The California Democratic Party has launched the 2008 Summer of Change video contest to get Democrats from all over the state to submit 30-second YouTube videos on what's at stake in the California state budget. Barak, Marshall, Conner, and I were hired by the party to make the introduction video for the contest, which aired at the state convention last weekend:




For more info on the contest, visit: www.summerofchange08.com

President Ronald Reagan once said"The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help."

The likes of people like Reagan and Bush persisted in making this statement a reality. How confident are you in our government today? Disregard any disagreements you may have on policy or ideology.

How would you rate this governments competence. Lets not kid ourselves, its less then abysmal.

Count your cringes as you go down this short list.

FEMA
EPA
DOA
The War

This government is so incompetent that the telephone companies ended an illegal spy program because there weren't receiving timely pay!

This is the sort of dark irony one expects to find in Shakespeare, or a Woody Allen movie. A quick chuckle at the situation is often followed by a deep regretful sigh and disbelief-induced depression. As Kos has stated several times, people who barely believe in government are probably not the best at running a government.

For the sake of my following argument lets assume 2008 is going to be a democratic sweep.

For the first time in my life (I turned 18 last December) we have a chance to not only fight against the right -wing agenda, but we will be given the opportunity to fight for things we believe in!

As the government becomes efficient once more, and we become enthralled with the excitement of gaining universal health care, ending the war in Iraq as well as rediscovering science and the constitution. we cannot allow our selves to forget the indefensible disaster our government once was.We must as a progressive movement, as a party, use this new gained majority to develop methods of ensuring future government competency.

Although not a hot topic issue, government readiness, efficientness and effectiveness affect more people than practically any other.

In all likely hood there will be more Reagans and Bushs, and since both presidencies have proven that the Congressional check doesn't work, we desperately need to develop a new system

That's were you come in! The Net-Roots could be a think tank several million strong . With a Democratic majority, what we say could actually affect legislation and policy

Together lets work for a better today.
Together lets ensure a stable tomorrow.
and together lets make the ten most terrifying words for any obstructionist politician a reality.

"we're the people, and we're coming to kick some ass!"

Well, it took them a while, but Congress was finally able to override a Bush veto this week. On a 79-14 vote in the Senate and a 361-54 vote in the House, Congress overturned the President's veto of the Water Resources Development Act of 2007. It marked the first time that a Presidential veto has been overridden since Congress overturned Clinton's veto of H.R. 2631 on November 13, 1997.

Dear Senator Feinstein,

I am deeply disappointed in your vote today to condemn MoveOn.org over its newspaper ad criticizing General David Petraeus. America is presently facing immense challenges abroad and at home, while the U.S. Senate is focused on ridiculous political resolutions instead of dealing with the problems at hand. This vote never should have made it to the Senate floor. If the U.S. Senate believes that condemning unfair political ads is appropriate, then why didn't you introduce a resolution condemning the "swift boat" ads during the 2004 election, when the patriotism and honor of one of your fellow colleges was called into question?

Obviously this was a political vote, and an incredible tactical mistake on behave of all the Democrats who voted for this nonsense. As Wesley Clark said earlier today:

"It distracted attention from focusing on the failures of the policy and let the other side play a game of personal attack again. That's a mistake. It distracted us from the dialogue we needed."

As Democrats, it is vitally important that we break the stereotype of a "weak" and "calculating" party. We could start by not tearing apart our allies, and calling out the Republicans when they attempt to distract Americans for the serious issues at hand. I am disappointed in your lack of leadership, lack of loyalty to progressives, and willingness to jump ship when it seems politically convenient. Democrats are better than this.

Your constituent,
Ian Magruder

President, Cabrillo College Democrats

In the wake of his blistering Senate testimony yesterday, senior Bush administration officials are now calling for Gonzales' resignation. It seems like every day another wave of progressives and conservatives come out against him. First it was the '08 Dems, then last week it was a group of influential conservatives, a few days ago it was Bill Clinton, and today Republican House leader Rep. Adam Putman joined in. Now I think he's finally reached the tipping point. I predict a resignation within the next week or possibly next few days.

We're all looking forward to seeing the end of a man who called the Geneva Conventions "quaint." But, if the administration keeps him around a little longer, so be it, they'll only drag their party down further.

Former Vice President Al Gore, featured in the Oscar winning documentary An Inconvient Truth, testified before the House Science and Technology Committee yesterday. He brought with him boxes upon boxes of messages from 519,414 Americans (including me!) calling on congress to take action to stop the dangerous effects of global warming. Rather than analyze every section of the testimony, I'll let you see the highlights for yourself: