Stalled.

amen (0.00 / 0)

We should thank the Speaker.  Just when you think they have tried pulling every trick in the book, they pile it on some more.  This is no longer about the budget- this is Arnold's game of chicken, the only way he can pull this over on the overwhelming majority that is against it.  Frankly I don't see how what he's proposing is legal.  shock and awe never is.  Unfortunately in chicken, crashing is no longer a deterrent when you can blame the other guy and score political points along the way.  Well its so surprise that progressive people with a basic respect and concern for humanity and the well being of this state, will not gamble on their amoral competitors ethics.

But the Speaker can't fight this off (nor can any elected leader) on her own.  I don't even know if calling Arnold matters at this point.  I think the challenge we all face is shaping public debate and turning this into the death of his future political career in California.

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by: silversunstop @ Tue Jul 07, 2009 at 14:30:55 PM CDT

Bass has the right approach (0.00 / 0)

I only hope that Steinberg and the rest of the Democrats in the legislature have the courage to follow her.  Governator has made it clear that it's his way or the highway, so they should all elect "highway."

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by: RLMiller @ Tue Jul 07, 2009 at 14:53:19 PM CDT

Bass needs to use the right framing (0.00 / 0)

She should be objecting to Arnold inserting his political agenda into current budget talks. His Agenda has already been rejected twice by the voters. Arnie is not talking about "reform" he is talking about his political agenda.
She should be willing to rejoin the talks when Arnie drops his political agenda and works on the peoples agenda.

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by: surfk9 @ Tue Jul 07, 2009 at 15:23:26 PM CDT

constitutional convention then recall (0.00 / 0)

  The budget has been passed.  We just don't have the money to fund it.  Someone (Schwartz, Chiang) decides who gets money and who doesn't, after schools and then debt.  Let's
just see what the damage is--this is the default.  We know
it won't hit only the poor--it will hit cities, police, firefighters, transportation, etc.  Once we know, we can decide whether we can live with the damage.  If we can, then let's live with it and start on actually trying for a win.  Here's how.

 First, the Democratic legislative leadership should announce that they will be attempting to put a constitutional convention initiative on the ballot.  The reason?  The state is ungovernable for reasons which must seem all too familiar.  If the legislature puts it on, the
delegates come from (essentially) Assembly districts, in which Democrats are a majority (the convention delegates are elected).  Therefore, the Republicans would not agree.

 After Republicans refusing to support the convention, the Democrats should announce their support for a recall of Schwartz (the petition has already been qualified).  The argument is Schwartz has destroyed the state through his actions (an easy argument to make).  The winning candidate will be the one who announces they will sign the majority rule fee increase (maybe a carbon fee on business can be thrown in to raise real money) and fund schools, health care, etc.

 What these two steps do is establish the Democrats as the party of reform, rather than Schwartz or the Republicans.  This puts the state party in line with the national democrats.  Schwartz has painted the Democrats as the party of "special interests", but Schwartz is protecting oil/tobacco/millionaires.  The problem with our legislative leadership is that they are reactive rather than proactive, and Brown and Newsom don't want to make mistakes.  This strategy will force one of them to lead rather than follow.

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by: MarkD @ Tue Jul 07, 2009 at 15:37:01 PM CDT

oh for God's sake (0.00 / 0)

Look, Karen Bass is right to (finally) call shenanigans on all this and walk away from the pit of lies that is Sacramento.

But for GOD'S SAKE "FRAMING" NEVER SOLVED A GODDAMNED THING! Organizing, combined with REAL, actual ACTION, solved things. Do you think the strikes of 75 years ago made things happen with fucking "framing"?

NO!

It was solved with action, organized effectively. Until we get off this bullshit that "oh if we only talked better people would go along," we lose and we lose not only to the Rethug party, we lose to those traitors in our own party that see a benefit to sucking up to power on the right.

Organize. That doesn't mean clicking "fan" on Facebook, that means doing stuff that gets people to do things, from writing letters to going to meetings to, if need be, get in the streets and make things happen.

Did Martin Luther King just talk about "framing" ?  No, he did know how to talk about issues, but he also ORGANIZED. People didn't click on some damned Facebook Fan Page to start the civil rights movement, they did the bus boycott and ORGANIZED to make that happen.

Pardon me for saying so, but I'm just tired of seeing us lose via deal EVERY SINGLE TIME to that asshat Governor of ours.


--
www.gregdewar.com

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by: gregdewar.com @ Tue Jul 07, 2009 at 23:20:01 PM CDT

Even the Mahatma was good at framing (0.00 / 0)

He just didn't call it that.  So was the good Rev. Doctor.

I agree that there's no substitute for organizing.  But communicating effectively counts for a lot too.

I'm not a big fan of the whole framing thing either, and I've asked questions at a George Lakoff talk that probably got me pegged as a major PITA.  But part of the problem really is that Bass and Steinberg do a really terrible job of rallying the troops.

Better framing isn't all.  And in the absence of decent strategy and execution, it isn't much of anything.  But if you have those, it can help a lot.

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by: mbayrob @ Wed Jul 08, 2009 at 00:22:43 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Agreed (0.00 / 0)

I agree that framing isn't everything, but it is something and the corporate media sucks up the whole reform thing. I think Bass made a great move by calling bullshit on Arnie. Now she needs to stand strong and deliver a clear message.  

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by: surfk9 @ Wed Jul 08, 2009 at 12:34:57 PM CDT