Archive for February, 2009
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The jungle primary isn't just for Louisiana anymore.
In fact, it isn't for Louisiana at all, which has phased out the system for federal races. But the practice was recently adopted by Washington State. And if a State Senator from San Luis Obispo gets his way, it might be implemented in California, which will vote on a ballot measure on the jungle primary in 2010.
So what, you're probably asking, is a jungle primary? And what does all of this have to do with Joe Lieberman?
A jungle primary — political scientists prefer the term "nonpartisan blanket primary" — is one in which all candidates from all parties appear together on the same primary ballot. The top two finishers, regardless of party, then advance to a run-off election, which is held at the usual date in November. (In some iterations, although not California's, this second step can be circumvented if one candidate receives an outright majority of the vote on her first try).
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Not going to pass in California
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A Pentagon review of conditions in the Guantanamo Bay military prison has concluded that the treatment of detainees meets the requirements of the Geneva Conventions but that prisoners in the highest-security camps should be allowed more religious and social interaction, according to a government official who has read the 85-page document.
The report, which was ordered by President Obama, was prepared by Adm. Patrick M. Walsh, the vice chief of naval operations, and has been delivered to the White House. Obama requested the review as part of an executive order on the planned closure of the prison at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, on the southeastern tip of Cuba.
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Blame Booooooosh
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White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs jumped at the chance Friday to rebuke a CNBC reporter whose attack on President Barack Obama’s anti-foreclosure plan caught fire on the Internet.
Gibbs took on CNBC’s Rick Santelli in unusually personal terms after being asked a question about Santelli’s bracing critique during a regular White House briefing.
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Obama strikes back
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The painful budget process at our state and local school district level calls out for reform of California’s dysfunctional budgeting process. It is time for a sincere and frank conversation about reform. Central to this conversation is the idea of throwing out the two-thirds vote requirement to pass a budget and simply using a majority vote. Nearly every state in the nation and Congress, as well as counties, and cities use majority votes to pass their budgets. California should follow suit.
I understand that the minority party may feel that this would make them irrelevant to the process but, if anything, it would hold their majority party colleagues even more accountable.
Most importantly, a simple majority vote would protect our schools and districts from the instability they are forced to endure anytime the Legislature cannot reach a budget compromise.
It is time to bring about substantive changes to the way we do business in Sacramento — we owe the people of California this much.
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This is, without a doubt, the best correction of the week. Okay, the month. Aw, hell, I'll say it: Best. Correction. Ever
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Meg Whitman, a likely candidate for California governor, speaks in San Jose, Calif., on Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2009. The former eBay chief executive stressed her goals of job creation and limited government
Meg Whitman, a candidate for the GOP nomination for California Governor on Tuesday pledged to create two million more jobs in the Golden State – within five years.
Is this goal realistic?
Not really and as Dan Walters writes it is pretty much HOT AIR.
It’s doubtful whether anything she could do as governor would reach that goal, especially since she’d have to deal with a Legislature controlled by liberal Democrats who oppose her specific proposals. And really, do we really want rapid economic growth of those dimensions, even if it were possible? Probably not.
This state has had a boom-and-bust economy for too many years, with those cycles coming about once a decade. The defense spending boom of the 1980s, the hightech boom of the 1990s and the housing boom of this decade all went bust, leaving personal, economic and fiscal chaos in their wake. One effect was the state’s chronic budget crisis.
California desperately needs some economic equilibrium, with steady expansion to match our population growth.We need efficient infrastructure, and good education and job training programs to attract long-term investment in permanent new jobs.
The next governor should make those conditions a priority, not offer pie-in-the-sky promises that can’t – and shouldn’t – be kept.
Meg Whitman, the former CEO of e-Bay is a rookie in politics. She has never before run for office and has been a registered Republican only since 2007. In fact, she missed a number of elections as a California voter, including the Gray Davis recall election which elected current GOP Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Whitman is an accomplished business woman but her stands on the issues are very similar to moderate or RINO Schwarzenegger.
California voters six years ago took a chance with another rookie politician in Schwarzenegger and it has been a disaster – both for the California Republican Party and the California economy.
California cannot afford another rookie mistake.
Technorati Tags: Meg Whitman, Arnold Schwarzenegger
Tags: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Meg Whitman
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Day By Day by Chris Muir
Flap thought we are now in the era of “post racial” politics when the “The Obamessiah” was elected to the Presidency. You know, all of that HOPE and CHANGE?
But, now when someone dares criticize Obama for his policies, the Amen Choir of African American leaders, including Al Sharpton cry RACISM.
A New York Post cartoon Wednesday drew fire from civil rights activist Al Sharpton and others who say the drawing invokes historically racist images in suggesting an ape wrote President Barack Obama’s economic stimulus package.
The artist, Sean Delonas, called Sharpton’s reaction “ridiculous,” and the newspaper defended its decision to run his cartoon. But other African-American leaders joined Sharpton, who has been the butt of previous Delonas panels, in attacking what they called the cartoon’s racial overtones.
“Sean Delonas’ cartoon in today’s New York Post is insensitive and offensive,” National Urban League President Marc Morial said in a statement issued Wednesday afternoon. “Comparing President Obama and his effort to revive the economy in a manner that depicts violence and racist inferences is unacceptable.”
The cartoon showed two police officers standing over the body of a chimpanzee they just shot, a reference to this week’s mauling of a Connecticut woman by a pet chimp, which police killed after the attack. In the cartoon, one of the officers tells the other, “They’ll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill.”
The Cartoon:
Get used to this routine, every time there is criticism of President Obama. But, will the press allow “The One” to get away with it?
Only for a while.
Technorati Tags: Barack Obama, Day By Day, Al Sharpton, Sean Delonas
Tags: Al Sharpton, Barack Obama, Day By Day, Sean Delonas
1 Comment »
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Former President Bill Clinton gives President Barack Obama an "A" grade for his first month in office, but tells ABC News that Obama needs to put on a more positive face when speaking to the American people about the economy and must keep pressure on Republicans who try to obstruct his plans.
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The New York Times and Washington lobbyist Vicki Iseman have settled her defamation lawsuit in which she claimed that the newspaper had falsely suggested she had engaged in a romantic and unethical relationship with Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. On its Web site today, the Times issued a brief "Note to Readers'' explaining that its story, published a year ago this month, did not "intend to conclude'' that Iseman had engaged in an affair with McCain, or had acted unethically on behalf of her clients.
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Although a spokesman for President Barack Obama said the administration wouldn’t pursue the revival of the Fairness Doctrine, Republican Sen. Jim DeMint, S.C., wants Senate Democrats to go on the record one way or another on the issue.
DeMint, chairman of the Senate Steering Committee, said on Feb. 19 he will offer the Broadcaster Freedom Act as an amendment to the D.C. Voting Rights bill next week. The Broadcaster Freedom Act was introduced by Republican lawmakers last month and prevents the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from reinstating the Fairness Doctrine.
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We're No. 1 — only more so.
The budget deal the Legislature reached today will keep California's top personal income tax rate and sales tax rate the highest in the Union.
The deal will raise personal income tax rates by 0.25 of a percentage point across the board. The highest rate, on taxable income of more than $1 million, will rise to 10.55% from 10.3%.
The next-highest tax rate, on taxable income of more than $94,110 for a married couple filing jointly, will rise to 9.55% from 9.3%. For singles, the threshold for the new 9.55% tax rate is $47,055.
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Such an honor….
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After the longest continuous floor session in California history (45-plus hours), the state Senate is taking a long weekend.
Hours after the $40 billion-plus budget package passed this morning, Greg Schmidt, secretary of the Senate, sent out a notice to lawmakers' offices that read:
"In consideration of the fact that the Senate closed its protracted budget session at 6:30 a.m. this morning, the President Pro Tem has announced today, February 19th, and tomorrow, February 20th, will be Senate holidays. Capitol offices will be closed. Schedules for the District Offices are subject to the discretion of each Senator."
The Senate met continuously from Tuesday morning through Thursday morning. There was another all-night session from last Saturday evening through Sunday.
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Flying on Air Force One with America’s new first family feels much like popping over for pizza.
Natural, casual, warm.
What did I once write of the president and Michelle? Mr. Principal and Mrs. Math Teacher? Well. We’re all different things on different days in different settings. On this day—last Friday—the Obamas were attentive and gracious to five columnists invited to travel with them from Washington to Chicago, where the first family was spending the long weekend. (The others were Clarence Page, Ron Brownstein, E.J. Dionne and Bob Herbert.)
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It's almost done.
State senators were approving a deal to close the state's $40 billion budget deficit this morning after agreeing to give Sen. Abel Maldonado, R-Santa Maria, most of the changes he demanded in exchange for providing the crucial 27th vote.
Here's what he got:
* A constitutional amendment establishing an open primary system.
The measure will place on the June 2010 ballot an open primary proposal affecting congressional and state races in 2012 and beyond.
Under the plan, the top two candidates in a primary would face off in a general election. Candidates would not participate in partisan primaries, but they would be able to retain their party labels on the ballot.
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Sen. Abel Maldonado, R-Santa Maria, said he's ready to vote for the budget after scoring major concessions from legislative leaders as part of a plan to bridge a $40 billion deficit. The only remaining question is whether two-thirds of both houses will provide enough votes to give Maldonado what he wants.
As part of Maldonado's negotiated package, lawmakers will place on the June 2010 ballot an open primary proposal intended to favor more candidates such as him. The proposal would impact congressional and state races in 2012 and beyond. Under the plan, the top two candidates in a primary would face off in a general election. Candidates would not participate in partisan primaries, but they would be able to retain their party labels on the ballot.
Maldonado will be termed out of the state Senate in 2012. He is rumored to be considering a run for state controller in 2010, though he said he has not yet decided his political plans.
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Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (C) visits the Natanz nuclear enrichment facility, 350 km (217 miles) south of Tehran, April 8, 2008
Not really shocking.
Iran has now built up a stockpile of enough enriched uranium for one nuclear bomb, United Nations officials acknowledged on Thursday.
In a development that comes as the Obama administration is drawing up its policy on negotiations with Tehran over its nuclear programme, UN officials said Iran had produced more nuclear material than previously thought.
They said Iran had now accumulated more than one tonne of low enriched uranium hexafluoride at a facility in Natanz. If such a quantity were further enriched it could produce more than 20kg of fissile material – enough for a bomb.
“It appears that Iran has walked right up to the threshold of having enough low enriched uranium to provide enough raw material for a single bomb,†said Peter Zimmerman, a former chief scientist of the US Arms Control and Disarmament Agency
The new figures come in a report by the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN’s nuclear watchdog, released on Thursday.
This revealed that Iran’s production of low enriched uranium had previously been underestimated.
Iran has been stalling in negotiations for years and the United Nations hs been ineffective in stopping Iran from pursuing their nuclear ambitions.
Bush punted the ball to Obama.
Now, Obama wants to talk with Iran – as worthless as the United Nations. More appeasement of the Mullahs.
Flap wonders how long Israel plans to wait before bombing Iranian nuclear facilities?
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Kum Ba Yah Ahmadinejad
Technorati Tags: Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
Tags: Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
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Graphic courtesy of the John and Ken Show – Anthony Adams is the third head from the left between Abel Maldonado and Roy Ashburn
California GOP Assemblyman Anthony Adams from Hesperia voted for the Big-5/Big Tax California State budget this early AM and is already scrambling to be re-elected in 2010.
Republican Assemblyman Anthony Adams cast his “aye” budget vote at dawn today with full knowledge that, as he has said, “this will probably be the end of a political career for me.”
But that doesn’t mean the Hesperia Republican plans to go down without a fight. The second-term assemblyman spent much of Wednesday trolling the Capitol corridors, folder in hand, gathering endorsements from his caucus for his 2010 reelection.
“I think it’s important that people know that my caucus is supportive — that I’m not making any decision lightly,” Adams said on his way into a GOP member’s office Wednesday. “I’m also not making a decision outside the realm of our caucus. I’m not out there by myself or trying to engage in something that does not have the support of my caucus.”
This morning, Adams joined Assembly GOP leader Mike Villines and Assemblyman Roger Niello, R-Fair Oaks, as the three GOP votes needed, along with every Democrat, to pass the $40 billion budget deficit package in the lower house. The plan includes $15 billion in spending cuts, $12.8 billion in temporary tax increases, and $11.4 billion in borrowing.
By the time of the vote, Adams had gathered signed 2010 endorsements from every single Republican in the Assembly.
“While all the members may not feel the same way that I do about the matter, they are still very supportive of me and know that I’m doing this on principle and not for some giveaway or something like that,” Adams said.
A recall effort against him is already afoot.
Say good bye, moron.
If you are NOT recalled, you will have a GOP primary challenger in June 2010 to which you will lose. Plus, John and Ken will impale you today on Los Angeles radio.
You can run but you cannot hide.
Technorati Tags: Anthony Adams, John and Ken
Tags: Anthony Adams, John and Ken
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