Earlier this week, our Governor sat down with members of the LA Times staff and lamented the impetuous naiveté of his youth (2003):

In that campaign, he labeled many state legislators as inept. Now, he spoke of how it would be a “disaster” for term limits to force some of the same politicians from their offices. He scoffed at the notion that ridding the state of the “waste, fraud and abuse” he railed against in his early days would actually do much to help California’s finances. He no longer insists that the state’s troubled schools can be repaired without spending more.

“I have learned a lot of things where I felt one way before I went into office, and all of a sudden you learn things are not quite this way and you change,” he said. “People call it flip-flopping. I would rather flip-flop when I see something is a wrong idea than get stuck with it and stay with it and [keep making] the same mistake.”

Consider this your weekend Open Thread for Quick Hit comments, recipes for electoral victory, ruminations on how things got so bad/good, tips for me at the club tonight.  I’ll be seeing Yeasayer.  Observe this visual representation of their song “2080” which should, if you’re alive, make your socks go up and down.

UPDATE: from the previous open thread’s comments: (brian): IndyMedia convention in Santa Cruz continues over the weekend. Sounds quite interesting.  

I found Yeasayer via Said The Gramaphone back in May and would just like to mention that it’s about DAMN time they made it to San Diego.

On the back of one song, Yeasayer have become my biggest discovery of the year so far. We all often hear music we like – catchy melodies, clasped lyrics. (I share such stuff with you here.) But the rarer feeling is to be exhilarated by something. To feel in a song a promise: the suggestion of a bigger, wider, longer song that’s as yet unsung. Stepping into an empty street and smelling the pepper fragrance of a fire.

“2080” is Fleetwood Mac, Akron/Family, Paul Simon, Arcade Fire, Cree chant, schoolyard song. It’s dancing alone under a streetlight, in your room with the lights on, or in a club on those hot strange first hours of the new year. It’s a night garden. It’s a pop song. It’s soft rock, New Wave, and art music. It’s got heart-thump drums, distant xylophone, clarinet, guitars, voices in harmony. It’s got piano and backwards-playing tape. It’s got the kitchen sink — and all these things under starlight.

I haven’t heard Yeasayer’s (upcoming) album. I haven’t seen them live. All I know is that “2080” is a string of good ideas, a necklace of a hundred rubies. It’s weird and great and not like the work of any other band I can think of. There is something in its beauty & boldness that makes me very, very excited; like I’ve stung my finger on a rose-thorn.

John Edwards is still focusing on Issues that matter to Working Families!

like the Economy … like Taxes.

All the while the GOP continues to “debate” that “only MORE Corporate Tax Cuts will create Jobs and keep the Economy strong!”

Hmmm … Where are all those Jobs, by the way?

Billions in Tax give aways to the Rich, for the last 5+ years, only seem to have strengthen the Rich, it seems to me.

From the John Edwards Issues pages:

In America today, families are working harder to get by.

Half of American families say they are living paycheck to paycheck,

and 3 out of 10 American workers have not been able to save a dime for their retirement.

…

Wait there’s More !

from the John Edwards Issues pages

who single-handedly put Poverty squarely on the Landscape of Issues:

37,000,000 Americans live in Poverty.

The top 300,000 individuals now make more than the bottom 150,000,000

given that Census reports the USA had Population of 301,621,157 in 2007, these “poorly” reported numbers Chart out this way:

Does the millionaire-elite segment of society, really need any more help?

From the John Edwards Issues pages:

The top 300,000 individuals now make more than the bottom 150,000,000.

The result is Two Americas, one struggling to get by and another that has everything it could want.

Taking a cue from Drew Carey’s “Power of Ten” (the exponential scale)

Refocusing this Wealth imbalance on the scale where “real people” live,

you can hardly see those corporate boardroom movers and shakers, anymore:

Does the millionaire elite segment of society, really need any more help?





John Edwards doesn’t think so:



Solutions for Working Families, from the John Edwards Issues pages:

John Edwards believes we have to build One American Economy-where everyone has the opportunity to work hard and build a better life.

He will restore respect for work to our tax code and

cut taxes for working families.

He will overhaul our weak labor laws

to give workers a real right to organize.

Strengthen Labor Laws:

Union membership can be the difference between a poverty-wage job and middle-class security.

Federal law promises workers the right to choose a union, but the law is poorly enforced, full of loopholes, and routinely violated by employers. …

Enact Smarter Trade Policies:

Trade deals need to make sense for American workers, not just corporations.

Edwards will make sure any new trade agreements include

strong labor and environmental standards and

will vigorously enforce American workers’ rights in existing agreements. …

Make Work Pay:

Edwards will increase the reward for working by raising the minimum wage to $9.50 by 2012, tripling the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) …

Protect Prevailing Wages:

Edwards pledges to protect the Davis Bacon Act, which ensures that workers on federal construction projects receive the local prevailing wage. …

Help Families Save and Get Ahead:

Edwards will crack down on abusive lenders by creating a new Families Savings and Credit Commission to protect families

Edwards will create Work Bonds to help families save and invest, providing financial safety nets for hard times. …

Work Bonds:

A new tax credit of up to $500, would help low and moderate-income, working Americans save for the future. …

http://www.johnedwards.com/iss…

—-

John Edwards was FIRST to take the cue, from billionaire Warren Buffett, about our US Tax Policy which should NO LONGER favor the Rich over the interest of ordinary Working Folks

Tax Solutions from the John Edwards Issues pages:

Reverse the “War On Work”:

Nothing better reflects the problems with our tax code than the lower tax rates for capital gains. As Warren Buffett says, there is something wrong when he pays taxes at a lower rate than his secretary.

As president, Edwards will:

  – Raise the tax rate on capital gains to 28 percent for the most fortunate taxpayers – taxing the investment income of the wealthiest Americans similarly to the wages of the middle class.

  – Repeal the Bush tax cuts for the highest-income households and keep the tax on very large estates (above $4 million for couples).

  – Declare war on offshore tax havens by cracking down on tax shelter promoters, cooperating with allies to fight tax havens, and closing the “tax gap” by improving IRS customer service, simplifying tax filing, auditing more large corporations and high-income individuals and requiring more third-party reporting.

  – Close unfair loopholes like the tax breaks for hedge funds and private equity fund managers and unlimited executive pensions.

http://www.johnedwards.com/iss…

—-

For More, in-depth analysis of Edwards Tax Reform Plan, click here.

Given the changing polling in SC, as reported by JedReport, there is definitely a market for a Leader with real substantive Plans like Edwards!

Question: Do you want a President who:

WILL fight for the issues that MATTER

to you and your family?

Isn’t it finally time the Working Folks of America,

finally has their Voice heard in Washington DC —

for a Change?

John Edwards is Speaking up for US!

John Edwards WILL be that Voice for working folks!

Thousands of working people, like you, are stepping up for Edwards, right now:



Edwards breaks Q4 online fundraising in 25 days.

by BruceMcF – Fri Jan 25, 2008 at 10:26:05 AM PST

Learn more:

Edwards on the Issues

http://johnedwards.com/issues/

Meet John Edwards: Selected Clips:

http://www.youtube.com/profile…

Don’t become another statistic …

Vote your conscious.

Vote in your own best interests — (while you still have the chance)

Vote for John Edwards!  — It Matters!

and contribute if you can afford it.

thanks!

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa just recently sent a letter to Senator Sheila Kuehl, from the point of view as a fellow supporter of a single-payer solution to health reform, to urge her to support AB x1 1 (Nunez/Perata). Here’s a PDF version of that letter:

LAMayorKuehlAB1xSupport.pdf

I was pleased to be a co-signer of a similar letter with over a dozen prominent single-payer supporters, people who I deeply respect and who have dedicated their lives and work toward winning single-payer reform. This includes respected activists, academics, and community leaders who led the Proposition 186 campaign, and gave years of their lives and even their bank accounts; and people who worked tirelessly on SB921 and SB840 in recent years, and fought to get it on the Governor’s desk in 2006.

There’s obviously some single-payer supporters that take an “all-or-nothing” approach. There are others who decide simply to focus their energies on legislation like SB840, or HR676, rather than to attack other efforts in the health care arena.

We continue to believe that this is not an “either/or” issue, but rather a “yes, and…” More than that, we believe AB x1 1 is the most effective and strategic step to get to single-payer, and that is a motivating factor behind our support.

Far from “settling” for AB x1 1, this is about locking in significant gains for the uninsured as a way to keep the movement and momentum active for broad reforms. Here’s the PDF:

SinglePayerSupportABX11-011708.pdf

The full letter is over the jump:

Thursday, January 17th, 2008

Dear Senator Kuehl, and all legislators who support SB840:

Re: Single-Payer Supporters for Strategic Steps, for AB x1 1

We, the undersigned, write to you as strong supporters of universal health care. We also have a long history of advocacy for single-payer policy proposals. Many of us have been involved in the fight for single-payer health care for as long as two decades. Many of us were active in working for Prop 186 back in 1994, and many of us worked hard over the last few years in support of SB921, and to get SB840 on the Governor’s desk in 2006.

As strong supporters of a truly universal health care system, we write to urge you to support AB x1 1 (Nunez), as a significant strategic step toward our shared goal. We strongly believe that health reform need not be an “either/or” situation, and that supporting this reform in front of us is consistent with being whole-hearted supporters of SB840 and single-payer.

We believe that AB x1 1 not only will do no harm – your appropriate minimum test for health legislation – but that AB x1 1 will also do a great deal of good and benefit millions of Californians.

Moreover, we believe that passage and enactment of AB x1 1 will be a strategic advance for the cause of single-payer because it will establish public programs that are the foundation of universal coverage, including a single-payer system.

AB x1 1 embodies policy elements of single-payer. Passage of this law would make it easier to enact truly universal coverage and to pass a single-payer system in the future, since it already includes:

• a major expansion of public program coverage to moderate-income Californians as well as low-income residents, setting the stage for truly universal coverage reforms, including single payer,

• the setting of a minimum employer contribution to health care, which is essential to funding universal coverage and an important part of the financing for SB840,

• the creation of a statewide purchasing pool that could be the beginnings of the huge

purchasing pool that could grow into a single universal system,

• an increase in Medi-Cal rates, helping providers realize that rates could be reasonable under a public program such as a single-payer system.

It also includes additional oversight over insurers. While some have criticized the notion of preserving the role of insurers, the proposal would significantly change the way insurers do business, including having to take all customers on a “guaranteed issue” basis, and having to negotiate with a large purchasing pool to access millions of California customers. The proposal creates a framework where insurers will either have to change their behavior, or face future reforms that impose further oversight on insurers or replace their function.

Like the proposals of the Democratic presidential candidates, AB x 1 1 does not undertake the massive transformation of the health care system that you propose and that we support. But it accomplishes important elements while providing security to those who have good coverage and want to keep it, while creating the framework to take extra steps. Just as passage of family leave legislation created a framework to come back and pass paid family leave, we believe this proposal creates political and policy tools to advance broader reforms.

Some fear that passage of any plan would stall the coming of SB840, as politicians declare their job done. We believe that the opposite is true. Failure begets failure, and if health reform is stalled now, political leaders may be discouraged from supporting any reforms of our health system (and certainly more far-reaching proposals like single-payer). They will likely move on to other issues.

On the other hand, success begets success: Passage and enactment of such a proposal would create a positive environment around health care reform, as politicians will continually seek to raise the bar above the last reform. The people of California are not satisfied with the health care system as it is, and they will want to see it change further to become a health care system worthy of our country and our state. After major reforms in areas like education and global warming, nobody thinks those issues are “done”; instead the interest in pursuing additional reform has stayed strong, and we believe that this will be the same for health care.

The comparison of AB x1 1 should not be with SB840, which we agree is a “gold standard,” but with the status quo in health care, where millions are uninsured, people are denied coverage because of “pre-existing conditions,” low- and moderate-income families face unlimited premiums and unlimited liability, and the situation is only getting worse. Does AB x1 1 provide all the protections we want to see in our health care system? No, but it provides protections that currently do not exist at all:

• it dramatically expands and assures coverage to increasingly desperate families and

individuals,

• it offers protection against the unaffordability of health insurance premiums,

especially for low- and moderate-income families;

• it establishes strong oversight of insurers, and

• it strengthens health care access of insured and uninsured Californians alike by more adequately funding health care providers, especially hospitals and doctors, whose current underpayment threatens their ability to provide emergency services for anyone and their willingness to serve low-income patients.

Under AB x1 1, there are millions of people, especially at the lower end of the income scale but also those with moderate incomes, that would get substantial help in getting the care and coverage they need. We have an obligation to meet their pressing needs. Asking them to wait is asking them to go without the access to care that those of us with insurance have. In addition, the more we can reduce the number of uninsured, the shorter the gap we have to bridge to get to universal coverage and a single-payer system. ABx 1 1 provides a solid foundation on which we can and will continue to advance additional health care reforms.

We will continue to be very active in support of truly universal coverage, but we urge you to consider this as a strategic step needed to win ultimate victory.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

E. Richard Brown, PhD, Professor, UCLA School of Public Health

Michael R. Cousineau, PhD, Associate Professor of Research and Director, Center for Community Health Studies, University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine

Sherry Hirota, CEO, Asian Health Services

Henry L. “Hank” Lacayo, State President, Congress of California Seniors

Marty Lynch, CEO, LifeLong Medical Care

Jennifer Reifel Malin, MD, Current Member and Former Board Member, California Physicians’ Alliance

Maryann O’Sullivan, Founding Executive Director, Health Access California

John Roark, MD, Board Member and Past President, California Physicians’ Alliance

Steve Schear, Co-Chair, Universal Health Care Action Network

Joan Pirkle Smith, Chair, Health Committee, Southern California Americans for Democratic Action, & Chair, Health Care Legislation Subcommittee, AFTRA

Roy Ulrich, Radio Host and Producer, KPFK

Nora Vargas, Executive Director, Latino Issues Forum, a co-sponsor of SB840, and convenor of the Latino Universal Health Action Network

Anthony Wright, Executive Director, Health Access California

*All affiliations listed for identification purposes only