Greener Pastures Meeting
Riverside County, CA Unincorporated Community of Rubidoux
Sunday, February 8, 2009
I. President Obama’s Message
a. How much will be cut from the stimulus bill, and why is it necessary to compromise with the Republicans?
i. Particular outrage exists when the Republican senator from Nevada blithely quotes the growth of jobs in fire fighting and education- no doubt part of the Dept. of Labor statistics when in CALIFORNIA most school districts have frozen hiring and will be issuing pink slips to hundreds of thousands of teachers shortly.
b. With what is being out of the stimulus package, how many jobs can be directly started? It seems that most start-up jobs will take a year to a year and a half to get going.
II. Governor Tim Kaine’s Message
a. What is meant by “a balanced plan?” Compromise for what purpose?
b. Why are so many concessions needed to the ultra-wealthy?
III. Share Your Stories
a. Class sizes are becoming huge- in San Diego secondary schools they are up to 39 students in a class.
b. How dare schools eliminate class size reduction when it’s been responsible for growth over the past 15 years!
c. Cessna closed its plants and moved to Arizona.
d. Nearby city of Riverside Mayor Loveridge speaks of a green local economy, but in what form?
e. Carlos has seen his hours cut as a writing tutor at Riverside Community College.
f. We are excited that these house meetings will make change accountable.
g. How do we get our ideas and stories out?
IV. Brainstorm
a. Andrew shared his business proposal for moving companies from fluorescent bulbs to using LEDs that would save thousands of dollars in electric bills and create jobs. He’s frustrated that the private sector is unwilling to meet with him. Andrew shared that fluorescent bulbs contain a great amount of toxicity. A child runs the danger of mercury exposure when inhaling the fumes around a broken bulb. (A hard copy of Andrew’s proposal will be mailed to Organizing for America.)
b. Some expressed concern about the effectiveness of tax cuts for the middleclass rather than putting money immediately into people’s pockets.
c. Combine alternative energy solutions with maintaining infrastructure. It’s been said that the Imperial Valley is slated to be the cednter of alternative energy development.
d. What about environmental damage and damage to the people of China where we send most of our recycled electronic waste?
e. It takes 8,000 gallons of water to provide for one pound of beef. How about cutting back on beef intake?
f. It’s been noted that a local community paper, The Riverside County Record, has been lambasting Assemblyperson Jeffries for contributing to gridlock in Sacramento because of his no raising taxes philosophy. We support this critique.
g. We are willing to make out-of-state phone calls- like some of us did on behalf of President Obama- to others who have uncooperative representatives and senators.
h. We are willing to work for Bill Hedrick when he runs again in 2010 against Ken Calvert. It’s estimated that Bill lost by less than 2% in 2008.
i. We are looking forward to the banks and stock market movers and shakers being held accountable under the Obama administration. We’ve appreciated the house Democrats scolding the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Now is the time!
While we are busy calling and canvassing, let's not forget those closest to us. We may assume they are voting or have transportation to the polls...but maybe not. Create a list of family, friends, and neighbors and make sure these folk are: 1.) Registered (if it's not too late in your area): 2.) voting by mail or in person; and, 3.) have transportation to the polls.
FOLLOW-UP AS OFTEN AS POSSIBLE UNTIL YOU CAN CROSS THEM OFF YOUR LIST AS 'VOTED';
Complete for all eligible voters you know, example:
Name Registerd? Voting by mail? Voting in person? VOTED!
You get the idea. Make a chart like this for everyone you know, starting with those closest to you. Get on the phone and start calling now to see who might need transportation help. These are the people we have the most influence over and we MUST make sure they vote.
Spread this around!!!!!
Linnie Frank Bailey
So they did it....they took the best (or maybe the worst) of Jerry Springer and came up with a candidate and a message.
She will play the gender card as a victim....the race card as an attacker. She will play the innocent victim against 'the cultural elite.' She will divide America between 'hard-working white, evangelicals' and 'those people.' She will be the 'innocent victim' against a media that asks her hard questions (if they don't let themselves get bullied.) She is a movie script where the spunky girl rises to power against 'those mean people' who make fun of her. A party who could only bring 36 African-Americans to their convention, is ready to launch a civil war on us to keep the White House.Palin is a PRODUCT of what the right-wing perceives as a winning formula! They will blame all of the country's ills on people who do not look like them or think like them.Not this time!!
In a currently running ad, John McCain says that Washington is broken…that people are worse off than they were four years ago. HE IS RIGHT!
However….John McCain has been a part of ‘broken’ government for 25+ years, and…John McCain SUPPORTED the current administration that has made us worse off.
Did McCain vote for John Kerry in 2004? I think not! So, I guess he is part of the problem….
This year we will vote for change and GOOD JUDGMENT so that we will be BETTER off four years from now.
On cnn.com, they are trying to tie John McCain and Barack Obama together on the issue of lobbying.
The fact is, that Barack Obama has opened his campaign, and is willing to take donations from anyone. Quoting the cnn.com story, Obama has taken 6,000 dollars from lobbyists who have chosen to donate.
The difference is complicated but still fairly obvious. Those donations do not mean he has been "lobbied". That is when a lobbyist will buy things for a candidate, or give money, in the hopes of passing particular legislation. Obama has taken personal contributions from people who happen to be lobbyists.
John McCain has taken much more from lobbyists, while renouncing lobbyists in his typical "Maverick" type language. Whether or not he had an affair with a lobbyist, that story testifies to the fact that he has been "lobbied" more than Mr. Obama. Obama's senate term has been fairly short, but he has simply not had the same publicity with lobbying as John McCain.
PLEASE FORWARD THIS EVERYWHERE I am still casting two Asian/Latino males to play the two Filipino leads in my new play "Helltown Buffet" at Rude Guerrilla Theater in Santa Ana, CA. The play needs to be cast by August 1 at the latest or the play won't go on. Complete details are below. If you know of anyone, please have them contact me immediately at rgasian@gmail.com for copies of the script and more info. Thanks.Aurelio LocsinPlaywright/Director ------------------ Helltown Buffet written and directed by Aurelio Locsin.
Can a Hometown Buffet manager and his hunky demon seducer fall in love through real and imagined histories? This dark comedy propels them from Orange County to several afterlives, prompting encounters with a host of fantastic characters and unreal situations.
ADULT LANGUAGE AND SITUATIONS.
ADDRESS/PHONE: 202 N. Broadway, Santa Ana, CA. 92701. (714) 547-4688.There is some pay: a small stipend plus percentage of ticket sales.
Rehearsals begin Sunday, August 3, and will generally run Mon-Thu from 6:30pm-10pm, and Sunday mornings.
Show runs September 11-October 18 (Fri-Sat evenings at 8pm, Sun at 2:30pm, one Thurs evening on October 16 at 8pm.) Looking for:
BENJIE: Male, 20-30, Asian/Latino to play Filipino, naïve, idealistic Hometown buffet manager who is seduced into temptation. Will speak some Tagalog and do a simple solo tribal dance. Must be comfortable with gay intimacy.
PACO: Male, 20-30, Asian/Latino to play Filipino, lower-class, tough but charming. Newbie demon earning his horns by tempting the innocent. Must be comfortable with gay intimacy.
First of all, I feel bad for probably violating all of the "no posts that aren't relevant to groups" stuff.
That being said, I had what now feels like a panic attack last night, and had to drive to the hospital. I've had a peptic ulcer since late April, and it's probably related to that. I'm taking some self-inflicted home rest until Monday, when classes start again.
I also think it might be related to me smoking marijuana three times earlier this year. I'd like to thank God for not only helping me quitting the stuff, but for giving me the strength to email the Irvine police department about two dealers that I knew.
Here are corrections on all three tenets of the "BWB" accusations on Mr. Obama.
1. Handguns- Based on my understanding, Barack Obama understands the legal interpretation of the second amendment, which REALLY is "thou shalt not bear arms except in case of legal militia". As a result, a strong support of the DC handgun ban is not in contradiction of this interpretation. At the same time, Mr. Obama has never claimed to irresuloutely clutch all the hand guns from curent gun owners. NO FLIP-FLOP
2. Campaign Finance Reform- Barack Obama rejected matching funds (a decision I personally disagree with, btw) on account of the obvious understanding that his fundraising would far exceed CFR standards. John McCain however, chose to take the matching funds because his fundraising total was actually under matching funds levels. This does not contradict the initial position during the primary, that Barack Obama GENERALLY supports acceptance of the matching funds. He has said that he encourages future campaigns to adopt matching funds, but the fact of the matter is (regardless of your position) that John McCain openly swore to not take the matching funds, and then switched back when Obama made his decision. NO FLIP-FLOP on Barack Obama, FLIP-FLOP on John McCain.
3. Troop Withdrawal- Barack Obama has made his position clear. He believes in the 16 month time-table, but also said that we need to be "careful" when doing so. This doesn't even warrant true correction, clearly. John McCain, on the other hand, has been a terrible flip-flopper on this issue. He was a gung ho supporter of the Iraq War, and then tried to switch back to his liberal, wishy-washy, "maverick" critique of the war. Once he decided to run for president, he then doubled back and became a proud proponent of the surge.
In my opinion, this sudden "Urge Support" has been "Urge Overkill" (great band, btw). It has literally led to the SAME KIND OF DISBELIEF that McCain is quietly trying to distance himself, the Bush administration. The lives of American soldiers are in grave danger, on account of this kind of "lassez faire" politics. The ground situation should be on Vietnam levels. Whatever your opinion on any war, John McCain is spreading war lives and killing people, indirectly, by spreading conservative lies. If you hate Karl Rove, then you should hate John McCain's political machine too. This PAC, McCain affiliated or not (probably is, JUST LIKE the Swift Boat Veterans and George W. Bush, look into it), is killing the American people, and actually helping to defeat Operation Iraqi Freedom, which, while I hate it, now has to be carried out. NO FLIP-FLOP on Barack Obama, but a major WISHY-WASHY Republican on John McCain.
An Obama bumper sticker?
And maybe a flag antenna thing, but one that won't obstruct my driving?
Someone can tell me. I just want to do the full FEC thing and get it over with.
Gobama! (Go Barack Obama!)
Ms. Hathaway,
Can I call you Anne? I guess I just did.
First of all, I feel terrible for sending you a letter, considering we've never met. I guess you could consider this a fan letter.
To fit the format: “Brokeback Mountain” is one of my all time favorite movies, and “Get Smart” was probably the best movie of the year.
I saw “Princess Diaries” when I was seventeen, and you must've been 21 at the time.
You see what I did there? I addressed our age gap. You're four years older than I am.
Four years...the number between presidential elections. This is 2008. An election year. A coincidence?
Of course it is. Who do you like in the presidential election? I like Barack Obama.
You see what I did there? I started a conversation.
Speaking of which, I have to admit to reading your wikipedia page. I'm an editor (who isn't, these days?) You can read mine if you'd like. But it's much smaller than yours. In fact, it technically doesn't exist (it's a redirection to the “1 vs. 100” page).
I didn't edit your page, although maybe I should have. They took some jokes you made and made them dogmatic facts.
What other way is there to interpret jokes?
A: Literarily
Speaking of literature, I read that you read Oscar Wilde. Or at least, you quoted him as your personal mantra (something about sores).
I read Wilde too. I read “The Importance of Being Earnest”. What's so important about being Ernest? All I know is that it's very important to be earnest in any endeavor you make. Just don't ask Bunbury (most people think he's gay, I just mainly think he doesn't exist, but don't ask Algernon Moncrieff. You can ask Jack, if that is his real name.)
I understand he wrote a version of “Salome”, and a play known as “Lady Windermere's Fan”. I'm a very big fan.
Of the play, “Lady Windermere's Fan”? No, I never read it. It's about her fan. It's quite small, if you think about it.
I have a mantra too, you know. But it's a muse. Muse-ic, if you will. Music, to be frank about it.
Now, it would be a little forward to make you a mixtape, so I didn't.
Consider it more of a mixed CD.
Ingredients for a “Mixed CD”
1 CD
1 Crystal Case
1 Cup of Sugar
1 Sponge and a lot of water to try and clean off all that sugar you spilled on a CD
Now, in the book “High Fidelity” by Nick Hornby (John Cusack in the movie, which was better than the book, seeing as I saw the flick and haven't given the pages a flick, yet), he describes that the perfect way to make a mix tape is to have one song per artist, and have an equal distribution of songs per artist, if you go into two or three. The moral of the movie was that he needed to break all of his stupid mixtape rules in order to get back with his old girlfriend, Laura.
Now, these songs were all made by popular artists, written for people who weren't you or I. These songs won't bite.
Unless you want them to. Let's see if I can keep up with old Hornby on this one.
The Youtube Playlist (No CD included, just search for the songs below on youtube.com):
Disc One
1. You Never Give Me Your Money- The Beatles
2. Baby You're A Rich Man- The Beatles
3. Drive My Car- The Beatles
4. Roundabout- Yes
5. Close To The Edge- Yes
6. I Can See For Miles- The Who
7. My Generation- The Who
Disc Two
8. Birthday- The Beatles
9. Annie, Get Your Gun- Squeeze
10. Black Coffee In Bed- Squeeze
11. Uncontrollable Urge- Devo
12. Praying Hands- Devo
13. Imagine- John Lennon
14, Instant Karma- John Lennon
15. You Can't Do That- The Beatles
-Jason Luna
jason-luna.blogspot.com
nandor1.jason@gmail.com
George W. Bush- Fixing A Hole
Dick Cheney- Mean Mr. Mustard
Condoleeza Rice- Polythene Pam
Robert Gates- She Came In Through The Bathroom Window
Barbara Boxer- Hey Bulldog
Dianne Feinstein- Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts' Club Band (Reprise)
Russell Feingold- Yellow Submarine
Al Gore- The Word
Howard Dean- Baby You Can Drive My Car
Wesley Clark- All You Need Is Love
Hillary Clinton- Lovely Rita
Bill Clinton- You Can't Do That
Barack Obama- Come Together
Michelle Obama- Lady Madonna
Jason Luna- Baby You're A Rich Man
John Lennon- Instant Karma
George Harrison- While My Guitar Gently Weeps
Ringo Starr- If You've Got Trouble
Paul McCartney- Back In The U.S.S.R.
Anne Hathaway- Dig A Pony
If you have any complaints, ask the Beatles. They only wrote so many of these "songs".
