Environment

From the Inbox: We Spoke, They Heard Us

October 16, 2011 by Kenneth

From Alan Grayson:

Have you noticed how all those calls to cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid have faded out? And did you see that President Obama’s plan to pay for the American Jobs Act did not include any benefit cuts, despite the early rumors?

As Sherlock Holmes might say, it’s the dog that didn’t bark.

Why didn’t that dog bark? Maybe it was the changing weather in Washington, DC. Or maybe, just maybe, it had something to do with this:

The fact that over 100,000 of us signed our petition at No-Cuts.com, and those petitions were delivered to the White House.

The First Amendment guarantees our right to “petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” And that’s exactly what we did. Together.

And believe me, even in the Age of the Internet, Washington, D.C. does not see many petitions with over 100,000 names on it.

So to everyone who signed our petition, thank you. Thank you for helping to protect the lives and wellbeing of old people — and old, sick people — and poor, sick people. Thank you for being an active citizen. Thank you for caring about others.

Thank you for being a decent human being.

Courage,

Alan Grayson

LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa: Why I'm Endorsing Marty Chavez for Congress

October 13, 2011 by Democracy for N...

This is a guest blog by Antonio Villaraigosa, a Democrat serving as Mayor of Los Angeles, California, the third Mexican American to have ever held office in the city of Los Angeles and the first in over 130 years. He is also the current president of the United States Conference of Mayors. He was first elected mayor on May 17, 2005, and is currently serving his second term.

Raising His Voice

For real change to happen, bold and innovative leaders must step forward to lead. As a former labor organizer, a progressive activist, and Mayor of the great city of Los Angeles, I know what it takes to step forward at critical times to make the tough choices -– and because of that I can spot a leader who gets results when I see one.

Governor Brown vetoes another pro-transit bill

September 28, 2011 by Calitics

(Cross-posted from Groundswell, the California League of Conservation Voters blog.)

Every day for the past couple of weeks I've been checking Governor Brown's website to see if he's taken action on California League of Conservation Voters (CLCV) and Green California's priority legislation. I've also been following press stories closely to look for hints on whether he's going to sign or veto particular bills. And most days, not much happens. On Monday though, Brown posted an update on bill signings and vetoes. I had almost reached the end of the list, thinking he again hadn't acted on any of our priority bills, when I saw something very sad - our governor had vetoed AB 650 (Blumenfield), which would have established a task force to find solutions to California's transit funding crisis.