Politics: Contact your representatives
For a quick and easy way to reach your representatives in the House and Senate, go to <The Peace Table> and enter your ZIP code in the appropriate space on the "Write to Congress" button.
Alarcon and Villaraigosa support Ballona Wetlands protection
In the election on March 8th, Westside voters will be asked to choose a new mayor for Los Angeles and a Council District 11 representative (Pacific Palisades, West L.A., Mar Vista, Venice, Westchester, Playa del Rey).
I'd never advocate choosing a candidate on the basis of one issue. But sometimes local matters say something about the bigger picture. The Ballona Wetlands Land Trust asked the candidates if they support the protection of the Ballona Wetlands and oppose the Playa Vista development expansion.
The ones who said yes are Richard Alarcon and Antonio Villaraigosa, a fact that those considering voting for Bob Hertzberg 'cause he is cuddly might want to keep in mind. Council candidates Bill Rosendahl and Angela Reddock also support protecting Ballona.
I'll have some more thoughts on the choice for mayor before election day. In the meantime, voters who are concerned about Los Angeles' development priorities, especially as they impact the environment, may want to take a closer look at Alarcon and Villaraigosa. Ballona Wetlands Land Trust; Alarcon for Mayor; Villaraigosa for Mayor.
I'd never advocate choosing a candidate on the basis of one issue. But sometimes local matters say something about the bigger picture. The Ballona Wetlands Land Trust asked the candidates if they support the protection of the Ballona Wetlands and oppose the Playa Vista development expansion.The ones who said yes are Richard Alarcon and Antonio Villaraigosa, a fact that those considering voting for Bob Hertzberg 'cause he is cuddly might want to keep in mind. Council candidates Bill Rosendahl and Angela Reddock also support protecting Ballona.
I'll have some more thoughts on the choice for mayor before election day. In the meantime, voters who are concerned about Los Angeles' development priorities, especially as they impact the environment, may want to take a closer look at Alarcon and Villaraigosa. Ballona Wetlands Land Trust; Alarcon for Mayor; Villaraigosa for Mayor.
SM Public Library On Line
The newly upgraded Santa Monica Public Library website is a terrific 24/7 resource for readers, writers, and researchers. The site has easy access to a world of online databases, including thousands of periodicals, books, indices and directories. Sign up for a library card, renew your checked-out items, get a question answered by a librarian using "Ask Now," or watch the new library building being constructed on the webcam. <http://www.smpl.org/>
See also: SMPL offers free internet access
See also: Edifice Wrecks: Building the New Santa Monica Library
See also: SMPL offers free internet access
See also: Edifice Wrecks: Building the New Santa Monica Library
Travel: ExperienceLA.com
Although the L.A. Convention & Visitors Bureau seems uncharacteristically shy about taking credit, the website guide to the Los Angeles region it has created is very useful, especially for its emphasis on public transporation (did you know, for instance, that with a Metro Day Pass you can experience LA for only $3 a day?). <http://www.experiencela.com/>
The Dems' New Dean
Democratic activists have a right to feel optimistic about Howard Dean's election as party boss (I know, he's not supposed to influence policy, but we can wish).
Typically, the Democratic National Committee's chair is supposed to be seen fund raising and not heard. Business-as-usual would demand that the head of the DNC be a technocrat in service to the conservative Democratic Leadership Council. At least half the pleasure of the governor's victory came from watching the corporatist Dems squirm.
With the out-of-power party being led by back-benchers like the inestimably wily Harry Reid and the stolid Nancy Pelosi, and with the Night of the Living Dead-visage of John Kerry lurking in the political shadows, it is left to Governor Dean to try to make elected Democrats live up to expectations.
Unlike his accommodationist partymates in D.C., Dean agrees with the rank and file that, to beat the Republicans, the Democratic Party must be both tough and right. The uncompromising Liberalism of Roosevelt and Truman won the Democrats four decades of dominance in Washington. Compare that with GOP-lite Clintonism which surrendered the keys to the kingdom in 24 months. Bill Clinton may have been the greatest Republican president since Lincoln, but his political charisma wasn't used to advance a liberal agenda and it never rubbed off on his nominal party.
As Dean put it during the campaign, we need to be proud again to be Democrats. That will happen only if we are prepared to fight for economic justice and to protect our basic political rights. It won't happen by meeting Bush halfway down the road to hell.
Here is Howard Dean's DNC Plan, as posted on the party's website:
1. Show up! Democrats should never concede a single state, a single district, or a single voter to the Republicans. We must be active and compete in all 50 states and work with the state parties to build a true national party.
This is a big change, of course, from the leadership's emphasis on winning a few closely contested seats and battleground states in the hopes of eking out a narrow majority. Electing a Southern moderate or two begs the question of why the Democrats should be given control of Congress. When the conservative radicals seized the federal government, first with Gingrich and then with Bush-Cheney, they already knew what they wanted to do to it.
2. The success of the national party depends directly on the success of the state parties — we must better integrate our operations by:
* Having the DNC pay the salary of each state party executive director to help ensure that the state parties have adequate funds.
* Collectively building and sharing supporter lists between the national and state parties.
* Recruiting, training, and encouraging candidates to run for office at every level — building tomorrow's farm team from the ground up.
* Actively grow local Democratic committees and communities by working with neighborhood activists who can reach out in their communities and enable the grassroots to support state and local candidates.
* Maintaining a permanent campaign in every state. We need to establish an ongoing, active presence, which does not have to be recreated every four years for four months.
You won't find anyone arguing against the idea of a people's democracy; it is an article of faith among Americans, often honored in the breach, it's true, but a core belief nonetheless, that the democratic process provides the best mechanism by which a society's members can decide how to conduct themselves. If Dean is sincere, this emphasis on the grass roots will shake the Democratic Party to its foundations and by its nature end the domination of the party by corporate interests. Already, grass roots organizing is happening in California, among other places. Again, the enemy must be the inspiration: conservatives have done a bang-up job of energizing their base at the school board/city council level. Now progressives need to get back in the game, and the Democratic Party, barring some serious and unlikely electoral reform, is the best potential vehicle for doing so.
3. Set core principles that define the Democratic Party and what we stand for and take a bottom-up approach to the development of the Party's message;
I remain convinced that the party's -- and the country's -- interests would be served best by making economic justice the heart of Democratic Party program. By concentrating on three issues -- national health insurance, social security and the minimum wage -- the Democrats could remake the political debate. Putting people first would remind the party's office holders that corporations are not people, but legal entities chartered to perform certain needed economic functions and serve the public good, and entitled only to those rights and privileges we-the-people give them. By adopting a bottom-up approach to development of its message, the party would serve notice on the corporations that they will no longer be able to tell us how to live our lives or run our communities.
A party committed to restoring democracy would be incapable of doing the bidding of big business or the moneyed elite. A party democratically reflecting the values of its members will be driven to fight to improve the lives of all citizens, to enhance the interests of the community, to resist not exalt unfettered exploitation and greed. Good for Senator Clinton for attempting to neutralize the thorny and divisive abortion issue. The same should be done to minimize other lifestyle concerns that distract from the core issue of economic justice.
4. Use cutting-edge Internet and other technologies to fundraise, organize, and communicate with our supporters;
Sure, why not, always remembering than an unending plebiscite may be great for raising money, but may not be the most elegant instrument for forging policy.
5. Strengthen our political institutions and leadership institutes to promote our leaders and our ideas — these organizations must work together in a coordinated and integrated fashion to elect Democrats at every level, so that we can take this country back.
The right wing success this week in all but destroying class actions as devices of redressal, punishment and reform can be traced directly back to work that went on in the netherworld of incestuous corporate-funded think-tanks, foundations and lobbying organizations fabricated to advance and rationalize the neo-conservative agenda. Our own institutes and foundations need to be expanded and deployed just as aggressively.
But we need to keep in mind that the Right did not merely organize to elect Republicans at every level; it is crucial to neocon dominance that they closely monitored whom they elected to office and whom they elevated to leadership. The arrival of Governor Dean, partisan by instinct, is a move the neocons would applaud if he was of their ilk. It is heartening evidence that the Democratic Party is beginning to think and act more idealogically.
Typically, the Democratic National Committee's chair is supposed to be seen fund raising and not heard. Business-as-usual would demand that the head of the DNC be a technocrat in service to the conservative Democratic Leadership Council. At least half the pleasure of the governor's victory came from watching the corporatist Dems squirm.
With the out-of-power party being led by back-benchers like the inestimably wily Harry Reid and the stolid Nancy Pelosi, and with the Night of the Living Dead-visage of John Kerry lurking in the political shadows, it is left to Governor Dean to try to make elected Democrats live up to expectations.
Unlike his accommodationist partymates in D.C., Dean agrees with the rank and file that, to beat the Republicans, the Democratic Party must be both tough and right. The uncompromising Liberalism of Roosevelt and Truman won the Democrats four decades of dominance in Washington. Compare that with GOP-lite Clintonism which surrendered the keys to the kingdom in 24 months. Bill Clinton may have been the greatest Republican president since Lincoln, but his political charisma wasn't used to advance a liberal agenda and it never rubbed off on his nominal party.
As Dean put it during the campaign, we need to be proud again to be Democrats. That will happen only if we are prepared to fight for economic justice and to protect our basic political rights. It won't happen by meeting Bush halfway down the road to hell.
Here is Howard Dean's DNC Plan, as posted on the party's website:
1. Show up! Democrats should never concede a single state, a single district, or a single voter to the Republicans. We must be active and compete in all 50 states and work with the state parties to build a true national party.
This is a big change, of course, from the leadership's emphasis on winning a few closely contested seats and battleground states in the hopes of eking out a narrow majority. Electing a Southern moderate or two begs the question of why the Democrats should be given control of Congress. When the conservative radicals seized the federal government, first with Gingrich and then with Bush-Cheney, they already knew what they wanted to do to it.
2. The success of the national party depends directly on the success of the state parties — we must better integrate our operations by:
* Having the DNC pay the salary of each state party executive director to help ensure that the state parties have adequate funds.
* Collectively building and sharing supporter lists between the national and state parties.
* Recruiting, training, and encouraging candidates to run for office at every level — building tomorrow's farm team from the ground up.
* Actively grow local Democratic committees and communities by working with neighborhood activists who can reach out in their communities and enable the grassroots to support state and local candidates.
* Maintaining a permanent campaign in every state. We need to establish an ongoing, active presence, which does not have to be recreated every four years for four months.
You won't find anyone arguing against the idea of a people's democracy; it is an article of faith among Americans, often honored in the breach, it's true, but a core belief nonetheless, that the democratic process provides the best mechanism by which a society's members can decide how to conduct themselves. If Dean is sincere, this emphasis on the grass roots will shake the Democratic Party to its foundations and by its nature end the domination of the party by corporate interests. Already, grass roots organizing is happening in California, among other places. Again, the enemy must be the inspiration: conservatives have done a bang-up job of energizing their base at the school board/city council level. Now progressives need to get back in the game, and the Democratic Party, barring some serious and unlikely electoral reform, is the best potential vehicle for doing so.
3. Set core principles that define the Democratic Party and what we stand for and take a bottom-up approach to the development of the Party's message;
I remain convinced that the party's -- and the country's -- interests would be served best by making economic justice the heart of Democratic Party program. By concentrating on three issues -- national health insurance, social security and the minimum wage -- the Democrats could remake the political debate. Putting people first would remind the party's office holders that corporations are not people, but legal entities chartered to perform certain needed economic functions and serve the public good, and entitled only to those rights and privileges we-the-people give them. By adopting a bottom-up approach to development of its message, the party would serve notice on the corporations that they will no longer be able to tell us how to live our lives or run our communities.
A party committed to restoring democracy would be incapable of doing the bidding of big business or the moneyed elite. A party democratically reflecting the values of its members will be driven to fight to improve the lives of all citizens, to enhance the interests of the community, to resist not exalt unfettered exploitation and greed. Good for Senator Clinton for attempting to neutralize the thorny and divisive abortion issue. The same should be done to minimize other lifestyle concerns that distract from the core issue of economic justice.
4. Use cutting-edge Internet and other technologies to fundraise, organize, and communicate with our supporters;
Sure, why not, always remembering than an unending plebiscite may be great for raising money, but may not be the most elegant instrument for forging policy.
5. Strengthen our political institutions and leadership institutes to promote our leaders and our ideas — these organizations must work together in a coordinated and integrated fashion to elect Democrats at every level, so that we can take this country back.
The right wing success this week in all but destroying class actions as devices of redressal, punishment and reform can be traced directly back to work that went on in the netherworld of incestuous corporate-funded think-tanks, foundations and lobbying organizations fabricated to advance and rationalize the neo-conservative agenda. Our own institutes and foundations need to be expanded and deployed just as aggressively.
But we need to keep in mind that the Right did not merely organize to elect Republicans at every level; it is crucial to neocon dominance that they closely monitored whom they elected to office and whom they elevated to leadership. The arrival of Governor Dean, partisan by instinct, is a move the neocons would applaud if he was of their ilk. It is heartening evidence that the Democratic Party is beginning to think and act more idealogically.
NewMedia: "Vectors" launch party at MoCAJournal of Culture and Technology in a Dynamic Vernacular
On March 3, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles is hosting the launch event for Vectors: Journal of Culture and Technology in a Dynamic Vernacular, a new online multimedia journal that works with leading scholars to realize their work using interactive media in ways that go beyond simple illustration. Using dynamic display, animation, and an inventive approach to interface, the site seeks to open up academic publishing to make use of the broad potential of new media to shape ideas and experience.
Where: Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art (MoCA)
When: 7 - 10 p.m., Thursday, March 3, 2005
Admission: Free and open to all.
RSVP: <http://www.annenberg.edu/calendar/invite/vectors.php>
More info: <http://www.annenberg.edu/vectors>
Where: Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art (MoCA)
When: 7 - 10 p.m., Thursday, March 3, 2005
Admission: Free and open to all.
RSVP: <http://www.annenberg.edu/calendar/invite/vectors.php>
More info: <http://www.annenberg.edu/vectors>
Republican Congressman Proposes Bill that Would Permit Suspension of All Laws
[Note 2005/02/11: REAL ID passed the House, largely on party lines. <http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/021105X.shtml>]
Section 102 of the REAL ID Act of 2005 (H.R. 418), submitted by Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner on January 26, 2005, ostensibly to deal with immigration regulations, driver's licenses, and other matters having to do with using identity to control people, would empower the Secretary of Homeland Security, as part of the effort to keep illegal aliens out of the country, to suspend any laws that prevent or delay the "expeditious" construction of a set of barriers and roads south of San Diego.
The bill also would prohibit judicial review of the secretary's decisions to suspend laws. While the legislation refers to barriers and roads "near" San Diego," (is L.A. "near" San Diego?), it does not appear to be limited, technically speaking, to that area -- but to any barriers or roads "in the vicinity of the United States border" (33 states, plus Guam and Puerto Rico, are on the border of the United States).
It could be called to the floor as early as next week. -- reported on Daily Kos <http://dailykos.com/story/2005/2/5/15448/41910>
Section 102 of the REAL ID Act of 2005 (H.R. 418), submitted by Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner on January 26, 2005, ostensibly to deal with immigration regulations, driver's licenses, and other matters having to do with using identity to control people, would empower the Secretary of Homeland Security, as part of the effort to keep illegal aliens out of the country, to suspend any laws that prevent or delay the "expeditious" construction of a set of barriers and roads south of San Diego.
The bill also would prohibit judicial review of the secretary's decisions to suspend laws. While the legislation refers to barriers and roads "near" San Diego," (is L.A. "near" San Diego?), it does not appear to be limited, technically speaking, to that area -- but to any barriers or roads "in the vicinity of the United States border" (33 states, plus Guam and Puerto Rico, are on the border of the United States).
It could be called to the floor as early as next week. -- reported on Daily Kos <http://dailykos.com/story/2005/2/5/15448/41910>
Politics: All-Celeb Dem Dream Team
The following GoogleAd for the magazine Maison Neuve was delivered to Impractical Proposals this morning:
"Jon Stewart for President
Forget Schwarzenegger.
Jon Stewart is the real celebrity candidate.
www.maisonneuve.org"
Makes sense to me. Let's get away from politicians altogether.
John Stewart for President. John Cusack for Vice President.
That's the ticket.
"Jon Stewart for President
Forget Schwarzenegger.
Jon Stewart is the real celebrity candidate.
www.maisonneuve.org"
Makes sense to me. Let's get away from politicians altogether.
John Stewart for President. John Cusack for Vice President.
That's the ticket.
Resource: Iraq Coalition Casualties
Iraq Coalition Casualties website <http://www.icasualties.org/oif/> tallies daily and monthly the numbers of killed and wounded American soldiers. According to the site, "Whenever a death occurs, CENTCOM (the United States Central Command in Tampa, FL) issues a brief news release that gives the bare facts about the incident: when it happened, how it happened, and the soldier’s regiment, if known. The only information not provided at this point is the soldier’s name. These releases are published regularly on the Internet at: <http://www.centcom.mil/>. After the soldier’s relatives are notified of the death, the U.S. Department of Defense then issues its own news release that gives the soldier’s name, age, unit and hometown. Again, these can be found on the Internet here: <http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/>. The trouble with this system of notification, however, is that the government provides no tally of those releases," so this page has shouldered the responsibility.
As of this morning, the number of American fatalities is 1,449 (86 Brits have died and 86 "others," for a grand total of 1621). The number of wounded in action, according to the DoD, stands at 10,740. The numbers are broken down in various ways, some heartbreaking (US Fatalities State Map -- deaths are heavily concentrated in the blue states, by the way), some infuriating (1242: US deaths since July 2, 2003 [when] Pres. Bush announces, "Bring Them On"). The site also has an up-to-date list of news stories, many from foreign media, related to the war. <http://www.icasualties.org/oif/>
As of this morning, the number of American fatalities is 1,449 (86 Brits have died and 86 "others," for a grand total of 1621). The number of wounded in action, according to the DoD, stands at 10,740. The numbers are broken down in various ways, some heartbreaking (US Fatalities State Map -- deaths are heavily concentrated in the blue states, by the way), some infuriating (1242: US deaths since July 2, 2003 [when] Pres. Bush announces, "Bring Them On"). The site also has an up-to-date list of news stories, many from foreign media, related to the war. <http://www.icasualties.org/oif/>
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