ACTION ALERT UPDATE: H.R. 4167 Vote Delayed

From Consumer's Union/NotInMyFood.org:

Congress was about to pass a bill this morning to gut food safety laws in California and across the country--without even holding a hearing on the bill! The good news: the House decided to delay the vote until next week, and they've actually scheduled time for debate on the issue!

Our representatives are finally listening--and now we need to keep the pressure on. Please forward this email to five people you think might want to help us preserve our state and local food safety net. Ask them to take action today! They can go to our food campaign home page at NotInMyFood.org.

H.R. 4167, the "National Uniformity for Food Act," lowers the bar on food safety by overturning state food safety laws that are not "identical" to federal law. The bill could directly harm consumers by increasing their exposure to food-borne illnesses, undermining the authority of state food safety officers, and overturning state food labeling laws. We need to stop this bill!

Industry supporters of this bill claim that they are "standardizing" food safety regulations - but don't be fooled. What this bill really does is lowers all state food safety regulations to the lowest federal standard. Local and state officials are now responsible for 80% of the nation's food safety enforcement, and this bill would restrict the ability of local officials in California to protect you and your family as best they can.

We need stronger protections for our nation's food supplies, not weaker ones. We now know that Congress is listening to us - and your email to five friends today can defeat this bad idea! They can write to their lawmakers from our food campaign home page: NotInMyFood.org.

Missed It By That Much, Chief

This Liar and Incompetent Should Resign Out of Shame Alone

AP has the story and videotape.

In dramatic and sometimes agonizing terms, federal disaster officials warned President Bush and his homeland security chief before Hurricane Katrina struck that the storm could breach levees, risk lives in New Orleans' Superdome and overwhelm rescuers, according to confidential video footage of the briefings.

Bush didn't ask a single question during the final government-wide briefing the day before Katrina struck on Aug. 29 but assured soon-to-be-battered state officials: "We are fully prepared."

Six days of footage and transcripts obtained by The Associated Press show in excruciating detail that while federal officials anticipated the tragedy that unfolded in New Orleans and elsewhere along the Gulf Coast, they were fatally slow to realize they had not mustered enough resources to deal with the unprecedented disaster.

Linked by secure video, Bush's bravado on Aug. 29 starkly contrasts with the dire warnings his disaster chief and a cacophony of federal, state and local officials provided during the four days before the storm.

A top hurricane expert voiced "grave concerns" about the levees and then-Federal Emergency Management Agency chief Michael Brown told the president and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff that he feared there weren't enough disaster teams to help evacuees at the Superdome.

"I'm concerned about ... their ability to respond to a catastrophe within a catastrophe," Brown told his bosses the afternoon before Katrina made landfall.

Some of the footage conflicts with the defenses that federal, state and local officials have made in trying to deflect blame and minimize the political fallout from the failed Katrina response:

-Homeland Security officials have said the "fog of war" blinded them early on to the magnitude of the disaster. But the video and transcripts show federal and local officials discussed threats clearly, reviewed long-made plans and understood Katrina would wreak devastation of historic proportions. "I'm sure it will be the top 10 or 15 when all is said and done," National Hurricane Center's Max Mayfield warned the day Katrina lashed the Gulf Coast.

"I don't buy the `fog of war' defense," Brown told the AP in an interview Wednesday. "It was a fog of bureaucracy."

-Bush declared four days after the storm, "I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees" that gushed deadly flood waters into New Orleans. But the transcripts and video show there was plenty of talk about that possibility - and Bush was worried too.

Note: The AP videoplayer requires that you use Internet Explorer.

ACTION ALERT: H.R.4167 - Stop the Rollback of State Food Safety and Labeling Laws!

Congress is at it again. The folks that brought us the weakening of organic food labeling laws are now looking to roll back state food safety and labeling laws via H.R. 4167. From Friends of the Earth:

Urgent Action - Stop the Rollback of State Food Safety and Labeling Laws!

A bill is pending in the United States House of Representatives that would eliminate dozens of food safety and labeling laws. The bill, H.R. 4167, the National Uniformity for Food Act, does this by stripping away the power of states to regulate food safety.

This bill is set to hit the House floor for a vote this Thursday, March 2nd - please contact your representatives TODAY and urge them to vote NO on HR 4167!

Here is how the bill works. Under the guise of promoting "uniformity" of food safety and labeling laws in the U.S., the bill requires all state food safety laws to be identical to the requirements of the Federal Food and Drug Administration. If the FDA has not passed a regulation on a food threat, then all state regulations on that threat would immediately be voided. And, since the states regulate many food safety issues not covered by the FDA, many food safety laws will be voided and replaced with no law at all. For example, the bill would preempt Alaska's newly passed law to label genetically engineered fish and California's Proposition 65, a very effective law that requires labeling of food and consumer products that contain substances known to cause cancer or reproductive harm. It would also threaten state laws governing the safety of milk and shellfish.

The "uniformity" to be achieved by the bill is in many instances the uniform absence of food safety regulation that the food industry seeks.

Local and state officials are now responsible for 80% of the nation's food safety enforcement. H.R. 4167 puts a strangle hold on the people most informed about local needs. It is opposed by dozens of environmental health groups, by California's State Attorney General Bill Lockyer, the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture, the Association of Food and Drug Officials, the National Conference of State Legislators and the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture.

If this bill passes, not only will hundreds of current state food safety laws face being overturned, future state food safety and labeling initiatives could be impossible to put in place.

There are currently 226 co-sponsors in the House of Representatives to pass the bill in the House, so every letter is needed to ensure that these Representatives understand what a bad bill this is.

CONTACT YOUR REPRESENTATIVE NOW AND URGE THEM TO VOTE NO ON H.R. 4167!

And The Evidence Grows...

Good ol' Joe Lieberman. His kindly heart must be doing somersaults in his chest. Why? Because the "Democratic" senator just may be getting one sweet endorsement. From Republican congressman Chris Shays:

In an interview today with the editorial board of The Advocate of Stamford, Shays said he intends to vote for Lieberman and is encouraging a Republican endorsement of the three-term senator.

Not that he'd accept a Republican endorsement:

"Would he accept the endorsement of the Republican Party? No, he is seeking the Democratic Party nomination," said Casey Aden-Wansbury, his communication director. She said no one representing Lieberman has discussed a cross-endorsement with Republicans.

Still, I'm sure that, in his inner, inner sanctum, Joe's doing a happy happy joy joy dance. Because the Republicans like him. They really like him!

Is that an elephant in Joe's front yard? I think it just might be...

We Gotta Lotta Educatin' To Do

From AP: Americans apparently know more about "The Simpsons" TV show than about the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

Only one in four Americans can name more than one of the five freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment (freedom of speech, religion, press, assembly and petition for redress of grievances.) But more than half can name at least two members of the TV cartoon family, according to a survey.

The study by the new McCormick Tribune Freedom Museum found that 22 percent of Americans could name all five Simpson family members, compared with just one in 1,000 people who could name all five First Amendment freedoms.

Read on (AP)....

Study summary at the Freedom Museum website (click on Press Releases).
Complete survey report (pdf)

Amendment I

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

The Professor and Mary Ann....

The DubVinci Code

So Cal Radio Ratings

Hoffmania.com summarizes the radio trends nicely:

The Arbitrends for Los Angeles came out today, and Richard Mellon Scaife will probably want his money back - his messengers have lost listeners by the boatload. These are month-to-month extrapolated ratings (not rolling three-month average) for listeners 12+.

• Limbaugh drew a 4.1 last month. This month he dropped to a 3.3.*
• Sean Hannity was at a 2.7 last month. He's now at a 1.8.*
• Laura Ingraham: 1.1 to 0.8.
• Dennis Prager/Michael Medved: 1.2 to a 0.7.*
• Hugh Hewitt: 1.3 to 0.7.

*These are 10am-3pm ratings. Limbaugh is on 9am-noon. O'Reilly's on 9 to 11am on the same station. Hannity's on noon to 3pm.

How did KTLK, the Air America station do? Overall, 0.5 to 0.9, making it the only talk station in L.A. to score an increase.

• Stephanie Miller (mornings): 0.7 to 1.0.
• Al Franken (9 to noon)
• Ed Schultz (noon to 3): 0.7 to 1.0.
• Randi Rhodes (3 to 7pm): 0.7 to 1.0.

KTLK's 7pm to midnight surged from a 0.2 to a 1.0. Not to diminish Seder, Garofalo and Malloy, but KTLK still runs Clippers basketball thanks to an old contract, and they've been on a tear. The fact that this station pulls these kinds of numbers with a HORRENDOUS signal is a small miracle.

By the way, don't write this off as being liberal ol' Hollywood. The GOP stronghold of Orange County is included in this, too.

UPDATE: Here are the L.A. numbers from "the money demographic" - 25-54 year olds:

Limbaugh: 3.3 to 2.9.
Hannity: 1.8 to 0.5. (Ouch)
Ingraham: 0.9 to 0.6.
Prager/Medved: 1.4 to 0.3.
Hewitt: 1.4 to 0.9.

KTLK (Air America):
Miller: 1.1 to 1.1
Franken/Schultz: 0.7 to 0.7
Rhodes: 0.9 to 1.3. (That's my girl!)
Garofalo/Seder/Malloy/Clippers: 0.3 to 1.0.

Deconstructing Failure

At the TED Conference (Technology, Entertainment, Design) last weekend in Monterey, CA.....

Presenter Tony Robbins -- he of motivational speaking fame -- asks for reasons people give when they fail. The audience yells out “bad management”, “not enough resources”..... the usual suspects.

Al Gore, in the audience at the time (and who had previously spoken to the conference) chimed in, “The Supreme Court”. (Confirmed by multiple attendees.)

Arnold on Meet the Press

RUSSERT: You said when you ran at first, "I don't need to take money from anybody." But you're going to be raising thousands and thousands of thousand dollars from people who do business and have contracts with the state government.

SCHWARZENEGGER: I want to correct you. I said I would never take money from unions, that I would never take money from Indian gaming tribes. I take money because you need to take money.

Election season 2006.... so the lies have started again.

Arianna has a more detailed analysis of the interview at Huffington Post. (Search for the word "campaign" to find the start of the Arnold section.)

New Orleans - a Historic Viewpoint

As we look to the new hurricaine saeson rapidly approaching and we see the incompetence of the admisistration
to either mitigate or improve the situation a number of unresolved questions come to the fore. Do we rebuild, no
question, but let's look at the problem beneath the surface.

New Orleans is one of the oldest cities in North America, the oldest being a spanish site now Saint Augustine
in Florida. New Orleans, a River and Sea Port city of the French here before Thomas Jefferson purchased the
Louisiana Territories from Napoleon. It has to be rebuilt as both a cultural city and as Senator Gary Hart said
on the Bill Maher Show on HBO last Friday'; it is the major port for the mid west up the Mississippi Valley.
Has anyone found a more responsible way to deal with the sea and reclamation? Yes, the Netherlands for
one; they have reclaimed massive amounts of land from the Zidder Zee. Remember the dikes of Holland and
the use of elevated land to hold back the sea.

So what is my plan, so to speak; as someone whose family is from New Orleans I would say this on that.
Use reclaiming technology to raise sections of the crescent city so that instead of levees you would have
heights of large areas protecting the basin of the French Quarter. You would guarantee that the former land
owners and renters be given homestead rights that protected their home sites for at least 18 months. Place
prohibitions in place to prevent a modern form of Scaliwag from again stealing southern land for development.

We are left with the problem that the government has not been able to truly rebuild Iraq; has not been able to
rebuild the gulf coast or New Orleans; nor do anything concrete besides wasting or diverting millions to billions
to some company named Halliburton. Dick Cheney is definitely being underpaid with that 1 million he gets as
the former CEO; if he was a salesman on commission his cut would be much larger. Wecan only hope that
the newly headed FEMA can extricate itself from the Homeland Security monilith that to date has enlarged
the size of government with little to show for it. If it was capable of doing it's job; why are we selling off parts
of our ports to the United Arab Emirates. That is a question for another days blog.

The United States is holding a fire sale - no democracies need apply

  Just the other night a political coworker and ally sent out an e-mail
for a meeting and asked if there were any burning issues.   In response
I wrote back that there should be firesale and the more I thought about it
the more I realized it was true.  What is this burning issue you might ask?
It's is tragically simple.  That issue is that this country under it's
neoconservative leadership is holding a literal firesale of all the
fundamentals of our so called democracy.  What do we have for sale;
why we have an old Constitution that is no longer used except for
denying citizens their fundamental rights under a strict constructionist
view that only finds value in the Federalist Papers.  Then there is the
Bill of Rights with a few rights left intact.  A relatively free press if you
allow that you are free as a corporation to own as much as you want
and that the public airways are becoming more private all of the time.
We have a concept of "liberty and justice" now enforced by an Attorney
General whose legal writing heretofore included legal reasons for not
following the Geneva Convention.  His other works of legal acumen
include supporting off shore prisons that need not guarantee any rights
to it's prisoners.  Now when it comes to Homeland Security, we are
selling our Ports to international concerns while postering about a
campaign against terrorism.  I won't dignify it by mislabeling it a war!
In the former parlance of international law there was a concept of
"Terrorist States", that promoted such acts of violence by national policies.
When you look at this country through the eyes of the world; we sadly
qualify as such a state.  Our international relations forment violence,
promote intolerance, and have created a new "Crusades".   Do you
remember when this president used such a phrase to explain our actions
in Iraq.  We have sadly become both those things we were accused of
back in the cold war, albeit at the time incorrectly.  As Pogo, the cartoon
from the war years once said during the "red baiting" McCarthy era;
"We have met the enemy, and they are us"!  We are now in many
quarters the Ugly American, and this president has become a
warmonger.  Don't forget - the United States is having a Fire Sale,
and no democracies need apply.
  



 

Action Item

If you are a woman, or someone you know or love is a woman, or you think you might know what it's like to be a woman, and you are sickened by the bill passed by the South Dakota state legislature which proposes banning ALL abortions, please do the following:
Step 1: Get hangers from drycleaner
Step 2: Put them in a box
Step 3: Send it to one of the legislators who voted in favor of the ban http://legis.state.sd.us/sessions/2006/SJR2.htm
Step 4: Encourage everyone you know to do same.

I'm sending mine to Julie Bartling, the DEMOCRAT who is the bill's primary sponsor.

Wrap Him Around Their Necks

From AP: Republicans Rally To Support DeLay

U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay was likened to Stonewall Jackson, Lyndon Baines Johnson and a courageous World War I officer Thursday as members of the Texas Republican congressional delegation joined the former House majority leader to endorse his re-election.

The unusual display of GOP solidarity was remarkable for DeLay, who is aggressively campaigning for re-election to the seat he has held comfortably for 22 years. This year he faces a contested primary March 7, and if he wins, a credible candidate in Democrat Nick Lampson in November.
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The Republicans took turns singing DeLay's praises as a selfless leader who not only helped get them elected, but also won Republican majorities in Congress and the Legislature, and brought home the bacon for NASA, the port of Houston and other local needs.

U.S. Rep. Henry Bonilla of San Antonio likened him to LBJ, the former Democratic president from Texas, for "altering the political axis in our state."

U.S. Rep. John Carter, who represents the Central Texas Hill Country, likened DeLay to a World War I lieutenant who led his men out of a trench into battle and is "willing to have a target on front and back saying, 'shoot me first.'"

And U.S. Rep. John Culberson of Houston said DeLay was like Stonewall Jackson, willing to take the shots on behalf of the GOP troops.

Bonilla noted that such an event was unprecedented in a primary season and was a signal of the loyalty DeLay has engendered in Washington.

A Lampson spokesman saw it differently, recalling that Vice President Dick Cheney also headlined a fund-raiser for DeLay last year.

"He's had the vice president bail him out, and now he's got to have the delegation prop him up. That's got to be humiliating," Mike Malaise said.
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DeLay hugged his wife, Christine, as he thanked the group."The Democrats are picking a fight with the wrong delegation," he told a small crowd.

Read on....

There's a Joke Here, But I'll Let You Write It

Headline From AP:

Neanderthals in Europe Killed Off Earlier

LONDON - Neanderthals in Europe were killed off by the advance of modern humans thousands of years earlier than previously believed, losing a competition for food and shelter, according to a scientific study published Wednesday.

Read the rest...

Tonight: Conference Call With Senator Debra Bowen on Voting Machines

In light of CA Secy of State McPherson's stealth and dishonest announcement certifying Diebold voting machines in California for upcoming elections, Senator Debra Bowen is holding a conference call tonight (Wednesday). Details below on participating.

The Brad Blog has a good write-up on McPherson's actions and what we as citizens can do about it. Senator Bowen (who's running to replace McPherson in 2006) will undoubtedly bring us up-to-the-minute news and action items.

Read the Senator's latest statement "Stop the Diebold Rush Job" at her blog.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

From the California For Democracy (CFD) and Democracy For America (DFA) invitation:

CONFERENCE CALL WITH SENATOR DEBRA BOWEN
Chair of the Senate Elections, Reapportionment, and Constitutional Amendments Committee

WHEN: Weds. February 22, 7:30pm (We'll start the actual event at around 7:35pm)

AGENDA:
Senator Bowen is a leading voice on election reform in California, and she plans to discuss the latest developments around the certification of Diebold electronic voting machines, as well as her work on restoring confidence in our elections system, reforming our initiative process, and her priorities as California's next Secretary of State.

DIAL-IN INFORMATION:
Information will be sent to you upon receipt of your RSVP

TO RSVP:
Email facilitator@californiafordemocracy.com

LOGISTICAL DETAILS
The conference service will be available at 7:30pm, but we'll wait 5 minutes before starting the actual call. Please try and sign in between 7:25pm and 7:35pm. The line will be open to all b/w 7:25pm and 7:35pm so feel free to announce yourself and what group you are from. At 7:35pm, we'll change the call to presentation mode to eliminate the sounds of barking dogs, crying babies, fire engines, and other miscellaneous distractions ;-) and introduce Senator Bowen. Senator Bowen will start the discussion with brief opening remarks and then open it up for Q.

ABOUT SENATOR DEBRA BOWEN
Since being elected to the Assembly in 1992, Senator Bowen has earned a reputation throughout California as an effective and independent voice for reform, open government and consumer advocacy. As Chair of the Senate Elections Committee, she has been at the forefront of efforts to ensure the accuracy and integrity of our voting process. She has taken strong reform-oriented stands in the areas of electoral systems, the initiative process, voter privacy, respecting voter intent, and in many other areas as well. Senator Bowen was one the first lawmakers to introduce a permanent absentee voting process. Senator Bowen's record on issues outside of the elections arena is as impressive as her record on election related topics, including her efforts to fight identity theft, and protect the environment. Finally, she has worked hard to make government more transparent and make important government information available to the public.

For more information about Senator Bowen and her campaign for Secretary of State, see: www.debrabowen.com

We hope that you will join us for a great discussion with Senator Bowen on Wednesday night.

Yours for a better democracy,

California for Democracy Steering Committee
Tom Brown, Mal Burnstein, Vicki Cosgrove, Carolyn Curtis, Rob Dickinson, Michael Faulkner, Agi Kessler, Jo Olson

The Single Pellet Theory

In the 1940 Marx Brothers movie "Go West", Groucho plays a character named S. Quentin Quale. In a moment of comic gun-toting bravado, he rechristens himself as "Two Gun Quale".

McPherson Certifies Diebold in CA THIS MUST NOT STANDBowen Issues Condemnation

From John Gideon at The Brad Blog:

HACKABLE DIEBOLD MACHINES COVERTLY RE-CERTIFIED IN CALIFORNIA BY SOS!

State Senator Outraged, Says Machines, Certification Violates State, Federal Standards and Law...

SoS' Own Report Agrees! McPherson Waits Until 5pm Friday of Holiday Weekend to Announce!

[Guest Blogged by John Gideon (with some
additional updates/info from Brad)]

Secretary of State McPherson seems to have a thing for making major announcements late on Fridays just before holidays. Following in what seems to be a pattern of his, he announced late this afternoon that he was certifying Diebold Optical Scan and AccuVote TSx (touch-screens) for use in elections in the state.

The re-certification (they had been originally decertified in California in 2004 when it was revealed Diebold had installed illegal software updates on the machines) is conditional on some items but not on the one thing point he had announced last December when he sent the system back to federal authorities for further testing. At that time he said he was sending the machine's memory cards to the federal Independent Testing Authority (ITA) Lab for reinspection in light of the news out of Leon County, Florida that the cards used "intepreted code" which is specifically banned by the Help America Vote Act (HAVA). A "hack test" in that county revealed that an entirely election could have its results flipped by a hacker exploiting that "interpreted code" -- without a trace being left behind.

McPherson made his announcement today without waiting to hear back from the ITA lab.

Last summer, after a massive mock election test with Diebold touch-screen machines revealed that 10% of them failed entirely with screens freezing and printers jamming -- later reports would reveal that as many as 30% of the machines actually failed! -- McPherson said, "We certainly can't take any kind of risk like that with this kind of device on California voters."

Apparently the Secretary of State of America's largest "voting market," as Diebold refers to it, was just kidding about that.

State Senator Debra Bowen, (D-Redondo Beach), the chairwoman of the Senate Elections, Reapportionment, & Constitutional Amendments Committee issued the following Press Release after learning of McPherson's remarkable decision.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 17, 2006

BOWEN ON SECRETARY OF STATE’S DECISION TO RE-CERTIFY DIEBOLD MACHINES FOR USE IN CALIFORNIA

SACRAMENTO – “How the Secretary can re-certify the Diebold machines when they don’t comply with California law, they violate the standards set by the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) that the Secretary said he intended to follow, and he still doesn’t have the report back from the ITAs that he said he was waiting for is beyond me.”

That’s how Senator Debra Bowen (D-Redondo Beach), the chairwoman of the Senate Elections, Reapportionment, & Constitutional Amendments Committee, reacted to today’s decision by the Secretary of State to re-certify Diebold’s electronic voting machines for the 2006 elections.

Continued...

Deadeye Dick Peppers the Target

The Little Orange Vest Project

From Monk at Inflatable Dartboard!

Who can forget the image of GOP supporters who hoisted their blue stained finger tips in the air to show support for past Iraqi elections? Never mind the fact that the symbolism was laughable in the sense that the only democracy that will emerge will be one that the current US administration approves of.

So I introduce "The Little Orange Vest Project". We will be manufacturing tiny orange hunting vests that people can carry around, slide on their finger and hold up proudly in the air.

These can be worn at protests, GOP speaking engagements or better yet... just hold one up when debating neocon lunkheads face to face.

The tiny orange vests symbolize everything that is wrong with this administration:

Firing without having a clear idea of what the outcome will be and then scrambling deceitfully to control the disastrous outcome.

Lift them high America. They're tiny hunting vests. They smell of freedom.

Link to original post....