(Charlie’s coming back after this with a vengeance. – promoted by David Dayen)

As you know, Charlie Brown just released his energy plan —a pragmatic, “all of the above” strategy that calls for more domestic oil supply, a new energy economy that creates thousands of new jobs, and an end to the practice of spending taxpayer dollars on Middle-East oil.

Hundreds of people from across the political spectrum have signed our petition to put Charlie’s plan into action.

In response, Tom McClintock did what career politicians do…

He pandered to the oil interests who have bankrolled his political career (Tom has taken $155K from Big Oil in the last 10 years alone), and in full disregard of the facts, he told the biggest lie he could think of.  

Click Here to Help Charlie Fight Back!

To be fair, Tom got help from Vice President Dick Cheney —the man whose energy policies have been great for oil companies, but awful for American families—driving gas prices from a once manageable $1.46, to nearly $5 a gallon.  So how much do McClintock & Cheney have in common?  Judge for yourself.

“Oil is being drilled right now 60 miles off the coast of Florida. But we’re not doing it. The Chinese are, in cooperation with the Cuban government.”–VP Dick Cheney, 06/11/08.

Cheney then retracted the fabrication the day after he issued it:  “It is our understanding that no Chinese firm is drilling there.”–06/12/08  

Two months later, McClintock repeated the lie:  “The vast oil fields off the coast of Florida…are now being drained by the Chinese Government drilling in Cuban waters.”–8/10/08

Like Dick “imminent threat/last throes” Cheney, Tom McClintock has a credibility problem —and not just on energy.   Then again, career politicians often say just about anything to score cheap partisan points.  By contrast, career military officers like Charlie know that misstatements and distortions don’t solve problems-they are part of the problem.  

McClintock’s ridiculous assertions aside, America is finally having a serious dialogue about our energy future. Consequently, gas prices are falling, but the difference between that drop being temporary, and much bigger and more permanent, rests on our willingness to elect leaders committed to taking action and doing whatever it takes to change how we power our nation.  That’s what makes your support for Charlie Brown so critical.

Click Here to Contribute Now!

Every day we are learning more and more about Tom McClintock.  

We know he is continuing to raise money so he can run for Board of Equalization or Lt. Governor in 2010 —all while he’s running for Congress in a district that is over 400 miles from his home.  

We also know he’s already sending out letters attacking Charlie’s patriotism, but focusing much more on Nancy Pelosi–from which we can only surmise that he should be carpetbagging over to San Francisco, not the 4 th District.  

But that’s not all.

California still doesn’t have a state budget and hundreds of thousands of hard working people are being laid off or paid at minimum wage.  Longtime obstructionist Tom McClintock hasn’t voted for a budget in more than 20 years, but he’s still getting paid a full salary with tax free per diems.

That’s not only hypocritical, it’s just plain wrong.  Results matter.  That’s why Charlie’s stand is that politicians who can’t produce budgets on time and in balance shouldn’t get paid–period.

Help Charlie send Tom McClintock packing once and for all.

You know Charlie.  You know he means what he says and says what he means.  You know that he is a man of action who leads by example and puts his money where his mouth is.

That’s what this campaign is about, and it’s the higher standard of leadership we need in Washington to get our country back on track.

We are less than 85 days from an historic election—and your continued support will make all the difference down the stretch.  

Thanks again for all you do.

Sincerely,  

Todd Stenhouse

Campaign Manager

P.S.  From policy distortions, to sleazy fundraising letters attacking Charlie’s patriotism, Tom McClintock has gone negative with his desperate job search. Please help us ensure that Charlie has the resources to fight back and win this election—Contribute Today!  

P.P.S  And if you aren’t doing anything on Saturday, please come out and join us for our fourth district-wide day of action. Click Here to Sign Up!

I will be on KRXA 540 AM at 8 this morning to discuss this and other California politics issues. Cindy Sheehan will be on at 9 – any questions you want asked?

The supposed budget deal that Don Perata claimed he had with Arnold and that we roundly denounced yesterday apparently was a figment of Perata’s imagination, according to the Sacramento Bee:

Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata began Wednesday saying he had made enough concessions to secure a budget deal with the governor and called for Republicans to sign on.

But the day ended with little progress, as Perata concluded that negotiations remained at “impasse.”…

In the five hours between Perata’s two comments, it became clear that Republican leaders were not joining Perata’s call for a vote. Neither were Assembly Democrats nor Schwarzenegger.

“I think we keep getting closer, but there are still issues to work out,” said Aaron McLear, Schwarzenegger’s spokesman. “We hope that the legislators have the same sense of urgency that we do. We need to get this done.”

Assembly Speaker Karen Bass was not ready to end budget talks, spokesman Steve Maviglio said.

“We’re continuing to negotiate on all the pieces of the puzzle,” he said. “Until they all come together, it’s premature to say what’s in and what’s out.”

Perata’s notion of a spending cap was apparently less rigid than the Republicans were demanding, although as far as I’m concerned any spending cap is a bad cap. Another sticking point is the Republicans’ insistence that any temporary increase in the sales tax to balance the budget be not only reversed after 3 years, but that the sales tax rate gets cut below its current level.

It should be made crystal-clear to California voters by Democrats that what Republicans are demanding is a further breaking of the budget process. They don’t want solutions, instead they are actively trying to make matters worse through a hard spending cap or a sales tax cut. Democrats need to be campaigning on the budget and turning the budget into a campaign, but it’s difficult to do that if you’re willing to agree to Republican-framed proposals like a spending cap, even if your details are different from theirs.

California voters deserve to know that Republicans are trying to implement Grover Norquist’s “drown government in a bathtub” agenda. Because as far as I can tell, budget negotiations are no further advanced than they’ve been in weeks, and since this is likely to drag until the fall, Democrats need to mobilize the electorate against Republican hostage-taking. We’ve begun to see some campaigning on the budget but it needs to be massively expanded and made a core element of the Sacramento Democrats’ daily routine.

It’s also time to mobilize the unions and other stakeholders, who have been quiet of late on the budget. The model for action must be the 2005 special election, which revolved around many of the same issues. Californians don’t want Republican budget proposals, but they won’t reject them unless Democrats ask them to do so.

Finally, it’s time for Don Perata to go. His “budget deal” stunt makes him look even more ridiculous than before and suggests he has no strategy or grasp of political reality and, as a lame duck Senator, has no place in these negotiations. He should hand over power to Darrell Steinberg now, not next week, and allow the state to get on with business without Perata’s silly theatrics or distracting legal issues or his unfortunate tendency to sell out the Democratic base.

After the most worthless two hours and twelve minutes of public comment, the San Francisco Democratic Party finally started voting as all the members had made up their minds to vote before the meeting started. There were plenty of other bloggers on hand to talk about all the sex workers and wannabe soldiers and weirdos who wasted so much time, so read them.  

Anyway, it is now the official position of the Democratic Party to support the San Francisco Clean Energy Act to switch to clean, renewable energy. Lots of applause. Democrats support clean energy!

From the San Francisco Clean Energy Act website:

CLEAN ENERGY

The Clean Energy Act will ensure that San Francisco will build enough solar, wind power, and conservation projects to give the City 100% clean energy within just three decades. It will make San Francisco a worldwide leader in the fight against global warming and catastrophic climate change. The greatest source of green house gasses on the planet is carbon emissions from our energy supply. The time to go clean is now.

CLIMATE CRISIS

The San Francisco Clean Energy Act is a strong response to global warming. Already the writing is on the wall: melting polar ice caps, record temperatures, extreme weather patterns. We are on an unsustainable collision course with nature that could lead to our ultimate destruction unless our generation acts quickly and decisively to change the course of history.

GREEN ECONOMY

The San Francisco Clean Energy Act will make San Francisco the hub of the new green economy and generate thousands of jobs in the emerging clean energy industry. It requires a Green Jobs workforce development plan to train and employ workers building the City’s renewable energy infrastructure. Now is the time to usher in the Green Economy in San Francisco.

(This is an incredibly important story. (Also on Daily Kos and Docudharma) – promoted by Brian Leubitz)

(a commenter on Daily Kos suggested I cross post this diary here.  It’s the right place.  Please hit the link in the diary and send a message to your legislator.  This cannot go on.  Not in California and not in America.)

I have been writing about this story since May.  (after the fold are links for diaries for background).  Yet another farmworker has died from the heat. This is the sixth this summer.

Maria de Jesus Alvarez, 63, mother of nine, died from heat exposure in the fields on August 2.  Her death makes six farm workers who died of heat exposure since May and the 15th farm worker heat death since California Governor Schwarzenegger took office.  Even one is too many.  Six this year is a tragedy.  These deaths show that the state of California is unable to protect farm workers.  

We must act.  We must force action by the state to allow farm workers to protect themselves.  For there are no others to do so.

If you care, join me after the fold.

I have been writing for months on the deaths of farm workers in California from the heat.  You can follow the details of this continuing tragedy here.

Another Farm Worker dies. Does anyone give a damn?  The Netroots Do.

United Farm Workers Calls for Manslaughter Charges Against Company in Death of 17 Year Old  

How many Farmworkers must die before someone cares??

Please Tell Fallen Farm Worker’s Family We Care

“How much is the life of a farm worker worth? Is it less than the life of any other human being?”

As UFW President Arturo S. Rodriguez said at the funeral of 17-year-old Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez:

How much is the life of a farm worker worth? Is it less than the life of any other human being?

Yet another has fallen, a 63 year old woman, working in the fields.  Would people ignore her death if this were their mother or grandmother?  She’s somebody’s mom and somebody’s grandmother.  She has value in herself. We all do and this should not happen to anyone.

Here’s the story of her final hours:

Maria de Jesus Alvarez, 63, mother of nine died on August 2. Maria had been picking table grapes for Anthony Vineyards and was employed through farm labor contractor Manuel Torres during the afternoon of July 15. She began feeling ill and went home. According to witnesses, she was working in a crew of 150 workers and they had no shade nor had they received training in heat stroke prevention and precautions as mandated by state law. According to weather.com, the high that day was 111 degrees.

After Maria’s condition deteriorated, she was taken to a hospital on July 19. The doctor determined she was severely dehydrated and had suffered heat stroke. After being treated and admitted by two different hospitals, Maria died Aug. 2.

Maria’s death makes six farm workers who died of heat exposure since May and the 15th farm worker heat death since CA Governor Schwarzenegger took office.

These recent deaths make it clear the state does not have the capacity to protect farm workers. As California’s summer sizzles we must do everything we can to ensure that no more farm workers fall victim to the heat because the laws written to protect them are not enforced.

Speaker Emeritus Fabian Nunez has introduced secret ballot legislation which has moved out of the assembly and which is now in the state senate. The bill, “Secret Ballot Elections for Farm Workers”, protects farm workers’ right to a secret ballot election and will make it easier for farm workers to organize and enforce the laws that the state cannot enforce.

Please take action immediately and click to send a e-mail to  California legislators and tell them something needs to be done NOW.

It’s time to put a law in place that will allow farm workers to protect themselves!

A sixth farm worker died of heat stroke

Go to United Farm Workers.  Sign up to get emails.  Keep informed.  Donate what you can.

Your donation will help us keep the pressure on by launching a media campaign, lobbying the politicians, pressuring the growers, marching in the street, and doing everything we can to make sure this never happens again.

Governor Schwarzenegger came to Maria Isabel’s funeral and said he would do everything possible to prevent this from happening again.  But 5 more have died since then.  E-mail Gov. Schwarzenegger today!

If you know of any heat violations on California farms please call the United Farm Workers at 1-800-894-0746.

There are political and moral aspects to this, and they intertwine.  The moral aspect is we simply cannot call ourselves civilized human beings and let this continue.  Not In Our Nation.  

The political aspect is that we can help make it easier for farm workers to organize so the laws on the books are the laws in the fields:

This governor issued the heat regulation in 2005, after three previous governors refused to act. Yet Governor Schwarzenegger is well aware of the limits of government. One of those limits is that even legal protections issued by a well-meaning governor mean little if we cannot give farm workers a way to use our good laws to protect themselves.

Our union has always believed that given the chance, farm workers could solve their own problems by organizing themselves and winning UFW contracts.

Where farm workers are protected by union contracts, the laws are honored.

And when growers know it is easier for farm workers to organize and bring in the union, employers are much more careful about obeying the law because they don’t want to give the union an advantage.

So the answer, sisters and brothers, is self-help-making it easier for farm workers to organize so the laws on the books are the laws in the fields. Then more important human beings like Maria Isabel won’t have to die.

Remarks by Arturo S. Rodriguez, President, United Farm Workers of America, Honoring Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez, June 4, 2008-State Capitol, Sacramento

The netroots can do what it does best here.  Spread the word.  Pressure politicians.  Speak up loudly.  Make this issue your own.  

SPEAK SO LOUDLY THAT EVERYONE HEARS AND ADDS THEIR VOICES.

Yesterday we mourned,

Today we act,

Tomorrow we will gain justice.

Please help.  It really is a matter of life and death.

Don Perata can crow about a budget deal all he wants, but a certain prison medical care receiver might throw that into some flux.

California prison medical care receiver J. Clark Kelso filed a legal motion today to force the state to come up with $8 billion over the next five years to fund his plan to build seven long-term care facilities and provide other improvements for inmate patients.

The action filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco also seeks contempt of court citations against Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and state Controller John Chiang.

Kelso said he is still talking with the governor’s and controller’s offices and other officials to resolve the dispute over funding of his medical plan but that he will ask that both Schwarzenegger and Chiang be present at a scheduled Sept. 22 hearing in San Francisco if the issue is not resolved […]

Kelso said he wants $3.1 billion in the 2008-09 fiscal year. The request would increase the projected $15.2 billion spending shortfall for the year by another 20 percent.

Nobody paid much attention to this problem, but it was always there, threatening to blow yet another hole in the budget.  Democrats tried to borrow the money to pay for this but Republicans blocked it twice.  But this isn’t some minor inconvenience that can be flitted away.  This is about unconstitutional prison conditions that is causing at least one needless death a week.  It would be bad for business to actually remedy this, so lawmakers ignored it.  Aggressively.

Kelso blasted the Legislature for failing so far in its current session to provide bond funding for his project. He singled out the state Senate’s Republican caucus for holding up the bonds because of its concern that last year’s prison construction bond plan hasn’t taken hold.

A spokeswoman for Senate GOP leader Dave Cogdill of Modesto did not have an immediate comment on the receiver’s motion.

“No comment” has been the watchword of the GOP in this budget year.

Kelso’s going to win this case, too.  He’s operating under a federal court order and his mandate is clear.  And yet we’re going to put in a temporary regressive tax instead of a structural revenue overhaul.

More great leadership from Sacramento.  Hope the cocktail weenies are good at tonight’s round of fundraisers!

The NYT has more.