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Nov 20-

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Nov 15-

So who is running for office?  This is what we know so far and it gives us two years to learn more about these people. It gives us time to build an opinion and not be rushed or persueded by all the political ads in the few months before the election.  Silly season is not the time to make a serious decision, now is the time to look at and evaluate in a very methodical way.

U.S. Senator: Barbara Boxer (D) incumbent, running for her fourth term.
Governor:  Steve Poizner (R)  currently he is the Insurance Commissioner.
Lt. Governor: Dean Florez (D) currently he is the state Senator from Shafter.
Insurance Commissioner: Dave Jones (D) currently he is in the state Assembly.

Other names that have been tossed around for jobs (that makes this whole part gossip, hearsay and rumor)-  Sen. Diane Feinstein (D) governor, Mayor Gavin Newsome (D) governor, Lt. governor John Garamendi (D) governor.

One DINO and one Republican will be termed out in 2010 from the state assembly,  Juan Arambula and Mike Villines.  It will be nice to replace both with someone who cares about California and its citizens. Humberto Avila started it against Villines, lets encourage him to finish it in 2010.

FUSD school board will have 4 incumbents running for re-election in the following areas- McClane, Edison, Sunnyside and Bullard.  They seem like a pretty good group so far.

Half of the Fresno City Council will be up again.

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Nov 14-

                      OBAMA LEADS IN FRESNO

                                STILL /AGAIN!!!

http://www.co.fresno.ca.us/DepartmentPage.aspx?id=31479                        
                       
                      AS OF NOVEMBER 14 (updated 11/19, 11/21, 11/26)

                                GO FRESNO!!!

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Oct 28-

Well, Barack, it's kinda like this...
after the past eight years – and I know I don’t have to go into details, because you know, and I know, and we ALL know what it’s been like – I was really hoping for a Democratic candidate who was smart and savvy, a for-the-People kind of guy who understood what life was like for the vast majority of us; someone who could speak intelligently but still be down-to-earth; someone who could talk TO me and FOR me, without being condescending or over-my-head.

I’d hoped for a guy – you know, just a regular guy – who had something of value to say, and could say it well. A guy who made people actually want to listen; someone who made sense on the most basic level – and if he could convey a bit of vision, be a bit of an unashamed, unabashed dreamer, that would be icing on the cake.

What I got was you – and I don’t know what I ever did to deserve you, but it must have been something spectacular.

I wanted a man who would say that things could and would be better. What I got was a man who reminded me that the best of what we could be as a nation was just around the corner, there for the taking if only we are willing to work together to achieve it.

I wanted a man who would speak wisely. What I got was a man who speaks not only with wisdom, but vision; a man who dares not only to dream, but dares to encourage the dreamer in me, and my fellow citizens.

I wanted a man who was willing to take on the responsibilities of true leadership. What I got was a man who leads not by words, but by example; a man who is humble enough to admit that he is human, but strong enough to demonstrate that it is our humanity that makes us unique, makes us worthwhile, makes us capable of accomplishing more than at times seems possible.

I wanted a man who had that all-elusive common touch. What I got was a man of uncommon ability to raise the bar, to encourage us to set our sights higher, to say without hesitation that WE can do whatever needs to be done to make things right, to reach whatever goals we set no matter how lofty, to BE what we were at our very best moment in history – and surpass it with ease by virtue of our determination to do so.

I wanted a man who couldn’t ignore what we’ve done wrong; who didn’t pretend that a flag-pin in a lapel and a politically-correct bumper-sticker was sufficient cover for deeply flawed policies that have cost us precious lives and the respect of the world. What I got was a man who understands the tragedy not of numbers in the thousands, but of each individual loss; a man who realizes that the shame of wrongdoing can only be erased by having the courage to do what is right.

I wanted a man who wasn’t afraid to speak the truth, and wasn’t cowed by the task of facing that truth head-on – even when it was ugly and almost impossibly hard to look at. What I got was a man who inspires the courage in me – in all of us – to seek out the truth within ourselves and each other; who gives us all hope in a time that seems too overwhelmingly hopeless, who says “you can DO this” when we have been, for far too long, rendered too paralyzed by fear to attempt to do anything worthwhile.

As I have said before, you are not the BEST of us – you are the best OF us. It would be the easy way out to look to you to miraculously and single-handedly change the course of our history, to undo the incredible damage that’s been done, to right every wrong.

But the fact is that you can’t do that alone. You can only do that by reminding ME – reminding ALL OF US – that together, we can do whatever needs doing, and then some.

I wanted a man who could do good things. What I got was a man who invites me, along with my fellow citizens, to do GREAT things.

I wanted a man who wouldn’t let me down. What I got was a man who I don’t want to let down. And I hope I never do – because there’s so much of ME in you, and so much of YOU in me. And that, more than anything, says something important about both of us – about ALL of us, about who we are as a nation, as a people, as a family of world citizens who are about to change the world – together.

I just wanted to thank you for being who you are – the guy who reminds all of us who we will be, if we just allow ourselves to be who we can be. Because who we can be is something incredible.


Nance Greggs
Democratic Underground

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Oct 2-

So what has my favorite Senator been up to these days?  She has been bringing bills the the floor of the Senate like she is supposed to do.  Even though Sen. Boxer is my favorite Senator I rarely know what she is up to because I trust she will do what is right and does not need my supervision (actually I do know what she is up to, she sends me frequent updates and answers my e-mails).  There are about 50 or so senators that need supervison and follow up and that keeps me pretty busy, so thank you Sen. Boxer for not adding to my burden.

Back to the topic of legislation.  Senator Boxer has proposed the following bill to help clean up the air and I am happy to see that a connection is made between poor air quality, missed days at school, asthma rates and shorter life spans.

S.3496 covers all of those concerns with one piece of legislation, lets see how it goes in the full senate now that it passed the Environment and Public Works committee.

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Sept 29-

Here is what the proposed bailout of Wall St. will do for, or to us.  I am concerned because Bush says it is a good plan, that makes me think it is extreamly flawed or is nothing more than money sent to his friends.  The 110 pages of the bill are here.  Read it and judge for yourself.


The main points as mentioned at electoral-vote.com are listed below:

• The treasury secretary will get $700 billion over time to buy troubled financial assets as he sees fit
• The government gets stock warrants in companies getting money
• He can hire firms to help manage the assets without competitive bidding
• Two oversight bodies will be created to try to minimize cronyism and bad deals
• Some kind of industry-funded insurance program will be set up to prevent repetitions of this drama
• Corporate tax deductions for executive pay will be limited to $500,000/yr
• Golden parachutes for fired executives will be prohibited under certain circumstances
• Home owners may get assistance to prevent foreclosure provided it doesn't cost the government
• If the government has not recouped its money in 5 years, it may institute a tax on securities transactions

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Sept 4-

A wonderful essay about the right wing smear machine and the anatomy of their lies and distortions.  How they use the media echo chamber and how the mainstream media run with this.  As President Bush said, you have to keep catapulting your ideas until they are picked up.  This piece is from Media Matters and it describes how the Right is using what Media Matters calls Swiftboating 2.0 on Barack Obama. 

Strangely enough people have not been reminded about the birthday cake that John McCain and George Bush had together when hurricane Katrina hit or that he was part of the Keating 5 scandal or that Cindy McCain was the book keeper that was in the middle of the Keating 5 scandal or that John McCain's divorce was not final when he obtained the paperwork to get married to Cindy or that Sarah Palin admits to smoking marijuana until at least 2006 or that she thinks the war in Iraq is the work of God or....   But let the Democratic candidate have a Kenyan sheep hearder for a father and it is all over the news.

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Aug 7
                                                                         

Prop 8

Remeber all the fuss about the state Supreme Court overturning Prop 22 a few months back?  Well if that is a topic that is of interest to you then Prop 8 should really be exciting, they are trying to make it a Constitutional amendment this time.  These two propositions deal with same sex marriage in California.  If that is not enough of a topic to bring people out for a night of discussion I don't know what is.

Searching the internet with a little help from Google, I found a site that compares the different religions opinions of homosexuality and you know, there is no consensus.  But that is why people pick a denomination of their liking.  Since we are not a theocracy and religion is not of one mind on this, we can not use that as a basis for an argument.


I personally don't mind if we have same sex marriage in California or the United States for that matter.  Judging by the poll on this website, people who visit our site don't mind it either.  But I do not speak for everybody and I don't think like everybody else.  I am not even going to be so bold as to tell somebody how to think.

I agree with the California State Democratic party on this one, Prop 8 is a bad idea and should be voted no on!!   But come out to the club meeting and listen to somebody who has been in this legal battle since the start and form your own opinions.  Our speaker will be David Codell and he argured one of the six cases reviewed by the state Supreme Court that was used to overturn Prop 22. 

UPDATE---
It has been upheld by a judge that the title put on this bill by Attorney General Brown will be: ELIMINATES RIGHT OF SAME-SEX COUPLES TO MARRY. INITIATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT.  He ruled that it is not misleading or stating anything that the bill does not do.  AG Brown did this because he felt people should know exactly what the bill does and it should be named that.

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Sacramento – At its executive board meeting this past weekend in Millbrae, the California Democratic Party voted to oppose the California Voters First Initiative, a flawed redistricting proposal that is worse than the current system.
 
The initiative would separate legislative and congressional line drawing into two distinct redistricting authorities and processes, in which the state legislature would maintain authority over congressional redistricting and a proposed commission would have authority over state legislative and Board of Equalization redistricting. “This flawed initiative would greatly jeopardize minority representation in California’s legislature, potentially diminishing the gains in diversity we have made in recent years,” said Sen. Art Torres (Ret.), Chairman of the California Democratic Party. “While California’s redistricting process is in need of reform, this initiative is not the answer. This complex measure would greatly impede the ability of community groups to offer substantive input into the redistricting process, and fails to ensure diversity, expertise or accountability in the commission that would be tasked with redrawing district lines. This initiative will take our political process backwards.”
 
In addition to the California Democratic Party’s opposition, a number of leading civil rights organizations are opposed to this initiative, including Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials Educational Fund (NALEO), and William C. Velasquez Institute.
 
The California Democratic Party has taken the following positions on ballot measures that have qualified for the November 2008 statewide ballot:
 
YES -Prop 1- Safe, Reliable High-Speed Passenger Train Bond Act for the 21st Century.
YES - Prop 2-Treatment of Farm Animals. Statute.
YES - Prop 3-Children’s Hospital Bond Act. Grant Program. Statute.                                           
NO - Prop 4-Waiting Period and Parental Notification Before Termination of Minor’s Pregnancy. Constitutional Amendment.
YES - Prop 5-Nonviolent Offenders. Sentencing, Parole and Rehabilitation. Statute.
NO - Prop 6-Criminal Penalties and Laws. Public Safety Funding. Statute.   
NO - Prop7-Renewable Energy. Statute.  http://noprop7. com/downloads/ Flawed_Initiativ e.pdf 

NO - Prop 8-Limit on Marriage. Constitutional Amendment.
NO - Prop 9-Criminal Justice System. Victims’ Rights. Parole. Constitutional Amendment and Statute.
NEUTRAL - Prop 10-Bonds. Alternative Fuel Vehicles and Renewable Energy. Statute. 
NO - Prop11-Redistricting. Constitutional Amendment and Statute. 

we will post more on these initiatives over the next few months and also give club endorsments later this year, so keep checking back for updates on these topics. 

A link to the Legislative Analyst's Office and the real dirt on the propositions
 http://www.lao. ca.gov/laoapp/ ballot_source/ propositions. aspx

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June 4-
                                                                              
 























"McCain adviser Doug Holtz-Eakin, speaking for the campaign cast McCain's views on warrantless  wiretapping as identical to Bush's.

[N]either the Administration nor the telecoms need apologize for actions that most people, except for the ACLU and the trial lawyers, understand were Constitutional and appropriate in the wake of the attacks on September 11, 2001. [...]      We do not know what lies ahead in our nation's fight against radical Islamic extremists, but John McCain will do everything he can to protect Americans from such threats, including asking the telecoms for appropriate assistance to collect intelligence against foreign threats to the United States as authorized by Article II of the Constitution."

    The Article II citation is key, since it refers to President Bush's longstanding arguments that the president has nearly unlimited powers during a time of war. The administration's analysis went so far as to say the Fourth Amendment did not apply inside the United States in the fight against terrorism, in one legal opinion from 2001.

http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/06/mccain-id-spy-o.html

http://www.truthout.org/article/mccain-id-spy-americans-secretly-too 

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I have to go back to an argument I have made in the past about this administration and its toadies regarding the war on terror and American freedoms.  When they say they hate us for our freedoms, and Republicans do stuff like this, then I have to think Republicans are trying to take away our freedoms so the terrorist will like us.  Well here is a news flash for you Mr. McCain and Mr. Bush: you can overturn the entire Constitution and you still won't be liked,  you will be laughed at though. Nancy, if your listening, impeachment needs to be on the table.  At least the Repblicans hate America and will admit it, so I have to give them credit for that much.  Thanks for reading my rant, and I will put the soapbox away now.

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