The California Air Resources Board will hear on June 26, 2008, the ARB staff presentation on the initial draft of the Climate Change Draft Scoping Plan, a framework for change. The Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (AB 32) requires the Board to prepare a Scoping Plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in California to 1990 levels by 2020. This Scoping Plan is the state’s guide for how to achieve these emission cuts mandated by the 2006 law. The plan is now available for public comment and review. The Proposed Plan will be released in October 2008, taking into consideration all recommendations and will have a 45 day comment period before the Air Resources Board considers adoption at its November 2008 meeting.
June 26th, 2008
Susana Hinojosa
From the Washington Post:
The administration lacks an updated and comprehensive Iraq strategy to move beyond the “surge” of combat troops President Bush launched in January 2007 as an 18-month effort to curtail violence and build Iraqi democracy, government investigators said yesterday.
While agreeing with the administration that violence has decreased sharply, a report released yesterday by the Government Accountability Office concluded that many other goals Bush outlined a year and a half ago in the “New Way Forward” strategy remain unmet.
June 24th, 2008
Tim Dennis
The California Budget Project has created an easy to use and understand chart of comparisons between the Governor’s Revised Budget Proposal, and the spending plans of the Assembly and Senate. The table (revised June 16th) outlines the major differences between the Governor’s May Revision and the legislature’s spending plans. On June 12th the Budget Conference Committee began meeting to discuss these spending and budget plans. On the Budget Conference Committee: Assemblymembers John Laird, Mark Leno, and Roger Niello and for the Senate Denise Ducheny, Robert Dutton, and Michael Machado. Chairs of next year’s Budget and Appropriations committees, Assemblymembers Noreen Evans and Kevin de Leon also attend the Budget Conference Committee meetings.
June 23rd, 2008
Susana Hinojosa
Wikileaks has posted a US Army Special Forces Manual titled Foreign Internal Defense Tactics Techniques and Procedures for Special Forces
From the Slashdot user HeavensBlade23:
“The document, which has been verified, is official US Special Forces doctrine. It directly advocates training paramilitaries, pervasive surveillance, censorship, press control and restrictions on labor unions & political parties. It directly advocates warrantless searches, detainment without charge and the suspension of habeas corpus. It directly advocates bribery, employing terrorists, false flag operations and concealing human rights abuses from journalists. And it directly advocates the extensive use of ‘psychological operations’ (propaganda) to make these and other ‘population & resource control’ measures more palatable.”
June 18th, 2008
Tim Dennis
The United States Senate’s Select Committee on Intelligence has just released 2 reports on pre-war intelligence activities. You can find the reports on the committee’s webpage. The reports are titled:
Report on Whether Public Statements Regarding Iraq by U.S. Government officials were Substantiated by Intelligence Information
Report on Intelligence Activities Relating to Iraq Conducted by the Policy Counterterrorism Evaluation Group and the Office of Special Plans Within the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense Policy.
Among other things, the reports found that officials misrepresented secret intelligence to make the case to invade Iraq. At this point in time, UC Berkeley has not received these reports from the Government Printing Office.
June 5th, 2008
Jesse Silva
On May 15, 2008, the California Supreme Court released its Opinion legalizing same-sex marriage in California. The seven judges ruled 4-3 in favor of declaring discriminatory the California law passed in 2000 (Proposition 22) that stated that only marriage between a man and a woman was valid or recognized in California. California along with Massachusetts are the only two states that issue marriage licenses to same sex couples. Listen to the Oral Arguments of the In Marriages Cases [six consolidated appeals].
Beginning June 16th, same-sex couples can marry in California.
The National Conference of State Legislatures offers its latest update on Same Sex Marriage, Civil Unions and Domestic Partnerships. The May 2008 update includes quick facts, a chronology of same-sex marriage events, and a listing of state statutes defining marriage.
Equality California, which “works to achieve equality and secure legal protections for LGBT people” gives answers to basic questions at: Frequently Asked Questions - Marriage for Same-Sex Couples in California.
May 20th, 2008
Susana Hinojosa
May 13, 2008, Assemblymember Karen Bass was sworn in as the first African American female Speaker of the California Assembly. She is also the first African American female to hold this high legislative office anywhere in the United States. Read the text of Speaker Bass’ swearing in address and see a short 3 minutes video of her speech at Karen Bass website.
May 13th, 2008
Susana Hinojosa
The Little Hoover Commission has released its latest report, Addressing Addiction: Improving & Integrating California’s Substance Abuse Treatment System, calling for more attention, oversight and reform. This latest report is a follow-up to the 2003 study, For Our Health and Safety: Joining Forces to Defeat Addiction, also calls for integrating substance abuse treatment into most health and human services and requires counties to use performance management strategies to improve outcomes and help clients recover. California spends more than $1 billion annually on substance abuse treatment.
May 12th, 2008
Susana Hinojosa
The California Budget Project has published a series of reports on effects of the Governor’s proposed cuts. The reports can all be found on the California Budget Project website and include the following titles:The Impact of the Governor’s Proposed Cuts by Legislative District; The Impact of the Governor’s Budget Cuts on Children, Seniors, and Women; Who in Each County Would be Affected by the Governor’s Proposed Budget Cuts?; The County Impact of the Governor’s Proposed Cuts. The recent report, Impact of Proposed Budget Cuts by County has a listing by County, highlights several policy areas (Medi-Cal, CalWORKS, In-Home Support Services, etc) by legislative district, impact of cuts by program, and impact of cuts by population group.
April 23rd, 2008
Susana Hinojosa
The Foreign Policy Association (FPA) “is a non-profit organization dedicated to inspiring the American public to learn more about the world. Founded in 1918, FPA provides independent publications, programs and forums to increase public awareness of, and foster popular participation in, matters relating to those policy issues.” Supporting the focus on key current policy issues, the FPA website features blogs that discuss international events and also daily postings from foreign policy experts. Sections such as Explore by Region (with map) and Explore by Issue are very useful. Currently the Explore by Issue section includes: Iraq, European Union, Diplomacy, Russia. Defense & Security, Latin America, China Trade, Philanthropy and more. The Latin America listings include Spring Updates (post-Fidel Cuba), Recommended Readings, and a Latin America Blog. A key item on the FPA site is the video content which features clips from the FPA’s Great Decisions television series and also lectures by prominent scholars.
April 23rd, 2008
Susana Hinojosa
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