Final - Gar Byurm from DNC Convention in Denver

Thursday was a generational day. It seemed like a historic moment. It was awesome to see the stadium fill up during the day. Congressman John Lewis spoke and reminded everyone about how important Martin Luther King’s speech was and how he is the only one alive today who spoke on that day. We were entertained by music groups during the day such as Cheryl Crowe and Stevie Wonder. There was a country band from Colorado. It broke up the speeches from various people. There were a lot of people from around the country who spoke, including military people, young men who served in Iraq and Afghanistan and told everyone why they were supporting Barack Obama for president.

We were briefed by one of the leaders of the Obama campaign who is responsible for the huge registration effort across the country. He gave us a factual example of how effective registration efforts are – for example, in Pennsylvania they registered 340,000 new Democratic voters and has 60,000 fewer registered Republicans. Throughout the swing states, there is a huge effort to register rural voters throughout September.

During the course of the day, there were periodic speakers who were Republican from different walks of life as part of a continuing effort to communicate to the public that Obama’s campaign was dealing with issues in a bipartisan way – they were not Democratic or Republican issues, but American issues.

I was impressed with one Republican woman from North Carolina told about her health care horror story.

There was one section where retired military leaders came onstage in their suits and uniforms to sign on for duty for Barack Obama. One spoke about how they were committed to Barack Obama and how he was quite fit to be commander in chief.

Al Gore seemed impressed by the size of the crowd. He told us about the global warming threat the planet faces and how Obama will be the person to address it.

The crowd was amazing during Barack Obama’s speech. You could feel the energy of the crowd – it was totally electric being there. Periodically, I would stop rising and cheering and instead looked at the crowed in amazement. Some people brought their own flags. It was an awesome sight seeing all these flags being waved. One cannot overstate the historic moment of nominating an African American to be the next President of the United States.

I want to give a personal thank you and express my appreciation for all of you who made it possible for me to be a delegate in Denver. I was not alone there. I was humbled by the many calls I received from friends throughout the district, including Republicans.

As we were preparing to leave Denver on Friday morning, many of us found out that John McCain picked Sarah Palin for President. We were all shocked and amazed. The women I spoke to thought it was a cynical choice. We recognize that this choice will be popular with the evangelical base of the Republican party – but for the rest of us, the general conclusion is that Sarah Palin is not qualified to be a heart beat away from the presidency.

I’m back home now. I sincerely can't thank everyone enough.

Gar Byrum, Delegate

#3 Gar Byrum from Democratic National Convention, Denver

There is no overstating or underestimating the historical significance of the nomination of Barack Obama and the history that we will see tonight. There are so many parallels between now and 1960 and we could hear echo’s of the New Frontier and the “I Have a Dream” speech of 45 years ago.

What was really interesting to me was who I sat next to on the drive over to the convention center yesterday afternoon – an African American woman from Raleigh Durham, NC, who was around 80 years old. At the end of our conversation, she pointed to her skin and said just think what we could have done together all these years if there wasn’t a difference in our skin color.

Yesterday during the roll call, California passed. Art Torres validated what I thought was true, basically California wasn’t ready to vote. They hadn’t gotten the alternates information together because some of the regular delegates weren’t there. Massachusetts said why didn’t you just cast it anyway and Art Torres said that California was going to follow its own rules.

I thought last night was a double wow. We were surprised by Hillary Clinton with the NY delegation during the roll call giving all of New York’s votes to Barack Obama. All of us were inspired by her unity. Then of course, there was Obama’s appearance later. I hope we put to rest the press’s impression that we weren’t united. Last night went a long way to unite our party for November.

I was fascinated to observe the silence where you couldn’t hear a pin drop when Senator Biden was talking last night. He really touched people when he talked about what the average American faces each day. The audience was rapt in attention. For that crowd -- which is constantly milling about, the constant din in the background – the fact that he could command an audience where they were really paying attention was remarkable. You could see that he really understands average Americans and their plight.

I was personally touched by the affection between Joe Biden and his family. He really is a genuine person and we are lucky to have him as our vice president nominee. Everyone loved his mom, too.

Bill Clinton gave a marvelous speech. When he wants to, he can deliver. He did the job last night. He was touched by the audience response to him – you could tell President Clinton was emotionally affected by everyone’s appreciation of him. I was a little concerned on a personal level whether he’d deliver, but clearly he’s on board.

We had a good California gala after the session as over. That was fun. Vickere got a kick out of me because I decided to dance once and she kidded me about having the perfect picture for the hometown newspaper.

As we go into tonight, the last day of the convention, we are all looking forward to Senator Obama’s speech ... and leaving here united and ready to work hard to elect Senator Obama and Senator Biden as our next president and vice president.

I can’t say how emotional this will be on a personal level. For a young person, a son of the south, the meaning of what is going to take place today is particularly special. It is hard to believe that we’ve come this far where we’ve nominated an African American. I think it is spectacular. A lady coming into the elevator today was commenting on how emotional of a day it is for her.

I bought a hat and sun screen and I’m on my way to Invesco Field. I will report on the last day of the convention tomorrow.

Gar Byrum, Delegate

#2 Gar Byrum's Report from DNC Convention in Denver

Tom Haydn was sitting across from me eating lunch, and here we are about to nominate Senator Obama. 40 years ago, we were chanting the whole world is watching and now the whole world is watching for different reasons.

Last night went well. Hillary’s speech was very well received. I really think it helped to unify the party. I’ll know more later because a friend of mine is in a meeting of Hillary delegates from California. I’m sure there are still some reluctant to get on board. As Hillary pointed out, we will all lose if we don’t work for this victory. It is beyond any individual. It is for the country.

I think it is sifting into the consciousness of hard core Hillary supporters – some already went to work with Obama – for others, there is grudging respect. It is not as though people can turn a switch on for Obama. For them, Hillary was the person they believed in.

Besides Hillary last night, Mark Warner was the keynote speaker. One of the poorest keynote addresses I ever heard. It did espouse one of the key themes of the campaign, that we have to work on the same issues – American issues, and we have to work together pragmatically to find common ground. For that reason, I found it acceptable.

Governor Brian Schweitzer was dynamic at getting the crowd on its feet – getting across the message that we are going to get the same with McCain.

At today’s breakfast – it is obvious the Democratic party is working hard for all of the delegates to be united. Yesterday, it was governor’s day – we had Ted Strickland of Ohio and David Paterson of New York. They spoke about the financial impact each state is facing – diminishing income has put the states into debt and how they are dealing with the deficits for the states. Today was Senators day. We heard from Senator John Kerry, Senator Barbara Boxer and Senator Claire McCaskill. She was cute, she was amazed at how large our group. She is pleased about the polling she’s seen in California and encouraged the California delegation to work hard.

There is an interesting tactic at work so women aren’t too disappointed in not having a woman on the ticket. Yesterday all the women senators were on stage with the theme – 88th anniversary of women’s right to vote. Women vote more than men. Another theme last night – the promise of Obama to pass and sign equal pay for equal work.

There is a slow grudging movement on the part of the Clinton people towards Obama. Tonight’s speech is important in this regard. If Bill doesn’t follow up, it might destroy some of the hard work that’s been done -- bridging the gap between the two groups.

Today is nominating process for Obama and Biden. When we got our daily delegate pass we voted. It will be repeated on the floor. A small controversy. Some wanted a secret ballot, but Chairman Art Torres said it was against the rules to have secret ballots.

Everyone was overwhelmed by Hillary’s speech and she has clearly grown as a candidate.. The Obama people respected what she did. I don’t see any real hold outs – just a few odd people.

I'll give you an update after tonight's session with Bill Clinton and Joe Biden.

Gar Byrum, Delegate

Gar Byrum Report from Democratic Convention in Denver

Gar Byrum is a delegate at the Democratic National Convention in Denver. Here is his blog report.

Monday night was an emotional evening for many of the delegates because we saw a film about what New Orleans is like now. Former President Carter presented it and it showed the work he’s doing. The fact is this ... many years after Katrina, the government has virtually abandoned New Orleans. Volunteers, college students and organizations like President Carter’s are working to rebuild New Orleans. It is definitely a national disgrace.

The most stirring moment of the night was Caroline Kennedy introducing the film about her uncle Ted, and she talked about what he meant to the country and the programs he’s been responsible for. The film showed him sailing and how important sailing is to him. When Senator Kennedy made an appearance, everyone was standing. That was the high point of the night. It showed we are all democrats. In his speech , Senator Kennedy said the dream lives on and for Senator Kennedy, the dream lives on through Barack Obama. He made it clear that we are passing the torch to a new generation of leaders.

To close out the evening, Michelle Obama appeared after the introduction from her brother, who is the basketball coach of Oregon State Beavers. It was a pretty moving film about her because it showed how close her family is and how far they’ve come and how incredibly ill her father was with multiple sclerosis to get up in the morning and get read to go to work to provide for his family without complaining. I think she successfully refuted the claim by Republicans that she somehow doesn’t love America. She showed that the Obama family are average Americans like everyone else and that they’ve worked to do well like others.

During the convention, pictures of Senator Biden were flashed to the crowd and he just looks like a Cheshire cat with this smile on his face. He can’t help but smile. Everyone seemed to cheer when his picture came up on the screen. The cameras scanned the crowed and Vickere Murphy was shown on the screen, and she was happy the camera picked her up.

A dynamic speech last night was given by Jessee Jackson Jr. and my feeling is that if Obama wins the presidency, the next Senator from Illinois will be Jesse Jackson Jr. He was outstanding – I actually liked his speaking ability better than his dad’s. He worked the crowd up.

Everyone is enthusiastic. Rock n Roll was played and it was great music. We are not likely to hear such great Rock n Roll at the Republican convention because Republicans lack rhythm.

Denver is a nice city. The Sheraton is has the two biggest delegations – New York and California. It is located near the plaza, there are some nice old buildings nearby. Weather is terrific, however there were thunder clouds yesterday afternoon and a tornado touched down the day before. The California delegation has breakfast every morning where California Democratic Party Chairman, Art Torres, presides. It takes about an hour to go by bus to the convention center.

The California delegation is not on the floor. All of the delegations on the floor, close to the podium. are the swing states. The states that are least likely to go Democratic have the worst seats in the hall. Delaware was originally supposed to be seated above, but they moved the seating of Delaware to the floor when Joe Biden became the vice presidential nominee.

I met a young man who goes to UC Davis and studies biotechnology. This is his first convention. He initially went against all demographics and was a Hillary supporter but now he is working hard for Senator Obama.

I met an Hispanic woman who was from Dallas and spoke about her efforts back in Texas. There are people here from all walks of life. Some have worked for the party for years and others who have just started gotten involved in politics From all the individuals I’ve spoken to, the common thread is renewal, American renewal. That seems to be the driving force.

I’ve been passionate about politics since I was young. I watched my first convention on television in 1952, and always wanted to go, so this is a culmination of a lifetime dream. As a delegate I view this as a turning of the page, because we as democrats are getting back to who we are – back to our core beliefs.

I had an interview with NPR. I got tapped on my shoulder and NPR was interviewing delegates from the 50 states. I gave them my two cents worth. If you listen to NPR, you might hear me.

More later .... I’ll send in my blog report after tonight’s program.

Gar Byrum, Delegate

A reply to John Ulfeldt

[I just sent the following letter to the editor to the LCF Outlook.]

I read John Ulfeldt's letter in the June 12 issue with dismay. John lives across the street from me, and so could not have missed the Russ Warner sign displayed prominently on our lawn during the primary election. I could not imagine what would lead him to allege that I support Russ because I want to pick his pockets. And when I asked him, neither could he.

I think we would all do well to remember during this upcoming political campaign season that at the end of the day we are all supposed to be on the same team. We are all Americans. We are all neighbors. This country has serious problems that need to be addressed. There's real work to be done, and it will be a lot easier to do if we think twice before we take pot-shots at each other. And this goes for my Democratic friends too.

I don't like taxes any more than anyone else. But I also look at the record of the last twenty years -- and the last eight in particular -- and it is far from clear to me that the Republicans are the party of fiscal responsibility. I support Russ Warner because over the past eight years David Dreier has voted to support the Bush administration over 90% of the time. The results speak for themselves.

Reasonable people may (and do) disagree. But please don't say that the only reason that I could possibly support Russ Warner is that I'm after your wallet. If taxes go up, it's going to be coming out of my wallet too. But there's work to be done, and someone has to pay for it. It can be us, or it can be our children. Russ Warner is ready to step up to the plate, and I'm ready to step up with him. Are you?

Standing Firm for Russ Warner

I submitted the following letter last week to the Valley Sun and The Outlook:

Mr. Dinger’s letter in support of David Dreier reminds me of the “double speak” that has predominated the political speech of the Bush administration and Mr. Dreier in particular.

David Dreier says on Memorial Day, 2008, “What we say to honor those who serve will never be more than lip service if we don’t ensure that our veterans are cared for when they return home.”

Then, this week, Mr. Dreier voted against the “21st Century GI Bill” in spite of the fact that Republican senators John Warner and Chuck Hagel as well as the VFW and IAVA and Vietnam Veterans organizations voted in favor of this bill.

Do you really believe David Dreier represents the feelings of our community toward issues facing this country, Mr. Dinger? I certainly do not share that feeling. I know many in La Crescenta who would stand strong in favor of supporting our veterans as they return home, who would support health insurance for our nation’s children (which Mr. Dreier voted against) and would certainly not have favored the lavish federal spending brought on by the unnecessary war in Iraq. Mr. Dinger, are you really a fiscal conservative and support this administration?

Join the community, Mr. Dinger. Many of us support Russ Warner in large numbers, We will work to unseat David Dreier (contributor to Tom Delay’s defense fund) in the next election, Perhaps you should consider joining the true fiscal conservatives who would bring federal spending for the war under control.

Greta Pruitt

Rebuttal to one track minds

I'm glad someone else noticed the 'open season on black men' verdict but this letter is something I can wrap my head around and not go nuts. I sent this letter to the local papers yesterday. Any comments or questions gladly accepted.

More and more often, I have been getting emails that are couched in "common sense" political and/or religious ideas, which seem to channel the public and private discourse. In an effort to expand the audience, I would like to present a public answer. Before going any further, I want to say that I prefer to discuss politics and religion with people who understand that a discussion does not inevitably lead to conversion. I won’t speak to all of the subjects; I’ll just hit some basic problems underlying these tirades.
1. There is never only one answer for complicated problems. In most of the items listed, there is an expressed viewpoint that all "good" Americans agree with - and if you don’t agree, you are a "bad" American or you should go back to where you came from - won’t work for me since I, and my ancestors for several generations, were born here in the United States. I learned in school that I have a constitutional right to disagree with others and at home that I should be courteous when speaking up. And, by the way, "American" is used constantly to mean "people of the United States" but people in Canada, Mexico and Central and South America are also living in the Americas and are therefore "Americans."
2. Having "God" on our money is against the 1st amendment to the U.S. Constitution because it puts the power of the government behind a specific group of religions. There are many non-Christian religions plus agnostics and atheists who are not represented by the term "God." Many of the colonies that became the United States had been founded in order to practice, not freedom of religion but freedom to practice only their religion. Most of these colonies exiled or even executed those who followed their conscience away from the ‘established’ religion of that colony: Puritan, Catholic, Baptist, Quaker or other. In fact, one of my relatives died in prison during the Civil War because he would not promise to refuse food to any rebel soldier.
3. I agree that everyone in the United States should learn English. I also think everyone should learn at least one other language. The speed of communication means that we are living closer than ever to other countries. Besides, I only understood English grammar when I was studying Spanish. That doesn’t speak well for the 1950s education: I was an honors English student.
4. I was blessed with a large, loving and available family so I had help when the world crashed down around my ears. Many, many people are not so lucky. It may not take a whole village to raise a child but I was glad that my daughter was known in town and that she knew it.
5. Most of these attacking rants include the insistence to forward this if you believe but if you don’t agree, just delete it. That means that only those who agree will be heard. It is a tactic to limit the discussion to those who agree with all of the slanted, one-way arguments.
It is vital to democracy to have a discussion among an educated electorate. Even an argument among educated citizens will work best if everyone listens and reasons and works together. The scorched earth divisions in the US society are leading toward chaos. Reality is usually more complicated than a few quick slogans - and more interesting too.
Vicki

It's open season on black men

At least in New York.

I thought this was supposed to be a free country

Someone at the Alchohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (did you even know that there was such an agency?) needs to grow a sense of humor.

This silliness is being paid for by your tax dollars. Where's Ron Paul when we need him?

Field report: Clinton supporters are demoralized

I just got back from the Democratic delegate caucuses in Claremont. It was an interesting experience -- Democracy in action, in all its chaotic messiness. There were people carrying signs, distributing flyers, shaking hands, and I couldn't help but wonder if the winner of the 2024 Presidential election might not be walking around here somewhere.

There were actually two caucuses, one for Hillary and one for Obama. It should come as no surprise to anyone reading this blog (hello? Anyone out there?) that I'm an Obama supporter, but I was curious what the Hillary folks had to say for themselves so I registered, cast my vote (not to self: have a chat with the Powers that Be about security. I don't want to go into too much detail, but if someone had wanted to rig that election it would have been utterly trivial to do so) and wandered over to the Clinton caucus.

The mood could not have been more different. There were no lines. There was no chaos. There was hardly anyone there at all. I asked a couple of people why they were still supporting Hillary and the answers ranged from, "Oh, I'm supporting Obama. I'm only over here because my friend is supporting Hillary." to body language that said, "Please don't ask me that" accompanied by some less-than-heartfelt mumblings about "experience" and "3 AM phone calls" or something like that.

I left thinking that if we could just get some of that spirit over to Pennsylvania that all would be right with the world.

David Dreier represents us?

During the 1996 campaign, filmmaker Michael Moore sent $100 checks from a fictitious group to each candidate. Bob Dole received $100 from the Satan Worshippers for Dole Club, Clinton got $100 from the Hemp Growers of America, Pat Buchanan received $100 from Abortionists for Buchanan, and Ross Perot got $100 from the Pedophiles for Free Trade. In each case, Moore received a response.

The La Canada Flintridge Democratic Club has sent an invitation to David Dreier to speak and answer questions at a monthly meeting four times. These invitations have been faxed to Dreier’s Washington and San Dimas offices in November, December, January, and February. So far he has not responded even though he spoke before the La Canada Republicans in February. David Dreier was elected to represent us all, not just the Republicans. We have over 200 members in our group and it is important that he hear and understand our views and concerns on the pressing issues that face our country. As our representative he owes us the same courtesy as the Republicans and that Pat Buchanan extended to Abortionists for Buchanan.

As for Moore’s campaign contributions… Buchanan’s and Clinton’s campaigns cashed their checks while Perot sent back a very nice form letter saying, “thank you and your fellow pedophiles for your support.'

2008 Emmy for “Lack of Courage in the Media” goes to

KCET, for pulling "Unnatural Causes: Is Inequality Making Us Sick?" from its schedule over concern about possible fines from the FCC even though PBS stations in Alabama, Kansas and Mississippi have already aired episodes of the documentary.

“The four-part documentary series, which examines the effect of social and economic inequities upon health, contained a graphic depiction of body parts and an obscene word that could run afoul of federal decency standards, station spokeswoman Laurel Lambert said Friday.”

The Los Angeles Times gave the documentary a must see review Friday while the UCLA Center for Community Learning included this on their website: “You may want to encourage your colleagues and friends to watch this series to better understand the social and environmental determinants of health and to stimulate discussion on how we might adapt our efforts to better address some of these determinants.”

What’s going on at KCET?

The Democratic Party must repudiate Hillary's lies

Let us not mince words, Hilary did not "misspeak." She told one big honking whopper of a lie. That in and of itself might not be so bad. After all, just being a liar is clearly not a disqualification for being President of the United States. Our last two presidents have been liars. No, Hillary's problem is not that she's a liar. Hillary's problem is that she's a bad liar.

You'd think that someone who has spent as much time in politics as Hillary would have figured out by now that sometimes people will actually check up on the things you say, especially when you're running for President of the United States. Most people figure this out at the age of four when, in response to their earnest claims that no, they did not eat the cookies, their parents ask them why their hands and face are covered in crumbs. This lesson apparently has never registered with Hillary Clinton who still insists she's the best person for the job of guarding the cookie jar while wearing a facial mask made of Oreos.

Someone tell me again why I'm supposed to be voting for a Democrat this year? Didn't it have something to do with George Bush being a liar, something about him lying to get us into a war? So if Hillary is willing to lie to get herself into the White House, what exactly makes her any different from George Bush? (Oh, she's going to get us out of Iraq? How do I know she's not lying about that? After all, candidate George Bush condemned nation-building too. Haven't we learning anything?)

There is absolutely no excuse for anyone in the Democratic party to be supporting Hillary Clinton any more, not if they want the party to have even a shred of credibility going into the fall. It is not the case Republican lies are bad while Democratic lies are OK, any more than it is the case (as John McCain seems to think) that Republican wars are OK but Democratic ones are not. Either the Democratic party stands for honesty or they do not. Whether or not Hillary wins the nomination, at this point anything short of running her out of town on a rail would give me serious qualms about continuing to call myself a Democrat. The longer Hillary's corrosive presence is so much as tolerated the more credence is lent to Ralph Nader: there really is no difference between the two parties. There certainly is no discernible difference between the Bushes and the Clintons.

Cha-ching!

Hillary has finally released her income tax returns. The Clintons have done quite well for themselves since leaving the White House. Kinda makes you wonder why her campaign is stiffing vendors and running up thirteen million dollars in debt.

Who should John McCain should pick as his Vice Presidential candidate ?

AND WHY?

Thread of the day. Open for Comments!

President and Super Delegate Jimmy Carter

From President Carter:

"We are very interested in the primaries. Don’t forget that Obama won in my state of Georgia. My town which is home to 625 people is for Obama, my children and their spouses are pro- Obama.
My grandchildren are also pro- Obama. As a Super Delegate, I would not disclose who I am rooting for but I leave you to make that guess."

Hello? Is this thing on?

Not a single comment on my last post. I keep hearing that there are still a few Clinton supporters out there. (She did win California after all. Surely all fifty million of you who voted for her can't possibly have all changed your minds in the last two months?

So that leaves me wondering if anyone is actually reading this blog. I'm happy to keep posting as long as I know someone is out there, but if the mike is dead I have another gig to attend to.

No honor among scoundrels

As is usual in political debates the kerfuffle over whether Hillary lied or "misspoke" about coming under sniper fire in Bosnia is missing the point. Making such a claim is deeply insulting to the military. It is essentially saying that the military failed to do their job of protecting Hillary while she was first lady. It is a slap in the face to the many soldiers who put themselves in the path of real bullets so that Hillary didn't have to.

Either Hillary didn't understand this or she did understand it and made those statements anyway, either deliberately or inadvertently. No matter how you slice it, her willingness to puff herself up at the expense of the military completely undermines her claim that she is better qualified to be commander-in-chief. The person who answers the now-proverbial 3 AM phone call needs to understand that falsely claiming to have come in harm's way is something you Just Don't Do. Hillary doesn't understand it. Her lame excuse of having "misspoke" shows that she still doesn't get it. She repeated the claim at least three times. That's a lot of misspeaking.

If there were even the tiniest shred of honor left in Hillary Clinton, this would be the end of her campaign. She has undermined her last frantic argument for having the superdelegates override the will of the voters and give her the nomination. But of course this will not be the end of her campaign. Because Hillary, like George Bush, knows nothing of honor, cares nothing for democracy or the party or even the country. It's all about Hillary. It's all about winning no matter what the cost. By any means necessary.

I've been an Obama supporter since the beginning, but up until a few months ago I would have been happy with either one of them. No more. I swear to God, if Hillary somehow manages to twist enough arms to get the nomination, I'm voting for John McCain.

Worried about the economy? It’s the war, stupid.

“When you’re spending over $50 to fill up your car because the price of oil is four times what it was before Iraq, you’re paying a price for this war. When Iraq is costing each household about $100 a month, you’re paying a price for this war…”

“And the price our families and communities are paying reflects the price America is paying. The most conservative estimates say that Iraq has now cost more than half a trillion dollars, more than any other war in our history besides World War II. Some say the true cost is even higher and that by the time it’s over, this could be a $3 trillion war…”- excerpts from a speech by Barack Obama on the war.

Finally, a politician is speaking the truth about why our economy is in a tailspin. With oil costing $100 a barrel, we are experiencing the double whammy of both the budgeted cost of the Iraq invasion and the hidden cost of energy price increases in every thing we buy, including necessities such as food and electricity. It is not very complicated. When folks need to spend more on necessities, they spend less at the mall and save less.

It’s the war, stupid.

Listen to what each candidate says about the major issues

Here's an easy way to hear for yourself where the presidential candidates stand on key issues: ExpertVoter.org. This site consists of a grid with candidates on the y-axis and issues on the x-axis. When you click on a square, you'll see a short video of that candidate speaking on that issue.

I've never even heard of some of these candidates. Too bad for them.

Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain

While the news media has a sex scandal as its top story no one seems to be noticing that the U.S. economy is quietly coming apart at the seams.

Extra! Extra! Democrats grow a spine!

Not just a spine, but a brain too! Will wonders never cease?

Keith Olbermann takes Hillary to the woodshed

For a well deserved spanking. It's ten minutes long, and like most of Olbermann's special comments worth every second.

Should we throw money at the schools? No!

Kathy writes:


Want to provoke me? Then say this, "Throwing money at the schools won't fix them."


OK, I'll bite: throwing money at the schools won't fix them.


If that's true, then
Why do some people pay $25K a year for their kid to attend private school?


Because some people have more money than sense. The LCF public schools are a prime example. They spend less than $7k per child. Does a $25k private school provide an education that is three times better?

Education depends far less on money than it does on a student's willingness to learn and a teacher's ability to teach. To the extent that private schools are better than public schools (and certainly in many cases they are) it is less because they have more money and more because they can afford to be selective about their students and teachers. Private schools can fire incompetent teachers and expel disruptive students. Public schools can't. And one of the reasons they can't is (watch me torpedo any I hope I ever had of a political career in California) the teacher's union and their intransigent tenure policies.

(Since I'm an equal-opportunity basher, I'll also call out the no-child-left-behind law as a major contributor to the disaster that is our public schools. We need to be teaching our kids how to think, not how to game standardized tests. Life doesn't have an answer key.)

Money may be part of the solution, but it is only one component of what has to be a more comprehensive set of reforms. Absent those, throwing money at the problem is not likely to accomplish much.

Retroactive immunity: Victory! (Again!)

Well, the Dems somehow found their spine (again) and refused to pass retroactive immunity.


Locked in a standoff with the White House, House Democrats on Tuesday maintained their refusal to shield from civil lawsuits telecommunications companies that helped the government eavesdrop on their customers without a secret court's permission.


So for now the hope remains alive of some day uncovering the full extent of the Bush administration's lawbreaking.

Should we throw money at the schools? Yes!

Want to provoke me? Then say this,

"Throwing money at the schools won't fix them."

If that's true, then

• Why do some people pay $25K a year for their kid to attend private school?


• How would we pay the teachers required to reduce our class sizes down from 31 per class in the high school?


• How would our school district pay for art, music, drama, counselors, librarians, computers and more if parents didn't generously donate to PTA, Boosters, the Educational Foundation and more?

My husband and I recently attended the LCF Educational Foundation fundraiser. It was great to see old friends, make new ones, and raise loads of money for the schools. Our community's lucky that it can supplement the meager money it gets from the state. Even with what the parents chip in, our district spends $6,875 per child. Unfortunately, the Pasadena Star News says that the state budget shortfall is expected to shrink our school district's budget by about $2 million, or 6% of the total. That'll be tough to do without impacting classrooms.

I recently sat on a panel with a member of the Westport, CT school board. He told the audience that his district was getting SmartBoards into the classroom. I laughed, as there's no way we'd have money for that. I looked their district up on GreatSchools.net, and their high school spends $15,610 per pupil. It's no wonder they have one teacher per 10 kids.

We only dream of such things in California...California dreaming, on such a winter's day...

Clinton campaign resorts to theft

The Clinton campaign has become so desperate for money that they are stealing from their supporters (now former supporters).

Delegate Count Swings Back and Forth Over Time

On Tuesday, the state of California released the official totals from its Feb. 5 primary, which was won quite handily by Sen. Hillary Clinton. David Draten, a blogger at Calistics, does a district by district breakdown of the vote using the final tallies and the delegate selection rules from the California Democratic Party. He finds that the final delegate total was 203 for Clinton to 167 for Obama.
But the original election night numbers were 207 for Senator Clinton and 163 for Senator Obama - which is still the reading in delegate counts at most media sites. (Drayton points out, correctly, that many media sites are still using the wrong vote totals to calculate the delegates - he used the official results from the state of California.)
If his numbers are correct, that would be an eight vote swing for Obama in a race where every delegate counts. But there may be states whose final totals will give delegates to Clinton. (Texas, for instance, won't know what its final pledged delegates total is until final state caucus meetings are held in June.)
It only shows that we may not have a clear idea of what the pledged delegate total is until well into the summer. The links are to the newly reported supplemental vote totals and must be added to the previously reported totals to get an accurate vote count for each candidate.

Saturday night and Sunday morning in our little town

Recently, my wife and I sat down with our four year old sons to watch a DVD of a recent Hollywood blockbuster. Five minutes into the film, an 80-year-old woman who is watching TV hears a noise and quickly turns to face a prowler. She picks up a double-barreled shotgun with a box of cartridges and blasts away Rambo style. When she runs out of shells, she gets a welder’s torch to burn the intruder into a marshmallow. One of my sons had the good sense to become frightened, so we switched to an episode of Thomas the Train that we have seen maybe 100 times.

Last week, the FCC proposed a $1,400,000 fine for ABC and its affiliates for a brief glimpse of a woman’s bottom in a 2003 episode of NYPD Blue. What does it say about us as a country when brief nudity or foul language generates letters by the thousands and resulting FCC action, while there is not a peep over grisly violence in films and on TV? On an offensive scale of one to ten (a topless Lou Dobbs on CNN being a ten) was a nanosecond of Janet Jackson’s nipple at the 2004 Super Bowl really worth more than a two at most? Was it really more offensive than any scene in CSI, CSI Miami, CSI Newark, Cleveland, etc.? Why is it that Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction" is forever burned into our public consciousness? Meanwhile the score of that game has long been forgotten. Football is our true national sport despite Major League Baseball's pretense. And when Keith Jackson or John Madden use phrases such as “aerial bombardment” and “a ferocious defense destroyed their ground attack” to many, it is a bigger turn on than anyone's nipple.

Meanwhile, the violence in Iraq has been filtered and sanitized by network news ever since the first shock and awe. We have been shielded from images of the resulting death and destruction while the rest of the world has seen it in living red. There is a reason they feel differently about us than we do about ourselves.

The next morning, I went to Memorial Park with my sons. On the main field were maybe 30 boys and girls ages 6 to 10 playing with what looked like assault rifles. Adult instructors were giving the little Brandons and Ashleys expert instructions on military maneuvers at a paint gun party. Hopefully there will be more to their future. Oh, and the movie my family sat down to watch … RATATOUILLE. It’s the G-rated Disney flick that just won the Oscar for best-animated movie.

Maybe we can stop gun violence by banning holsters too

The city of Chicago is trying to fight drugs by banning plastic baggies:


Tiny plastic bags used to sell small quantities of heroin, crack cocaine, marijuana and other drugs would be banned in Chicago, under a crackdown advanced Tuesday by a City Council committee.


If it weren't the Sun-Times reporting it I'd swear this was a pitch for a Saturday Night Live skit.

Another Dreier "town hall meeting"

I got another one of those "town hall meeting" calls from David Dreier today, and this time I managed to record most of it (MP3 audio is here). It took me a little while to set up the recorder, so the recording about two minutes in to the call, but the way it cuts in to the middle of the conversation accurately reflects reality. The quality is rough because the recording was made by holding an iMic up to a speakerphone.

I was hoping that the content of the call would be the same as the last one thereby providing smoking-gun evidence that this was not in fact a live teleconference, but no such luck. It still sounded pretty transparently scripted to me, but I could be wrong. But take a listen and judge for yourself.

I'm ashamed to call myself a Democrat

I can barely contain my disgust. The Democrats are a bunch of spineless wimps (and if this were my blog I would use stronger language).

John McCain's Lacking Environmental Policies

In the environmental issues section of Senator John McCain’s presidential campaign website, a quote proudly proclaims that “As John McCain said ‘Americans solve problems. We don’t run from them.’” A great quote, forceful and emphatic; it declares that Senator McCain is a man of resolve in the ongoing environmental crisis. Yet it is completely deceiving. If McCain has done anything in this ecological fight, it has been to run, quietly but consistently, away from any type of decisive action.
Recently, the League of Conservation Voters (LCV), a politically independent group which monitors the environmental voting records for different candidates, released the National Environmental Scorecard. This scorecard monitored the voting records of Senators and Representatives on fifteen crucial environmental legislations. In the rating of this scorecard, John McCain received an astoundingly dismal score of zero. McCain was the only member of Congress to skip every single vote on the environmental issues scored by the LCV! He has run away from making a decision, pro or con, on each important piece of environmental legislation in the 110th Congress.
The implications of this scorecard are enormous. As a presidential candidate, McCain has the responsibility of making his positions clear to the public. If, as Senator, McCain has not voted for any piece of environmental legislation, be it on water resources, oil refineries, drilling offshore or on renewable energy, how will voters discern what positions he will take as President? John McCain may say that he backs limiting carbon emissions, or sustaining the American National Park system, but his record lacks support for this claim. The truth must be known about McCain- he has run from every opportunity to make a difference at a time when the environmental crisis is necessitating significant change. We need a president who will work to solve these problems, and McCain is not that man.
As two seventeen-year olds, we won’t even be able to vote in the upcoming presidential election. But this is our future. Choices that will be made by voters in this election will affect us not only in the next four years, but for many years to come. We are concerned that people don’t know how John McCain might shape the environment and the world.
-Anna Applebaum and Milly BeeBee

New Barack Obama video

There's a new will.i.am pro-Barack Obama video out:



It's called "We Are The Ones" and features Jessica Alba, George Lopez, Luis Guzman, Ryan Phillippe, John Leguizamo, Kate del Castillo, Malcolm Jamal Warner and Macy Gray.

Someone please tell me this is a joke

If it's not a joke (and I don't think it is) then it's the creepiest thing I've seen in a long time.

The true cost of war

It's sad that we have to rely on the British press to give us information about the true cost of the Iraq war.

Slimy tactics from David Dreier

I got a phone call this evening inviting me to "participate" (you'll see why I put the word in scare quotes in a moment) in a conference-call town-hall meeting with David Dreier. It struck me as a bit odd that I would get this call, not only because I'm a registered Democrat, but also because I'd gotten no notice, and usually these "town-hall meeting" calls are announced in advance (and usually you call them, they don't call you). Out of curiosity I decided to stay on the line and listen in.

After a recorded intro from Dreier and a briefing from the phone company ("If you'd like to ask a question, press zero" etc.) I was hooked in to the "meeting" which was already under way, and had been apparently for some time now. There were no preliminaries. I was dumped straight into the middle of a discussion going on between Dreier and someone else who was explaining how mandated health insurance can actually put people's lives in danger, or something like that. I wasn't entirely clear on the reasoning not having been privy to the first part of the conversation, but Dreier sounded as if he'd just had a revelation. "Really? I had no idea things were this bad. You say that it actually costs 1000 lives a year?" The other guy responded, "Yes, I have the documentation right here. I can send you a copy if you like." To which Dreier responded, "Please do. I had no idea things were this bad. Thank you for bringing this to my attention."

I wish I had had the presence of mind to record the exchange because it was pretty transparent to me that it was scripted. There were none of the conversational stumbles and false starts that invariably occur in a real impromptu conversation. Every word from both Dreier and the other guy flowed smoothly and without hesitation, to say nothing of the fact that no politician in his right mind would ever endorse a claim that he'd never heard of before because if it turned out to be false he could end up looking like a fool. The whole thing was a sham, but it was a pretty well done sham, and there is no doubt in my mind that many -- perhaps most -- people who heard it would have fallen for it.

Someone should call Dreier out on this.

EXPERIENCE IS NOT WHAT IT IS CRACKED UP TO BE

Senator Clinton's campaign has offered her experience as the main reason why we should vote for her. We now hear the same refrain from the Republican candidate for the office of the Presidency, John McCain. The both claim that Senator Barack Obama lacks the requisite experience necessary for the job.

It is my contention that the job of President is unlike any other and that an extensive resume is not what we should necessarily be looking at. If you look at a list of the worst President's you will find men with extensive backgrounds, far more extensive then the present candidates but yet they did not measure up.

For example James Buchanan who became President in 1856, was Secretary of State, an ambassador, a member of the House for 10 years as well as the Senate for 10 years. He along with Warrren Harding and our current President can lay a strong claim to the title of worst president. Buchanan was succeeded by a man who only had two years in Congress and had been in the Illinois State Legislature. His name was Abraham Lincoln. What a contrast! Harding who had been Governor of Ohio even admitted after his election to office that he was not fit for the office he occupied. Perhaps we can only go up from here with the Bush Presidency being the benchmark to compare to.
Leadership and vision are not qualities that necessarily come from experience!

Materials from yesterday's meeting

Copies of Andy Winnick's presentation at yesterday's meeting and supporting materials are available here in both Word and PDF formats. Included is a resolution that was passed by the Claremont Democratic Club that Andy included. I haven't read it yet.

Warning: the maps and charts document in PDF format is about eight times bigger than the Word version (24 MB versus 8) so you should probably use the Word version if you can.

Earmarks

Did anyone else see the Bill Moyer's Journal last Friday, 22 Feb? He had a very interesting segment on earmarks.

The PBS website has links to two organizations who track earmarks in the budget. Check out:

http://www.taxpayer.net/

or

http://sunlightfoundation.com/


From the first one I learned the following levels of earmarks from some politicians of interest:
Feinstein $295 M
Boxer $92 M
Hillary Clinton $342 M
Obama $92 M
Dreier $20 M
Schiff $12 M
McCain - ZERO

In many cases the congress people receive large campaign contributions from the companies who receive earmarks - so it can be just a legal way of bribing the congress.

This immediately ties the issue into Campaign Finance Reform. We've got to get public funding for politicians. It will be much cheaper than the $12 B of earmarks in the budget.

Today I sent emails to Dreier, Clinton and Obama asking for a list of their earmarks (you can also get a list from the first web URL). One of the sites says that Dreier is one of the few who actually publish their list of earmarks. It will be interesting to see what comes back.

Hillary's office says they only respond to people from NY. I replied that she is running for president and needs to reply to anyone.

Maybe you can email your congressman or candidate and ask them about their earmarks. Maybe we can embarrass them into reform - but they are hard to embarrass.

Rody

Two laughs for the price of one

I'm not sure which is funnier, Mike Huckabee's appearance on Saturday Night live or the fact that CNN didn't seem to understand that it was supposed to be funny.

Oooh, I feel so safe now

Good to know that the government is watching out for us.

Take my house ... please!

Just in case you have not yet had your recommended daily allowance of irony today, the LA Times reports that despite the new year's clearance sale currently underway in the real estate market, rents are going up.

If Medi-Cal patients would fork over more campaign contributions

they wouldn't be in this mess.

It's panic-button time for Hillary

So says Ron Fournier.

Stirring the pot

Since I don't seem to be generating enough controversy with my second-amendment rants, maybe I'll have more luck with this.

40 million people

Geroge Bush's approval rating has reached a new low of 19%.

The voting age population of the U.S. is about 215 million people.

That means that about 40 million people in the U.S. still approve of the job George Bush is doing.

George Bush will be out of office in less than a year. But those 40 million people will still be eligible to vote.

See who's ahead in delegate counts

Curious about how many delegates your favorite presidential candidate has locked up? Then check out Salon.com's "Election results: Who's ahead in the delegate race?" It provides up-to-date counts of the Democratic and Republican delegates on a state-by-state basis, and even figures in super-delegates.

God help me...

I actually agree with something that someone from Fox News says.

On a local note...

I think it's a shame that the new La Canada town square development doesn't include any housing. I think the town and the developers have missed a golden opportunity.

Ends, means, and slippery slopes

We're off to a rollicking good start here! I'm picturing Rutger Hauer in Blade Runner after Harrison Ford has just dealt him a vicious blow with a steel pipe smiling and shouting, "That's the spirit!" Lay on, MacDuff!

So let me tell you a little more about my life story. In February of 1991 I was living in a little house on Chevy Chase boulevard in Glendale. Not the glamourous part of Chevy Chase, lower down, in the flats, where working people and graduate students live. Despite not being the most upscale of areas I never worried too much about safety because Chevy Chase was a very well traveled street, and I figured you'd have to be a fool to try anything with that many potential witnesses around. (In retrospect I have to wonder who is the greater fool, the fool, or the fool who assumes that there are no fools.)

One night I came home after dark and found that the light we kept on a timer had not come on. I figured that the bulb had burned out. As I came into the house I caught a hint of movement out of the corner of my eye. Sure enough, someone was climbing through the window! I shouted "Hey" and a split second later I heard a loud BANG and saw a muzzle flash. I screamed and hit the deck.

The next few minutes were a blur. I remember crawling over to the phone, dialing 911, and being really surprised at how quickly the police showed up. To the best of my recollection it only took them a minute or two, but that was enough. The burglar was long gone. In the aftermath it turned out that the gun was a '38, and the bullet had missed my left knee by about a foot. (It penetrated an interior wall, ricochet off a heating duct, and ended up being embedded in the far wall of the living room.)

The burglar had apparently been there a while. The house had been tumbled, and the CD player (a high-tech item back in 1991) was wrapped in a pillowcase all ready to go. While the police were dusting everything for fingerprints they got a radio call: "We got him."

They put me in the back of a squad car so that it wouldn't be obvious to the perp that I was there to identify him and drove down the block. Sitting on the curb was a young hispanic with his hands cuffed behind his back.

The truth of the matter was that I had no idea if this was the burglar or not. Everything had happened very fast, and the house was pitch black. And yet, the police must have some reason to think this is the guy, right? They wouldn't just arrest some random kid off the street, would they? So if I tell the truth I could be letting a dangerous criminal back on the streets, and his next victim might not be as lucky as I was.

Happily, I had a cop-out. The real perp had left fingerprints all over the house, and would have gunshot residue all over his hands. (One of the really striking things about having a gun go off that close to you is the smell. It's an acrid odor, not unlike burned hair. And it lingers for a long time.) So I told them the truth, that I had no idea whether this was the guy or not, figuring that if it were him they'd figure it out from the physical evidence. I like to think that I would have made the same decision even without that kind of fallback, but life has not yet faced me with that stark a moral test.

So I speak with the authority of an actual victim of gun violence (and, for what it's worth, as someone who has never owned a gun, and God willing never will) when I say that it is absolutely clear to me that the Second Amendment supports an individual's right to bear arms. The wording is abundantly clear: "...the right of THE PEOPLE to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed." The same "the people" as in "We the People," as in "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures...", as in "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." It is particularly untenable to say that the Second Amendment is talking about state militias when the tenth amendment specifically distinguishes between rights reserved to the States OR to the people. And if you look at the historical context it becomes even more clear.

This is not to say that I do not support gun control. I do, for obvious reasons. Taken on its face, the Second Amendment protects people's right to own nuclear weapons, which I think is something everyone but the most hard-core member of the NRA would agree is a pretty bad idea. But the right way to fix this problem is not to pretend that the Second Amendment doesn't mean what it says. The right way to fix this problem is to recognize that the Second Amendment was written in a time when "arms" meant muskets, not AK-47's. Back then gun control was enforced by economics and the available technology. Nowadays we need a different mechanism. And that is why the Constitution includes procedures for amending it.

If we don't do it this way, if we decide that the ends justify the means when it comes to gun control, then we have no leg to stand on when someone else comes along as says that, say, torture is acceptable if it saves lives. Or that you have no right to privacy because the word "privacy" doesn't appear in the Constitution.

Robert Bolt hit the nail on the head in "A Man for All Seasons":


Roper: So, now you give the Devil the benefit of law!

More: Yes! What would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get after the Devil?

Roper: Yes, I'd cut down every law in England to do that!

More: Oh? And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned 'round on you, where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? This country is planted thick with laws, from coast to coast, Man's laws, not God's! And if you cut them down (and you're just the man to do it!), do you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, I'd give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety's sake!


I recognize my neighbor's right to bear arms for my own freedom's sake.

I am shocked, shocked to learn that guns are used to kill people.

“I can't believe somebody would order from us again and do this…I still feel just absolutely in shock”- Eric Thompson

From www.topglock.com “ Eric Thompson, the owner of the Internet-based sporting goods and firearms retailer that has sold products to the shooters involved with the Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois University tragedies, says his unfortunate twist of fate is spurring him to take a more active role in protecting the public – especially young people – from future attacks.

Cho Seung-Hui used TGSCOM Web site www.thegunsource.com to purchase a Walther P22 firearm used in the Virginia Tech shootings last April. Just last week, Steven Kazmierczak, who killed five people at Northern Illinois University on February 14th, received two 9mm Glock magazines and a holster he ordered from the TGSCOM Inc. web site www.topglock.com.

“I’ve spent the past weekend feeling absolutely terrible that my company has been linked to both of these heinous crimes,” said Eric Thompson, president of TGSCOM Inc. “I assume it is just an unfortunate coincidence, but I also believe I now have a special responsibility to do all I can to try and prevent further loss of life.”

Thompson says that while he is pro-Second Amendment, he would like to see an open and honest discussion from both sides of the controversial gun control debate. To help facilitate that discussion, Thompson is planning to launch www.GunDebate.com as a location where people can “have a dialogue on the best way to prevent future tragedy.”

This seems like a worthwhile idea, but I have an additional solution for Eric Thompson’s anguish. Stop selling semi-automatic pistols and high capacity magazines over the Internet? Does the Second Amendment guarantee every tortured soul with a credit card the right to assemble an arsenal of mass destruction. Or give Cho Seung-Hui the right to purchase hundreds of rounds of ammo through Ebay?

The Second Amendment says, “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of a people to to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.” Courts have gone back and forth over whether “a people” refers to state militias or to individuals. A case can be made either way by reasonable people, but we should not allow arms manufacturers to use the Second Amendment as an excuse to sell whatever they want unrestricted by common sense. When folks rightfully fear their children will be gunned down at school or the mall, it is time for some sanity and some courage from our politicians.

Mr. Thompson who lives in Green Bay with his wife and three children has said one thing we can all agree, “All four major presidential candidates are in Wisconsin today, and I’d love to hear some real solutions from them – not just rhetoric.”

Not an auspicious beginning

Uuuurrrggghhhh...

To say that you humble webmaster is not at his best would be quite the understatement. I can't remember the last time I was this sick. I'll spare you the gory details. Suffice it to say there's more laundry than usual to be done in the Garret household tonight.

The first post is always the hardest because there's so much to to talk about, and it's hard to decide where to start. I see my role as webmaster to be a moderator, not to make this blog my own (I have my own blog for that). So I am going to try to leave my biases at the door, but I'm sure I will not always succeed. So thought I'd start by being really up-front about what some of my biases are.

My ancestors are German Jews. My grandparents' generation all fled from Germany to what was then Palestine in the early to mid thirties. It was still Palestine when my parents were born. They moved back to Germany in the early 60's, and my sister and I were both born there. We emigrated to Lexington, Kentucky, in the fall of 1969, when I was 5. So depending on how you count, I'm an American, a German, an Israeli and a Palestinian.

I moved to Glendale in 1988 to work at JPL, and I've been bouncing around the Glendale-Pasadena area ever since. My wife Nancy and I moved to La Canada in June of 2005, and we love it here. There's not a day goes by that I don't wake up and think how lucky I am to be able to live here.

I believe in freedom. That may sound like a platitude, and one of my biggest fears is that it is becoming one. Because of my family history I am keenly aware of how easy it is for a society to run off its rails. Adolf Hitler is today the very paragon of evil, so it is easy to lose sight of the fact that it was not always so. Hitler was democratically elected, and enjoyed widespread popular support among the German people, and even among some Americans. Before there was the Third Reich there was the Weimar Republic staggering under the weight of war reparations imposed by the Treaty of Versailles. Germany was poor and weak. Inflation at its worst ran at a rate so high it could barely be calculated, vastly worse than what is going on in Zimbabwe today.

Hitler rose to power on a promise of restoring Germany to its former strength and making the country secure from stealthy enemies. Substitute the word "terrorist" for "Jew" and there are eerie parallels between Germany of 1933 and America today. Now as then a disturbingly large (to me) number of people were willing to accept an increased level of government intrusion into their lives in exchange for "security". (I put the word in scare quotes because of course they were really not buying security at all, but only the temporary the illusion of security, which to my mind makes it an especially bad bargain.)

I've been strongly hinting at a certain amount of displeasure with the Bush administration, but make no mistake: I'm not a big fan of the Democrats either. Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi have become little more than lap dogs for the Administration. And even discounting the hysteria surrounding the so-called war on terror, Democrats are more than willing to restrict my freedoms in other ways. Gun control, for example, is plainly unconstitutional. I believe gun control would be a fine idea, but once you decide that the ends justify the means then it's very hard to close the resulting Pandora's box. If you want to pass gun control you have to amend the Constitution first. It's the mutual willingness on both the left and the right to do end-runs around the Constitution that has led to the evisceration of the Ninth Amendment. (Quick, do you even know what the Ninth Amendment says without looking it up?)

And I really wish they'd finish paving the top of Alta Canyada boulevard.

Ordinarily I'd go back and polish this to make it a little more coherent, but my body is staging a protest march and it's about to get ugly. So I'll have to leave it at that for now.

And now, a word from our sponsor

From Joe Mealey, president of the La Canada Democratic club:


Welcome to the La Canada Flintridge Democratic Club's new experiment in democracy. We've established a Virtual Town Hall for residents of La Canada and the surrounding areas to share their political ideas. We welcome you to express your opinions here, no matter what your political affiliation. There are only three rules: (1) use your real name; (2) be respectful; and (3) don't forget your sense of humor. Let's make this an open, no-holds barred forum to say what we really think on any and every issue, local and international. Who knows? We may even agree on something besides the outrageous cost of sewers.....


A note from the webmaster:

Hi, I'm Ron Garret, your webmaster. I'm going to be posting on this blog to get the ball rolling, but this is not my blog. (I have my own blog.) This is your blog. To post to it you will need to sign up for a Blogger account if you don't already have one, and then send me an email (at ron at flownet dot com) so I can add you to the contributor list for LCFVTS.

The whole point of this blog is to get people with opposing points of view talking about relevant issues, so if you disagree with something that is posted here, good! Sign up and let others hear your point of view.

Welcome!

Welcome to the ground-breaking for the La Canada-Flintridge virtual town square, sponsored by the La Canada Democratic Club (though all La Canada residents are welcome and encouraged to participate.) Watch this space for news and announcements. In the meantime, if you don't already have one, get yourself a blogger account.