Barbara Buono - #NN13 Rock Star

Barbara Buono came to Netroots Nation in San Jose to extend her campaign to a national audience, and she did not disappoint anyone. Each year at this conference, there are a few candidates who become rock stars at the event. Last year that included Elizabeth Warren and Tammy Baldwin. This year, it was Barbara Buono's turn. After each appearance, the friendly audience of liberal bloggers and activists lined up to speak with her and have their picture taken. She mingled with a crowd at a reception sponsored by Emily's List, and gave a rousing speech (the best I've seen from her) at a candidate's forum which included other progressive icons like Senator Jeff Merkley and Congressman Keith Ellison. Earlier in the day, I met Buono at a café down the street from the Convention Center. Below is that interview. She talks about her mission at the conference, the special election, the budget, women's issues, and the choosing of a candidate for Lieutenant Governor. Below the fold: some photos of her interactions with the Netroots crowd.

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Emily's List Reception Candidate's Forum

Fools

“I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee - that says, fool me once, shame on - shame on you. Fool me - you can't get fooled again.”

- Chris Christie’s mentor and patron, George W Bush

In a column extoling the support that Chris Christie is receiving from certain “Democrats”, Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Matt Katz discusses the reasons why the governor has received accolades. Unsurprisingly, it boils down to money and power.

What Katz and the general public fail to see is the wolf in sheep’s clothing. Christie is one of the most astute politicians of our lifetime. He rarely blunders in his quest for political power and influence, and his taxpayer-funded squad of spin doctors is among the best in the business.

They say that history repeats itself, and that is becoming apparent in the political ascent of Chris Christie.

Christie’s boss won re-election to a second term because the nation was traumatized by the 9/11 disaster. As Katz points out, Christie’s surge in popularity is based primarily on the governor’s handling of another disaster, Hurricane Sandy. This, despite the fact that any chief executive worth his or her salt would have handled similar disasters with compassion and decisiveness. Christie had the added advantage of learning from his bungling of previous natural disaster, “snowmageddon,” during which he took a hands-off approach while he was unsurprisingly out of state.

If he’s re-elected, Christie will make every decision of his second term through the lens of the 2016 Presidential election. That means he will accelerate his right-wing anti-middle class, anti-environment agenda while cleverly presenting the persona of a bipartisan leader. In a field of Republican candidates who are typically extreme, irrational, and bigoted, Christie will position himself as the sane and rational choice for the presidential nomination. (Whether the irrational core of the GOP power structure opts for a sane candidate is the subject of another article.)

As a result, New Jersey will suffer. Not only because Christie will keep his eye off of the ball locally, but because he will take a sharp tack to the right if he wins a second term.

Of course, things would be much worse in a second Christie administration if the Democrats lose control of either or both houses of the legislature. But as we have seen, and as Katz points out, many powerful Democrats are complicit with Christie’s consolidation of power into the hands of unelected officials and the governor’s office. The way New Jersey’s government is set up puts the governor in the driver’s seat.

We saw what happened after George W Bush won a second term. The economy tanked and despite the intransigence of the GOP House, President Obama and his team were able to rescue the nation from the brink of financial disaster after Bush went back to Texas. Let’s not be foolish again and give Chris Christie the opportunity to do similar damage to New Jersey.

“Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.”

- Chinese Proverb

What About the Other 20-Year-Olds?

Sportswriter Dave Zirin correctly analyzes the fallout from Louisville basketball player Kevin Ware’s horrific injury in the NCAA tournament. Zirin points out that while the school, which makes millions of dollars from intercollegiate athletics, may pay for near-term medical expenses, Ware will be on his own afterwards. And if Ware is unable to play, his scholarship is not guaranteed.

Is Louisville the most profitable college hoops team in USA? Yup. But not for Kevin Ware. m.cnbc.com//id/100581891
— Dave Zirin (@EdgeofSports) March 31, 2013

Yet, in a sense, Ware is lucky. Our nation is creating thousands of Kevin Wares and Eric LeGrands every day in unnecessary wars in the Middle East and elsewhere. Men and women who come back without limbs, with stress-induced mental diseases, or in body bags.

As the nation’s attention is riveted on the Final Four™, other 20-year-olds are having their lives altered in worse ways than Ware’s. We must support the troops by bringing them home.

The Second Amendment

The Second Amendment does not give people the right to own nuclear weapons.

The Second Amendment does not give people the right to own biological weapons.

The Second Amendment does not give people the right to own surface-to-air missiles.

The Second Amendment does not give people the right to own Claymore mines.

The Second Amendment does not give people the right to own assault weapons.

The Second Amendment was written in the days of muskets – weapons that fired single shots before needing to be reloaded.  Just as we have libel laws limiting the scope of the First Amendment, we have reasonable laws limiting the scope of the Second Amendment. None of these laws infringe on the rights of hunters, collectors, or citizens who think they need guns for self-protection. 

Educating America About Chris Christie

The American people are being sold a bill of goods. Make no mistake about it - the upcoming New Jersey gubernatorial election is a national event. Not just because Chris Christie is leading the diminishing sane wing of the Republican Party for the 2016 presidential nomination, but also because he will be using his media-induced star power to raise tens of millions of dollars for his gubernatorial race this year.

The problem is that Christie's record is painted by his handlers and the media as a tough-spoken, hard-driving manager who has put New Jersey on the road to economic salvation. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Yet, most people outside of New Jersey and even many in the Garden State don't see it that way.

No doubt, the Democrats led by Senator Barbara Buono will work hard to get out the message that the effect of Christie's policies are not much different than those of some of the more extreme GOP governors like Scott Walker, Rick Scott, and Rick Snyder. And if Christie is re-elected, it will embolden him to move even closer to a dictatorship of the wealthy.

Christie is running a national campaign for the New Jersey governorship. This is exemplified by his fundraiser with Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg and his cozying up to the Koch Brothers and their billions of dollars of stealth campaign contributions.

No Democratic candidate would be able to match the GOP's Citizens United juggernaut of campaign dollars. Environmental and gay rights groups can't match the fortunes of the polluters and the education/military/insurance industrial complex.

Because a significant portion of Christie's campaign dollars are coming from outside the state, it's important to educate America about Chris Christie. The nation needs to know the truth about his infrastructure blunders, his anti-equality stance, his dealings with his cronies, his dubious budget manipulations, and his politicizing just about everything from the Supreme Court to the Rutgers Board of Trustees.

We can't stop the flow of right-wing dollars into the Christie campaign, but by taking Senator Buono's message nationwide, we can help to work to mitigate the Christie dollar advantage. Talk to your out-of-state friends about the truth about our governor. Make them understand that this election is not just about New Jersey, but it's for the future of our kids, minorities, and women's rights. Having them send a few bucks to Buono's campaign would be nice, but educating them about the real Chris Christie is essential.

One Million Moms for Gun Control Rally in Jersey City

January 26 was a freezing cold day, but that didn't stop about 200 citizens from gathering in Lincoln Park in Jersey City to hear elected officials and others talk about sensible gun laws.

Not a single speaker spoke about repealing the Second Amendment.

Not a single speaker proposed taking guns away from responsible citizens.

Instead, they spoke about the children of Newtown and countless other tragedies that have been precipitated by this nation’s obsession with guns.

It took a generation to change the tobacco culture in America. It may take longer to change the faux machismo worship of killing machines. But we have to start some time. That time is now.

Below are links to the videos of remarks from the speakers at the Jersey City Rally.

Introductory Remarks - Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy

Mandi Perlmutter of One Million Moms 4 Gun Control

Former Governor Jim Florio

Congressman Frank Pallone

Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver

Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg

Senator Barbara Buono

Senator Sandra Cunningham

Senator Bob Gordon

Senator Ray Lesniak

Assemblyman Joe Cryan

Assemblywoman Angelica Jimenez

Assemblyman Charles Mainor

Assemblyman Jason O'Donnell

Assemblywoman Connie Wagner

Where Do We Draw The Line?

According to the gun fanatics, the Second Amendment gives Americans unfettered access to assault weapons.

Why draw the line there?

Can we extend their rationale to say that the Second Amendment gives Americans the right to own bazookas? How about surface-to-air missiles? If someone is carrying a surface-to-air missile and launcher in the back of their pickup truck near an airport, do the gun fanatics claim he shouldn't be arrested?

Why draw the line there?

By their logic, any American should be able to own a Howitzer to launch tactical nuclear weapons.

This exercise in absurdity shows that the Founders never intended for Americans to own weapons of mass destruction like automatic weapons with large clips.

I wonder why the Second Amendment absolutists don’t attack restrictions on the First Amendment. If they are to be consistent, they should lobby for the repeal of libel laws. After all, those laws inhibit “free speech.”

The Constitution is a living document. Hopefully, our legislators and courts apply a common sense filter to extrapolate 18^th Century intent into 21^st Century reality. Is expecting reality from the gun fanatics achievable?