GOP - still "the Party of No"

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At yesterday's RNC meeting:

"We are going to take this president on with class. We are going to take this president on with dignity," Steele said. "This will be a very sharp and marked contrast to the shabby and classless way that the Democrats and the far left spoke of President Bush."

...

... After Republican state party chairmen meet Tuesday and Wednesday, the full RNC will attempt to convene Wednesday for a special meeting aimed at passing new
resolutions, including one asking Democrats to rename their party the "Democrat-Socialist Party."

Today the AP reports that:

Jeff Kent, a Washington state Republican, has spearheaded the effort to rebrand
the Democratic Party as "Socialist Democrat," combining a label associated with
governments of U.S. rivals such as Venezuela with a term some Republicans use to
ridicule Democrats.

Some party leaders described the resolution as "stupid" and "absurd," and have pushed to avoid a public flap by compromising with milder language that would simply criticize Democrats for what they call socialist tendencies.

So, the dead-ender Republicans are going to compromise and go foward by not doing anything differently. They'll keep right on refering to Democrats as socialists. And, according to RNC Chair Steel, they're no longer going to apologize for the things they've never apologized for.

Apparently, the Republicans plan is to change by not doing anything differently.
So, it's not surprising that:

Yesterday, Gallup released a study comparing the change in Republican party ID
among voters (those who who identify or lean GOP) from 2001 to 2009. Gallup
found that the party has lost support in 25 of 26 demographic categories (e.g.,
race, sex, geography, education, income and so on — see the graphic below) in
the last eight years.

more freedom is on the march.....

Chris Hedges, with the help of Dr. Juliette Fournot, does a nice job of asking the question.
who have we become??
as i continue to see the evidence of our national disorder expressing itself in the world, i become more and more dismayed. and i look around as americans, for the most part, continue on with life as usual. as we deplete the resources of planet earth, consuming and discarding like there is no tomorrow, we insure a bleak future, at best, for those who come after. and in the meantime humans are used as the pawns for the enrichment of the men in the shadows who are directing and profiting from the war machine nightmare.

what are we doing in other people's countries?? will we continue to go down this path???

wake up america!

Becoming What We Seek to Destroy

..........The U.S. fuels the bonfires of war. The more troops we send to Afghanistan, the more drones we send on bombing runs over Pakistan, the more airstrikes we carry out, the worse the unraveling will become. We have killed twice as many civilians as the Taliban this year and that number is sure to rise in the coming months.

"I find this term 'collateral damage' dehumanizing," Dr. Fournot said, "as if it is a necessity. People are sacrificed on the altar of an idea. Air power is blind. I know this from having been caught in numerous bombings.

"We are faced with two stark choices. We can withdraw and open negotiations with the Taliban or continue to expand the war until we are driven out. The corrupt and unpopular regimes of Hamid Karzai in Afghanistan and Asif Ali Zardari are impotent allies. The longer they remain tethered to the United States, the weaker they become. And the weaker they become, the louder become the calls for intervention in Pakistan. During the war in Vietnam, we invaded Cambodia to bring stability to the region and cut off rebel sanctuaries and supply routes. This tactic only empowered the Khmer Rouge. We seem poised, in much the same way, to do the same for radical Islamists in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

"If the Americans step up the war in Afghanistan, they will be sucked into Pakistan," Dr. Fournot warned. "Pakistan is a time bomb waiting to explode. You have a huge population, 170 million people. There is nuclear power. Pakistan is much more dangerous than Afghanistan. War always has its own logic. Once you set foot in war, you do not control it. It sucks you in."

full post

freedom is on the march....

this CBS 60 minutes piece was the most disgusting story i have seen in a good long time. i just have to ask..who have we become??? there is a debate going on about whether we should torture other humans and now this. humans in nevada are sitting at computers pulling the trigger on humans in another country and seem to think it's just fine. if fact they almost look like immature teenage boys playing video games. i repeat ...disgusting and that's the nicest thing i can think of to say. and the fact that my tax dollars are paying for this horror makes me sick. i sure as hell don't feel safer, just incredibly dirty.

Drones: America's New Air Force
60 Minutes' Lara Logan Reports On The Increasing Use Of Drones In The Battlefield
May 10, 2009
(CBS) Every so often in the history of war, a new weapon comes along that fundamentally rewrites the rules of battle. This is a story about a revolution in unmanned aviation that is doing just that. Most people know them as drones; the Air Force calls them "unmanned aerial vehicles." And right now, there are dozens of them in the skies over Iraq and Afghanistan, hunting down insurgents, every minute of every day. They've become one of the most important planes in the United States Air Force - and yet, the pilot is nowhere near the aircraft or the battlefield. They are controlled by remote control, from thousands of miles away. Many of the details of this weapons program are classified, but our 60 Minutes team was given secret clearance and unprecedented access to bring you this story.
Forty-five miles north of Las Vegas, on the edge of the Mojave desert, is Creech Air Force base. It is home to the only wing in the Air Force where none of the pilots ever leave the ground.
full story
watch video here if your stomach is strong

Same Old Sunday Bilge

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It's just not worth turning on the TV, Sunday mornings. The same old morally & intellectually bankrupt Beltway talking-heads invite the same old morally & intellectually bankrupt Rightwing political players to pontificate about the same old discredited notions.

The only ideas those Rightwingers have are toxic ideas. They aren't serious thinkers, they're self serving bullshit artists.

I assume those Beltway talking-heads were all at the White House Correspondents Dinner. Too bad they're brains are so atrophied that they didn't pick up on what Wanda was saying.

There's still journalism being committed in America, just not on Sunday mornings... or on network news.

The 2009 Pulitzer Prize Winners
Investigative Reporting
For a distinguished example of investigative reporting by an individual or team, presented as a single article or series, in print or online or both, Ten thousand dollars ($10,000).

Awarded to David Barstow of The New York Times for his tenacious reporting that revealed how some retired generals, working as radio and television analysts,had been co-opted by the Pentagon to make its case for the war in Iraq, and how many of them also had undisclosed ties to companies that benefited from policies they defended.

These stories on The New York Times web site may not be identical to the Prizewinning entry. Winning stories will be posted when available.
MESSAGE MACHINE: Behind TV Analysts, Pentagon’s Hidden Hand
One Man’s Military-Industrial-Media Complex

Naomi Klein on Maddow - Banking Bailout

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For a long time, we've been pointing out the real nature of the phony crony capitalism that's been promoted by so-called conservatives at the behest of Americas wealthiest families... private profits but socialized risk. And now we have the ultimate result, the Bank bailouts. Banks that were de-regulated so they could become 'too big to fail' and Banksters who gambled and lost, then demanded to be bail out on their terms or they'd crash the whole economy (and they really do have the power to do that).

With huge deficits generated by bailing out the Banksters, the excuse to cut, cut, cut social and infrastructure programs is in place and the minions of Americas greediest are beginning to nibble away at what's left of the middle-class. ( Steny Hoyer and other New Democrats are just as bad as Republican Congress-critters.)

Naomi Klein defines the problem clearly when she says; "A private sector crisis is being turned into a public sector crisis.".

Rachel Maddow Show, May 6, 2009: Naomi Klein on the Bank Bailouts

Klein said:

"the poorest and most vulnerable people in the country are being asked to bail out the most wealthy."

"It really does fit the thesis of The Shock Doctrine"

"Here we have just this transfer, this massive transfer of public wealth into private hands, and that’s continuing and it’s much, much larger, just on a much larger scale than any of the investments we’re seeing through the stimulus or the budget."

"Almost $12 trillion is being spent to bail out the financial sector compared to only about $1 trillion being spent on economic stimulus."

"My real concern is — has been my concern from day one — is that the crisis on Wall Street, created by deregulated capitalism, is not actually being solved, it’s being moved. A private sector crisis is being turned into a public sector crisis.”

- Everyone should read The Shock Doctrine:The Rise of Disaster Capitalism -

The No-Government Option

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Here's the answer for all those TEA Partying conservopublitarians who don't want government to do anything: Move to a place that isn't 'over-regulated' and doesn't have 'Big Government'...

REGULATION VACATION CELEBRATION!

blog on !!!!!!!!!

What an arrogant piece by a David Lewis, of the Lynden Tribune, who calls himself a reporter. Is a reporter the same as a journalist? Hmmm…. well, I don’t call myself a journalist or a reporter (my degree is in another field) but I do proudly call myself a blogger. I live in a participatory democracy and if we citizens aren’t vigilant we will lose it. I welcome all bloggers…. I have argued with a blogger, whom I’m sure I disagree with much of the time, on his blog. (he called me out even though he incorrectly referred to my blog as a Democratic Party blog. I speak only for myself on all 6 of my blogs) We may have stood next to each other at the grocery store and not even realized it. I have attended a baseball game with “my opposition.” The event was organized by a Bellingham Herald reporter, Sam Taylor. (he does have a degree from the University of Idaho School of Journalism and Mass Media)

What a hoot! He attributes “bloggers” with attacking his investment portfolio. Actually the looting took place long ago by the likes of the mitt-ster and the t boone man. That brand of icon has pretty much cleaned us out. We are now stuck servicing the debt, and if we’re lucky, cleaning up the mess they left. And the masters of casino capitalism and pyramid schemes are still jiggering around with the economy. It’s laughable to look to the stock market as a measure of our economic well being. The corporate media infotainment military industrial complex are the folks who playing the news tables. Shills like CNBC Financial Commentator Jim Cramer are hard at work everyday on the tv. Thankfully there are self-professed “snake oil salesman” aka comedian extraordinaire John Stewart, to call him out. I will use all my extra outrage and contempt for the greedy, self serving criminals who have put planet earth on life support and show no sign of stopping.



I love the idea that citizens are willing to pay attention, critically think, and communicate ideas, opinions and, at times. downright amazing content. Blog on!!!!!!!!!!

Blogs: Becoming a fast-news a la carte nation
Submitted by the Tribune on April 29, 2009 - 7:33am. Opinion
David LewisTribune reporter
  Blogs’ rise in popularity and their increased relevance as the preferred news source for many Americans has been on my list of plaguing, quotidian annoyances for some time now. Just uttering the word "blog" I find irksome. To my ear, it sounds too similar to an onomatopoetic euphemism for vomiting (e.g. his face turned green as he sprinted into the bathroom and blogged violently).  

Due to a recent event, though, blogs have officially been relocated from my list of petty annoyances to my list of loathsome objects. Blogging joins the ignominious ranks of things like Athlete’s Foot, mayonnaise (admittedly an illogical, yet nearly pathological aversion), and the intolerable television commercials for freecreditreport.com that feature songs annoying enough to motivate one to consider effecting his own deafness with a ball point pen, lint roller, Louisville Slugger, etc

full opinion

Whatcom's RNC Wacko Wants Democrats to Change Name

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RNC member Jeff Kent wants the Democratic Party to rename itself to conform to his Rightwing wacko delusions.

In January of 2007 when ex-KGMI talkshow host Jeff Kent was made Vice Chairman of the Republican National Committee (RNC) from the Western Region he was quoted as saying, "As we build momentum toward the 2008 presidential elections and our state’s gubernatorial race, the upcoming campaign season promises to be historic in many ways.".

And 2008 was a historic campaign season, just not historic in the way Kent hoped.

So now, Kent is all sour grapes and unhinged accusation.

A Wall St Journal blog says: "Washington state RNC member Jeff Kent sponsored the resolution pushing the “socialist” label. But he won’t be satisfied if only Republicans start using the label. Kent suggested Democrats should be “truthful and honest with the American people by renaming themselves the Democrat Socialist Party.”"

Policito also quotes Kent as saying: ""There is nothing more important for our party than bringing the truth to bear on the Democrats' march to socialism,” said Jeff Kent, the Washington state committeeman who proposed the resolution. “Just like Ronald Reagan identifying the U.S.S.R. as the evil empire was the beginning of the end to Soviet domination, we believe the American people will reject socialism when they hear the truth about how the Democrats are bankrupting our country and destroying our freedom and liberties." "

It's not really surprising that Kent would be comparing the Democratic Party to the U.S.S.R. since he has a long history of connections to the Rightwing lunatic fringe. Back in the '90's he was closely associated with Whatcom county's terrorist sympathisers, the people who supported the, domestic terrorist, militia movement with their caches of weapons and explosives and their death list of local officials and journalists.

What is surprising is that Jeff Kent, and other nut cases like him, are in the upper echelon of the Republican Party.

The GOP lost big in the 2008 election. Barack Obama was elected President and the Democratic Party expanded its majorities in the House and Senate. The majority gets to rule; that's not socialism, that's democracy.

I can see why the GOP would be unhappy, but invoking the name of the old Soviet Union in their objection to Obama's proposals to pull the U.S. economy back from the brink of disaster is just ridiculous and unhinged.

After the recent astroturf Tea Party and this silly resolution, I think it's the Republican Party that should change its name to the Ridiculous Party. They can keep the initials GOP, because now we know those letters stand for Grotesque Obnoxious Preposterous.

Earth Day

thanks to Andrea for this....let us behave as if our lives depended on it.....



check it out at Meatless Monday

Wingnuts Squirrelly About ACORN

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We drove into B'ham last Wednesday to see the Tax day tempest in a teapot. I drove and jpeg shot video of the protesters. I estimated the crowd at between 1000 and 1500. An impressive turnout for Whatcom county.

We had a momentary encounter with some of the protesters when we stopped at a traffic signal there on Meridian. You can see & hear it in the video. When they saw jpeg's camera, they asked "Are you from ACORN".

It seemed like an out of nowhere question at the time. We looked carefully for counter-demonstrators as we drove on, and didn't see a single one. As it turns out, wingnut provocateurs had been warning potential attendees that ACORN was going to disrupt their tea party.

And that imaginary threat turned out to be a convenient excuse for the tea party organizers to not produce the sign-in sheets they had originally claimed proved their inflated attendance numbers. The Rightie rumor mill told people not to sign anything at the demonstration because infiltrators from ACORN would be there, gather information on them, with fake petitions and sign-in sheets.

All that talk about ACORN made me curious, so I made enquiries. I don't know everything that goes on in Whatcom County, but I do know people who know people, who know people... who know people. So given a little time, I usually hear something about any sort of political activity that's gone on locally.

Not a word about ACORN, not a single word, and no word about anyone at all making any effort to disrupt the teabaggers party. I saw some of the local MoveOn.org folks, Thursday, and they were busy with other things. The local Peace & Justice folks weren't stirred up. The local Democratic Party barely noticed that the Conservo-publi-tarians were having a public hissy fit on Tax day. Everybody left of center seemed to think there wasn't anything new about people on the Right complaining about taxes and government. And they certainly weren't interested in preventing anyone from exercising their right to free speech on a public street.

But as the '60 song says; "paranoia runs deep" and the Right seems to just loves wallowing in delusions of being plotted against.

Saturday, I attended Congressman Rick Larsen's townhall meeting in Blaine. In the foray of the city hall, as I signed in, someone in the line behind me said, "Ah, ACORN is here". I looked around the room and couldn't figure out what elicited the comment. There were no protest signs, no one was wearing political buttons or an ACORN name tag. There were no young hippie/anarchist types.

ACORN wasn't there but the teabagger's were. As the meeting proceeded, it became clear that about a quarter of the people there were Rightwingers. There were lots of Republican talking points posed as questions.

Congressman Larsen spent much of the Question & Answer time patiently explained what Congress had actually done and not done, as opposed to what the Righties thought was happening. Clearly FoxNews, Michele Malkin, Glen Beck, etc. haven't been giving those folks accurate information.

love this.....hey Paul Krugman

Corporate Astroturf Spectacle

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Schuster: If You're Planning Tea Bagging Across The Country, 'You're Going To Need A Dick Armey'

Tea-ed Off

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I've always associated the term non-partisan with political neutrality rather than simply not being officially sponsored by a political party.

When the League of Woman Voters has a voter registration table at the community college because that's where lots of potential new voters are, that's non-partisan. Their goal; to register voters, with no political agenda about who those newly registered voters might vote for.

Isn't promoting a conservative political agenda just as partisan as promoting a Republican agenda? I think the politics of the organizers is what determines whether an event is or isn't non-partisan. Were 'out of Iraq' or 'impeach Bush' rallies non-partisan because everyone displeased with Bush was invited? I don't remember them being reported as 'non-partisan rallies to End the War/Impeach Bush'.

The April 15 TEA Party is an anti-stimulus package propaganda campaign. A thinly disguised attack on President Obama and the Democratic majority in Congress.

We had an election in 2008 and as a result, we have a Democrat in the Whitehouse and a Democratic majority in both Houses of Congress. Republicans/conservatives aren't, as they would have us believe, being subjected to tyranny. They just lost the election... the majority rules... democracy works like that.

Nationally, the TEA Parties are being promoted by FoxNews Corp, FreedomWorks which is run by former Republican majority leader Dick Armey and a bevy of Rightwing talkingheads. Locally, the, so called non-partisan, organizing committee for the Bellingham Tea Party have purchased ads in the Lynden Tribune, The Bellingham Herald, KGMI and KAFE radio. Paid appearance fee to KGMI for coverage of the event. Rented Fox Hall for signmaking and solicited business sponsorships from Boston Pizza, Birch Equipment, Print & Copy Factory, Cascade Radio Northwest, Business Club, Day Wireless Systems, Baker Septic.

KGMI will be doing coverage of the "Tea Party" morning "sign making party" and the afternoon sign waving event, but they won't be taking phone calls.

The poster for the "Bellingham Tea Party" is headed "Silent Majority No More!".

This Tea Party political stunt does not represent a majority of Americans. "A new Gallup Poll finds 48% of Americans saying the amount of federal income taxes they pay is "about right," with 46% saying "too high" -- one of the most positive assessments Gallup has measured since 1956. Typically, a majority of Americans say their taxes are too high, and relatively few say their taxes are too low." ... "The poll also finds 61% of Americans saying they regard the income taxes they have to pay this year as fair. There has been very little change on this measure in the last six years."

A CNN/Opinion Research Corporation Poll finds that 58% say Barack Obama does have a clear plan for solving the country's economic problems while 74% say Republicans in Congress do not have a clear plan for solving the country's economic problems and 61% think the Republicans in Congress are not doing enough to cooperate with the Barack Obama.

Please take a few minutes to write a letter to the editor, telling how you support President Obama's economic stimulus program. The stimulus package means spending on infrastructure, roads & schools. That infrastructure work will mean contracts going to American companies and that will mean jobs & paychecks for American workers.

You can send your letter to:

The Northern Light
225 Marine Drive, Blaine, WA 98230

fax 360/332-2777
E-mail:editor@thenorthernlight.com

Ferndale Record-Journal
P.O. Box 38, Ferndale, WA 98248

E-mail: news@ferndalerecordjournal.com
Fax: (360) 384-1417


Lynden Tribune
PO Box 153, Lynden, WA 98264

E-mail:editor@lyndentribune.com
Fax: 360-354-4445

Bellingham Herald
The NewsroomAttn: Editorial Page Editor
P.O. Box 1277, Bellingham, WA 98225

E-Mail:letters@bellinghamherald.com
Fax: 756-2826.

an evening with David Suzuki

i had the pleasure last evening of attending the evening with David Suzuki and a very large, enthusiastic crowd at the Mount Baker Theatre. He read from the chapters of his new book co-authored with David Robert Taylor and then delighted, informed and rallied us all to work as if our lives depended on it to save our beautiful home, planet earth.

Village Books Presents AN EVENING WITH DAVID SUZUKI
David Suzuki points the direction we must take as a society if we hope to meet the
environmental challenges we face in our still-young century. The Big Picture not only identifies the problems we face but proposes solid, science-based solutions, and examines the forces that are preventing real change. These essays tell the story of a species struggling to come to grips with its own biological nature, a nature we must ultimately embrace to live in balance with the systems that sustain us. David Suzuki is an award-winning scientist, environmentalist, and broadcaster, who has written 42 books, and received countless degrees and honors. He is renowned for his radio and television programs that explain the complexities of the natural sciences in a compelling, easily understood way.
Proceeds will benefit Sustainable Connections.

MBT

a couple of my favorite moments from the Q & A.....


and a call to action on October 24th (happy birthday mom ..i wish you could appreciate and participate)


24 October 2009
INTERNATIONAL DAY OF CLIMATE ACTION

check it out

and this very funny moment..



full Q & A

Senator Cantwell Visits Whatcom County

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Saturday afternoon Senator Maria Cantwell stopped by to say hello to Whatcom County Democrats. The gathering was held in Bellingham at the Blue Horse Gallery.

Sen. Cantwell was back in Washington State after a week of Senate budget action, and anxious to talk about her work on alternative energy and climate change, Indian affairs, northwest energy supply issues, and more.

The gathering was well attended with a sprinkling of local elected officials in the crowd. County Councilman Carl Weimer was there as well as B'ham's Mayor Dan Pike and assorted city council persons.

Republican Approval Numbers Plummet

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It's no wonder the Whatcom County Republican Party Chairwoman is advertising her next political stunt as a non-partisan event. This tax-day stunt is part of an astro-turf PR campaign Planned Months Ago by GOP Billionaires that's supposed to convince people that President Obama's economic stimulus plan isn't popular.

Republicans have been glad to give handouts to Wall Street but hysterically opposed to helping Main Street. Now that Americans understand that, Republicans approval numbers are plummeting.

April 1, 2009 - Quinnipiac University National Poll
Who do you trust to do a better job handling the economy - President Obama or the Republicans in Congress?

President Obama ______ 55%
Republicans in Con ____ 27%
DK/NA _____________ 18%

Even Republicans aren't very happy with Republicans
Pew Research Center - The Databank:

Public approval of the job Republican leaders in Congress are doing has fallen to just 28%, down from 34% a month ago and the lowest level in Pew Research surveys going back 15 years. Slightly more than half (51%) say they disapprove. With the drop in GOP approval, the gap between public evaluations of Democratic and Republican congressional leaders is the largest Pew Research has recorded over the past eight years in which both party's leaders have been evaluated. Currently, 47% of Americans approve of the job Democratic leaders in Congress are doing -- virtually unchanged from a month ago and 19 points higher than the approval rating for Republicans. For most of the past decade, approval of Republicans and Democrats in Congress have tracked very closely together. Since February, the drop in GOP approval has been the steepest among Republicans themselves. Just 43% of Republicans say they approve of the job their party's leaders in Congress are doing -- nearly as many (37%) say they disapprove. ...

House Operating Budget Press Conference

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Thanks to TVW we get to see Rep. Kelli Linville lead a press conference about the House version of the proposed Operating Budget for 2009-2011.

The cuts suck. But the revenue shortfall is not the fault of Washington State's Democrats. It's part of the global economic cluster F..k. If you want to blame someone, blame the greedy MF'er on Wall St. and their deregulating pals inside the beltway...

The Washington State House of Representatives release their proposed 2009-2011 Operating Budget (HB 1244) during a press conference in Olympia.

Democracy For America, 5th B'day Party

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It's DfA's 5th Birthday. jpeg and I got together with several other DfA members and joined the birthday party conference call.

It was good to hear Dr., Governor, Chairmen Howard Dean. He introduced "Stand With Dr. Dean"


Listen to the DfA birthdya party conference call:

"I can't believe it's not insurance."

REP. GARY ACKERMAN: AIG "SNAKE OIL SALESMEN" 03/18/09

randized again....!

Today Thom Hartmann had Yaron Brook from the Ayn Rand Institute on and he stated over and over that this economic catastrophe (yet to come, in my opinion) is because of too much regulation...
huh.... Scooby doo moment for sure.... and several repeats of that as he claimed a real free market would work it out. Bad stuff would get "flushed out of the system." and we'd "get rid of bad players".... we just need to let the market place decide.
My big question for the yaron is: when you say get rid of the "bad players" what does that mean? Does it mean they get to take the money and go away?? Do they get to immigrate to Paraguay (land of very large aquifers) and buy up some property?? And what about the State of California's retirees?

I say this is no booboo (or as i like to say..."don't you teenage boy me!!!") this is a crime and I want the "bad players" held responsible, not paid off.

still best said by Stephen Colbert linked in previous post