Bring their buddies home... alive.

Just an amazing display of what 2000 human beings looks like.

http://www.bringtheirbuddieshome.com/

These people happen to be representing soldiers. But the soldiers happen to represent more to our community, other than "troops" to be supported.

Soldiers are fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins, employees, employers, surfers, golfers, auto mechanics, rocket scientists, librarians, and musicians. They are hugs to be had, and kisses to be given. They are Democrats, Republicans, Independents, and most of all Americans.

When you read about a lay-off of workers... think of this.
When you hear about deaths due to disease... think of this.
When you see a member of the Navy, Air Force, Army, or Marines... think of this.


It's just amazing.

Cunningham pleads guilty!

OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG!

Christmas comes early for Democrats inthe 50th District.


http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/politics/cunningham/20051128-1033-bn29duke5.html

Alan Uke: What are you getting yourself into?

Alan Uke appears to be jumping into the fray. Why? Here are some stances on the political issues that he holds dear to his heart.

[...]
If elected, Uke said, he would push for the opening of Chinese markets and construction of more nuclear-power plants. He said he wants the government to stop “hindering” private charities, and he opposes drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
On immigration, one of voters’ top concerns in a district that is, at its southern flank, a half-hour drive from the Mexican border, Uke said the United States should build a wall between the two countries.
[...]

Wow. Notice nothing about cleaning up corruption or national security.

[...]
Also running for the seat are former state Assemblyman Howard Kaloogian, state Sen. Bill Morrow, businessman George Schwartzman and state Assemblyman Mark Wyland — all Republicans. Francine Busby, a college professor, is the only Democrat in the race.
[...]

These people have a year to figure out what they are doing... aside from stepping on each others toes. Oh yeah, Alan Uke is somewhat aligned and friendly with Issa. Ewwwwww!

Arnold says, "MY BAD!"

Told you! Now lets see if he gets re-elected.

[...]
"Two days after suffering a stinging election defeat, a conciliatory Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger took responsibility for the failure of his ballot initiatives and said he learned that he needs more patience in seeking government reform.

'The buck stops with me,' he told reporters Thursday during a Capitol news conference, referring to the clean sweep against his proposals in Tuesday's special election. 'I take full responsibility for this election. I take full responsibility for its failure.'

Voters rejected each of the initiatives Schwarzenegger was pushing on the ballot. He sought to implement a state spending cap and give the governor authority to make midyear budget cuts, change the way legislative districts are drawn, lengthen the probationary period for teachers and restrict the ability of public employee unions to raise money for political campaigns."
[...]

Veterans Day... no more Gettysburgs.

Sometimes we forget that the Gettysburg Address was done to remember the sacrifice of our Soldiers. The Air Force, Army, Navy, and Marines earn that respect everyday.

Lincoln knew it and respected that.

[...]
Gettysburg is the battlefield to which Lincoln came on Nov. 19, 1863, to dedicate a portion as a cemetery for the troops killed there. It was a sacred moment in American history. Two men spoke. Edward Everett, one of the greatest orators of the age, a former U.S. senator and former president of Harvard College, spoke for more than two hours. We still have his written speech. Then Lincoln spoke -- for a mere two minutes. His speech was little noted at that moment. It is, however, long remembered. Everett, recognizing the greatness of Lincoln's speech, wrote him the next day, praising the speech, saying, "I should be glad if I could flatter myself that I came as near to the central idea of the occasion in two hours as you did in two minutes."
[...]

Mark Wyland: Bills of a termed out Assembly Member...

He's so termed out he can't help but resort to legislative fodder such as this. So it's bad enough that he has to resort to something we already do in this state. When you register to vote, you have to have the last four numbers of your social security number on the form. So how else would we prove our citizenship when we register? Blood sample? RFID implants? 10 year Geneology reports?

Talk about adding another layer of red tape. I thought Republicans were against this kind of thing?

[...]
"Assemblyman Mark Wyland, R-Escondido, introduced a bill in the past legislative session to require voters to provide proof of citizenship when registering to vote. Assembly Bill 934 failed to pass in the 2005 Legislative session but is expected to come up again in the upcoming session."
[...]

Swing State Project: CA-50: Indictments Coming Soon for the Dukestir?

Swingstate Project mentions that Cunningham may recieve indictments. I could win a t-shirt too!

[...]
Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R) - embroiled in so many scandals to the point that Tom DeLay is starting to get jealous - has already said he won't run for re-election next fall. But the man is worse than damaged goods, and it looks like he may be just the next Republican to get indicted, joining The Bugman, Scooter Libby, practically everyone who works for Ernie Fletcher, Jack Abramoff, Tom Noe... man, I'm running out of breath here
[...]

Wow! Hurry up already!

Just a quick note: polls closed just 20 minutes ago... can't wait to see how things turn out!

De-regulation - how it messed up California.

Here is a nice llittle story about how de-regulation screwed Californians' out of cash and caused many small stores to go out of business. And somehow, Gray Davis got blamed for it.

Prop 80 claims to set things right again.

[...]
"California's 1996 deregulation law was supposed to lower electricity rates, which were among the highest in the nation. The state-regulated utilities were allowed to sell most of their power plants, and an independent agency was created to manage the transmission grid. Retail rates were frozen until the utilities paid off the debts incurred over decades of building power plants and transmission systems.

The plan was built around the assumption that getting rid of the utilities' monopoly would lead to competition, driving down the price of electricity.

But while private energy companies bought the utilities' power plants, they didn't build new plants to keep up with California's growing demand for electricity.

That energy deficit was compounded by a drop in the amount of hydroelectric power available from the Northwest in 2000 and an increase in the price of natural gas, which fuels most of California's power plants. Instead of having a more competitive power market that drove down wholesale prices, the energy shortage drove prices sky-high.

That left California vulnerable to market manipulation.

In 2001, the state suffered rolling blackouts and its three largest utilities teetered on the brink of bankruptcy after months of buying expensive wholesale electricity and selling it at the cap"
[...]

other things Bush has backed down on....

Over at jim hancock's blog, he points out that Bush had reinstated the Davis Bacon act in September. Way to look for the sunshine Jim!


It looks like Social Security and Harriet Miers keep good company with Davis Bacon act. Bush had supended the Davis Bacon act, once Halliburton got the contract to rebuild most of Louisiana amidst Hurricane Katrina. Low wages for workers... BOO!


Davis Bacon Act:

requires that each contract over $2,000 to which the United States or the District of Columbia is a party for the construction, alteration, or repair of public buildings or public works shall contain a clause setting forth the minimum wages to be paid to various classes of laborers and mechanics employed under the contract. Under the provisions of the Act, contractors or their subcontractors are to pay workers employed directly upon the site of the work no less than the locally prevailing wages and fringe benefits paid on projects of a similar character. The Davis-Bacon Act directs the Secretary of Labor to determine such local prevailing wage rates.

In addition to the Davis-Bacon Act itself, Congress has added prevailing wage provisions to approximately 60 statutes which assist construction projects through grants, loans, loan guarantees, and insurance. These "related Acts" involve construction in such areas as transportation, housing, air and water pollution reduction, and health. If a construction project is funded or assisted under more than one Federal statute, the Davis-Bacon prevailing wage provisions may apply to the project if any of the applicable statutes requires payment of Davis-Bacon wage rates.

Partisan Quarrel Forces Senators to Bar the Doors - New York Times

Harry Reid has BAWLS!! There is a heapin' helpin' of SPINE! This on the heels of an indictment against "Scooter" Libby. Causing him to resign from his post as aide to Vice President Cheney. Notice Libby resigned, rather than fired by Bush or Cheney. Not a good P.R. move.

I understand that this caught the Republicans and Bill Frist, off guard and forced them to agree to an oversight committee on the pre-Iraq war intellegence committee. Which previously had no oversight at all. Like most of the committees that Republicans have chaired regarding national security and ware intelligence. Ugh!

[...]
"But Democrats said last week's indictment of Mr. Libby, the chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, highlighted anew the need for the Senate to examine the administration's handling of intelligence. They said the unusual demand for a closed session was made out of frustration with the refusal of the chairman of the Intelligence Committee, Senator Pat Roberts, Republican of Kansas, to make good on his February 2004 pledge to pursue such an investigation.

'We see the lengths they've gone to,' said Senator Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Democrat, referring to the disclosure of a C.I.A. officer's identity. 'And now the question is, Will this Senate meet its responsibility under the Constitution to hold this administration, as every administration should be held, accountable?'

After Mr. Reid invoked Senate Rule 21 allowing senators to request a closed session, the galleries were cleared, C-Span coverage was terminated and the chamber's doors were closed for about two hours. In the end, lawmakers agreed to name three members from each party to assess the state of the Intelligence Committee's inquiry into prewar intelligence and report back by Nov. 14."
[...]

This is what you call, stealing back the news cycle.

Governor Schwarzenegger pulls ads off the air

Here is an older story (Nctimes)that counts out how Governor Schwarzenegger's name is work against him.

I've seen polls that I will post, about how when people hear his name is behind a proposition that they oppose it more than normal. This may just go to show that, any publicity isn't always publicity.

[...]
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's campaign said Saturday it was withdrawing a TV ad that featured the governor appealing to voters to support his slate of ballot initiatives.

The move to drop Schwarzenegger from the airwaves comes at a critical time -- just 17 days before the Nov. 8 election.

His campaign dismissed the notion the ad -- the only one featuring the governor -- was pulled because of Schwarzenegger's falling approval ratings. Instead, they said TV ads are being rotated as part of a plan to educate voters about specific ballot measures.

Still, some observers said Schwarzenegger's ability to sell his ballot agenda might be limited because polls show he has the approval of only about 35 percent of voters.

"An overwhelming majority of voters think this special election is unnecessary and an overwhelming number of voters say they will not vote for Schwarzenegger again. Let's face it, he's unpopular," said Larry Gerston, a political scientist from San Jose State University.

Todd Harris, spokesman for Schwarzenegger's California Recovery Team, said there is no effort to hide the governor and pointed to his Saturday campaign stops in Southern California and a live TV forum planned for Monday.
[...]

Notice how the claim is "focus" on the initatives rather than, the Governor supporting the initiatves. What is more important in this election? Well nothing but the initiatives themselves. But, why does Governor Schwarzenegger not want to be associated with the initatives directly, if he believes they will "reform" the state of California politics?

Wax this for a moment, the Republicans don't control the state senate or the house, they are currently out of power in the legislative branch. The only thing that most Republicans have for themselves is the Governor. It's too bad they are sacrificing Governor Schwarzenegger and his credibility for the ability to cripple teachers, nurses, police and firefighters ability to voice their concerns as citizens in the political arena, as a wedge toward the Democrats. It a political gamble, and Schwarzenegger is willing to play dirty.