July 23, 2010 archive

California Budget Woes

The current mantra in the conservative circles of California government is those darn employees with their “cadillac pensions and benefits”. When painted with a broad brush, as the story goes, its these same government employees that are bankrupting the state and local municipalities.

In order to combat a crushing budget deficit of $450,000 the City of Maywood last month planned to layoff all of its employees and outsource its operations to a neighboring community.

Maywood, a small working-class community south of downtown Los Angeles, plans to lay off all its employees, disband its Police Department and turn over its entire municipal operations to a neighbor – an action that appears to be without precedent among California cities.

Maywood a largely hispanic community has a population of 28,991 people. Maywood’s cost of living is 13.60% Higher than the U.S. average. The unemployment rate in Maywood is 18.20 percent.

So who was handling city services for Maywood?  

DREAM Now Letters Recap: Tell Harry Reid You Want The DREAM Act Now

The “DREAM Now Series: Letters to Barack Obama” is a social media campaign that launched Monday, July 19, to underscore the urgent need to pass the DREAM Act. The Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act, S. 729, would help tens of thousands of young people, American in all but paperwork, to earn legal status, provided they graduate from U.S. high schools, have good moral character, and complete either two years of college or military service.  With broader comprehensive immigration reform stuck in partisan gridlock, the time is now for the White House and Congress to step up and pass the DREAM Act!

This post will mark the completion of the first week of the DREAM Now Letters.  This social media campaign has been an immediate success, which is in large part due to the historic actions of DREAMers this week

Major bloggers from across the net, which I will link to below, have already cross-posted both Mohammad Abdollahi’s and Yahaira Carrillo’s stories.  The letters even made a brief appearance on memeorandum, a news aggregator that I’m addicted to.

If you haven’t read about it, yet, on Tuesday, 21 DREAM Act youth were arrested on Capitol Hill.  Nativists’ heads are already exploding at the notion that undocumented youth could openly declare their immigration status, get arrested, and not get deported.  David Bennion, my co-blogger at Citizen Orange, has the best write up of the action, by far.  It’s new media at it’s best.  He was actually there while it was happening. 

Wild Wild Left Radio #73 Hey Whitey! Be Afraid! (Racism in America)

Tonight, July 9nd at 6PM Eastern Time, WWL Radio!!!!!

Gottlieb and Diane G. are live and in color (or is that off color?) on WWL radio Friday night at 6pm Eastern Time to guide you through Current Events taken from a Wildly Left Prospective.

Hear the Unreported & Under Reported Headlines stories you should be paying attention to, from US Politics, to the farthest reaches of the Earth by the WWL coalition of subversion: undermining the PTB by speaking Truth to Power!!!!

Irony might just be a couple of white Liberals talking about Racism in America… but they say the first step is acknowledging you HAVE a problem. This week was a SIREN CALL for racists.

The Southern Strategy may have evolved from the “N-word” for many decades, but it has devolved even further now. The Neo-con strategy is to use the “tea party” to ramp up the most ugly, heinous and vicious “negrophobia” they can, as well as “latinophobia,” “homophobia” “islamophobia”… you name it. It keeps people licking the boots of their masters to keep us “safe” from “those people.”

This strategy of fear, that culminated in the Bush-era success of setting the masses against their own security, rights and privacy in our own homeland is now being ramped up to attack the only threat to it. They do not fear Latin America, they fear the IDEA of a People’s run Government that does not set the interests of the Elites first.

It all bases back to White European Entitlement – and the time to kill that Original Sin, to end that hideous idea, both here and abroad is now.

Come bear witness to our heresy. No one is Rich and Ruler by divine right – they are that way through theft, rape and abuse of the people from who they stole it.

******

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Controversy? We face it. Cutting Edge? We step over it. Revolutions start with information, and The Wild Wild Left Radio brings you the best in information and op/eds from a position that others on the Left fear to tread.

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The WMD’s of War and Occupations

“Weapons of Mass Destruction {WMD}” has become the new mainstream term of this new century in condemning others, as well as and connected to criminal terrorist acts, to give reason for invasions and occupations, not to mention to make sure it scares the bejeebish out of the masses {same as the Cold War Nuclear threat}. As those using the term to justify an invasion, reigning terror on mostly innocent people, War of Choice, while using the many different WMD’s of War that have always existed and been perfected as well as adding new developed WMD’s to the stockpiles of destructive weapons and trauma’s of War. At the same time worrying about criminal terror element, foreign or domestic, stealing the makings of the same WMDs the advanced nations are developing.

Open Annoyance

Photobucket

News at Noon

From Reuters

Special Report: High finance and corporate pot, California style

By Peter Henderson

July 23, 2010

(Reuters) – Jeff Wilcox, a middle-aged, clean-cut man who dresses in the Bay Area casual business attire of clean jeans, collared shirt and running shoes, may be the face of Marijuana, Inc, the corporatization of cannabis.

He has just persuaded Oakland to legalize industrial-sized marijuana farms, touting a study that promised millions in city taxes and hundreds of high-paying union jobs.

The long-struggling city, which has failed spectacularly to capitalize on the high-tech boom, could be the Silicon Valley of pot, Wilcox told the City Council this week before its historic vote to grant four permits for urban, industrial-size marijuana farms.

Docudharma Times Friday July 23




Friday’s Headlines:

Key ships evacuate as storm approaches Gulf of Mexico

Uncovered: Britain’s secret rendition programme

USA

Pentagon Faces Intensifying Pressures to Trim Budget

Fleeing Phoenix out of fear of immigration law

Europe

Belgrade loses fight over Kosovo independence

European bank stress test results awaited

Middle East

Turkey means business in Kurdistan

As Iraq war winds down, US military cleans up hazardous waste

Asia

Pakistan’s PM gives army chief three more years

China ‘to debate execution policy changes’

Africa

AU Leaders Face Difficult Issues at Summit

Latin America

Venezuela cuts ties with Colombia over FARC rebels. Prelude to war?

Muse in the Morning

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket
Muse in the Morning

Those for whom there is no more acquisition,

who are fully aware of the nature of food,

whose dwelling place is an empty and imageless release,

the way of such people is hard to follow,

like the path of birds through the sky.

— The Dhammapada, 92

Phenomena XXII: perceiving


Window

Reflection and Refraction

I see the past

in the mirror

of tarnished memories

and often misaligned

contemplation

The future

on the other hand

is best seen

through the window

of imagination

–Robyn Elaine Serven

–June 1, 2008

Late Night Karaoke

Original v. Cover — #35 in a Series

hiding Pictures, Images and Photos

NOTE:  I’ve been invited to a local event kicking off the candidacy of a local politician, so this presents a great opportunity to find out firsthand what her stated positions are on various matters.  I doubt that I will be able to return by the time this publishes.  If someone could kindly post an opening comment for ponies on my behalf, I would be very appreciative.  Thanx.

This week’s selection takes us back to 1975, when a cover version of a number written by Grammy-winning songwriter Skip Scarborough climbed to #11 on the U. S. Black and #39 on the U. S. Pop Singles charts. The song received a Grammy nomination for Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalists.  

The album on which this song appeared enjoyed considerably greater success, occupying the #1 position on the Billboard Pop Albums Chart for three consecutive weeks, was the second bestselling R&B album of 1976 and received triple platinum certification.  This album was reissued in 2000.    

Kerry, Reid, & Browner Kill Climate Bill During Netroots

Time for the “Couldn’t make this up if I tried” part of the daily dosage of dodder.

Wednesday, July 7, 2010


Climate Bill Would Cut Deficit

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…

WASHINGTON –   Congressional budget experts say a climate and energy bill now stalled in the Senate would reduce the federal deficit by about $19 billion over the next decade.

The report by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office was the second positive analysis of the bill by a government agency in a month, but is likely to carry more weight than a similar report issued by the Environmental Protection Agency. The CBO is the entity responsible for providing Congress with nonpartisan analyses of economic and budget issues, and lawmakers rely on it for guidance.

An analysis by the EPA last month concluded that the Senate bill, dubbed the American Power Act, would cost households an average of $79 to $146 per year. Kerry and Lieberman said they believe Americans are willing to pay less than a dollar a day to curb global warming, reduce oil imports and create energy-related jobs.

Two weeks later.

Wednesday, July 21, 2010


let’s have a climate meetup to bitch about the bill. RT@ {xxxxxx} Heading to Las Vegas for #nn10, who’s going to be there ?

See you there ! heading out to {xx} for a short flight to LV for #nn10, hope to see lots of impacterinos

Jul 21st via TweetDeck

well known enviroblogger, name redacted  

Reid puts Energy Bill on Ice: with a Chilling Effect on Wind and Solar?

The Energy Bill has been shelved for now — another Price exacted by the Do Nothing Party.

Senate Halts Effort to Cap CO2 Emissions

Democrats Forgo Centerpiece of President Obama’s Energy Plan, as Cap-and-Trade Fails to Lure Broad Support in Congress

By Stephen Power, Wall Street Journal — July 23, 2010

Mr. Reid refused to declare the idea dead. But Thursday’s decision called into question when or whether any legislated cap on greenhouse-gas emissions would reach Mr. Obama’s desk.

Now, businesses, such as wind-turbine makers, that had bet on a greenhouse-gas provision to make alternatives to coal and oil more cost-competitive must recalculate how long it might take for that to happen.

[…] the solar industry is growing at the rate of about 40% a year in terms of electrical power installed and is likely to continue to grow, said Ron Kenedi, vice president of Sharp Corp.’s Sharp Solar Energy Solutions Group in Huntington Beach, Calif.

We need some new Senators (at least 60), who actually care about Energy Independence — enough to act.

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