http://www.couragecampaign.org/page/community/tag_rss/california I mean this is really getting out of hand. And before it goes any further, we need to establish a few things that the Yes on 8 campaign seems not to understand. The current state of marriage does not make the words "bride" and "groom" hate speech . Gays are not the same as unicorns . No matter what Tom McClintock thinks, gays are not dogs either. The notion- in this country of all places- that equality would be "armageddon" should be outrageous to anyone. And most certainly, eliminating human rights would not be the same as defeating Hitler . Just stop. But hey- Yes on 8: if you've got an actual point, let's hear it. No really. One that's true. So far there isn't one. I'm actually a little surprised. Given the tens of millions being rushed to California by Mormons and the great monied patrons of the religious right and the lather being worked up, you'd think that somewhere there would be a reasoned argument. Even if it wasn't front and center. There's lying and there's fear mongering and there's divisiveness. I've gotten those messages. And it's all capped by the evocation of the most horrific genocide the world has ever known. And then there's The Call . Leading untold thousands to my city on Saturday to pray for Proposition 8. You do that. I'd like to think that this will be a positive event, but nothing so far leads me to expect a break from the nonstop divisiveness and the out-and-out lying and the histrionics (not to run this into the ground, but in the world of rhetoric, a Hitler comparison is the last stop on the hyperbole express). I'm sick of it, and if that's what I can expect on Saturday, take it elsewhere. I'm sick of the lies, I'm sick of the blackmail of my local small businesses , I'm sick of this being considered a remotely appropriate level of political discourse, and most of all I'm sick of being told that people are not created equal. That's the entire point of this country existing. It's the very first self-evident truth. Don't get angry at me if you don't like it. Take it up with the Declaration of Independence. So while Prop 8 supporters pile into Qualcomm to pray, the Courage Campaign is joining with other allies of equality and freedom calling for volunteers to stop Prop 4 and Prop 8 . When Rick Jacobs emailed Courage members earlier today, he noted that "the religious right is calling Proposition 8 its 'decisive last stand,'" which tells you the stakes on this. If you doubt at all how seriously they're taking it, check out the Call video on the volunteer page . It's pretty shocking. Look: this is how the religious right keeps winning elections. For all the (very important) stories of voter suppression and ballot box rigging and corruption, the fundamental strategy hinges on drowning everyone in so much vitriol and general negativity that they give up entirely and stay home. It can't work this time. We can't let it. There's simply too much on the line. At a time that it's almost hackneyed already to rally around hope and change, it's all the more vital that California stand up collectively and say enough is ENOUGH . Lying to us won't work. Trying to wear us down with the rhetoric of alienation will not keep us home. Trying to make us miserable will not keep us quiet. 6 days left. I'm spending my Saturday with Lou Engle and James Dobson because there's some question as to whether equality is a human right in this country. How can we allow this to be a debate any longer? Enough is enough. Do something. And if you have time, do one more thing. If we don't stop this crap now, then when? http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/lucasoconnor/CLQq http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/lucasoconnor/CLQq/commentary#comments Wed, 29 Oct 2008 22:23:53 PDT http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/lucasoconnor/CLQq Lucas O'Connor, Courage Campaign Lucas O'Connor, Courage Campaign 1 http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/comment_rss/CLQq/ Andrew Sullivan notes today that one of the biggest financial supporters of the Yes on 8 campaign is Elsa Prince Broekhuizen, who has pumped $450,000 into the campaign. Broekhuizen is the mother of Blackwater founder and owner Erik Prince and Bush Pioneer Betsy DeVos. She's also quite the patron of the religious right . http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/lucasoconnor/CLQh http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/lucasoconnor/CLQh/commentary#comments Wed, 29 Oct 2008 00:56:19 PDT http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/lucasoconnor/CLQh Lucas O'Connor, Courage Campaign Lucas O'Connor, Courage Campaign 0 http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/comment_rss/CLQh/ Proposition 4 is another bad anti-choice proposal : parental notification, an automatic child abuse investigation if the young woman doesn't want to notify her parents and can't find a judge to approve. And if she is able to find a judge, the judge then has to declare her mature enough, and the judges have to make annual reports, county-by-county, on how many abortions are approved for young women each year. http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/airpower/CLQp http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/airpower/CLQp/commentary#comments Fri, 24 Oct 2008 11:50:28 PDT http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/airpower/CLQp User from Fairfield, CA User from Fairfield, CA 0 http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/comment_rss/CLQp/ Finally, our state legislature has reached a compromise budget that should earn Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's signature. It's a no thrills blend of expected budget cuts and the closure of tax loopholes with no tax increases. But the $15 billion budget deficit only balances through accounting procedures and heavy borrowing against the state lottery, which means today's leaders are passing the buck to future leaders once again. If you wanted tax increases, just wait a few years when the state will be forced to decide how they will increase revenues to maintain basic services as the percentage of general fund revenues spent on retiring debt continues to increase. No new taxes, no new revenues. A slumping economy, projects lower revenues in the years to come. http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/elliottpetty/CLLM http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/elliottpetty/CLLM/commentary#comments Mon, 15 Sep 2008 13:41:06 PDT http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/elliottpetty/CLLM Elliott D. Petty Elliott D. Petty 0 http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/comment_rss/CLLM/ Disclosure: I've been with this campaign since the 2007 CDP convention. Manuel Perez has a significant, double-digit lead over his Republican opponent and is well-positioned to win back the seat for Democrats in California's 80th Assembly That's the latest polling we have (Source: Heidi von Szeliski and Associates), and it looks good all over. This has been a district made for Democrats to win since the last redistricting, and yet we've lost over and over. But now California Democrats are heading into the general of a key battleground for our 2/3 majority fight with four major factors in our favor: numbers, nominee, polling and ground game. Maps, polling, links galore over the flip. (Originally posted at Calitics.) http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/soyinkafan/CLqb http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/soyinkafan/CLqb/commentary#comments Mon, 28 Jul 2008 23:06:36 PDT http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/soyinkafan/CLqb Beth Caskie http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/profile_picture/abaa199bad9b72af05_45nvmv6zf.jpg Beth Caskie 1 http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/comment_rss/CLqb/ Conventional thinking leads the likes of President George W. Bush to believe that 'immigrants take jobs Americans don't want,' but a new study by the Migration Policy Institute finds that in California, immigrants will be needed to fill jobs, avert a skills shortage in labor pool that could wreak havoc on state economy. http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/elliottpetty/BtG http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/elliottpetty/BtG/commentary#comments Mon, 21 Apr 2008 14:23:51 PDT http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/elliottpetty/BtG Elliott D. Petty Elliott D. Petty 1 http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/comment_rss/BtG/ In the aftermath of Super Tuesday's election issues in Los Angeles, we've heard from tons of voters with stories about ballot problems. Voters like Julian H.: I've been following politics before I even hit my teens. And 2 weeks before this election, I turned 18, with my registration in weeks before. I knew the issues, the candidates, the propositions, and for the fist time in my life cast a ballot. I heard the next day about the double bubble. No one at the polls mentioned it, and I didn't see instructions that even pointed to its existence. It's not such a great feeling that you're first close up experience in a system you've watched for so long at a distance could have amounted to nothing. It looks like half of the DTS ballots in Los Angeles- about 94,000 votes- will not be counted. But Courage continues to work with Dean Logan in LA to ensure that, no matter who people were voting for, every DTS ballot gets counted. On the flip, Rick Jacobs provides a full, in-depth rundown of everything that's been going on. http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/lucasoconnor/BrR http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/lucasoconnor/BrR/commentary#comments Thu, 07 Feb 2008 16:56:44 PST http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/lucasoconnor/BrR Lucas O'Connor, Courage Campaign Lucas O'Connor, Courage Campaign 17 http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/comment_rss/BrR/ Well everything that Courage Campaign was worried about seems to be happening as the Los Angeles ballot issue turns into a full debacle. The San Francisco Chronicle is is running with the story and raising the question of how long this ballot has been in use. Reactions from many of the players involved can be found on the flip, but here's the short version. Given the convoluted delegate system in California , a lot of delegates on the Democratic side could potentially be impacted by voting irregularities in Los Angeles county. And since the Democratic race appears to be destined to remain deadlocked for quite some time, this mess may stretch on for quite a while as delegate counts are fought over by interests that stretch way beyond Los Angeles County. That's the pragmatism. The principle is that the law should be followed and people should be allowed to vote. Everybody talks a bunch on the flip. http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/lucasoconnor/BrG http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/lucasoconnor/BrG/commentary#comments Tue, 05 Feb 2008 18:47:52 PST http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/lucasoconnor/BrG Lucas O'Connor, Courage Campaign Lucas O'Connor, Courage Campaign 0 http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/comment_rss/BrG/ You can download the pdf version of the Courage Campaign lawyer letter here Through all of our efforts to get DTS voters out and well equipped to vote in tomorrow's Democratic primary (thanks in no small part to your support , it's looking like Los Angeles County has managed to add an extra wrinkle that could cause all sorts of problems. This is a sample of the ballot in which a DTS voter must not only request the ballot and vote for president, but mark at the top of the ballot that they want to vote in the Democratic primary. Voting for the candidate, apparently, is not enough of an indication of intent. This is a big enough deal that Barack Obama just sent out an email on the subject: If you declined to select a political party when you registered to vote, you can still vote for Barack Obama if you request a Democratic ballot from the poll worker. Make sure you mark "Democratic" in the appropriate space or the vote might not be counted. This is mixed in with the procedure for provisional ballots and the times that polls are open. Why is this such a big deal? Because nearly 20% of Los Angeles County voters are Decline To State. That works out to 776,000 DTS voters in Los Angeles County- which is 75% of the total number of Democratic votes cast in every primary and caucus so far. Needless to say, even on Super Tuesday, that's a big deal. But it's even more odious than that. The law is pretty clear on this sort of thing and, well, it's not exactly on the right side of the law. And that has gotten the Courage Campaign legal team into high gear, sending a letter saying in part DTS voters requesting partisan ballots and registered Democratic and American Independent voters will receive the exact same Ink-a-Vote ballot. However, contrary to statutory provisions set forth in the Election Code, Los Angeles County requires DTS voters to complete an additional hurdle by marking either box number 5 (for American Independent ballots) or box number 6 (for Democratic party ballots) or their vote for President of the United States will not be counted. Invalidating a ballot based solely upon the failure to mark a box, (box 5 or 6) even though the voter has cast his/her ballot for a candidate for president, constitutes an improper basis for rejection and a policy that violates the rights of DTS voters. (See Cal. Elec. Code 15154(c).) But in the meantime, make sure you and everyone you know double checks the ballot before turning it in. This is the one that we know about, but there could be all sorts of variations on this theme throughout the state. Update : Full letter from the Courage Campaign lawyer on the flip (or download the pdf version) http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/lucasoconnor/BrK http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/lucasoconnor/BrK/commentary#comments Mon, 04 Feb 2008 13:35:11 PST http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/lucasoconnor/BrK Lucas O'Connor, Courage Campaign Lucas O'Connor, Courage Campaign 7 http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/comment_rss/BrK/ Julia Rosen, who is in Reno right now planning to blog a few times this weekend about the Nevada Caucuses, just sent the following email out to our Courage Campaign community: -------  Hey everyone, Greetings from Reno, Nevada, where I am sitting in the headquarters of the winner of our "Pick Your President" poll, stealing some free wi-fi on my laptop and getting ready to blog this weekend's events for the Courage Campaign blog. And who received the most votes of California progressives? Drum roll please... Barack Obama! Here are California's full results. John Edwards kept it neck-and-neck with Obama in the days and hours leading up to our 5 p.m. deadline tonight, but Senator Obama pulled away at the end. Sen. Barack Obama: 38% Sen. John Edwards: 33% Rep. Dennis Kucinich: 16% Sen. Hillary Clinton: 12% Gov. Bill Richardson: 0.6% Sen. Mike Gravel: 0.4% It wasn't even close nationally. Obama's supporters really got out the vote and he won in a landslide. Sen. Barack Obama: 55% Sen. John Edwards: 23% Sen. Hillary Clinton: 11% Rep. Dennis Kucinich: 10% Gov. Bill Richardson: 0.5% Sen. Mike Gravel: 0.3% You can check out all of the results (including the Republicans) in Colorado, Michigan, New Mexico, Ohio, Washington and Wisconsin here: http://www.PickYourPresident.org Thank you for voting and naming your favorite candidate. But your work has just begun. Now is the time to make sure you and all of your friends are set to vote in California's official primary on February 5. Unlike in previous presidential election years, your primary vote in California matters. No matter which candidate you are voting for, here's how you can help determine who may become the next President of the United States: 1. Make sure you are registered to vote. To vote in the February 5 primary, you only have until January 22 -- this Tuesday -- to mail in your form. Use VotePoke, by our friends at MoveOn, to double check that you are registered. If you do not show up as registered, you will have the opportunity to register to vote via VotePoke: http://votepoke.org 2. Request an absentee ballot to vote-by-mail. If you would like to vote-by-mail (VBM) instead of at the polls, you have until January 29 to request a VBM ballot. Click on the Secretary of State's web site below to download the form, fill it out, and mail it in: http://sos.ca.gov/elections/elections_m.htm 3. If you are a "Decline-to-State" (DTS) voter, make sure you (and your friends) can vote in a party primary. Did you know that almost 3 million voters are registered as "Decline-to-State" in California (19.3% of 15.5 million registered voters)? However, only 8% of DTS voters actually voted for a presidential candidate in the 2004 presidential primary. Why? One reason is that many DTS voters do not know that they can vote for president in California's Democratic primary -- an open primary. Here's the deal: If you are a DTS voter -- and you want to vote for President in the Democratic primary -- you must request a Democratic ballot. Otherwise, if you do not make a request for a Democratic ballot, you will only be able to vote on the state propositions. (NOTE: Under Republican Party rules, DTS voters are NOT permitted to vote in the Republican primary.) If you are voting at the polls, be sure to ask your poll worker for a Democratic ballot before voting. If you are DTS and voting-by-mail, you may request a Democratic ballot from your county elections official. Click here to obtain your county elections office contact information: http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/elections_d.htm Now, I am off to find some good Nevada Caucus stories to blog along with three of my favorite blogging buddies: Lucas O'Connor, a fellow Courage Campaign and Calitics blogger; Brian Leubitz, the editor of Calitics; and Paul Hogarth of Beyond Chron. You can check out my posts this weekend on the Courage Campaign blog: http://www.couragecampaign.org/blog Again, a special thank you to all those Courage Campaign members who voted in the Pick Your President poll and passed it on to your friends. See you on our blog, Julia Rosen Online Political Director P.S. Stay tuned for a message from the Courage Campaign about retroactive immunity for telecom companies. We may have won the battle in December, delaying the vote to renew FISA, but it is scheduled to come back up again on the Senate floor next week. If we are going to stop the Bush Administration from rewarding law-breaking telecom companies for spying on Americans, your participation is crucial.   ......... Courage Campaign is an independent political committee and online organizing network empowering grassroots and netroots activists to build a progressive California . In 2008, the Courage Campaign will catalyze action to help Californians elect a progressive President, hold our elected officials accountable, and block Blackwater from building a base on our border. http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/edenjames/Bcq http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/edenjames/Bcq/commentary#comments Fri, 18 Jan 2008 21:16:04 PST http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/edenjames/Bcq Eden James, Courage Campaign Eden James, Courage Campaign 7 http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/comment_rss/Bcq/ "It was here, four years ago where presidential candidate John Edwards was first inspired by the labor movement, says Sal Rosselli," president of California's largest labor union, United Healthcare Workers West. This weekend, Elizabeth Edwards will keynote their 2007 Leadership Conference. http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/elliottpetty/BpG http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/elliottpetty/BpG/commentary#comments Sat, 29 Sep 2007 12:05:13 PDT http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/elliottpetty/BpG Elliott D. Petty Elliott D. Petty 1 http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/comment_rss/BpG/ We need to get Blackwater and all the other mercenaries out of Iraq. They outnumber our soldiers, who get blamed when these thugs massacre innocent civilians. We also need to get them out of New Orleans where they are keeping people out of their own houses and off their own property. We don't need them in CA either! There are two petitions you can sign online: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/2/its-time-to-fire-blackwater http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/codepink/tellafriend.jsp?tell_a_friend_KEY=1926 http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/alicemarieswift/BhQ http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/alicemarieswift/BhQ/commentary#comments Sat, 22 Sep 2007 00:07:25 PDT http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/alicemarieswift/BhQ User from Lemoore, CA User from Lemoore, CA 0 http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/comment_rss/BhQ/ (cross-posted at MyDD ) As the fight against the right-wing electoral vote stealing initiative here in California gains steam, it has begun to take on a national profile, as it should considering that if it passes it could mean that a low turnout June election in California determines who becomes president in 2008. Since The New York Times weighed in with their editorial slamming the initiative as a right-wing "dirty trick," it's begun to gain the attention of the presidential candidates. FairElectionReform.com has launched a petition urging the presidential candidates of both parties to publicly oppose  the measure. The first to do so was Chris Dodd, who called the initiative a "blatant power grab" saying : "The process of elections should be above partisanship and I hope all Presidential candidates - Democrats and Republicans alike - will join me in standing up for fair and honest elections." Next, John Edwards not only came out against the measure but sent his own e-mail blast urging us to do the same: Help us send a message to these political operatives that their Karl Rove tactics will not work. We, the people, will not allow you to get away with this naked partisan power grab. As a result, momentum against the measure is growing back here in California, even among local Republicans. The vice-chair of the CA Republican Party Thomas del Baccaro came out against the measure on his blog ; in addition The OC Register , no liberal rag they, in an editorial called the initiative a "nakedly partisan and profoundly subversive of our constitutional system;" and when asked about the initiative, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger seemed unenthusiastic at best, likening the measure to "changing the rules in the middle of the game." Schwarzenegger refused to officially comment, however, as he claimed not to have read the initiative yet. Well, let's help him out with that, shall we? The next step in opposing this measure is to force Schwarzenegger to comment publicly. Surely such a post-partisan as he would have nothing to do with such a partisan dirty trick as this, so my colleagues at Courage Campaign have launched a new effort to " Educate Arnold " and send him one copy of the 3 page initiative for every person who signs up . Help us ensure Arnold receives thousands of copies of the initiative and we'll make sure the media knows it. Arnold coming out publicly against this initiative will help kill it (as his opposition to Proposition 90 did last year.) And if he endorses it, his carefully crafted post-partisan image will be, well...terminated. http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/toddbeeton/VjJ http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/toddbeeton/VjJ/commentary#comments Thu, 30 Aug 2007 18:42:06 PDT http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/post/toddbeeton/VjJ Todd Beeton, Courage Campaign http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/profile_picture/d89e6bb5ed51606753_a5xmv2dos.jpg Todd Beeton, Courage Campaign 1 http://couragecampaign.org/page/community/comment_rss/VjJ/