What a difference a day makes! Election Day 2008, that is.

Has anyone else noticed that the sun seems to be shining a little bit brighter, people are smiling more, and we’re all sleeping better?

Every time I open my e-mail, I receive more pictures of people from around the United States and the world celebrating the election of Barack Obama. Newspaper headlines from nations across the globe joyfully announce Obama’s election. Best of all, these stories proclaim redemption of the American Dream and revived respect for Americans’ values. It was said that if the world could have voted, Obama would have won not just by a landslide, but an avalanche.

Barack Obama ran on a platform of change. He has already proven throughout his campaign that this was not just an empty phrase. He changed the way he financed his campaign and he ran a positive campaign. While he criticized the policies that his opponents proposed, he didn’t attack them on a personal level. Even when he was under slanderous attacks by his adversaries, he remained calm and kept to the high road. This is indeed  “Change we can believe in.”

Obama ran a “grassroots campaign,” and those who were involved in it can attest to the fact that it was the best organized campaign anyone has ever run. The Obama website connected people from neighbor to neighbor and across the nation. The level of communication through e-mails, text messages, and conference calls kept volunteers informed and feeling that they were really part of this campaign for change.

Obama’s transition team is in place and at work. A website has been set up so that we can all learn more about the presidential transition. Visit http://www.change.gov and you can see what’s taking place, and even tell your own story about what this campaign and election mean to you. You can share your hopes for an Obama Administration and a government for the people.

On this website it says, “Across the country, national leaders and ethics experts praised President-elect Barack Obama's strict new ethics rules for the transition team, which place restrictions on registered lobbyists and former lobbyists.” That sure sounds like the kind of change we’re looking for. And he’s only just begun.

President-elect Obama said, “Today we begin in earnest the work of making sure that the world we leave our children is just a little bit better than the one we inhabit today.” That’s exactly my idea of the American Dream.

The fact that Barack Obama has been elected to be the first African American President in the history of the United States makes this victory even sweeter. While it doesn’t mean that we’ve completely overcome racism in this country, it is certainly a significant milestone that many of us have longed for, for many years. I hope it removes those barriers forever. While I celebrate this as a civil rights’ victory, it’s not the main reason I wanted to see Barack Obama elected to be our next president. That was a bonus.

I confess that I just want to have a smart president who can speak in complete sentences. I want a president with integrity who understands and respects our constitution. I want a president who cares about people. On January 20th, 2009, I’ll have one.

Congratulations, President-elect Obama. I’m counting the days.

During the last eight years I have often wished I could buy a full page ad in every publication in this country stating imply, "Wake Up, America!"

As each new revelation of deception, greed, distortion, and pure incompetence unfolded, I thought that at last everyone would realize the damage the Bush administration was inflicting upon this country.  Yet neither proof that we had been lied into the war in Iraq,  the discovery that the U.S. was torturing prisoners at Abhu Ghraib prison,  the mismanagement of the Katrina disaster, nor a myriad of other scandals was sufficient to awaken this nation.

Most of us have realized that our country was facing economic disaster as we have seen our fellow citizens lose their jobs, their health care, and even their homes. President Bush and Senator John McCain repeatedly assured us that the economy was "basically sound." As the unemployment rate and the number of home foreclosures continued to rise, they stuck with this same party line.  Now that our economy is near collapse, they have changed their tune.  Deregulation is no longer their rallying cry.

In 2000, a statement from the Office of the President Office of Budget and Management (OBM) stated:
"In 1998, the Federal budget reported its first surplus ($69 billion) since 1969. In 1999, the surplus nearly doubled to $125 billion, and then again in 2000 to $236 billion. As a result of these surpluses, Federal debt held by the public has been reduced from $3.8 trillion at the end of 1997 to $3.4 trillion at the end of 2000 and to an estimated $3.2 trillion in 2001. With continued prudent fiscal policies, the budget can remain in surplus for many years. Under the President's budget proposals, $2.0 trillion in Federal debt held by the public will be retired over the next 10 years—all of the debt that can responsibly be retired."

Some Republicans enjoy referring to Democrats as the "Tax and Spend Liberals." Now, if memory serves me correctly, President Bill Clinton, a Democrat,  was in office when this great surplus took place. Again, there was a $236 billion budget surplus when George Bush first took office.

The fact that the price of gasoline had risen from $1.46 per gallon when President Bush took office to $4.00 plus today, has only led the GOP to declare that it's the Democrats' fault for not allowing offshore drilling. Their idea of alternative fuel seems to be finding an alternate place to drill.

This administration has never been committed to telling the American people the truth. Facts (even scientific facts) have often been hidden or manipulated to serve their purposes. In terms of the injustices that the Bush administration has perpetrated upon this nation during the last eight years, the few issues I've mentioned here are only the tip of the iceberg. (Do you remember icebergs?)

John McCain keeps referring to himself as a "maverick." Unless he is claiming to be "an unbranded range animal," the term simply no longer fits.  A senator who has voted with President Bush over 90% of the time
can certainly not claim to be "an independent individual who does not go along with a group or party." Voting in lockstep with Bush doesn't sound like a candidate promoting change.

It is clear that this nation needs change. We need progressive leadership and innovative solutions. It's time to look to the future and stop clinging to the failed practices of the past. It is also time for us to stop being ruled by fear- a favorite strategy  of the current administration.

 The push by the White House for immediate action on the Wall Street crisis was very reminiscent of the rush to war in Iraq. The original bailout proposal prompted tremendous response from citizens. Are Americans at last pulling their heads out of the sand? Are we awake yet?

Let's trade deception and fear for hope and change. Let's do everything we can to help elect Obama to be our next President.

I keep having a flashback of Arnold Schwarzenegger cutting up the giant credit card when he was running for Governor. Many broken promises later, California now finds itself in a very serious budget crisis.

At last month's TCDF meeting we heard from Lara York and Nicole Steward of The Fremont Education Coalition about how the budget shortfall will affect the Fremont Unified School District. Cuts may need to be made that will affect counselors, transportation, staff development, updated text books, technology, increased class sizes, and more. This is just a snapshot of what will happen in school districts across the state.

The Governor's original solution was  to make 10% cuts “across the board.” After much criticism, he scaled back his cuts and decided that his new plan is to expand the types of games the lottery can offer and market them more aggressively and sell bonds to investors based on the value of those future sales. He insists that this is not risky and is “not really borrowing.” 

Analyst Elizabeth Hill said the Governor’s lottery revenue projections are overly optimistic and could harm education funding. She also encouraged lawmakers to raise $3.3 billion by closing a variety of tax loopholes.

Assembly Majority Floor Leader Alberto Torrico believes that the budget should reflect our values and that we must invest in the future. He believes that in order to fund important services we must raise revenue, not just make cuts. He wants to ensure that the budget is fair and that it is not unfairly balanced on the backs of our children, seniors and working families.

Two bills were introduced by Democrats that would close two loopholes, thus bringing in more revenue for the state.

The first was ABX 9, the Oil Severance Tax Law. This bill would have imposed a tax on any producer at a rate of 6% for the privilege of severing oil from the ground or water in California for sale, transport, consumption, storage, profit, or use. This tax would be assessed on each barrel of oil severed. If this 6% tax was imposed on certain oil producers in California, $970 million in state revenue would be generated for the budget year.

The bill also imposed a 2% surtax on an oil industry’s windfall profits. If the 2% windfall profits tax was levied on the oil industry’s windfall profits that are in excess of $10 million, $230 million in state revenue would be generated for the budget year.

 Twenty-one other states have a similar levy from 2% to 15% on oil producers. Not one Republican member of the Assembly voted for this bill . It did not pass.

ABX3 10, commonly referred to as the “yacht tax,” would reinstate the 12-month use tax presumption period for vehicles, vessels and aircraft purchased out of state. The intent of this bill was to discourage tax avoidance on expensive purchase, such as yachts, through offshore delivery arrangements in which delivery takes place outside the state’s waters and the yacht is berthed for a few months in Mexico or other location outside the state before being brought back into California.

This bill did not pass. Only three Republican Assemblymembers voted for this bill.

As long as we see such votes being divided along strict party lines, I find it hard to believe that Governor Schwarzenegger and the Republican legislators really understand the budget crisis that California faces.

Denying passage of both of these bills clearly favors protecting the wealthy. I don’t understand how Arnold and the legislators “on the other side of the aisle” can maintain that they are representing their constituents while placing the wealth of oil companies and yacht owners above the health care, education, infrastructure, and social service needs of Californians.

So the next time I find myself short on funds, I’ll heed the Governor’s example by borrowing some money and heading to the casinos to win back the money to repay the loan. In the meantime, I’ll only pay 90% toward my house and car payments, doctor bills, Tivo and Macy’s bills, and luxury vacations. That’s a 10% cut across the board -right? After all, I wouldn’t want to save money by cutting out any frills.

If you want to hear from a legislator who has his priorities straight and knows how to represent his constituents, please join us at our meeting on Wednesday, June 18th and hear our guest speaker, Assembly Majority Leader Alberto Torrico.  He will share his ideas about a balanced approach to solving California's budget crisis.
 

Local Democrats  were fortunate that the California Democratic Convention was held in the nearby city of San Jose at the Convention Center. It was an exciting time and we were able to hear from many of our elected Democratic legislators as well as party leaders.

I especially enjoyed the address from Speaker-Emeritus Willie Brown, Jr. His speech highlighted the progress the Democratic Party has made through Presidential campaigns over the years. He stressed how important it is that our party has invited full participation and increasing inclusion of all members of our society. I found his words to be enlightening and it made me proud to be not only a Democrat, but a California Democrat. (Brown’s speech is on the last half of this video clip, which contains other speeches as well, including SF Mayor Newsom's.  http://tinyurl.com/5tw6mz)
 
For other CDP Convention speeches and workshops, go www.cadem.org  and click on “Video Links” under State Convention on the left side of the page.

April 13th brought the opportunity to participate in the Presidential Delegate Selection Caucuses for both the Clinton and Obama Delegates. The results for our 13th Congressional District were very exciting for our club. Two TCDF members will be going to the Democratic National Convention in August, Jan Giovannini Hill, as a Clinton Alternate, and Toni Shellen, as an Obama Delegate. We appreciate the support of our Democratic friends who helped elect us! We promise to wear big hats to the convention and wave wildly to our friends back home. For complete results of these elections, see:   www.cadem.org   Clinton Caucus ResultsObama Caucus Results

Statewide more than 23,000 Democrats showed up on that Sunday afternoon as 2,500 candidates tried for the 241 available slots. Democrats can be hopeful and proud that there is such a high level of interest and participation in this Presidential race.

As exciting as this race is, I know that we can become frustrated when we see the Republican nominee, John McCain (“McBush”) out there already campaigning for the General Election, while we still await our official Democratic nominee. Patience is certainly not one of my virtues, but more experienced voices at the CDP Convention reminded us that we have to let the system work. We will have our nominee. Then we will make history.

Dear Members,

Our regular meeting date, March 19th, falls on the tragic fifth anniversary of the  invasion of Iraq. We mourn not only the loss of American lives, but the loss of innocent Iraqi lives.

We will be co-sponsoring a "New Priorities Peace Vigil" with our local MoveOn Council, Pax Christi Fremont, Tri-City Peace and Justice, and South Alameda County Peace and Justice Coalition.

The vigil will take place before our meeting at Veteran's Park, on the corner of Paseo Padre Parkway and Walnut Avenue from 5:30 p.m until 6:30 p.m. We will meet at the flag pole. (The vigil continues,  but we will need to leave for our meeting.)  For more information go to: http://political.moveon.org/event/5yearsvigil/45385

We will gather in memory of those who have died, but also to protest the continuation of a war that we believe should never have started and is long overdue to end. We are asking for new priorities for our country.

It is time that people understand the connection between the war and the economy. As the war enters its sixth year and continues to squander our human, natural, and economic resources, we find that many  are struggling at home to even keep a roof over their heads. While millions go without health care, our tax dollars are spent on bullets, bombs, and body bags. This hardly sounds like the American dream.

This war is being waged in our names and with our money and resources. It is our right and our responsibility to send a message to the country, Congress, and the President that it's time to honor the troops by bringing them home.

Our meeting will begin at 7:00 p.m. in Fukaya Room A at the Fremont Main Library on Stevenson Blvd. Our guest speaker is Nichola Torbett, Director of National Programs for the Network of Spiritual Progressives. Her topic will be "How to End the Iraq War. "

I look forward to seeing you at our meeting on Wednesday. I hope I'll see you at the vigil, too. Together, we can demand better priorities for our country.

Peace,
    Toni