[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Dave Johnson
Speak Out California

The California Chamber of Commerce has released its annual list of what it calls "job-killer bills."

Why is it that the Chamber's job-killer bills hit-list seems to only target Democrats? Not a single targeted bill belongs to a Republican. "Bad bills", like those designed to protect public health, climate concerns or consumer rights legislation, are all authored by Democrats. The chamber has always been a lobbying organization, but it has gotten so bad that the Chamber seems to have devolved into little more than just one more fear-mongering Republican Party front group.

The "job killers" on this list are any laws that protect consumers, reduce energy use, require worker protections or anything else that might hinder a very few corporate executives from reeling in another several-hundred-million dollars a year. The jobs that are "killed" are those of lobbyists for the energy industry.

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Dave Johnson
Speak Out California

The California Chamber of Commerce has released its annual list of what it calls "job-killer bills."

Why is it that the Chamber's job-killer bills hit-list seems to only target Democrats? Not a single targeted bill belongs to a Republican. "Bad bills", like those designed to protect public health, climate concerns or consumer rights legislation, are all authored by Democrats. The chamber has always been a lobbying organization, but it has gotten so bad that the Chamber seems to have devolved into little more than just one more fear-mongering Republican Party front group.

The "job killers" on this list are any laws that protect consumers, reduce energy use, require worker protections or anything else that might hinder a very few corporate executives from reeling in another several-hundred-million dollars a year. The jobs that are "killed" are those of lobbyists for the energy industry.

by davej [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

By Dave Johnson, Speak Out California

The California Chamber of Commerce has released its annual list of what it calls "job-killer bills."  

Why is it that the Chamber's job-killer bills hit-list seems to only target Democrats? Not a single targeted bill belongs to a Republican. "Bad bills", like those designed to protect public health, climate concerns or consumer rights legislation, are all authored by Democrats.  The chamber has always been a lobbying organization, but it has gotten so bad that the Chamber seems to have devolved into little more than just one more fear-mongering Republican Party front group.
The "job killers" on this list are any laws that protect consumers, reduce energy use, require worker protections or anything else that might hinder a very few corporate executives from reeling in another several-hundred-million dollars a year.  The jobs that are "killed" are those of lobbyists for the energy industry.  

The first group on the "job killer" list is bills that ask for any kind of energy or water conservation or environmental standards for new housing construction.  For example, AB 1085.  The bill describes itself as undating,

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Robert Lieber, RN
Mayor
City of Albany

California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) Secretary Kawamura’s recent emergency declaration enabling the Light Brown Apple Moth (LBAM) aerial pesticide spraying of the Bay Area relies on blatant misrepresentations of the truth, fear-mongering and outright lies. The spray program he defends imperils California’s families, children, pets, and the environment, based on no real science and no solid facts.

The real facts are simple. CDFA sprayed Monterey and Santa Cruz counties, and at least 643 people got sick. They reported their illnesses although the State made no infrastructure available. The State only accepted health complaints on offical EPA forms signed by a physician, but physicians were not trained to assess the toxic exposure associated with the spray. Anyone without insurance or access to a physician could not “officially” report health problems. Secretary Kawamura’s assertion that there were no adverse reactions to the spray is an outrageous bureaucratic determination, not a true health assessment.

by Ilya Sheyman [courtesy of Blog for America]

We just won an incredible last minute victory in the Senate. Senate Democrats stood up to the Bush administration and stopped telecom immunity. Here's a message Jim just sent out:

We just had a huge victory. Grassroots action forced the Senate to stop telecom immunity from passing.

Earlier today, DFA members made over 1,000 calls an hour to our Senators. And they heard our voices loud and clear.

Tonight I'll be watching President Bush give his final State of the Union. As usual, he will be fear-mongering and pushing his radical agenda on the American people.

Thanks to your work today, we flipped the vote and forced Senate Democrats to have a backbone.

Jim

Thanks for all your hard work today. Tonight we celebrate, tomorrow we keep up the fight!

by David Reiter [courtesy of Blog for America]

When researching the plans each candidate had to accomplish their various goals, I had no idea who I was going to vote for. To tell you the truth, I still don't know. During the process I recognized a few things I thought I would share...especially since some of you asked me to summarize their policies in a shorter format.

Firstly, I like Dennis Kucinich, and he was originally going to be included in the chart. Ultimately, he was not included because 1) When you go to his site you will notice that he has great ideas, goals, and platforms...but his website and other information researched was scant on the details of how he would pursue those goals...there simply was not 10 specific plans on each of the 5 issues highlighted. 2) The point of the issue chart was to focus on specific plans to achieve goals, not to list what the candidates say their goals are. 3) One of the 3 leading candidates are assured of gaining the Democratic nomination, no matter how you look at it, and we wanted to provide purely objective information.

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Frank D. Russo

The outcry over Governor Schwarzenegger’s proposal last week to release 22,000 prisoners as part of a budget deficit reduction plan has drawn some predictable responses—mostly expressions of horror and fear mongering ala Willie Horton about criminals coming to your neighborhood. It came as a shock to Assembly Republicans—and taking a look at what the Governor had to say repeatedly last year about prisoner releases, this is actually very understandable. In fact, the Governor’s proposal has been criticized by leading Democrats such as Speaker of the Assembly Fabian Nunez as being irresponsible and he voiced his opposition last week shortly after the Governor spoke.