(true that. – promoted by SFBrianCL)

Went to a private fundraiser last night at the home of one of Sacramento’s wealthiest Democrats.  The local and some of the state party leaders were there, major donors and union representatives.  About 100 people. 

Small talk and short speeches, until Phil Angelides came on to speak.

I am a deeply cynical person who is rarely moved to passion especially by or about politicians.

Angelides spoke with true clarity and passion. Real poetry.

He gets it and he gets California.  If every Californian could hear the Phil Angelides I heard tonight he would get 70% of the vote.

Unfortunately California is a hugely expensive media market and it is almost impossible to reach voters without huge amounts of money. Cash.

While he was speaking I even thought the campaign should start running ads with him speaking directly to voters.  I know that that is usually bad politics, but he really gets it and would connect with voters on a deeply emotional and passionate level.  (Unfortunately he stiffens up a little when there are cameras around)

When politicians can talk like poets, with clarity and passion, on issues that matter, it just moves me, and I want them elected.  I heard a good man tonight wax eloquently and passionately about his vision for a better California, for everyone, and it made me proud.

A true progressive? yes. Can he win? absolutely (call me an optimist). Will a contribution make a difference? yes. Worthy of our support? yes. Will EVERY Californian be better off if he wins? without a doubt.

Angelides Campaign page
http://www.angelides…
ActBlue Page
http://www.actblue.c…

past posts of mine that I like:
30 Second Gas Price Ad
TV’s New Reality Show: Survivor: DC Island
When Diebold becomes a verb, and it will,

The media investigation of the Republican leadership cover-up is now focusing Republican Secretary John Doolittle (R-CA) who is refusing to answer questions about his role in the Mark Foley scandal.

“This story is going to trace itself up to just exactly who exactly in the leadership of the Republican Party knew what when,” former White House advisor David Gergen told CNN’s Anderson Cooper.

The tracking through the GOP leadership advanced with the Associated Press quote from Kirk Fordham that draws the senior staff of the Republican leadership into the scandal — while extending the length of the GOP leadership cover-up by more than a year.

What did Doolittle’s former chief of staff, Kevin A. Ring know and when did he know it? What did Richard Robinson known and when did he know it? What did GOP Secretary John Doolittle know and when did he know it?

Even embattled Speaker Dennis Hastert told the Chicago Tribune, “I think the base has to realize after a while, who knew about it? Who knew what, when?”

This week, Doolittle’s re-election campaign in California’s fourth district has been featured in articles by Peter Hecht, Rachel Gordon, Laura Kurtzman, Molly Hennessy-Fiske and Rone Tempest with none of the reporters getting on record what John Doolittle knew and when he learned it.

The A.P.’s Robin Hindry reported on the Doolittle stonewall that is now in at least it’s third day:

[Charlie] Brown on Monday also called for Doolittle to return a donation he received from Mark Foley, the Republican Florida congressman who resigned last week after sexually explicit e-mails he sent to congressional pages were made public.

Doolittle should say what he knew about Foley’s actions and return $1,000 he received from him in 2002, Brown said.

Doolittle issued a statement through his House office on Monday condemning Foley. Calls requesting comment from his campaign Monday evening were not returned.

Congressman Doolittle’s government website – www.gopsecretary.house.gov – features a welcome message from the GOP Secretary listing his primary objective as, “to provide members and their staffs with the support they need to become more informed, innovative, and proactive.” Voters deserve to know to what degree Doolittle was informed, whether he was innovative in the cover-up, and why he wasn’t proactive in protecting children.

While the media has failed to get Congressman Doolittle on record, constituent’s are demanding answers. This morning’s Sacramento Bee features a letter from John Garon of Placerville who notes, “Rep. John Doolittle makes much of the fact that he is a member of the “leadership” of the House GOP. Since members of this inner circle, and a few more, knew of Rep. Mark Foley’s sexual advances to young boys, what did Doolittle do if and when he found out? Prima facie evidence indicates he did nothing, going along to get along, as he always does.”

With Doolittle stonewalling the press and refusing to deny involvement, the speculation is growing that Doolittle will play dumb. In another SacBee letter today, Mary Ann Keerer wonders, “Does Doolittle want us to believe that he knew nothing about his cohort’s sexual exploitation of underage boys just like he knows nothing about the sex slaves and other obscenities occurring in the Northern Mariana Islands?”

The Predatorgate scandal is sure to draw attention to Doolittle’s long history of protecting sexual predators in the Northern Marianas Islands for Jack Abramoff.

In addition to stonewalling the press, Doolittle’s damage control team is also ignoring constituent questions:

I called John Doolittle’s office today to ask if he still supports Dennis Hastert for Speaker, since the guy has known about and covered up the truly creepy activities of Congressman Foley.

The person who answered started telling me about how Hastert didn’t know about what was going on with Foley.  I said, “So that means Congressman Doolittle does support Hastert?”

She said no, no, no.  I’ll find out and get back to you.

Why is this important?  I’ve called Doolittle’s office many times over the years to ask about his positions on things like social security, net neutrality, etc.  The people there are always arrogant and dismissive, they give Doolittle’s position with no regard or care whether anyone disagrees with Doolittle.

This time, the person seemed very worried.

Unlike Representatives Heather Wilson and Geoff Davis, Rep. Doolittle is refusing to donate to charity the donations he received from former Congressman Mark Foley.

When Tom McClintock was trying to get his eminent domain initiative qualified for the ballot, he had quite a bit of problems.  You see, nobody really cared enough about the issue to give any money to support a signature drive.  And certainly nobody cared about this enough to volunteer time to get signatures.  From Tom’s mouth:

“They were able to raise the money to qualify their initiative. I was not,” says McClintock, who has endorsed Proposition 90. “I learned during the  car-tax initiative that if you don’t have the money lined up before the  signature gathering, you shouldn’t start.” (CapWeekly 7/13/06)

So you see, nobody was really willing to pile in the money for an eminent domain initiative.  And McClintock’s eminent domain init didn’t even carry all the baggage that Prop 90 carries.  You see, Howie Rich goes for the gusto.  When he plops down his millions, he makes sure that we really put it to the government.  A little water-boarding for the Capitol and all.

But that’s not all the shady back-room dealings on Prop 90.  You see, not all that money that Howard Rich is donating to the cause of Prop 90 is his own money.  He funnels money through a vast array of shady tax havens, 527s and other organizations.

The man at the center of this national effort is Howie Rich, a wealthy libertarian who believes in limited government and has long used tax-exempt groups to promote his favored candidates and political beliefs — property rights, term limits, tax cuts and school vouchers, among others.

The practice of using tax-exempt groups to fund campaigns has been criticized by some political-finance experts as opaque and deceptive. Unlike other political organizations, advocacy groups don’t have to disclose their donors.

In interviews and e-mails to The Chronicle, Rich said the groups help protect people who think like him, people who want to cut government powers but fear retribution if their names are published in public campaign-finance disclosure reports.(SF Chronicle 10/05/06)

Retribution? Um, yeah, Howie Rich is really terrified of retribution.  What they are terrified about is people discovering just who is paying to manipulate our governance.  The fact is that this proposition is funded almost exclusively by people who don’t live in the state.  The people of California do not want this taxpayer trap, but these “libretarians” insist on foisting this wretched proposition upon us.

No way, not here.  We’ve seen what’s happened elsewhere.  This is a bad, bad law.

In Case you missed past episodes: Survivor: DC Island house members voted off have been:
Week One: Duke Cunningham
Week Two: Tom Delay
Week Three: Mark Foley
Week Four: voting still going on – annoucement later this week
Week Five:Bob Ney (10/13)
Week Six:  ?
Week Seven: ?
Week Eight: ?
Week Nine: multiple elimination week: up to 50 Survivor: DC Island members voted out by actual American voters
full Survivor: DC Island post at:
http://www.dailykos….

looking for producer for this show, anyone in LA want to pick it up? fall sweeps week?