Editor’s Note: This diary was originally written by “caprogressive.”  It is astroturf with no substantive arguments than the “they’re going to take your homes” fear mongering.  Unless Prop 90 opponents choose to address the problems with the “damage” provisions, they will not be speaking with our microphone.  Prop 90, like Prop 13 before it, would devastate the governance of California. It would slow environmental protections and virtually outlaw zoning restrictions. Whether or not you agree with the sentiment that E.D. needs to be reigned in, Prop 90 is a bad proposition. -SFBrianCL

With heated elections from the top to the bottom of the ballot this year candidates at all levels are talking about education, health care, and tax reform yet the one issue that is noticeably absent from most serious policy discussions is that of eminent domain and the rights of private property owners.

The American Heritage Dictionary defines Eminent Domain as, “The right of a government to appropriate private property for public use, usually with compensation to the owner.”  This right has been expanded to a virtually unlimited level in the United State Supreme Courts Kelo v. City of New London ruling.

In fact, according to John Kramer of the Castle Coalition “Since the U.S. Supreme Court decided the Kelo v. City of New London eminent domain case last summer, city officials have new power to file condemnation actions against churches to make way for private commercial development.”

This poses a mortal threat to minorities across the country and especially along California’s seacoast. Carol Harvey writes in the San Francisco Bay View that “Progressive San Franciscans from the Castro to the Tenderloin and from the Height to South of Market are shocked and awed by the Redevelopment Agency’s recent threats and announced attempts to “eminent domain” and “market rate” African Americans, peoples of color and other homeowners out of Bayview Hunters Point for profit.”

In a different story Ms. Harvey writes, “Corporate interests would exile moderate to low income citizens and progressive who don’t cast conservative votes, replacing them with whiter, wealthier taxpayers who vote for money-generating initiatives. Cutting out ethnic diversity, they would excise San Francisco’s human heart. Into the soulless cavity, they would graft the planet’s largest artificial money-generating pump.”

In essence, she argues, it boils down to “predatory gentrification.”

The use of eminent domain to redevelop supposedly “blighted” pieces of property poses a significant threat to every homeowner in the Golden State. Some on the left claim that the government should have unlimited, or virtually unlimited power to claim some ones property or that eminent domain reform efforts are only a conservative ploy to weaken environmental restrictions these are arguments put forth by surrogates and political operatives from the states largest developers who are looking to confuse voters and confuse progressive about what is at stake.

Of all the issues in California this year none are as important as this.

I won’t say this is a result of the pestering of Conan and his diaries about , but I’m sure it helped inspire Sen. Feinstein.  Good work, Conan.

The event in SF will be at 2 p.m (the Campaign requested that you arrive early to help them organize), Jeremiah’s Pick Coffee Co., 1495 Evans Ave. Google Map here..  Come say hi if you’re going to be there too!

Well, it looks like redistricting and term limits will be separate.  It also puts Sen. Lowenthal’s SCA 3 Redistricting measure in a precarious position as he’ll have  a devil of a time sweetening the pot for legislators.  See the extended for more.

California lawmakers abandoned efforts Tuesday to link an overhaul of the state’s system for drawing political districts with revamping legislative term limits.

Democratic and Republican legislative leaders jointly announced that they have canceled a conference committee formed last week in hopes of reaching a bipartisan consensus on both issues.
{snip}
Canceling the conference committee left in doubt whether a pending redistricting measure, Senate Constitutional Amendment 3, would be squashed before reaching the Senate floor. … Lowenthal, who faces substantial opposition to SCA 3 within his own Democratic caucus, said he was counting votes late Tuesday but tentatively planned to seek a vote today.

“There are some Democrats who will never support this,” Lowenthal said. “And there are some Republicans who will never support this. But I’m still hoping there are enough who will come together (and pass it).” (SacBee 8/16/06)

The thing about this redistricting measure is that it would likely yield 1-2 seats in Congress, likely Latino majority districts.  Reps. Waxman and Berman would likely be in the most precarious positions for the Dems, however it would threaten some of the subarban LA and OC Republican Reps more.  There is a possibility that they might be able to hold onto the seats for a few years until they retire, but the new seats would be Latino opportunity districts.  In fact, Prop 77 would have likely had the same effect.  However, we don’t need mid-decade redistricting scandals like Tom Delay likes.

Good luck to Sen. Lowenthal…he’ll need it.

(edited for space – promoted by SFBrianCL)

i realize that my previous diaries are not complete – i seem gung ho to give away pearls for donations to phil angelides but i haven’t said WHY.

i’d like to explain why i am willing to take merchandise that i would use to support my “family” and give it away.  i’d like to explain WHY it is so important to me that i NEED to give these pearls away!

Please go beneath the fold to try to understand why i would take food from the mouths of my “kids” to change things here in california!  (well, maybe MY mouth, never my kids – so scratch that last comment!)

i don’t HAVE $1,000 to donate to help rid california of arnold schwarzenegger – if i did, i’d give it in a heartbeat!  while i believe that phil angelides is a much better candidate, one who represents what i believe in – my passion doesn’t stop there!  it IS personal – it IS about arnold schwarzenegger – it IS important! 

when arnold schwarzenegger was put up as a candidate in california following the uberrecht campaign to remove gray davis, may women in this state were appalled!  this man has history and none of it is good.  he is an abusive, sexist, powercrazed opportunist and he had his sights set on california (and, hopefully with a little “help” from his friends, the presidency itself!)

schwarzenegger is known throughout california for his sexual abuse toward and on women – from the reporter he groped while asking the unsuspecting victim “are these real”, to the people on the sets of his movies.  his crude remarks, his abusive attitude toward women SHOULD have been enough to keep him from the highest office in this state, but his “appeal” to the young males enamoured of the “terminator” was enough, with the help of the unending coffers of the ultra right and moderate right (looking to retake the governor’s seat) ended up putting this maniac into power.

schwarznegger is placing the coasts of california at risk by slashing funding for the coastal commission, he “negotiated” a settlement with enron that defrauded californians once again of the money they were legally entitled to recover after the energy fraud.

schwarznegger is a close supporter of bush and company, he follows the right agenda UNTIL it is “convenient” to try to sway the gullible fans of “AHNIE” – he is the “ultimate” actor leading our state to ultimate tragedy!

one of his most vile attempts to change california (AND all here electoral votes!) to a “red” state was when he attempted to push through his initiatives after the legislature refused to support his “policies”.  he tried to ram these initiatives through based on his “popularity” by wasting millions in a special election held only a few months before a REGULAR primary election.  all initiatives failed soundly and he had to retreat into this “moderate” cloak to wait for another opportunity to destroy the democratic base in california.

in short (or NOT so short), schwarznegger is dangerous not ONLY to california, but to ALL of america because of the number of california’s 55 electoral votes.  if you have any doubt as to how dangerous this man is, look no further than texas and the redistricting that changed the makeup of democratically held districts into solid, unbeatable republican ones!

so, back to my original premise… why would i give away two strands of pearls worth close to $1,000?  it is simple!  i CARE about california and i CARE about america – and i am worried sick what could happen in this state if this manipulative foil of the right wing gets into office for a longer term!

frankly, while schwarzenegger and the uberreicht scare the sh*t out of me, phil angelides offers HOPE!  therefore, i am willing to put my “money” where my mouth is and offer up an incentive to help phil angelides combat the well-greased machine of the uberrecht and the uber rich!

we need to protect our solid bases of electoral votes – if we don’t, then, forget about 2008 – as a matter of fact, forget about the america you once knew.  we are ALL cooked if we let the extremists get their pawns into place without realizing we are way too close to “checkmate”!  america is at a crossroads – what we do now – RIGHT now – will determine the course this nation takes for the rest of her history.  we can either fight to save our nation, or we can prepare to live in a world that we could never imagine, even pictured by  the worst of the cold war doomssayers!

for me? i’m doing what i can.  all i CAN do right now is offer these strands of pearls and hope that they might make a small difference for my future, your future and the future of this entire nation!

hopefully this explains why i am doing this – if not, well, i don’t know what else i can say!

here is the link to the angelides campaign’s donation page.  the “contest” rules are simple.  donate.  any amount.  send me an email and you are eligible for a drawing for one strand.  the highest donor during the period between last friday and this friday at 8pm will get the strand with the 14k gold clasp that appraises at a minimum of $500.

please help me make a difference!  please help phil angelides save california AND the rest of this nation – because if he loses, california will be at the mercy of those who want to steal our electoral votes and our democracy – and they WILL get them – by hook or by crook (most LIKELY, the latter)!

Rice Pearls w/14k clasp and leather box

with hat held out, i am here begging – but not for me!
Pearls for Phil Angelides… Part TWO…
Daytime Edition: Win Pearls by donating to Phil Angelides! Part III

I recently put up a technologically revamped site for Jill Martinez for Congress (CA-24). It used to be a bunch of static pages. It is now a blog-format site with comments, diaries an event calendar and the usual goodies. Now that it’s built, who will come?

below: The Saga of a Web Site, Technical Wankery, and 83 days to know if it works

The Saga of a Web Site

I put it up 13 days from my first meeting with the campaign staff. Thanks to the relative ease of setting up the underlying CivicSpace technology, I actually had a first pass at a demo of the site on my own server with just one Sunday afternoon of work. The next couple days were deciding if it was the sort of thing they wanted. Then about five days were lost to trying to set it up on their cheapass (but previously adequate) hosting. Then on a recommendation from a friend who uses another service, in about two hours I signed up for a new host and copied over the site.

Much was made of the of Joe Lieberman’s $15/month hosting failing on the Sunday before the election. I now have a little personal experience with the shortcomings of $4/month hosting and the magnitudes better $20/month hosting which thus far, doesn’t suck. I dream of getting enough popularity for the campaign to merit a more advanced solution, but until then I think it’s the right strategy to start off with a mid-range web solution.

Technical Wankery

CivicSpace is made with PHP and MySQL. Neither of those are my favorite technologies. So, while the site was easy to set up, and should hopefully be easy to maintain, I’m not confident in the long term prospects of the system. The combo does have definite positives though. There are a lot of hosting services out there which support them. It should be easy to find someone to set them up for you. There are relatively fewer places that can support mod_perl for Scoop (e.g. dailykos). At that point it might be time to step up for the dedicated machine plans that start around $80-$110/month.

CivicSpace is easy but it doesn’t make me want to add to it and make it more awesome. It looks like they’re moving to a services profit model while keeping it at least mostly open source. Maybe the thing to do this time next year will be to directly buy a CivicSpace site plan which will be hosted and administered for you for one low price per month. For a lot of local and small campaign sites that could be just what’s needed. But it doesn’t excite me as a net geek. Ah well.

Making it Succeed

Over the next 83 days Jill’s site will be another point of contact in a regular on-the-ground election campaign. Who will see it? Anyone who gets a flier and goes to the URL printed on it. How much will it contribute? I’ll tell you in 85 days.