Dianne Feinstein Update -- September 4th Edition
Four candidates are out, and two more are in. Once we filter out the insiders, then we will put in outsiders that are suggested by users, including other users.
But first, there was a comment in the August 21st edition that I must take issue with here. This poster makes arguments out of fear and totally misunderstands the nature of the process. And apparently, he conv
If you want Senator Feinstein to vote differently, getting Californians to tell her how they want to be represented is essential. Throwing around primary threats for 2012 is a good way to lose influence. First, you skip the conventional relationship with representatives to go right for the electoral one--a good way to be written off as a lightweight pest. Second, the election is so far off that all you do is piss her off.
First of all, he totally misses the point. The fact of the matter is that this is not about me -- this is a matter of expressing the will of the community. If people are no longer interested in getting rid of DiFi in 2012, then all they have to do is not post in these diaries anymore or vote None of the Above. But the fact of the matter is that the great majority of posters want her gone -- which is why I am doing this.
Next, the problem is that we have no influence in the first place. But don't take my word for it -- take the word of people who actually live there and who actually write her. Take the word of GoMommyGo, who wrote her asking her to oppose the FISA act and who got back a form letter on impeachment. The fact is that in this particular case, DiFi no longer wishes that conventional relationship with her constituents -- she has totally shut herself off from the will of the people.
I have watched Feinstein's methods since she got elected SF supervisor, and later mayor. This is not a woman you want to piss off. Folks tried that technique back then--when she had much less power. It didn't take to many examples before it became clear that other methods lead to better results.
This is not an appeal to the merits, but an appeal to fear. And that is the same sort of thing that got us the Bush administration in the first place. The problem is that we are the boss and not her. She does not have any power in the first place unless we give it to her. And we can just as easily yank the rug out from under her if she continues to cut deals with the Bush administration and refuses to represent the people who gave her that power in the first place.
Not only is this primary approach tactically dumb with this particular senator, it harms the effort to build a progressive movement. It fits exactly the old saw that Democrats are no threat, because as soon as they get a little power they spend their time eating their own.
Instead of attacking Democrats with power, build alliances that include them and promote progressive positions relentlessly within those alliances.
I have to speak for myself here. I defended the leadership for a long time after others did not. But this will be a critical period for them -- if they continue to refuse to get it and continue to cut deals with the President, then we must take the next step -- primary out the worst sellouts and take to the streets. We have to give them the political cover that they need to develop a spine.
As long as they continue to deal with a President who acts in bad faith, then they are the ones who are not working with us. And our demands are simple when it comes to Iraq -- set a date certain beyond which our troops will not be in Iraq anymore. It doesn't matter how we do it or when that date is, provided that it puts the Iraqi leadership on notice that we will no longer be responsible for their well-being. And that means no deals on other aspects of Iraq, like what to do with Maliki or what to do with Anbar, because that will give the President one more excuse to justify perpetual warfare. Bush helped Maliki to power; therefore, Bush owns Maliki.
It is not us who are doing the work of Rove for him -- it is enablers like DiFi who are doing the work of Rove for him by providing political cover for Bush to violate the Constitution with impunity and create a country with a unitary executive who is above the law.
August 28th edition
August 21st edition
August 14th edition
August 7th edition
The case against Dianne Feinstien
The Senators who caved in on FISA
Eliminated
John Chiang
Bill Lockyer
Diane Watson
This week:
John Garamendi
Loretta Sanchez
Rob Reiner
Jerry McNerney
Diary Rescue:
No diaries were rescued, which brings me to another point. This is not about me at all. The whole purpose of this project is to create a blogswarm of diaries devoted to the ouster of DiFi and other "Democrats" like her who refuse to stand up to the President's crimes and abuse of power. I can't do this all by myself -- I am no different than the rest of us here. What it will take is more than just coming here every Tuesday and voting; it takes people actually calling her and finding out for themselves how out of touch she is, and looking at the Congressional Record and googling for news about her that we can use. In other words, for this to work, it will take a collective effort, not my effort.
And another thing, be sure and tag your diaries as Dianne Feinstein so that I will find them when I go to do the tag search.
In the News:
DiFi on the GAO Report on the phony offensive:
A draft report by the Government Accountability Office has found that eight months into President Bush’s "surge," the Iraqi government has failed to meet most of the political benchmarks set before it. The following is the statement of U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.):
"The purpose of the surge was to provide the necessary security so that the Iraqi government could move ahead to secure the infrastructure, protect the people, and meet the benchmarks.
But it is clear that violence against civilians remains high, and the capabilities of the Iraqi army have not improved.
This report also shows that the Iraqis have failed to deliver on most of the 18 benchmarks:
- The Iraqi government has failed to meet 13 benchmarks – including major political action on an oil law, constitutional reform, and de-Baathification;
- Only two benchmarks have been "partially met" – formation of governmental regions; and allocating and spending $10 billion on reconstruction; and
- Only three benchmarks have been met – protecting the rights of minority parties in the Iraqi legislature; establishing joint security stations; and establishing committees in support of the Baghdad Security Plan.
So, it is clear that the Iraqi government is not making the difficult decisions required to achieve political accommodation and bring the violence to an end.
This report gives a clear-eyed view of the facts on the ground in Iraq, eight months into the surge. It is time to change course in Iraq."
Here, she says all the right things. But the fact of the matter is that the time is over when she could just say the right things and then cut deals with the President with impunity. DiFi must now take the next step -- refuse to cut any more deals with this President on Iraq that do not involve a date certain for withdrawal. She is not going far enough.
The San Jose Mercury-News calls her out for her plea to keep the 49ers in San Francisco:
The 49ers are considering a move from SF to Santa Clara. This editorial nails it perfectly -- DiFi's frantic efforts to create a smokescreen on Iraq are pissing people off.
It was difficult to choose between which was more lame, her appeal to York or her notion that football teams must play in big cities. That has been proven wrong in stadiums across the country, including New York and Washington, D.C.
We can understand why Feinstein would want to deflect attention away from the Senate's performance of late, considering the quagmire in Iraq and the failure to make progress on any number of pressing domestic issues.
But as we pointed out before, when it comes to the issue of a new stadium for the 49ers, it's the senator's job to represent all Californians, not just San Franciscans. And truth be told, she has far more constituents in Santa Clara County, the 49ers' first choice for a new stadium, than she does in San Francisco.
If she keeps it up, maybe she'll need a reminder of that fact the next time she's up for re-election.
New Nominees
Following up on Inconvenient Truth, DiCaprio has made a movie known as 11th Hour, which touches on many of the themes that Gore did. Whereas Gore is the man with the facts and figures, DiCaprio does a documentary.
"The 11th Hour" is a feature length documentary concerning the environmental crises caused by human actions and their impact on the planet. "The 11th Hour" documents the cumulative impact of these actions upon the planet's life systems and calls for restorative action through a reshaping of human activity.
Russo is a Progressive activist who runs a daily site known as the California Progress Report, which covers left-wing politics for that state. Currently, his site focuses on health care:
The key stumbling block, no matter how they slice and dice the negotiations, revolves around how we’re going to pay for this system. Although the Kuehl bill, SB 840 is the most vetted and comprehensive proposal, the Governor has said he will veto it if and when it comes back to his desk for signature. He vetoed a similar measure last year, obviously not having read it, because his veto message completely mischaracterized the measure. That, of course, is no moment for this Governor, who like the President, doesn’t let fact get in the way of his grandiose schemes. Regardless, the Dems want to get something out to the public this year, even if it isn’t that helpful in revamping a system that is clearly broken and in need of a complete overhaul.
Other Candidates
The California Secretary of State continues her campaign against faulty voting machines that were not certified by the state. The ES&S, Chuck Hagel's company, sold non-certified voting machines to five different counties, and one of them is pissed. It could result in ES&S being fined up to $15 million and barred from doing business in the state for the next three years.
"Not only did ES&S sell machines to California counties that weren't state certified, it's clear the machines weren't even federally certified when the company delivered them," Bowen said in a statement released last week.
Merced County bought 104 of the uncertified machines called AutoMarks in early 2006 to accommodate blind and visually impaired voters, Merced County Auditor Stephen Jones said.
Jones said the machines have been used by only a handful of voters in the two elections since they were purchased.
Even so, he said the county is taking the allegations against ES&S seriously. Jones sent a letter Tuesday to the company demanding that it replace the uncertified machines free of charge with an earlier model that has been certified.
"Given the extremely tight time constraints facing the county in conducting the No- vember 2007 election, and given that it has been placed in this untenable position by the con- duct of ES&S, it is the duty of ES&S to cure its previous fail- ure," the letter says. " ... Other- wise, our attorneys will be in touch."
Brown delivered massive indictments against one of the most powerful organized crime rings in the state:
California Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. today announced the "total dismantlement" of a significant Mexican Mafia cell in Imperial and San Diego Counties after a twenty-month investigation led to the indictment of 31 mafia members. The attorney general will prosecute the case with the Imperial County District Attorney’s Office.
California Attorney General Brown said: "The state will prosecute, to the fullest extent, these Mexican Mafia members and associates for their heinous crimes. Today’s arrests should send a strong message--law enforcement at all levels will fight for total dismantlement of these violent criminal organizations."
In 2005, officials from the Drug Enforcement Administration, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, California Department of Corrections, Imperial County District Attorney’s Office and California Attorney General’s Office formed the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force to conduct an investigation into the mafia’s criminal activities. The results of the investigation led the San Diego County Grand Jury to provide an indictment of the 31 defendants on August 21, 2007.
Project Homeless Connect is one of the San Francisco mayor's innovative projects to reduce homelessness and provide them with the services that they need. This is a bimonthly event that brings together tens of thousands of volunteers to help get rid of hunger and homelessness. Last week, for the first time, homeless people were offered free dental care:
Participants in today homeless outreach effort were offered dramatically expanded dental services, which have been in the past one of the most requested services by the homeless clients. Through a partnership with Onsite Dental, University of the Pacific and the Department of Public Health Tom Waddell Health Center, a mobile dental van provided actual dental procedures at the event, rather than just screenings.
"As evident by the commitment of over 20,000 compassionate volunteers and the generosity of the business, legal and medical community, the success of Project Homeless Connect has far exceeded all of our expectations," noted Mayor Newsom. The fact that homeless clients are now being provided services that would otherwise take over eight months to access is an extraordinary feat we can all be proud of."
Dental is only part of the services offered at the bi-monthly event entering its 3rd year. Through an unprecedented partnership between the public and private sectors, other essential services provided at PHC include comprehensive; medical, mental health, substance abuse, legal help, housing information and shelter reservations, benefits counseling, vision care, podiatry, a café lunch, wheelchair repair, veterinary care and much more.
Westly advocates caution as we convert to alternative fuels, saying that going too far too fast would lead to a bust similar to the dot-com bust. He starts off as follows:
Let's look at the facts. If we ignore environmental and geopolitical costs, coal, oil and natural gas are still relatively inexpensive and are likely to remain so for a long time. Renewable energy will drop in cost, but so will energy capture and storage from fossil fuels--whether it's oil sands or synthetic liquid fuels. With a few narrow exceptions, renewable energy is unlikely to be cost effective in the foreseeable future.
He says that we should focus on energy efficiency rather than alternative fuels; he says that this has worked for California:
One of our key opportunities lies with energy efficiency, which is seen as one of the least expensive, most effective and immediately adoptable action items for dealing with the environmental challenges we face. If you're generating less energy, you have fewer power plants, fewer pollutants and fewer problems.
Energy efficiency costs an average of 2 to 3 cents per kilowatt per hour, less than half the cost of new power generation; it also saves consumers and companies money.
The alternatives to energy efficiency are more complicated and less proven. Carbon trading is complex; solar energy is expensive; wind turbines can interfere with private-property rights; and a number of new energy sources are too futuristic to attract venture capital funding.
Animal Commissioner Marie Atake resigned over what she called the failings of Villaraigosa's staff. Here is part of her letter of resignation:
However, my seeking transparency, clarity and honesty is apparently what Mr. Blackman, your Deputy Chief of Staff, does not want me to do. His consistent refusal to hold Mr. Ed Boks, the General Manager, accountable — for his actions, including making false, misleading and inflammatory comments to your office, staff, City Council, the public, and the media
— has made my efforts ineffective at every level.When I told Mr. Blackman that Mr. Boks would not shut down his city website blog, against the advice of the LAPD’s Threat Management unit, Mr. Blackman dismissed my concerns and called it merely "one of the many wrong things Boks has done" that he’s already aware of and would not take any action.
On the city website, Mr. Boks recently bashed the Director of LA County Animal Control and attacked one of the most reputable animal-welfare organizations which has provided invaluable assistance to the city’s department. Instead of allowing the Commission to keep Mr. Boks under control, it is my opinion that Mr. Blackman conceals critical facts and
protects Mr. Boks’ misbehavior from your view.
Unfortunately I have learned that certain members of your administration, this department and the Commission are incapable of acknowledging errors, therein misleading the public. Such actions (or inactions) are resulting in the needless suffering and death of many animals, mistreatment of the public, and wasting of financial and human capital.
You are welcome to contact me if you wish to be further informed about Mr. Boks’ crises, including, but not limited to, the veterinarian shortage; unopened spay/neuter clinics; zero foreign language outreach; shelter overcrowding; delayed shelter openings; end-runs on key stakeholders; and a tidal wave of public relations disasters.
If all this is true, should he be a primary target instead of a possible candidate for Senator in 2012?
The Philadelphia paper has a long feature article on Dellums and Oakland, which has seen an increase in violent crime. Dellums places the problem of crime in a national context, pointing out that it has risen across the nation. He has called in the California Highway Patrol to assist the undermanned Oakland Police Department.
An increase in violent crime is expected with the rise of poverty. Other causes cited by the article include the fact that many of the people who were locked up under harsh sentencing laws back in the 1990's, politically popular at the time, are now being released after serving their time and being let out of prison. In other words, in many cases, harsh sentencing laws do not necessarily rehabilitate the criminal, but they simply pass the buck on to the next generation like Ronald Reagan's immigrant amnesty passed the buck of immigration onto our generation.
Although the shooting of Chauncey Bailey, a well-known journalist, triggered the recent publicity about the crime problem, the fact of the matter is that most crimes are committed by people who are known to the victim. And, going off on a tangent here, why should this surprise us when we have a commander-in-chief who invaded Iraq out of personal revenge?
Regardless of the current narcotics vogue, the Rev. Byron Williams, an Oakland pastor who writes a newspaper column and a blog, said he believed the core cause of violence was a hair-trigger culture in which "my manhood cannot tolerate any disrespect, and the gun is the primary means of conflict resolution."
This is the sort of mentality that George Bush has brought to the White House throughout his last several years. The only difference is, he gets to play with all of the toys of the DOD whenever his manhood is challenged.
Woolsey talked about her work on achieving equal pay for women in the workplace:
Congresswoman Woolsey discussed House Resolution 2392—the Family and Workplace Balancing Act, legislation she introduced earlier this year. She also presented current federal developments on policies to balance work and family.
"We need bold new public policies for the 21st century that will help Americans to succeed both at home and at work. I have a bill in Congress to create those policies at the federal level," said Woolsey. "The Balancing Act builds on the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, which was an important step forward. But it doesn't go far enough [...] and government at every level must play a large role in making it happen."
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, 75 percent of employed women worked full-time jobs, while 25 percent worked on a part-time basis. The Labor Project for Working Families report that 70 percent of all single and two-parent families work while caring for children. Also about 17 percent of full-time workers have elder care responsibilities.
Barbara Lee wrote this op-ed in the San Francisco Chronicle saying that it was time for Congress to take a stand on ending the occupation of Iraq:
Don't believe the hype. First off, the data are suspect. The Pentagon refuses to share the methodology by which it arrived at the metrics used to claim success. Even if the progress is real, it is hardly encouraging when put in perspective. When discussing the alleged gains he has overseen, Gen. David H. Petraeus stated that they put us on a course to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq sometime nine or 10 years from now.
What the debate about military progress really does is serve as a distraction - a smokescreen - put forth by an administration that finds it rhetorically convenient to speak in terms of "victory" and "defeat."
It serves to obscure the basic, fundamental fact that there is no military solution to the situation in Iraq. Our troops are trapped in a civil war and occupation, a situation where there can be no "victory." Our continued presence there is not only breaking our military, it is undermining our national security and our efforts to fight international terrorism.
George Bush is a lame duck president. All he is doing now, as Lee points out, is to run out the clock and make his successor own defeat if they should withdraw. This is no different than Vietnam, where the Republicans have been trying to make us own Vietnam for decades. In many cases, they are simply trying to fight the battles of the past instead of the present.
Powerline takes her and others to task for what they say is attempting to secure projects that the Pentagon does not want:
Among these hypocrites are Dennis Kucinich, Maxine Waters, Barney Frank, Jim McDermott, John Lewis, and Keith Ellison. Republican members too are grabbing slices of pork but, as CQ notes, "unlike so many of their Democratic colleagues, the GOP members did not do so while condemning the Pentagon budget as inflated."
Or, as Keith Ashdown, chief investigator with Taxpayers for Common Sense, puts it "if you believe the military wastes too much money, you shouldn’t be begging for parochial pork."
Congressman Henry Waxman takes the FAA to task for their neglect of runway safety; specifically, on the Santa Monica Airport:
Unfortunately, the FAA's proposal provides the barest minimum of runway safety enhancements. Barebones safety is an unacceptable solution for a facility situated on a steep hilltop amid a bustling neighborhood of homes as close as 250 feet to the runway.
My greatest concern is that the FAA's decision-making process evaluated only the risks and needs of pilots and passengers without considering the important role of Runway Safety Areas in protecting pederstrians and homes on the ground. In doing so, the FAA failed to strike an appropriate balance between the convenience of private flights and the safety of the general public.
Standard FAA guidelines for an airport with Santa Monica's design prescribe a 300-foot runway safety area. While the FAA has stated that the inclusion of SMAS technology would facilitate a shorter safety area, it has insisted on the smallest possible system designed to stop only half of the largest aircraft departing the runway. Regrettably, the FAA rejected requests by Santa Monica Airport Officials to augment its proposal with other modifications, such as declared distances to enhance the margins of safety for aircraft operations.
Think back to the Katrina disaster and the West Virginia and Utah mining disasters. Is this, like these two incidents, a disaster waiting to happen?
eniently forgets Lamont over Lieberman. I will address his comments below.
Did you see Gavin Newsom's <a href="http://wcvarones.blogspot.com/2007/0
9/unconventional-campaign.html">new campaign slogan</a>?