The Progress Report.

In California: How the rich get richer and the poor get the picture. (Especially if you work for the state.)

Just when you think the Governator is "good in comparison to our President" (a refrain I've heard here a lot), he "solves" the state's budget crisis with the ingenious plan to slash the wages of over 200,000 state employees to the bare minimum. The federal minimum, that is. $6.55 an hour. In California.

As the Courage Campaign notes, there's a nauseating irony: many state employees may need to seek aid from the very state services that employ them. And:

To add insult to injury, the Governor is slashing workers' wages instead of taking leadership to close the "Yacht Tax" loophole that Arianna Huffington and the Courage Campaign told you about a few months ago.

Go here to tell the Governor of California reconsider his proposal.

Dos Americas: The Reconstruction of New Orleans (film screening)

 (Passing this along. If you're in SF, check out the screening; if you're not, keep your eyes out for this one.)

La Raza Centro Legal and Upheaval Productions present...

Dos Americas: The Reconstruction of New Orleans
A new documentary by Upheaval Productions

Post-Katrina reconstruction is still in progress throughout the Gulf
Coast, with much of the City of New Orleans still in ruins. This
documentary focuses on those rebuilding this city through interviews with
some of the estimated 100,000 Latino migrant laborers who have converged
in this area over the past two and a half years. Despite terrible working
conditions, massive fraud, a housing crisis, severe harassment by law
enforcement, and very limited resources, New Orleans’ Latino community has
mushroomed since the storm and is establishing an infrastructure
proportional to its size.

Take a look at how this community is organizing to defend itself against
numerous injustices and the attempts to bridge the gap between themselves
as new residents and the pre-Katrina population, all within the extremely
unique and tragic context of post-Katrina New Orleans.

The film will be followed by a panel discussion with local immigrant
justice organizers and one of the filmmakers!

***¡Presentado en inglés y español!***

WEDNESDAY, JULY 30TH at 7:30PM
at the WOMEN'S BUILDING
3543 18th St. btw. Valencia and Guerrero
San Francisco, CA 94110

***THIS EVENT IS FREE***
(donations will gladly be accepted)

For more information and to see a trailer please visit:

http://www.upheavalproductions.com

PRESENTED WITH HELP FROM THE FOLLOWING ORGANIZATIONS:
La Raza Centro Legal
Upheaval Productions
San Francisco Day Labor Program
Katrina Solidarity Network
The Friendly Fire Collective
...and more to come

The New Yorker cover: Satire or unintentional fear-mongering?

Earl Ofari Hutchinson has a great piece up on the controversy about the recent, satirical New Yorker cover featuring Obama as a muslim terrorist fist-bumping his wife -- a cover that not surprisingly, has pissed a lot of people off (and I understand it, especially since some people out there are too dense to understand it as satire and may see it as confirming their own fears). People who are missing its point. Hutchinson also points out the amount of anti-Obama bile on the web right now. [Here's a similar take on the controversy from Jackson Williams; and a "What were they thinking!?" from Thomas de Zengtotita].]

Read on:

New Yorker's under-fire cover illustrator Barry Blitt says his infuriating cover was intended only to show that the incessant rumor that Obama is a closet terrorist is preposterous and ridiculous fear-mongering. Team Obama's rage at the inflammatory cover was beyond ballistic and nearly everyone with eyes and an opinion about it, and that included Republican rival John McCain, who expressed the same ballistic anger at the New Yorker. But Blitt's point that the ridiculous rumor mongering, gossip, slurs, and flat out falsities about Obama's religion, patriotism, birth, and, of course race, are deep and widespread is horribly true. Even more frightening is that those slanders may touch a nerve in an unknown but frighteningly large number of voters. That danger was there from the start and there were packs of websites ready to deepen that danger.

Obama had barely finished his announcement on the steps of the State Capitol at Springfield, Illinois in February, 2007 that he was in the hunt for presidency when the site Barack Exposed popped up on every search engine. The website was a put up job by Human Events, a fringe, ultraconservative outfit. It promised to expose the "truth" about Obama, from his alleged role in corruption scandals to doubletalk on the issues, and of course the signature hit item, his patriotism. At the time, it was rightly laughed off as a typical smear and slander by one of the pack of ultra-conservative hit squads.

The laughter didn't last long. Obama's breakout win in the Iowa Caucus in January instantly marked him as the potential Democrat's presidential go-to guy. It also set off alarm bells among the blog hit squads. Here's a check list of the biggest, best known, and most virulent Obama dirt dealer sites that sprouted up after Iowa. [Go here for the list. I ain't printing them here.]

The anti-Obama bile, complete with the scurrilous and phony doctored photos of Obama as a Muslim terrorist is the staple on many of the sites, and is repeated as a sickening mantra by the Obama character maligners. Obama's White House bid has virtually breathed new life into the unabashedly white supremacist group Stormfront's site (stormfront.org). The group claims to get about 40,000 hits a day.

Stop Whining America!

That's right, Senator Gramm, you tell 'em! Americans would have more jobs, lower gas prices and less economic struggles over all if we'd all just stop whining about it. It's genius!

Of course, McCain smartly (with little choice) distanced himself from these remarks, but then again he has long sought advice on the economy from the same Gramm who now makes you wonder if either of them are at all in touch with real life.

Here's more from The Nation (via Yahoo):

After all, things are fine in Phil Gramm's America.

He's got a great pension as a former member of the House and Senate and, because the federal government manages the money, his income's secure from raiding by corporate swindlers. In addition, Gramm has found plenty of work since leaving the Senate as a lobbyist for the firms he once aided as a legislator.

Plus, his wife's bringing in plenty of money.

Wendy Lee Gramm's also a former government employee. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, she was Ronald Reagan and George Bush the Dad's appointed head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Under her "leadership", the commission exempted Enron from regulation of trading in energy derivatives. Remarkably, after leaving that post, Wendy Lee Gramm took a seat on the Enron Board of Directors.

Enron also supported the Regulatory Studies Program at George Mason University's Mercatus Center, which Wendy Lee Gramm chairs, when she isn't running to the bank to cash the checks she receives as a board member of various investment funds and insurance companies.

So things are working out pretty well for the Gramm family.

They're not whining.

And neither, explains Phil Gramm, should you.

Robert Wexler, "Fire-Breathing Liberal"

New book by Robert Wexler, a Congressman from Florida:

"Fire-Breathing Liberal: How I Learned to Survive (and Thrive) in the Contact Sport of Congress"

Wexler is one of the real unsung heroes of Congress, and hopefully this book will get him more credit for all he's worked for. He's the kind of liberal that I think libertarians can also respect, as he's fought the administration on wire-tapping and voter fraud, among other issues.

"Wexler, a six-term Democratic congressman, opens his memoir-cum-civics lesson by saying, “I want to proclaim on every page of this book that I am a liberal Democrat and proud of it.” Fortunately for the reader, he is able to weave his proclamations into entertaining vignettes from the campaign trail to the halls of Congress in blow-by-blows of his involvement in defining moments of recent history: defending President Clinton from impeachment and challenging the Gore v. Bush decision . . . [a] fascinating and humorous insider account of the House of Representatives."

--Publishers Weekly

I also appreciate that Wexler is doing what I'd basically given up on, that is taking back the word "liberal," as a positive word. One could argue that the many of the Founding Fathers were liberal in that sense of the word. Hey I still prefer "progressive," because I think 'liberal' and 'conservative' have lost their meaning.

Read it.

Looks like we're in for nasty weather

From the We Campaign to me (and you);

According to a new report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), climate change will likely lead to an increase in extreme weather in the United States. That means more droughts, heavy downpours, excessive heat, and intense hurricanes. Not good.

We hope to alert 100,000 people to this NOAA report within the next 48 hours. If each of us tells 5 people, that's within easy reach. Please use our tell-a-friend tool to help educate your friends and family about this critical issue.

The report projects:

• Abnormally hot days and nights, along with heat waves, are very likely to become more common.
• Droughts are likely to become more frequent and severe in some regions.
• Hurricanes will likely have increased precipitation and wind.

We will need everyone's voices to solve the climate crisis, starting with yours. Start a conversation today.

--

You'll hear some scoffing from Faux News and the three meteorologists on the planet who don't believe in global warming will be given equal air time with a couple of scientists, but ignore that. If they want to ignore the facts, ignore them, skip them. Pass this on. -- cp

Tell Bush and McCheney (er, McCain) to Support Our Troops

A message to me! (okay, and thousands of others I'm sure) from New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson:

You and I both know that no matter how we feel about this war we're 100% behind our men and women in uniform. We need to stand with them when it counts - especially when they come home. Unfortunately, George W. Bush and John McCain are actively fighting AGAINST the New G.I. Bill introduced in the Senate by Senator Jim Webb and co-sponsored in the House by my good friend, Congressman Tom Udall.

      

Join Tom and me by signing Tom's letter calling on George W. Bush to support our troops. Help ensure that when they come home they can afford a four-year college education.

 

This New G.I. Bill will modernize the Montgomery G.I. Bill so that our troops who today so bravely and honorably serve our country in Afghanistan and Iraq will have access to benefits on par with veterans of World War II. And yet, George W. Bush doesn't want to sign it. Tom has the integrity to very publicly call on the President to sign the bill - and you can too.

Click here to add your name, and send a message to George W. Bush telling him to SUPPORT our troops - and not play politics with their future.

This bill provides important educational and health benefits to our troops and it is far too important to leave unsigned. 

Sign Tom's letter and make Bush put his money where his mouth is.

All the best,

Governor Bill Richardson

---

Update: Bush signed Jim Webb's GI bill into law, so that's good news.

Offshore Oil Drilling: Just Say No.

The topic of offshore oil drilling is near and dear to my heart, I'll admit, as I grew up in Santa Barbara*, sight of the infamous and truly awful oil spill several decades ago. While that happened just before I was there, the influence on our mindset there was unmistakable. As were the unsightly oil rigs that continued to sit offshore in subsequent decades. I'm not alone in California, in believing strongly that offshore oil drilling is no solution at all, simply a recipe for a future disaster. In short, it's another example of shortsighted thinking that causes harm both immediate and long term without actually solving any of our problems.  I thought, or at least hoped, our coastline would be forever untouchable but perhaps I was naive about that.

From Credo:

Next time you go to the beach with your family, do you want  to see a mammoth oil rig only three miles off the coast?

Senator John McCain and President Bush have joined forces to resume offshore oil drilling. There's been a moratorium on it since 1981, but now President Bush is demanding that Congress lift the moratorium in the next two weeks. "If Congressional leaders leave for the Fourth of July recess without taking action," he said, "they will need to explain why $4-a-gallon gasoline is not enough incentive for them to act."

What President Bush didn't say was that offshore oil drilling will have zero effect on gas prices. Instead, lifting the moratorium will serve only to damage our environment and put our coast at risk for toxic spills. Of course, what's a few destroyed beaches compared with more profits for Big Oil?

Fight to Protect California's Coastline >>

The idea should be to look for alternative energy and fuel sources, not serve oil companies who are already raking record profits. There are so many other solutions out there. This is the disastrous one. Plus, as Speaker Pelosi recently noted:

"Oil companies are sitting on 68 million acres of public lands they have already leased, but President Bush and Senator McCain want to award them with even more.

"Americans are suffering under the Bush-Cheney-McCain policies that were written by Big Oil: $4 a gallon gasoline; $134 per barrel oil; increased reliance on foreign sources of energy and on hydrocarbons that contribute to climate change.

"Americans use one quarter of the world's oil consumption every day and we possess less than 2 percent of the world's supply. We cannot drill our way to energy independence.

"Our nation must move toward a new, cleaner, and more affordable energy future that focuses on renewable and increased energy efficiency. The New Direction Congress has already passed innovative energy legislation and will continue to develop other proposals to address high energy costs and shift our nation to a more energy efficient economy.

Does anyone (I'm talking to you Nader voters) still think there's no difference between a Democrat and the GOP in the House and in the White House? Think again.

*See/hear comments from Santa Barbaran Michael Feeney at John McCain during the latter's visit to SB this week.

James Dobson Doesn't Speak For Me: Web site.

(From Huffington Post's Sara Kugler and AP Religion Writer Eric Gorski)

The Rev. Kirbyjon Caldwell, a Methodist pastor from Texas and longtime supporter of President Bush who has endorsed Obama, said Tuesday he belongs to a group of religious leaders who, working independently of Obama's campaign, launched a Web site to counter Dobson at http://www.jamesdobsondoesntspeakforme.com. The site highlights statements from Obama and Dobson and asks visitors to compare them.

---

Barack Obama wrote in A Call to Renewal: "And in its historical struggles for freedom and the rights of man, I was able to see faith as more than just a comfort to the weary or a hedge against death, but rather as an active, palpable agent in the world. As a source of hope."

What Dobson and his supporters have always been about is using religion as a measuring stick and as a tool for divisiveness, as a way of justifying the imposition of their morality on others (exactly what they've railed about at Obama and others), even as a means to justify war.  "Our way or the highway to hell," essentially.

 

Vermont Rocks.

Voters in two Vermont towns on Tuesday approved a measure that would instruct police to arrest President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney for "crimes against our Constitution," local media reported.

The nonbinding, symbolic measure, passed in Brattleboro and Marlboro in a state known for taking liberal positions on national issues, instructs town police to "extradite them to other authorities that may reasonably contend to prosecute them." -- from Reuters