LAG4O Blog

2010-05-10T16:46:00.000-07:00

LAG Grassroots endorses June 8th Primary Candidates and Ballot measures!

2010-02-04T21:36:00.000-08:00

Artists and Art can bring about cultural revolution. Manifest Equality has a call out to artists to submit work for a juried contest. Entries must fit one of the theme’s Equality, Justice, Respect, Unity, Civil Rights and Love. Entries must be submitted no later than 11:59AM February 19, 2010.

The Five first place winners will have their pieces shown at the Manifest Equality Gallery along side nationally known contemporary artists such as Barry McGee, Clare Rojas, Shepard Fairey among others in a show that will open to the public on March 3, 2010.

Additionally there will be 10 second place winners. Their work will be seen at an online gallery set up by Manifest Equality. The 5 first place winners will also have their work displayed in the online gallery.

Information regarding the art contest HERE. Information on submitting your art HERE.

DETAILS: Manifest Equality will be open to the public, Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010 through Sunday, March 7th, 2010 between the hours of 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM with extended hours Friday – Sunday.

1341 Vine, LA CA 90028.

Please Join us in supporting John Perez for Assembly Speaker

2009-12-03T22:10:00.000-08:00

Assembly Speakership drum roll please...

Please Join us in supporting John Perez for Assembly Speaker

Karen Bass will be passing the torch of the Assembly Speakership and announced her support of John Perez from Assembly District 46. As usual however this is not without a fight. John has been the underdog in his quest for speaker, but has become a rapidly growing favorite amongst the public, consitituents and not to mention fellow lawmakers.

John is just genuinely a good guy. He brings a new and fresh perspective to a tough situation. Please help us help John.

Call Karen Bass

(916) 319-2047 or

(323) 937-4747

Just let her know you support her choice of John as Speaker

Call Your Assembly Member and voice your support for John

The Dream shall Never Die

2009-08-26T10:53:00.000-07:00

Ted Kennedy passes away...

2009-08-26T01:23:00.000-07:00

Tonight we mourn the loss of Ted Kennedy.

He stepped out of the shadow of his famous brothers and battled many personal demons to become one of our finest examples of an elected leader. Senator Kennedy dedicated his life to fighting for Health Care, Equal Rights, and fare wages. He fought for us when no one else cared.

Ted Kennedy fought for us for almost 40 years, and now it our turn.

In the early hours of the morning, we ask that you pledge to take up his cause for Health Care for All Americans, not just the priveleged few.

We ask that you to fight for Health Care even for the people who fight against us.

We ask that you fight for Health Care for Senator Kennedy and help realize his lifelong goal, Health Care for All Americans.

The PolicySpeak Disaster for Health Care

2009-08-20T00:34:00.000-07:00

George Lakoff is a Professor of Linguistics at UC Berkely. Please read, learn, and start changing the dialogue!

by George Lakoff
Wed Aug 19, 2009 at 10:25:18 PM PDT

Barack Obama ran the best-organized and best-framed presidential campaign in history. How is it possible that the same people who did so well in the campaign have done so badly on health care?

And bad it is: The public option may well be gone. Neither Obama himself nor Senior Advisor David Axelrod even mentioned the public option in their pleas to the nation last Sunday (August 16, 2009). Secretary Sibelius even said it was “not essential.” Cass Sunstein’s co-author, Richard Thaler, in the Sunday NY Times (August 16, 2009, p. BU 4) called it “neither necessary nor sufficient.” There has been a major drop in support for the president throughout the country, with angry mobs disrupting town halls and the right wing airing its views with vehemence nonstop on radio and tv all day every day. As the NY Times reports, Organizing for America (the old Obama campaign network) can’t even get its own troops out to work for the President’s proposal.
What has been going wrong?

George Lakoff's diary
It’s not too late to turn things around, but we must first understand why the administration is getting beat at the moment.
The answer is simple and unfortunate: The president put both the conceptual framing and the messaging for his health care plan in the hands of policy wonks. This led to twin disasters.

The PolicyList Disaster

The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
Howard Dean was right when he said that you can’t get health care reform without a public alternative to the insurance companies. Institutions matter. The list of what needs reform makes sense under one conceptual umbrella. It is a public alternative that unifies the long list of needed reforms: coverage for the uninsured, cost control, no preconditions, no denial of care, keeping care when you change jobs or get sick, equal treatment for women, exorbitant deductibles, no lifetime caps, and on and on. It’s a long list. But one idea, properly articulated, takes care of the list:

An American Plan guarantees affordable care for all Americans.
Simple. But not for policy wonks.

The policymakers focus on the list, not the unifying idea. So Obama’s and Axelrod’s statements last Sunday were just the lists without the unifying institution. And without a powerful institution, the insurance companies will just whittle away at enforcement of any such list, and a future Republican administration will just get rid of the regulators, reassigning them or eliminating their jobs.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Why do policymakers think this way?

One: The reality of how Congress is lobbied. Legislators are lobbied to be against particular features, depending on their constituencies. Blue Dogs are pressured by the right’s communication system operating in their districts. Congressional leaders have a challenge: Keep the eye of centrists and Blue Dogs on the central idea, despite the pressures of right-wing communications and lobbyists’ contributions.

Two: In classical logic, Leibniz’ Law takes an entity as being just a collection of properties. As if you were no more than eyes, legs, arms, and so on, taken separately. Without a public institution turning a unifying idea into a powerful reality, health care becomes just a collection of reforms to be attacked, undermined, and gotten around year after year.

Three: Current budget-making assumptions. Health is actually systematic in character. Health is implicated in just about all aspects of our culture: agriculture, the food industry, advertising, education, business, the distribution of wealth, sports, and so on. Keeping it as a line item — what figure do you put down on the following lines — misses the systemic nature of health. The image of Budget Director Peter Orszag running constantly in and out of Senator Max Baucus’ office shows how the systemic nature of health has been turned into a list of items and costs. Without a sense of the whole, and an institution responsible for it, health will be line-itemed to death.
Obama had the right idea with the “recovery” package. The economy is not just about banking. It is about public works, education, health, energy, and a lot more. It is systemic. The whole is more than the sum of its parts.

The PolicySpeak Disaster

PolicySpeak is the principle that: If you just tell people the policy facts, they will reason to the right conclusion and support the policy wholeheartedly.

PolicySpeak is the principle behind the President’s new Reality Check Website. To my knowledge, the Reality Check Website, has not had a reality check. That is, the administration has not hired a first-class cognitive psychologist to take subjects who have been convinced by right-wing myths and lies, have them read the Reality Check website, and see if the Reality Check website has changed their minds a couple of days or a week later. I have my doubts, but do the test.

To many liberals, PolicySpeak sounds like the high road: a rational, public discussion in the best tradition of liberal democracy. Convince the populace rationally on the objective policy merits. Give the facts and figures. Assume self-interest as the motivator of rational choice. Convince people by the logic of the policymakers that the policy is in their interest
.
But to a cognitive scientist or neuroscientist, this sounds nuts. The view of human reason and language behind PolicySpeak is just false. Certainly reason should be used. It’s just that you should use real reason, the way people really think. Certainly the truth should be told. It’s just that it should be told so it makes sense to people, resonates with them, and inspires them to act. Certainly new media should be used. It’s just that a system of communications should be constructed and used effectively.

I believe that what went wrong is (a) the choice of PolicySpeak and (b) the decision to depend on the campaign apparatus (blogs, Town Hall meetings, presidential appearances, grassroots support) instead of setting up an adequate communications system.

What Now?

It is not too late. The statistic I’ve heard is that over 80% of citizens want a public plan, but the right wing’s framing has been overwhelming public debate, taking advantage of the right’s communication system and framing prowess.
The administration has dug itself (and the country) into a hole. At the very least, the old mistakes can be avoided, a clear and powerful narrative is still available and true, and some powerful, memorable, and accurate language should be substituted for PolicySpeak, or at least added and repeated by spokespeople nationwide.

The narrative is simple:

Insurance company plans have failed to care for our people. They profit from denying care. Americans care about one another. An American plan is both the moral and practical alternative to provide care for our people. Read More

Santa Barbara Organizers take to the Steets for Health Care Reform!

2009-08-14T12:09:00.001-07:00

AWESOME Organizer Sherry Holland and her band of Uber Organizers took to the streets in Santa Barbara with a demand for Health Care Reform. Way to go SB Obama Team!

2009-08-12T20:53:00.000-07:00

What you are witnessing here is a head butt attack of one of our own. Click on the image to read the story.

A former Neo-con speaks against the lunatic fringe

2009-08-07T23:31:00.000-07:00

Older, Whiter, And Settled Down

2009-08-04T10:49:00.001-07:00

From John Myers at KQED

This morning brings the latest in a series of studies that shows how different the people who actually vote in California are from the state's population as a whole. It also shows how different those voters are than the ones who cast ballots 30 years ago.

Those conclusions come courtesy of the nonpartisan Field Poll, whose data points should remind every observer of California politics that you can learn a lot about where we're headed by knowing who's at the wheel.

The most important finding continues to be that the vast majority of people who show up to vote in the state are white (non-Hispanic), at an ever growing disproportionate amount to their presence in the general population. Field estimates that in 1978, California's population was almost 69% Caucasian but its voters were 83% Caucasian. Now, that same group is only 43% of the overall population... but still 65% of the voters.

Not surprisingly, the greatest gains have been made by Hispanics and those of Asian ancestry. And also not surprisingly -- but telling -- is how much more integrated in 2009 is the California Democratic Party (55% Caucasian, 27% Hispanic, 9% African America, 9% Asian/others) than the California Republican Party (79/13/1/7, respectively).

The state's GOP is obviously aware of theier diversity issues. Are they trying to change it? Yes. Is it working? Yes (the party was 93% Caucasian in 1978, compared to 76% of Denmocrats), but apparently not fast enough.

Some of the other data points -- that the Central Valley now accounts for more voters than it did 30 years ago -- are what you'd expect (though worth pointing out that Field says that a slightly larger increase has been seen further south, in the Inland Empire). Voters now are also older and better educated. And a stat that I'm not sure what to make of (though some may try to link it to the bitter fight over marriage rights): 66% of voters are married or living together, up four ticks from 1978. Homebodies vote, it seems.

Then there are tidbits that may help explain both where we are, and where we're headed. Take Field's assessment that 74% of California voters are now homeowners, up eight points from 1978. You'll remember that 1978 just happened to be the year those homeowners shook the political world by ratifying the property tax limitation Proposition 13. One wonders how any new efforts to revise Prop 13 might play with all of these new homeowners. It's not that their own property taxes would necessarily be impacted; but you can bet the politicos assigned to fight any changes to Prop 13 would consider those with a mortgage to be a valuable constituency.

Field's new analysis matches up nicely with some of the findings almost three years ago from their friendly competitors at the Public Policy Institute of California. And this is only part one; tomorrow, Field director Mark DiCamillo promises to give us 'the rest of the story' -- voter attitudes in 1978 on a host of issues compared to voter attitudes in 2009.

"Meet Nori, California Closed Project"

2009-07-24T23:44:00.000-07:00

We want to thank everyone who signed the Courage Campaign petition and who rallied behind the "Meet Nori , California Closed Project".

An unprecedented 17,000 signatures were gathered in less than 36 hrs and delivered to our legislators and the "California Closed" video generated the same astounding numbers. Sadly all but one of our Democratic Leaders voted fairly unanimously to vote for the Republican Budget. The one small win for activists was the "no" vote on the oil drilling in Santa Barbara.

Democratic "Leaders" will need to take a hard look at this decision and explain why a democratic MAJORITY voted for this budget. It's not a budget they wrote nor was it one they believed in, nor was it a budget their constituents supported, yet still they voted "aye". Oddly, only a handful of Republicans voted for their own budget. Just enough to pass it. Hmmmm, we smell a strategy here. Maybe for 2010? Just one lone Democrat, Senator Gil Cedillo had the courage to say no. When you have a moment, please thank Senator Cedillo for standing strong for California, for you and for Nori.

A very special thanks to Laura Velkei and Marta Evry for sharing this very special with action with us. We hope they will do more and continue their path of Change for California. We were honored to have been even a small part of this extraordinary project.

You are your Government. Decisions are made by those who show up.

The Gang at LAG4O

Meet Nori...

2009-07-22T17:37:00.001-07:00

Meet Nori...

Posted using ShareThis

"California Closed"

2009-07-20T23:40:00.000-07:00

Nori's Story

My name is Laura Velkei and I want you to meet my neighbor, Nori.

A bright and fiercely independent woman, Nori put herself through college and made a modest living as a jewelry designer - just enough for a small one-bedroom apartment in Los Angeles, plus a few extras.

When I met her 11 years ago, she had already become one of the 50 million Americans without health coverage. After many years struggling with failing kidney’s, Nori’s body gave out. No longer able to work or pay for health insurance, Nori maxed out her credit cards and sold off anything of value she had.

In 2001, while driving to the market in her old VW bug, Nori suddenly lost her vision and collided head on into oncoming traffic. She was rushed to the hospital, her face crushed. Internal injuries destroyed what was left of her kidneys and forced her into dialysis 3-4 times a week for the remainder of her life. She never regained her sight.

Since then, friends help where we can. I have taken over organizing her bills and dealing with the collection agencies. We were able to get her a few hours of in-home care after endless calls to social service agencies. But at the end of the day Nori is forced to live on a grand total of $890 a month. $561.00 comes from Social Security and the rest from State Disability Insurance.

So what does that 890.00 look like? After paying $646 a month for rent, utilities, and weekly ambulance service for dialysis treatments, Nori is left with only $8.13 a day for everything else; food, toiletries, clothing, and whatever household supplies she needs. To make matters worse, Sacramento recently cut her benefits by $20.00 a month, leaving her only $7.46 a day to live on.

Let me repeat that. $7.46 a day.

Last week Nori called me in tears, saying the Governor was cutting off the state portion of her monthly SSI check. She was terrified she would lose her home of 25 years and end up in the street.

“That’s not possible”, I said, “Let me look into it.”
To my horror, not only was it possible, it was true. In July, the State of California began issuing IOU's to recipients of Supplemental Security Income. The Federal Government stepped and in agreed to fill the gap for July and August, but after that, Nori’s income will drop by a third. The $561 she would be left with will not even cover her rent.

How is this possible? I look at Nori and think, "That could be me." One accident away from becoming profoundly dependent on a system more interested in politics than people.

Who speaks for Nori?
Not the Republican legislative minority who would rather cut the funds of a blind woman on dialysis than put a tax on oil revenues and cigarettes

Who speaks for Nori?
Not Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who said of the budget stalemate in California, “Someone else might walk out of here every day depressed, but I don’t walk out of here depressed,” Whatever happens, “I will sit down in my Jacuzzi tonight. I’m going to lay back with a stogie.” This while Nori's body must take on the added stress from fear of losing her home.

Who speaks for Nori?
Not the Health Insurance Industry, spending $1.4 million dollars a day to strangle comprehensive health care reform.

Who speaks for Nori?
Not Senator Dianne Feinstein, who recently stated passing health care reform in the Senate was too “difficult.”

Who speaks for Nori?

WE speak for Nori.

Call Governor Schwarzenegger (916) 445-2841

Call Dennis Hollingworth, State Senate Republican Leader (951) 676-1020

Call Sam Blakeslee, State Assembly Republican Leader (805) 549-3381

Call Senator Dianne Feinstein (310) 914-7300

Call Senator Barbara Boxer (213) 894-5000

Call Your Congress Member (Don’t know who that is? Click here to look it up)

Tell them you speak for Nori and the thousands of others like her in our state. Demand a fair budget that shares the burden with ALL Californians, and comprehensive health care reform that would enable hard working Americans just like Nori to keep their dignity and their homes.

Help Speaker Bass - Tell the Guvernator - CUTTING VITAL SERVICES IS NOT AN OPTION

2009-07-08T22:55:00.001-07:00

Please take action and sign the Speakers Petition, DOWNLOAD THE PETITION HERE or just call the Governor! Tell the Governor that cutting vital services to the poorest members of our community is NOT AN OPTION.

CALL THE GOVERNOR AT 916-445-2841

SPREAD THE WORD!!

URGENT ACTION: CALL THE GOVERNOR AND DEMAND HE APPROVE THE DEMOCRATS BUDGET

2009-07-02T22:52:00.000-07:00

CALIFORNIA BUDGET CRISIS

The condition of the financing for this state has hit critical mass. Because Republican Legislators, including a full abstention from Rep. Maldonado in Santa Maria, the current iteration was defeated at midnight the other night. This utter inaction and stubbornness from the Republican members of the Senate to uphold the Guv's edict has caused an additional 2 billion in interest which must now be further factored in to the budget.

Republican members of the Senate are following orders from the Guvornator who made it clear that even before discussions began that he would veto anything that did not tow his party line. A couple of Republicans broke from the party line, but it was not enough

PLEASE HELP OUR DEMOCRATIC LEGISLATORS! CALL THE GUVERNATOR AND DEMAND HE APPROVE THE DEMOCRATS BUDGET NOW.

IOU's were sent out in lieu of cash today. The people affected by this stubborness?

The poorest members of our community. SSI, Social Services recipients all being issued IOU's.

Ask to speak to Governor directly. When they say no, which they will, ask for the Chief of Staff Susan Kennedy.

Write down the responses they give you and send them to us at FEEDBACK@LAG4O.COM

Click HERE for more info and phone numbers

Council 5 Winner Paul Koretz

2009-06-21T16:29:00.001-07:00

The results have been finalized and Paul Koretz won the Council 5 Seat by 702 votes.

Although deeply disappointed in the results, we are so proud of the race that David Vahedi ran and hope that he will run again. The race was inspiring to many of us who worked on his campaign. Volunteers and Staff from both the Clinton and Obama campaigns came together as a team to bring forward a candidate we all believed in and still believe in. We did it without negative mailers or lies. We did it with less money and less name recognition. We did it with almost no party support and everyone should be incredibly proud of the work they did.

We hope Mr. Koretz is humbled by the slim margin win and makes it a point to reach out to the community and mend the fences that were broken as a result the negative and false attacks made on David. Politics as usual can no longer be the norm.

That said, we wish Mr. Koretz the best of luck of luck in this new and politically charged venture.

New Web Address

2009-06-21T00:39:00.000-07:00

We finally got most of our pages redirected to the new site, but if you find a link that doesn't work, please shoot us a quick email at feedback@lag4o.com and the link that is not forwarding.

Decisions are made by those who show up. VOTE!

Council District 5 Debate - The Choice Seems Obvious - Part 1

2009-05-15T19:42:00.001-07:00

Part 1 of the Council 5 debates between David Vahedi and Paul Koretz, Courtesy of NBC

View more news videos at: http://www.nbclosangeles.com/video.

Council District 5 Debates - The Choice Seems Obvious - Part 2

2009-05-15T19:35:00.000-07:00

Part 2 of the Debate between David Vahedi and Paul Koretz

View more news videos at: http://www.nbclosangeles.com/video.

David Vahedi Council District 5

2009-04-17T21:45:00.000-07:00

Please help us in supporting David for Council District 5.

Many fellow Obama supporters have joined the fight to make much needed changes to this District. He is a true community organizer and not just another career politician.

If you would like to meet David or just hear what he wants to do for LA, you can attend one of the events listed below:

UCLA Forum (KABC-TV)-
April 20th,
7:30-8:30pm
Grand Saloon at UCLA

Westwood HOA Forum-
April 28th,
6:30-9pm
St. Paul Apostle Catholic Church
10750 Ohio Ave,
Los Angeles, CA 90024

California Country Club HOA Forum-
May 18th, 6:30-9:30pm
Beverly Hills Country Club
3084 Motor Ave,
Los Angeles, CA 90064

-Daily News endorsed David saying, "Vahedi's pledge to focus on city infrastructure and cut the number of land-use rule variances to developers will be music to the ears of those concerned about overdevelopment - and a welcome change from the way City Hall currently throws out the rules for the well-connected. " Check out his website.

Prop 1A - A Letter of Support from Assembly GOP Leader Mike Villines????

2009-04-17T21:18:00.000-07:00

Seriously??? Rainy day money??? This is a ploy to con voters into believing that there is some kind of rainy day slush fund that can be created. From where does this slush fund come you ask?

Capping spending. Capping spending for the State of California right now is like saying, "I won't pay any of the bills that require me to stay afloat. I won't pay my electric bill, my phone bill, my mortgage... that will balance my budget. No, that will just get your lights and your phone turned off and you kicked out of your home.

That's just plain crazy. There is NO DISCRETIONARY INCOME!

At the end of the day as much as we all hate the idea, California needs to raise taxes. Period. Obama told us we would need to make sacrifices. The Governator needs to stop being the Stubornator!

We cannot allow Republicans who talk with glee about the failure of California behind closed doors to continue to hold us hostage.

Read Villines' letter below:

April 17, 2009

(Forward by Kevin Yamamura)
Assembly Republican Leader Mike Villines made his case for Proposition 1A in a letter sent Friday to members of the California Republican Party executive committee ahead of its weekend endorsement meeting.

Villines reminds Republicans that he "came up through the conservative ranks of our party." His argument is essentially that Republicans shouldn't let the perfect be the enemy of the good. While Proposition 1A has its flaws, he writes that the reality is that "liberals" control the Legislature and that "we have to fight to make important gains where gains can be made."

But as Flash Report editor and CRP vice chairman Jon Fleischman notes, a vote against Proposition 1A is "a virtual certainty."

Villines' letter follows after the jump:
April 17, 2009
Dear Fellow Republican,
As you probably know, I came up through the conservative ranks of our party, and I spent many weekends walking precincts for Republicans who, like me, believe that our party is the best hope for the American taxpayer.

And, now more than ever, Republicans need to stand firm on protecting taxpayers - which includes ending once and for all the spending binge that Sacramento has been on for the past decade. The fact is that the lessons over the past decade have taught us that we must attack the spending problem at its source. Going budget-to-budget in a piecemeal fashion has only resulted in more spending and debt.

Instead, we need wholesale changes that will provide a permanent solution to stop the spending madness and force our government to finally live within its means. Only then will taxpayers be truly protected, which is why many conservatives are joining me in supporting Proposition 1A.
Now, I know that we'll debate this issue at the upcoming Republican Party Executive Committee meeting. And I know that there are some Republicans who are unhappy because the passage of Proposition 1A also consummates the recently enacted budget deal that included temporary tax increases. The reality is that the liberals already have enough votes to continue their dominance in Sacramento, which means that Republicans cannot achieve a 100% victory. Instead, we have to fight to make important gains where gains can be made.

Proposition 1A represents a significant victory for taxpayers at a time when our state needs it most. Proposition 1A ties the hands of legislative liberals, and it forces our budget into a fixed formula and a hard spending cap. That means, for the first time in decades, that liberals will have to make tough spending choices and cut their pet projects.

It also means the taxpayers will no longer be treated like a giant ATM machine. Consider this fact: if we had Prop 1A in place today, our state would not be $31 billion in the red. Instead, our state would have a much more manageable $5.4 billion budget gap. That means that during the worst economic recession since the Great Depression, Proposition 1A would have ensured that our budget gap was manageable. That's the proof that Proposition 1A protects taxpayers.
Here's the bottom line: without Proposition 1A, taxpayers will continue to be subjected to the spending whims of the liberal majority, and based on past history, that means more debt&hellipand higher taxes. While some of my fellow conservatives decry that the solution is not perfect, we also need to remember that our ability to influence the process is not absolute.
Proposition 1A represents wholesale changes in our state's spending habits. And, believe me, in this tough economy, we can no longer afford the tax-and-spend mentality in Sacramento that has driven businesses from our state.

I hope you will join me in supporting Proposition 1A. Please take the time to understand this issue and consider the options - especially the consequences - if we don't pass a spending cap and if there's no change in Sacramento.

Proposition 1A gives taxpayers the protection we need. As Republicans, we need to grasp this opportunity to deliver real change.

Sincerely,

Mike VillinesAssemblyman 29th District
_____________________________________

We need to fight for our state and that means calling the representatives who are holding back real solutions and holding them accountable.

Be the Change!

Los Angeles, March 3rd Election - Full List of Candidate and Measure Endorsements

2009-02-25T23:01:00.000-08:00

March 3rd-Local

Elections

Below are LAG4O's Endosements for LA's Local Election. Our picks coincide with the LA County Democratic Party with exception of 4 Seats (City Attorney, Mayor, Council 5, School Board Seat 6.

RED denotes folks for who we want to give special support

CANDIDATES (*Incumbent)

Azusa City Council
Paul Naccachian

Beverly Hills City Council
Barry Brucker*
Linda Briskman*
William Brien

Calabasas City Council
Mary Sue Maurer*

Carson City Mayor
Jim Dear*

Carson City Council
No Endorsement

Cerritos City Council
Chris Fuentes
Mark Pulido

Claremont City Council
Larry Schroeder

Commerce City Council
No Endorsement

Covina City Council
Rosie Fabian
Tom Palmari

Gardena City Clerk
Donesia Gause

Gardena City Council
Steve Bradford*

Glendora City Council
Kristin Parisi

Los Angeles City Mayor
No Endorsement (See Commentary on The LAG4O Blog)

Los Angeles City Attorney
Carmen "Nuch" Trutanich (See LA Times Article on our Blog)

Los Angeles City Controller
Wendy Greuel

Los Angeles City Council
Dist. 1 Ed Reyes*
Dist. 5 David Vahedi
Dist. 9 Jan Perry*
Dist. 11 Bill Rosendahl*
Dist. 13 Eric Garcetti*
Dist. 15 Janice Hahn*

Los Angeles Community College District
Seat 2 Angela Reddock*
Seat 4 Kelly Candaele*
Seat 6 Greg Akili
Seat 7 Miguel Santiago*

Los Angeles Unified School District
Dist. 2 Monica Garcia*
Dist. 4 Steve Zimmer
Dist. 6 Nury Martinez

Monterey Park City Council
David Lau*
Sharon Martinez*

Paramount City Council
Jaime Guerrero

Pasadena City Council
Dist. 5 Victor Gordo*
Dist. 7 Terry E. Tornek

Pasadena Unified School District
Dist. 3 Terri Darr
Dist. 5 Ramon Miramontes
Dist. 7 Ed Honowitz*

Redondo Beach City Attorney
Tory Erickson

Redondo Beach City Council
Dist. 2 Diane Cagle

Redondo Beach Unified School District
Drew Gamet*
Todd Loewenstein*

Rosemead City Council
Henry Lo
John Nunez*
John Tran*

San Gabriel City Council
Kevin Sawkins*

Signal Hill City Council
Mike Noll*
Edward Villanueva
Ellen Ward*

South Gate City Treasurer
Belen Bernal

West Hollywood City Council
John Duran*
Jeffrey Prang*

BALLOT MEASURES

City of Bellflower
Utility Tax Measure – YES

City of Beverly Hills
Measure P - NO - Utility Tax Measure

City of Cudahy
Utility Tax Measure – YES

City of Carson
Utility Tax Measure – YES

City of Gardena
Utility Tax Measure – YES

City of Glendora
Utility Tax Measure – YES

City of La Habra Heights
Measure G – YES – Extend the Gann Limit Amendment for 4 Years

City of La Mirada
Measure A - NO - Transient Occupancy Tax

City of Los Angeles
Charter Amendment A – YES – Fire Department Independent Assessor

Charter Amendment B – NO – (See LA Times Article on the LAG4O Blog) Solar Energy and Job Creation Program

Charter Amendment C – YES – Disabled Children Survivor Benefit of the Fire and Police Pension Plan

Charter Amendment D – YES – Survivor Benefit Purchase Program for Retirees of the Fire and Police Pension Plan

Charter Amendment E – NO – Economic Incentives for Business Development

City of Redondo Beach
Measure A – YES – Utility Tax Measure

City of San Gabriel
Measure to Eliminate Elected City Clerk and Elected City Treasurer – NO

Help Catch The Lawn Sign Thief - Lesson in Grassroots Democracy: David Vahedi Council District 5

2009-02-20T11:55:00.000-08:00

Lawn sign stealing on a City Council Race????

$1,600 worth of lawn signs have been stolen over the last couple of weeks from supporters of David Vahedi. Residents became increasingly frustrated as the signs they put up quickly disappeared from their lawns.

Some enterprising activists decided to push back catching the thief on video!

Help us identify the culprit! Email info@lagrassroots4obama.com if you recognize the thief.

Villaraigosa, the All About Me Mayor, Is Still 11 Percent There

2009-02-16T19:55:00.000-08:00

This artcle seems to articulate the sentiment and confirms the suspicions of most Anglenos these days...

LA Weekly
By Patrick Range McDonald
published: January 01, 2009

For months, many average citizens and members of the press wondered if Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa was turning out to be mostly talk. He frequently held staged press conferences devoid of news, launched, with great flourish, initiatives that went nowhere and flew off to places like Chicago and New York to raise money for his own re-election. Several of his touted projects — including planting one million trees, dramatically slashing congestion with synchronized lights, identifying the Top 10 Worst Gangs, turning Pico and Olympic boulevards into one-way streets, making L.A. the greenest U.S. city, turning around the schools, or hiring 1,000 more police — had backfired, come up short or just vanished.

In September, L.A. Weekly delved into claims that the mayor was indeed busy — but not with a mayor’s core duties of improving city government or a city’s quality of life. He has claimed, to national and global news outlets, that he puts in strenuous 16-hour days in deep commitment to Los Angeles. The Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Daily News and local TV news operations accepted that claim by Villaraigosa with little question.

The Weekly acquired copies of the mayor’s personal daily schedule covering a roughly 10-week period. We unearthed a jarringly different story: Villaraigosa spends just 11 percent of his time on city business — a fact that shocked many and turned L.A. Weekly’s cover story, “The All About Me Mayor: Antonio Villaraigosa’s Frenetic Self-promotion Leaves Little time for His Job,” into one of 2008’s most popular stories, picked up by media outlets globally.

That must have smarted, because on December 26 Villaraigosa lashed out at us in a Los Angeles Daily News story by Rick Orlov, criticizing L.A. Weekly for relying on his “public calendar” in which, Villaraigosa insisted to Orlov, much of his mayoral elbow work was not revealed.

Does this mean Villaraigosa keeps two books — one showing that he barely does any real work, as we reported to his chagrin in September, and one showing that he does plenty of real city business? Deputy Mayor Matt Szabo responds to us that the mayor “misspoke” to Orlov and the Daily News. Szabo says we have the real, accurate, full mayoral schedule. There is no other.

And what of Villaraigosa's additional claim to Orlov that the Weekly erroneously reported he has failed to conduct the basic work of a mayor — we showed that he holds almost no policy meetings or department head meetings or other activities that make up the core duties of an involved mayor — because, as Villaraigosa told the Daily News, he conducts official city business "privately," and the Weekly was not provided those private examples?

Again, Szabo says, the mayor "misspoke." There are no other examples of the mayor conducting actual city business, he does not have any "private examples" to burnish his workday, and the mayor's private calendar, published online by the Weekly in September (see a pdf of it here) is accurate.

Our assessment of his roughly 10 weeks of work, much of which we independently confirmed and nailed down in 15-minute intervals, revealed a mayoralty unlike anything Los Angeles has seen in the modern era.

His schedule reveals that Villaraigosa uses the Office of the Mayor as a promotional and public-relations operation, with extremely little time given to policy considerations, meeting with department heads or otherwise focusing on core municipal problems. On the rare occasions when Villaraigosa focused on policy or the deep problems within many city departments, he often met with

He flew around the nation and world, held one photo op after another, and even sat down in the mayoral mansion, Getty House, so that Madame Tussauds could replicate his head for a wax statue — soon to be displayed on Hollywood Boulevard. Our sidebar, “How Villaraigosa Spends His 16-Hour Days,” broke down the facts, showing that he spends about 34 percent of his purported 16-hour day traveling out of town, and about 24 percent on what the Weekly finally dubbed “gap time” — time soaked up racing around L.A. to appear at photo ops, banquets, ceremonies, interviews and other PR activities.

Readers expressed outrage. Now, op eds and editorials in other Los Angeles newspapers frequently mention that Villaraigosa spends 11 percent of his time on city business or that he is running a mostly PR operation. He has continued a steady pace of non-news press conferences, ceremonials, luncheons, political fund-raising and out-of-town travel. He faces no serious challengers in the March municipal-election primary, but a job in the Obama administration appears increasingly unlikely, as Obama chooses such local leaders as Congresswoman Hilda Solis, Los Angeles Deputy Mayor Lisa Sutley and Congressman Xavier Becerra (who declined Obama’s offer). Villaraigosa is considering a run for governor in 2010, and would abandon his post as mayor if he won. But polls suggest that the mayor who spends so little time on city business has scant hope of beating California Attorney General Jerry Brown, or U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein, if Feinstein were to run.

From “The All About Me Mayor: Antonio Villaraigosa’s Frenetic Self-Promotion Leaves Little Time for His Job” by Patrick Range McDonald

Together, then, the mayor spent 804 hours, or 89 percent of his work schedule, on ceremonial/PR, travel, blacked-out activities, gap time, fund-raising, personal issues and undisclosed “security” issues. On direct city business — such as signing legislation and meeting with city-department heads — his schedule shows the mayor spent 11 percent of his time.

“The mayor flies around the world like he’s on a reality TV show,” says a former California Democratic congressional staffer.

Mayor or No Mayor

2009-02-15T15:42:00.000-08:00

Politics as usual? It appears so.

The Mayoral race once again is surrounded by drama, frustration and a sense that once again nothing will change.

With a generous C+ score by the city reporter's office, the mayor recently came out to say he will not commit to staying the Mayor if re-elected. Why? He has clearly set his sights on a bigger and shinier office...Governor. He is even unwilling to debate the other Candidates, despite requests from constituents to do so.

So exactly why should we re-elect Villaraigosa?

Take a moment to read some of the responses posed by the LA Times from ALL the candidates and make an informed decision.

March 3rd Local Election Endorsements

2009-02-10T01:15:00.001-08:00

See our Endorsement Page

White House: California to gain 396,000 jobs under stimulus planfrom

2009-02-10T01:15:00.000-08:00

Sacramento Bee -- Capitol Alert by Micaela Massimino
By Rob Hotakainen

WASHINGTON --- A lot of numbers are flying around in Washington these days as reporters, lobbyists and everyone else tries to figure out what the gigantic $789 billion stimulus plan will mean for individual states.

The White House announced its final estimates today: California will gain 396,000 jobs, the most in the nation. Overall, the nation stands to create or save 3.5 million jobs over the next two years, the White House said.

Republicans are casting doubt on the numbers, noting some discrepancies.

The state of Wyoming, for example, is set to receive 8,000 jobs as a result of the stimulus, while the state's congressional district will get 6,100 jobs.

There's only one problem: There's just one congressional district in the state.

No one has yet figured out how much money individual states will receive under the stimulus bill. Or if they have, they've yet to share the information. Details are coming out slowly after House and Senate conferees struck a compromise on Wednesday.

In the meantime, everyone's talking about those jobs. Expect members of Congress to be doing the same when they visit their home districts in the coming weeks.

The White House has put out estimates of how many jobs will be created or saved in each of California's 53 congressional districts. See the numbers on the flip:

California Total: 396,000

Congressional District 1: 8,000
Congressional District 2: 8,100
Congressional District 3: 8,900
Congressional District 4: 8,800
Congressional District 5: 7,800
Congressional District 6: 7,600
Congressional District 7: 7,500
Congressional District 8: 7,900
Congressional District 9: 7,300
Congressional District 10: 8,100
Congressional District 11: 8,700
Congressional District 12: 7,700
Congressional District 13: 7,900
Congressional District 14: 7,500
Congressional District 15: 7,800
Congressional District 16: 7,900
Congressional District 17: 7,500
Congressional District 18: 8,000
Congressional District 19: 8,400
Congressional District 20: 7,800
Congressional District 21: 8,300
Congressional District 22: 8,900
Congressional District 23: 7,600
Congressional District 24: 7,800
Congressional District 25: 8,900
Congressional District 26: 8,100
Congressional District 27: 7,900
Congressional District 28: 7,500
Congressional District 29: 7,700
Congressional District 30: 7,800
Congressional District 31: 7,600
Congressional District 32: 7,300
Congressional District 33: 7,700
Congressional District 34: 7,300
Congressional District 35: 7,300
Congressional District 36: 7,900
Congressional District 37: 7,400
Congressional District 38: 7,400
Congressional District 39: 7,600
Congressional District 40: 7,600
Congressional District 41: 8,700
Congressional District 42: 8,200
Congressional District 43: 8,200
Congressional District 44: 9,800
Congressional District 45: 9,300
Congressional District 46: 7,500
Congressional District 47: 6,900
Congressional District 48: 8,500
Congressional District 49: 8,600
Congressional District 50: 8,000
Congressional District 51: 7,800
Congressional District 52: 7,600
Congressional District 53: 8,000

Be the Change - Sign the Equality California Petition

2009-02-10T01:06:00.000-08:00

Show your support for our LGBT Brothers & Sisters by signing the Equality California petition. Equal rights for all is what this country is founded on and Prop 8 is shameful in the wake of electing President Obama.

Prop 8 was waged in fear and ignorance. Please support our family and friends who just want to pursue life, liberty and happiness.

Take a minute to add your name and publicly show your support for the freedom to marry and to protect minorities from having their equality put up for a popular vote.

Be the Change.

Take the California State Budget Challenge!

2009-02-09T23:26:00.000-08:00

Let us know what you think. This is an amazing way to become engaged and learn about local politics.

Don't Divorce our Family! Tell the Supreme Court to Invalidate Prop 8 - Sign the Courage Campaign Petition

2009-02-05T18:29:00.000-08:00

"Fidelity": Don't Divorce... from Courage Campaign on Vimeo.

Watch the Video the sign the petition by clicking the link below:

Courage Campaign-Invalidate Prop 8 Petition

Union heads Battle over which side keeps the healthcare workers

2009-02-02T23:01:00.000-08:00

Bay Area health union seeks vote on membership
The National Union of Healthcare Workers asks state officials to conduct elections at 64 facilities where it says a majority want to join.
By Evelyn Larrubia

February 3, 2009
California's labor battle over who will represent tens of thousands of hospital workers will apparently be determined in voting booths at dozens of hospitals and nursing homes around the state.

The National Union of Healthcare Workers, formed last week by the ousted leaders of United Healthcare Workers West, on Monday asked state officials to conduct elections at 64 healthcare facilities where it says a majority of employees currently represented by Oakland-based UHW want to join the new group.

"Now that a majority of my co-workers has signed a petition to be represented by NUHW, we hope . . . UHW will walk away and leave us alone," said Shayne Silva, a psychiatric technician and shop steward at Alta Bates Summit Medical Center, at a teleconference.

The Service Employees International Union last week removed the leaders of UHW after they refused to sign over 65,000 of their members to a new local that will be formed to represent home health aides across California. SEIU President Andy Stern installed two of his executive vice presidents, Dave Regan and Eliseo Medina as trustees.

"This is absolute irresponsibility and recklessness, and we are going to fight them every step of the way," Regan said.

Stern and Sal Rosselli, who until last week was president of UHW, have been in an ugly public dispute over organizing and negotiation tactics that has been unfolding over months.

Stern has said he wants to consolidate local unions into larger, stronger groups that have more sway with employers and politicians. But Rosselli accused Stern of a power grab, saying he sought to replace locally elected union officials with loyal appointees.

Rosselli, who calls the 5-day-old group "New UHW," said he had not intended to file for recognition so quickly, but was concerned that UHW was pushing to close contracts with employers to keep out the new union. Workers under contract cannot be wooed away until it expires. He said the petitions effectively end bargaining between the employers and UHW-SEIU.

"We're notifying these employers to prevent them from closing contracts," Rosselli said. "SEIU no longer represents the workers. They're no longer authorized to bargain for these workers, because they don't have majority support."

Regan disagreed. He said the petitions do not have any effect on contract negotiations, which he said continue on their normal course. He scoffed at NUHW's contention that he should recognize their representation and abandon work sites where a majority had signed NUHW cards.

"If Sal Rosselli believes we are going to stand back and watch his rump organization weaken the members of UHW, he is beyond mistaken," Regan said.

Curren Price gets backing for SD 26 Special Election March 24th

2009-02-02T22:47:00.000-08:00

Steinberg backs Price in SD 26 from Sacramento Bee -- Capitol Alert by Shane Goldmacher

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg announced his endorsement of Assemblyman Curren Price for state Senate on Monday.

"Curren Price has the experience and leadership California needs," Steinberg said in a prepared statement. "He is a tireless and effective advocate for better education, access to healthcare and safer communities."

Price, D-Inglewood, is running to replace former Sen. Mark Ridley-Thomas, who was elected to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors in November. Price is campaigning against Assemblyman Mike Davis, D-Los Angeles, in the March 24 special election.

"You cannot have a more significant endorsement for state Senate than to have the backing and support of the leader of the upper house of the Legislature," Price said in a prepared statement.

That's probably an overstatement, especially in a Los Angeles-area district where next-to-nobody knows Steinberg. But the endorsement is a significant signal to the Third House donors in Sacramento of where the pro tem's allegiances lie.

Price also has the backing of Ridley-Thomas, the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor and the Service Employees International Union State Council.

Davis touts the backing of Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Los Angeles.

Obama MLK Inaugural Parade hosted by Mitchell & Lizzie Schwartz

2009-02-02T20:59:00.000-08:00

2009 Annual Budget Summit & Empowerment Congress

2009-02-01T19:49:00.000-08:00

This was an incredibly informative and inspiring event and something all should commit to attending at least once. We will post the links with all the details from the summit shortly.

GROOVE JUNKIES share some great Obama Street Art and some funky grooves

2009-02-01T19:45:00.000-08:00

National Day of Service Update - Manhattan Beach

2009-01-27T11:14:00.000-08:00

What began in Manhattan Beach, CA, on Saturday morning, January 17, 2009, with a single shopping bag loaded with socks grew into a MOUNTAIN of socks ...and tee shirts, underwear, PJ bottoms, sweatpants, hoodies, blankets, & beautiful letters and cards to our wounded soldiers at the Landstuhl Regional Medical Facility (LRMC) in Germany. Our collection event for the Soldiers' Angels Germany/LRMC Project
www.soldiersangelsgermany.com) included eight additional drop off locations from Venice, CA, to San Pedro, CA, and continued throughout the following week.

Our final sorting/packing took place this past Saturday with these results:

Nearly 2,000 items topping 850 lbs....over 5,000 prepaid phone minutes...and approximately 200 wonderful cards, letters and drawings from our local schools and communities. Our "ask" even reached a wonderful woman in Illinois who donated 75 beautiful handmade pillows loaded with "healing hugs" for our wounded soldiers. The artist, Rita Whaley, was born in Germany in 1940 and as a child of war knows only too well the importance of compassion and how far reaching a stranger's concern can be.

National Day of Service Update - Central Coast Team

2009-01-27T11:10:00.000-08:00

Santa Barbara and SLO counties brought in 22,000 lbs of direct food donations and 20,000 lbs cash-equivalent-to-food in monetary donations!

Landmark and Swing Club The Derby in Los Feliz Closes it's doors January 31st, 2009

2009-01-25T23:21:00.000-08:00

This closure holds particular sadness for natives to Los Angeles. Of all the clubs in LA, The Derby had the warmest, friendliest and most inviting of all the LA hotspots. The Derby allowed new generations of Swing fans to experience the ambience that was old Hollywood. If you didn't swing, you could learn, if you didn't want to learn you could dress, if you didn't want to dress you could listen. Bands like the Big Bad Voodoo Daddy found many a new fan here.

We hope the landlords will reconsider this unfortunate decision.

As of tonight, closing day is this Saturday, January 31st.

See more of the story below. Courtesy of the LA Times Blog.

LA Times Blog
09:43 AM PT, Jan 23 2009

The Derby, one of Los Angeles’ landmark live music venues, appears to be on the verge of closing — and soon.

Though we have yet to receive confirmation from anyone on staff at the Los Feliz nightspot, which was featured heavily in the 1996 film “Swingers” and was popular throughout its peak in the 1990s into the early part of this decade, multiple sources confirm the bar will likely cease nightly operations in the coming week, with a possible last day for staff as soon as Feb. 1.

E-mail messages left with several staff members regarding the matter have not been returned, but the club’s usually reliably updated calendar has not been updated since the new year.

On Dec. 21, the club encountered a rare run-in with the police. A shooting took place inside the Derby, The Times has confirmed with a detective from the Los Angeles Police Department's northeast division. The event was a private gig booked by outside promoters, but two men were injured around 1:30 a.m. “inside the club,” the detective said.

It is not known what role the incident might have played in the decision to close the club sooner rather than later in 2009 (there have long been rumors swirling that the club may close). It should be noted that the Derby has operated for years with no similar incidents, hosting hundreds of shows by indie rock bands and jazz acts and holding swing nights, hip-hop showcases, drum&bass club nights and more.

The historic club, one of the very few original Brown Derby restaurants, was granted City Historical Cultural Monument status in 2006 after a Save the Derby campaign, but as this neighborhood council document shows, the designation “does not prohibit destruction” and may only “delay it.”

Club Derby's lease was recently changed to a month-to-month contract, according to a source familiar with the bar's current situation, and apparently the landlord decided not to renew the lease.

This is the second bit of bad news Los Feliz music fans have received lately. Last month, The Times reported that the Derby's neighbor, Tangier, which booked music in its back room, would shut its doors for good before the end of 2008.

Tony Gower, former Derby co-owner from 1993 to 2005, said he had heard rumblings of the club's impending closure. "It's very sad... My fondest memory was seeing Roger Daltry playing 'Teenage Wasteland' at a private party," he said via phone Wednesday. "It was loud, but he wanted it to be louder."

Look for a big night at the Derby this Sunday, the final swing event at the club.

CDP Delgate Results for Obama Activists

2009-01-22T19:06:00.001-08:00

Visit the CDP Delegates page!

'Air and Simple Gifts' John Williams at Obama Inauguration

2009-01-21T18:14:00.000-08:00

Inauguration Photos by Marta Evry - Venice for Change

2009-01-20T21:07:00.000-08:00

Inauguration Footage

2009-01-20T13:29:00.000-08:00

Yes We Did - Tell us about your experience!

2009-01-20T12:47:00.000-08:00

We we want you to share your experience of the inauguration.

Yes We Did

2009-01-20T09:56:00.000-08:00

WASHINGTON (AP) — More than a million people crowded the National Mall and the parade route along Pennsylvania Avenue for the inauguration of President Barack Obama. The Associated Press estimate is based on crowd photographs and comparisons with past events.

Crowds crammed into the nation's capital Tuesday, packing subway cars and filling the National Mall from the Capitol to the Washington Monument for the swearing-in of Barack Obama as the nation's 44th president. Farther away at the Lincoln Memorial, smaller crowds surrounded the Reflecting Pool, watching the festivities on large TV screens.

For weeks, officials urged people to arrive early for the historic inauguration of the nation's first black president and throngs of revelers heeded that advice, arriving hours before daybreak.

Be a part of recording our Legacy of Change. Upload your photos to the Official Obama Photo Book.

Full Text of Obama's Speech:

Here is the text of Barack Obamas inaugural address:

My fellow citizens:

I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. I thank President Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition.

The Inauguration of our 44th President, Barack H. Obama

Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath. The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet, every so often the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms.

At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because We the People have remained faithful to the ideals of our forbearers, and true to our founding documents.

So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans.

That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age.

Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.

These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land -- a nagging fear that America's decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights.

Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America -- they will be met.

On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.

On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.

We remain a young nation, but in the words of scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.

In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of short-cuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted - for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame.

Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things - some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labor, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.

For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across oceans in search of a new life.

For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West; endured the lash of the whip and plowed the hard earth.

For us, they fought and died, in places like Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe Sahn.

Time and again these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life. They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions; greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction.

This is the journey we continue today. We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on Earth. Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished.

But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions -- that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.

For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act -- not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together.

We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technologys wonders to raise health cares quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. And all this we will do.

Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions -- who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short. For they have forgotten what this country has already done; what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage.

What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them -- that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply. The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works -- whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified.

Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end. And those of us who manage the publics dollars will be held to account -- to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day -- because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.

Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill. Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched, but this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control -- and that a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous.

The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our Gross Domestic Product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on our ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart -- not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good.

As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations.

Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expediences sake. And so to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more.

Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions. They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.

We are the keepers of this legacy. Guided by these principles once more, we can meet those new threats that demand even greater effort -- even greater cooperation and understanding between nations. We will begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people, and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan. With old friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat, and roll back the specter of a warming planet.

We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.

For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus -- and non-believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.

To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their societys ills on the West -- know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy.

To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.

To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the worlds resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.

As we consider the road that unfolds before us, we remember with humble gratitude those brave Americans who, at this very hour, patrol far-off deserts and distant mountains. They have something to tell us today, just as the fallen heroes who lie in Arlington whisper through the ages.

We honor them not only because they are guardians of our liberty, but because they embody the spirit of service; a willingness to find meaning in something greater than themselves. And yet, at this moment -- a moment that will define a generation -- it is precisely this spirit that must inhabit us all.

For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies. It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours.

It is the firefighters courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parents willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate.

Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends -- hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism -- these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths.

What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility -- a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.

This is the price and the promise of citizenship.

This is the source of our confidence -- the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny.

This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed -- why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent mall, and why a man whose father less than sixty years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.

So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have traveled. In the year of Americas birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned.

The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood. At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people:

"Let it be told to the future world...that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive...that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet [it]."

America. In the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come.

Let it be said by our childrens children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and Gods grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations

Live Stream of Inauguration Events Compliments of CNN

2009-01-18T12:04:00.000-08:00

Live Stream 4

Live Stream 1

Inauguration

2009-01-17T22:41:00.000-08:00

2009-01-16T12:09:00.000-08:00

Join Obama for America State Director Mitchell Scwhartz, Lizzie Schwartz and his family for their MLK Parade, Monday, January 19th

10am - 12:00

This is a family event so bring the kids to help celebrate the brininging in our our new president.

124 N. Van Ness

Los Angele, CA 90004

(the block between beverly blvd and 1st street will be closed to traffic for the parade)

Bring your bikes or scooters to join the official scootercade or a lawn chair to view the show

Workin' for the Woman!

2009-01-16T11:23:00.000-08:00

Who is that good looking guy with our new Secreatry of State, Hilary Clinton?

Tom Johnson, you sly dog, you!

Big labor backs overturn of Proposition 8

2009-01-13T23:53:00.000-08:00

from Capitol Alert by Shane Goldmacher

A coalition of labor unions announced Tuesday that it will file amicus briefs to urge the California Supreme Court to overturn Proposition 8, the 2008 ballot measure that banned gay marriage in the state.

More than 50 labor unions signed onto the brief including some of California's most influential labor groups. Among them: the California Labor Federation, SEIU California State Council, the California Federation of Teachers, the California Nurses Association, the California Faculty Association, UNITE HERE! and the Screen Actors Guild.

Combined, the labor organizations say they represent 2 million California workers.

In the brief, the unions argue that Proposition 8 is invalid because it is not a "constitutional amendment," but a "constitutional revision." A revision requires a two-thirds vote of the Legislature to get on the ballot, where an amendment can qualify through the collection of signatures, as Proposition 8 did.

The revision vs. amendment legal argue is the key to the No on 8 campaign's effort to overturn the measure, which 52.3 percent of voters supported.

"If a simple majority of voters can take away one fundamental right, it can take away another," the unions argue in the brief. "If it can deprive one class of citizens of their rights, it can deprive another class too. Today it is gays and lesbians who are singled out. Tomorrow it could be trade unionists."

The Yes on 8 campaign has said the courts should not overturn the will of the people.

After the jump is the list of unions signing the brief:

California Labor Federation
National Federation of Federal Employees
Screen Actors Guild
UNITE HERE!
Alameda Labor Council, AFL-CIO
Fresno-Madera-Tulare-Kings Counties Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO
Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO
Sacramento Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO
San Mateo County Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO
San Francisco Labor Council, AFL-CIO
South Bay Labor Council, AFL-CIO
California Federation of Teachers, American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO
California Faculty Association
American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, District Council 57, AFL-CIO
American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, Local 2019, AFL-CIO
American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, Local 2428, AFL-CIO
American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, Local 3299, AFL-CIO
American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, Local 3916, AFL-CIO
American Federation of Teachers, Local 6119,Compton Council of Classified Employees
American Federation of Teachers, Local 6157, San Jose/Evergreen Faculty Association, AFL-CIO
El Camino College Federation of Teachers, Local 1388, California Federation of Teachers, American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO
United Educators of San Francisco, AFT/CFT Local 61, AFL-CIO, NEA/CTA
University Council-American Federation of Teachers
Association of Flight Attendants-CWA
Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, Council 97
Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, Council 99
Communications Workers of America District 9, AFL-CIO
Communications Workers of America, Local 9000, AFL-CIO
Communications Workers of America, Local 9503, AFL-CIO
Communications Workers of America, Local 9505, AFL-CIO
Communications Workers of America, Local 9421, AFL-CIO
Communications Workers of America, Local 9575, AFL-CIO
District Council of Ironworkers of the State of California and Vicinity
Jewish Labor Committee Western Region
Maintenance Cooperation Trust Fund
National Federation of Federal Employees, Local 1450
Operative Plasterers' and Cement Masons' Local 300, AFL-CIO
Operative Plasterers' and Cement Masons' Local 400, AFL-CIO
Pride at Work, AFL-CIO
SEIU California State Council
SEIU Local 521
SEIU Local 721
SEIU Local 1000
SEIU Local 1021
SEIU Local 1877
SEIU United Healthcare Workers West
Teamsters Joint Council 7, International Brotherhood of Teamsters
Teamsters Local 853, International Brotherhood of Teamsters
United Food and Commercial Workers, Local 5
UNITE HERE Local 19
United Steelworkers, Local 5, Martinez, Ca.
University Professional and Technical Employees, Communications Workers of America, Local 9119, AFL-CIO

National Day of Service

2009-01-10T17:19:00.000-08:00

Have a great project planned for the National Day of Service? Capture it on video and you could see it featured on USAService.org, or even win a personal phone call from Michelle Obama.

California has already posted hundreds of amazing projects on the USAService.org site - surely one of our fantastic organizers can win this contest. So get your cameras rolling! Scroll down for more details about the contest and signing up for the National Day of Service. And check out this inspiring video from California's Buffy Wicks

YOUTUBE VIDEO COMPETITION
As a part of the President Elect's Renew America Together campaign - the nationwide effort to foster a new dedication to volunteerism and community service on MLK Day and throughout the year -- we are teaming up with YouTube to sponsor a video competition.
The goal:;For individuals and;organizations to create a three-minute or less YouTube video designed to tell the story of what they plan to do on MLK Day. The videos could be dramatic, heartfelt, comical, or narrative -- whatever best captures the spirit;of the Renewing America Together campaign.

Individuals or organizations who want to submit a video should follow the step-by-step "how to post a YouTube video" instructions below. All submissions should be posted to the Renewing America Together channel no later than January 14th, 2009. Three winners will be selected. The winning videos will be posted on www.USAService.org, and the creator of the single best;video will get a personal phone call from First Lady Michelle Obama.

Setting Up Your Video YouTube is an interactive worldwide community;there are a lot of ways to use the platform to inform people, get them to participate, and grow awareness.

The Basics

1. Do your research. YouTube is more than a video-sharing site; it's many communities of active and engaged users. Look for current trends on the site (or ask us for tips) and find people who you think would engage with your campaign. If you launched your campaign today, can you see individual users who might contribute? If so, you'll know that what you're asking for isn't out in left field.

2. Be you, be different. Your campaign should reflect your organization's sensibility, so think of a concept that's in keeping with who you are. YouTube users appreciate authenticity. Emphasize how your campaign is unique to your organization and its goals.

3. Keep it simple. A simple video with a low barrier to entry is essential if you want to get a large number of submissions that resonate with your call-to-action.

4. Partner up. There is power in numbers on YouTube; it may be helpful to partner up with other organizations on the site whose work closely mirrors your own so that you can cross-promote your campaign on YouTube and off.Making and Optimizing Your VideosYouTube is designed to make sharing your videos with friends and family as easy as possible. You probably have the tools to make a video already, even if you don't have a camcorder. Web cams, digital cameras, and even cell phones often have video recording features—many digital cameras even have a simple switch to choose between stills and video, like this:

So take a look at what you already have—you may be surprised! Most of these devices record in either the .AVI or .MPG formats, both of which YouTube supports, and the video shot with them can be uploaded directly from the device or after being copied to your computer.

Digital and Analog Camcorders
If you already have a digital camcorder (one that captures in Digital8, MiniDV, HDV, or any of the DVD formats), then you're ready to start shooting your masterpiece. Your camcorder will need some kind of direct connection to your computer, either to the USB or FireWire ports or by inserting the DVD you've recorded. Once you've downloaded the video from the camera, you can upload it to YouTube or bring it into an editing program to play with it some more.

If you have an analog camcorder (one that uses VHS, VHS-C, SVHS-C, 8mm, or Hi8 tape), you can still get your videos onto YouTube. It will require an extra step and some additional equipment, though, since these camcorders are not usually equipped with computer connections. You will need to digitize the video with a converter box, which will convert the analog signal from the camcorder to a digital signal that the computer can understand. After the video has been digitized, you can manipulate it further or upload it.

Editing and Improving Your Videos
If you want to be a bit more hands-on with your video, most new computers come with basic video-editing software installed (like Apple's iMovie or Windows MovieMaker). Once you have copied the video from your phone, camera, or camcorder to your computer, you can bring the video into these programs. Most allow you to not only edit the video, but add effects, titles, and music to make your video look and sound more interesting.

Uploading Your Videos to YouTube
Once you're happy with your final result, you'll need to save the video in a format that YouTube can accept in order to upload. Unless you're a professional video producer, we recommend that you save your videos as either QuickTime .MOV, Windows .AVI, or .MPG files— these are the most common formats and they work well within our system. We specifically recommend the MPEG4 (Divx, Xvid) format at 640x480 resolution with MP3 audio. Resizing your video to these specifications before uploading will help your clips look better on YouTube.

Uploading Directly with Mobile Devices
If you have video capabilities on your cell phone or PDA, you can now upload videos directly from the device to YouTube. So if you get a quick clip of something cool with your phone, you can put it up right away. Just set up your Mobile Upload Options in advance, and then send your videos to the email address you're assigned. All of your mobile videos will have the default tags, title, and description that you set, or you can overwrite them in the email message you send.

Making Your Video Easy to Find

When you upload your video, we require you to choose at least one category and enter at least one tag to describe the content in your video. Adding this information helps other YouTube members find your video, so if you want an audience, help them out! The more accurate the tags are on each video, the easier it is for everyone to find cool videos to watch. Make your tags as descriptive as you can—if you took a video of your friends at the beach, you might want to tag it like this: party beach surfing. Each tag is separated from the others by a space.

Instructions courtesy of YouTube. For more information or troubleshooting please go directly to the YouTube help site