1.     Brain or nervous system — such as: migraine headache; seizure disorder; loss of consciousness; epilepsy; paralysis; muscular dystrophy; multiple sclerosis; stroke; cerebral palsy; mental retardation?      2.     Cardiovascular system — such as: heart or valve problems; coronary artery disease; heart attack; heart murmur; pericarditis; mitral valve prolapse; heart valve regurgitation; rheumatic fever; palpitations; high blood pressure; shortness of breath; chest pains; elevated cholesterol and/or triglycerides?      3.     Circulatory system — such as: varicose veins; peripheral vascular disease; phlebitis; blood clots; stroke; disease or disorder of the blood (except HIV infection); anemia; enlarged lymph nodes?      4.     Respiratory tract — such as: asthma; reactive airway disease; bronchitis; allergies; sinusitis; disease, disorder or injury of the lungs or respiratory system; emphysema; tuberculosis; spitting or coughing up blood; shortness of breath; pneumonia; cystic fibrosis; pulmonary fibrosis; chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; sleep apnea?      5.     Musculo-skeletal system — such as: pain, injury, sprain, or other problems of the neck, spine, or back; sciatica; herniated or bulging disc(s); curvature of the spine; scoliosis; pain, injury, or other problems of the joints, bones, or muscles; arthritis; rheumatoid arthritis; temporo-mandibular joint syndrome (TMJ); Lyme disease; broken bones or retained hardware; dislocation of joints; bunions; hammertoe; carpal tunnel syndrome; physically handicapped; polio; amputations?      6.     Metabolic system — such as: diabetes; gout; thyroid or adrenal disorders; hormone or growth hormone deficiencies; immune system disorders (except HIV infection) such as: lupus, Raynaud's, acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), AIDS-related complex (ARC), treatment for AIDS/ARC with AZT, HIVID or Pentamidine therapy?      7.     Cancer (malignancy) — such as: leukemia; Hodgkin's; malignant melanoma; tumor/cyst; lymphoma?      8.     Congenital abnormalities, birth defects — such as: Down's Syndrome; cerebral palsy; cleft lip or palate; clubfoot; developmental delay; or other neurological or physical abnormalities?      9.     Alcoholism, drug dependency or substance abuse?      10.   Counseling or treatment for symptoms of depression; manic depression; anxiety; panic attacks; nervousness; mental or emotional disorders; schizophrenia; behavior problems; hyperactivity; attention deficit disorder; eating disorders; bulimia; anorexia; alcohol or substance abuse; or for any other reason?      11.     Male reproductive system — such as: prostate problems; impotency; male breast problems; gynecomastia; infections, herpes, syphilis, gonorrhea, or other venereal disease (except HIV infection); or is either the applicant, spouse or domestic partner whether or not listed on the application, being treated or been treated for infertility within the last 24 months?      13.     Digestive system — such as: disease or disorder of the mouth, tongue, esophagus or stomach; ulcer; gall bladder disorder; liver disease; cirrhosis; jaundice; ascites; pancreatitis; colon, intestinal or rectal problems; colitis; chronic diarrhea; hemorrhoids; hernia; weight or eating problems; hepatitis?      14.     Urinary tract — such as: renal colic; gravel or stones; urethra, bladder, ureter or kidney problems; urinary tract infections; stricture; pyelonephritis?      15.     Skin conditions — such as: skin cancer; melanoma; psoriasis; keratosis; acne; herpes; warts; birthmarks; severe burns?      16.     Diseases or problems of the eyes or sight, ears or hearing, nose or breathing, throat or swallowing — such as: any infections of eyes, ears, nose or throat; crossed eyes; glaucoma; cataracts; detached retina; polyps; deviated nasal septum; excessive snoring; problems with tonsils or adenoids; sleep apnea?      17.     Abnormal laboratory results — such as: blood work, x-rays, EKG, nerve conduction, blood flow studies, MRI, CT, PET or other scans(s) (except HIV antibody detection tests)?      18.     Prosthesis, implant, or retained hardware?      19.     Have you or any applying family member taken or been written a prescription for medication(s) in the last 12 months?      20. A.   In the past five years, have you or any applying family member been an inpatient or outpatient in a hospital, surgical center, sanitarium, or other medical facility, including an emergency room, or had surgery, including angioplasty, cosmetic/reconstructive, bypass or transplant surgery?      20. B.   In the past five years, have you or any applying family member had any illness, physical injury, persisting or new physical symptoms and/or health problems not mentioned elsewhere on this application that have not been evaluated or that you plan to have evaluated by a licensed health practitioner?      20. C.   In the past five years, have you or any applying family member been advised to have, or been referred for, a medical exam, further testing, treatment or surgery which has not yet been performed by a physician, dentist, or other licensed health practitioner?      20. D.   In the past five years, have you or any applying family member had any application for health or life insurance revoked, declined, deferred, postponed, or restricted in any way?      21.     Are you or any applying family member presently a member of a support group?      22.     Males only:  Are you expecting a child with anyone, even if the birth mother is not listed on the application?      23.   Males and females: Is either the applicant, spouse, domestic partner or dependent, whether or not listed on the application, currently pregnant, or in the process of adoption or surrogate pregnancy?      24. A.   Have or do you or any applying family member requested or received a pension, benefits or payment because of any injury, sickness, disability of workers' compensation?      24. B.     Have or do you or any applying family member smoke(d) cigarettes?      24. C.     Have or do you or any applying family member drink alcoholic beverages?      25.   Have you and/or any applying family member visited a physician, psychiatrist, chiropractor, physician assistant, nurse practitioner, physical therapist or other licensed health practitioner in the past five years?      26.     Did you or any applying family member have other health coverage (insurance) within the last 63 days?      27.     Did you have a prior health plan that covered any of the conditions you checked “Yes” for on this page?

(I was there as well, representing the West LA Drinking Liberally. We’re going to have our Calitics Q3 Quarterly in association with DL on September 26. I was going to write this up but Jesse does an excellent job here. I did post my thoughts on the Harkin Steak Fry at my personal site here. – promoted by David Dayen)

Drinking Liberally’s 3rd Annual National Convention was held in Des Moines Iowa over the weekend.  It was a fabulous weekend for many reasons, but I’d have to say that the Des Moines chapter was the highlight of the trip.  The city leaders and their members are not only great people but they are amazing liberals who absolutely get it.  Future DL national conferences have a lot to live up to due to their effort and hospitality.  In addition to the productive meeting environment the DL National Organizers created and the great guest speakers they lined up for us, we attended the Tom Harkin’s Annual Steak Fry fundraiser.  Most of the Democratic Presidential candidates were there to meet, mingle and speak to Iowans (and some of us out-of-towners too). 

Please flip

More than anything, the national conferences are in place to get the people who run Drinking Liberally, the city leaders, together once a year.  The national leaders intentionally have a light touch on the direction of the organization.  The cities leaders are the ones really driving where Drinking Liberally ultimately goes.  The first portion of the weekend summarized where we came from, where we are today, where we want to go next and how we plan on getting there.  The “getting there” section was supplemented by guest speakers from the Center for Independent Media, Young People For and Open Left.  The panel was asked to focus on where Drinking Liberally fits into the progressive and liberal community and the value we bring.  Tom Harkin’s online communications point person (and DL member) also spoke to the group on how to engage elected officials and candidates in coming to a Drinking Liberally event.  The Harkin Steak Fry was a perfect end to the weekend.  Most of the candidates in attendance were accessible for a handshake at the very least and in some cases a casual conversation about the Drinking Liberally button they were just handed.

For those of you not familiar with Drinking Liberally you’ve obviously been working way too hard promoting the progressive/liberal agenda and haven’t enjoyed the benefits you are entitled to as a member of the community.  Flip liberally to hear more about Drinking Liberally and its parent organization Living Liberally, how to get involved or starting your own chapter.

Drinking Liberally is a national organization with more than 200 chapters where progressives and liberals come together to regularly “water the grassroots” in cities across the country.  It’s a place where progressives and liberals come to recharge our batteries, let our hair down, not work, recruit or be recruited, and generally feel at ease with others who have similar values, goals ambitions.

Drinking Liberally is the oldest and most well known group of larger umbrella organization, Living Liberally which also includes Laughing Liberally, Eating Liberally, Reading Liberally, and Screening Liberally.

Thriving communities require culture to sustain and nourish the members of the community, and Living Liberally has become a major part of the culture of the progressive and liberal community.  Living Liberally is also evolving into the face-to-face social networking component of the liberal and progressive community.  While Facebook, MySpace and Google groups are great for finding people with common interests, Living Liberally provides the in person contact and networking where real relationships are formed and can be capitalized upon. 

It all starts with an individual making the decision that their city or town needs a place where progressives and liberals can meet, can find others who share similar interests, can get a better feel for what is being done in the community or want to have a place where people can learn and engage in discussions focusing on progressive and liberal politics.  The city leader chooses a location, day, time and frequency of the “meeting.”  The meetings won’t start with an official call to order or include a meeting agenda with recorded minutes.  A social gathering is probably better a definition of the events. 

But don’t let the informality fool you.  Drinking Liberally chapters all over the country have been known to attract elected officials and candidates from all offices of city/county/state/federal government, great guests, best selling authors and prominent members of the online community.  New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson came to our National Conference party in Des Moines just this weekend.

On Wednesday, September 19th members Drinking Liberally San Diego will be attending the Calitics Quarterly Fundraiser in San Diego at the Firehouse American Eatery.  You can contact Lucas O’Connor ([email protected]) for more information.  *As an organization, Drinking Liberally does not support or endorse political parties, candidates, or issues. 

Sound appealing?  Visit www.drinkingliberally.org and look for a chapter near you.  Don’t see a chapter in your area?  Start one, it’s easy.  Running a DL chapter doesn’t take much time and is very rewarding knowing you are building the infrastructure of the progressive and liberal communities.

Feel free to email me with any question or comments.

Jesse Rubin
Drinking Liberally San Diego City Leader and National Field Organizer
[email protected]

Bill Clinton is in San Diego tonight hosting a fundraiser and I won’t be there.  Can’t afford it. $500 to get in the door.  Unless I suddenly don’t need to pay rent next month, it ain’t gonna happen.  Maybe you’re like me, and you constantly wish that someone would hold a kickass fundraiser that you can afford?  Well now somebody is.  If you’re in driving distance of San Diego, we expect to see you at the Calitics Quarterly Fundraiser.

We’ve got office seekers and holders at the federal, state and local level.  We’ve got the beloved local blogger Terry Williams (terryfaceplace) and notoriously non-prolific blogging gadfly Lucas O’Connor.  We’ve got the San Diego Drinking Liberally crew led by founder Jesse Rubin, so you know it’ll be a party.  And most importantly, we have tireless, brilliant and criminally underappreciated activists from throughout the San Diego area.

We don’t have Slick Willie, but we have a chance for you to pitch in and have a great night for $20, $40, or whatever it is you can afford.  We don’t quibble over pennies.  What we’re after is the passion.  See you Wednesday.

We all know mental health care in California has always been a pretty important issue. And in November 2004 California voters passed Proposition 63 in an attempt to take care of some of the mental health care shortages that were occurring throughout the state. The proposition was brought forth by Assemblyman Darrell Steinberg in an attempt to rectify almost 40 years of inadequate mental health care across California.
This editorial from the September 27, 2004 San Francisco Gate gives a pretty good background as to the reasons why Prop 63 was needed.
The California Department of mental Health has a website detailing the planned implementation of the program.

The Los Angeles Times is taking a look at how the program is working. Yesterday’s paper had New funds, enduring ills, and today’s Rural areas reap little from Prop. 63.
And the results seem, currently, to be a mixed blessing.

The L.A. Times says that Prop 63 will generate $1.5 billion this fiscal year.
Prop 63 pays for new, premium programs. It was specifically prohibited from backfilling budget shortfalls in already existing programs.
The programs that it is funding appear to be doing very well. And show progress for the people they are helping.

My friend Carole, a terrific Democrat who knows how to work a room, had the ear of a Major Insider at the Magic Johnson party for Hillary this past week (I’m still listening to everyone and leaning Obama).  She was pushing for DC attention to the CA-45th, as she often does, because we have two Democratic candidates (so far) to challenge Mary Bono, and our Dem candidate will need some real support.  Mr. Major Insider thought our GOP/Dem breakdown was 80/20ish, a common misconception, and one which drives Carole right up the wall.  Our actual numbers are: 

Dem (35.85%) * Rep (45.53%) * Other (18.62%)

Not only that, the CA-45th has a high growth rate with newcomers trending Democratic, a weak Bushbot incumbent, a bargain media market (for California), and last year’s race was the first potentially competitive one in thirty years.  But the DCCC gave Roth no tangible support.  So why no love from Washington?  Follow me past the flip for the many reasons why the Democratic Party needs to start playing to win in the CA-45th.

The CA-45th is an ideal prototype for the Democratic Party to show how we can turn more red districts blue.  It’s time to take advantage of the national mood, our local demographic shift, and a laughably weak incumbent.  Once the playground of Presidents flips to the Democrats, just imagine the impact nationally.  It’s closer than you think.

The CA-45th got serious attention last election cycle, just not from the DCCC.  21st Century Democrats endorsed David Roth and sent a fantastic staffer to work the district.  Barbara Boxer’s PAC for a Change and the Blue America PAC endorsed Roth.  The Calitics team frontpaged several Roth diaries.  George Miller, Barney Frank, Maxine Waters, and Loretta Sanchez stumped for Roth.

Roth raised over 700K, which was a universe apart from previous efforts.  He forced Mary Bono to raise twice as much.  Despite a virtual blackout from the GOP-owned local papers, he drew unprecedented crowds for a Democrat in the area, and heard from countless Republicans who craved a change.  But Mary Bono had the money she needed for a media blitz during the last two weeks of the campaign.  Roth got nothing from the DCCC but a late designation as an Emerging Race, and Cheesecake Factory cake on election night.  He had no media presence to speak of, despite the most dynamic campaign by a Democrat in this district in thirty years.  This simply can’t happen again, because the district is ripe to flip.  NB:  Barbara Boxer, recent addition to Rancho Mirage, received 49% in the CA-45th  in 2004. 

In DC, “everyone knows” that the CA-45th is a bastion of conservatism, with a presumed 80/20 advantage for the GOP.  The actual registration as of October 23, 2006 is:

Dem – 115,874 (35.85%)
Rep – 147,158 (45.53%)
Other – 60,214 (18.62%)

2.5% of the Other are registered American Independent/Green, so subtract that, you still have 16.12% unaffiliated voters.  The total of Democrats plus unaffiliated-  (51.97%).

That was last year, but what of the future?  The Press Enterprise says that Republicans are losing their grip on the Inland Empire.  According to the study last July by UC-Riverside researcher Karthick Ramakrishnan, Department of Political Science:

“The results from our survey reveal a roughly equal proportion of eligible voters who identify with the Democrat(ic) and Republican party..  ……

….Naturalized citizens, who have the least experience with the U.S. political system, are least likely to identify with either of the major political parties.  By contrast, second-generation immigrants (those born in the U.S. to immigrant parents) are more likely than the rest of the population to identify as Democrats. 

Finally, there are clear differences in party identification between newcomers and long-term residents in the Inland Empire. Newer residents are less likely than long-term residents to identify as Republicans (27% vs. 37%), and more likely to identify as Democrat or Independent.  Even taking into account those independents who lean towards either party, there is a noticeable difference between recent residents who favor Democrats and more established residents who split nearly evenly between the two parties.”

It would be sheer negligence to allow this district to remain Republican.  Current conventional wisdom on the CA-45th also overlooks the politically active gay population in Palm Springs, and the increasingly powerful generation of progressive leaders taking over in the East Coachella Valley.  Eduardo Garcia’s successful mayoral race in Coachella registered 15,000 new voters, and he is widely regarded as a rising star in local politics, as is Manuel Pérez, candidate for the California 80th Assembly District.  The political energy here is blue. 

Mary Bono has a solid Bushbot record, no capacity to face a serious challenger in a debate, and her sympathetic image as the widow of Sonny Bono is now one divorce and one engagement past its shelf date.  With a serious voter education effort (and there’s a lot of bang for the buck in this media market), Bono’s support among Republican environmentalists and moderates is vulnerable, and the potential support from middle and working class residents for a Democratic challenger is huge. 

The Democratic votes are here if we are willing to go get them.  And let’s not forget that even though the California Republican Party is in disarray, the 2008 presidential race is in jeopardy if the GOP dirty tricks/electoral votes grab initiative gets on the California ballot.  The Democratic Party needs to play to win in the CA-45th.  There is simply no excuse not to.

P.S.  As soon as I know more about our Democratic challengers, I’ll post it.  One is not ready to surface, and the other is still processing his FEC paperwork.  But hallelujah, they exist at last!

xposted to Daily Kos & OpenLeft