International politics

[Alistair]

From here (http://www.thenakedvegan.net/showpost.php?p=12020&postcount=24)

I really think it's going to be Schwarzeneger. I know he's not American-born but laws have been changed in the past to accomodate people. He's recently passed some animal-friendly laws in California, which has a large population of animal lovers. I think he'd be very scary as a president, I don't trust him.

Then again, I don't trust any politicians.

He seems to have to positions on several things as a left wing radical; such as adopting the Kyoto Protocol for California.

Amusingly I googled ''Arnie'' and ''California'' and got http://gov.ca.gov/ ! The top hit!

He has a good record on both finance, society and the environment. Not an easy task. It will be fascinating to watch.

[Gliondrach]

Another ex-actor was Governer of California before becoming President.

[thevegantwins]

Another ex-actor was Governer of California before becoming President.
And he was :dizzy: :dunce: before he even got into office.

I wonder if Arnold still drives his gas-guzzling Hummer around like he used to before he was elected gov or did he realize that it might not be the best vehicle for someone who proclaims to care about the environment.

[Alistair]

I wonder if Arnold still drives his gas-guzzling Hummer ......

http://images.forbes.com/images/2005/01/03/1_0104vow.jpg

I kid you not. :laugh:

[thevegantwins]

:rofl: I don't think he always used his hydrogenmobile though

[dreamer]

I know this isn't specifically about "Ahnold," but is anyone else wary of all federal politicians, regardless of party? Right now I'll probably vote straight Democrat in the upcoming elections to try to balance out the power of Republicans--though I doubt it'll work, but I'm so fed up with all of them:whiteflag:

[Alistair]

:rofl: I don't think he always used his hydrogenmobile though

Apparently he had 8 of the beasts - 3 times more CO2 gas than an average car so he got rid of them all. GM lets the gevernors office use their Hydrogen Hummer - Arnie is pushing for a hydrogen fuel answer.

[Oracl]

is anyone else wary of all federal politicians, regardless of party?
I feel the same way, dreamer. :sigh:

[maddie]

Another ex-actor was Governer of California before becoming President.

Oh my, I've never given consideration to Schwarznegger becoming president. Now I'm scared. (insert ostrich hiding their head in the sand emoticon)

[Gliondrach]

I don't know anything about Arnie except that he has saved the world a few times from aliens and robots from the future. But would he be any worse than some of the characters who've sat in the oval office?

Who do you American-types think would be a good or good-ish president?

[thevegantwins]

Dennis Kuchinich! (http://www.kucinich.us/)

He's vegan too! :cheer:

[Keykeypie]

Dennis Kucinich...absolutely!
Here's what he says re. AR (http://www.kucinich.us/issues/rightsanimal.php)

[Alistair]

Dennis Kuchinich! (http://www.kucinich.us/)

He's vegan too! :cheer:

I like the look of him! He seems to be putting a Bill forward to remove the farce of electronic voting.

I watched Votergate (movie) in 2004 and I don't understand why people haven't gone to prison for some of this!

[I would add a link but there is little of use on the site.] :(

[Oracl]

Dennis Kucinich...absolutely!
Here's what he says re. AR (http://www.kucinich.us/issues/rightsanimal.php)
He sounds almost too good to be true! :excited:

[Gliondrach]

I'd vote for him.

[Bowwowmeow]

This might be fun, if anyone's interested and has the time:

http://img.getactivehub.com/gv2/custom_images/defconamerica/spacer.gifDear Laura,

We're very excited to have Robert Lanham, author of The Sinner's Guide to the Evangelical Right (http://ga3.org/ct/Up24ucF14zhr/), joining us today for a live chat at 2 pm EST. You can register for the chat here. (http://ga3.org/ct/U724ucF14zh4/) The Village Voice called The Sinner's Guide a "handbook for dealing with Bible thumpers," adding that it offers "much needed, totally biased comic relief." To put it bluntly, this book is as hilarious as it is informative.

Lanham will discuss the religious right's absurd and hypocritical leadership and beliefs and answer your questions, which you can post to the DefCon Blog now and during the chat. (http://ga3.org/ct/Ud24ucF14zhX/)

Join us for this important conversation today, Thursday, November 2nd, at 2 pm EST. Click here to register for this exciting event. (http://ga3.org/ct/U724ucF14zh4/)

Sincerely,

Clark, Jessica, and the rest of the DefCon Team




2 PM EST is 2 hours from right now (9 AM my time). :D

[Gliondrach]

I think I've just missed it. But I don't come across these people. I hope you learnt something useful.

[Keykeypie]

Oh darn! I signed on & then I got busy in the shop and now it's over.....did anybody get there? I bet it was funny/interesting.

[Bowwowmeow]

No, I knew I would miss it, as I had to leave for work right when it started.

[KRITER]

The constituion wood hav to be changed for Arnie to be president.I spect that wood take sum time but I havnt heard of any big interest in doing that.Kurchinich would be a good candident if he was wanting to run agan.But Im frad theres not enuff suport for him.He maybe to radical for the majority being a vegan, dont you kno.Americans in general dont like people looking anykinda way like a radical.I even see it in the animal rites movement and the environmental movement.Theres sum who dont think civil disobedence is a good idea.They just sisies is all.I figure sumtimes you got to rase hell to get to heaven.(Not being religous saying that yall.)
The main thing for me and most people I dun talked to is geting rid of Bush and his frends from national to local levels.I hope we do it.

[Oracl]

I figure sumtimes you got to rase hell to get to heaven.
I can relate to that. :thumbsup: :agree:

[Keykeypie]

The constituion wood hav to be changed for Arnie to be president.I spect that wood take sum time but I havnt heard of any big interest in doing that.Kurchinich would be a good candident if he was wanting to run agan.But Im frad theres not enuff suport for him.He maybe to radical for the majority being a vegan, dont you kno.Americans in general dont like people looking anykinda way like a radical.I even see it in the animal rites movement and the environmental movement.Theres sum who dont think civil disobedence is a good idea.They just sisies is all.I figure sumtimes you got to rase hell to get to heaven.(Not being religous saying that yall.)
The main thing for me and most people I dun talked to is geting rid of Bush and his frends from national to local levels.I hope we do it.

Yeah Kriter, I would just LOVE to see Dennis Kucinich run. Here's what
he has to say about Animal Rights (http://www.kucinich.us/issues/rightsanimal.php)

[Bowwowmeow]

Boxer Pledges Shift on Global Warming

http://my.eimg.net/harvest_xml/NEWS/img/20061109/4552b5d0_3ca7_15527200611091056473696.jpg (http://enews.earthlink.net/article/pho?guid=20061109/4552b5d0_3ca7_15527200611091056473696&article_path=/article/top&article_guid=20061109/4552b5d0_3ca6_1552620061109-745804237)

U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., gives a thumbs up as she campaigns for U.S. Rep. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., at a rally in Burlington, Vt., seen in this Monday, Sept. TOBY TALBOT

By SAMANTHA YOUNG (Associated Press Writer)
From Associated Press
November 09, 2006 10:15 PM EST
SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Sen. Barbara Boxer on Thursday promised major policy shifts on global warming, air quality and toxic-waste cleanup as she prepares to lead the U.S. Senate's environmental committee.
"Time is running out, and we need to move forward on this," Boxer said of global warming during a conference call with reporters. "The states are beginning to take steps, and we need to take steps as well."
Boxer's elevation to chairwoman of the Senate Environmental Public Works Committee comes as Democrats return to power in the Senate. It also marks a dramatic shift in ideology for the panel.
The California Democrat is one of the Senate's most liberal members and replaces one of its most conservative, Republican James Inhofe of Oklahoma. Inhofe had blocked bills seeking to cut the greenhouse gases contributing to global warming, calling the issue "the greatest hoax perpetrated on the American people."
Environmentalists were overjoyed at the change.
"That's like a tsunami hit the committee," said Karen Steuer, who heads government affairs at the National Environmental Trust, a nonprofit based in Washington, D.C. "You can't find two members or people more ideologically different."
As chairman, Inhofe tried to overhaul the Endangered Species Act and supported the Bush administration's 2002 rules to roll back provisions in the Clean Air Act. He also promoted legislation that would have allowed the government to suspend air and water quality rules in response to Hurricane Katrina.
Boxer said she intends to introduce legislation to curb greenhouse gases, strengthen environmental laws regarding public health and hold oversight hearings on federal plans to clean up Superfund hazardous waste sites across the country.
On global warming, Boxer said she would model federal legislation after a new California law that imposed the first statewide limit on greenhouse gases and seeks to cut California's emissions by 25 percent, dropping them to 1990 levels by 2020.
"Some of the practical solutions are in the California approach," Boxer said.
A top environmental aide at the White House signaled Thursday that the administration would work with her. George Banks, the associate director for international affairs at the Council for Environmental Quality, has requested a meeting to discuss global warming, Boxer said.
President Bush has opposed a federal mandate to limit greenhouse gas emissions from industry and automobiles, saying such steps should be voluntary.
"We look forward to working with Congress in bipartisanship on all issues," said Kristen Hellmer, a spokeswoman for the Council on Environmental Quality. She declined to discuss specifics related to the upcoming global warming discussion.
Some environmentalists said major changes in policy won't occur before 2008.
"On the issue of global warming in particular, we're going to need a new president before we see major progress," said Eric Antebi, spokesman for the San Francisco-based Sierra Club. "But this Congress can really lay the groundwork for that and make incremental changes."


That's MY Senator!!! :thumbsup: :yea: :cheer: :D

[Bowwowmeow]

Pelosi's Hometown Disputes Liberal Image

http://my.eimg.net/harvest_xml/NEWS/img/20061109/4552b5d0_3ca7_15527200611091533872382.jpg (http://enews.earthlink.net/article/pho?guid=20061109/4552b5d0_3ca7_15527200611091533872382&article_path=/article/pol&article_guid=20061109/4552b5d0_3ca6_1552620061109-1680399281)

Aaron Carruthers, left, and Keith Haberstuck, of Sacramento, Calif., smell flowers prior to their wedding Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2004, at City Hall in San Francisco. BEN MARGOT

By RACHEL KONRAD and LISA LEFF (Associated Press Writers)
From Associated Press
November 09, 2006 6:53 PM EST
SAN FRANCISCO - Gay weddings in the U.S. Capitol. Hippie gatherings on the Mall. Hempfest along the Potomac. Republican campaign strategists have evoked such images to mock the Democrats and especially San Francisco's Nancy Pelosi, who has represented Babylon by the Bay since 1987 and now stands poised to become speaker of the House.
But in the district where Pelosi was re-elected Tuesday with more than 80 percent of the vote, constituents say that Middle America has nothing to fear from San Francisco and that the city has more variety than its most colorful elements might suggest.
"They think we are tree-huggers and granola eaters," Mary Graves, 47, a self-described mainstream Democrat, said with a laugh. "I explain that I'm just tolerant and love diversity and having everyone get along and respect each other."
San Francisco is, without a doubt, the nation's unofficial gay capital and a bastion of the far left and the radical fringe. But it is also the home of cutting-edge businesses, rich Internet entrepreneurs and other buccaneering capitalists, and a monied class that thrives on fine dining and the arts.
The results of Tuesday's municipal election, in which Pelosi's Republican challenger got more votes than the Green Party candidate, capture San Francisco's political complexity. Residents approved a measure requiring employers to provide sick pay to hourly workers. But they rejected a proposal to raise taxes on parking garages.
Aaron Peskin, president of the city Board of Supervisors, said San Francisco has such ethnic, cultural and political diversity that its elected officials must be masters of consensus-building.
"The kinds of skills you need to be an effective decision-maker on the local level in San Francisco - having to compromise between various constituencies - makes someone very well situated for doing that in our nation's capital," he said of Pelosi.
Pelosi, a 66-year-old mother of five who is married to an investment banker, occupies the middle ground of San Francisco politics. California's two Democratic senators, Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, also from the Bay Area, respectively stand to Pelosi's right and left.
Jeane Kirkpatrick, President Reagan's foreign policy adviser and a former U.N. ambassador, is said to have coined the "San Francisco liberal" label in 1984. Addressing the Republican National Convention, she accused San Francisco Democrats of pulling the party too far to the left and not aggressively fighting communism.
More recently, the San Francisco area's embrace of gay marriage, medical marijuana and the anti-war movement reinforced the city's image as a loopy place out of sync with the rest of America.
That's ironic, said Richard DeLeon, professor emeritus of political science at San Francisco State University.
"The values of the American creed - individuality, liberty, free speech, democracy and at least the aspiration of equality - can be expressed and experienced in San Francisco to an extent that's hard to find elsewhere," said DeLeon, who first came here during the 1967 Summer of Love. "San Francisco isn't un-American. America has become less American, with a retreat from civil liberties and, in the White House, suppressive policies and pre-emptive war."
Despite its perception as being on the fringe, the Bay Area plays a central role in the national and global economy; entrepreneurship is encouraged and richly rewarded.
Silicon Valley gets more venture capital funding than any other region in the world, and companies here set the pace for workplace trends such as casual dress, telecommuting and stock option compensation.
"San Francisco is a place where ideas are accepted and heard," said Sharon Miller, chief executive of Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center, a nonprofit that trains people who want to open their own businesses. "We're known for innovation - and for supporting innovation."
Arianna Orleans, 35, a professor of English and a married mother of a 15-month-old boy in San Francisco, wondered why many Americans see the city as unaligned with "family values."
"I want to raise my child in San Francisco because that I feel that here he'll see examples of all kinds of people, and he'll know that all those different choices are valid," Orleans said. "Whether he wants to wear tie-dye or khakis - that's valid, and there will probably be lots of other people making the same choices who are valuable, respected members of his community."
---
Associated Press Writer Justin M. Norton in San Francisco contributed to this report.


"San Francisco isn't un-American. America has become less American, with a retreat from civil liberties and, in the White House, suppressive policies and pre-emptive war."
GO SAN FRANCISCO!!!
:cheer: :cheer: :cheer:

:shy: I can't help it. Its my city, and I love it! :shy:

[Oracl]

GO SAN FRANCISCO :shy: I can't help it. Its my city, and I love it! :shy:

I envy you that feeling of knowing where you belong. :agree: I have lost that connection with any particular place. :updn: