Schwarzenegger Proposes $9 Billion Water Bond Boondoggle

By Dan Bacher

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's office today issued a press release for the $9 billion water bond boondoggle he is trying to ramrod through the California Legislature. For those us of us concerned about the alarming collapse of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta ecosystem, this is very bad news, since the measure will fund the peripheral canal and the building of two new dams and the expansion of an existing dam.

The measure provides for $5.1 billion in surface storage and identifies three sites for this storage - Sites, Temperance Flat Reservoir and the Los Vaqueros Expansion Project. The Sites Reservoir in the Sacramento Valley and Temperance Flat Reservoir in the San Joaquin Valley are included in the bond, in spite of the fact that the water would cost $1,000 to $2,000 per acre foot. Who is going to buy this water?

Schwarzenegger also disguises his plan to build a peripheral canal with his trademark euphemism - the development of a "new conveyance system." The Governor cannot be truthful with the press and public and just call it for what it is - a peripheral canal or delta canal.

Of course, to give the proposal an environmental window dressing, the proposal includes some token "restoration" money. "The Governor's comprehensive plan also includes significant funding toward restoration of the ailing Delta and would lead to the development of a new conveyance system," the Governor's office claims.

Senate Floor Statement from Senator Sheila Kuehl
Re: Assembly Bill 8 - (9/10/07)

Mr. President and Colleagues: As you know, I have been working to secure real healthcare reform in California for a number of years now. Along with my continuing authorship of SB 840, the single payer universal health care bill, I’ve also actively participated with other authors trying to craft incremental attempts to reform the health insurance market.

This year, as the chair of the Senate Health Committee, I’ve seen my mission as making certain that everything got appropriately vetted and discussed, while at the same time, continuing to build support for 840. Activists, supporters, organizations, and the panoply of more than 700 organizations, those that the press refers to as the “grassroots”, have done a magnificent job in building support for single payer.

The Governor in a press conference on Wednesday used the recent court ruling ordering the state and federal governments to reduce pumping from the Delta to protect delta smelt as a cynical opportunity for his staff, agribusiness representatives and water agency officials to amp up his campaign to build the peripheral canal and more dams.

Judge Orders State and Federal Governments to Reduce Pumping to Protect Delta Smelt
by Dan Bacher

(Fresno) In a landmark decision, a federal judge on August 31 ordered state and federal water project managers to reduce the amount of water pumped from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to protect the threatened delta smelt from extinction.

Environmentalists praised the ruling, even though the decision didn’t go as far as they wanted, while Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and water agency representatives claimed the decision would devastate California’s water supplies and the economy.

Press Conference: 9:30 a.m.
Cathedral Square Light Rail Station, 11th and K streets

Guest Speakers
Congresswoman Doris Matsui
State Senator Dave Cox
Sacramento County Supervisor and RT Board Member Roger Dickinson
Time: Friday, September 14, 2007 - 9:30am PST

Representatives of the West Coast's largest commercial fishing organization warned on Wednesday that the most important estuary on the west coast of North and South America, the San Francisco Bay-Delta Estuary, is in immediate danger of ecological collapse if water diversions are not sharply cut.

Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations (PCFFA)
991 Marine Drive, The Presidio
P.O. Box 29370, San Francisco, CA 94129

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Information:
Pietro Parravano (650) 726-1607, Cell (650) 207-6014 fish3ifr [at] mindspring.com
Larry Collins (415) 585-5711, Cell (415) 279-1894
Zeke Grader (415) 561-5080 (ext. 224), Cell (415) 606-5140 zgrader [at] ifrfish.org

Delta Ecosystem Collapse:

California Must Find an Alternative Water Source Say Fishermen
It’s not just smelt that are in danger in West’s Most Important Estuary

San Francisco, CA – Wednesday, September 5, 2007. The most important estuary on the west coast of North and South America is in immediate danger of ecological collapse if water diversions are not sharply cut, a commercial fishing organization warned today.

On the heels of a Federal Court decision last Friday in Fresno – ordering a reduction in diversions from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta - the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations (PCFFA) today called on the Governor and Legislature to begin developing alternatives to Delta water in order to save the fish of the estuary and finally provide the state with a reliable water supply.

This is Bob Perry,

huge financial supporter of George Bush,
Texas Republicans and the SwiftBoat Veterans for Truth. And good friend of Karl Rove with many connections to Texas Republicans, a man who likes to stay in the shadows

Why would you happen to see him or have any connection to him in Sacramento or California? And why should you care?

Because he's the man behind the curtain in the Republican scheme to revamp how California counts it's electoral votes. And he's had his eye on California for at least a year.

I don't have a lot of time to devote to this post, so here are some more links I dug up on Mr. Perry. click "read more"

Health Reform and the Year of Magical Thinking
by Senator Sheila James Kuehl

The Year of Magical Thinking is the title of a memoir by Joan Didion detailing her state of denial, inexplicable behaviors and, finally, coming to grips with, the death of her husband. It's also an apt description of the Governor's 2007 approach to reforming our broken healthcare system, with the glaring difference that he still hasn't come to grips with the truth. (After all, if a complicated movie plot could be resolved in less than two hours, why not fix healthcare in California in nine months?)

Beginning in January, the Governor ordered his health advisors to sketch the outlines of a plan that would magically "cover" all Californians by simply requiring them to buy health insurance. To this moment, he has refused to negotiate any of his major points with the Legislature. The language for his plan was finally drafted five months later, and shown, under wraps, to a few, select people. Not one legislator agreed with it, and no one would carry the bill as legislation.

L.A. County registrar to retire

Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder Conny McCormack announced Tuesday that she would retire at the end of the year, saying she was tired of battling state officials over the future of electronic voting machines.

That's really too bad. What's the picture of? I'll get to that in a minute. Read how Conny is being "intimidated"

McCormack, who has served 12 years as the top election official in the largest election jurisdiction in the country, said that Secretary of State Debra Bowen's move this month to pull the plug on the machines used in L.A. County and most of the state clinched her decision.

"I don't want to preside over the dismantling of voter services that have been successful and accurate," McCormack said. "I suppose I do take that personally."

Accurate? Uh huh, right. Gotcha

LABOR DAY WORKING FAMILIES PICNIC
Monday, September 3, 2007

This year the Sacramento Central Labor Council will be celebrating its 109th year of representing working families by having a traditional Labor Day Picnic at:

William Land Park
Village Green Area
Off of Freeport Blvd. and
Sutterville Road
11:00-3:00PM

This will be a FUN family event with jump tents, LIVE music, balloon makers, face painting, a magic act and plenty of food and drinks. There will be a Beer garden for those 21 and older (be prepared to show ID).

BRING YOUR OWN CHAIRS AND BLANKETS TO SIT ON AS SEATING IS LIMITED.
Time: Monday, September 3, 2007 - 11:00am PST

Ahhhnold says: "Look! Those are the little people who I screw over for you to give you your tax give aways"

Tell Ahhhnold what you think about his governing ability and hypocrisy since this has been essentially his original plan all along

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
State Capitol Building
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: 916-445-2841
Fax: 916-445-4633

By TeddySanFran

[Click Teddy's name to read all the links]

When David Broder praises the powerful appeal of California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s post-partisan style, what’s he really praising? Well, one way a Governor prioritizes is when he wields his line-item veto pen. That’s right — even though California’s budget needs two-thirds of both the Senate and the Assembly to pass, our Governor has a line-item veto. He can use this veto to tailor the post-passage budget. This year, to finally get the budget passed seven weeks late, the Governor promised holdout GOPs that he’d use the line-item veto in a way they’d like.

Arnold, Tell the Dam Truth about California Water!

Schwarzenegger's True Lies about Dams and Canals

By Dan Bacher

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger keeps repeating at his press conferences and meetings the big lie that no dams or water storage facilities have been constructed in California in the past 20 to 30 years.

Apparently, the Schwarzenegger administration believes in the classic propaganda technique that if a big lie is repeated enough, it will be eventually accepted as truth by the media and public. This fallacy is being used to bolster his call for a peripheral canal and more dams in California, although the truth is that several major dams and other storage facilities have been constructed during the last 30 years.

On July 14 at a town meeting in Bakersfield, the Governor stated, "Do you know that for 20 years, well, actually since the late '70s, they have not built a dam? I mean, think about that. They have not built a dam.”

Poll shows more Californians favoring single-payer health care
Tom Chorneau, Chronicle Sacramento Bureau
Wednesday, August 22, 2007

(08-22) 04:00 PDT Sacramento -- - As voter dissatisfaction with the state's health care system grows, increasing interest is emerging in moving to a state-run, single-payer program, according to a Field Poll released today.

For years, a single-payer system had been the favorite of a small but loyal minority, but the new poll shows that 36 percent of California voters now favor replacing the current employer-based system with one operated by the state - a jump of 12 percent since December.

Meanwhile, the number of voters who want to make reforms within the framework of the current system has dropped from 52 percent in December to 33 percent in August.

"This is a clear signal that people want change," said Anthony Wright, executive director of Health Access, a Sacramento consumer group that supports both a single-payer proposal and legislation aimed at reforming the current system.

Sorry for the last minute notice, but if you support Sheila Kuehl's single-payer universal healthcare, please join us at 10AM, Wednesday, August 22, 2007, on the North Side of the Capitol near the disability entrance.

Thanks,
Bill

From: "C Negrete" CNegrete@comcast.net
NOTICE:
for True Health Reform
"NO DEAL IS BETTER THAN A BAD DEAL"

JOIN US IN GETTING OUT INFORMATION ABOUT THE REAL REFORM BILL

SB 840, Senator Sheila Kuehl

A Universal, Single Payer Health Insurance System
Time: Wednesday, August 22, 2007 - 10:00am PST

Picture and video of Assembly-speaker Fabian Nunez talking about the negotiations

BREAKING NEWS: STATE BUDGET PASSES 27-13

* SENATE APPROVES PLAN
* BUDGET HEADS TO GOVERNOR
* 52 DAY CRISIS COMES TO END

The State Senate approved the budget bill, SB 77, this afternoon (August 21), bringing to an end the budget stalemate that has lasted 52 days. Action by the Assembly was needed on some budget related bills (trailer bills), including SB 203, which replaced SB 83 as the health "trailer bill".

The budget bill now heads to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger for approval, which is likely to come within the next few days.

Advocates remain concerned about the Governor's pledge to Senate Republicans to make an additional $700 million in spending reductions and savings in the budget being sent to him, using his line item veto power.

The Schwarzenegger Administration has not disclosed publicly where those cuts would come.

PUBLIC HEARING

LOCATION
Office of the Secretary of State
1500 11th Street
First Floor – Auditorium
Sacramento, California 95814

HEARING DATE AND TIME
October 15, 2007, 10:00 a.m. (was originally scheduled for Sept. 20)

NOTICE

Elections Code section 19213 provides that a voting system or part of a voting system which has been approved by the Secretary of State shall not be changed or modified until the Secretary of State has been notified of the change in writing and has determined that the change or modification does not impair the accuracy and efficiency of the voting system or part of a voting system sufficient to require a reexamination and re-approval of that system or part of a system.

Elections Code section 19214 authorizes the Secretary of State to seek injunctive and administrative relief when a voting system has been compromised by the addition or deletion of hardware, software, or firmware without prior approval. Elections Code section 19214.5 authorizes the Secretary of State to seek monetary damages and other relief for an unauthorized change in hardware, software, or firmware to any voting system certified or conditionally certified in California.

Election Systems & Software, Inc. (ES&S) has violated Elections Code section 19213 by deploying for use in polling places in several California counties hundreds of units of a version of the AutoMARK ballot marking device that was changed and modified from the version approved by the Secretary of State, without notifying the Secretary of State and without a determination having been made by the Secretary of State that the change or modification does not impair the accuracy and efficiency of the AutoMARK sufficient to require a reexamination and re-approval of the AutoMARK or the voting system of which it is a part.
Time: Monday, October 15, 2007 - 10:00am PST

UPDATED: ES&S to Face Millions in Fines, Possible Decertification in CA for Use of Uncertified Voting Systems!
Company's AutoMARK Ballot Marking Devices Unapproved at State and Federal Level, Could Bring $10,000 Fine Per Machine, Full Refund of Purchase Price, Prohibition from Doing Business in State
STATEMENT: SoS Bowen Says 1000 Uncertified Voting Machines Sold to Counties, She Intends to 'Go After Company For Full Allowable Penalty', Millions 'Taken from Counties' Pockets'...

By Brad Friedman from St. Louis, MO...

ED NOTE: Story now updated with additional information and statement from Secretary of State, Debra Bowen.

"ES&S sold nearly 1,000 voting machines in California without telling the counties that bought them that they had never been certified for use in this state," CA Secretary of State Debra Bowen announced in a statement released moments ago. (Complete statement now posted at end of article).

"Given that each machine costs about $5,000, it appears ES&S has taken $5 million out of the pockets of several California counties, that were simply trying to follow the law and equip their polling places with certified voting machines."

"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 to California,” Bowen continued in the no-holds-barred statement. "While ES&S may not like California law, I expect the company to follow the law and not trample over it by selling uncertified voting equipment in this state."

She went on to add that she intends "to go after the company for the full $9.72 million in penalties allowable by law, along with the original $5 million the company took from counties’ pockets."

She ain't kidding! ES&S, the country's largest distributor of voting machines, looks to be in a lot of trouble in California.

The Dam Truth about California Water!

“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.” - Joseph Goebbels

By Dan Bacher

In the tradition of Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi propagandist, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger keeps repeating at his press conferences and meetings the big lie that no dams or water storage facilities have been constructed in California in the past 20 to 30 years. Apparently, Scharzenegger is hoping that if he repeats it enough, people will come to believe this lie. This fallacy is being used to bolster his call for a Peripheral Canal and more dams in California, although the truth is that several major dams and other storage facilities have been constructed during the last 30 years.

On July 14 at a town meeting in Bakersfield, the Governor stated, "Do you know that for 20 years, well, actually since the late '70s, they have not built a dam? I mean, think about that. They have not built a dam.”

Then on Monday, July 16, the Governor discussed his “Comprehensive Water Plan” at San Luis Reservoir, repeating this lie again. “But over the last 20 years we have not built a single major reservoir that connects to this great system here, even though we have a population growth from 20 million to 37 million people over the same period,” he said.

California Speaks: We Want Single Payer
by Senator Sheila Kuehl

On August 11th, 2007, at the culminating and boisterous OneCareNow rally in Los Angeles, as well as eight coordinated “listening” events around the state, sponsored by Blue Shield and the California Endowment, among others, a random selection of thousands of Californians spoke out overwhelmingly in favor of major health care reform.

At the largest rally of the year, more than two thousand advocates, patients, nurses, doctors and universal health care fans gathered on the steps and lawns of the Los Angeles City Hall to excoriate a health care system that does nothing but devastate working families with systematic cancellations, denials and delays in care. This doesn’t promote health, it isn’t care, and it certainly isn’t a “system”-- it’s traumatizing and often deadly for people who thought they would be given care, but, instead, got nothing but a tangle of insurance red tape. Convinced that single-payer universal health care is the only hope for fixing our broken health care system, they gathered to support SB 840 (Kuehl), the only truly universal health care plan proposed in legislation that is shown to contain costs, improve health care quality and allow Californians total choice of their doctors and hospitals.

Ryan Broddrick Leaving DFG to Work for Water Agency

By Dan Bacher

Ryan Broddrick, the current Director of the California Department of Fish and Game, will be leaving the agency on August 31 to work for the Northern California Water Agency.

Broddrick was the rare exception among DFG directors in that he actually rose up through the ranks of the Department, rather than being appointed from outside of the agency like most directors have been over the years. Broddrick had served as Director for the last 3.5 years, capping over 25 years of service to DFG and over 30 years of state service. He served 3 Governors in appointed positions over his career.

His resignation occurs at a time when the agency is undergoing one of its biggest crises ever as populations of Delta smelt, longfin smelt, juvenile striped bass and threadfin shad continue to collapse because of massive increases in Delta water exports in recent years.

Read the text of the resolutions.

* Adequate Funding, Policies and Standards for California Transportation

* Allow Counties and General Law Cities Public Campaign Finance Option (Clean Money)

* Apology from the Government of Japan for Wartime "Comfort Women"

* Assure That Parents Know Their Right to Opt-Out Of the Military Recruitment Requirement of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB)

* Bring Home and Support the California National Guard