democracyforcalifornia.com

ROBBERY IN PROGRESS

A trusty friend of mine—let's call him Alias—has been on board with Democracy for California for some time now. Alias and I go way back, and he has a lot to add to the discussion. Let's hear what this “longtime listener, first time caller” has to say........Richard
 

It is well enough that people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning ...... Henry Ford

“Voodoo economics” looks like it is here to stay.  Not the Reagan Revolution era supply-side variety, mind you, but a much more toxic strain found in the proliferation of occult securities and regulatory arbitrage that cast a spell on Wall Street, turning a bull market into a catastrophe.

Lest we forget, it was supply-side theory - give more tax breaks to the wealthy and corporations, and wait for the money to trickle down – that provided the ethical underpinning for the incompetence and greed that drove the banking system to insolvency and the economy over a cliff.  Now, with the worst financial crisis of our lifetimes into its second year, the culprits still are not being held accountable.  Rather, they are living large on Uncle Sam's dime while the rest of us lose our jobs, our homes and our savings.

To solve the crisis governments around the world have taken on mountains of private sector debt.  Since September 2008, as author Ted Rall points out, the US Treasury and Federal Reserve have “racked up $12.2 trillion in commitments and spent $2.5 trillion in bailouts:  AIG, Bank of America, Bear Sterns, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, TARP, purchases of debt and derivatives issued by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mack, discounted overnight lending to banks, purchases of toxic assets and all manner of other fiscal shenanigans that you paid for when you could least afford it.” 

Worse, in their headlong rush to contain the damage to the very institutions that created the mess, officials in Washington are not playing it straight.  There is no excuse for the complete lack of accountability for a disaster that ruined the lives of millions of Americans—and millions more around the world.  Nor is it right that as the crisis continues to fester, its dimensions and implications are being kept from the public. 
 
Politicians, pundits and financiers tell us we need to bail out the institutions responsible for the mess in order to finance business.  At the same time, industry lobbyists are lining the pockets of the invertebrates on both sides of the aisle in Congress in a cynical effort to derail new regulatory legislation requiring banks to bolster their capital reserves (along with other mostly slap-on-the-wrist proposals for reform) by threatening that it would use up precious capital and force them to cut back their lending.  And when push comes to shove, you can make book that despite the voluptuous rhetoric about protecting Main Street from the criminals on Wall Street our elected officials will once again answer the siren song of big money, rather than stand up for the interests of those they are supposed to represent.

In the current environment of moral ambiguity, it is very discouraging to see That One lose his nerve just when we need him the most. 
 
Perhaps he should stand aside while we grab the pitchforks and torches.

Alias
 

BOMB, BOMB, BOMB, BOMB BOMB IRAN

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REPUBLICAN CONSERVATARDS WANT WWIII FOR NO PARTICULAR REASON

YOUTUBE: JOHN MCCAIN
"Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran"
Sing it, McNuts! This COULDA been your PRESIDENT!! Yaaaay Republicans!!!

HEY, THEY VOTED FOR MCSAME, RIGHT?

YOUTUBE: MSNBC
"Republicans Call Obama "Weak" on Iran"
Those who ignore history are Republicans.

They Prob'ly Wish They Could Vote For Kim Jung Il

People who look forward to the world coming to an end in their own lifetimes should probably not be consulted on matters of national security. For one thing, they're crazy. For another thing, they're really stoooooopit!

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WE ARE NOT THE WORLD

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THE WHOLE PLANET IS NOT CONNECTED

THE TOTAL POPULATION OF THE INTERNET EQUALS LESS THAN 24% OF THE HUMAN RACE

Altogether, Only 1.5 Billion Are Wired To The World Wide Web

So, who are these digital losers? More importantly, who are the winners? It's pretty much what you'd guess. The West, the North, the rich, industrialized, advanced technological nations. Americans, Asians and Anzacs are all on the 'Net bigtime. The poor, under-developed, backward Southern countries are not so much on the informational grid, as you might expect.

Does this matter? Aren't the elites always the first to get all the goodies? That's true, but in this case we are not talking about some kewl tchatchkies and marginally useful gizmo's. The computer is the basic tool, the Internet the advanced infrastructure of a whole new economy, a new geopolitical system, an entirely new world. Those who are let off it might as well be left off the Earth.

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BUMPER STICKERS FOR CHRIST

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AND OTHER NAZI HEROES

WILL NOT FIT ON HYBRIDS:
PERFECT FOR HUMMERS

From The Bumper-Sticker Minds Of Conservatives

The New Bible is scrawled on bashed-in automobile fenders and pasted in the cracked back windows of pick-up trucks. The morons who pilot these message-driven VEE-hicles don't have time for whole sentences. Grunts suffice. A whole book, even a Good Book is just too much for our Jesus-freaks these days. They have Jesus coloring books, Christ cartoons, divine video games, Xtian DVDs, even Christian rock, for those who prefer to whistle the liturgy.

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LET'S LOCK UP THE RIGHT WING

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IT'S TIME TO USE THEIR BAD LAWS AGAINST THEM

RUSH LIMBAUGH, NEWT GINGRICH, PAT ROBERTSON ALL BELONG IN GITMO

Fire Up The Patriot Acts, The RICO Act, And The New Hate Crimes Law Before More Innocent People Are Killed

It would only be justice, poetic justice, if the conservatives were hoist on their own "law & order" petard. They never imagined that laws designed to suppress legitimate dissent, circumvent Constitutional protections of the liberty and property of the accused, and make life easier for the thugs in government could ever be used against them. But they can and they should be used right now and for many years to come to bust up the right-wing redneck & corporate conspiracy to overthrow our democratic government and tear up our freedom-loving Constitution, BEFORE they manage to do that. We'll give them plenty of time to appeal, if conservative judges don't find their pleadings frivolous. But they can sit in safe, helpless silence in Guantanamo while they wait for judgment, just like some of their victims.

Here's the conversation I had recently with Chris Edelson of The Seminal.com, on the subject of "What is the best way to respond to the murder of Dr. George Tiller?"

[CHRIS EDELSON]:

' As I have written, I have been trying to figure out what the best way is to respond to the murder of Dr. George Tiller. I continue to be amazed by the rhetoric of the extreme anti-abortion side (which has managed to appear mainstream, thanks in large part to support from the Republican party). One commenter in this blog claims that Dr. Tiller’s murder was a completely justified “execution”, just punishment for the killings he supposedly committed. I think there are a number of things that are necessary–starting with some long overdue leadership from Republicans who need to stop legitimizing extremism by making clear that it is dangerous and over the line to equate abortion with murder (the Republican party platform suggests that abortion is murder). I’d also like to hear from women who have had abortions so we can get past the caricatured notion that women casually decide to terminate pregnancies. I’m curious to know what others think–please vote in the poll on the side of this page, and leave your comments here: what’s the best way to respond to this despicable act, and how do we take action to prevent more doctors and health care providers from being killed? '

COURT CUTS BABY IN HALF

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GRANOLA STATE SUPREMES CUT OFF GAY MARRIAGE

"SOLOMONIC" DECISION PLEASES NO ONE, ANGERS EVERYONE

Human Rights Still Unacceptable in California, Sorta, Kinda, Maybe, Who Knows?

In a boon for lawyers in the formerly Golden, now Plate State, the California State Supreme Court has opened the door to thousands of lawsuits over their latest muddled ruling on homosexual marriage. Same-sexers who have not yet married in Cali will never be able to do so now; those already married there may remain married, but never remarry; and the rest of the world does not have to recognize their marriages, nor will California recognize out-of-State gay marriages.

This is the same Court that just OK'ed gay marriage last year. This whale-sized flip-flop has astounded observers, as it appears to contradict everything the Court just said about marriage a year ago. Today, they've made it unimportant, but still denied it to gays. If it's so unimportant, why bother to deny it? If it is important, how can you deny it to one special class of people, legally? And what about tomorrow?

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Diana's 'Must Read' List

Family of Secrets

Once we begin coming to terms with the real history of this country and the influences that shape it, we will have a better sense of the difficulties faced by Barack Obama, and the tremendous pressures upon him to continue serving those narrow interests, rather than the public good.

Land of the Safe and Home of the Cruel

Under the partial but real accommodation of the former vice president by President Obama lies the drama of a collective loss of faith in justice. We are in danger of losing track of the distinction between a suspect and a terrorist. It has already been lost by Harry Reid, who, in a speech of abject capitulation, spoke of the suspects in Guantanamo simply as terrorists. There are, at present, two million prisoners in the United States. A public error of these proportions sets us on the path to forgetting the difference between a suspect and a criminal, and between an accusation and a proof, and forgetting the axiom that a man is innocent until he is proven guilty.

Dick Cheney, the Monster That Can't Be Silenced

If Wes Craven decided to make a horror movie out of the last year of U.S. politics, he would definitely cast Dick Cheney as the monster that can't be silenced. The former vice president is Leatherface, Jason, and Freddie Krueger all rolled into one: lawless, methodical, and unpredictable with firearms. He's had more sequels than Chucky: White House chief of staff, House minority whip, secretary of defense, CEO of Halliburton, vice president, and now rogue pundit.

Expect more down-and-dirty fighting from Dick Cheney. This is one nightmare from which we haven't quite woken up.

Outlook for the California State Legislature in 2010 - May 2009 Special Election Edition

With the release of the new registration numbers, and a couple of special elections just around the corner, I now have updates for the open and/or competitive State Senate and State Assembly districts, as well as the eight Obama-Republican districts. The Secretary of State's website has the presidential results by district, so I am including the presidential results in each district.

Breaking news: We now have a (albeit slight) registration advantage in AD-10!

And an edit: I am including CA-04 in the list because of McClintock's less-than-1% win, even though the presidential race and registration gap are not particularly close.

Cross-posted at Calitics and Swing State Project.

Competitive and/or open state legislature districts are over the flip...

DEMAND SINGLE PAYER HEALTH CARE NOW

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TELL HEALTHCO WHORE MAX BAUCUS TO GET OUT OF THE WAY:
MONTANA DEMOCRATIC SENATOR HAS DOCTORS ARRESTED,
HEARS ONLY HEALTH INDUSTRY LOBBYISTS ON UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE

YOUTUBE: DEMOCRACY NOW
"DN! Doctors, Activists Confront Senate on Single-Payer Healthcare"
Anti-Democracy Inaction.

CORRUPT POLITICIAN SHUTS OUT AMERICAN MAJORITY,
WELCOMES CORPORATE CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTERS

YOUTUBE: WILLIAM HUGHES
"Dr. Flowers on Health Care"
The why's & wherefores of Single-Payer, in a nutshell.

Rocky Mountain Whore Takes Corporate Money, Screws You

This is why the DINOs have to go. Max Baucus and other so-called Blue Dog Democrats are helping corporate Republicans destroy your health care. They want your money to go to their corporate campaign contributors, not your doctors. They want profiteering corporate middlemen, insurance company lawyers and HMO bean counters to decide whether you get treatment or not. They don't care if your Mom or Dad, son or daughter, brother or sister die for lack of health care. They are evil corporate whores and they need to be rooted out and ejected from Congress.

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