take this destruction of their state lying down.
Republican extremism has finally separated them not just from reality, but from their voters. Protests are the necessary first wave. Democrats need to be out in front and actively building support and backing candidates in these red districts, like Gary Pritchard.
Lathbury's parting shot is worth quoting:
If this thing has to be settled by the voters of California, expect Houston, along with Republican Assemblymember Greg Aghazarian, who's running to replace outgoing Democratic Senator Mike Machado, and possibly Senator Tom McClintock, who's running to replace disgraced Rep. John Doolittle, to be among the first casualties. Grover Norquist might not give two hoots about schools and health care, but many Republicans in our state are far less ideological. Indeed, the better question is, 'How much longer will they remain Republicans?'
The firm has announced an Open House to be held this Thursday, August 14th from 5:30 pm - 8:30 pm to celebrate the opening of Schubert Flint's new Irvine office.
If you are able to get over to Irvine this Thursday evening, I've prepared a flyer that you can download, print out and take with you to distribute to the Open House attendees: Schubert Flint Protest Flyer Download (PDF)
I will be discussing this and other state political issues on KRXA 540 AM at 8 this morning
Today I will be in San Francisco for the National Day of Protest against health insurance corporations and for truly universal health care - which only a single-payer system can provide. I wanted to take a moment and explain why I will be out there demonstrating against these criminals.
I currently do not have health insurance. My part-time job does not offer it and when I last looked into individual coverage I could not afford what was being offered to me. But more importantly, it's not health insurance that I need - but health care. They are not the same thing. Health insurance companies have a long and ugly record of denying care and claims even to those they insure. We have discussed here the horrifying stories of Nataline Sarkisyan and Nick Colombo, young people whose insurers denied them life-saving treatment until protests forced them to back down. In Nataline's case, as we will never forget, it came too late, and she died.
Courage Campaign (where I do some work) has partnered with the California Nurses Association and LA City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo to put out an ad lambasting insurance company practices. It's based on the true story of Patsy Bates whose health insurance was canceled by HealthNet in the midst of her chemo treatments for breast cancer.
Speaking for myself, I see this ad and the protest at Moscone Center as fundamentally linked. Health insurance is a toxin, not a cure - the profit motive means that there will always be a desire to cut benefits, even in spite of government regulations (the recission practices Delgadillo is investigating are currently illegal under CA state law but they happen anyway).
Last year I was one of the leading voices on this blog against the mandated insurance plan proposed by Arnold and nearly passed by the legislature. It was not going to succeed in making health care more affordable and it was not going to succeed in making it more available. Mandated insurance plans haven't worked anywhere they've been tried in the US, including in Massachusetts - whereas single-payer systems have a long record of success around the world.
We protest, we fund ads, we get outraged, and we fight because we believe health care to be a fundamental human right. Every one of us deserves to have it when they need it, without regard to cost. When someone gets sick their first thought should not be "how will I pay for this?"
As we debate specific health care reforms, that focus on human rights needs to remain at the center of our work. Health insurance companies inherently disagree with it - to them health care is something only those who can afford it deserve to have. It is that mentality that we fight against and protest against today. I'm not naive; single-payer health care will not be an easy political victory. But as polls continue to show growing support for it, and growing revulsion at insurance company practices, it can't hurt to give Californians a reminder of why their health care is so screwed up - insurance companies are at the core of the problem. Today, we fight back.
This diary won't be popular, but it needs to be said. This past weekend, UCLA finally finished up the school year. Bill Clinton was supposed to have come spoken at Commencement for the College of Letters and Science. However, because of a labor dispute between the UC and AFSCME, Clinton ended up not speaking. Now, the replacement was Ariana Huffington. But she too backed out at the last minute because of the labor dispute.
Note: There was NOT a strike going on. It hadn't gotten to that stage. They're still in negotiations for a new contract. But the union requested that speakers cancel their commencement speeches.
Read below the fold to see how things went downhill.
There are a lot of interesting things going on that should be mentioned, but that I couldn't quite generate whole posts out of - so here they are for your Friday reading pleasure.
Karen Bass will become the Speaker on May 15, meaning she will play a central role in the upcoming budget negotiations this summer. I'm guessing she won't be as frequent a guest in Arnold's smoking tent as was her predecessor.
Civil Rights groups have come out swinging against the redistricting reform plan - MALDEF, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, the National Association of Latino Elected Officials, and the William C. Velazquez Institute held a news conference to explain their belief that redistricting reform will produce many fewer elected officials of color and weaken the voting rights of those communities. It's especially ironic that these criticisms are made against the backdrop of Fabian Núñez getting ready to hand off power to Karen Bass - redistricting reform is low enough on the state's list of priorities, and if it is going to reduce the representation of California's communities of color, it needs to not be passed.
The Department of Managed Care is going to reexamine thousands of "rescissions" of health insurance made by insurers AFTER the patients got sick. When 90 of these rescissions done by Blue Cross were sampled by the agency, all 90 were found to be flawed. While this process holds out some hope of recovery of costs and insurance by those victimized by this practice, it also simply reinforces the point that health insurers have no place in the delivery of health care in our state and in our country.
What began in Alameda last month is now beginning to spread around the state. As their future is taken from them by a Yacht Party determined to protect wealth and aristocracy through crippling education cuts, California students are beginning to fight back. In rallies that are unfolding across the state, they are speaking out for opportunity, for education, for democracy.
And on April 18 and April 21, they are poised to make the loudest statement yet against the destruction of education in California.
Chanting "Save our schools" and "Shame on you," about 200 teachers, students and parents from across South County lined the narrow sidewalks in front of a Mexican restaurant Thursday afternoon, protesting Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposed education cuts as the governor rolled up for a fundraiser.
Sheriff's deputies on foot and motorcycle ordered protesters to stay off the private driveway of El Adobe de Capistrano restaurant in the moments leading up to the governor's 6:15 p.m. arrival. Schwarzenegger entered the downtown San Juan Capistrano eatery through a side entrance and did not address the protesters.
Schwarzenegger's communications director, Matt David, told reporters the governor "wishes he could be outside with these protesters" and that he applauded their efforts.
"This is the last thing he wants to do," said David, explaining that the governor hoped to work with lawmakers to find a different solution to the state's budget crisis. "He understands how important it is to fund education."
Of course, nobody forced Arnold to propose a $4 billion cut to K-12 funding. And he can reverse those cuts in his May revise. But he will get his chance to join these protestors over the next week, as California students are about to unleash an unprecedented wave of activism to stop Arnold and his attacks on public education.
(Chris Daly is the George Costanza of SF politics, but his wife kicks ass and I think of him as a friend. I'll be posting pics of the protest on Calitics as fast ss I can. - promoted by Bob Brigham)
Join me for an historic rally and march on Beijing's Olympic Torch in solidarity with the people of Tibet.
Wednesday, April 9th, 12 Noon, Embarcadero near Market
Nearly two months ago, representatives from the Tibetan community began working with my office on a resolution for the Board of Supervisors. Tibetans were rightfully concerned that the People's Republic of China (PRC) was using the Olympic Games in Beijing to gloss over their program of cultural genocide in Tibet. San Francisco would be the only stop in the US for the Torch Relay scheduled to make its way to Tibet this summer. On March 10th, Tibetan Uprising Day, I was set to introduce the resolution.
On the same day 300 brave monks set out from Drepung monastery outside of Lhasa on a protest march to Potala Palace in the heart of the city. The arrest of dozens of these monks led to further protests and uprising on the streets of Lhasa and other cities across Tibet. The Chinese government met these protests with a brutal crackdown, killing over 100 Tibetans and arresting hundreds of others in door-to-door raids.
Josh Wolf, you'll recall, is the 24-year old journalist/video-blogger who was imprisoned in August 2006 for defying a subpoena from a grand jury demanding that he hand over footage he took of a 2005 San Francisco anarchist protest during which a police officer was injured. After 7 1/2 months in prison (the record for an American journalist,) Wolf was freed today after agreeing to release the footage once a compromise was reached:
Wolf posted the uncut video on his Web site, gave prosecutors a copy and denied under oath that he knew anything about violent incidents at the July 2005 protest. In return, his lawyers said, prosecutors agreed not to summon him before the grand jury or ask him to identify any of the protesters shown on his video.
Prosecutors' withdrawal of their demand for his testimony was the key to the deal, Wolf told reporters outside the prison gate.
"Journalists absolutely have to remain independent of law enforcement," he said. "Otherwise, people will never trust journalists."
You can watch the uncut video footage on his website HERE.
Here are some wild and wonderful stories from behind The Orange Curtain that you just have to see to believe:
- Irvine protesters hold out hope for peace. There may have been only 80 antiwar activists holding their candles for peace last night, but they certainly made an impact. Martin Wisckol has more in today's Register.
- How have the Vietnamese-Americans assimilated... Or have they? That's been a question that all of us behind The Orange Curtain have asked since the special election debacle began to unfold last month. Guest bloggers Ralph E. Shaffer and Walter P. Coombs have some interesting answers at The Liberal OC. And finally...
The California Courage Campaign is organizing a protest of Disney over ABC's planned airing of the false and misleading Path To 9/11 crock-u-drama. It will take place at the Disney Studios in Burbank TODAY at 4pm.
