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California Energy Policy: Political Stalemate
Dan Walters of the Sacramento Bee has California needs coherent energy policy but gets political games.
With California’s population growing by more than a half-million souls every year, an adequate and dependable supply of energy – electric power and natural gas, particularly – is vital to the state’s economic and social future, as Thursday’s rolling blackouts in sweltering Southern California graphically demonstrated.
But, who will be held accountable?
Who is to blame?
A Republican Governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, who suceeded a recalled Democrat Governor Gray Davis, partly because of his failed energy policy and Gray-outs or a Democrat controlled legislature who is not accountable to voters because of the Democrat gerrymand of 2002?
But if what happened in the Legislature on Thursday is any indication, we may be waiting a long time for them.
The Senate, voting largely along party lines, rejected Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s ambitious scheme to reorganize the state’s confusing welter of energy agencies into a single Department of Energy, with Democrats angrily denouncing it as “constitutionally flawed and illegal,” in the words of Sen. Martha Escutia, D-Whittier. Escutia and others said they agreed with streamlining but that the plan violates conflict-of-interest laws and illegally takes power away from the Public Utilities Commission. “I want to do it right and if it means I take my goddamn time, I will,” said Escutia, who chairs the Senate’s energy committee. Later, she apologized “for using the Lord’s name in vain,” but added, “it’s still BS.” Republicans argued that the legal flaws could be easily fixed by passing an accompanying bill. “It’s simply a matter of political will,” said Sen. Bill Morrow, R-Oceanside.
Cute!
Perhaps the voters of California will rise up to send a message in the November special election.
In the meanwhile, watch for more rolling blackouts and increasing energy costs.
Technorati Tags: California, California Independent System Operator, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Martha Escutia, Bill Morrow
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Patrick Ruffini’s 2008 Presidential Poll for August: Poll Results
Poll Results are out for August, The Big One: Results & Analysis.
As of 7 a.m. EDT on August 26, with a whopping 16,437 votes cast, former Mayor Rudy Giuliani wins the Big One with 30.0%. Virginia Senator George Allen places second with 20.1%, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is a strong third at 14.3%, and Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney finishes fourth with 9.1%. On the fantasy ballot, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice laps the field with 37.7%, with Vice President Dick Cheney at 14.0%, Florida Governor Jeb Bush at 9.2%, and former Senator Fred Thompson at 8.1%. All four fantasy candidates finished above the main ballot candidates when voters were asked if they would switch their votes – among other things, a possible ballot design issue.
Changes from Last Month: George Allen won last month’s five way match-up over Giuliani by 37.2% to 30.7%. The two polls are not an apples-to-apples comparison since the field was opened up to more candidates. However, the July poll was (and is) still active on the sidebar; 764 votes were received on the five-way poll during the August voting, with the results as follows: Allen 36.1%, Giuliani 30.4%, Romney 11.1%, McCain 9.8%, and Frist 8.6%. So, little change in underlying opinion since July. What’s noteworthy here is that Giuliani effectively keeps all of his support when the field is opened up, but Allen loses about 16 points of his, suggesting that conservatives are still shopping around for a candidate. Mitt Romney keeps all but two points of his support – Giuliani and Romney may be gaining positive support from voters who like them and are not just voting against the field.
Guiliani will be a formidable candidate.
Now comes the really fun part – the state by state. Overall, Rudy wins in 39 states and the District of Columbia, Allen takes 8, favorite sons Brownback and Huckabee take their home states, and Romney crushes the field in Utah. I’ll take these by candidate, highlighting their strongholds. You can crunch the real time data on this page.
Flap does not foresee any conservative candidate or John McCain overtaking him.
A Guiliani – Rice ticket in November 2008 would be hard for Clinton – Richardson to beat.
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Air America Scandel: Friday Update
The Weekly Standard in their August 29th edition, has Nothing to See Here.
The Air America scandal continues to metastasize. The national board of directors for Boys and Girls Clubs of America is considering a formal staff recommendation that the organization expel its Bronx, New York, affiliate, the Gloria Wise Boys and Girls Club, for apparent involvement in–and concealment of–a scheme by which nearly $900,000 was improperly diverted to the liberal radio network from bank accounts intended to fund social service programs for disadvantaged children and the elderly. “It’s a very, very serious matter,” Boys and Girls Clubs spokesman Evan McElroy told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution last week.
And he’s not the only one who thinks so. At least two law enforcement agencies, the New York City Department of Investigation and the New York State attorney general’s office, have confirmed an active interest in the matter. And, tangentially at least, the courts are already involved, as well. Bloggers Michelle Malkin and Brian Maloney, who’ve together done more than anyone else to advance the story, now report that Air America is being sued by an unpaid creditor who alleges, among other things, that the network’s current parent company, Piquant LLC, is merely a sham reincorporation of the “predecessor” outfit that filched the Boys and Girls Club money.
Meanwhile, Byron Calame, “public editor” of the New York Times, has quietly filed a post to his “web journal” acknowledging that his colleagues “showed up late” to the Air America story and thus “poorly served” their readers.
Only after “weeks of articles by other newspapers” did the Times finally get around to noticing the scandal in its own backyard. And this oversight was especially regrettable, Calame allowed, in light of the “flurry of articles” the paper had run during the happy-face PR blitz surrounding Air America’s debut in the spring of 2004. It’s inconsistencies like these, he pointed out, that typically give rise to “a perception of liberal bias” at the Times, and before you know it, certain of the paper’s right-wingier subscribers are writing in to complain.
Calame does have some good news to report, however. In this particular case, at least, any perception of liberal bias at the Times is one “for which I haven’t found any evidence after checking with editors at the paper.”
In the meantime, Air America Radio host, Randi Rhodes is flying (perhaps in her charted jet) to Crawford to be with Cindy Sheehan.
And Evan Montvel Cohen, the former chairman of Ari America is still missing.
The New York Sun has a series of piece on the Air America Scandel, Air America Online Special Section.
Michelle Malkin has an excellent Friday round-up, AIR ENRON: FRIDAY MORNING UPDATES.
And these are some of the kids hurt by this scam.And….. the New York as well as Federal authorities continue to be very very quiet. Are they even looking for Evan Montvel Cohen?
Sheesh.
Ok, back to Crawford, New York Times……
Technorati Tags: Air America, Al Franken, New York City, Evan Cohen, theft, New York Times, Michelle Malkin, Randi Rhodes
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Day By Day by Chris Muir
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Cindy Sheehan Watch: She’s BACK and is Taking It to the Road
Anti-war protestor Cindy Sheehan, center, is surrounded as she places a pair of boots in front of a cross for her son Casey Sheehan following a news conference at Camp Casey near President Bush’s ranch in Crawford, Texas, Thursday, Aug. 25, 2005The ASSociated Press has Cindy Sheehan Planning Anti-War Bus Tour.
A fallen soldier’s mother said Thursday that the anti-war vigil she started nearly three weeks ago near
President Bush’s ranch won’t end when she and other protesters pack up their camp next week.Cindy Sheehan said the day after she leaves Aug. 31, she will embark on a bus tour ending up in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 24. Then the group will start a 24-hour vigil in the nation’s capital.
“I am not alone,” she said at a news conference Thursday. “There’s the people standing behind me here, but there’s thousands of military families … who want the same answers to the same questions.”
Now, this ought to be grand and probably alot of fights with Bush supporters along the way. Flap wonders if she will link up with traitor Jane Fonda’s Peace tour?
But, the leftie moonbat fringe love confrontational demonstrations ala Michael Moore. The question is what play will this have in the mainstream media? The Robert’s hearings will have started and Congress will be back in session.
Stay tuned.
Jeb Leutwyler puts up a sign supporting the troops and the Iraq war on a fence near U.S. President Bush’s ranch in Crawford, Texas August 25, 2005. War supporters are planning a massive rally August 27 in Crawford to counter the anti-war protest started by Cindy Sheehan earlier this month.Technorati Tags: Cindy Sheehan, President Bush, George Bush
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Southern California Power Outages
Flap has been in the dark (without electricity for about an hour).
The ASSociate Press has Rolling Blackouts Cut Power in California.
LOS ANGELES
Sweltering late-summer heat and the loss of a key transmission line Thursday forced power officials in Southern California to impose rolling blackouts, leaving as many as half a million people without power for an hour at a time, officials said.
The California Independent System Operator, which operates the state’s electric grid, declared a transmission emergency at 3:57 p.m., said Gil Alexander, a spokesman for SoCal Edison.
The ISO ordered the utility to reduce its demand, prompting blackouts in parts of Fontana, La Puente, Cathedral City, Huntington Beach, Long Beach and Ontario, Alexander said.
The utility planned to scatter the blackouts to lessen the impact, he said. Blackouts were expected to last about an hour before being shifted to other areas.
SoCal Edison has about 13 million customers in more than 400 Southern California cities and communities.
The Stage Three California ISO emergency has been cancelled and power restored.
Flap presumes that the major transmission line form Oregon to California hs been restored.
It would have been nice if the MSM (like television and radio) could have relayed the emergency warning (Cal ISO issues it one hour in advance) to the folks here in the greater Los Angeles area.
Technorati Tags: California, California Independent System Operator
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Surveillance for Dental Caries, Dental Sealants, Tooth Retention, Edentulism, and Enamel Fluorosis — United States, 1988–1994 and 1999–2002
The Morbidity and Mortality Weekly has Surveillance for Dental Caries, Dental Sealants, Tooth Retention, Edentulism, and Enamel Fluorosis — United States, 1988–1994 and 1999–2002.
Dental caries and enamel fluorosis historically have been common problems related to dental health in the United States. In addition, disparities among sociodemographic and racial/ethnic groups have been well documented. Since 1996, a consortium formed by CDC has used the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) to obtain epidemiologic estimates of dental conditions and preventive efforts. Among the objectives of NHANES are to assess the prevalence of oral diseases and conditions and the efforts to prevent disease and to monitor the oral health status of minority and underserved populations.
Interesting report and definitely required reading.
Technorati Tags: dentistry, dental, CDC, dental caries, enamel fluorosis
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Air America Scandel: The SHELDON DROBNY Connection
Michelle Malkin has INSIDE AIR AMERICA: THE SHELDON DROBNY FILES.
My investigative blog partner, Brian Maloney, watched the surreal appearance of Air America co-founder Sheldon Drobny on C-SPAN this weekend. Drobny was on the network to plug his 2004 book, “Road to Air America: Breaking the Right Wing Stranglehold on Our Nation’s Airwaves.” Click here for Brian’s exclusive transcript/analysis of Drobny’s remarks and the second half of our Sheldon Drobny files.
Our thanks to the caller from Dallas who broke the silence about the Air American financial scandals on the program. Drobny was visibly uncomfortable. As he should be.
Drobny, a deep-pocketed, self-described venture capitalist from Chicago, is a strange duck who deserves much more media scrutiny than he’s getting. In October 2003, NRO’s Byron York explored his moonbat writings for a fringe website called Make Them Accountable here. York noted Drobny’s Lyndon LaRouche connections and wrote:
In the 1990s, conservatives came under heavy criticism for relying on funding from the foundation run by Richard Mellon Scaife. Liberal commentators routinely portrayed Scaife as a right-wing zillionaire who harbored dark visions about the evil nature of his political adversaries. Now, it is a zillionaire on the left-the guiding force behind liberalism’s premier outreach effort-who harbors dark visions about the evil nature of his political adversaries. And that is the face of liberal talk radio.
Since then, however, neither the New York Times nor any other major MSM outlet has had anything more to say about the checkered past of Drobny and his wife, Anita, their apparent shell game habits, or their latest efforts to drum up new cash for the Air America money pit through the dubious “Nova M” business plan, which we first exposed here.
It is amazing to Flap that there have been no leaks from either the FBI or New York authorities as to the progress of their investigation.
Certainly, this charge of fraudulant conveyance and theft of federal funds should have piqued the interest of some prosecutor.
At the very least, the Congress should be requesting hearings on this whole Air America Scandel.
And what does Al Franken have to say?
And these are some of the kids hurt by this scam.Bleeding-heart liberals, beware. Like pied pipers in progressive clothing, Drobny and his wife may be coming to a town near you to entice you into Air America’s sea of red ink.
Don’t say you weren’t warned.
Go to The Radio Equalizer for the rest of our examination of Drobny.
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Related:ThinkDude has started a helpful timeline of Air America’s financial fiascos.
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Previous:Wednesday scandal updates
New York Post: The Money Pit
Inside Air America: The Lizz Winstead case
Fraudulent Conveyance 101
Multicultural Radio says Air America owes it $1.5 million
Inside Air America: An investigative blog report (Part II)
Air Enron: Morning update
Inside Air America: An investigative blog report (Part I)
Air Enron: Al Franken needs help
Air Enron updates
Air Enron: The dam bursts
Air Enron: NYTimes corrects
Air Enron: MSM errs and lags
Air Enron: The NYTimes speaks! (or rather, whispers)
Air Enron: Heads roll, victims shafted
Air Enron: No letting up
Air Enron: Franken speaks again
Air Enron: Elite media blackout contd.
Air Enron: quotes of the day
Air Enron: Spitzer steps in
Air Enron: questions, questions
Air Enron: the blame game
Air Enron: thumb-twiddling MSM
Silence of the race hustlers
Air Enron: Al Franken speaks
Air Deadbeat: the saga continues
The Air America loophole
Air America is scrambling
Air America: Don’t blame us
Air America: Stealing from poor kids?!Technorati Tags: Air America, Al Franken, New York City, Evan Cohen, theft, New York Times, Michelle Malkin
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Holistic Dentistry Watch: Tooth/Organ Chart
Does this mean if you extract tooth number 14 that your stomach and breast will shrink? For a more detailed view of the chart click here.
H/T: Raveco Holistic Dental Center
Technorati Tags: dentistry, dental, holistic dentistry
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Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bear Flag League, California, Politics, Proposition 75, Proposition 76, Proposition 77, Proposition 78, Special Election 2005
California Special Election Watch: Latest Public Policy Institute of California Poll
The Public Policy Institute of California has PPIC Statewide Survey: Special Survey on Californians and the Initiative Process, August 2005.
Some findings of the current survey
* A majority of likely voters across age, income, education, racial and ethnic groups, and in every region of the state, oppose holding a special election this fall.
* When asked which ballot issue was most important to them, a higher percentage of likely voters (16%) volunteered the answer “none†than named any one measure.
* At this time, likely voters are not very enthusiastic about the three reform measures on the fall ballot that are supported by the Schwarzenegger administration:
Proposition 74 (teacher tenure), 49% support, 42% oppose;
Proposition 76 (spending and funding limits), 28% support, 61% oppose;
Proposition 77 (redistricting), 34% support, 49% oppose.
* Governor Schwarzenegger’s approval ratings are at a low point: Only 34% of state residents approve of the way he is handling his job.
* The state legislature fares even worse, with a 27% approval rating.This is the 58th PPIC Statewide Survey and the first in a series of three surveys focusing on Californians and the initiative process. This special survey series is funded by The James Irvine Foundation.
The PPIC statewide survey can be found here.
Well, this news is mixed for the Governor with a little bad news for him and the Democrat legislative leaders.
However, on the bright side: the Paycheck Protection Initiative, Proposition 75, is handily winning with 58 per cent support, 33 per cent opposed and 9 per cent undecided.
Will the Governor finally embrace Proposition 75?
Technorati Tags: Arnold Schwarzenegger, California Recovery Team, California Special Election, Bear Flag League, Proposition 75, Proposition 76, Proposition 77
Cross-posted to the Bear Flag League Special Election Page