[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

In light of yesterday's FISA capitulation, in which Senators Dianne Feinstein and Barack Obama surrendered to Republicans to give the Bush administration and telecoms immunity over spying on Americans, it's worth remembering it could be worse. There are actual Republicans out there like Rep. David Dreier who have been far more reliable rubber stamps for the worst president in modern American history, and the Courage Campaign says it's time for a change.

(And for those keeping track at home, yes I just combined two completely unrelated stories through an incredibly tenuous connection. Deal with it. Our server was down when the Bush Rubber Stamp video was released. But since I have your attention, if you believe the Fourth Amendment is worth protecting, as did Senators Barbara Boxer, Russ Feingold, Patrick Leahy, Jon Tester, and Hillary Clinton, the ACLU wants to include your name in an ad that will appear in a major national newspaper.)

by Bob Brigham [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

Boy, lameduck CDP Chair Art Torres sure looks like shit. All that smoke he blew up the asses of the E-Board about how DiFi listens to him and so she shouldn't be censured -- well it was all crap. He stuck his neck out to vouch for DiFi on an issue as simple as upholding her oath of office and by doing so made an ass of himself and made himself look irrelevant at the same time. Didn't think it could get any worse than the scandal over the $4 million payola to Fabian Nunez, but Torres sure out did himself on this one.

Also not surprising, Senator Barbara Boxer fought to defend the Constitution against domestic enemies like Senator Dianne Feinstein. And fortunately for her, she's putting together a strong re-election campaign that won't rely upon the worthless CDP during the time we are recovering from the Torres dynasty.

Way to go Art! P.S. We were right about DiFi.

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Frank D. Russo

The California Field Poll released today shows that Barbara Boxer enjoys a net positive 17 point rating from California’s registered voters on their approval of her job performance. Field has the numbers at 48% approval and 31% disapproval with 21% having no opinion. Looking at the breakdown by party registration, Boxer does well with Democrats (70% to 12%) and does poorly with Republicans (20% to 62%). Most importantly, she does well with “non-partisan/others”—independent voters by 44% to 24%.

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Barbara Boxer
Chair
U. S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee

On Saturday morning, May 31, I had the honor of presenting the Democrats’ national weekly radio address, and I wanted to share the text of my remarks with you.

My topic could not be more timely: I discussed the Boxer-Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act, the landmark global warming bill that is being debated on the Senate floor this week. My bill will give our nation the tools we need to combat global warming and reverse the catastrophic impacts of climate change.

The text of the radio address, as delivered, is below:

Good morning. I’m Senator Barbara Boxer from California and Chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee. Next week, the Senate will begin debate on one of the most important issues of our time – global warming.

Senators have come together across party lines to write a law that will not only enable us to avoid the ravages of unchecked global warming, but will create millions of new jobs and put us on the path to energy independence. Other benefits of our legislation will be cleaner air, energy efficiency, relief for consumers and the alternative energy choices that American families deserve. And, by acting wisely, America will regain the leadership we have lost these past seven years.

by Lucas O'Connor [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

by Brian Leubitz [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

KQED's Forum is live right now with a program about whether the EPA is properly investigating the safety of chemicals.  Senator Barbara Boxer will appear on the show at 9:30 our time.  You can listen here or listen to the archive here.

by WarmingLaw [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

(Cross-posted from Warming Law) 

Hoping to further ratchet up pressure on EPA Adminstrator Stephen Johnson regarding California's waiver denial, Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) has now released additional transcriptions of internal agency documents her EPW committee staff was able to view. David Roberts has posted some initial thoughts on the highlighted contents-- including a plea from EPA staff to Johnson indicating that if he couldn't grant the waiver at least temporarily, "...you will face a pretty big personal decision about whether you are able to stay in the job under those circumstances."

Even more interesting to us, from a legal perspective, is the following excerpt from that same set of talking points, which is played out repeatedly in the 27 pages of documents transcribed and released by Boxer (added emphasis ours):