If you're like me, you've been thinking about the problems many states are facing; few are worse off than CA.  Huge budget shortfalls and political stagnation are crippling the state.  Arnold seems content to block reforms passed by the legislature and take money out of the University of California system budget any time he gets a chance (even though the UC is one of the most important vehicles for growth in the state).

With these sort of problems, a Governor with a 42% approval rating and 2 years to run out the clock, we need to start looking ahead soon, maybe within the next 6 months or so. We need a smart,  non-ideological, fact-oriented leader to take charge and get CA on track.

We need CA Secretary of State Debra Bowen as Governor.

She has an impeccable record on voting rights protection, consumer protections, and environmental protections.  And she knows where to turn for counsel when she needs it.  She gets things done.

None of the other potential Democratic contenders have what we need right now.

UPDATE: Please check out the Draft Debra Bowen for Governor Facebook group.

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Cross-posted to Project Vote's blog, Voting Matters.

By Nathan Henderson-James

Last week the Department of Veterans Affairs, bowing to months of pressure from voting rights groups and elected officials, revised its rules concerning voter registration drives to allow such activities if certain conditions were met.

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I have a question. I was just watching a fairly substantive (for MSM) conversation between Diane Feinstein and Kay Bailey Hutchison on CNN; and one of the topics they were discussing was the issue of energy. Kay Bailey was saying that nuclear energy is safe and clean; and pointed out that many countries are now using nuclear energy as their main energy source. Does France really get 70% of their energy from nuclear?

Feinstein did an excellent job of countering her on every point, but she did not really elaborate on the nuclear issue. I keep hearing this from the right and it blows me away, because I do not think nuclear waste is safe or clean.

I know I could go traipsing around the net, looking for the facts, but I thought that I would pose the question here. I'd appreciate intelligent debate and any links to non bullshit sites.

BTW, I watched a smattering of the Sunday talk shows today and have found an amazing amount (for MSM) of graciousness and substantive discussion. I really like Fareed Zakaria and Christiane Amanpour, am I an idiot? And did Hillary shame the MSM and/or set an example?

Force corporate media to more be substantive and stop the sensationalistic bullshit

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posted by permission of the writer, Geekesque

There are four current Senators who are running for the Democratic nomination for President.

There have developed two competing narratives regarding these four Senators and their relative levels of experience.

One holds that the most junior of the four, Barack Obama, is a naive, inexperienced, even reckless in his judgment and his language, while Hillary Clinton, Christopher Dodd, and Joe Biden have shown sound judgment and have the experience necessary to be commander-in-chief.

The other narrative states that Obama has more than enough experience to give him sound judgment, and that his disagreement with the other three is based not on inexperience but a refusal to accept erroneous conventional wisdom.

A further examination of these competing claims within two specific votes below the fold.

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First a little about Paul Williams, who endorsed Hillary today:

Paul Williams Endorses Senator Clinton
Eagle Academy Co-Founder and past president of the New York Chapter of 100 Black Men, Inc.

Paul T. Williams, Jr. today announced his endorsement and enthusiastic support for Senator Hillary Clinton's candidacy for President of the United States. Williams will chair the urban agenda working group for the campaign.

"Hillary Clinton has demonstrated outstanding leadership abilities," said Williams, former president of the New York Chapter of 100 Black Men and co-founder of the Eagle Academy for Young Men. "She has a record of years of commitment to issues I care about and I have learned over time that we share the philosophy that people really count! She understands that many of the problems we face can be solved by supporting people of good will, who are trying to make a difference in society," he added.

"I am honored to receive the endorsement of my friend Paul Williams," said Clinton. "I worked with Paul when he served as president of the New York Chapter of 100 Black Men and worked with them to establish the Eagle Academy for Young Men in the South Bronx," she added. The Eagle Academy, a high school for minority men whose principles are built on a set of mentoring relationships between students and successful minority men, is being replicated across the nation.

Williams is president of Toussaint Capital Partners LLC, a minority owned investment bank on Wall Street. An attorney by background, he is also working on a development project which has plans for an innovative hotel/residential development in Harlem, NY.

"Through the urban agenda working group, I hope not only to identify great initiatives to replicate regionally or nationally, such as the Eagle Academy, but to also stimulate creative approaches to support these initiatives financially," Williams said.

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