Greg Dewar thinks she is great. Sweet Melissa has a report on the kick off. California Progress Report has the text of Speier’s speech. Bob Brigham has his own account.

Maybe national netroots should just butt out.

Almost 9 Billion last year. More this year. That’s what the taxpayers of CA are spending on ~175K prisoners in CA jails. Which are overcrowded, understaffed, and constantly under court orders to become less like chthonic criminal houses of learning and prostitution. The Union is suing too, because they’re being asked to work impossible hours with ancient “technology” and too many charges.

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Oops. Herr Gropinator has gone off the reservation:

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Here is what to expect from plans like these and other plans in which insurance companies are kept in the overall equation. Higher costs, the poor getting really screwed, and people still being forced to make impossible choices. Unlike some, I’m happy to be in the front of the line “pushing insurance companies into the sea.” I worked for one, and the physicians in my family deal with them daily. They Are Evil. So long as we continue to worry about all those poor, sad little insurance company execs not making enough money by denying children with rare cancers life saving treatment because it’s “experiemental,” we won’t have a solution.  Read more 

A lot of people are talking about the various “mandatory” plans floating about various congressional and gubernatorial offices right now. Ahnold’s, Wyden’s, etc. It’s all the Rage, for young politicians: it’s an issue that is still unmade in the national media (what is to come, not what is) and if you’re enterprising you can ride this political wave for a generation or more. If as a consumer, you’ve ever had problems with Phase One of the plan to keep people separated from their dollars and their health, you know what I mean. You’re never more ready for activism than when you’re reviewing your year-end out of pocket for health care. But get ready to feel the need to go all Che on some ass: Phase Two is a little more “humane” in that everyone gets to pay some people to do nothing, while getting nothing. Or worse.

Right now, we’ve reached a point, after going on 40 some years, where we’ve decided we don’t think the old or the poor should just die when they can’t afford good care. Actually, just the old- it’s the anger of the upper-middle class that’s really driving the grassroots scream for reform. Biff and Muffy can’t stand the idea that they’re spending 3K on Grandma’s private care and being told to pay even more for subpar converage. Those of us down here on the botton have experienced quite a different reality for some time.  Read more 

Yeah, the stock market is at record highs and gas is back to the low-low-low still higher than when Clinton was in office price of $2.50/gal, and we’re building a fence so I can pick lettuce for my second job instead of some undeserving Mexican, all hail the Bush Boom!

By David Streitfeld and Martin Zimmerman, Times Staff Writers
October 19, 2006

The number of Californians who are significantly behind on their mortgage payments and at risk of losing their homes to foreclosure more than doubled in the three months ended Sept. 30, providing the latest evidence of trouble in the housing market, figures released Wednesday show.

Lenders sent out 26,705 default notices — the first step toward a foreclosure — during the July-to-September period, up from 12,606 during the same quarter in 2005, according to DataQuick Information Systems.  Read more 

This is a great idea. I hope we see a lot more of this.

Attorney General Bill Lockyer today filed a lawsuit against leading U.S. and Japanese auto manufacturers, alleging their vehicles’ emissions have contributed significantly to global warming, harmed the resources, infrastructure and environmental health of California, and cost the state millions of dollars to address current and future effects.

“Global warming is causing significant harm to California’s environment, economy, agriculture and public health. The impacts are already costing millions of dollars and the price tag is increasing,” said Lockyer.  Read more 

Talk about a tin ear. I hope this works, and that he gets his ass handed to him if he vetos it. I find it rather pathetic that the Republicans quoted here are still blathering about “bloated bureaucracy” when discussing health care. I mean, really- who in this country actually has efficient, high quality service from their health insurance provider, assuming they have one? At this point I think most people would rather deal with the IRS than their insurance company:

On a largely party-line 43-30 vote, the Assembly approved a bill by state Sen. Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica, that would eliminate private medical insurance plans and establish a statewide health insurance system that would provide coverage to all Californians. The state Senate has already approved the plan once and is expected this week to approve changes that the Assembly made to the bill.  Read more 

The ever impressive Ms. Rozen comments about an LATimes piece about spying on domestic and peace groups:

Past and present members of the attorney general’s office said they were troubled by a meeting at the security office last September in which federal and state officials discussed ways to prevent Islamic militants from recruiting prison inmates. In attendance were officials from the FBI, the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and various local law enforcement agencies, according to documents obtained by The Times.  Read more 

I think this is pretty fun.

With the excesses of their Watergate and Potomac houseboat parties, it was as if Wilkes and Foggo brought with them from their modest childhoods (they played high-school football together) an almost Hollywood idea of Washington power. Meanwhile, Wilkes and Wade amassed hundreds of millions of dollars in defense and intelligence contracts. The Prospect has already reported how a Wilkes-controlled company, Archer Logistics, received a small 2003 contract from the CIA to provide bottled water to CIA personnel in Iraq with the help of Foggo. Further reporting indicates that Wilkes was in negotiations in early 2005 to receive a far larger CIA contract, worth a few hundred million dollars, to operate a covert “proprietary” airline. A source tells the Prospect that under this arrangement, “Third-party [airline] companies would be purchased, brought under the new [Wilkes] corporate umbrella, and staffed with new Agency pilots.” The deal fell apart, according to this source, after Wilkes’ role in the Cunningham corruption case came to light.  Read more 

I mean, really. What is going to be enough for people to demand someone do something about this?

TO REVIEW: The election was run on highly hackable Diebold voting machines that were sent home overnight and unsecurely with poll workers for days prior to the election which rendered the machines both illegal and uncertified for use in the election under both federal and state laws, requirements and statutes. The GOP has since rushed to swear-in Bilbray before the votes were counted, or the election even certified by the state of California.  Read more