Glenn Greenwald on Dianne Feinstein -- with Pooties!

I had an idea that we should go ahead and challenge the comfortable congresspeople in our states, we have the teeth and there are candidates who will run

What I am trying to say here is the system is broken, even for our democrats and as long as money drives politics instead of ordinary people driving, then we will never see Nancy stand up to AIPAC, or any other PAC. (this is not a knock on AIPAC people, just the money that influences all political agendas.

So, why not aggressively market safe congressional seats to progressives that will stand up.  I am at the point where I would give all of my money to anyone who will represent my ideals.

The Republicans do it
Does anyone think that the few votes the restoration of Habeas Corpus Act gained from the republican side weren't well planned and caucused ahead of time? Puh-leaze. Anything short of 60 and the Republicans are willing to allow those endangered seats to vote with Dem's. (period)

LAWWIZARD on Dianne Feinstein's sellout to Cornyn:

Yesterday Senator Diane Feinstein once again displayed her true colors. (By the way also a Clinton supporter) She voted to condemn free speech and debate.  She voted to send a chilling effect on all who would express an opinion.  She voted to support the politics of fear.  She voted with repubs to nationally chastise Move On.  The fact is and the record is clear the General did betrayus.  I think Cindy Sheehan choose the wrong office to run for.

George W. Dolt on how DiFi's website is an embarrassment to California

If you have an "OTHER" question not addressed by the site's radio button selection, you will be forced to select an unrelated radio button topic.  That selection will get you a warm fuzzy squirmy non-response.  Ask about FISA and click the GAY ISSUES radio button and you will quickly receive an automatic GAY ISSUES vague non-response that has nothing to do with your FISA question.

Huh!?  It's as if she is not truly carefully considering the opinions of her constituents.

Senator Feinstein has made a few odd, almost Liebermanish moves in the past months.

She strangely supported an extension of the odious FISA Act and recently inexplicably supported the Bush Administration's circle jerk about MoveOn.org's NYT howl during the run up to Petreaus.

None of the "radio buttons" has anything to do with her anti MoveOn.org vote nor her support of FISA.  She doesn't  offer any explanation nor even a mention of her two votes supporting the Bush administration on her modern web site.

In the News:

Glenn Greenwald says that she is an embarrassment to the Democratic Party.

In 2006, Feinstein not only voted in favor of extending the Patriot Act without any of the critical safeguards sought by Sen. Feingold, among others, but she was one of the most outspoken Democratic proponents arguing for its extension ("I have never been in favor of allowing any provisions of the Patriot Act to expire."). Also in 2006, she not only voted in favor of amending the Constitution to outlaw flag burning, but was, as she proudly described herself, "the main Democratic sponsor of this amendment."

In October of 2002, she (naturally) voted to authorize President Bush to use military force to invade Iraq. She now self-servingly claims that she "regrets" the vote and was tricked by the Bush administration into believing Saddam had WMDs, yet Scott Ritter has disclosed: "This is far different from the statement Feinstein made to me in the summer of 2002, when she acknowledged that the Bush administration had not provided any convincing intelligence to back up its claims about Iraqi WMD." And when it was revealed in August of this year that Awad Allawi had hired the most influential GOP lobbying firm to help oust Prime Minister Maliki, there was Sen. Feinstein leading the way in demanding Maliki's ouster.

Time and again, not only does she vote in favor of the most right-wing aspects of the Bush agenda, she uses her alleged expertise in areas of intelligence to pressure or give comfort to other Democrats wanting to do the same. Several of the 16 Democratic Senators who voted in favor of Bush's FISA bill in August, such as Jim Webb, cited assurances by Feinstein that she had obtained Secret Information as a member of the Intelligence Committee which proved how necessary this bill was. Similarly, as a member of the Intelligence Committee, she was one of the Democratic leaders urging the confirmation of Gen. Michael Hayden as CIA Director notwithstanding the central role he played as NSA Director in Bush's illegal surveillance programs.

Greenwald explains that her allegiance is to the Beltway power system, of which David Broder is the high priest, and not to the people who elected her to office. She supports some of the most radical Bush administration initiatives because she swoons over the "integrity" of the people that he puts in charge. She thinks that Hayden, McConnell, and Southwick are all paragons of virtue. And Greenwald explains that her shilling for the Bush administration creates the appearance of conflict of interest:

Most of these political officials who feed off of Washington year after year become appendages of it and vigorous defenders of nothing other than the Beltway system. They are drained of all belief, conviction and passion. And in Feinstein's case, it is particularly easy to understand why this is so. Her current husband, Richard Blum, is an extremely rich defense contractor whose companies have endless relationships with the work Feinstein does in the Senate. It is entirely unsurprising that Feinstein's affection is reserved for officials in the intelligence and defense communities because those are her social peers, the individuals with whom her husband interacts professionally and socially and with whom she most identifies.

This is a Democratic blog. But that does not mean that we should support every last Democrat that runs for office. Instead, we have a responsiblity to only support those who answer to us through money, time, and campaigning. The rest should get not one dime from us. They get our votes, and nothing else.

We have a whole list of candidates who are much better than DiFi who we should discuss and vet so that we can unite behind a challenger should she choose to run again in 2012. Now that Joe Lieberman is no longer a Democrat, she is now on record as being Fox News' Favorite Democrat.

The Candidates

Debra Bowen
Bowen has announced that she is going to put an end to sleepovers, or the practice of sending voting machines home with pollworkers right before elections. Her new chain of custody rules will require that voting machines in the state of California must be in the custody of two election judges at all times. BradBlog has reported extensively on this latest announcement by the California Secretary of State.

"Sleepovers don't comply with the security requirements," Bowen said in response to a question we submitted on the matter during a conference call with the Secretary sponsored by the Courage Campaign.

"It's really simple," she added, after a pause following her immediate, direct reply to the question.

She went on to explain how unauthorized access to a single machine, by a single person, could allow an entire county's election to be flipped, putting everyone's election at risk.

The federal government had mandated that there be safeguards against these sorts of practices for the last election; however, the former Secretary of State Bruce McPherson refused to enforce them even though his own team of experts collaborated this evidence.

Not only that, if the chain of custody is violated, then the machine must be taken out of service and examined and rebooted before it can be placed back in service.

There is a question about whether such machines can be safeguarded so that there is no tampering that could affect an entire election. If not, then we should consider going back to paper ballots, because there is no way that a single person could hack the system and alter the totals.

Jerry Brown

Jack Daniels Ewing, 27, and Mikael Inturbe, 27, were arrested today at the Sho-Ka-Wah Casino in Hopland on charges of conspiracy, counterfeiting and burglary after a four-month investigation revealed that the two-man team was bleaching real $1 bills and using home printers to make counterfeit $100 bills. The counterfeiters bilked at least 20 casinos in Northern California and Nevada out of more than $100,000.

While under surveillance, the suspects were observed passing off large quantities of counterfeit "old style" $100 bills through the bill validators of gaming machines at Northern California and Nevada casinos. The suspects demonstrated familiarity with the security features of the bill validators and were proficient at avoiding detection.

In most cases the suspects fed bills into the machine, cashed out, and left the casino. Occasionally, the suspects used the fake bills to play the slot machines, sometimes winning up to $4000.

Gavin Newsom

Solar energy for San Francisco Airport:

Mayor Gavin Newsom unveiled the installation of more than 2,800 solar panels on the roof-top of San Francisco International Airport’s Terminal 3 as part of a joint SFO/San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) solar energy project. Joining the Mayor to acknowledge this project in the support of his goal to make San Francisco the "greenest" City in the Nation were SFPUC General Manager Susan Leal and Airport Director John L. Martin. The new project coincides with the award of a major national environmental management award to San Francisco International Airport for its sustainability program and environmental practices.

"This major solar energy project further establishes San Francisco as America’s solar energy leader and symbolizes the commitment of the City – and San Francisco International Airport – to leading the way on renewable energy generation and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions," said Mayor Newsom.

The Terminal 3 solar energy system will provide enough electricity for all the daytime lighting needs within the Terminal 3 (with excess power to spare) and is estimated to generate a yearly energy saving of 628,000 kilowatt hours (kwhr), or enough energy to power roughly 300 homes. Approximately 7,200 tons of Carbon Dioxide over a 30 year period will be saved by utilizing this totally "green", non-polluting electrical generating means versus typical generating methods requiring fossil fuels.

Leonardo DiCaprio

The actor teams up with poker legend Doyle Brunson to promote 11th Hour:

Poker legend Doyle Brunson and Titanic and Gangs of New York star Leonardo DiCaprio have teamed up to promote an environmental documentary entitled The 11th Hour. The Warner Brothers-distributed film, features DiCaprio and includes commentary from famed physicist Stephen Hawking, among others. While the movie may have the same theme as former Vice- President Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth, the presentation is vastly different. On the topic of the challenges our planet faces, Brunson had this to say-"We don't know how things are in your life, but no matter what's going on, this planet has got us beat. We've made it sick, and it, in turn, is sick and tired of us."

Sheila Kuehl

The State Senator stands up for pooties:

SB 353, authored by State Senator Sheila James Kuehl (D-Santa Monica), was signed into law by the Governor yesterday.  SB 353 increases protection for domestic violence victims by allowing both criminal courts and family courts to include animals in a domestic violence protective order.

"This legislation will prevent abusers from harming or threatening to harm animals in order to exert power and control over their human victims," said Senator Kuehl.  

Victims of domestic violence have overwhelmingly reported that their pets are being threatened, harmed or killed by their abuser as an aspect of the abuse perpetrated against them.  Perpetrators often abuse animals in order to intimidate, harass or silence their human victims.  As a result, domestic violence victims report delaying making the decision to go to a shelter or to pursue other safety measures out of concern for the pet they would leave behind.  In recent years, domestic violence and animal welfare advocates have begun to focus attention on the correlation between animal abuse and family violence.

Studies from across the country have found an irrefutable link between domestic violence, child abuse and animal cruelty.  A 1997 survey of 50 of the largest shelters for battered women in the United States found that 85% of women and 63% of children entering shelters discussed incidents of pet abuse in the family. A study of women seeking shelter at a safe house showed that 71% of those having pets affirmed that their partner had threatened, hurt, or killed their companion animals.

Restraining orders, which can be issued by a criminal or family court, are a legal tool to prevent batterers from committing further domestic violence.  This is done by prohibiting all contact, or certain types of contact, between the batterers and their victims and victims’ family members; ordering batterers to relinquish firearms and preventing them from obtaining new ones; and prosecuting batterers who do not abide by these restrictions.

The Emperor of Catkind thanks the State Senator from California and sends her this token of appreciation.

For his affair with a TV news anchor

TV news anchor Mirthala Salinas, who was suspended without pay for two months after her affair with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa became public, returns to work Monday as a general assignment reporter in the Inland Empire.

Salinas has been reassigned from her old job as back-up news anchor for Spanish-language NBC-Telemundo (Channel 52), where she broadcast news of the mayor's separation from his wife while she was having an affair with him, the station said today.

In her new assignment, the Studio City resident will cover the communities of Riverside and San Bernardino, employees were told Monday.

Salinas, 35, was among four employees disciplined after a three-week investigation by Telemundo and its parent company NBC Universal.

Vetoing a hazing settlement with a firefighter who had dog food put in his spaghetti

Villaraigosa and the Los Angeles City Council signed off Friday on a $1.49 million payout to former Firefighter Tennie Pierce of Cerritos. The deal included $60,000 in back salary that guarantees his pension.

It also includes an additional $1 million to his attorneys and city payments of about $1 million to the private firm of Jones, Day to investigate the case.

But Villaraigosa said he was concerned that if the case went to trial it could have resulted in an even larger payout.

"We had two recent trials that cost the city more than $10 million," Villaraigosa said. "I felt it was in the best interests of the city to settle this now for a reduced amount. I also believe we have shown that the city will vigorously fight on these cases and not be an easy mark."

For city inspectors barging in on a Yom Kippur service to conduct an inspection:

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa issued an apology Monday to members of a private Jewish school who received a pair of surprise visitors during Yom Kippur services last week: city building inspectors trying to enforce a curfew for events at the Hancock Park school.

While Yavneh Hebrew Academy was holding services for Yom Kippur in its chapel Friday night, two city building inspectors entered the lobby just after 8 p.m. and asked to meet with a school official.

Lynn Woolsey

Fighting against special rights legislated by the SCOTUS allowing corporations to exploit home health care workers:

Responding to a recent Supreme Court decision that limits overtime and minimum wage protections for certain home health care workers, Lynn Woolsey (D-CA), Chair of the Subcommittee on Workplace Protections, last night introduced the Fair Home Health Care Act, a narrowly tailored bill that would extend these basic protections to thousands of American workers.  At issue was the Court’s recent decision in the Long Island Care at Home Ltd. v. Coke case, which upheld a narrow exemption to the Fair Labor Standards Act for ‘companionship services’ for babysitters and caretakers for seniors and the disabled.

"This exemption was enacted over three decades ago, when homecare, like babysitting, was largely provided by family and friends," Woolsey said.  "Since that time the entire industry has undergone a transformation, and the laws simply haven’t kept up.  As a result we’re leaving many of the industry’s workers out in the cold when it comes to receiving the basic compensation that they deserve."

Fueling the necessity for this legislation are the low wages paid to home health care workers, who are paid well below the national average even as the industry continues to grow.  As recently as 2003 home health care workers earned an average of $9.20 per hour, compared with a U.S. average of $13.53 for the rest of the economy.  And nearly 20% of home health care workers earn annual incomes below the federal poverty level and they are twice as likely, as other workers, to receive food stamps and to lack health insurance.  Much of the growth in the industry is linked to the growing number of older of Americans, a trend that will continue to grow as baby boomers come of age.

Barbara Lee

On the Jena Six:

"The injustice in the case of the six young people from Jena, Louisiana is disgraceful, and it is unacceptable.  I commend the protests taking place today in Louisiana and on Capitol Hill, and I add my voice to those demanding justice for the Jena six.

"I believe that we have come too far from the days of Jim Crow to tolerate this type of racist miscarriage of justice.

If we are ever to overcome the tragic legacy of racism in this nation, we have a duty to our young people to see to it that the principle of equal justice is upheld.  If we truly believe in our nation’s principle of equality before the law, then we have to make sure that everyone, regardless of race, is held equal before the law."

Maxine Waters

Fighting against FAA consolidation:

Today, the U.S. House of Representatives passed an amendment by Congresswoman Maxine Waters (CA-35) to prohibit consolidation of the regional offices of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) without oversight.  The amendment was offered with the assistance of her colleague, Congressman Alcee Hastings (FL-23).  The amendment was incorporated into the FAA Reauthorization Act, which then passed the House of Representatives and is now awaiting consideration in the U.S. Senate.

"I am pleased that my colleagues supported my amendment to require the FAA to obtain congressional oversight and public comment prior to consolidating services in its regional offices," said Congresswoman Waters.

The FAA has nine regional offices serving airports in all fifty states.  One of these offices, the Western-Pacific Regional Office, is located in Hawthorne, California, in Congresswoman Waters’ congressional district.  This office serves all of Southern California, including Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), one of the busiest airports in the world.

"The FAA has consolidated services in the regional offices twice over the last two years.  The FAA did not seek or accept input from Congress, regional office employees, or the affected communities prior to reorganizing these offices and transferring employees from the Hawthorne office to offices in other parts of the country," said the Congresswoman.

Now we know what Bush REALLY meant when he said that he would run the government like a business -- consolidate and cut back on everything...

Henry Waxman

Chairman Henry Waxman is joining the efforts of California AG Jerry Brown to force the EPA to allow California to enforce their emissions standards, which are more stringent than the rest of the country. It turns out that there was a personal behind-the-scenes lobbying effort by the Bush administration to block California from regulating greenhouse gas emissions on motor vehicles. Waxman's letter to the chairman of the Council of Environmental Quality, after obtaining the relevant documents:

Documents provided to the Committee indicate that the White House approved a behind the scenes lobbying effort to block California from regulating greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles. The lobbying campaign was personally directed by the Secretary of Transportation. According to the documents and interviews with senior off,rcials, the goal was to urge members of Congress and state govemors to oppose EPA approval of the new California motor vehicle standards.

I am writing to ask you to repudiate these efforts. Under the federal Clean Air Act, EPA's decision on California's application to regulate greenhouse gases from motor vehicles is supposed to be made on the merits. If you or Transportation Secretary Mary Peters have views about the merits of the decision, you should submit comments to EPA that are considered on their merits. It is not an appropriate use of taxpayer dollars to orgatize a lobbying campaign to politicize this vital regulatory decision.