Progressive Media Advocates
From the celebratory atmosphere over the weekend at the California Democratic State Convention, titled: “California Democrats — A New Era,” held at the Sacramento Convention Center, one could get the impression that the Democratic Party’s base is strong and the leadership of the State Legislature has made all the right moves. There was a stunning [...]
On Thursday, December 18, frustrated with their inability to attract any Republican votes through long negotiations, both the State Assembly and the State Senate decided on an entirely different tack. They would pass a series of majority-vote bills to cut and change the current, 2008-09 budget. Though such a move would not get the state [...]
California is not doing very well. It has the largest budget deficit of any state, and its funding of schools, health care, transportation and other basic services is held hostage by far right-wing Republicans. Yet California is staunchly Democratic in presidential and U.S. Senate races, and produced the greatest number of Obama volunteers of any [...]
The 2008-09 budget which was passed in September of last year ( two and a half months late) contained several overly optimistic (I would say wildly unsustainable) assumptions concerning revenue: First, it assumed the sale of over $3 billion in revenue bonds, but no one wanted to buy California bonds. Second, it “borrowed” from over [...]
Barack Obama has been President for eight weeks, and much of the traditional media remains incapable of making sense of his agenda. In one corner we have hosts like Hardball’s Chris Matthews, who appears to be compensating for pro-Obama campaign comments by giving excessive voice to the president’s critics. Or we have CNN’s John King, [...]
The faculty in the California State University are deeply concerned about the rapid decline in the ability of our nation’s largest four-year university system to deliver higher education to all eligible students. Our public university system is staggering from deep cuts to state funding already made this year, last year, and earlier this decade. Now [...]
Literally from the first moment I walked into the California Legislature, and, probably, for years before that, my colleagues “across the aisle” (that is, Republican colleagues) have unceasingly advocated for the elimination of any and all state oversight boards. Pressed to articulate their reasons, they cite the usual mantra of “waste”, and insist that it [...]
Since winning election in 2003, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom has been a rising political star. His landmark support for gay marriage, followed by the California Supreme Court’s endorsing it as a “fundamental right,” left Newsom the candidate to beat in the 2010 Governor’s race. But Prop 8’s victory lent a double blow to Newsom: [...]
by David L. Brewer III and Scott Folsom – A week ago Friday and again last Monday the Governor called for a state budget to be out of the legislature and on his desk by Christmas; Christmas was last Thursday. It is now almost New Years and no budget.
In his first public appearance since his contract was bought out by the Los Angeles Board of Education, Superintendent David Brewer said his ouster will only make a bad situation worse
Fresh off a thrilling presidential campaign, California Democrats face a Governor’s race without a candidate that can rally a multi-racial, class-crossing grassroots base. The three most talked about candidates — Dianne Feinstein, Jerry Brown and Gavin Newsom — neither offer a sharply new direction nor provide the transformational message that was at the heart of [...]
It is happening across the country, and California is no exception. Democratic voter registration is up, a record turnout of voters is expected, and polls show independent voters trending Democratic and districts once thought safely in the hands of Republicans from the State Assembly to the Congress are up for grabs. This last happened in [...]
The remorseless Santa Anas that whistle across the Antelope Valley teach residents of Palmdale, Riverside, Victorville, and surrounding communities all there is to know about high desert winds. But this November, those same folks might get to know a different kind of wind—one that could blow a Democrat into statewide office to represent their district [...]
Wall Street is in meltdown. Banks are collapsing. Developers can’t get loans to build homes. Housing values are plummeting. Millions of Americans are facing foreclosure.
by Dick Price – When classes end at Reseda’s Grover Cleveland High School, American History teacher Ferial Masry drives across town to a restaurant, changes her clothes in the ladies room, and begins walking the streets of the western San Fernando Valley, a traditional Republican stronghold she hopes to represent in the California Assembly as [...]
The latest numbers are just in from the United States Census Bureau. According to analyses from the California Budget Project (CBP) they show that for low and middle income Californians there has been a decline in the real (inflation adjusted) household income. A separate analysis by Health Access California shows that more Californians are uninsured [...]
by Linda Sutton – Progressive Democrats of Los Angeles voted overwhelmingly to OPPOSE the Proposition 11 redistricting initiative on the November ballot. Their endorsement committee voted UNANIMOUSLY to recommend opposing it, because the complex measure will result in Republicans taking control of the redistricting agenda. This constitutional amendment would apply only to the state offices [...]
he Department of Education released their new definition of a “Drop Out” and the tracking system that will have cost us taxpayers over $33 million dollars when complete. The new system requires each student to be assigned a special number that follows them throughout their school life. This is necessary in order to know when [...]
We are trying to construct a more inclusive society. We are going to make a country in which no one is left out. — Franklin D. Roosevelt I interviewed San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom about what he personally feels are the most important progressive values. He mentioned several progressive values, such as, Interdependence, Stewardship, Empathy [...]
Want to live in a Red State? Want to have gridlock on redistricting in addition to the budget? Want to have the Republicans put in charge of “protecting” our coastline? This is the reality of the so-called “Voters First” proposition being put on the ballot this year by Arnold and his Republican fat cat cronies. [...]
I was at the Governor’s press conference yesterday afternoon to see and hear directly his announcement that he would veto any bills sent to him before a state budget is passed. You can read his remarks in their entirety as dutifully transcribed by the Governor’s press office and published on these pages yesterday.
By Ted W. Lieu — Just like unwary homeowners trapped in unsuitable loans and an ever-increasing mountain of debt, many of our nation’s lenders are facing significant difficulties remaining afloat.
The 45th Assembly District is characterized by high levels of gang violence, a lack of open space and parkland, and is one of the poorest Assembly District’s in the state of California. I have focused my efforts in Sacramento on improving the quality of life for my constituents and the millions of other Californians suffering [...]
By Tad Daley — I once asked a journalist friend, who had been chained inside the courtroom every single day of the O.J. Simpson trial, the obvious question. “Did he do it?” Or had the LAPD, instead, planted a boatload full of fake “evidence,” in an effort to frame the famous defendant? “How do you [...]
Some astute political observers are seeing a parallel between this year’s general election in California and the elections of 1976 when the Republican Party cratered in the aftermath of Watergate. I remember 1976 very well. It was the year I graduated from law school, passed the bar, became an attorney, and began working for an [...]
Legislation that would reform the foreclosure process in California for the benefit of homeowners trying to hold on to their homes passed the Assembly today on a 55 to 18 vote, just one vote above the two-thirds majority it required. Ten Republican Assemblymembers joined 45 of the 48 Democrats in voting for the bill, while [...]
Some wore Obama t-shirts, a few mourned Hillary’s exit, but the majority just talked about taking back our country from those who took us to war. Meeting near San Francisco last weekend, representatives to the California Democratic Party Executive Board, planned neighbor-to-neighbor voter outreach campaigns, passed resolutions calling for the elimination of water boarding and [...]
As we celebrate graduations from high schools all across California, the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) has released a sobering study, “Predicting Success, Preventing Failure: An Investigation of the California High School Exit Exam,” that shows that by the 4th grade those students who will pass or fail the California High School Exit Exam [...]
For the first time in 16 years (and only the second time in 40 years), the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Seat in the Second District has a vacancy. The L.A. County Board of Supervisors is one of the three most powerful seats in America, serving as both executive and legislative with no “check [...]
Lauren Steiner: Please help us spread the word across Los Angeles! Come with signs that say “Bruce Karsh, please don’t sell the LA Times to the Kochs” and “Bruce Karsh, our democracy is not for sale” We are gathering Thursday, May 23 for a rally and march.
JP Sotille: Everyone is a potential target in the War on Terror’s lingering “With Us or Against Us” protection racket, and drones are the crooked-nosed enforcers that kill without remorse, without hesitation and without accountability.
Carole Bartolotto: The good news is that you can easily replace cow’s milk with almond, soy, rice, hemp or coconut milk instead. I love Trader Joe’s Vanilla Almond Milk.
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