robert's blog

The following is from Eileen Lewis of Young Democrats of Monterey County:

Greetings! We are the Young Democrats of Monterey County.

Without a doubt, one of our primary goals is to have a strong presence on the Peninsula well before November. We will soon establish ourselves at our colleges and high schools. Our strategy is to organize and have the entire County covered so that no area is left untouched.

We're going to be hitting up the malls, farmers markets, movie theaters, coffee shops, music events and sporting events. Wherever young people congregate, we will be there.

We're also going to be utilizing a lot of New Media such as texting and networking sites, as well as traditional methods of outreach along the lines of voter registration drives, fund raisers, precinct walking and phone banking, amongst other activities that will help us spark interest and get young people to the polls.

Alongside educating young voters about state and national politics, we will also be informing them about issues specific to Monterey County. It will become our duty to educate them on matters important to our age group and explain why their vote matters. Even though our focus is local, our involvement will also go beyond Monterey County. We will be calling swing states and undecided voters. We need to remind our friends and constituents locally and nationally why they should vote Democratic.

This is going to be a learning process, but we are by no means alone in our endeavor to get Democrats elected to office. We have the unwavering support of the local clubs, the Central Committee and the Young Democrats of California.

This is a pivotal time in American politics and we're about to take part in an historical election. By taking action and being involved, we will become agents of change for the betterment of our country. I feel this is going to be a great year for Democrats, but we must not lay complacent. Change begins from the bottom up. And that's where we come in.

If you would like to join our movement, sign-up on our Facebook page or send an email to youngdemsmc@gmail.com.

The California state budget is over a month late - but Democrats, led by our own Assemblymember John Laird, have been trying to craft a solution. Laird and Speaker Karen Bass proposed a fair budget that raises taxes on the wealthy and on corporations in order to limit damaging budget cuts.

But Republicans have not been willing to even consider it. Nor have they come up with any plan of their own - Republicans haven't offered a list of what they would cut, and have not proposed any plan to deal with the deficit.

This led Laird to call out the Republicans on the floor of the Assembly yesterday, saying "the voters have been taken hostage but we can't get a ransom note." It's a brilliant speech. The video is below:

The audio is here and a transcript is here.

The No on 8 campaign is gearing up for one of the most closely contested - and most important - races on this November's ballot. Prop 8 is the measure that would change California's constitution to ban same sex marriages, even though the California Supreme Court found that same sex couples had a right to marry. Prop 8 would rescind that right and for the first time, enshrine discrimination into our constitution.

Recent polls suggest that Californians support same sex marriage rights and plan to vote No on Prop 8. The Field Poll recently reported that 51% of voters oppose Prop 8 and 42% support it. That's good news, especially because ballot propositions that are under 50% support this early rarely ever pass.

But defenders of equal rights aren't resting. Instead they're continuing to organize to defeat Prop 8, especially since the far right is energized to pass it. Last weekend the theocratic right announced their organizing plan, including a massive rally in San Diego on November 1 and a broadcast to churches to take place on October 1 - potentially in violation of federal tax laws that prevent churches from engaging in political advocacy.

For residents in Big Sur, this is a trying time. Fire fighters are trying their best to save structures and have excelled at saving lives. Nevertheless, nature is calling the shots right now. Big Sur residents are used to helping each other. All the same, they can use extra help sometimes.

Here is the best website for very current info about the fires and their progress:

http://xasauantoday.wordpress.com/ (then click on Fire News)

This is the community's website organizing help and volunteers, matching them with people needing the same:

http://www.surfire2008.org/

How you can help:

It's becoming apparent that one thing we can do from here is to deliver flattened cardboard boxes of sizes suitable for packing household items. Residents are especially looking for used boxes from movers, but also strong, clean, flattened cardboard boxes of any size will be useful. They can be dropped off at Carmel Middle School at the Red Cross Center there and will be delivered south from there.

John Laird has issued a statement on the fires:

"Governor Schwarzenegger’s visit to Big Sur today is a significant indicator of the impact the Basin Complex fire is having on the people of the Central Coast and California. The people and businesses of the Big Sur community have shown courage, resourcefulness and generosity as this difficult fire has unfolded.

When you drive along Highway 101 near Santa Barbara, or Highway 1 in Huntington Beach, it's hard to miss the many oil rigs on the ocean's horizon. They are relics of a bygone age - not just the 1960s, when they were constructed, but an age in which California believed that cheap oil would always be plentiful and available. We built an entire infrastructure around that and neglected trains, walkable neighborhoods, and lagged behind the rest of the world in developing solar and wind power.

Now the consequences of that misguided belief in the permanence of cheap oil have become clear. Gas prices are nearing $5, causing economic distress and sending Californians flocking to mass transit. For his part Barack Obama is proposing massive new investments in sustainable energy and rail infrastructure.

But what is instead dominating today's news cycle is the Bush-McCain call for offshore oil drilling. The LA Times has an article today trying to convince us that offshore oil drilling opponents are "rethinking" their stance but the only California drilling supporter they quote is Republican Jerry Lewis.

Like me, you've probably had someone forward you an email making totally baseless, even offensive charges about Barack Obama. Republicans are counting on this strategy to try and win the election this fall - they have no other way to appeal to an electorate that has rejected them and their ideology. So instead of trying to campaign on the issues, they are going to try and smear their way to victory - just as in 2004, where John Kerry was "swiftboated" - made the target of untruthful smears.

If you've received these emails, you knew they were false, and wanted to respond with that, but perhaps you didn't know the exact details you need to refute the charge. The Obama campaign has stepped in to help. This week they launched a new site, Fight the Smears. It works the same way the Mythbusters TV show works - a common lie about Obama is proved to be false. It's a useful resource that will help average Democrats take a leading role in fighting these smears and shift the campaign to the issues that really matter for Americans - the economy, health care, the war in Iraq.