Sacramento County

Michelle Rhee's Handiwork: Florida Diplomas For Sale And Much More

So Michelle Rhee hired Hari Sevugan away from the DNC to join her right-wing-in-liberal-clothing organization known as StudentsFirst. Presumably, Hari will rehabilitate the StudentsFirst image which has become irrevocably tainted with the stench of right-wing public school destruction. Hmmm.

This comes on the heels of Rhee's huddle with Rick Scott before he gutted Florida's public education system, her public support for Scott Walker's plan to limit teachers' bargaining rights (see video), lobbying on behalf of Ohio's SB5, a special appearance with Governor Kasich to screen Waiting for Superman, and her cozy support for Chris Christie's school-gutting ways.

They're not Jimi Hendrix, but still good

Monterey Next Generation Festival performance - Sacramento State Jazz Singers.

April 11, 2010.

Arrangement by Ian Brekke.

The singers, from left to right: Valerie Dickinson, Ian Brekke, Casey Lipka, Natalie Geeter, Kalin Walling, Melissa Fulkerson, Karen Cacho, Tim Stephenson, Gaw Vang. Under the direction of Kerry Marsh.

Some people think that's David Arquette in the picture, but don't be fooled, that's David Stern in all his "unbiased" finery. He screwed Sacramento (along with the other lottery teams out of Patrick Ewing) in the 1985 draft. Then he screwed Sacramento in the 2002 NBA Western finals. And he's the most thin-skinned mafia-like commissioner in the United States, possibly the world.

He couldn't get the votes from the other NBA owners for his co-conspirators to move to La-La-Land. Because guess what? There are myriad reasons why that's a bad move

So, what does he do?

He appoints the last, most hated, and vile owner of an NBA team who tried to extort hundreds of millions from the people of an NBA city, and then pathologically lied when making plans to move the team to OK City

I'll have more on this later

The Aggie

Students and representatives from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) held a press conference Tuesday to shed light on the Student Activism Team (SAT) - administrators' efforts to monitor campus action.

Only low level radiation so far. Click the pics to enlarge. The first one is of the jet stream for Friday March 18th; and the second is a graphic on the health effects

Few radioactive particles on U.S. west coast

VIENNA (Reuters) - Minuscule amounts of radioactive particles believed to have come from Japan's Fukushima nuclear power plant have been detected on the U.S. west coast, two diplomatic sources said Friday.

The level of radiation was far too low to cause any harm to humans, they said. One diplomat, citing information from a network of international monitoring stations, described the material as "ever so slight," consisting of only a few particles.

"Even a single radioactive atom can cause them to measure something and this is more or less what we have seen in the Sacramento station,"

Dudes, what's the deal with you acting like spoiled-rotten-little-snotty-stuck-up-teen-age girls?

Let me get this straight, you're asking the NBA to give you an extension to move the Kings to SoCal, right? Honestly, I don't know who's more pathetic, you, or Sacramento politicians (I'll get to them later, in another post). You don't have any idea what you have, you have exactly one unique selling point and I'll get to that at point 5 (hint, it has nothing to do with you, or the team). You might get the wrong idea with this post, but I've always liked you guys (you're straining that feeling now) and have defended you

Read this, and learn.

Point # 1) I hate to break this to you, but, the Kings are bad. Not just bad, but colossally bad. If there was a Mount Rushmore of bad teams in sports, the Kings would be on it, no question. If there was a list of bad teams with the worst at the top, the Kings would be the Yankees of that list.

Now, take into account point # 2

Point # 2) SoCal is the world capitol of superficiality. The word poser is synonymous with those who live in the Southland. In SoCal, there are more plastic surgeons who specialize in the use of silicone than teachers (slight exaggeration). If aliens ever came to study the human race for examples of conceit, ego centrism, and pomposity, they would go to SoCal. Being a bandwagon fan is a way of life -- bandwagon, as in only cheering and supporting winners (see point #1). They go to games late, leave early, and won't show up at all, if you're bad.

So, your grand plan is, to take a bad team, with absolutely zero history of winning, and move them to SoCal, in a market already saturated with 2 basketball teams, 2 hockey teams, 2 baseball teams, numerous college programs, surfing and just about anything else you can think of to do? And expect them to support you? ... Yea, good luck with that

More below ...

by Dan Bacher

Elrick "Rick" Caughey, a well known Sacramento human rights activist, passed away September 30 at age 90 surrounded by loving friends as he was in life. He will be remembered for his many volunteer activities and his leadership at the Unitarian Universalist Society of Sacramento.

At age 70, Rick learned Spanish and made many trips to Mexico, Spain, Peru, Cuba and Central America. His keen mind and lively interest in other cultures made him a sought-after traveling companion. He enjoyed all kinds of music, dance, and good food.

Rick believed in human rights for all, a belief he said came from watching his family feed "hobos" during the Depression and from serving in Europe in World War II. He worked such that people everywhere would have their basic needs met.

He participated in many historical events, including the WTO (World Trade Organization) protests in Seattle in 1999 and the Zapatista march on Mexico City in 2001. He was also a survivor of the Battle of the Bulge when he was in the military. He was an absolutely fearless individual that stood up against war, racism and violations of human rights wherever he went.

He was one of the key activists with the Central America Action Committee, Sacramento Area Peace Action, Zapatista Solidarity Coalition and numerous other peace and justice organizations. He was a regular participant in and organizer of protests, rallies, speaking engagements and other events regarding a variety of progressive issues. Everybody who knew and worked with Caughey over the years will miss him greatly.

Caughey was a member of the "Greatest Generation" who helped defeat the Nazis and Hitler's war machine in Europe. After the war, he married, raised a family and became an activist for peace and justice. If only there were more people who treated others like Caughey did and shared his commitment to human rights and social justice, this would be a much better world.

Rick is survived by his sister Mary and his beloved son, Clark with his wife and family. For more information about his memorial service on October 17 at 3 pm, please contact the Unitarian Universalist Society of Sacramento, 2425 Sierra Blvd, Sacramento, CA 95825-4803, (916) 483-9283. Honor Rick through donations to the Caughey Fund he set up for youth work at UUSS.

In the video, Rachel Maddow hi-lights a Wall Street Journal report on hypocrite Republican Lawmakers, starting off with Dan Lungren, who have railed against the Dems economic-stimulus package using their idiotic sophomoric fox news talking point reasons.

It's not a bad law because was too big --- it's a bad law because it wasn't big enough

Here's the full 8:18 video

Dan Lungren’s Lavish Pension

Posted on August 19, 2010 by Randy

As California Republicans address the “Pension Tsunami”
Lungren enjoys lavish LRS Pension

ELK GROVE, CA – On Saturday August 21, 2010, the California Republican Party is hosting their fall convention, which will feature a workshop on “The ‘Pension Tsunami Facing California.” The agenda for the workshop states that it will address the issue of lavish pension packages:

[...]

If California Republicans are really looking for “concrete examples of lavish pension packages,” they could look to one of their own: Rep. Dan Lungren. In 2009, Lungren received $55,697 in pension income from the California Legislators Retirement Pension (LRS) for only eight years of service as attorney general. (Financial Disclosure Statement, “Schedule I: Earned Income,” United States Clerk of the House, Dan Lungren)

Lungren’s LRS pension has far exceeded the pension income earned by the average state employee in California. According to calculations by the Orange County Register, under the pension plan offered to typical state employees, an 11-year employee would be eligible, at most, for $40,738 annually. (Orange County Register, 8/13/10)

Moreover, Lungren enjoyed a significant spike in his pension payments due to a 25.9% salary increase he received during his final month in office ...

KOVR video below

For an idea how stupid he is click here

GOP Assemblyman Ted Gaines to run for Cox's Senate seat

Assemblyman Ted Gaines announced today that he is running in the special election for the 1st Senate District seat.

The Roseville Republican, who is wrapping up his second term in the Assembly, pledged to continue to oppose tax increases if elected to the Senate.

"Since my election to the Assembly in 2006, I have worked hard to bring common sense conservative principles to the State Capitol," he said. "I will not support any tax increase on the people or businesses of California and I will never compromise my principles just to 'get a deal done' or move the process along."

Bad development
Sac County's new general plan means sprawl on steroids
By Mark Dempsey
This article was published on
08.05.10.

Sacramento County, California's poster child for bad development practices, is about to approve its general plan, a document that is supposed to guide future development. The plan promises to deliver ever more sprawl.

Our region's premier environmental organization, the Environmental Council of Sacramento, notes that it would likely open as much as 20,000 acres to outlying "greenfield" development, even though the county already has enough infill land for the next 20-plus years. Greenfield development is consumerism on steroids and the worst kind of sprawl, increasing both commutes and costly infrastructure.

The plan also ramps up our region's dependence on foreign oil. Aren't we supposed to be getting off this stuff? U.S. domestic oil production peaked in the early 1970s, and no amount of drilling offshore or in Alaska will return us to that peak. In 1971, the U.S. imported 30 percent of its petroleum at less than $2 per barrel. Currently, we import nearly 70 percent of our petroleum at roughly $80 per barrel.

Stop the Privatization of Sacramento’s Water by Beverage Bottlers
By Dan Bacher

The Nestlé Corporation last year was able to open a bottled water plant in Sacramento with no public input through a back door deal with Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson.

The Swiss corporate giant has been the target of a boycott by human rights groups for over 30 years because of the millions of children its infant formula, tainted with contaminated water, have killed throughout the Third World. This corporate criminal is buying tens of thousands of gallons of Sacramento City water at the bargain rate offered to local manufacturers and industries, according to local activist Darien De Lu.

Where Did the Money to Rebuild Iraq Go?

And, what has the war cost Sacramento?

Taxpayers in Sacramento, California will pay $1.2 billion for total Iraq and Afghanistan war spending since 2001. For the same amount of money, the following could have been provided:

369,256 People Receiving Low-Income Healthcare for One Year OR
13,314 Police or Sheriff's Patrol Officers for One Year OR
16,317 Firefighters for One Year OR
148,755 Scholarships for University Students for One Year OR
223,882 Students receiving Pell Grants of $5550 OR
656,044 Children Receiving Low-Income Healthcare for One Year OR
141,455 Head Start Slots for Children for One Year OR
440,995 Households with Renewable Electricity - Solar Photovoltaic for One Year OR
16,140 Elementary School Teachers for One Year OR
1,175,986 Households with Renewable Electricity-Wind Power for One Year