National Affordable Housing Trust Fund

There is a new piece of legislation being debated that I recently had the chance to watch a hearing of on the Hill: affordable housing. While national programs currently exist that provide housing for those who cannot afford it, many of them are very inefficient and the housing they provide is low quality and in bad areas. Having this new trust fund would provide incentives for private firms to construct mixed-income housing which will elevate the quality of the neighborhoods the poor can live in and also provide them with better housing that they will be proud to live in.

Currently, there are way too many Americans who cannot afford decent housing. This is unacceptable. Affordable, safe, and quality housing, in my opinion and hopefully yours, is a basic right for all of us, right up there with food, liberty, and freedom from discrimination.

Legislation like this has been set up in cities all over America already, but it has yet to take hold on a national level. It has proved its effectiveness in the cities, and is a great new alternative to what we currently have. Especially given the recent problems surrounding subprime loans, the national government needs--now more than ever--to take a renewed, proactive stance on housing.

Sound off: what do you think about this?

Bruin Dems Don't Take Summers Off

Since Aria apparently has nothing left to say, I'm going to pick up where he left off. That's right, this blog is not defunct. To quote Jay-Z, we're "back up in this b!%ch like whoa."

Inspired by Senate Democrats, I decided to write a late night post about their recent all-nighter.

Since it was all just political theater, I'm going to write about it as such. In terms of putting the spotlight on Republican Senators' opposition to changing course in Iraq, I give it two thumbs up. Nonetheless, in spite of the Senate actually going to the matresses, it was no Godfather.

The script Congressional Democrats are reading from is missing something: a Plan B. While I certainly concur that it's time for the United States to pull out of Iraq, the willingness of many of my fellow liberals to turn a blind-eye to the potentially devestating consequences of a hasty withdrawal is haunting.

Sure, real power over foreign policy lays in the executive branch, but Congressional Democrats need to take control of the debate by showing some thoughtfulness.

Instead, Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-Petaluma) fed this thoughtless comment to the LA Times: "I believe, if we leave, the region will pull together. It's important to them that Iraq stabilize." Woolsey's laughable prediction is comparable to Paul Wolfowitz's forecast that Iraqis would welcome the United States to their country with roses.

U.S. withdrawal from Iraq is not comedy. The Bush Administration has shown America what happens when decision makers fail to plan adequately in regards to Iraq. In other words, Democrats should not only pressure the president on when to withdraw troops, but also how to withdraw troops.

Maybe it really is hopeless. Maybe Rep. David Obey (D-Wisconsin) is right. "There will be no good outcome. Sometimes when you make a horrendous mistake, everybody pays the consequences. And that's what we all are doing now."

But does the outcome have to be as horrendous as potentially genocidal ethnic violence?

What An Obama Nomination Can Mean To National Politics

A senior McCain aid made an eye opening honest assessment of what his beliefs in an Obama nomination could mean. According to Newsweek, Mark McKinnon, media adviser to Senator John McCain, who also served Bush/Cheney 2000 and 2004 campaigns in the same capacity, has said that he would not take part of a general election campaign on the Republican side if the young Senator from Illinois wins the nomination of the Demoratic party.

"He felt that the Illinois senator--as an African-American politician--has a unique potential to change the country. Therefore, McKinnon argued, he wanted no part in any efforts to tear down Obama's candidacy."

Read the story at Newsweek's blog "The Gaggle"

CNN Comes Out Winning On Democratic Debate

The Washington Post analyzed the debate by saying Obama did better than the first time around, Hillary seemed strong, and Edwards did well being an agitator. They said there were no clear winners, and the front runners remained in their tight runaway pack.

CNN's handicappers gave credit to all three, and their was consensus Obama had the line of the night, Biden did strong out of the second tier, and Richardson was once again asleep at the wheel.

Finally Politico noticed CNN's focus of the big three. Chris Dodd took note of it as well. In my opinion I like their focus of the big players, I rather hear more about them than listen to Gravel's witty criticism.

All that being said, the reason why I say CNN is the winner in the last couple of days, is because of yesterday's format which every candidate was happy with. Following the MSNBC/Politico debate a couple of weeks ago in South Carolina, many of the candidates were upset with the quick buzzer style questions Brian Williams had. He started the debate by asking each candidate a series of right wing attack talking points, asking for clarification. Later they had to describe their intricate plans for things like health care and energy in what seemed like fifteen seconds. In the CNN debate each were able to have more room to elaborate, and a great deal of back a forth occurred. In the post debate interviews many of the candidates seemed very pleased with Wolf Blitzer's questions, and the flow.

Following yesterdays, CNN held a forum hosted by Jim Wallis of Sojourners, which was very in depth and showcased the candidates in the light I think they all wanted to be seen in. The topic was "Faith and Politics" and in all objectivity, Edwards and Obama hit home runs. Hillary did very good as well, when fielding question regarding infidelity in her marriage. The issue of faith in politics should be elaborated on in a later post, because I am very pleased with this new acknowledgment the party has made to break the one party strangle hold of religion that is evident in America today.

Although I have my mind made up as far as a candidate goes, after the last two days I can easily say that I am very proud of the three front runners we have, and that they all have performed at a very high degree in these forums. Thank you CNN.

Is this the future of American political debates? I hope so, it seems a lot more content centered.

O'Reilly & McCain Being Suprisingly Honest

Watch Billo and Johnny chum it up.

Warning: There isn't any tricky editing to make them say this.

Oh Walnuts!

Jameson Endorses Hillary!!

I dunno if this is exactly a good thing, but it could make huge inroads in the always untapped pro internet porn constituency.

(BTW it was really hard finding an appropriate picture via google image search)

Students Are The Backbone Of Obama Campaign

So says David Axelrod.

Oprah Endorses Obama!!

Oprah Winfrey’s Seal of Approval Goes Presidential
By JUSTON JONES
Published: May 7, 2007
Oprah Winfrey’s support for Barack Obama represented her first endorsement of a political candidate.

Click here to read all about it

Obama/Hillary/Edwards/Richardson Win Republican Debate

Wow.

Did anyone else just see what I just saw? The last time I remembered that this angry party existed was back at the 2004 Republican convention. They really channeled the spirit of Zell Miller tonight in Simi Valley. Admittedly, this isn't a debate meant for me (a 21 year old Democrat). But still, this is their vision for America?

Overturning Roe v. Wade? - check
War on Iran? - check
Immigrant and gay bashing? - check
Stem cell bad? - check
Bad hair? - check
Stay the course in Iraq? - check
Bin Laden-9/11 fear mongering? - check
Free Scooter? - check
Terrible jokes? - check

What country do these guys live in? I'm from Orange County, and many of the conservatives I know don't have this narrow world view that these 10 balding white men had tonight. Was this a debate or just a contest to see who could say the words "Reagan" the most in an hour and half? This is their vision for the future of America? This is Karl Rove's permanent majority?

I think it's very hard to pick one line or one moment that was worth noting because there was wayyyyyy too many. For debate wrap up, do yourself a favor and only visit Wonkette for in-depth analysis.

Tonight (maybe Monday?) is going to be one of the best Daily Show's in recent memory, and 2008 is going to be the best elections since 2006 for Democrats.

Speeches

Can't find any Hillary videos, but I did find her thanking volunteers (the video is not very good, looks like it was a cell phone.
Can't find any Edwards speech videos either, but while searching did find many of his trip to UCLA.
I'll post them when I find em, I'll sure they will show up in the next day.

Live Blog! From My Apartment In Westwood

K, so I just got back from the convention which was a great time. Definate highlights were the Hillary, Obama, and LaRouche speeches, and who can forget, the hospitality suites. I don't wanna write a wrap up of events, someone will come on and do that later. I just wanted to link over to some blogs that have been talking about everything going down. They actually had a little bloggers area to the left of the stage that the SF Chronicle even talks about.

Have fun:

Calitics
CA Progress Report
Daily Kos
CA Majority Report
LA Times
Rough & Tumble
Orange Juice
The Liberal OC

CDP Convention Starts Today

Bruin Dems are migrating south this weekend. Our whole board and around 20 general members will be in San Diego for the Caliornia Democratic Party 2007 convention (and yes I am about to get on the 405 for a 100 mile trip in the middle of rush hour ).

We will be voting on the California Young Democrats elected offices, meeting local elected officials, and possibly more presidential candidates, and all while having a terrific time in the Californian city known as a "whales vagina". We will attempt to blog while down there and give an update on the past days events every morning. Maybe I can get our newly elected President Kyle Kleckner or our newly elected External Vice President Jesse Melgar to make a post or two. We will be checking in and linking to some other blogs and see what they are saying about the convention.

Ok, see you all soon.

Ghafari-Ouuttttt

Damn Video Cameras Episode 3

Let's see him straight talk his way out of this one....

Oh, Johnnie