Vote fell along a much different axis than typical party line

by Brian Leubitz

The Amash amendment to the Defense Appropriations went down to defeat last week 205-217-12. The measure would have greatly reigned in the NSA, requiring the data to be only collected from people who are actually being investigated rather than pretty much everybody as it stands.  

Among the California delegation however, the vote total was 30-21-2 (if I counted correctly). You can find a table of the California delegation over the flip. At the time, Rep. Jackie Speier (D-SF/San Mateo) had this to say of the vote on Facebook:

Yesterday, I voted for Rep Justin Amash’s amendment to the Defense Appropriations Act to limit the NSA’s surveillance of Americans. The NSA’s collection of Verizon phone records and other such invasive actions cannot be taken lightly. We need to balance the needs of national security with the right to privacy.

Indeed, the bulk sweeps of metadata shouldn’t be taken lightly. However, as the Snowden leaks seem to keep spreading, we learn that the NSA isn’t confining themselves to the metadata. Check out this article about the NSA’s XKeyScore (H/t the Verge):

A top secret National Security Agency program allows analysts to search with no prior authorization through vast databases containing emails, online chats and the browsing histories of millions of individuals, according to documents provided by whistleblower Edward Snowden.

The NSA boasts in training materials that the program, called XKeyscore, is its “widest-reaching” system for developing intelligence from the internet.(The Guardian)

While the data is apparently not stored permanently, mostly because storing that amount of data would likely even sink the NSA. However, the NSA keeps anything they think would be remotely interesting and stores all of the metadata. That is a lot of information, enough to pretty much ensure that the internet is pretty much a world without privacy. Oh, sure you can use a VPN or something like that, but your data is pretty much out there at this point.

The question then remains as to what level we give up our privacy in the fight for security. It is an ages old question, but apparently the answer these days is tilting ever more towards security.

(Also posted to Daily Kos)

More of a Town Field, actually.  

I planned to attend this a few days ago, and confirmed my attendance with MoveOn.  I planned on arriving between 8:15-8:30AM for a 9AM Town Hall in San Carlos.  This morning after showering, I saw I had received email from Move On, suggesting that people plan on arriving two hours early.  It was a little too late for me for that, but I hurried up and arrived 90 minutes early…  To find I was the first person to arrive.  So, I watched the set-up, etc, which was fairly boring.

I did learn that 80% of the San Carlos police department was at the park.  It was going to be very hot there, as we’re in the midst of a warm spell, and most of the audience area was in the sun.  It was already 80 degrees by 9AM.  I talked with a couple people attending, and was struck by the nature of CA-12, electing people directly effected by religious insanity:  Leo Ryan, killed in Jonestown, Tom Lantos, the only Congressman who also was in a Concentration Camp, and now Jackie Speier, who was an aid to Leo Ryan and was shot in Jonestown.

Congresswoman Speier arrived roughly on time, and the fun began.

It started with tributes to San Carlos, and some stuff about the Boy Scouts, and the pledge of allegiance.  I’ll admit that, as an atheist, and supporter of Gay Rights, I was uninterested, but this wasn’t why I was there.  I had a very specific question I wanted to ask.  (While waiting, I even spoke with Mike Larsen about the nature and format of questions, he was very agreeable.)  

The Congresswoman made a brief presentation, during which the disruptive elements started to make themselves apparent.  Jackie and her staff had the microphones, though, and while there were a few withering looks, and a few other comments from the crowd of “Let her talk” there wasn’t much other disruption.  This town hall went relatively well, so it isn’t one likely to make the national news.

Most of the time was spent with Q&A.  There were the normal issues with microphones, but the worst part of the sound system was the occasionally deafening roars of static and noise from the speaker near where I was sitting.  I was tempted to change my question to one asking about medical coverage for perforated ear drums for those near the speakers.  

There were the expected cheers for the single payer, and the public option, and there were those who supported the insurance industry profits.  I’d suspect the questions where about 50-50, and the audience by number was about 75-25, but by vocal was 60-40.  The most common issues were about how we could afford this, which the Congresswoman answered reasonably well.  (With my economics background, I would have been itching to explain economic multipliers and deficits as a percentage of GDP, and historical deficits.)  The two answers I personally liked the least were the ones where someone talked about where in the Constitution was the provision to provide the bailout, I’d have answered “Article 1 Section 8 Clause 3, To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states.”  I also did not like her answer about the Hyde Amendment and health care, I am someone who believes the Hyde Amendment is bad policy.

The Congresswoman’s best answer, in my opinion, came after a teabagger’s recitation of incorrect statistics, when she said, “You (the questioner) are no longer listening,” let’s move on.

It is interesting to note that the disruption was almost entirely from a small subset of people on the side of the insurance industry.  They repeatedly interrupted the Congresswoman, as well as anyone who was attempting to ask pro-public option questions.  The most insulting one was when a woman started with “I am one of the Americans who doesn’t have insurance” and a teabagger interrupted with “You aren’t an American.”

I would have liked to ask one of them, as they are not willing to tolerate different opinions, which is the fundamental basis of American civil liberties, why do they hate America so much?

Alas, I was unable to ask my question, as time did not permit it.  For the record, my question would have been:

Given that recent BLS statistics show that San Mateo and San Francisco counties have had the largest job losses outside Detroit, and given that the CARS program has provided stimulus to the extent that it is plausible that our counties will move up to #1 in terms of jobs shed, and given that the newly unemployed are among those with the greatest financial difficulties, does it not make sense to extend the duration of COBRA benefits beyond 18 months at least until employment recovers, and will you also encourage Congress extending ARRRA COBRA premium reductions beyond nine months, and consider making those reductions a permanent part of the COBRA program?

I will be submitting this question to the Congresswoman on-line, and will report back any response.

I THINK IT’S APPARENT to most Democrats in California that after six years of a Republican actor as governor, it’s time to elect a qualified candidate from among our own ranks in 2010. But please forgive me if I’m underwhelmed by our choices right now.

The indefatigable Jerry Brown hasn’t even officially declared yet and has already raised seven times as much money as his nearest Democratic competitor, Gavin Newsom, a likeable but flawed candidate.

On the short list of alternates often mentioned is Jackie Speier, a dynamic freshman Congresswoman from San Mateo. So when I was recently invited to hear her speak at a luncheon hosted by the Democratic Women of Santa Barbara County, I happily accepted.

With a friendly nature, indomitable spirit and ambition to spare, the popular Speier spent 18 years in Sacramento in both the Assembly and the Senate and was elected with 75 percent of the vote last fall to the 12th Congressional District. She lost a primary contest for lieutenant governor in 2006 by a very narrow margin to John Garamendi.

Few in the mostly female audience disagreed with her assessment that we need more women in public office. “The fastest way to change society is to mobilize the women of the world,” Speier said, quoting Charles Malik, former president of the United Nations.

But while California has two female senators, currently only 17 percent of the U.S. House is female. And giving up her House seat to run for governor would be a “difficult” decision, she said.

But we urgently need someone who isn’t afraid to stand up to the special interests, Speier maintained. “I won’t support anyone who won’t take on the prison guards union.”

That’s a pretty fearless statement considering the California Correctional Peace Officers Association is one of the most powerful unions in the state and has funded many an independent expenditure attack on candidates who cross them.

But Speier is well known for her courage. While a young staffer to Congressman Leo Ryan in 1978, she was part of the delegation ambushed in Guyana by members of the Peoples Temple. She was shot five times, left for dead and waited 22 hours for medical attention. Congressman Ryan and four others were murdered. The next day, more than 900 members of the cult committed suicide.

In 1994, Speier’s first husband died in a car crash while she was pregnant with their second child.

AND SO, IN COMPARISON, political obstacles seem far less formidable. She’s been a prolific legislator with more than 300 bills signed into law, many focusing on consumer protection issues and financial reform, and she chaired the state Senate committee investigating fraud in state government. On her first day in Congress, she delivered a gutsy but rousing speech against the Iraq war.

Speier recently held a town hall forum on health care in her district which was peaceful. “There is no point in pursuing health care reform without a public option,” she said. What would she do to fix California politics? Get rid of term limits (which give us a perpetual crop of rookies) or limit each legislator to 12 years, jettison the two-thirds vote needed to pass a budget and bring on open primaries (which will encourage moderates).

So perhaps instead of a fake action hero for governor, we’ve found a real one.

Go Jackie!

Marie Lakin is a community activist and writes the Making Waves blog for the Ventura County Star

A new initiative organized by Howie Klein, Jane Hamsher, fellow Calitician Dante Atkins and myself to verbally and financially reward Congressmembers who pledge to vote down any healthcare bill that does not include the public option is catching fire today.  The objective is to use carrots as well as sticks to achieve progressive goals.  As I said in the diary kicking off this intiative at DailyKos:

Human beings are psychologically predictable creatures, much like Pavlov’s famous canine.  We do respond well to punishment, but we respond just as well if not better to positive reinforcement.  Do nothing but beat a dog with a stick, and the dog is likelier to be aggressive than lovingly loyal.  Do nothing but scream at a child, and the child will eventually fail to respond to her abusive parent.  Senators and Representatives, no matter how elevated, are still just people: the rules of psychological conditioning still apply.  If all we can do is scream at people who don’t do what we want, eventually no one will listen to us at all.

Utilizing Jane Hamsher’s signatory list, Howie Klein set up an ActBlue page called They Took the Pledge.  Spurred on by Jane Hamsher’s post, my dkos diary, Dante’s dkos diary, and Howie Klein’s efforts at Blue America PAC, the online effort has raised over $60,000 since this morning, becoming ActBlue’s top fundraising page.  And the media has begun to take note, with stories on CBS Online, Politico, and The Plum Line.

On the list are 13 deserving CA Legislators who could use your dollars and/or words of encouragement:

Judy Chu (CA-32)

Sam Farr (CA-17)

Bob Filner (CA-51)

Mike Honda (CA-15)

Barbara Lee (CA-09)

Grace Napolitano (CA-38)

Laura Richardson (CA-37)

Lucille Roybal-Allard (CA-34)

Linda Sanchez (CA-39)

Jackie Speier (CA-12)

Maxine Waters (CA-35)

Diane Watson (CA-33)

Lynn Woolsey (CA-06)

If you have the resources, please consider donations to our excellent California legislators.  For those who can’t chip in, DFA has a thank you action item to thank our healthcare heroes.

With an approach that uses more carrots and less sticks, hopefully we can encourage others in California and across the country to join these brave progressive leaders.

Like many of you, I am increasingly worried about how an early call in the presidential race will affect turnout in California during the critical hours before the polls close. And I’m not encouraged by a giant No on 8 party starting at 6 PM and the email I received this morning that Jackie Speier’s election night party will start at 7:30 (polls don’t close until eight). When it comes to GOTV, volunteer all the way until the end, regardless of what went on in the east coast. That is why I love this new program by the California Democratic Party (from email):

Finally, think about all your friends and family in California who will share that joy with you. Is there a chance, even a small chance, that if they hadn’t voted by 6pm, people you know just might not vote at all? Maybe they’ll just be tired after a long day at work. Maybe they won’t be quite sure where to vote. Maybe they’ll see a long line at their polling place and figure “Obama’s gonna win California, so why bother?”

Help us make sure that your family and friends don’t give into temptation. Help us make sure your friends and family vote to defeat Propositions 4, 8 and 11 by sending them a quick text message.

Research shows that one of the easiest and most effective ways to get someone you know to vote on Election Day is to send a text message reminding them to vote. There is no better person to remind your friends and family to vote than you!

Use our free tool today to write an Election Day text message to your friends and family in California and we will send it to them for you on November 4th.

http://www.txtoutthevote.com/p/ca

Take a minute and set it up today. And spread the word.

• Prop 2, the factory farm measure, was the subject of a favorable op-ed by Nicholas Kristof in the New York Times. Prop 2 would likely end the use of cages for hens in egg production. In very quick terms, it would require that the animal (e.g. chickens, pigs, and baby cows) could stand up and turn around in its cage.

• The lobbyists are gearing up to fight AB 583, Asm. Hancock’s (D-Berkeley) bill to make the 2014(?) Secretary of State race a publicly-funded clean campaign. AB 583 was originally intended to fund the 2010 governor’s race and some legislative races, but it was amended down.  Either way, lobbyists just aren’t thrilled about the increase of their fee from $25 to $700.

• A good story about Jackie Speier’s first few months in Congress.

• The SF Chronicle reads far, far too much into the VP selections of both candidates. Once again, I strongly disagree with former Lieberman for President strategist Garry South. The VP pick is a public executive decision and gives an indicator of who the candidate is, but a good pick can’t save a campaign. And a bad pick won’t kill it either. I refer you to Lloyd Bentsen v. Dan Quayle.

What’s on your mind?

A few tidbits:

• Pasadena-based IndyMac becomes the second-largest bank to fail in US history.  Smells like 1929.  But don’t worry, it’s all in your head.

• Calitics friend Jackie Speier is forwarding her first piece of legislation, to set a national speed limit at 60 mph in urban areas and 65 mph on rural highways.  Slowing down to 60 mph or less significantly improves fuel efficiency.  Then again, so does not driving – as SoCal’s newest transit riders are learning.  But this is a tiny fix that could have an immediate impact on reducing gasoline use.

• Hey look, it’s Dianne Feinstein promoting a Republican-supported water bond that would build more dams (it’s a compromise measure, because some of the money earmarked for dams could go to groundwater storage and other water projects)!  Telling that Dave Cogdill immediately endorsed it while Da Don was cool.

Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland, had a tepid response, calling on the governor to first authorize $872 million in unspent water funds and reach agreement on a $15.2 billion budget shortfall before seeking a water bond in the Capitol.

“I am open to doing a water bond,” Perata said in a statement. “First, however, the state should spend the bond money voters approved in 2006, and then, we must pass a responsible budget that can pay for the debt service on a new bond.”

Use this as an open thread.

Disclosure, I do some work for Mark Leno

Today, Speaker Nancy Pelosi endorsed Mark Leno!