From the Ventura County Reporter Cartoonist Steve Greenberg.

The cartoon clearly shows the reprehensible behavior of the Ventura County Republican Party which should be ashamed of its self.

We have a very serious situation that affects my community of Oak Park in Ventura County.   

In 2007, Senate Bill 990 was passed by our California legislature and signed by Governor Schwarzenegger mandating thorough cleanup of the site.  The parties responsible for the cleanup are Boeing, the Department of Energy and NASA. 

Although the Department of Energy and NASA have previously committed to comply with SB 990, in recent weeks they have been fighting a “consent order“ that would confirm their full compliance with this California law. 

Please help us by contacting Senator Boxer, Senator Feinstein, Congressman Gallegly and Congressman Waxman to urge them to insist that these federal agencies make good on their promises to comply with our California law and clean this mess up.

Suggested statement for a call or postcard:

Dear Congressman / Senator:

A partial nuclear meltdown, thousands of rocket tests and decades of nuclear reactor development have left a witch’s brew of radioactive and chemical contamination at the Santa Susana Field Lab.  Thank you for your hard work in trying to get this carcinogenic mess cleaned up.  The Department of Energy and NASA committed to comply with State cleanup law.  They are breaking their promises!  Please insist that they live up to their work.  Make them clean up this contaminated disaster.

Find contact info for calling and mailing postcards at www.votesmart.org.

Spread this message to your friends.  We need your help now as actions by these agencies may be forthcoming any day now.

Thank you for helping.

Jay Kapitz

At the request of Carmen Ramirez

Now is a once in a Lifetime chance to save and fully restore, clean and protect the Ormond Beach Wetlands in Oxnard.  We Need Your Help to Rewrite the Map!   Let the Oxnard City Council  know that you want Ormond Beach protected!

For too long, the Oxnard Coast has been allowed to be abused and neglected.  Especially, the Ormond Beach wetland area, like many coastal wetlands, has been degraded and diminished by urban and industrial development – including the Halaco facility, which is now a Superfund site. Despite these impacts, the area is still considered a treasure by scientists and nature lovers. The California State Coastal Conservancy is also leading efforts to permanently protect and restore the wetlands. If successful, this could be one of the largest coastal wetland areas in Southern California. The Conservancy’s plan also envisions interpretive facilities, a trail network, boardwalks and wildlife overlooks, which would make Ormond Beach a amazing destination for residents and out of town visitors – a benefit to our entire community and our local economy.
 
However, a decision will be made on February 9 by the City of Oxnard about the Oxnard 2030 General Plan, and it could directly impact whether this restoration plan will be achieved. The 2030 General Plan describes Oxnard’s vision of what the City will look like through the year 2030. Unfortunately, Oxnard’s vision for Ormond Beach still includes significant industrial land use, including authorizing new industrial development on land still free from urban development. Industrial land use is incompatible with wetland protection, and the General Plan places it directly in the Conservancy’s wetland restoration planning area.
 
Your participation at this hearing is critical. If you can join us, please attend and let the City Council know the 2030 General Plan should not be adopted because:
 
       You support the State Coastal Conservancy’s efforts to acquire, permanently protect and restore Ormond Beach. The City should promote the Conservancy’s efforts at Ormond Beach and make any changes to the 2030 General Plan that conflict with the Conservancy’s preferred restoration plan (most recently identified as Alternative 2U in the Ormond Beach Wetland Restoration Feasibility Study), including changing to “resource protection” the Gateway Park area, the Halaco foundry site, the Reliant power plant, the Agromin site, and the area south of Hueneme Road between Edison and Arnold Roads.
 
      You support the current designation of the Halaco slag heap property as “resource protection.” The Halaco foundry site, which is still designated “industrial,” should also be designated “resource protection.” U.S. EPA will consider the 2030 General Plan when it makes its cleanup decisions for the Halaco site, and the City should send an clear message to EPA that it intends Ormond Beach to be free of polluting facilities that threaten human health and the environment.
 
     You support eliminating the residential development land use designations north of Hueneme Road. Residential development presents significant threats to wetland species. The land should remain designated “open space” to continue to buffer the Ormond Beach wetland area from urban impacts.

Oxnard 2030 General Plan Hearing
Oxnard City Council Chambers
305 W. Third Street, Oxnard
 Tuesday evening, February 9, 2010
7:00 PM 

If you cannot attend the hearing, please email the City Council members:
 
Mayor Tom Holden: drtomholden@aol.com
Mayor Pro Tem Andres Herrera: andres.herrera@ci.oxnard.ca.us
Council Member Dean Maulhardt: deancity@yahoo.com
Council Member Dr. Irene Pinkard: irene.pinkard@ci.oxnard.ca.us
Council Member Bryan MacDonald: bryan.macdonald@ci.oxnard.ca.us
 
Let them know that you care about the future of our city!

As Audra Strickland’s time in the state assembly draws to a close, and with little to show for it save a steady paycheck, she has announced she will move to Thousand Oaks and run against popular fellow Republican Linda Parks for County Supervisor.  Parks, who enjoys rare bi-partisan support, was elected District 2 Supervisor in 2002 and was re-elected in 2006.

In making her announcement, Strickland blasted Parks as being a “carpetbagger from Berkeley.”   It was a rough start for Strickland with this swing and a miss as Parks has never lived in Berkeley.  In fact, it is Strickland who re-registered to vote in the 2nd Supervisoral District only two weeks ago for the sole purpose of qualifying to run.

Strickland cited support and urging from the GOP Central Committee in her decision to run and has stated that she was surprised by a recent push poll they commissioned which attempted to discredit Park’s record.  It is interesting to note that the GOP Central Committee members include Strickland’s husband Tony Strickland, her mother-in-law, a former staff member and his wife, a business partner, and a businessman who has received more that 1.5 million in business from the Stricklands.

In the past, the majority of campaign funding for Strickland came from outside of her district and included contributions from big tobacco, horse racing, and indian gambling interests.

Yesterday, Senate Bill 810 (Leno-S.F.), a bill that guarantees affordable health insurance for all residents of California, passed the full Senate on a vote of 22 to 14.  This bill passed because of the long-term and arduous work of activists like you.  For that, we thank you.  Since the Senate vote, many of you have called and asked, “What’s next?”

Next, the bill is assigned to the Assembly Health Committee.  In the coming weeks we will know when the bill is scheduled for a hearing.  According to the official Assembly calendar, SB 810 must pass the Health Committee by July 2.  After passing the Health Committee, it will be sent to the Assembly Appropriations Committee for a hearing.  It must pass Appropriations by August 13.  Finally, it must pass the full Assembly by August 31 at which time the bill is sent to the Governor.

We have much work to do.  We will ultimately need 41 votes on the Assembly floor for passage.  Although we have successfully passed SB 840 (the former number of SB 810) twice through the Senate and Assembly, only to have Governor Schwarzenegger veto it twice, this time around there is a new political dynamic in play.  Beginning last week, the Republicans are aggressively fighting the legislation and are presenting verifiably false information to reporters.  Unfortunately, most reporters are letting the lies go unchallenged and report the lies as fact.  This is why we have much work to do.  We must overcome the false propaganda and continually educate ourselves, our colleagues, friends, neighbors and families and, of course, our Assembly members.

During the coming months, the OneCare Campaign will provide you with up-to-date information, Action Alerts, and things you can do to help grow our movement and educate fellow Californians.  As part of our educational campaign, starting March 1, a 30-second video ad that will highlight a fact about single payer health care, will be emailed to you each day for a year!  Stay tuned.  The ads will feature your friends and neighbors as well as famous celebrities.  By the end of the Ad Campaign, our legislators  and you will have received 365 educational messages.  You can help make our ad campaign “go viral” which will create the largest grassroots ad campaign in history.

Finally, thank you for your financial support.  You have made the difference.  We know we can count on you which is why we know that WE WILL WIN!

The Democratic Club of Camarillo will welcome CSUCI Associate Professor Sean Kelly as the featured speaker at our February 4th meeting. Sean will take a look at the current state of the Democratic Party and entertain questions from the membership. Also speaking will be Jay Kapitz from the Conejo Democratic Club who is Co-chair of the local Fair Elections campaign.  Our Phone Tree Volunteers will also be honored at the meeting.

Socializing will begin at 6:15 p.m. with the program starting at 7:00 p.m.  The club meets in the Orchid Building, 816 Camarillo Springs Road, which is located at the Camarillo Springs Exit from the South 101. The meeting is free and open to the public.  Call 805/987-1846 for additional information.

Last month I used this  space to plead for patience with President Obama’s initial bipartisan caution–but with the explicit expectation that “events on the ground” would present occasions for public pressure to make his administration pursue his promises of change more aggressively.  Such events have now occurred.
Loss of a  Massachusetts Senate seat,  marked by the massive infusion of last minute cash by special interests Obama had previously courted, witnessed major defection of independents and  perhaps some progressives as well.  Then on Thursday, January 21, five members of the Supreme Court combined to turn over our electoral process at all levels  to global corporate wealth and power.   President Obama will now have to clarify whether the change he adopted as a brand in 2008 was electoral rhetoric or a political agenda for whose achievement he will have to pull all stops.    Otherwise “we the people”—“natural-born Americans” in a very literal sense– will be supplanted by artificial “persons” created by governments for commercial purposes and gratuitously given predominance by the same Rule of Five that selected George W. Bush  in 2000.  Hopefully—and restoration of hope is crucial—an Obama-led movement to reverse this constitutional coup will bring independents back into a coalition capable of addressing the continued deterioration of our general economy, something acquiescence in Bush policies has failed to do.
Justice Anthony Kennedy’s logic in Citizens United v. FEC overturns precedents going back to the early history of the Supreme Court.  It makes a mockery of the “originalism,” deference, and modesty proclaimed by those who concurred in his opinion.  Because it extends First Amendment protection to already over-mighty “persons” created by governments, the decision produces a constitutional, not just a political, crisis.  It amounts to a coup because the case could have been decided using far more limited grounds.  Defenders of the decision are downplaying it, as the Ventura County Star did, as a so-so adjustment in campaign finance law.  Or they claim it puts business on an equal footing with labor and opens political space for non-profits, who are also allowed to contribute to independent, partisan causes right down to Election Day.  But given the disparity of economic power that has mushroomed since the “Reagan revolution,” this decision smacks of
legitimizing what Warren Buffet once called the “class war” that “we” –the rich –” have already won.”  It enshrines the radical Republican views of Newt Gingrich and others for whom plutocracy naturally evolves from democracy in a winner-take-all society.
President Obama repudiated this judicial usurpation in his State of the Union speech.  Resistance to it will not be limited to Democrats, though Democratic legislators have the initial burden of curtailing its effect before its full electoral impact is realized.  The only full answer to this decision is a constitutional amendment restricting constitutional personhood to human beings who are actually born, live, and breathe.  To contact one organization already sponsoring such an amendment, visit freespeechforpeople.org.  Acquiescence in the Rule of Five’s dictum repudiates constitutional government as Republicans such as Trust-busting Theodore Roosevelt realized a century ago.   It is time for another popular assault on the tyranny of “trusts” controlling elected officials with the backing of Supreme Court justices who have lost their democratic compass.
Allen Dirrim

Last month I used this  space to plead for patience with President Obama’s initial bipartisan caution–but with the explicit expectation that “events on the ground” would present occasions for public pressure to make his administration pursue his promises of change more aggressively.  Such events have now occurred.
Loss of a  Massachusetts Senate seat,  marked by the massive infusion of last minute cash by special interests Obama had previously courted, witnessed major defection of independents and  perhaps some progressives as well.  Then on Thursday, January 21, five members of the Supreme Court combined to turn over our electoral process at all levels  to global corporate wealth and power.   President Obama will now have to clarify whether the change he adopted as a brand in 2008 was electoral rhetoric or a political agenda for whose achievement he will have to pull all stops.    Otherwise “we the people”—“natural-born Americans” in a very literal sense– will be supplanted by artificial “persons” created by governments for commercial purposes and gratuitously given predominance by the same Rule of Five that selected George W. Bush  in 2000.  Hopefully—and restoration of hope is crucial—an Obama-led movement to reverse this constitutional coup will bring independents back into a coalition capable of addressing the continued deterioration of our general economy, something acquiescence in Bush policies has failed to do.
Justice Anthony Kennedy’s logic in Citizens United v. FEC overturns precedents going back to the early history of the Supreme Court.  It makes a mockery of the “originalism,” deference, and modesty proclaimed by those who concurred in his opinion.  Because it extends First Amendment protection to already over-mighty “persons” created by governments, the decision produces a constitutional, not just a political, crisis.  It amounts to a coup because the case could have been decided using far more limited grounds.  Defenders of the decision are downplaying it, as the Ventura County Star did, as a so-so adjustment in campaign finance law.  Or they claim it puts business on an equal footing with labor and opens political space for non-profits, who are also allowed to contribute to independent, partisan causes right down to Election Day.  But given the disparity of economic power that has mushroomed since the “Reagan revolution,” this decision smacks of
legitimizing what Warren Buffet once called the “class war” that “we” –the rich –” have already won.”  It enshrines the radical Republican views of Newt Gingrich and others for whom plutocracy naturally evolves from democracy in a winner-take-all society.
President Obama repudiated this judicial usurpation in his State of the Union speech.  Resistance to it will not be limited to Democrats, though Democratic legislators have the initial burden of curtailing its effect before its full electoral impact is realized.  The only full answer to this decision is a constitutional amendment restricting constitutional personhood to human beings who are actually born, live, and breathe.  To contact one organization already sponsoring such an amendment, visit freespeechforpeople.org.  Acquiescence in the Rule of Five’s dictum repudiates constitutional government as Republicans such as Trust-busting Theodore Roosevelt realized a century ago.   It is time for another popular assault on the tyranny of “trusts” controlling elected officials with the backing of Supreme Court justices who have lost their democratic compass.
Allen Dirrim

Title: Lynn Maxson Memorial Service
Location: Reardon Mortuary, 2636 Sycamore Dr. Simi Valley
Description: Please join us to remember and celebrate the life of our friend Lynn Maxson
Start Time: 11:00
Date: 2010-02-13