In my activist days I have never seen an organization take of quite as fast as this one. That includes the Tea Party. The following is a request for your participation in directing where the organization should go. Another great thing is the folks behind this know the internet, social media and costs/money. Needless to say I am impressed. I think you will be, too.

Three weeks ago, I announced the launch of Rebuild the Dream, and we started the process to create a Contract for the American Dream. I was hopeful and optimistic. But honestly, the whole idea was unproven. I wasn’t quite sure if everyone else felt the same sense of energy and opportunity that I felt.

Now I’m convinced-because in the past three weeks more than 13,000 people have signed up to gather at American Dream house meetings, 16,000 ideas have been submitted for possible inclusion in the Contract for the American Dream, and together we’ve rated them more than 3.5 million times!

Today I’m writing to ask you to help finish collecting and rating the very best solutions. We will feed these ideas into our discussions at next week’s meetings about what belongs in the Contract.

The final area we’re focusing on is how to protect the foundation for strong communities and a thriving middle class in this country: good schools, access to healthcare, a clean environment, robust Social Security, and a strong safety net for when hard times hit.

To remind us how we ended up here, we put together a funny and informative new video that lays out how the middle class got in trouble in the first place.

Check it out. Then let’s finish choosing the best Contract for the American Dream ideas:

Watch the video and rate ideas! Link: http://www.moveon.org/r?r=2109…

Next week-at more than 1,400 American Dream house meetings-people will gather in living rooms to sort through the top ideas and discuss what the American Dream is really all about.

-Van Jones

Fort Calhoun near Omaha, Nebraska

“On June 6, 2011, the Fort Calhoun pressurized water nuclear reactor 20 miles north of Omaha, Nebraska entered emergency status due to imminent flooding from the Missouri River. A day later, there was an electrical fire requiring plant evacuation.

Then, on June 8th, NRC event reports confirmed the fire resulted in the loss of cooling for the reactor’s spent fuel pool. The discussion includes specific details of the technical failures at Fort Calhoun, the risks of coolant loss at overcrowded “spent” fuel pools, and the national hazards of nuclear facilities along the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers, and other water sites during the current period of floods and climate change.”

Lots of Video (unable to post it here) through the 14th of April, 2011 and details at link below.

Why the HELL is this NOT FRONT PAGE and TOP OF NEWSCASTS? Today, the 16th of June, Brian Williams gave a one minute synopsis with an introduction calling it A FOOTNOTE!

GE OWNED NBC/UNIVERSAL (Just sold to Comcast) and builds Nuclear Power plants. Any Connection? What about the rest of Corporate Media?

Jezzzus!

Please RePOST!!!

LINK: http://curtiswalker.posterous.com/arnie-gundersen-nebraska-nuclear-plant-emerge#

Without Fairwinds, which I monitor, how would we know anything, much less details and danger, about this?

Crossposted at CURTISWALKER.POSTEROUS.COM, Freeflightnewmedia.typepad.com and elsewhere.

AGAIN, Please RePOST!!!

LINK: http://curtiswalker.posterous.com/arnie-gundersen-nebraska-nuclear-plant-emerge#

Did you know that The Tea Party Patriots was “birthed” in the NorCal foothills – in Grass Valley?

If you are not a Tea Party Member the following will, if nothing else, get your full attention and may just move you from “just a voter” to a citizen now moved to keep the America that belongs to all of us, not just the angry few you are about to read about. This will go down a little better with a stiff cup of hot coffee.

MONDAY, 18 APRIL 2011 11:02

by DEVIN BURGHART

A year ago, Pam Stout, a soft-spoken 67 year-old retiree from Bonners Ferry, Idaho was featured in theNew York Times and asked to appear on the David Letterman show. She performed swimmingly, and portrayed the Tea Party as a wholesome movement of Middle Americans concerned about issues like TARRP and health care reform.

An inside look at a recent Tea Party event organized by Stout shows a very different side of the Tea Parties, and highlights a disturbing direction taken by many local groups.

This piece continues:

Little talk of repealing “Obamacare” or of modifying objectionable provisions of healthcare legislation took place at Stout’s “Patriots Unite” event, held March 26. The impending possibility of a government shutdown due to an impasse over the budget was hardly mentioned. Nary a word was spoken about bailouts or taxes. Instead, speakers at this Tea Party event gave the crowd a heavy dose of racist “birther” attacks on President Obama, discussions of the conspiracy behind the problem facing America (complete with anti-Semitic illustration), Christian nationalism, anti-environmentalism, and serious calls for legislation promoting states’ rights and “nullification.”

Stout, the Idaho state coordinator for Tea Party Patriots attracted around seventy Tea Party activists from Idaho, Montana, and Washington to the Coeur D’Alene Inn for the conference. The goal: to bring isolated Tea Party groups together. Originally scheduled as a two-day conference, Stout noted that the event was shortened because, “our workshop presenters are still in Wisconsin” presumably engaged in Tea Party anti-union organizing efforts.

The morning’s first speaker was Matt Shea, a state representative from nearby Spokane Valley, Washington. Stout introduced Shea by thanking him and mentioning how she’s been trying to convince him to move to Idaho to run for Attorney General.  And Shea opened with a crack about how he had his birth certificate if anyone wanted to see. He returned to the birther issue later in his speech when he commented, “one of my favorite bills is, if you are running for elected office,  you need to have a copy of your birth certificate on file – all elected offices – which I think would be good for 2012.”

Much of Shea’s talk was dedicated to demonizing his opponents, saying that progressives “want to seize every piece of property that you have at the local level, and they want to give it back to you as they see fit because they know better than you do how to use property,” and that “the ones on the other side really are motivated by hate.”

“We need to go on the attack and not be defending and reacting all the time. Make them react to us. If we continue to go on the attack, we win,” he encouraged. “And a lot of people have asked me, Matt, what can we do? Here’s my point today, if you take anything away, and it’s this: the Achilles heel of government, particularly the federal government, they don’t have enough manpower to enforce these things at the local level. They have to rely on us to comply, and if we don’t comply, they can’t push their agenda forward.”

In respect of Calitics’ post and quote limits, this article continued at: curtiswalker.posterous.com

It seems that PG&E is in the news all to often the past year. From tragedy to problems for customers with new SMARTMETERS, I have not posted of any other specific industry/service provider anywhere close to the PG&E story, as it continues to unfold. The latest…

Senator blocks utility giant’s attempts to dodge questions on San Bruno blast

SACRAMENTO – Senate Majority Leader Dean Florez (D-Shafter) today charged that PG&E has failed in its pledge to be transparent and open in the wake of the San Bruno tragedy, avoiding questions posed by legislators and attempting to bog the Senate down with irrelevant documentation.  He reiterated a list of questions he would like answered.

Last month, Florez asked the utility to stop hiding behind claims that its hands were tied on releasing information due to the ongoing federal investigation.  Lawyers for the National Transportation and Safety Board told Florez that, contrary to PG&E chairman Peter Darbee’s claims, they had placed no restrictions on PG&E releasing the documents requested by the Legislature.

Shortly thereafter, a top PG&E executive on Smart Meters was caught lying about his identity to infiltrate a website devoted to sharing concerns about the digital meters.

Disturbed by the pattern of behavior, Florez wrote again on November 19th, 2010, to Darbee, restating the questions he would like answered, including the risk assessment for gas transmission lines statewide and when they were last inspected, a breakdown of how PG&E says it spent $100 million on improvements and whether or not the utility completed improvements for which it requested and received rate hikes.

Following his initial request, PG&E provided Florez’s office with boxes holding thousands of pages of documents, none of which addressed the questions asked, giving the impression the utility giant was attempting to bog the office down with paperwork rather than live up to its promise of transparency and openness in the wake of high-profile gaffes.

I will keep posting the latest developments on this issue as I learn of them.

Having been a 2008 Obama National Delegate and attended recent California State Conventions first as an observer in San Jose and then as an alternate, in Sacramento, I can tell you that there is nothing quite like being in a convention center or, in my case, a National Democratic Convention at Mile High Stadium in Denver with “50 Thousand” or so like minded folks. You CAN be the change, you really can make a difference, on your street, zip code, town, city, State and National levels. Plus make many new friends in the process. The following notice showed up in my inbox and I am passing along. Good Luck! California Democratic Party needs as many Progressive Voices as can possibly be elected. TAG, as Thom Hartmann would say, YOU ARE IT.

In 2010 California Democrats bucked a national trend and won eight of nine statewide offices, with the race for Attorney General still being counted.

A huge part of our success was because California Democrats from up and down the state volunteered their time, made phone calls, donated money, knocked on doors, and participated in our biggest Get out the Vote effort ever.

If you were part of our team and you want to stay involved, a great way to do that is by running to be a delegate to our 2011 and 2012 state conventions

The California Democratic Party will hold elections in each of California’s 80 Assembly Districts on January 8 & 9, 2011.  At these meetings, registered Democrats will elect 12 delegates from each Assembly District to be members of the California Democratic Party State Central Committee.

Now is your opportunity to help direct the future of Democrats in California! Delegates approve the platform of the Party, elect Party officers and endorse candidates for congress, state legislature, and executive office.

If elected, you will automatically become a delegate to the California Democratic Party’s state convention, which will be held April 29 – May 1, 2011 in Sacramento, as well as the convention in 2012.

If you are interested in running you must file with the State Party by 12:00 noon, Thursday, December 9, 2010.

Why be a Delegate?

Attend annual convention

Network with other Democrats

Represent your constituency

Elect Party officers

Promote the California Democratic Party agenda

Endorse candidates for statewide, legislative and congressional office

Vote to endorse resolutions and ballot measures

Reorganization of the Democratic State Central Committee (DSCC) begins at the end of 2010 and goes through February 7, 2011. Members of the DSCC (also known as “Delegates”) come from the following sources:

Elected through County Committees

Appointed by Democratic Elected Officials / Nominees

Elected through Assembly District

The Assembly District Delegates (ADDs) and Assembly District Executive Board representatives (“EBd Reps”) are elected at Assembly District Election Meetings (ADEMs) held in each of the 80 Assembly Districts. The California Democratic Party is convening ADEMs on January 8 and 9, 2011, where 12 people (6 men / 6 women) from each Assembly District will be elected to represent their district for both the 2011 and 2012 State Conventions.

Online filing for ADD will begin on November 9 and will run through December 9, 2010.  

CLICK HERE TO BEGIN THE APPLICATION PROCESS (Link likely does not work-see below)

Key Dates / Deadlines

November 9 Application for ADD available online (This means Get BUSY)

November 22 Weekly online posting of candidates begins

December 3 Notification of ADEM meeting and post on website

December 9 Deadline for ADD application

December 10 ADEM Locations posted on website

January 8, 9, 2011 ADEM elections

Cross-Posted From FreeFlightNewMedia.TypePad.Com. Visit for more in today’s mostly hottest National and Regional Political News and Views.

Link to THIS POST, in the event links embedded do not work: http://bit.ly/94l0Nw Copy and paste may be necessary.

These Two California Based Factions of the Tea Party Brand Really Don’t Like Each Other Very Much. Think of Tea People Hatfield and McCoys!

Leaders of the Tea Party Patriots organization declared Tuesday’s election results “a victory for liberty,” but blamed a rival Tea Party organization for Senate losses in Nevada and Delaware, saying the group shouldn’t have intervened in those elections by making endorsements in the primary.

The two organizations have a history of feuding over how involved national groups should be in elections. The Tea Party Patriots organization does not endorse candidates, while the California-based Tea Party Express endorsed numerous candidates this cycle.

Asked if Tea Party voters should be more pragmatic in nominating more electable candidates during future elections, Jenny Beth Martin, a national coordinator for the Tea Party Patriots, took a swipe at the rival Tea Party Express.

“One thing that we’ve seen across the country is that in places where the Tea Party people were allowed to nominate their own nominees and were not influenced by top-down political organizations, such as Tea Party Express, the Republicans did win,” Martin said at a Wednesday morning news conference in Washington, D.C.

Grass Valley based Mark Meckler, another national coordinator for the Tea Party Patriots, claimed “the grassroots were not allowed to speak” in races where the Tea Party Express made endorsements. “An outside, top-down organization came in and chose a candidate for them,” he said.

h/t and More at dailycaller.com  If you are not one of the Tea People, you gotta love this stuff. ‘specially, as in my case, it involves some local fellers in NORCAL Sierra Foothills.

Cross-Posted From: FreeFlightNewMedia.TypePad.com, where you will find many items of interest not normally covered at Calitics as they may not all be California specific. Some Post From The Last 24 hours include:

Election results confirm House Democratic Caucus in 2011 will be smaller, but more PROGRESSIVE

Tea Party Patriots swings at rival Tea Party Express for losses in Nevada, Delaware

Audio: Post 2010 Election Conference Call With Supporters of President Obama

If California Could Ever Have This Law – Now is the time: Florida Voters Pass Milestone Measures to End Gerrymandering

Yes There Is A God and Silver Lining To The Vote Yesterday: The sad tale of the Democrats who hated the unemployed – War Room – Salon.com

Bill Moyers: “Welcome to the Plutocracy!”

Foreclosuregate Explained: Big Banks on the Brink

Class-Not Publicized Until After The Election: U.S. Government Bookstore:Insights into the Shadowy World of Armed Groups

Oh, You Are So Fired: Donald Trump Tells Fox 5 He is ‘Seriously Considering a Run’ for President – FishbowlNY

The Day After: From the White House to Obama’s House and Each State and County, Too

November 2, 2010 – The Day The USA BeGiNs Apocalypse Again

Rehearsing to be the Obama Antagonist – NYTimes.com

Coverage of Election Like Nowhere Else: t r u t h o u t | Balance of Power 2010: Truthout’s Live Election Blog

DEMOCRATS HIGH AND LOW TAKE NOTES BIG TIME: THERE WILL BE A TEST—MANY OF THEM! “Voice of the opposition”: How Fox News won the 2010 election

The Media Aren’t Liberal – Reason Magazine

DeMint “spits” GOP leaders of his own party in congratulating conservatives

10 Depressing States That Even Illegal Immigrants Are Giving Up On

t r u t h o u t | Tea Party Politics and the Dixiecrats of 1948

Report: Tea Partiers Harrasing Black College Students at South Carolina Polls | AlterNet

Congress — A Record To Be Proud Of

It is good to see that someone in Sacramento is taking the investigation into the horrible PG&E pipeline explosion and loss of life and property seriously. Does not appear that anyone will get away with sweeping the “facts” that lead to the incident (and I really am at a loss of words to adequately describe the explosion and aftermath) get swept “under the rug.” That “someone” in this case is California State Senate Majority Leader Dean Florez.

In an effort to determine the causes of the San Bruno gas line explosion and prevent future such trajedies, Senator Florez is asking Pacific Gas & Electric and the California Public Utilities Commission to turn over hundreds of pages of internal documents to the state Senate.

Arguing that PG&E failed to fix what it knew to be a potentially dangerous problem, the Senate Majority leader is also asking the utility to provide the names of PG&E personnel who worked in the vicinity of the San Bruno pipeline in the days prior to the blast.

In separate letters today to PG&E and the CPUC, Sen. Florez, D-Shafter, cites a pattern of concealment on the part of the utility and a pattern of lax oversight by the public watchdog.

“More than two weeks after the tragedy, we are left with an inescapable question: Did PG&E’s neglect and deferred maintenance, a pattern of nonfeasance, cause the tragedy?” Florez said.

Florez is seeking a wide range of documents that he believes will help to uncover a practice of launching new technologies and yet at the same time, the utility giant has given short shrift to upgrading decaying gas lines that run up and down the state, beneath homes and businesses.

“I believe if these documents are released, they will reveal that PG&E was literally asleep at the switch when it came to identifying and fixing dangerous gas lines such as Line 132 beneath San Bruno.”

“I think we need to know if PG&E received millions of dollars in rate hikes to improve decrepit gas lines but yet, for inexplicable reasons, failed to do the work.”

“Without the documents that I am requesting, I would argue that this is what happened with Line 132,” Florez said. “PG&E had money allocated to do the upgrade. But the repairs were never done. How come? Where did those millions of dollars go?”

In the wake of the San Bruno tragedy, Florez said, PG&E has done its best to confuse the public, issuing a series of inconsistent statements.

In early news accounts, PG&E officials conceded that the utility had received millions of dollars in capital expenditures to repair Line 132 because of its “likelihood of failure” and “unacceptably high” risk.

Then, in later press accounts, PG&E insisted that Line 132 was not a high risk and did not even rank on the most recent list of the Top 100 “high-risk” lines.

Why was Line 132 removed from the most recent “high risk” list? Did PG&E make repairs to Line 132 that lessened the risk? Or was the accounting of these high-risk lines so arbitrary that decaying lines were moved on and off the list–without rhyme or reason?

Then there is PG&E’s insistence that it knew nothing about gas odors emanating from the San Bruno pipeline in the days prior to the explosion. The utility also denies that its records show that PG&E crews were dispatched to the neighborhood in the days prior to the blast.

Florez is seeking the names of PG&E personnel who recently worked in the area.

“Our office wants to question those PG&E workers. Do we believe PG&E higher ups? Or do we believe resident after resident quoted in prominent newspapers about gas odors and PG&E trucks sent to the San Bruno neighborhood in the days prior?

“Frankly, after butting heads with PG&E over the past year on rate hikes and SmartMeters, I don’t trust their corporate culture.”

Florez says his office has much experience digging into PG&E and would act as a state clearinghouse for the information.

“PG&E is a morass to dig through, but we know the questions to ask and the documents to seek. My plan is to share those documents with my fellow legislators who will be holding hearings on the matter. The public deserves to know the truth.”

Stay Tuned! I will post updates on FreeFlightNewMedia.TypePad.Com and a summary as warranted here on Calitics.com.