Dianne Feinstein update -- September 18th edition

Diary Rescue:
Slatsg suggests that DINOS like Dianne Feinstein actually believe in what they are doing.

Perhaps those who aren’t voting to end the occupation in Iraq really don’t believe the US should withdraw.

Perhaps those who don’t challenge the misleading White House surge statistics actually believe that the surge is working and that Bush’s statistics are valid.

Perhaps some are not apologizing for voting to authorize Bush’s invasion of Iraq because they don’t believe that the vote to pre-emptively invade another country was wrong. Perhaps they simply believe that the execution of the invasion was flawed.

Perhaps those who are not speaking out against the unitary executive wouldn’t have a problem with the concept if a Democrat was president.

Perhaps those who voted for the PATRIOT Act, the MCA, and FISA don’t believe Ben Franklin, but rather believe that security trumps liberty.

Perhaps those who aren’t working to repeal NAFTA are actually neo-liberal corporatists who believe that unfettered capitalism is the ultimate economic system.

Perhaps some have failed to push for serious investigations of the Bush criminal cartel and have taken impeachment off the table because they don’t believe that Bush and Cheney have committed any criminal acts.

Perhaps those who don’t speak about class warfare believe that the war is over and the oligarchy has won.

Perhaps those who support NCLB really don’t have a problem with the privatization of public education.

Are these Democrats guided by fear, political expediency or actual belief? I can’t say for sure, but none of those possibilities are at all reassuring.

Professor Smartass nominates State Senator Sheila Kuehl to replace DiFi, citing her support for single-payer healthcare.

This year, as I watched leadership and the administration try to craft a plan different from SB 840, an alternative health reform plan that might expand coverage this year, while preserving the role of insurance companies, the experience taught me why health reform has actually been so difficult to do over the past few years, and why every proposed solution just seems to bring out new and often even bigger problems.

The attempts fail because, until we squarely face the fact that premiums imposed by the insurance companies are rising 3-4 times faster than wages every year, all the reforms that keep those insurance companies firmly in place are doomed to failure. The same is true of AB 8, which we are considering today.

As currently drafted, it doesn’t pencil out in terms of money, it doesn’t pencil out in terms of who’s paying what, and, frankly, it definitely doesn’t pencil out for consumers.

Kuehl will make her debut this week.

junglered1 on how a Senator ought to respond to constituent calls:

Well, I received a message a few minutes ago from Marco in which he basically said that there is no deal, the investigations will continue (from what he could tell in The House as well) and neither he nor Senator's office has heard about any such deal.

I guess this is good news, but with all the capitulating going on these days it's hard to know if what comes out of these politician's mouths now is true or not.  And even though I didn't speak to the Senator personally I'm assuming this guy, Marco, from  Senator's Judiciary Committee team, is speaking on his behalf.

And keep this in mind -- New York is a big state, just like California. Therefore, DiFi cannot use the excuse that California has millions of residents to refuse to answer constituent queries or send them the wrong form letter or to answer several months late.

In the News:

Dianne Feinstein proposes an amendment that would close Guantanamo within one year.

Other possible amendments include one from Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) that would close the prison at Guantanamo Bay within one year and prohibit transferring detainees outside the United States and an amendment from Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Arlen Specter (D-PA) that would restore habeas corpus to detainees who have been declared enemy combatants and reverse the ban on detainees appealing their treatment.

That is good. Now, will she stick to her guns this time, or will she cave in and cut deals with the President like she has so many other times?

DiFi proposes immigration bill.

Feinstein has backed an AgJobs program that would allow up to 1.5 million agricultural workers to gain legal status if they did farm work for a certain number of days each year. Those who met the criteria could apply for legal permanent resident status after five years.

Not good enough. If I were an employer, and it required workers to do farm work for 50 days, I would hire them for 49. That way, I could have a permanent underclass of workers and never have to worry about my people going on strike or forming unions.

New Nominees

State Senator Shiela Kuehl

As noted above, she would go farther than most of the federal legislators and presidential candidates and propose a single-payer healthcare system. She pushed for a bill in the California Assembly that would have done just that. She is also involved in a major struggle against the governor's attempts to dismantle the California Fair Housing and Employment Commission and in investigating the health effects of the Santa Susana Field Labratory, which suffered a nuclear meltdown in 1959. The long-term effects of that meltdown are still being felt.

Congresswoman Hilda Solis

A former Co-Chair of the bi-partisan Congressional Caucus for Women's Issues, Solis is an outspoken advocate for issues of importance to women and families. She has been a leader in efforts to end the murders of women in Guatemala and the U.S. border town of Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, and played a key role in the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act in 2006.

In Congress, Solis has won legislative victories to: authorize a federal study of how the San Gabriel River Watershed's recreational and environmental opportunities can be improved (Public Law No. 108-042); remove barriers to U.S. citizenship for non-U.S. citizens serving in the U.S. military and reserves (Public Law 108-136); ban pesticide testing on pregnant women and children; help ensure health care access for Latinos suffering from HIV/AIDS; and promote domestic violence awareness, particularly in communities of color.

A nationally recognized leader on the environment, Solis became the first woman to receive the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award in 2000 for her pioneering work on environmental justice issues. Her California environmental justice legislation, enacted in 1999, was the first of its kind in the nation to become law.

The Candidates

Debra Bowen

Steven Rosenfield explains how Bowen's initiatives against unsecure voting machines are having an impact on the national debate and are adding fuel for support of HR 811:

The bill, H.R. 811, or the Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act of 2007, would regulate electronic voting systems for the first time by imposing new security, vote verification and audit requirements for their use. The bill would not ban paperless voting machines as many election integrity activists have wanted, but require a paper printout of each vote cast to be reviewed by voters before being electronically counted.

Whether the "direct recording electronic" (DRE) voting systems and that paper trail can be trusted has been a focus of debate surrounding the bill since it was introduced last winter. However as H.R. 811 has moved through committees, there have been recent developments outside Washington that bolster critics who say DRE systems are too insecure and unreliable for use in elections.

Most notably, California Secretary of State Debra Bowen commissioned a study by University of California computer security experts who found DREs had major design and security flaws that could not stop people from potentially accessing and tampering with vote counts. While many California county election directors dismiss that scenario, Bowen's comprehensive review reached the same conclusion as more limited academic and government studies elsewhere in the country. Just last week, North Carolina's News and Observer reported that hackers unsuccessfully tried to access voter registration data in Johnston County.

Jerry Brown

Fresh off winning court settlements that will bring large counties into compliance with California's clean air standards, Jerry Brown is now taking aim at the Bush administration, threatening to sue them if they do not grant the state a waiver to allow them to toughen vehicle emissions standards.

In 2002, California adopted AB 1493 to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles to fight global warming. 14 other states -- Arizona, Connecticut, Florida, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington -- have enacted the California law and are also waiting for federal approval. Under the Clean Air Act, California can adopt stricter standards by obtaining a waiver from EPA.

Approval of California’s waiver means the other states would get approval automatically.

"Our petition represents a reasoned approach to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and it has been shamefully ignored for almost two years," Brown said.

Congress passed the Clean Air Act in 1963 and subsequent amendments in 1967, 1970 and 1977 expressly allowed California to impose stricter environmental regulations in recognition of the state’s "compelling and extraordinary conditions," including topography, climate, high number and concentration of vehicles and its pioneering role in vehicle emissions regulation. Brown said Congress intended the state to continue its pioneering efforts at adopting stricter motor vehicle emissions standards, far more advanced than the federal rules.

Gavin Newsom

College for all 6th graders in San Francisco:

Today, as part of the Partnership for Achievement between the City and the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD), Mayor Gavin Newsom was joined by Superintendent Carlos Garcia, San Francisco State University (SFSU) President Robert Corrigan, and California State University Board of Directors Chair Roberta Achtenberg to announce SF Promise, a new program that would guarantee a spot at San Francisco State University for all 6th grade students in our public schools. SF Promise will formalize a pathway to college through college readiness activities for all students.

"All students in San Francisco deserve the opportunity to attend college if they choose to," said Newsom. "SF Promise guarantees that students and families who commit to the program will receive the tools and supports to make higher education a reality."

Superintendent Carlos Garcia said, "We need to create a college-going culture early. Working with 6th graders will allow us to plan student pathways and take action in middle school and beyond."

The Mayor announced his proposal to fund the program using unspent monies from the Mayoral Election Campaign Fund. Two pieces of legislation will be submitted this week – one, creating a special fund for SF Promise, and the second to amend the Mayoral Election Campaign Fund ordinance, allocating the unspent public funding for the current Mayoral election (approximately $6 million) to the program.

Leonardo DiCaprio

The actor talks about practicing what one preaches:

Q: What changes would make the most difference in our environment?
"It's about buying energy-efficient appliances, light bulbs and things in your home. It's about endorsing new green technologies such as hybrid vehicles or electric vehicles. Solar panels. Buying local. But my main point -- and what I'm trying to advocate as much as possible -- is just being smart about what it means to be a consumer. Every time you put money down to pay for something, you're advocating the way that company does business. If they have a terrible environmental practice, you're then contributing to that in some way."

Q: After all the research for the film, did you make any specific changes in your life?
"I'd made a lot of those specific changes already. I think maybe the big misconception about the people in the environmental movement is that we're trying to impose our beliefs on others or trying to make people live a specific way. It's really just about creating public awareness to the point where we can demand tangible change from the powers that be."

Q: Can the members of this generation become activists, or are they too consumed with entertainment and purchasing power?
"It has to start with things like this documentary. We need to get kids young. That's where it started with me. I can remember watching documentaries in which I learned about mass extinctions of species in rain forests. That emotionally engaged me as a young kid, and I said to myself, 'When I grow up, I'd love to make a difference in this field.'

Antonio Villaraigosa

The LA Mayor has appointed the first Black fire chief in the city's history:

Appearing before the committee, Barry said his goals as chief will be to address issues of discrimination and hazing, disaster management and making the department more efficient.

Barry has headed the department -- which has about 3,590 uniformed personnel -- on an interim basis since William Bamattre stepped down Jan. 1.

Bamattre's departure followed the publication of audits that documented inappropriate behavior within the department, and fallout from a discrimination lawsuit stemming from a 2004 prank in which firefighters fed dog food to a black colleague.

Lynn Woolsey

Woolsey (video link on right on website) made a floor speech in which she advocated her approach of only funding the withdrawal. She said that the Bush administration was  planning to occupy Iraq for the next 50 years, which she called "intolerable."

She said that such an approach would cost "trillions" and that it was "simply, simply intolerable." She said that we could not wait for the next Petraeus or Crocker report and that the Bush administration was fiddling while Iraq was burning.

She said that the occupation was damaging the country morally and politically and that Congress had to take bold action through the power of the purse. She said that Congress had to set firm and doable dates and that in the aftermath, this country had to work for reconciliation.

She said that none of the supporters of perpetual warfare had offered a better way and that it was incumbent on Congress to do what the American people had sent us into Congress to do.

Barbara Lee

The California Congresswoman said that Bush was really advocating an exit strategy for himself rather than the troops:

"Tonight the President will make his case for more of the same stay-the-course strategy that puts us on a path for at least 10 years of occupation in Iraq.

"It is time to call this what it is – an exit strategy for President Bush at the expense of our troops.  It’s the President’s plan to run out the clock on his failed policy, to move the goalposts once again, so that he can sneak out the backdoor and leave the American people holding the bag.

"Well let me ask you: how many of our troops should die so the President can save face?  How many billions of our tax dollars should we spend so the President can avoid admitting his policy has failed?

"It is clear he won’t take responsibility to end his failed policy, which means that members of Congress are going to have a choice to make.

"Are they going to stand with the President, and an open-ended occupation that sacrifices our troops’ lives so he can save face?  Or are they going to act to bring his disastrous policy to a responsible – and long overdue–conclusion.  

"The choice is simple.  Congress should not provide another dime for the President’s failed policy.  Instead, we should provide the money necessary to fully fund the safe, timely and responsible redeployment of troops and contractors from Iraq."

Maxine Waters

She explains why the occupation and the Petraeus phony offensive is failing:

However, the President's claims of progress ran contrary to multiple independent reports recently published, including, from the Government Accountability Office, General Jones, and the National Intelligence Estimate. These reports painted a bleak picture of Iraq: continued high levels of violence, a dysfunctional Iraqi government, and sectarian influence that continue to plague the Iraqi security forces.

President Bush's vision of an enduring relationship with Iraq amounts to an endless and unlimited military occupation. Instead of a significant change of policy, the President has reaffirmed his commitment to a dangerous continuation of a failed policy in Iraq.

Deepening sectarian divisions in Iraq make the American military presence increasingly obsolete. In fact, our presence may actually be making the situation worse as Iraqi political leaders hide behind our troops and refuse to make the necessary compromises.

Meanwhile, we continue to train and equip Iraqi security forces and so-called volunteer Sunni sectarian militias across Iraq. Experts suggest that we're merely training different sides of a violent civil war, and losing track of over 190,000 weapons meant for the security forces is surely only adding fuel to the fires raging in Iraq. That is why my colleagues and I recently introduced H.R. 3134, the Responsible Security in Iraq Act. This legislation will halt the dangerous practice of training and equipping of Iraqi security forces, at least until the Iraqi Government matures.

Henry Waxman

Waxman has set his sights on Howard Krongard, the State Department Inspector General, who has thwarted investigations that would be politically embarrasing to the Bush administration:

The letter charged that Krongard "interfered with ongoing investigations to protect the State Department and the White House from political embarrassment." It said that "your strong affinity with State Department leadership and your partisan political ties have led you to halt investigations, censor reports and refuse to cooperate with law enforcement agencies."

Waxman accused Krongard of refusing to send investigators to Iraq and Afghanistan to investigate $3 billion worth of State Department contracts; preventing his investigators from cooperating with a Justice Department probe into waste and fraud in the construction of the U.S. Embassy in Iraq; using "highly irregular" procedures to personally exonerate the embassy's prime contractor of labor abuses; interfering in the probe of a close friend of former White House adviser Karl Rove; censoring reports on embassies to prevent full disclosure to Congress; and refusing to publish critical audits of State's financial statements.