[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Brian Leubitz
Founder and Publisher
Calitics

By this time, I hope you've heard about Prop 98. But that's not the case everywhere, so much attention has been paid to getting the word out about the really negative effects that Prop 98 would have upon California. A great group of people came together to talk about the Landlords' Scheme to eliminate rent control, tenant protections, and affordable housing regulations.

Several folks came with cardboard boxes to make the point that many people living in rent controlled units would be forced to the streets. Many units would be converted to luxury condo conversion projects and housing supply in San Francisco would dwindle further. Affordable housing is already tough enough to come by (just look at Craigslist if you don't believe me), the last thing we need is Prop 98 eliminating much of the affordable supply.

by Brian Leubitz [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

by WhatAre Progressive Values [courtesy of Blog for America]

This is part of a continuing series of interviews of progressives telling stories about their progressive values.  I am working on a documentary to answer the question, What are Progressive Values? So far, I have interviewed over 100 progressives and have placed over 350 video clips on YouTube with the various replies. See ProgressiveSpirit.com  

 This interview is with Loni Hancock, California Assembly member representing the 14th Assembly District: Serving Berkeley, Richmond, Albany, San Pablo, El Cerrito, Kensington, Emeryville and Oakland. Loni says that empathy and caring are the most important progressive values to her. She tells a childhood story about empathy and her visit to the zoo.
 
 Progressive Values Stories: Loni Hancock on Empathy and Caring

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By David Dayen
d-day

I want to discuss Barack Obama's speech on race and politics, but first I want to say that I have a problem with these expected blog posts on expected speeches that the dynamics of 21st-century campaigns demand. This election has turned into some kind of bizarre series of rituals, like an season of Greek theater where everybody knows the plot and the audience is left to judge the work on the presentation. The parade of comment, counter-comment, conference call about comment, distancing from comment, and major speech incorporating remarks about comment is the real distraction in this campaign, diverting from a looming economic recession (a recession at BEST) and a tragic stalemate in Iraq. Rarely does anything good for the country come out of this exchange.

Furthermore, I'm sick and tired of this "action figure" conservatism where a bunch of stay-at-home bloggers decide for others what they should do in particular situations. "If I were Obama, I would have stood up during the sermon and fired a poison dart at Rev. Wright and talked about the need to cut the capital gains tax!" The imagined fantasies of these clowns resemble a Chuck Norris movie, when the realities involve far more Cheetos and nasal spray.

by Brian Leubitz [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

Hillary Clinton closed with her town hall, which was pretty similar to the previous one. It was a friendly crowd with friendly questions, and Hillary did a pretty good job of staying on message. I'm not sure if they are going to archive it on the website, but it's quite a long broadcast. So, perhaps we'll see some clips on youtube coming up soon.

Barack Obama has produced a 2 minute long ad that will be airing across the states in play tomorrow. I've posted that over the flip. Tomorrow, I'll be banning the "boiler room" for election protection in the Austin Obama Headquarters. I'll try to get some info posted tomorrow during the slow times.

by Brian Leubitz [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

by Bob Brigham [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

The uplifting Yes We Can video has been seen more than 11,000,000 times on Youtube alone. And now, Will.i.am has a follow up video: We Are The Ones