On CNN: Wife To Praise Husband.
I can’t wait for the other hard-hitting breaking stories like “Hungry Man To Eat Dinner” and “Water To Remain Wet.”
There really is nothing to cover here.
…more: Fox News’s DNC coverage focuses on cheerleaders, Hooters girl.
Some great people have been sashaying through the Big Tent to huddle up with the bloggers. And the traditional media has joined them, to take exciting pictures of people typing to show how the bloggers kick it. Rockin’!
I did get a chance to spend a few minutes with Van Jones, an environmental and green jobs activist, to talk about the future of energy and how we can beat the Republicans at their own game. He also offered a candid assessment of the state of the Presidential campaign.
Jones thinks that the progressive movement and Democratic groups have been “hurt by having a good candidate. We were so galvanized against Bush in 2004 that every outside group went nuts, threw everything we had at the Republicans, and we almost came up with the win despite a less inspiring candidate. This year, the spirit of 2004 has been lost. Obama made the mistake of defunding the outside groups and we’ve become complacent to an extent.” Jones said that last week’s hit by the Obama campaign on the McCain housing issue was good, but it needs to be a 10-week phenomenon, not a 1-week phenomenon.
On green jobs, which is Jones’ real focus area, he stressed that we need to move the environmental conversation from a cultural one to a political one. The green-collar economy “can be a place for people to earn money, not spend money. We need collective action for green citizenship, to create the jobs of the future in a Green New Deal. As long as carbon is free we’re never going to move forward.” He was pleased by the recent efforts by municipalities and states (green jobs bills have been passed in Massachusetts and Washington state, and the US Conference of Mayors is on board as well), but recognizes that the federal government must be involved as well. “This is about laws, not gizmos. Technology cannot be the savior. This has to be a bottom-up, inside-outside AND a top-down strategy. If the Feds are MIA, human life will be MIA in the future.”
We talked about the offshore drilling debate, where Jones clearly stated that the Republicans won the day by lying to the American people. He had three major points:
• There is no such thing as American oil. There is oil drilled by multinationals that is sent overseas to China and India. American offshore driling will do nothing to solve any American oil problems.
• We banned drilling in offshore areas not to save birds and fish, but because of coastal families and coastal communities, because kids were walking into the water and coming out with oil on them, because property values were plunging. Democrats should not be willing to throw away America’s beauty for a 2-cent solution in 10 years.
• We’ve seen the new phenomenon of the “dirty greens,” who want to have an “all of the above strategy” on energy, with solar and wind, but also clean coal and drilling offshore and shale and all these dirty polluters. “All of the above” is not a strategy. It’s not a wise choice, but a stupid swipe at a persistent problem.
Democrats are right on price – if you cut demand and expand supply through renewables, the price will drop. They are right on people, because those steps will create millions of jobs. And they’re right on the planet, because it’s the only solution to preserve our environmental future. What the Republicans are offering is Happy Meal Politics, the kind of politics that offers everything for free with no residual consequences.
Jones is a great messenger, and a real leader in the green movement. Democrats would do well to listen to him.
Well, yesterday was uneventful for me. Just getting in and getting my bearings around the city. The first thing I saw was a parade of four pickup trucks full of cops riding toward downtown.
Later, a friend of ours took us down by the Platte River to a spot near the enormous REI store, where fire spinners congregate every Sunday night. Afterwards, we stopped in on some vegetarian restaurant holding a poetry slam, and Dennis and Elizabeth Kucinich were in there having dinner. While most people in from out of town were eating their corporate-funded cocktail weenies, I stumbled upon some actual leftists for a change.
While George Bush won Colorado by 4 points in 2004, John Kerry took Denver by 40. This city grows more and more Democratic with each passing year, and raising turnout here – and keeping them in the Democratic fold – would be a key to victory in the state, I gather.
This morning, I’m sitting at the breakfast for the California delegation. Hillary Clinton apparently cancelled today (she’ll be at the New York breakfast), but Speaker Pelosi will be on hand. The big buzz of the convention (for today) is that Ted Kennedy has arrived in Denver and will be speaking tonight. That should be pretty crazy.
UPDATE: While Lucas and I were sitting here bullshitting, Nancy Pelosi was apparently holding a press avail. We’re good journalists. Todd Beeton was there and he’s going to stop by and write it up. I guess it was a litany of wanker traditional media scribes asking “Is there unity? UNITY? UNITY!!!1!????”
UPDATE: Speaker Pelosi has just taken the stage at the breakfast. Lots of Congresscritters are here as well. I may lose power here in a second. Pelosi: “California will give Barack Obama and Joe Biden the biggest victory in the history of our country… the most votes ever for a Presidential candidate… are you ready to come together in unity and support Barack Obama and Joe Biden?… I bring this up because reporters ask me all day about this… but as we gather here… remember, it’s not just about us and what our feelings are about the campaigns. It’s about the hopes, aspirations and challenges of the American people. And they are looking to us to come out of this convention with unity, organized and focused to take this country in a new direction. We owe them that… this is about our country.”
UPDATE: Pelosi: “If people want to talk about drilling offshore, don’t come around California with that kind of talk. Let’s talk about the connection between oil, which belongs to the people, and the record profits from the oil companies, and how they take it out of the ground with no royalties (in California).” Pelosi is talking about green jobs and renewables.
“If you’re a senior, and you care about Medicare, Obama is right and John McCain is wrong. If you care about children’s health care, where George Bush said we can’t afford covering 10 million children for one year, which costs 40 days in Iraq, Obama is right and McCain is wrong… McCain supports George Bush’s failed economic policies… and on the most important foreign policy issue of our time, Iraq, Barack Obama is right and John McCain is wrong.”
This is a terrible, terrible idea.
With the end of the legislative session approaching, no budget in place and a $15.2-billion deficit hanging over their heads, the Assembly’s Democrats on Friday unveiled their plans for the next week: a three-day vacation from the Capitol.
Their scheduled time away coincides with the Democratic National Convention in Denver, where 31 members of the Legislature are expected as delegates. But that has nothing to do with the decision not to hold sessions Tuesday through Thursday, a spokesman said.
“If we had work to do, we’d be here,” said Steven Maviglio, a spokesman for Assembly Speaker Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles). “It’s literally silly for some of them to sit around in Sacramento.”
I know that and you know that, but ordinary people who aren’t political junkies don’t, and when they see the commercial run by the Yacht Party that says “When the budget crisis was at its height, California Democrats left town to party,” they will be unsparing in their opinion. You never give your opponent ammunition like this. At a time when real people are suffering from the lack of services and prospective cuts, you can’t leave to hit the cocktail circuit at the DNC if you’re an elected representative in a time of crisis and you have something to say on the matter. I know this is a Big Five question at this point, but it looks awful.
Good on Sandre Swanson for cancelling his plans to attend, by the way. Karen Bass isn’t going, either, but obviously she has work to do.
Get this, here’s why the break is only three days:
Even though many will not be in Sacramento, Assembly members will still get paid more than $1,000 in tax-free living expenses for the next six days because they scheduled a Monday afternoon meeting on water bond legislation and other matters, Maviglio said. Under Assembly rules, they can collect their allowance as long as they don’t go four days without a meeting.
I give up.
The very interesting aspect of the gay marriage debate out here in California is how corporate America has made their bet. Companies like PG&E have donated heavily to the “No on 8” side, and now we see Hallmark, about as conservative (not in their politics, but in their style and outlook) a company as you can find, coming out with same-sex marriage cards (just in time for me to get one for a certain couple in a few weeks!):
Most states don’t recognize gay marriage – but now Hallmark does.
The nation’s largest greeting card company is rolling out same-sex wedding cards – featuring two tuxedos, overlapping hearts or intertwined flowers, with best wishes inside. “Two hearts. One promise,” one says […]
The language inside the cards is neutral, with no mention of wedding or marriage, making them also suitable for a commitment ceremony. Hallmark says the move is a response to consumer demand, not any political pressure.
“It’s our goal to be as relevant as possible to as many people as we can,” Hallmark spokeswoman Sarah Gronberg Kolell said.
Apparently they weren’t relevant enough to the American Family Association, which is commencing a protest of the company. AFA is one of the many hatemongers trying desperately to inspire their troops over Prop. 8. But I think Hallmark’s decision is far more instructive.
Corporations have balance sheets and shareholders. They don’t make these kind of decisions frivolously. They know that history is bending on the side of justice. They know that equality is on the way.
One of the few bright spots of this 8-week budget roller coaster has been the leadership of State Controller John Chiang, who stood up and simply said “no” to the shock doctrine tactics of the Governor and his attempts to slash state worker salaries to the minimum wage and eliminate the jobs of thousands of others. Schwarzenegger’s talk of compromise among the legislature and right-wing Republicans didn’t extend to state workers, and he took Chiang to court to force him to uphold his executive order. As a result of Chiang at least offering resistance, the workers have a reprieve for August.
State workers targeted by a gubernatorial order to cut their pay to federal minimum wage have dodged that bullet – at least for August.
A Sacramento Superior Court judge Wednesday set a hearing to decide the pay dispute for Sept. 12, too late to affect this month’s state payroll.
Judge Timothy Frawley’s timetable ensures that 145,000 state employees and an additional 30,000 managers and supervisors will receive full pay for August.
This doesn’t happen unless Chiang goes to back for those employees. And the grassroots in California is grateful. Frank Russo reports on a meeting in Oakland:
California Controller John Chiang spoke to the Alameda County Democratic Lawyer’s Club yesterday at a small restaurant in Oakland and had a lot to say about the state employee pay order. But he had a lot more to say, about his approach to government, helping average Californians, and his values and philosophy about government while speaking for over a half hour without notes and then taking questions.
From the beginning, he was treated as a rock star-introduced by club President Meredith Brown, as “the man who stood up to the man.” He covered a lot of territory-and was paid rapt attention as he challenged this body of lawyers to continue their good work for the betterment of society. He even worked in themes from the Obama campaign, as he prepares to speak at the Democratic National Convention in Denver and appear on the national stage. Josh Richman, a reporter and “blogger” for the Oakland Tribune attended this meeting and you can see his write up for a feel of what transpired as well.
Read the whole thing for Chiang’s comments, which are great. Hopefully he’ll repeat them at the DNC this week. Amazing what can happen to Democrats if they stand up for themselves, isn’t it?
UPDATE: The big issue, as Russo details in a separate post, is making sure this case is decided in federal court and not state court. Otherwise, California could be on the hook for billions in fines. Read the post at the link.
He was elected by voice vote with no opposition as the new President Pro Tem of the California State Senate. I’m not sure what this means for the current legislative leadership, though it seems that he wouldn’t start until December, so Perata is likely to continue through the budget slog.
I wish it was sooner, but I’m happy to get to the day when we have the leadership of Steinberg and Bass in the legislature.
Congratulations, Senator.
Monday night. Be there.
Maybe he can tell them all how they have to compromise and raise taxes and to stop with the nonsense right-wing Republican talk that lies to the people.
Somehow, I expect it to be more in line with the dogma.
By the way, aren’t the legislators not supposed to leave for their respective national conventions until a budget is signed?
I guess it’s OK if you’re Arnold.
At this point the judiciary is pretty much the only government entity in this state I have a modicum of belief in; they aren’t hamstrung by ridiculous rules that make it impossible to function, so they can simply follow the law. State agencies, when properly run, also can exhibit some independence. Lately, there have been several cases ruled in favor of reformers at the expense of malign protectors of the health care status quo.
After a series of investigations from the California Department of Public Health, 18 hospitals have been fined for substandard care.
Violations included an improperly inserted catheter, a ventilator that was not turned on and surgical tools left inside patients after operations […]
The hospitals were fined $25,000 for each violation – the latest of dozens of penalties the state has issued in recent years to more than 40 hospitals.
“The number of penalties will decrease and the quality of care will dramatically improve as hospitals take action to improve,” said Kathleen Billingsley, director of the health department’s Center for Healthcare Quality. “The entire intent of these fines is to improve the overall quality of care in California.”
As care is improved, so must access for treatment. The proposed cuts to Medi-Cal by the governor would have decimated the ability for the poor to find a doctor. The cuts never made it through district court.
A federal judge has ordered a temporary halt in the state’s 10 percent reduction in Medi-Cal reimbursement rates, improving access to care for 6.5 million low-income patients but throwing a new wrench in already difficult budget negotiations.
The U.S. District Court decision forces the state to reimburse most Medi-Cal providers at rates prior to the 10 percent cut, which lawmakers and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger made effective July 1 as a cost-cutting measure to help resolve a $15.2 billion budget shortfall this year.
The move increases reimbursement rates the state pays to doctors, dentists, pharmacists, adult day-care centers and other providers who serve Medi-Cal patients. It excludes some hospitals who do not contract with the state and do not provide emergency care.
This just shows the fallacy of a cuts-only budget, which runs into all kinds of voter mandates and constitutional demands. The good news here is that reimbursement rates will be sustained, albeit at a level low enough that half of the state’s doctors will still probably reject Medi-Cal patients. The Democratic budget would also have rescinded the Medi-Cal rate cuts.
In a separate decision in the State Supreme Court, the justices ruled that doctors cannot deny care to gays and lesbians based on moral objections.
Justice Joyce Kennard wrote that two Christian fertility doctors who refused to artificially inseminate a lesbian have neither a free speech right nor a religious exemption from the state’s law, which “imposes on business establishments certain antidiscrimination obligations.”
In the lawsuit that led to the ruling, Guadalupe Benitez, 36, of Oceanside said that the doctors treated her with fertility drugs and instructed her how to inseminate herself at home but told her their beliefs prevented them from inseminating her. One of the doctors referred her to another fertility specialist without moral objections, and Benitez has since given birth to three children.
Nevertheless, Benitez in 2001 sued the Vista-based North Coast Women’s Care Medical Group. She and her lawyers successfully argued that a state law prohibiting businesses from discriminating based on sexual orientation applies to doctors.
Of course, we cannot rely on the courts to shape public policy. But they set the boundaries – the lines that lawmakers cannot cross. And those boundaries are leading to increased access and improved care.
The story of Sacramento lobbyists killing two bills to eliminate PFC chemicals from packaging is short, so you can go read it yourself. It’s the same old story – legislation that is overwhelmingly popular and easily implementable is killed off by lobbyists for business and industry. Regardless of the budget fight, that’s life in Sacramento. And at the same time, legislators scurry to one fundraiser after another where the same lobbyists pat them on the head and hand them a check. It’s nauseating, and anyone outside of a political consultant who thinks that the next governor race matters even a whit absent fundamental change of this aspect of Sacramento politics is dreaming.
And people power is the only thing that’ll kill it dead, not a kinder and gentler version of the same old politics that can’t change the state.
UPDATE by Brian: I’ve added the vote information for both bills in the comments.