DNC Convention Highlights: House Minority Leader, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (CA)

Full text of speech, here.

Rep. George Miller (D-CA) got the GOP together on their "health care plan" (Video)

I watched this live and laughed my ass off, YES I DID...while we wait to vote the bill out of the House of Representatives on C-SPAN....



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From President Obama at the DNC Fundraiser in San Francisco..."get a mop...grab a mop help clean up...that's a socialist mop..." (Video)

Yes, get a mop and help clean up the shit that was left for the Obama Administration, even that socialist mop....



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Want outrageous? A woman, awakens in the night, her breast is bleeding but her insurance company DENIES the claim (Video)

If a woman awakens with her breast bleeding and soaked, don't you think that there is something WRONG HERE? For Blue Shield of California, absolutely, NOT.

One of the worst abuses of private insurance companies is the practice of using spurious reasons to deny claims. In April, Rosalinda Miran-Ramirez awoke and found her shirt soaked in blood. Realizing that her “her left breast [was] bleeding from the nipple,” she rushed to the emergency room.

Today, CBS-5 reports that this San Francisco Department of Public Health employee has had her claim denied because her insurance company, Blue Shield of California, didn’t consider her situation to be an “emergency.” Even though her doctor told her it was likely a tumor, Blue Shield said that Miran-Ramirez should have known it wasn’t:

But Miran-Ramirez said the real shock came when her insurance company, Blue Shield of California HMO, which had initially approved the claim for the emergency room visit, reversed course and sent her a new bill three months later requiring her to pay the total charges for that visit: $2,791.00.

Why? Documents from Blue Shield indicate the company had reviewed the case and determined Miran-Ramirez “reasonably should have known that an emergency did not exist.”

And we have members in congress who are FIGHTING for these VERY insurance companies. This is sick and pathetic. But the outcome, once Blue Shield of California was put on TV, they paid the claim. Geez, we have thousands of these stories whose claims will not be paid. That is the sad thing about this whole situation. A government run public option to put these sorry insurance companies IN CHECK, is fine by me.

Video here:



Source

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Video found of GOP Congressman Wally Herger (R-CA) praising "right-wing terrorist"

an incident broke out at a town hall at Simpson University in Redding [Northern California] on Tuesday when Herger signaled encouragement to a 67-year-old town hall attendee, Bert Stead, who called himself a "proud right-wing terrorist."

"Amen, God bless you," Herger reportedly replied to the comment. "There is a great American."

And we are supposed to praise THAT? This is despicable and this congressman should be ASHAMED and REMOVED.

Congressman Herger spends the entire time watching the guy rant with a wry smile. And given the fact that most of the crowd appears to be terrorist sympathizers, there's nothing he can really do without incurring the wrath of his constituency. Just watch as Congressman Herger--who no longer deserves that title, if he ever did--chooses demagoguery over loyalty to American values and ideals.

Read it all here

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If health care and access is so great in this country, why is this going on? (Video)

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In case you missed it: Michelle Obama in San Francisco, California (Pictures and Video)

First Ladies in California: FLOTUS Michelle Obama and First Lady of California Maria Shriver






NCVS 2009, Michelle Obama



View all the video, here.

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California Supreme Courts upholds ban on gay marriage

One caveat, the 18,000 same-sex marriages performed prior to the voter ban are LEGAL.

The California Supreme Court upheld a ban on same-sex marriage today, ratifying a decision made by voters last year that runs counter to a growing trend of states allowing the practice.

The decision, however, preserves the 18,000 marriages performed between the court’s decision last May that same-sex marriage was lawful and the passage by voters in November of Proposition 8, which banned it. Supporters of the proposition argued that the marriages should no longer be recognized.

Today’s decision, written by Chief Justice Ronald M. George for a 6-to-1 majority, said that same-sex couples still have the right to civil unions, which gives them the ability to “choose one’s life partner and enter with that person into a committed, officially recognized, and protected family relationship that enjoys all of the constitutionally based incidents of marriage.” But the justices said that the voters had clearly expressed their will to limit the formality of marriage to heterosexual couples. read more here....

Expect this fight to continue.

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Obama, Schwarzenegger going at it?

You decide.

Arnold Schwarzenegger has been one of the prominent Republican defenders of President Obama's stimulus plan. He's called the California governor "one of the great innovators of state government" and "an outstanding partner with our administration." But their relationship has hit a rough patch.

The L.A. Times reports that the Obama administration is threatening to rescind stimulus billions of dollars in federal stimulus funds if wage cuts to unionized home healthcare workers are not restored.

Schwarzenegger's office was advised this week by federal health officials that the wage reduction, which will save California $74 million, violates provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Failure to revoke the scheduled wage cut before it takes effect July 1 could cost California $6.8 billion in stimulus money, according to state officials.

The Service Employees International Union, which represents the workers, requested the opinion from Obama's Department of Health and Human Services.

"The Obama Administration has made it clear that the State cannot cut the homecare workers' wages. Now we need our counties to follow suit and take all the cuts off the table," said SEIU Executive Vice President and SEIU UHW Trustee, Eliseo Medina.

more here....

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Pressure mounting to throw out those torture lawyers

We know these torture lawyers will not be indicted or in other terms, won't get reprimanded for crafting the torture doctrine used by the Bush Administration and soiling our image internationally, but when you do wrong, it comes back to you, two fold.

Now out west the bullseye button is on John Yoo and Judge Jay Bybee. Folks, the people are mounting to go after them.

Pressure is mounting against two former Bush administration attorneys who wrote the legal memos used to support harsh interrogation techniques that critics say constituted torture.

John Yoo, a constitutional law professor at the University of California, Berkeley, is fighting calls for disbarment and dismissal, while Judge Jay Bybee of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals faces calls for impeachment.

Justice Department investigators have stopped short of recommending criminal charges, but suggest in a draft report that the two men should face professional sanctions. A number of groups across the country agree, and some want even stronger action.

Note, while the Justice Department will not file criminal charges, they suggest that these two should face professional sanctions, in other words, LOSE YOUR CUSHY JOBS.

Enter Demonstrations in Berkeley

Human rights and anti-war activists are planning a demonstration at the Berkeley School of Law's May 16 commencement ceremony to press for Yoo to be fired.

"It's unconscionable that the legal architect of the torture apparatus is teaching the future generation of lawyers and judges at UC Berkeley," said Stephanie Tang, an organizer with the group World Can't Wait.

Robert Cole, a professor emeritus at Berkeley's law school, said he believes the university should conduct its own investigation to determine if Yoo's work for the Bush administration violated the campus' faculty code of conduct.

"The university has got to protect its integrity," Cole said. "Every professor we put in the classroom has to have professional competence and ethical integrity."

Slow Burn in Nevada

Legal colleagues, while praising Bybee as a scholar and caring colleague, have criticized the memos, particularly for what some of them say was legal sloppiness and faulty constitutional logic not indicative of his other work.

John Podesta, president of the liberal Center for American Progress and the leader of President Barack Obama's transition team, said, "If he would do the right thing, he should just simply resign."

If he doesn't quit, Podesta said, he should be removed from office.

In the end, if you had anything to do with the Torture Crew from the Bush Administration, you are looking to eventually go down, maybe not legally but that cushy job can be stripped from you very easily. Don't believe me? Ask Alberto Gonzalez. No law firm in this country will touch him. He is poison from that Torture Crew from the Bush Administration, which is why these torture lawyers did not want any of these memos to come out in the open, they are facing very harsh criticism which can result in both losing their prestigious and cushy jobs.

No pity party here.

Source

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This is reality. California unemployment poised to hit 12%

I am here in Illinois and the unemployment rate is over 8.6%. This is not good for Illinois because we are close to that double digit, but for Cali to hit 12% this is very bad news.

California's jobless rate will climb to a staggering 11.9 percent between April and June next year, and double-digit unemployment will linger in the nation's most populous state at least through 2011, according to a new economic forecast.

The somber outlook in the quarterly Anderson Forecast from the University of California at Los Angeles, to be released Wednesday, came as the state struggles with a housing meltdown, budget crisis and slack consumer demand that has hurt the retail, manufacturing and trade sectors at the heart of the state economy.

The projected jobless rate would grow to 11.9 percent between April and June 2010, and average 11.7 percent for that year. The figure stood at 10.5 percent in February. Forecasters say it will average 11 percent for 2009.

SOURCE

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"The state of California has a tremendous partner in Barack Obama," says Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in Los Angeles, CA (Videos)

President Barack Obama is playing a bit of divide-and-conquer this week, pitting his Republican critics against GOP governors and mayors eager for the federal money that his hard-fought stimulus plan will bring.

One of those Republican notables is California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who joined Obama at a town hall meeting on Thursday in Los Angeles.

"The state of California has a tremendous partner in Barack Obama," said the governor, who also called the president's stimulus package "the greatest."

Governor Schwarzenegger introduces President Barack Obama, Video

8-year-old Ethan Lopez tells President Obama that his elementary school is in "big trouble" due to budget cuts.



And clip from the Tonight Show with Jay Leno

Source

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President Obama's Town Hall, Costa Mesa, California (Video and Transcript)

Transcript

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Obama is in California, the furor is rising about AIG

Seems like POTUS has townhall meetings scheduled in Orange County and Los Angeles, then sitting on Jay Leno's couch for tomorrow night's show. The backlash is brewing and coming even moreso since it has been revealed that the White House knew about these AIG bonuses.

I wrote over the weekend that it was possible that the White House had the wool pulled over its eyes with AIG's bonus dump, but that it too was possible that they knew from the orchestrated talking points on the Sunday's shows. Most reps from the White House was pointedly in talking about AIG, up to Bernanke on 60 Minutes.

Secretary Geithner knew these bonuses were coming, but failed on negotiating the terms of the contracts down from what was announced.

Obama Administration is walking a slippery slope here. What should have happened is that this information should have been up front to the public, but now the attack dogs like, morning joke are out there with red meat based on their fake outrage. Yes, if you already knew about these bonuses, how can it be real but orchestrated?

Time for Obama to get this under control, but I don't know if he can. The problem is that he is surrounded by people that were part of this mess like, Larry Summers and Timothy Geithner. These two were big players in this economy mess. And Geithner? Treasury Secretary? Too close to Wall Street for my taste, that is the major problem.

Lastly, it is going to be hard as heck for the Obama Administration to get another penny for these banks. AIG has destroyed the goodwill for the public. And yet, AIG is supposed to get another 30B in aid? Oh, but this time there will be restrictions? I don't blame the Obama Administration for all of this because much of this money was already allocated before Obama took office, but I do blame them for fake outrage on AIG bonuses that they already KNEW ABOUT.

His first appearance as president in a state that was a getaway for his predecessors could instead become a political test for Obama, whose administration has been trying to find its voice on the economy. His schedule includes a stop on Jay Leno's stage in Burbank after town hall-style meetings in Orange County on Wednesday and downtown Los Angeles on Thursday.

With the furor over the AIG bonuses, "if he doesn't have some really good answers, this could be a nightmare. It's not going to be enough to say, 'I feel your anger and we are looking into it,'" said University of California, Berkeley, political scientist Bruce Cain. "There has to be some sort of decisive action."

Judy Chen-Lee, a laid-off job counselor for the city of Santa Ana, has a ticket for the Orange County event and hopes to press the president about getting people back to work.

The economic stimulus money should be "dedicated to those most in need, who need jobs and retraining," she said. "The AIG situation is sad. There needs to be accountability."

Source

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Hard to swallow the truth while the government is in OUTRAGE over AIG, Tent Cities, Slums are real (Video)

This is near Ontario Airport, one of the burbs of Los Angeles. And Sacramento and Phoenix have tent cities popping up, too.

Sacramento is below:



Folks, families, individuals getting thrown out on the street is real, not FAKE. We sure care about AIG and the rest, not failing and this just breaks your heart. And evictions, look here.

h/t Jeffrey Feldman

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Obama's stimulus package hitting local government

Why? In the package is money for states and local government, they need it to support schools, healthcare, etc. So, they are sending the message to their congressional delegation to SUPPORT the stimulus package.

Santa Clara County supervisors are pushing the local congressional delegation to support President Barack Obama's economic stimulus package, joining a growing number of cities and counties lining up for a federal bailout.

Prompted by Supervisor Liz Kniss, the county has readied a preliminary list of 32 "shovel-ready" capital projects totaling $174 million that could use an infusion of cash from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 now being debated in Congress.

The list includes retrofits, paving and electrical projects, park improvements and sewer system improvements.

See, that list above? That is local government and that is money needed to keep cities, villages, towns going. That includes hiring folks to fix, upgrade.

Republicans, get on board.

Source

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Foreclosures up 81%.....Staggering.....

What is happening? Many folks, some who have lost jobs and even some who have not are leaving these homes.

Remember that fake equity many thought they had when they purchased their homes? Well, their mortgage payments cost more than what the house is actually worth.

Wake up call, for real.

More than 2.3 million American homeowners faced foreclosure proceedings last year, an 81 percent increase from 2007, with the worst yet to come as consumers grapple with layoffs, shrinking investment portfolios and falling home prices.

Nationwide, more than 860,000 properties were actually repossessed by lenders, more than double the 2007 level, according to RealtyTrac, a foreclosure listing firm based in Irvine, Calif., which compiled the figures.

States heavy hit are California, Nevada, Arizona and Florida. California homes were always overpriced, but many got caught up in the fake equity meme, plus that Writers Strike in Hollywood is still being felt, many in those swanky homes walked away from them due to no salaries. And the reality is that California has a high unemployment rate at 8.4% and rising, not good news.

Nevada was a real boom state for some time now, many communities were built with the population growing, the casino industry was solid. Well, not now.

In one of the more ominous signs of Las Vegas' crumbling housing market, foreclosures nearly tripled in 2008 from the previous year, Sacramento, Calif.-based Foreclosures.com reported Wednesday.

Lenders took back 31,416 homes in Clark County during the year, compared with 11,509 in 2007. Preforeclosure filings nearly doubled to 67,314 from 33,953 during the period. It's by far the highest numbers since Foreclosures.com began tracking the information.

[snip]

Nevada was No. 8 in the nation with 37,043 foreclosures, far behind California (260,709), Florida (107,833) and Texas (70,037). However, Nevada had the highest foreclosure rate at 4.99 percent.

Since the country is going through massive job losses, wages slashed, who has money for Las Vegas? So, that means that the easy jobs to get at the casinos are not so easy anymore. It means that many have lost jobs, hours cut to the bone and these home owners can not afford to keep up mortgage payments.

Florida was always a quagmire. My father lives there and since he retired, moved, built his home, survived Hurricane Ivan, he wished he was back in Chicago. Why? The home owners insurance is so expensive, some folks are paying MORE for insurance than their actual mortgage payments. For many this state is becoming too, expensive to live in.

Florida also is a tourist state, much like Nevada, when the country is hurting so is Florida. It means that many with these jobs are laid off, hours cut, wages cut, etc. It means mortgages for these workers homes can not be paid. It is a vicious circle. Florida is number two in foreclosures.

Nationally, 3.2 million foreclosures were filed in 2008, an 81 percent increase from 2007 and a 225 percent increase from 2006. Nevada had the nation's highest foreclosure rate, and Florida was second with one in 22 of its houses and condominiums falling into foreclosure last year.

The question is this, "Has the foreclosure of homes stablized?"

Still, foreclosures — which keep breaking records going back 30 years, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association — are likely to remain well above normal levels for years to come, and that will continue to keep home prices from rebounding.

In other words, expect record number of foreclosures for 2009 and possibly going into 2010.

Finally, what is up with prices rebounding? How the hell can prices rebound when these home prices were inflated from the start? As my mother-in-law, who is a mortgage broker always said, "Your home is only worth, what someone wants to pay for it."

Ain't that the truth.

.....and jobless claims? Bad news....

Source
MSNBC

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More bailouts? Even states like California?

I was talking to relatives this weekend and one thing is certain, everyone believes that the airline industry will be BACK knocking at the door for bailout money Yes, even though this industry has been in the red BEFORE 9/11, they will have their hands out to President Obama, too.

Virtually every sector of the aviation industry is pressing an expansive request for help in the upcoming economic stimulus bill, including proposals some groups have sought for a long time.

The joint request is coming from groups representing the major U.S. airlines, private pilots, airports, business aviation and airplane manufacturers large and small. Congress is expected to act on the stimulus legislation in January.

It is funny, when these industries are doing well, heavy in black ink, they are pro-business, anti any government regulations, don't want the feds in their business, all about capitalism when it suits them. Now, that this industry has been tanking for some time, these industries have no problem or qualms marching up to Capitol Hill and requesting for funds to keep them relevant.

If they expect the American Public to be ok with this, think again. Main Street has YET seen any relief or bailout for millions of Americans in the mortgage crunch, but the government can whip out a check and help these industries at a drop of a hat? Something still stinks in the whole equation here.

Now, I read yesterday that property developers want a bail out. This industry is for commercial property.

Some of the biggest U.S. property developers are asking for government money in the face of $160 billion in maturing commercial mortgages next year, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday.

About $530 billion in commercial mortgages are due for refinancing over the next three years, with $160 billion due for payment next year, according to Foresight Analytics, the Journal reported.

And with credit hard to come by and cash in commercial property drying up, companies want government assistance.

The thing is this; when you start bailing companies out expect everyone else to have their hands out, too. And let us not forget how the banks got bailout money, took it and are still SITTING on it, because they are not giving out loans to anyone. At least that was the whole purpose of giving banks bailout money, to ease the financial crisis, but instead they are only thinking of THEMSELVES.

Finally, we come to the State of California.

Let us not forget that California has been going down for some time now and Governor Schwarzenegger has been forewarning many of the financial instability in his state. Well, the shutdown of California government is real.

California's chief financial officer warned Monday that the state would run out of money in about two months as hopes of a Christmas budget compromise melted into political finger-pointing by the end of the day.

Seems like all talks with the California legislation has gone up in smoke.

"Yesterday we sat there for hours and we worked through it step by step and we made some great progress," the governor said during a morning news conference in Los Angeles. "So we feel like if we do that two more times like that, I think we can get there ... before Christmas Eve or Christmas Day."

The thaw didn't last long, as legislative leaders later in the day criticized Schwarzenegger and indicated their work was done until the start of the New Year.

The governor faulted lawmakers for "failing to take real action" in addressing the state's budget deficit but said he will continue working with them on a solution that includes spending cuts, new revenue and an economic stimulus plan.

Now a lot of this is all about negotiations from the governor and the state legislators, but one thing is critical in this state, they need money to survive and they needed it yesterday.

If the State of California somehow gets any money from the federal government, expect other states to line up right behind Cali with their hands out, too.

Well, 'tis the season to be jolly.....

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Keith Olbermann's Special Comment on California's Proposition 8 (Video)

Transcript

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What Happened Here?

cross-posted @ Daily Kos

I have been on a meltdown, physically and emotionally.

As many know, I have been a far left partisan for Barack Obama. I have been in the trenches since late spring of 2007 here.

I have ticked off many, point noted, but it happens in the primary wars. You either have steel skin, or get out of the game.

But, now I am coming back here and starting a new, "This Week with President Barack Obama", but have to read a bunch of nonsense about Proposition 8 which passed in California, much to my chagrin.

••

First off, let's talk about how this was sold to the public in California.

I lived in California for 10 years before returning back to the Midwest. This is a state that is forward thinking on every metric. If there is any state in the union which motto fits, "so goes California, so goes the nation". Yes, it is California.

Proposition 8 was a failure on many levels. The most important failure was the lack of organization of those against the legislation to inform many Californians what was at stake.

Let me be clear here. It is not African-Americans fault that this legislation was passed and not defeated. Read this information of the break down here and get the statistical facts.

Selling Proposition 8 is the same as selling Barack Obama to this country. Folks must be informed about what this legislation entails and must understand that this is about the everyday man's civil rights in this country. This was not explained.

Many on here must also see that the Hispanic community did not embrace this amendment either, and it is not their fault.

African-Americans more than anyone in this country fully understand one's civil rights. If you allow the other side to define what this legislation is about, which was successful by the passing of this legislation, then something else happened.

We must commend the outside influences of the LDS (Mormons) for getting their message across, by powerful and divisive television ads and direct mail pieces. It was effective. They snatched the ball and ran with it, before opponents against this legislation had time to raise money and organize. That is what happened.

Now this is heading for the courts, as it should, but the larger picture should be this, "civil rights for gay Americans across this land." And this battle must be won on the Supreme Court ground.

Bashing African-Americans, Hispanics and the many Whites who voted for this legislation does not amount to anything. This is a teaching lesson to those who opposed this legislation. Take nothing for granted, you must make the public understand that this is a civil rights issue and must make many move past what homosexuality is, just as we had to fight everyday with Americans to look past Barack Obama's skin color and listen to what his agenda was. And many on this board KNOW this was not an easy task.

We have accomplished a lot of work together, now is not the time to point any fingers, especially when many of us did not donate money, time, or effort in making sure it was defeated.

If Barack Obama can become the first African-American President, this legislation can be defeated, at the ballot box or on the Supreme Court turf. We are the ones that must make a difference. Enough of the anger, time to get busy.

Just my 2 cents.

Excellent diary by shanikka

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