Burbank Democratic Club

Convention Day 2

2008-08-27T14:16:00.001-07:00

Daily Kos: The awesome quotes you missed if you weren't watching C-SPAN last night

If [McCain is] the answer, then the question must be ridiculous.
- Gov. Patterson

Even leaders in the oil industry know that Senator McCain has it wrong. We simply can’t drill our way to energy independence, even if you drilled in all of John McCain’s backyards, including the ones he can’t even remember.
-Gov. Schweitzer

And much much more.

Fact Checking? Yes!

2008-08-14T10:31:00.001-07:00

Target Obama: Why The Press Must Fact-Check Campaign Claims

This is a fact: Today Barack Obama is subject to what is probably the greatest concentrated attacks of smears, lies and innuendo in the lifetime of anyone who reads these words.

Consider this: John McCain in personal appearances, in his
campaign staff presentations and various media and ads, falsely and aggressively accused Barack Obama of neglecting wounded troops.

McCain, widely reported by most media with virtually no fact checking or refutation until days after McCain's attacks, accused Barack Obama of planning to bring
political reporters to his visit with wounded troops. As every single reporters from every media organization
covering Obama knew, that charge was either a deliberate lie or a total ignorance of the facts.

McCain charged that Obama wanted to bring cameras to photograph the event. Totally false and every reporter on the Germany trip knew it. McCain charged that Obama chose playing basketball instead of visiting wounded troops. Totally false and every reporter on that trip knew it. McCain charged that Obama wanted to bring political staff people to the wounded troops and that, too, is totally false.

Let's be crystal clear, Obama was accompanied by a giant horde of reporters and every one of them knew these charges were totally untrue, completely, fairly described as slander or smear and arguably constituting direct lies when they were repeated by McCain and his staff, again and again, well after the facts were clear to all.

Comic-Con IS Mainstream

2008-07-30T18:04:00.000-07:00

Seen last weekend in San Diego—at the mecca of all franchises, all genres in media and entertainment: examples of how OUR politics this year is INTO the culture, and the under-30s (not to globalize too much)

First off, for all you Battlestar Galactica fans...the only freebie giveaway handed out by street hawkers that I took, much less kept...

And then, almost inevitably...at the biggest T-shirt vendor (4 booths) on the massive exhibition hall floor ... (Count our own Lee Wochner as a proud customer) . Comic fans will note it is an actual *signed Alex Roth*!

Censure Dianne Feinstein?

2008-07-15T12:54:00.001-07:00

The voting is done and here are the results:

Over 12,000 Californians voted on one of the most important questions we have ever asked our community: whether or not the Courage Campaign should re-launch a censure resolution against Senator Dianne Feinstein at the next meeting of the California Democratic Party.

And here's the answer:

95.4 percent (11,524 people) voted YES.
4.6 percent (556 people) voted NO.

The consensus of our Courage Campaign community is crystal clear: we should push to censure the Senator.

And, driven by your mandate to take action, that is exactly what we're going to do. From her FISA votes supporting telecom immunity to her shocking swing votes confirming Bush nominees Michael Mukasey and Leslie Southwick, enough is enough.

For this people-powered "Censure the Senator" movement to succeed, we need your support before the California Democratic Party (CDP) executive board meets again. To hold Sen. Feinstein accountable, it will take money to organize people. It's as simple as that.

If you support pushing to censure the Senator, please contribute $20, $50, $100 or more now to launch our campaign for change within the Democratic Party immediately. If just 500 people contribute $10 (or more) ASAP, we can hire a grassroots organizer and get started now:

http://www.couragecampaign.org/CensureMovement

SIGH

2008-07-09T13:30:00.001-07:00

FISA has passed. Telecoms get Immunity. No Special Interests Left Behind

Opponents to immunity argue that only in court will the full extent of the program be understood, and only a judge should decide whether the program broke the law.

Just under a third of the Senate, including presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama, supported an amendment proposed by Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., that would have stripped immunity from the bill. It was defeated on a 32-66 vote. Presumptive Republican nominee John McCain did not vote.

Specter proposed an amendment to require a district court judge to assess the legality of warrantless wiretapping before granting immunity. It failed on a 37-61 vote.

Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., proposed that immunity be delayed until after a yearlong government investigation into warrantless wiretapping is completed. His amendment failed on a vote of 42-56.

Gather in Burbank to support Obama

2008-07-07T13:07:00.000-07:00

[From Moveon.org]

Have you seen the latest ad from the RNC? With holiday travel and gas prices on every channel, the Republicans are spending over $3 million in the next week to convince voters that high gas prices are Barack Obama's fault.

What's scary is that their strategy is working—even though the Republicans' energy policy got us into this mess!

So this Wednesday, we're pushing back with our National Day of Action for an Oil-Free President. We'll be gathering at gas stations around the country to reach out to voters and make sure they know John McCain is Big Oil's candidate and that he won't solve our energy crisis. Can you join the event in Burbank?

Host: Charlene B.—fellow MoveOn member
Where: Shell Station on Hollywood Way & Verdugo (in Burbank)
When: Wednesday, Jul. 9, 2008, at 5:30 PM

Here's the link to RSVP:

http://pol.moveon.org/event/events/event.html?event_id=48200&id=13135-7980537-K7aQeQx&t=3

We'll be in front of gas stations with signs and fliers to remind people that McCain is in the pocket of Big Oil. His campaign is run by oil industry lobbyists,¹ and he looks to Big Oil for big campaign contributions.² We can't count on him to push for alternative energy solutions or help lower gas prices.

But soon ads blaming Obama for gas prices will be up all over the country. And people squeezed by energy costs may forget that it was another Republican with close ties to Big Oil and former oil lobbyists advising him in the White House who brought us to this point.

Now is the time to make sure voters know John McCain won't solve our energy crisis. Sign up to attend a gas station event now:

http://pol.moveon.org/event/events/event.html?event_id=48200&id=13135-7980537-K7aQeQx&t=4

Hope you can make it! Thanks for all you do.

–Noah, Andrea, Stephen, Anna, Lenore and the rest of the team

P.S. Can't make this event? Here are a few other events near you:

Northeast corner of La Cienega & Beverly Blvd, catty-corner from The Beverly center, West Hollywood at 5:30 PM—RSVP
The 76 Station at Crescent and Burton Way across from Beverly Hills City Hall, Beverly Hills at 5:30 PM—RSVP
Chevron Station, Los Angeles at 5:00 PM—RSVP
Shell Station, Overland Ave & Venice Blvd, Culver City at 5:00 PM—RSVP

Jeb & His Hacks Still Hacking at the Church/State Wall

2008-06-26T15:59:00.000-07:00

And you thought he was the "good" or "competent" Bush? Or at least, safely out of power?

Think again. My buddy monitoring church/state relations and militant creationists attacking science education sent me this scary piece, from AlterNet.org:

... If former Gov. Jeb Bush and his allies have their way, all of these [Florida mainstream religious] schools – and private academies like them around the state – will soon be eligible for massive new streams of public funding, courtesy of the state’s taxpayers.

Bush has engineered onto the November ballot two initiatives that would eliminate the state constitution’s strict church-state separation provisions, mandate funding of religion and water down language requiring a quality public school system.

For advocates of church-state separation and strong public schools, it’s a political showdown with breath-taking possible consequences. ...
—By Joseph L. Conn, Church & State Magazine

FISA Delayed - Stay Vigilant

2008-06-26T13:54:00.001-07:00

TPM Election Central | Talking Points Memo |

Looks like the Senate vote on the FISA cave legislation, which was set for as early as today or tomorrow, has been postponed until Senators come back from recess in July:

Senator Boxer on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act

2008-06-26T11:24:00.000-07:00

To watch this video, go to Boxers website, HERE!

If you don't have the current Flash Player you will be prompted to download and install it.

Charlie Brown on FISA

2008-06-24T12:14:00.001-07:00

Calitics California Politics Blog

Brown was concerned that we seem to continue granting immunity to the wrong people, and not just the telecoms. We bail out Bear Stearns but not individual homeowners. We throw individual privates in jail for Abu Ghraib but never go up the chain of command. "There is an accountability problem in Washington, DC," as Brown put it. And the Title I aspects of the bill, which allow warrantless spying of bulk targets under executive-proclaimed "exigent circumstances," particularly with no need to throw out the intelligence gained that way if later found to to be illegal, was a concern as well.

If Charlie Brown can manage to run for office in what has traditionally been a heavily Republican district and understand that Constitutional principles and federal statutes must come first, then it's just impossible to take Bush Dogs who voted for FISA out of fear seriously. "Conservative Republicans should never vote for this kind of bill... they ought to be skeptical of government power and protective of civil liberties."

Beating back the offshore drilling hysteria

2008-06-23T11:15:00.000-07:00

Aside from McCain's own flip-flop on this, the new call to open up offshore drilling will NOT do a thing to really change current gas prices--and does nothing to get us off Big Oil longterm except to go broke giving Big Oil another windfall:

As Crooks and Liars notes:

... The oil industry has drilled in only 19 percent of the more than 40 million acres they already can that are not covered by the current ban — 40 million acres that represent 79 percent of America’s technically recoverable offshore oil reserves. Using generous estimates from the latest analysis from Bush’s own Department of Energy, allowing unlimited drilling both offshore and in ANWR “would lower the price at the pump by less than 6 cents by 2025.”

As Sen. Reid correctly pointed out, this recent push by George Bush & John McBush represents “nothing more than a cynical campaign ploy that will do nothing to lower energy prices, and represents another big giveaway to oil companies already making billions in profits.” and the NYT went further to note that “the only real beneficiaries will be the oil companies that are trying to lock up every last acre of public land before their friends in power — Mr. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney — exit the political stage.“

Stop Steny's FISA cave-in! CALL NOW!!

2008-06-20T00:28:00.000-07:00

This is unbelievable--after all we've been through and fought for... to have a Democrat lead the cave-in in the HOUSE on the FISA giveaways ... !! An aptly-named consortium of left and right dubbed Strange Bedfellows has come together to fight this practically overnight.

Author/blogger Glenn Greenwald is taking the lead, but as the New York Times’ editorial board says of Democratic House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer’s outrage:

[..]The bill is not a compromise. The final details are being worked out, but all indications are that many of its provisions are both unnecessary and a threat to the Bill of Rights. The White House and the Congressional Republicans who support the bill have two real aims. They want to undermine the power of the courts to review the legality of domestic spying programs. And they want to give a legal shield to the telecommunications companies that broke the law by helping Mr. Bush carry out his warrantless wiretapping operation.

And from unity@Democrats.COM:

Steny Hoyer's warrantless wiretapping bill is obscene because it gives complete immunity to the telcos that have spied on us illegally since 2001, as well as the Bush Administration officials who illegally asked them to break the law. And it lets them continue spying on us by creating Big Brother with a figleaf of meaningless "protections."

On May 14, Democrats defeated a similar immunity bill 213-197. There is absolutely no reason for any Democrat to change his or her vote now except corrupt greed for telco campaign cash.

What to do?? The club's Executive Board advises:

Call both our Burbank congressmen, Adam Schiff and Brad Sherman, and ask them to vote against this FISA bill! Call them at their Washington offices and at their district offices. Then e-mail them. And two hours latter, call again! And fax! You can call 24/7/365 and leave a message.

Brad Sherman:
http://bradsherman.house.gov/sherman/contact/
Washington phone: 202 225 5911 Washington fax: 202 225 5879
Local Phone: 818 501 9200 Local fax: 818 501 1554

Adam Schiff:
http://schiff.house.gov/HoR/CA29/Contact+Information/Contact+Form.htm
Washington phone: 202 225 4176 Washington fax 202 225 5828
Local phone: 626 304 2727 Local fax: 626 304 0572

Then Nancy Pelosi. She can decide that this bill will not even be considered.
Phone (202) 225-4965, Fax (202) 225-8259

Get after Steny Hoyer and tell him this is a bad deal:
Phone (202) 225-4131, Fax (202) 225-4300

And call Barack Obama at both his Senate office and his campaign and demand that he take a clear and unambiguous stand against this bill.
Senate: Phone (202) 224-2854, Fax (202) 228-4260
Campaign: (866) 675-2008

And here are more congressmen who need to hear from you! http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/6/19/115414/787/632/538388

Make no mistake about it: This is a Get out of Jail Free card for W and Dick!

Music + Irony

2008-06-17T18:21:00.000-07:00

Call Your Congressperson!

2008-06-13T17:49:00.001-07:00

V.A. Ban on Voter Drives Is Criticized - NYTimes.com

Voting rights groups are criticizing the Department of Veterans Affairs for its decision to ban registration drives among the veterans living at federally run nursing homes, shelters for the homeless and rehabilitation centers across the country.

The groups say such drives make it easier for veterans to register and participate in the political process, which could be particularly important this year in a presidential election in which the handling of the Iraq war and treatment of veterans will be major campaign issues.

Water Supply Alert!

2008-06-12T08:41:00.001-07:00

Burbank Leader

The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California announced a water supply alert that does not call for mandatory restrictions, but does ask cities to ratchet up its efforts to save water in the face of the dry conditions, spokesman Bob Muir said.

“We’re urging local cities to update their drought ordinances,” he said. “A lot of them have them on the books and now it’s time to dust them off.”

The alert follows Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s announcement on June 4 of a statewide drought and comes more than four months after Metropolitan approved a Water Supply Allocation Plan to restrict water deliveries.

Officials could implement the plan — which would require cities to call for mandatory water restrictions — by spring 2009, Muir said.

Schwarzenegger declares statewide drought

2008-06-04T11:52:00.001-07:00

sacbee.com

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will declare a statewide drought Wednesday as farmers and communities face water shortages due to two consecutive years of below-average rainfall and court-imposed restrictions on the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.

The Republican governor will sign an executive order that seeks to accelerate water transfers to shortage areas, pursue federal assistance and improve coordination between government agencies.

The order does not impose statewide water rationing but attempts to reduce water use by bolstering state and local conservation programs.

Now we have a nominee

2008-06-04T10:43:00.001-07:00

TPM Election Central | Talking Points Memo |

Nancy Pelosi has just said that the Democratic Primary is over, declaring Barack Obama the "nominee."

Pelosi's office just sent me some audio of some remarks she made to reporters from the cable networks that haven't aired yet. "Now we have a nominee," Pelosi said, "and that's pretty exciting."

John McCain wants HIllary's voters.

2008-06-03T16:44:00.001-07:00

John McCain voted to filibuster the minimum wage. John McCain doesn't support the troops. John McCain agrees with Bush's Iraq strategy. John McCain wants to overturn Roe v. Wade. John McCain supports NAFTA. John McCain is a puppet for the lobbyists. John McCain is fine letting our troops rot in Iraq for 100 years.

Unfortunate, but inevitable

2008-06-02T18:52:00.001-07:00

Gay marriage measure qualifies for November ballot

California voters will have a chance to overturn the recent state Supreme Court decision to legalize gay marriage just five months from now, as the secretary of state certified a measure to define marriage as "between a man and a woman" for the November ballot.

Proponents of the measure submitted more than 1.1 million signatures to qualify for the general election ballot. A random sampling by the Secretary of State's office determined they had collected more than the 694,354 valid signatures needed.

In 2000, more than 61 percent of voters passed Proposition 22, which defined marriage in state law as only "between a man and a woman." But in mid-May, the California Supreme Court ruled that measure was unconstitutional because it prevented same-sex couples from maintaining the same rights as straight couples.

I find this heartbreaking. Gay couples can adopt and raise children. but are denied the legal rights of co-parenthood; they can make the same life long commitments as straight people but can benefit from none of the legal advantages of that commitment; because of the sex of their partner, they are treated as different, they are discriminated against. Sad. I hope this measure fails miserably. And it very well might in what may very well be a presidential election with unprecedented turnout. When everyone votes, fears like these are exposed as radical and extreme. There is a reason the law was found unconstitutional, so lets not change the constitution.

High prices getting you down

2008-05-20T17:38:00.000-07:00

From FORBES

Greenwich Associates, which has been researching U.S. markets for 36 years, said this year's run-up in commodities seemed mainly the work of speculators, as research showed that more than a third of investors in those markets had been active for less than three years.

On a related issue, U.S. lawmakers and farm groups at a congressional hearing on Tuesday challenged recent findings by the U.S. futures markets regulator that hedge funds and other speculative players were not the main culprits for record food and energy prices.

And where does all the excess capital for speculation come from? Um, that's what the wealthy are doing with the tax cuts Bush and the Republicans gave them. Note that they are not creating new jobs with that money. Oops, who could've seen that coming?

Summer of Change 08 Video

2008-05-18T14:21:00.000-07:00

At the Picnic on May 17th, a few people had some choice words about the state of California's budget. I made 3 short commercials for a Cadem contest and you can see them below:

HEALTHCARE

LOTTERY SCAM

EDCUATION

The Hometown Strikes Back!

2008-05-17T18:23:00.000-07:00

Wow. You never know what you'll find on the Tubes.

Here I am trying to get out the door to our Burbank Dems picnic today with sister clubs and politicos alike, on a 97-degree heatwave day.... and what greets me in the routine Democratic Senate Campaign Committee e-newsletter?

I nearly fall off my chair.

My hometown, Noble, OK--one of them, anyway--where I went all 12 years to school, where most of my dad's family lived, whose weekly paper I worked at as reporter and then editor for three years.

Oh, and it really is the "Rose Rock Capital of the World." (Seriously, it is. The white ones in China don't count).

And NOW it's in a national party video on global warming with a lot of humor and real-folks common sense, Will Rogers-style, aimed at dangerously goofy Jim Inhofe.

So, go Andrew Rice!
And go, Rose Rose Festival!

Who's out of touch?

2008-05-16T06:16:00.001-07:00

The following comes from "Capitol Alert," a free emailed news alert from the Sacramento Bee. I was struck by the contrast between the two parties...at least for weekend of the 17th and 18th.

So what's to come this weekend? Not much.
Legislative Democrats head to Colton to protest proposed cuts to health care.
Lt. Gov. John Garamendi plays host to the 31st annual Garamendi Basque Barbeque.
That's his low-cost annual fundraiser featuring pony rides, western dress and petting farm.
Meanwhile, it turns out former Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez isn't the only wine fan in the Legislature.
GOP chiefs Mike Villines and Dave Cogdill play host to the Tour de Napa, a big-ticket fundraiser for the California Republican Party.
The Republican leaders will be leading donors through a quartet of winery tours in the Napa region, ending at the Montington Vineyards, where the fundraising invitation promises a nightcap of "port, cigars & live music under the oak trees."
Make a day trip of it for $10,000 or stay overnight for $12,500.

Karen Bass is the new Assembly Speaker

2008-05-13T13:58:00.001-07:00

Let's talk taxes - Los Angeles Times

I believe part of that job has to involve looking at the big picture. We have to ask the question of whether a tax structure that was established in the 1930s is sufficient to meet the needs of Californians in 2008.

It's about time the State took a long hard look at increasing revenue, rather than just cutting. I know the specter of the 'tax and spend liberal' will be about the only thing the republicans will be able to say on the subject, but seriously folks, we've done it their way long enough to know with certainty that trickle down, supply side, voodoo economics don't work for the vast majority of us. Tax cuts for Exxon did not result in more American jobs, just record profits that used to come, lets not make the same mistake on the State level.

Some Good News about Smoking Bans

2008-05-05T16:58:00.001-07:00

Smoking bans deter teens from starting habit - Addictions- msnbc.com

A Massachusetts study suggests that restaurant smoking bans may play a big role in persuading teens not to become smokers.

Youths who lived in towns with strict bans were 40 percent less likely to become regular smokers than those in communities with no bans or weak ones, the researchers reported in the May issue of the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.