Yes We Can - Songs of Peace and Change
A benefit for Francis House
Friday, August 22, 2008
Doors at 7pm for 8pm show. This is a reserved seating show.

Don't miss the Francis House Benefit Presenting Maria Muldaur & The Free Radicals with special guests: Tracy Nelson, Holly Near and Linda Tillery & The Cultural Heritage Choir.

http://www.thecrest.com/calendar/expand.cfm?EventID=2950

Yes We Can: Songs of Peace and Change is an all-star night of some of America's greatest women vocalists singing songs by America's best songwriters. Funky and uplifting, this annual fundraiser for Francis House will rock the house.

Since 1970, Francis House has been the Sacramento-based resource center for thousands who are suffering from poverty in body, mind and spirit.

Songs from YES WE CAN, Ms. Muldaur's new album--Bob Dylan ('License to Kill,'), Marvin Gaye ('Inner City Blues'), Allen Toussaint ('Yes, We Can') , Earl King ('Make a Better World'), Garth Brooks ('We Shall Be Free'), Barrett Strong ('War-What Is It Good For?'), Timmy Thomas('Why Can't We Live Together?') and Thomas Dorsey ('Down By the Riverside -Ain't Gonna Study War No More')—are featured.

Says Muldaur, 'As Pete Seeger says, 'If you love your country you'll find ways to speak up for what is right. Singing the right songs is the way to start.'

A night that will change lives.
Time: Friday, August 22, 2008 - 7:00pm PST

An open letter from Michael Moore to Caroline Kennedy. What do you think about this?
--Bill

Dear Caroline,

We've never met, so I hope you don't find this letter too presumptuous or inappropriate. As its contents involve the public's business, I am sending this to you via the public on the Internet. I knew your brother John. He was a great guy, and I know he would've had a ball during this thrilling and historic election year. We all miss him dearly.

Barack Obama selected you to head up his search for a vice presidential candidate. It appears we may be just days (hours?) away from learning who that choice will be.

The media is reporting that Senator Obama has narrowed his alternatives to three men: Joe Biden, Evan Bayh and Tim Kaine. They're all decent fellows, but they are far from the core of what the Obama campaign has been about: Change. Real change. Out with the old. And don't invade countries that pose no threat to us.

Senators Biden and Bayh voted for that invasion and that war, the war Barack ran against, the war Barack reminded us was the big difference between him and Senator Clinton because she voted for the war and he spoke out against it while running for Senate (a brave and bold thing to do back in 2002).

Hmm...how did that happen?

Progressives and Obama: A Clash of Narratives
Monday 18 August 2008 - by: Norman Solomon, t r u t h o u t | Perspective


Senator Barack Obama at a town hall meeting on August 17. (Photo: AFP / Getty Images)

By now, across the progressive spectrum, some familiar story lines tell us the meaning of the Obama campaign. In a groove, each narrative digs its truths. But whether those particular truths are the most important at this historical moment is another story.

We can set aside the plot line that touts Obama as a visionary pragmatist who has earned the complete trust of progressives. The belief has diminished in recent months - in the wake of numerous Obama pronouncements on foreign policy, his FISA vote to damage the Fourth Amendment and the like - but such belief was never really grounded in his record as a politician or his policy positions.

Clean Energy Rally at Lungren Town Hall

MoveOn.org Political Action and Peace in the Precincts

What: Rally and report delivery on how much John McCain’s oil company handouts will cost California’s energy future
Who: Local members of MoveOn.org and Peace in the Precincts
Where: La Sierra Community Auditorium, 5325 Engle Rd. Carmichael
When: Tuesday, August 19, 6:00 pm

Move On members and Peace in the Precincts to protest at
Lungren’s Town Hall:
No More Cash for Big Oil Companies –
Invest Money in Clean Energy Here
Ending the Iraq War
Time: Tuesday, August 19, 2008 - 6:00pm PST

Hear Deepa Kumar as she spoke on her book "Outside the Box: Corporate Media, Globalization and the UPS Strike" on July 10, 2008 in Sacramento, CA.

Deepa Kumar is an assistant professor of media studies at Rutgers University. Deepa Kumar teaches and writes about the limitations of the corporate media systems and the ways in which dissenting voices are marginalized from the public sphere. Her areas of research includes media, war, imperialism, globalization, class, gender, Islam, the Middle East and U.S. foreign policy, on which she has published several scholarly articles.
Duration 0:56:10

[No, this post isn't about the novel by Stephen King ;-) it's about the lack of oxygen in the oceans caused mostly by artificial fertilizer runoff]

.

Ocean Dead Zones Going Global

Randolph E. Schmid, Associated Press

Aug. 14, 2008 -- Like a chronic disease spreading through the body, "dead zones" with too little oxygen for life are expanding in the world's oceans.

"We have to realize that hypoxia is not a local problem," said Robert J. Diaz of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science. "It is a global problem and it has severe consequences for ecosystems."

"It's getting to be a problem of such a magnitude that it is starting to affect the resources that we pull out of the sea to feed ourselves," he added.

Diaz and co-author Rutger Rosenberg report in Friday's edition of the journal Science that there are now more than 400 dead zones around the world, double what the United Nations reported just two years ago.

"If we screw up the energy flow within our systems we could end up with no crabs, no shrimp, no fish. That is where these dead zones are heading unless we stop their growth," Diaz said in a telephone interview.

[...]

More about Dead Zones from NASA; The Times Picayune; Carleton College; and Stanford researchers explain how it affects the Gulf of California (Sea of Cortez)

[Yea, I know ... shocking! Usually I'm bashing Dianne Feinstein for her enabling of all things Bush and Republican, but this time she actually stood up to the corporate overlords and took our side, by that I mean average people -- my mouth is agape. And I have no idea if she happens to read this website - prolly not - but coincidentally about a week after this post she started talking about closing oil speculator loopholes]

How Democrats made your gas cheaper

by Steven R Fri Aug 08, 2008 at 10:28:55 AM PDT

[...]

It’s the "Enron loophole," which exempts energy speculators who make trades electronically from US regulation. Some argue that the unregulated energy speculation, codified in 2000, can account for $20 to $25 in the jump in oil prices.

But now, 8 years after energy traders were able to push legislation exempting their electronic trades of energy futures from US regulation, a measure in the Farm Bill aims to close the loophole and subject futures trades made electronically inside the United States to US law.

"This bill is really our best bet to deter unscrupulous traders from manipulating energy prices and engaging in excessive speculation. This has been a long, hard road – and this is a major legislative victory," Said California Democrat Sen. Dianne Feinstein after the Senate passed the underlying Farm Bill on a broad, bipartisan basis.

Specifically, according to her office, the bill would "require electronic energy traders to provide an audit trail and record-keeping, monitor for market manipulation, and increase financial penalties for cases of market manipulation and excessive speculation."

Senate Supports Winnemem Wintu Tribe: Senate passes Joint Resolution

The California Senate on Wednesday passed a Joint Resolution urging the federal government to restore federal recognition status to the Winnemem Wintu Tribe. The resolution, authored by Assembly Member Huffman, passed with 24 votes. The Tribe has played a big leadership role in the battle to restore the California Delta and Central Valley rivers and stop the raising of Shasta Dam.

Dan


Wednesday, August 13th
Mark Franco, Winnemem Wintu Tribe, (530) 510-0944
Debbie Davis, Environmental Justice Coalition for Water (916) 743-4406

California Supports Winnemem Wintu Tribe:
Senate passes Joint Resolution urging restoration of federal recognition status

Sacramento, CA – The Winnemem Wintu Tribe drew one step closer to righting years of historic wrongs today. The Senate passed a Joint Resolution urging the federal government to restore federal recognition status to the Winnemem Wintu Tribe. The resolution, authored by Assembly Member Huffman, passed with 24 votes.

Bad News: AB 1806 Dies in Senate
by Dan Bacher

Yesterday the California Senate failed to pass AB 1806, the landmark bill by Assemblymember Lois Wolk (D-Davis) that would have required the state and federal Delta export pumping operations to fully mitigate for the damage they have caused to fisheries.

The bill would have required fish rescue contingency plans in the event of future fishery disasters like the one that took place at Prospect Island in the northern Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta in November 2007. During last year's fish kill, thousands of striped bass, Sacramento blackfish, Sacramento splittail, black bass, bluegill, catfish, threadfin shad and other species perished after the Bureau of Reclamation drained the island during a levee repair operation.

"Unfortunately, they just lifted the call and AB 1806 failed passage on a vote of 18-21," said Diane Colborn, Staff Director for the Water Parks and Wildlife Committee. "Reconsideration was granted, but it does not look like we will be able to get the votes to get the bill off the Senate floor."

Arkansas Democratic Party chairman is gunned down
Bill Gwatney, a well-known former Arkansas legislator, is slain in his Little Rock office. The gunman is later shot and killed by sheriff's deputies.
By Miguel Bustillo - Los Angeles Times Staff Writer - August 14, 2008

The chairman of the Arkansas Democratic Party was shot and killed Wednesday by a man who barged into his Little Rock office.

The suspect fled, apparently to the Arkansas Baptist State Convention about six blocks down the street, where he threatened a security guard. When he left there, sheriff's deputies gave chase and shot him after a 30-minute pursuit, authorities said. He later died.

Police identified the gunman as Timothy Dale Johnson, 50, of Searcy, the Associated Press reported. Johnson's motive remained a mystery.

The Sacramento Community Racial Profiling Commission will conduct public meetings this week on a report about how the Police Department conducts traffic stops..

Oak Park Community Center
3425 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
Sacramento, CA
8/14/2008 - 6 PM
Time: Thursday, August 14, 2008 - 6:00pm PST

Statewide Coalition Says Governor's Water Bond Will Worsen State's Water Crisis

August 13, 2008 -- A coalition of environmental, fishing and community organizations yesterday launched a statewide campaign opposing Gov. Schwarzenegger and Sen. Feinstein's push for a November water bond.

In simultaneous press conferences in Sacramento, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Visalia, campaign organizers spoke out against the $9.3 billion bond, saying it will worsen California's water crisis while plunging the state deeper into debt.

Coalition members also declared that instead of supporting the bond, state legislators should immediately distribute millions of dollars in unspent funds from a water bond passed in 2006.

Schwarzenegger Pimps Water Bond While Chairing 'Building Green' Forum

"Fish Terminator" or the "Green Governor" - will the real Arnold Schwarzenegger step forward?
by Dan Bacher

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, worshipped as the "Green Governor" by the corporate media, will engage in a curious display of surrealistic political theatre today when he pushes for an environmentally destructive water bond in a press conference at the State Capitol and then jets off to chair a "Building Green" forum in Los Angeles.

Governor Schwarzenegger will begin his public appearances today by delivering remarks at a press conference hosted by the California Latino Water Coalition at 12:30 p.m. at the West Steps of the State Capitol in Sacramento. Last month, the Governor and U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein proposed a "bipartisan" plan to the legislature to "update California’s water system by increasing storage, improving conveyance, protecting the Delta’s ecosystem and promoting greater water conservation," according to a statement from the Governor's office.

Under pressure from San Joaquin Valley corporate agribusiness, Schwarzenegger will today be pushing his $9.3 billlion water bond, with no sense of irony, after having issued an executive order in July slashing the salaries of 200,000 state workers to the federal minimum wage of $6.55 per hour and laying off thousands of temporary and part time workers.

[I'm going in reverse order with this - last first - because I didn't have time to hit on this when it came out last Friday. Click the picture below for video of the Rev. Ashiya Odeye and the link below for the story and videos of both the Rev, and Jim Updegraff, ACLU Chairman of the Board, Sacramento Chapter]

Council To Discuss Police Racial Profiling

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- A report that suggests Sacramento police have been involved in racial profiling will be discussed tonight by the City Council.

A study released last week found that African-American drivers were more than twice as likely to be pulled over by police compared to non-black motorists. The study found Hispanic drivers are more likely to be searched after they are stopped.

[...]

Jim Updegraff of the local American Civil Liberties Union said the city now needs to root out officers involved in racial profiling. He said more training is needed and some offending officers may need to be fired.

"This is only the tip of the iceberg because the report only deals with motor vehicle stops and it doesn't deal with the most stops that happen, which are the ones that happen to the kids and people on the street or on their bicycles and things like that," the Rev. Ashiya Odeye from the ACLU said.

[...]

The City Council will meet at 6 p.m. at City Hall, located at 915 I St

[Agenda]

http://www.kcra.com/news/17167028/detail.html

Election Integrity Doc 'Uncounted' to Premiere on National Cable Network!
BLOGGED BY Brad Friedman ON 8/11/2008 5:08PM

Starz Announces Showings on Several of Their Channels Beginning Aug. 25th through Early October

Congratulations to filmmaker David Earnhardt and crew! See below for the press release, just out today from Starz, announcing that his seminal election integrity documentary, Uncounted: The New Math of American Elections, will be premiering on several of the pay cable net's outlets beginning on August 28th.

"Think your vote counts? Think again," the announcement trumpets, before describing the film as "A searing indictment of the election process as it affected both the 2004 and 2006 Elections...And could affect the outcome of the 2008 Election."

The beautifully structured film will screen multiple times on both Starz Edge and Starz Cinema from August through early October (see currently scheduled showings here).

No Starz? No Problem!...

Photo - BRIAN BAER / bbaer@sacbee.com

Sacramento physician and anti-war activist makes another long-shot run for Congress
By Peter Hecht - phecht@sacbee.com - Published 10:31 am PDT Friday, August 8, 2008

His Navy Commendation Medal citation describes a "fire team leader" who led fellow Marines on dangerous reconnaissance missions in Vietnam, "fearlessly trained his men and molded them into a effective fighting force."

But the Vietnam experience also molded an activist for saving lives and stopping war.

Today Bill Durston is a Sacramento emergency room physician, a crusader against gun violence and a vociferous protester against the way America is conducting the war on terror.

CA-03: Bill Durston gets some press while fighting against taxpayer-funded Lungren
by: calicam - Fri Aug 08, 2008 at 11:13:17 AM PDT - http://www.calitics.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=6610
(Go Dr. Durston! - promoted by David Dayen)

In today's Sacramento Bee newspaper Dr. Bill Durston finally got some press coverage about his race against one of the most well-known California Republicans, Dan Lungren. You can decide whether it was a positive article or not, but one thing is for sure: Bill Durston is putting up a fight for this seat.

Part of Durston's fight to "take back our government from the special interests that control it, and to restore government of, by, and for the people" is online. He has recently created a video that pieces together clips from a debate he had with Lungren in 2006 about corruption and a more recent ABC News segment in which Lungren is found to be taking luxury vacations paid for by special interests, despite House ethics laws which prohibit such trips. If that video gets you riled up about Lungren, please consider sending Durston some love on his ActBlue page.

Platform Fight: Activists Win Commitment to Guaranteed Care
posted by John Nichols on 08/09/2008 @ 10:49pm

"Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane." -- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Pressured by progressive activists who objected to the tepid language in a draft document prepared by the Barack Obama campaign, the Democratic platform-writing committee reworked the party's official agenda Saturday to include a clear commitment "that every American man, woman and child be guaranteed to have affordable, comprehensive health care."

The official draft, which was adopted at the platform committee's gathering in Pittsburgh, will now be submitted to the Democratic National Convention for approval.

The platform is likely to adopted without a fight at the Denver convention where Illinois Senator Barack Obama will be nominated for president.

GOP Cyber Sleuth Accuses GOP Of Stealing Elections

GOP cyber security expert Stephen Spoonamore, in this exclusive must see interview, boldly accuses the GOP of stealing elections and lying about it. Please watch and send it to your friends. This interview was supposed to air on national television prior to the last election but was censored. Why was it censored? Who decided to censor it? Please ask Congress to investigate Spoonamore’s allegations. Go to www.rovecybergate.com and send a letter to Congress.


http://www.velvetrevolution.us/prosecute_rove/images/Spoon_Full.wmv

Highlights from the Spoonamore Interview

Segment 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAyEfovA404