Just One Man's Opinion - J.O.M.O. Blog

This is What I'm Doing

noreply@blogger.com (Alex Brant-Zawadzki) — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 04:33:00 +0000

Obama Campaign Dispatching Thousands

By Peter Slevin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, June 13, 2008; A05

CHICAGO, June 12 -- Moving to harness the grass-roots energy that helped win the Democratic nomination, Sen. Barack Obama's campaign will deploy 3,600 volunteers in 17 states this weekend, each committed to six consecutive weeks of full-time political work.

The project, launched two months before the senator from Illinois became the presumptive nominee, is a measure of his determination to out-organize Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) in states that could swing a close election.

The campaign put out word in April about "Obama Organizing Fellowships," an approach that went well beyond the "y'all come" model of luring volunteers with free doughnuts for two-hour canvassing stints. Supporters were required to answer essay questions, supply references and go through a telephone interview with campaign staff members.

In return for a promise to give the campaign at least six weeks of their lives, they were promised training in community organizing techniques.

A cover letter from Obama, who spent three years in the 1980s working in impoverished Chicago neighborhoods, spoke of lessons in the "basic organizing principles that this campaign and our movement for change are built on."

Obama urged supporters to apply and to "put progressive values to work in the real world."

More than 10,000 people applied, said Obama strategist Jon Carson.

"They didn't have to have campaign experience before," said Buffy Wicks, the director of the campaign's national volunteer program. "The best organizers are people who are passionate about what they're doing. We were looking for folks who had really compelling stories."

Click This SlideShow and I Save Rainforest

noreply@blogger.com (Alex Brant-Zawadzki) — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 01:06:00 +0000

Who knew saving the rainforest could be so mind-numbingly easy?

Highway Administration MUST be high

noreply@blogger.com (Alex Brant-Zawadzki) — Sat, 31 May 2008 00:13:00 +0000

241 Toll Road Update

May 29, 2008 12:59 PM

By Alex Brant-Zawadzki

The Department of Commerce has stated their interest in holding a public hearing on the Foothill-South toll road extension, disregarding the impotent raging of Transportation Corridor Agencies counsel Robert Thornton. The LA Times reported on the road's construction cost leaping from $875 million to $1.3 billion and that ridership is down on the Foothill-South by "nearly 4 percent." The Army Corps of Engineers has declared that there could still be potential alternatives to the favored route, one which would carve through the Donna O'Neill Land Conservancy and inland San Onofre State Beach, potentially exterminating the Pacific pocket mouse and annihilating any sense of tranquility at the Acjachemen sacred site of Panhe. One has to ask, what hasn't gone wrong for the TCA lately?

In fact there are two nuggets of good news for toll road fans. In a letter dated May 23, 2008, FHWA counsel James D. Ray sent a letter to Undersecretary of Commerce Conrad Lautenbacher citing the urgent need for this traffic-reducing, $875 Million dollar project. But there are a pair of problems.

1) The toll road is clearly a traffic incentive, not a traffic reducer.
2) The TCA has revised their numbers; now the road will cost $1.3 billion, nearly a 50 percent increase.

TCA spokesperson Jennifer Seaton informed the Weekly she had provided the Times with the updated $1.3 billion figure. Seaton cautions that there is no "apples-to-apples comparison" between the two figures, as the new number incorporates environmental mitigation costs not calculated into the initial number. Seaton also warns this is not a "new" number, but merely part of the annual update to the board. Still, add this money to the $1.1 billion in taxpayer dollars the TCA is seeking to help facilitate a merger between its two boards, and we get a number like $2.4 billion. This is disturbingly close to the $2.8 billion the TCA claims it will cost to widen Interstate 5, a number it brandishes like a weapon to demonstrate the ludicrous ideas and expenditures of anyone who opposes them.
READ THE REST AT http://blogs.ocweekly.com/navelgazing/241-toll-road/241-toll-road-update/

DIGG HERE: http://digg.com/environment/Save_Trestles_Or_Pay_1_3_Billion

Cold War Kids Covering Radiohead? What?

noreply@blogger.com (Alex Brant-Zawadzki) — Tue, 06 May 2008 04:48:00 +0000

Cold War Kids - Electioneering

This better work. Okay. Deep breaths. Just discovered last.fm and whilst dicking about on that site I discovered an as-yet unheard Cold War Kids track. And it's a cover. I love their covers. And they cover Radiohead. In fact there's a whole damn TRIBUTE album - not for Radiohead in general, just one particular ALBUM. OK Computer. That's how good Radiohead is. You can't tributize THEM. You have to start with one album.

Stupid Stereogum ran outta licenses for downloads but you can stream the whole album HERE.

News Flash - High School Kids Are Sexual

noreply@blogger.com (Alex Brant-Zawadzki) — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 09:24:00 +0000

I remember waxing psychotic in a high-school newspaper editorial about how a proposed re-wording of the Exeter sex policy, specifically the declaration that Exeter did not approve of such activity, was as idiotic as it was contrary to nature.

It's nice to see some things never change.

I need to find a copy of that article. It got me in enough trouble...

Colonel of Wisdom - Corps of Engineers v. Toll Road

noreply@blogger.com (Alex Brant-Zawadzki) — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 06:51:00 +0000

Col. Magness feels obliged to point out that in fact the Army Corps of Engineers is a neutral party in the Foothill-South toll road process - which means he wasn't pressured by environmentalists or politically motivated when he pointed out the misrepresentations and lies of the Transportation Corridor Agencies. Save Trestles! Save San Onofre!

read more | digg story

Clinton Fishing with Dynamite

noreply@blogger.com (Alex Brant-Zawadzki) — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 23:28:00 +0000

In response to Barack Obama's comment at a San Francisco fundraiser that frustrated working-class folk are capable of "antipathy to people who aren't like them," the Clinton campaign is viciously attacking the remarks while at the same time viciously stoking the antipathy of working-class folk to people who aren't like them.

The comment in question, which Obama gave here in town on Sunday April 6, related to the frustration of working-class voters with economic conditions:

"It's not surprising, then, they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."

Obama has apologized if his comment was poorly phrased or caused offense, as reported in Saturday's Chronicle, but also stood by his remarks (after clarifying them):

"So I said, well you know, when you're bitter you turn to what you can count on. So people, they vote about guns, or they take comfort from their faith and their family and their community. And they get mad about illegal immigrants who are coming over to this country."

After acknowledging his previous remarks in California could have been better phrased, he added: "The truth is that these traditions that are passed on from generation to generation, those are important. That's what sustains us. But what is absolutely true is that people don't feel like they are being listened to."

The Chron quotes former state Democratic Party chairman and current Clinton adviser Tom Hendrickson saying rural voters don't need "liberal elites" telling them what to believe.

Clinton made the following quote before factory-workers in Indianapolis:

READ THE REST ON SF WEEKLY'S NEWS AND POLITICS BLOG, THE SNITCH!

Colbert on Tibet, San Francisco

noreply@blogger.com (Alex Brant-Zawadzki) — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 06:43:00 +0000

Army Tackles Toll Road - Save Trestles!

noreply@blogger.com (Alex Brant-Zawadzki) — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 05:56:00 +0000

The US Army Corps of Engineers calls the Transportation Corridor Agencies on their misrepresentations of fact concerning the 241 (Foothill-South) toll road.

read more | digg story

Army Kills Toll Road

noreply@blogger.com (Alex Brant-Zawadzki) — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 03:42:00 +0000

When supporters of the 241 (Foothill-South) toll road and its builder, the Transportation Corridor Agencies, hear opponents claim they'll stop the project, the reply is usually along the lines of, "You and what army?"

The United States Army, assholes. That's right, the Army is finally providing the necessary firepower to blow the TCA's lies clean out of the sky.

Colonel Thomas H. Magness is District Commander of the Los Angeles District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (COE). You may remember their fine work on the levees in New Orleans. Colonel Magness sent a letter (Download file) dated April 7 to Thomas Street, staff attorney for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, "to clarify and augment the project's administrative record before you...." The project in question is the Foothill-South extension.

"My staff consistently endeavors to render fair and balanced decisions within the bounds of our implementing regulations and based on the best available information. For this reason, I am compelled to highlight a few areas of the public record where I have found inaccurate statements as well as inferences that misrepresent the Corps preliminary determinations within the context of our CWA and NEPA statutory responsibilities."

Would you believe it gets better?

Read the rest HERE on the OC Weekly's World Famous Staff Blog, Navel Gazing

Yet Another OC Republican Dick

noreply@blogger.com (Alex Brant-Zawadzki) — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 19:02:00 +0000

Larry Dick, CEO of the La Salle Group and a member of the board of directors of the toll-road-loving OC Taxpayers' Association, is running for Assemblyman. Though according to the campaign's website's news page, no one seems to have reported this. No news outlets, anyway. Fleischreport has. No surprise, considering the number of Jon Fleischman's personal friends who are big fans of Dick.

From a campaign press release:

The Sixty [sic] Assembly District is currently held by Bob Huff who is running for State Senate. AD 60 consists of three counties: Orange, Los Angeles and San Bernardino.

Hot damn, but that's one big district. That's what she said...

A bit too low-brow for you? Wait, there's more. There's so much more.

Larry Dick for Assembly, Mr. Dick's campaign website, lists endorsements from local congressmen like prostitute-friendly Ken Calvert (R-Flaccid Penis-Shaped District), John Campbell (R-Bush's Boots and Ass), and of course Surfin' Dana Rohrabacher (R-Kitsch Bar). There's State Senator Dick (see?) Ackerman, Mimi Walters, OC Supervisor Pat Bates ... wait a minute ... some of these names appear multiple times. A lot of them do. It creates the illusion that there are more Republican Dick supporters than there actually are. Oh, I see, they list the sames SEPARATELY for SEPARATE civic duties one has. Or HAD. Even Ken Ryan, former mayor of Yorba Linda, is on there. There are also local civic leaders, like Dr. Jo Ellen Allen and Dale Dykema.

All of these Republicans have been united together, under a single throbbing desire. Yes, everyone on that list just can't wait to see Assemblyman Dick. They're excited by Assemblyman Dick. They're behind Assemblyman Dick. And most importantly, they're willing to help prop Dick up in whatever manner necessary to secure victory come November.

The OC Republican Party - Political Cialis. If your steadfast Conservative edifice begins to crumble or lasts longer than four decades, contact your doctor immediately.

Schwarzenegger Fragged By Lieutenant

noreply@blogger.com (Alex Brant-Zawadzki) — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 22:31:00 +0000

(CROSS-POSTED ON THE WORLD FAMOUS OC WEEKLY STAFF BLOG, NAVELGAZING)

Lieutenant Governor John Garamendi has just fragged Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger over the 241 (Foothill-South) toll road. The road, proposed by the Irvine-based Transportation Corridor Agencies, would cut through the Donna O'Neill Land Conservancy, itself mitigation for the Talega development, and the inland portion of San Onofre State Beach, not to mention disturb a site sacred to the Juaneno Band of Mission Indians.

In Vietnam, it was not unheard of for unhappy soldiers to toss a fragmentation grenade into the tent of, or "frag," the lieutenant or commanding officer. The enemy could always be blamed, and while it did not guarantee superior leadership in the future, at least it made for a nice change of pace.

Garamendi, along with State Senate President pro tem Don Perata, Senate Natural Resources Committee Chairman Darrell Steinberg and Senator Christine Kehoe, signed a letter to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Carlos M. Gutierrez. (Download file)They made three simple demands:

1) You reject TCA’s appeal and uphold the California Coastal Commission’s legitimate authority to deny consistency certification for the Foothill-South Toll Road; 2) Should you take up the issue, hold a public hearing in Southern California and extend the public comment period accordingly; and 3) You prohibit federal agencies from meeting or negotiating with the TCA on this matter while the appeal is pending.

The last politicians who vocally opposed the toll road, Santa Monica City Council Bobby Shriver and his former colleague on the State Parks Commission Clint Eastwood (that's right, Dirty Harry fights to protect dirt), were not asked back to their seats on the Commission. But luckily these new politicians are not the Governor's appointees, and cannot be unjustly sacked in such a fashion.

Governor Schwarzenegger remained publicly undecided about the toll road for years before sending the Coastal Commission a letter of support for the project in the run-up to their February meeting in Del Mar, at which they soundly vetoed the project to the tune of an 8-2 vote against as well as a ruthless grilling and embarrassment of the TCA's new Grand Poo-bah, Tom Margro.

Margro recently penned a Sacramento Bee editorial purported to be a response to the Bee's criticism of Schwarzenegger's replacement of Shriver and Eastwood, but in fact it amounted to little more than the same tired old lines TCA hacks have parroted for decades.

What is much more intriguing is the request that the TCA not meet or negotiate with federal agencies until this is all over. Watch for more on THAT juicy piece of meat.

(Digg this post HERE)

Robert Thornton, Professional Bitch

noreply@blogger.com (Alex Brant-Zawadzki) — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 21:37:00 +0000

In a move so non-rare it could be called well-done if it weren't less crispy and more slimy, Transportation Corridor Agencies counsel Robert Thornton has resorted to erroneous presumptions and dubious assertions in a pointless attempt to prevent the Department of Commerce from holding a hearing on the Foothill-South toll road extension. Who ever thought a lawyer would be sleazy?

Let us begin not with Thornton's bitchy March 28 letter (Download file) to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, written on Nossaman Gunther Knox & Elliot letterhead, but with the April 3 response Download file on behalf of a coalition of environmental groups, including Surfrider and the California State Parks Foundation, who took a pantload of umbrage at the TCA's request:

This remarkable request is not based on the absence of controversy in this project, but on the very existence of controversy. TCA claims that providing a forum to the public will “drown out” discussion of the project. In fact, it is TCA —which has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars of public money on public relations and lobbying firms in an effort to promote the project—that is seeking to drown out meaningful discussion by foreclosing an important public forum on the issues raised by its appeal.

In addition to the Coastal Commission's request for a hearing, the environmental coalition requested one as well, citing 15 C.F.R. § 930.128(d):

(d) Except in the case of appeals involving energy projects, the Secretary may hold a public hearing in response to a request or on the Secretary's own initiative.

Well, that seems pretty straightforward. A hearing has been twice-requested. You can check the law yourself but take my word for it, there's nothing about requests to deny hearings. Thus Thornton's whining seems pointless. But what may be more important to note is that his whining includes falsehoods—falsehoods reported to a governmental agency. Stick with me past the jump for more on the lies as well as an alternative to the 241 from none other than Mike Dukakis, who is not only a visiting professor of public policy at UCLA during the winter quarter, but is also actress Olympia Dukakis's cousin. And something of a politician I hear.

More at blogs.ocweekly.com/navelgazing/241-toll-road/

Schwarzenegger Sacks Shriver

noreply@blogger.com (Alex Brant-Zawadzki) — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 02:21:00 +0000

Schwarzenegger Sacks Shriver
Posted by Alex Brant-Zawadzki in 241 Toll Road
March 20, 2008 7:05 PM
Permalink | Comments (0)

Governor Schwarzenegger sent a message to every one of his appointees this week by effectively firing the chair and vice-chair of the California State Parks and Recreation Commission. Bobby Shriver, chairman of the Commission, is a Santa Monica City Councilman and the Governor's brother-in-law. Clint Eastwood, vice-chair of the Commission, is Clint friggin' Eastwood. Earlier in the week, both men learned they would not be asked back to their chairs, despite both having submitted requests to be re-appointed.

Schwarzenegger must be feeling lucky. Either that or butt-hurt.

READ THE REST ON blogs.ocweekly.com/navelgazing

Pedo File: Sid Landau

noreply@blogger.com (Alex Brant-Zawadzki) — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 23:47:00 +0000

Pedo File: Sid Landau
Posted by Alex Brant-Zawadzki in Crime & Sex
March 18, 2008 3:55 PM
Permalink | Comments (0)

Sid Landau admitted to sexually abusing ten kids during his child-molesting "career" (do they have vocational schools for that?), crimes for which he has served his time - that and then some. Yesterday saw the start of the third trial to determine whether or not the Orange County District Attorney's Office will release Landau to his sister's custody. Last arrested in 1999, Landau served the maximum time for his parole violation, but was transferred to Atascadero State Mental Hospital rather than released when the DA's office petitioned to qualify Landau as a Sexually Violent Predator, or SVP.
After serving seven years of his initial 15-year sentence, Landau was released to a society which hounded him from residence to residence, making him the Meghan's Law Poster Boy.
Landau's parole violations include pushing a photographer, possessing a photograph of his grand-nephews and failure to meet with a parole officer. Also, he had in his possession some teddy bears with yarmulkes. Teddy Ruxpinsteins, if you will. For such a well-known sex-offender, there can be no true release, no genuine freedom anymore. Not in today's information-rich, paranoia-ridden world. Just ask Gordon Dill-hole over at the Register.

In Landau's case, his most recent trial took four weeks. And after the jury deadlocked 8-4 against releasing him, the judge in the case ordered yet another trial to be held. It's a cycle that could be repeated for years and years.And yet, as D.A. spokeswoman Susan Schroeder puts it, "What alternative do we have? We can't just let a dangerous child molester get out. We can't take that chance." So yes, maybe in some situations it wouldn't be fair to keep a guy locked up after he has served his time.But when it comes to sexually violent predators, it wouldn't be fair to their potential victims to do anything else.

Incidentally, the first trial resulted in an 11-1 deadlock in favor of releasing Landau. Perhaps the third trial's the charm? Dillow is concerned about the potential victims of sexually violent predators and seems to be advocating the prolonged imprisonment of not just them, but even those suspected of being capable of violent sexual predation. Frat boys, beware and stay off the Goldschlager.

READ THE REST - CLICK HERE

Johnny B. Bad

noreply@blogger.com (Alex Brant-Zawadzki) — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 02:27:00 +0000

Return of Urell, or Johnny B. Bad
Posted by Alex Brant-Zawadzki in Ex Cathedra
March 4, 2008 5:05 PM
Permalink | Comments (0)

Hey, kids! Your favorite pedophile-tolerating, victim-ignoring, down-breaking Monsignor is back! Well, he may not be YOUR favorite. He's certainly Matt Cunningham's favorite.

The Diocese of Orange announced this week that Msgr. John Urell is expected to return as pastor of St. Norbert Church in Orange sometime after Easter. Urell was discharged from a Canadian psychiatric facility earlier this week, after suffering a so-called anxiety attack on the witness stand back in October.

FOR MORE VISIT blogs.ocweekly.com/navelgazing

Guess Who's Feisty?

noreply@blogger.com (Alex Brant-Zawadzki) — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 18:41:00 +0000

From Surfline's SurfWire
Saving Trestles: Anatomy of a Miracle
By: Serge Dedina
February 12, 2008
PRESS RELEASE

The decisive rejection last Wednesday by the California Coastal Commission (8-2) of the Transportation Corridor Agencies (TCA) proposed 241 toll road that would have obliterated much of San Onofre State Beach Park was one of the most significant decisions in the history of the agency. The vast and overwhelming coalition that assembled to defend one of California's most popular state parks and one of the world's best and most famous surf spots was historic. The more than 3,000 people who assembled to defend San Onofre were the largest crowd in the history of Coastal Commission hearings.

Since the environmental movement is not accustomed to such overwhelming victories, we do not always analyze our successes or failures. But due to the scope of the landmark movement to preserve San Onofre and the diversity of the coalition that came together in the "Woodstock of the surf movement" last Wednesday, it is critical to understand why the Save Trestles-San Onofre Coalition won.

Here is a very brief and preliminary synopsis of the Super Bowl size victory:

Coalitions Matter: While the Surfrider Foundation did a brilliant job of mobilizing the masses and creating the coolest marketing campaign in the history of the environmental movement (kudos to Surfrider CEO Jim Moriarty and Matt McClain, Surfrider's savant marketing and communications director), the Save Trestles/San Onofre coalition included the best and brightest of California's environmental community. The Sierra Club, through the Friends of the Foothills alliance used the best tactics of grassroots organizing and direct mail to get the public to take action and organize key advocacy trips to Sacramento for grassroots campaigners (including myself).

NRDC, Endangered Habitats League, California Coastal Protection Network, California State Parks Foundation, The City Project, and a host of other organizations and consultants also provided the political and legal savvy to help derail the toll road. Additionally elected officials such as Susan Davis, Christine Kehoe, Lori Saldana, Pam Slater Price and a variety of California elected city officials provided their strong endorsement and created legislation to ensure the protection of San Onofre. Overall this was as sophisticated environmental coalition and campaign I have seen.

Diversity Counts: One of the most cogent arguments made to the Coastal Commissioners was that obliterating San Mateo Campground and San Onofre Beach State Park was an issue of environmental health and justice. The recreational users of San Onofre State Beach Park are among the most culturally diverse of any coastal state park in California. On any given day in San Onofre State Beach Park you can talk quad design with Chinese-America surfers from Irvine, admire the grace of multi-cultural cross-county high school running teams from San Clemente traversing the park's trails, marvel at the prowess of some of the world's best Hispanic surfers, and listen to conversations "In about four different languages" according to Pat Zabrocki of Surfshot Magazine in an interview with Treehugger Radio.

At the commission hearing, Los Angeles civil rights and environmental attorney, Robert Garcia and Acjachemen activist Rebecca Robles and other Native American leaders, provided a moving and passionate defense of San Onofre as a critical site for providing access to open space and recreational resources for underserved communities. The San Mateo Creek watershed is actually Panhe, a key Acjachemen religious, historical, and ceremonial site. The involvement of Latino, African American, Asian-Pacific Islander and Native American organizations in the Save San Onofre coalition only underscores the need for the environmental movement to dramatically expand its attempt to reach out to underserved communities and people of color. This is not just an issue of tactics and strategy but a moral and ethical imperative that will help us reclaim the heart and soul of the environmental movement.

The Surf Industry Flexed its Muscles: The multi-billion dollar surf industry is relatively young and just starting to flex its political muscles (please note that WiLDCOAST the organization I run receives financial support from a number of surf companies and the SIMA trade association). The surf industry was an active participant in this campaign and was out in full-force for the Commission hearing. This is a very positive and welcome sign for the future of the coastal protection movement in California and worldwide.

The TCA's Arrogance: Alex Brant-Zawadzki, a feisty writer The OC Weekly said it best in a recent blog ("Why the Toll Road is Dead").

..the root cause of the Transportation Corridor Agencies' failure to gain Coastal Commission approval for their Final Solution to San Onofre State Beach: ARROGANCE.

The TCA overreached by attempting to ram a private toll road through one of California's most beloved state parks and global ground zero of the surfing world. The secretive agency must have believed that surfers and the people of California would sit idly by while it paved over paradise. The TCA blew it.

This battle is far from over. The TCA will take it case to the U.S. Department of Commerce, but the decisive nature of the Coastal Commission decision proves that in California, it is a bad idea to mess with our state parks.

Why The Toll Road Is Dead

noreply@blogger.com (Alex Brant-Zawadzki) — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 05:37:00 +0000

Why The Toll Road Is Dead
Posted by Alex Brant-Zawadzki
February 10, 2008 8:16 PM
Navel Gazing, OC Weekly's world-famous staff blog

The Foothill-South (241) toll road extension, as we know it, is dead.

Bold claim, you say? Presumptuous, maybe? Not so.

Recently mi hermano Gustavo Arellano pinpointed the root cause of the Transportation Corridor Agencies' failure to gain Coastal Commission approval for their Final Solution to San Onofre State Beach: ARROGANCE. The TCA presumptuously and sometimes even indignantly refuted the majority of criticism of their project, as reflected in the Response to Comments section of the Environmental Impact Report. A juicy excerpt:

Comment Number: O19-13
Commenter: Terrell Watt Planning Consultants Comment: There is a remarkable claim made that PM10 emissions will increase but that PM10 levels will not and that violations of state standards will not worsen (AQR 4-69, 4-70, 5-10). This defies all logic. And of course that is without accounting for most of the PM10 emissions. Obviously any increase in emissions will increase PM10 levels. The large emissions increases that would actually occur would increase the levels substantially, quite possibly above the federal standards.
Response: The comment is incorrect in summarizing the statements in the Draft EIS/SEIR...."

The comment is incorrect. The impacts are insignificant. You're wrong. We're not listening. Nya nya nya. This has been the general tone of the TCA's response to criticism in the past, and it continues today.

READ THE REST AT BLOGS.OCWEEKLY.COM/NAVELGAZING

Dead End for the Toll Road

noreply@blogger.com (Alex Brant-Zawadzki) — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 14:23:00 +0000

Originally Posted on Navelgazing, the World-Famous OC Weekly Staff Blog.

Coastal Commission Denies 241 Permit
Posted by Alex Brant-Zawadzki in 241 Toll Road, Breaking News
February 6, 2008 11:21 PM
Permalink | Comments (0)

The California Coastal Commission voted at 11:18 pm Wednesday night to deny a coastal permit to the Transportation Corridor Agencies. It will now be much more difficult for the TCA to construct the Foothill-South (241) toll road extension.

The vote was 8-2 in favor of denying certification.
More to follow!

VOTES BY COMMISSIONER:

Blank – NO
Burke – YES
Clark – NO
Kram – YES
Neely – NO
Reilly – NO
Shallenberger – NO
Wan – NO
Kruer – NO
(some voters were inaudible due to cheering)

UPDATE:

Some Coastal Commissioners had very tough questions and very tough language for the TCA. Here are my favorite excerpts:
Commissioner SARA WAN, herself a scientist, was "appalled" at what she called the TCA's "false science". She even suggested the TCA's management plan for the mouse was "not a management plan at all except perhaps as a plan to drive the Pacific pocket mouse into extinction."
Commissioner MIKE REILLY cited the "limited value" of the TCA's $100 Million offer, and declared that "there is no legal way for us to concur with certification of this project."
The real kicker was Commissioner STEVE BLANK, who grilled the hell out of new TCA CEO Tom Margro. Citing TCA's claims that the 241 would serve as an evacuation route in a nuclear disaster, Burke said, "I was led to understand [San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station's] operating license was contingent upon having an approved evacuation plan. Has the government declared their plan inadequate?"
MARGRO: No - but can I elaborate?
BURKE: No, thank you, you've answered the question.
Burke then cited the TCA's threat that it could cost $70 Million to renew the lease for the state park.
BURKE: "Has the Navy ever denied the renewal of a lease of a state park?"
MARGRO: "I can't answer that question."
BURKE: "I believe the answer is no."
Burke went on to cite law discussed in this blog (State Park Scare Tactics) which would potentially allow for the lease to be renewed at less than $70 Million .
BURKE: "Doesn’t this mean there is a clear path for the lease to be renewed at a price other than $70 Million dollars?"
MARGRO: "It's possible."
BURKE: “Since Navy didn’t ask for $70 million dollars … Is it possible that they might ask for a dollar in 2021?”
MARGRO: "If they make findings."
BURKE: "So really at best it's a $30 Million dollar proposal"
MARGRO: "I would say it is a $100 million dollar proposal – for state parks."
BURKE: "Or a $30 Million dollar proposal?"
MARGRO: "Or $30 million – which still benefits state parks."
BURKE: "I have another question - Is there a price tag for a state park?
MARGRO: "Not that I’m aware of."

Mr. One Thousand (Forty Six and Counting)

noreply@blogger.com (Alex Brant-Zawadzki) — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 08:51:00 +0000

Dude. My facebook Cause, Save Trestles, has over 1,000 people in it. That's unbefreakinglievable. http://apps.facebook.com/causes/view_cause/5626

Here's something someone just posted there (I LOVE that other people have started posting now, by the way) about the upcoming Coastal Commission meeting, scheduled for Wednesday Feb. 6 at the Del Mar Fairgrounds.

THE TIME TO SAVE TRESTLES IS NOW!

On Wednesday, February 6, the California Coastal Commission (CCC) will hear the application for the Foothill-South toll road that will run through San Onofre State Park.

This project threatens precious coastal open space, water quality and the surf break at Trestles, and it would set a dangerous precedent for YOUR State Park system.

Join hundreds (if not thousands) of Surfrider Foundation activists and other opponents of the toll road for a rally at the CCC hearing. Come help us send a clear message that our State Parks and open spaces deserve saving!

This is literally THE most important hearing in regards to protecting Trestles and San Onofre State Park. We need an enormous crowd to attend. Please help spread the word to all your family and friends in Southern California.

The Surfrider Foundation and partners are renting buses and organizing carpools in San Clemente and San Diego. We are also providing lunch, tee shirts, and posters/sign for all supporters. Surfrider has it all organizedyou just need to show up.

If you have questions about the hearing, or are interested in organized transportation, email Stefanie Sekich at SSekich@surfrider.org.

Hoping you can make it,
Your friends at Surfrider

What: Crucial Vote to Save Trestles at California Coastal Commission
When: Wednesday, February 6, 2008. Please arrive by 9am.
Where: Del Mar Fairgrounds at Wyland Hall
2260 Jimmy Durante Blvd.
Del Mar, CA 92014
Just off the I-5 in Del Mar at Via de la Valle exit.

Visit the Fairgrounds website for complete directions. Please consider carpooling.

membership@surfrider.org • Surfrider Foundation

Three Formerly Blind Mice

noreply@blogger.com (Alex Brant-Zawadzki) — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 06:27:00 +0000

See How They Run
Posted by Alex Brant-Zawadzki in Main
September 21, 2006 3:09 PM
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To hell with stem cell research - now they're just being silly.

From today's Sludge Report:
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Human embryonic stem cells can partly restore vision in blinded rats, and may offer a source of transplants for people with certain eye diseases, researchers at a U.S. company reported on Thursday.

Great. Exactly what we need - rats with enhanced eyesight. Coming soon: eighteen-legged spiders that shoot acid and cockroaches with mounted artillery.
Three blind mice were unavailable for comment at press time, but the Farmer's Wife, their official spokesperson, reports to have "never seen such a thing in her life" as such blatant discrimination against disabled mice in favor of disabled rats.

New HIGHLIGHTS reel!

noreply@blogger.com (Alex Brant-Zawadzki) — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 06:12:00 +0000

Yeah, I'm a law student. And that means that I can't blog as much as I used to.

Well, not for free anyway. I'm getting paid a paltry sum (though it's pretty generous considering how often I actually post) to blog on OC Weekly's world-famous staff blog, Navel Gazing, which is nice because I used to do so for free, years ago. In reviewing some of those pieces I've decided they belong on here, in case something should ever happen to the Weekly servers or something. So we're going to see a long string of highlights from here on in.

Give Me (Bomb) Shelter
Posted by Alex Brant-Zawadzki in Main
July 24, 2006 12:07 PM
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I get by with a little help from my friends. Got a note from one of 'em today, in fact, a patriot hard at work supporting our troops.

[Dear Navy Customer],

On Friday we discussed pushing the Dev. updates from February to the [Server of Imminent Doom]. As you know, these updates broke the Dev. server last February which makes the outcome of any Live push questionable. Per your request, I had planned to make the updates tomorrow (Tuesday).

Since the tape backup isn't working at the moment, we (you and I) have decided to hold off on the live push until that situation has been remedied. This is to confirm that a) you made the request to push to live, b) I have informed you that there is a software related danger in doing so, and c) we have decided to hold off until the hardware situation can be corrected (at which time we will push the unreliable updates and hope for the best).

Please acknowledge.
Thanks,
[If You Need Me, I'll Be Hiding In The Basement]
Support for [Division X]
Naval Surface Warfare Center

So there's actually a noble, patriotic soul out there who has the opportunity to crash a Navy server - has an obligation as an order-following employee to bring that bastard down - but instead this person would rather let everyone know that we've been saved from crappy software. And our savior is crappy hardware.

The Navy's current slogan is "Accelerate your life", but you can't accelerate very fast unless you "Update your equipment".

TCA Begs For Help From Lackeys

noreply@blogger.com (Alex Brant-Zawadzki) — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 04:42:00 +0000

ORIGINALLY POSTED ON Navel Gazing, THE WORLD FAMOUS OC WEEKLY STAFF BLOG, ON JANUARY 25 2008

TCA Begs For Help From Lackeys
Posted by Alex Brant-Zawadzki in 241 Toll Road
January 25, 2008 10:17 PM
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The Coastal Commission has had to change its February meeting venue to accommodate the expected 2,000-odd attendees. This is bad news for the Transportation Corridor Agencies, who already sent out an email to their contractors begging for support. The issue is the 241 (Foothill-South) toll road extension; the Governor's recent letter to the Commission in support of the project has reinvigorated both the supporters and opponents of the project. Ergo the new venue, Wyland Hall at the Del Mar Fairgrounds, which can hold up to 3,000 people. That’s a whole lot of subcontractors.

From the letter to contractors:

In an effort to fill the room with supporters of the FTC-S [Foothill-South] project; the goal is to bring 250 people to the event from the Design Build team member firms; 50 of whom are willing to speak. Kleinfelder has committed to having at least fifteen people attend the meeting, with five willing to speak on the importance and value of completing the SR-241 extension.

The previous venue, the Oceanside City Hall, can hold 150 people. Kleinfelder Geotechnical Engineers is a “design sub-consultant” for Saddleback Constructors, who hold the design-build contract for the 241 extension.

Coastal Commission Staff Analyst Mark Delaplaine told the North County Times the meeting will now be held at Wyland Hall at the Del Mar Fairgrounds, which can accommodate 3,000. The estimate at this point is for about 2,100 attendees.

"We've never had probably more than 500 in 30 years," Delaplaine said.
"It would certainly smash all existing records."

In addition to the 250 sponsored supporters of the toll road, there will certainly be at least as much opposition. The Surfrider Foundation in particular has taken umbrage at the governor’s short-sighted support of the toll road. In a recent press release, Foundation CEO Jim Moriarty said, “We had hoped that Governor Schwarzenegger was insincere in his threat to close state parks and beaches. It now appears that he is absolutely intent on sacrificing our state park system and natural resources for his political objectives.”

Would there be a point, do you think, in having the Commissioners ask speakers to state whether or not they work for a company that stands to benefit from the construction of the extension?

Su update your calendars: the hearing is still on Wednesday, Feb. 6 starting at 9 am (and probably going all day), but now it will be at Wyland Hall, Del Mar Fairgrounds, 2260 Jimmy Durante Blvd., Del Mar, CA 92014

Aw, Shucks

noreply@blogger.com (Alex Brant-Zawadzki) — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 00:00:00 +0000

From The Sunlight Foundation's press center:

Seeking Online Exposure
Publication: The Chronicle of Philanthropy

Charity devises Web tools for keeping tabs on Congress

Suzanne Perry
January 10, 2008

Washington - When the Sunlight Foundation, an organization here that uses Web technology to expose the workings of Congress, decided it wanted to know how many members of the House of Representatives had used campaign money to hire their spouses, it turned to its phalanx of researchers - the American public.

The organization issued a call for help on its blog at 5 p.m. on a Friday - "which of course is absurd," says Ellen Miller, the group's co-founder and executive director. But Sunlight was behind schedule in announcing the project, she recalls, "so we said, Let's just put it out for the weekend."

Ms. Miller, a veteran open-government activist, was delighted at what happened next. "By Sunday, it was all done. All 435 members of Congress had been investigated." People from across the country had filed online reports - uncovering 19 Congressional spouses who had earned a total of more than $630,000 from campaign money during the 2006 election cycle.

As that 2006 project demonstrates, the digital age has given charities and advocacy groups powerful new tools to connect to and mobilize their supporters. And Sunlight plans to make full use of those tools this year as it marshals forces across the country to keep tabs on the 2008 Congressional candidates.

Collecting Data

Started two years ago by Ms. Miller and Michael Klein, a wealthy Washington lawyer and business entrepreneur - and advised by several Internet-industry leaders, including the founders of Craigslist and Wikipedia - the Sunlight Foundation has become a leading force in developing and using new technologies to make government more open. Since its start, it has spent more than $6-million on a wide array of projects to collect massive amounts of data about Congress, lawmakers, their staff members, and lobbyists.

Members of Congress are under growing pressure to disclose more about how they spend their time, especially their involvement with companies and trade groups that hope to influence legislation. Bills passed last year, for example, require lawmakers to attach their names to "earmarks," or money they slip into bills for pet projects, something they previously could do anonymously. The House and Senate must also now set up a public database of reports members file about their travel and personal finances, and lobbyists must file reports about their activities electronically. The Sunlight Foundation has pushed for those changes, and has devised projects that make existing information easier for the public to find.

"That's been our first goal, to get that information out of the basements and put it online," Ms. Miller says.

With the help of a group of technology experts it calls the Sunlight Labs, the group has developed Web sites that allow people to search government records, track legislation, and view Congressional correspondence to federal agencies.

It also offers grants to other organizations for digital open-government projects. For example, it provided almost $235,000 to OMB Watch, a government watchdog group, to create FedSpending.org, a database that tracks recipients of all federal grants and contracts. The project was so successful - the database has been searched more than six million times, Sunlight says - that when the White House budget office was required by Congress to develop a similar site, unveiled last month, it worked with OMB Watch to model the technology on FedSpending.org.

Call to Action

In addition to ferreting out information, Sunlight works to get citizens more involved in monitoring Congress. It issues calls for help through news releases, e-mail messages, its blog, and a network of friendly outside blogs. Hundreds of people have responded, taking advantage of the Internet-era ability to do research any time of day or night from home.

Sunlight points the researchers to databases where they can find the relevant information. For example, for the investigation of Congressional spouses, it referred them to biographical information posted on VoteSmart.org, and then to campaign-expenditure information posted on OpenSecrets.org, operated by the Center for Responsive Politics.

Sunlight knows little about many of the researchers, as they are not required to identify themselves in detail (though it double-checks much of the information they supply). But some do so much work that their monikers become household names.

When Sunlight asked for help on the Congressional spouses project, about 40 people responded - including one known as "Beezling," who alone investigated 116 representatives. While that was impressive enough, Beezling topped his own performance the next time Sunlight asked for help - to find out whether any campaigns had hired businesses that were owned by or employed a Congressional spouse. That time, he researched 319 members of Congress, again over a weekend.

"Beezling," it turns out, is Alex Brant-Zawadzki, a law-school student who at the time was a reporter for the Orange County Weekly in California. Mr. Brant-Zawadzki says he was motivated by the same instincts that drove his reporting: "If I can supply enough information, maybe the right people can do something about it."

While it is not illegal for members of Congress to hire family members for their campaigns, Sunlight argues that it allows "special-interest cash to enter their family budgets." Its investigation found that Patricia McKeon, the wife of Rep. Howard McKeon,☼ Republican of California, earned the most money from 2006 campaign funds during an 18-month period - $78,287. Mr. McKeon defends the payment. "Patricia is paid for the work she does on the campaign and that's the right thing to do," he said in an e-mail message.

After Sunlight and other groups publicized such activities, the House passed a bill last July to ban campaign committees from making payments to spouses, either directly or by hiring a company they are involved with. The Senate has not yet voted on it.

Not all of the citizen researchers spend enormous amounts of time on their projects. Elaine Nelson, a Web designer in Olympia, Wash., for example, reviewed the Web site of one member of Congress - Brian Baird, a Democrat who represents her district - for a Sunlight project to rate how much information Congressional Web sites provide. She says she heard about the project through one of the blogs she reads regularly.

"It took me less than a half-hour," she says. "It's nice to be able to help out on something like that where you're not doing a lot but you're doing something useful."

'Electric Light'

The seeds of the Sunlight Foundation were planted in summer 2005, when Mr. Klein read an article in The Washington Post that infuriated him. It described a provision tucked into the 2005 energy bill that relaxed export controls on weapons-grade uranium to benefit a Canadian importer - following a campaign by Washington lobbyists who had contributed money to House and Senate energy-committee members.

Mr. Klein began exploring ways to entice the news media to probe more into Congressional activities.

A mutual friend put him in touch with Ms. Miller - then head of a Congressional-accountability project for the Campaign for America's Future, a group that advocates liberal economic policies - and they met for lunch. Ms. Miller recalls Mr. Klein telling her he liked former Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis's quote: "Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants."

She responded: "And I'm one of five people in this town who can finish the quote for you, because no one knows that: '...electric light, the most efficient policeman.'" (The quote gave the Sunlight Foundation both its name and its motto.)

Ms. Miller and Mr. Klein began consulting seasoned reporters about ways to promote more investigative journalism. Mr. Klein drew on his experience as co-founder of CoStar Group, a company that gives customers access to a database with information about commercial real-estate properties. He agreed to put up $3.5-million for a new organization to collect and post online information about Congress for journalists, bloggers, and everyday citizens.

The pair recruited several technology heavyweights to the group's board of directors (Craig Newmark, who created Craigslist, the online classified-advertising service, and Esther Dyson, a prominent Internet commentator and investor) and advisory board (Kim Scott, director of Google's online advertising sales, and Jimmy Wales, the head of Wikipedia, the collaborative encyclopedia).

They raised more than $4-million in additional money, including $2-million from the Omidyar Network - the foundation in Redwood City, Calif., set up by Pierre Omidyar, the founder of eBay, and his wife, Pam - and $1.9-million from the Rockefeller Family Fund, in New York.

With a $4-million budget and 18 staff members, the Sunlight Foundation is now nurturing projects that include:

Congresspedia, a joint project with the Center for Media and Democracy that is billed as: "the citizen's encyclopedia on Congress that you can edit." The Web site displays information about every senator and representative and about legislation and issues before Congress. Using the "wiki" software that was pioneered by Wikipedia, Congresspedia allows anyone to contribute and edit the entries, backed up by professional editors.
A related project, "Wiki the Vote," asks people to submit information about the 2008 Congressional elections. Users can click on any state on a digital map to find (or submit) background and articles on its senators and representatives, potential or announced challengers, and lists of local political blogs.

Earmark Watch, a joint project with Taxpayers for Common Sense, which asks citizens to help Sunlight uncover information about more than 3,000 pet projects that members of Congress have inserted into spending bills. More than 560 people have signed up to help and so far have completed questionnaires and shared comments about the sponsors and recipients of 128 earmarks.
Among the more enthusiastic researchers on earmarks has been "Mrs. Panstreppon" - in real life, an accountant on Long Island, N.Y., who prefers to remain anonymous. In an earlier Sunlight project to analyze 2007 Congressional spending bills, she highlighted three earmarks worth more than $1-million for the Friends of the Congressional Glaucoma Caucus Foundation, in Lake Success, N.Y.

Brian Quinn, vice president for grants and communications at the Glaucoma foundation, agrees the public should know more about how earmarks are allocated. But he faults Sunlight for failing to offer a "thorough" report.

"They never went back and said, This foundation that was blogged and attacked for use of federal money also screened 53,000 people [for glaucoma] during the past year," and always got good marks in annual audits, he says. The Glaucoma group never actually got the earmarks that were unearthed by Sunlight because negative publicity about such spending prompted Congress to remove all earmarks from its 2007 budget - forcing the charity to cut back on glaucoma screenings, Mr. Quinn says.

Making Corrections

So far, Sunlight has not been burned by anyone providing bogus information, says Bill Allison, a senior fellow who supervises the citizen researchers. The closest call came after 300 researchers graded Congressional Web sites on a 100-point scale, based on whether they provided information about the member's legislative activities, disclosure forms, and daily schedules.

After the group issued its report, which gave the average score as just 29, Congressional staff members began calling to complain that their sites included information that Sunlight researchers had overlooked.

The group ended up issuing a corrected press release, lowering the number of sites that got "failing" grades from 499 to 374. While in some cases, the information on the Web sites was hard to find, the researchers were simply wrong in the case of Rep. Jane Harman,☼ Democrat of California, Mr. Allison said.

One person who called to complain, Matt Dinkel, press secretary of Rep. Mike Doyle,☼ Democrat of Pennsylvania, says he has no hard feelings. Sunlight immediately changed his boss's grade once he pointed out where to find information about the congressman's committee assignments, he says.

Sunlight's efforts have also prompted members of Congress to make changes. A lobbying effort by the group's advocacy branch, the Sunlight Network, has so far persuaded eight members of Congress - including the entire Montana delegation - to start posting their daily calendars online.

"That may seem small," Ms. Miller says. But in the halls of Congress, she adds, it's a "sea change."

Help my OC Weekly Top Ten List!

noreply@blogger.com (Alex Brant-Zawadzki) — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 06:12:00 +0000

Hey everyone, please visit OC Weekly's blog and leave comments on my post; ideally the comments should suggest individuals or groups OC Weekly kicked in the nuts at some point in 2007.

I thank you.

With love,
Alex

CROSS-POSTED ON NAVELGAZING AND JOMOBLOG

Top Ten Kicks In The Sack
Posted by Alex Brant-Zawadzki in Main
January 2, 2008 9:13 PM
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I'm spending some time planting trees in the Sonoran Desert next week. Why? Because I fucking hate trees, man. So we're gonna plant 'em in the desert. Screw with 'em.

I kid. The Environmental Law Caucus is working with the Sonoran Institute (pals of WildCOAST, and thus vicarious pals of the Weekly), and thus I needed work-boots. So I FOUND work-boots - real shit-kickers, too. Black, steel-toed, lace-up, soles made from recycled monster truck tires (maybe) ... I dig them muy mucho. But they are having a strange effect on me...

See, as soon as I walked out of the store, I became conscious that I was wearing weapons. Every footfall was that much heavier; every step expended that much more energy. At the same time, I almost unconsciously started contemplating the various scenarios in which I would be required to use my new steel toes to ball-kick opposition into submission. I'm not saying I was looking for balls to kick - but if the situation arose, I was prepared to kick balls.

This got me thinking - just how many people did OC Weekly kick in the balls last year? Let's put together a top 10. I'll start off with some obvious ones; we'll see how you degenerates manage at coming up with the rest on your own. Leave it to me and you'll be sorry.

Read on...