(Now cross-posted at MyDD for your reading pleasure. : ) – promoted by atdleft)

“A reduction in domestic emissions would slow the pace of global emissions increases, no matter what happens elsewhere,” Justice John Paul Stevens said in the majority opinion. “EPA has offered no reasoned explanation for its refusal to decide whether greenhouse gases cause or contribute to climate change.”

Apparently, Justice Stevens was not the only Supreme who thinks that the EPA has a responsibility to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. There were four others who agreed with him.

(Follow me after the flip for more…)

From the AP Wire via Huffington Post:

The Supreme Court rebuked the Bush administration Monday for its inaction on global warming in a decision that could encourage faster action in Congress on climate change and lead to more fuel-efficient cars as early as next year.

The court, in a 5-4 ruling in its first case on climate change, declared that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are air pollutants under the Clean Air Act.

The Environmental Protection Agency has the authority to regulate those emissions from new cars and trucks under the landmark environment law, and the “laundry list” of reasons it has given for declining to do so are insufficient, the court said.

So what does this mean? Well, Bush will not be able to get away with inaction any longer. Also, I’m sure that this will assist the efforts in Congress to combat the coming climate catastrophe. Now that the EPA has a responsibility to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, why not allow Congress to decide how exactly to do this?

And oh yes, this is a huge boost for California, as well as ten other states who also want to regulate tailpipe emissions. Now that the EPA has a responsibility to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, they might want to take another look at approving these state programs to hold the automakers accountable for producing cars that don’t completely annihilate our planet sooner.

So will this ruling give Democratic Congressional leaders a new opportunity to get Congress to take action on climate change? Will this ruling force Bush to act on the coming climate catastrophe? Will this give a legal boost to California’s trail-blazing law to regulate tailpipe emissions? Well, I guess all we know now is that the only place left in this nation that continues to deny reality on climate change is the White House.

One of the big stories on the blogs this weekend was this mea culpa by Matthew Dowd, a former Bush-Cheney campaign strategist in 2000 and 2004.  In the article, Dowd details his loss of faith in the President and his disappointment with the policies he helped put into place.

Of course, you need only look at who Dowd decided to campaign for next to see this story for what it is.  On the flip…

In a wide-ranging interview here, Mr. Dowd called for a withdrawal from Iraq and expressed his disappointment in Mr. Bush’s leadership.

He criticized the president as failing to call the nation to a shared sense of sacrifice at a time of war, failing to reach across the political divide to build consensus and ignoring the will of the people on Iraq. He said he believed the president had not moved aggressively enough to hold anyone accountable for the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, and that Mr. Bush still approached governing with a “my way or the highway” mentality reinforced by a shrinking circle of trusted aides.

“I really like him, which is probably why I’m so disappointed in things,” he said. He added, “I think he’s become more, in my view, secluded and bubbled in.”

This is perceived as noble, as Dowd going public with his criticisms of Bush is a kind of apology for helping him get elected; he calls it “karma.”

So, what has Matthew Dowd been doing since 2004, to set right his cosmic imbalance and help move the country on a better path?  After all, in the article he claims that he was starting to have his own doubts about the President even during the election.  And then after Hurricane Katrina, and Bush’s refusal to meet with Cindy Sheehan, Dowd’s disappointment reached its apex.  So surely he would move in his professional life to right his personal wrongs by standing up for honest, principled, forthright leadership.  Right?

Mr. Dowd spent 2006 in the Arnold Schwarzenegger for Governor campaign.  During which time:

• Schwarzenegger campaigned in a series of staged town-hall meetings and closed-door sessions, just like the President, including closing the campaign to certain reporters while giving briefings to those newspapers whose owners gave him campaign money…

• Spent the entire campaign lying about his opponent’s record on taxes, claiming that he would raise them by $18 billion when the truth was nothing of the sort…

• During the election, he used executive orders to weaken the landmark global warming law, no different than a Presidential signing statement, a move which prompted the Democratic legislature to force Arnold to stop talking about what a great job he’s doing on the environment and start actually doing something…

• Schwarzenegger refused to give the details of his health-care plan until after the election, forcing voters to decide blind on what he actually would do on his signature issue if elected (sound like the Social Security plan of 2005?)…

• The campaign accused Phil Angelides and his team of “hacking” into a secure Schwarzenegger database to “steal” audio of Arnold talking about his fellow lawmakers.  At the time, this rocked the Angelides campaign on its heels and really ended the race, even though a later report determined it was a complete lie, that this “hacking” consisted of erasing the end of the URL to find the parent directory, and that the Schwarzenegger camp knew there was no wrongdoing here.  It’s akin to a Rovian tactic of bugging one’s own office and blaming it on the opponent.

• Arnold paid staff members massive bonuses for doing political work on the campaign, money that comes from the taxpayers and not his campaign accounts, and then raised all their salaries while trying to stop automatic pay raises for working-class state employees…

• To add even more cronyism, Arnold just received half a million dollars in his after-school charity fund from AT&T, after signing a law that would allow them to roll out their own TV service throughout the state.  And then we just learned that Arnold hired his personal dentist and chiropractor to sit on state boards, even though they are completely unqualified for the position and have meddled in state legislation despite conflicts of interest.

This is the guy to whom Matthew Dowd turned to try to restore confidence in government.  Someone who campaigned in secret, used executive orders to govern, promoted his friends to top positions and stoked them with taxpayer dollars, and used a dirty trick to finish off the campaign.

So spare me the “come to Jesus” act.  Matthew Dowd is just another lover of authoritarians who’s lingering legacy will be the ruthlessness with which he brought them into the lives of all Americans, to damage this great country.

(Now if only more folks at the CDP realize that this is a real opportunity that’s ripe for the picking! – promoted by atdleft)

by Randy Bayne
The Bayne of Blog

X-posted from California Notes

Look at any election results map and you would think that California is two states. Progressives democrats have a very strong hold on coastal areas, especially Los Angeles and San Francisco, with conservative, moderates and republicans claiming majority status on most of the inland areas.

One group of people sees change in the air and wants to bring more progressive attitude into the central valley and foothill areas. They call themselves the “Coalition of California Central Valley County Central Committee Chairpersons” — the “7 C’s,” for short — and though the name might not stick, they have banded together to get the attention of CDP Chairman Art Torres and the California Democratic Party. Their strategy is to get more party resources devoted to California’s rural counties, and turn “red counties blue.”

Certainly a tall task, but by no means an impossible one. Some counties that have traditionally been in the conservative red camp have moved to blue, or at least purple. The switch in San Joaquin County resulted in the only California congressional seat to change party hands in the ’06 election when  freshman congressman Jerry McNerney beat incumbent Richard Pombo. Other rural counties want to repeat San Joaquin County’s success, but say they don’t have the resources to do it on their own. This is where the State Democratic Party comes in. The chairs of the Democratic Central Committes in Amador, Fresno, Kern, Kings, Mariposa, San Joaquin, Stanislaus and Tulare Counties say they are not interested in a “one-size-fits-all” approach that may not address the unique situations found in individual rural counties, but want to make decisions based on the needs of their particular counties with support and resources from the state party. They also want the state party to focus on them early, not after polls show they can actually win tough races.

Next month the group plans to meet again to refine the framework plan they came up with at Saturday’s meeting. Then they will take their plan and present it to Torres and the “powers that be” at the party’s executive board meeting in July.

Part of that plan will focus on getting Democrats into local elected and appointed positions to begin building a “farm team.”  They feel it is important to not only elect Democrats in red counties to the Assembly and Senate, but also get Democrats established in local positions, such as Board of Supervisors, School Boards, and a myriad of commissions and special districts, so that a viable farm team can be built for future candidates for Assembly, Senate and even Congress. Early involvement, they feel, means a better chance at success, both immediately and down the road.

With term limits in place into the foreseeable future, strong local candidates will be needed to replace officer holders who are termed out. In order to have candidates ready to replace termed out Assembly and Senate members, the “7 C’s” want the state party to help them with resources so that county central committees will be able to register Democrats, get out the vote, do voter education and follow up, build their precinct operations, and elect Democrats to local offices.

Their ultimate goal is to turn each of their respective counties blue. They realize it is an uphill battle, but one they believe they can win. “With so many people moving into Amador County,” says Amador County’s Vice-Chair Randy Bayne, “you just gotta believe that a lot of them come with a progressive mindset. We need to make sure they know the Democratic Party is alive and well in our rural counties and that it is okay to register Democratic and vote Democratic.” All agreed this will take help from the state party.

They also agreed it will take commitment on their part and the presentation of a strong plan to the party’s executive board in July.

There are other groups, like Take Back Red California, that are dedicated to turning “red counties blue,” but the “7 C’s” is the only group made up exclusively of County Central Committees, officially representing the Democratic Party in each county. For them, turning their respective counties blue is job one.

In attendance were Amador County Vice Chair Randy Bayne, Tulare Central Committee member Minerva Zapalac, Kern County Chair Candi Easter, Mariposa County Chair Jery Lacayo, Fresno County Chair Joel Murillo, Stanislaus County Chair Donna Patterson, San Joaquin County Chair Bill Perkins,Kings County Chair Mark Trezza, Tulare County Chair Barbara Waldron, and Crystal Strait, California Democratic Party Deputy Political Director (not pictured).
Photo by Candi Easter

Following the meeting, the Party Chairmen were guests on the Marc Scalzo Show, of Fresno Air America Radio.
Photo by Candi Easter

Remember when I told you about that Obama OC community gathering in Laguna Niguel on Saturday? Well, I went there… And I found out that in the supposedly “Solid Republican Territory” of South Orange County, there was plenty of interest in joining the local grassroots campaign for Barack Obama!

Follow me after the flip to enjoy some more photos from Saturday’s big event…

Orange County leaders Zinnia Menardi and Renee Schwan are always more than happy to answer your questions about what you can do to help Obama in OC.

South County Leader Giovanni Jorquera talks about what’s happening with the campaign in South County. Zinnia then talks about what it means to be a part of Obama’s grassroots campaign in Orange County. I guess it means writing letters to The OC Register, and planning for the next antiwar rally, and registering new voters at the community colleges… Basically, the grassroots campaign is each of us doing what we do best to reach out to the community and get them involved in this election.

South County leader Sandie Weathers gets the projector ready for the feature presentation…

And here it is! : )

OK, so you may have missed this meeting on Saturday…
No worries! Go onto our new web site, and scroll down to the bottom of the page to join our mailing list so that you can find out about all of our future events!

OK, so perhaps you’re somewhere else in California, and you want to know how to get involved in Obama’s campaign. Well, here ‘ya go! Go onto My.BarackObama.com to find out how this campaign is ALL ABOUT YOU, and WHAT YOU CAN DO TO TAKE BACK OUR NATION from the far right and their politics of personal enrichment and global domination. Go ahead and check it out… Don’t let us OC folks be the only ones having fun with this! : )

OK, I’m sure you figured this out by now. My post yesterday on Mike Lawson’s announcement of The Liberal OC seeling out to Red County/OC Blog was a COMPLETE JOKE! Still don’t believe me? Here’s Mike Lawson’s latest post:

By now, most of you have figured out that our redesign and the press release we sent out regarding our acquisition by Red County magazine was an April Fools prank.

A lot of people smelled the prank right away, but a few people (including one very good political reporter at the Orange County Register) were a little slow on the uptake.

OK, so I’ll admit that it took me about two minutes after the first glance of that press release to realize that this was THE BEST APRIL FOOLS’ JOKE EVER…
But poor Peggy Lowe at The OC Register actually CALLED MATT CUNNINGHAM TO CONFIRM THE BUYOUT!

So, as the old-school reporter that I am, I called Matt Cunningham early this morning seeking confirmation on this Blue Minority deal… He called me back and all I could hear was laughter.

Yep, I fell for it. And no, the Red County boys aren’t taking over The Liberal OC. Guess it was the blogosphere version of the whoopee cushion. Still waiting for a return e-mail from Mike Lawson, the jokester.

Friends don’t let friends blog until the second cup of coffee is in the bloodstream.

So you still can’t believe how big this got? Follow me after the flip for more…

OK, now… Here’s the topper! Matt finally made an announcement last night on OC Blog:

Although this is a Red County, it has a definite Blue streak. So why persuade and engage the other side when you can just absorb them?

The good people at TheLiberalOC.com reached a similar conclusion: why not indeed?

Yes, this seriously must be the best prank ever pulled off! I know I’ll fondly remember this for many years to come. ; )

(cross-posted from ATM Watch)

During Courage Campaign’s recent conference call with Debra Bowen, the Secretary of State expressed interest in expanding the number of permanent absentee voters as a means to mitigate the expected lower turnout of our June statewide primary election next year.

There's a big concern with this Feb 5 primary that we're going to see a big drop off in June. I'd like to see the state undertake a real effort to get voters who want to do so to sign up as permanent absentee voters…permanent vote by mail voters. That will mean that they will automatically get ballots for the June and November elections once they register for the February primary. We know that that system increases turnout among occasional voters and among minority voters. Some counties promote that very heavily, others don't. It's very important in a year where we could have wildly swinging turnout because of having three elections, that we take advantage of those kinds of tools.

In last year's November election, according to Capitol Weekly, absentee ballots accounted for 45% of all votes cast throughout the state, a percentage that is expected to rise to 50% in 2008. If Secretary Bowen has her way, that number could be far higher.

So what does this mean for the February 2008 primary?

Well, by California law, absentee voters can send in their ballots almost a month prior to election day. Next year, that magic date is January 7, weeks before either New Hampshire or Iowa voters will have gone to the polls.

Capitol Weekly cites another pertinent statistic:

40 percent of California's absentee voters typically cast ballots prior to a week before Election Day

If this holds true and absentee ballots do end up accounting for half of the votes cast, that could mean at least 20% of all voters in California will have voted before the results from Iowa and New Hampshire are known. In other words, considering the growing number of absentee voters in the state, a February 5 primary could actually mean that Iowa and New Hampshire have less impact on the outcome of California's election, not more as some have argued.

Traditionally, of course, the results in the early states tend to be momentum-generating, think of John Kerry after his Iowa win in 2004 or George W. Bush after South Carolina in 2000. Next year, there just may be a good number of California voters whose choice will be untainted by those that came before, a number, which actually could exceed the voting populations of New Hampshire and Iowa combined.