California

Eco Build America
Wednesday, May 21, 2008 at 12:00 AM
Anaheim Convention Center
800 W. Katella Ave.
Anaheim , CA 92803

Whether you are an Architect, Engineer, Contractor, Facility Manager, Gov't employee, Contractor, Specifier, IT Professional, Building Owner, or just an interested consumer, come learn about the latest products and technologies for green building.

Ecobuild America
Sustainable, Green, and High-Performance Solutions for the Built Environment

Ecobuild America represents your best opportunity to capitalize on the most comprehensive offerings of built environment resources under one roof:

- Explore the latest in sustainability, spanning local to global perspectives
- Uncover best practices in environmental design
- Review new advances in green building products and techniques
- Meet officials representing Building & Construction budgets and projects
- Discover how to apply your expertise to government projects and expand your client base
- See and hear from world-renown and industry experts in Keynote Presentations and in 100+ educational sessions
- Network with product manufacturers and service providers
- Benefit from your whole building team assembling in one location

Eco Build America openly invites all industry organizations, experts and career professionals to provide you and your building team with comprehensive exposure to all aspects of:

Fight Hunger in San Francisco - Volunteer at the San Francisco Food Bank
When: Saturday, April 12th 2008, at 12:30 PM - 3:30 PM
Where: San Francisco Food Bank
900 Pennsylvania Ave.
San Francisco, CA 94107

Host: San Francisco Young Democrats and Democrats Work
Contact: info_at_democratswork.org

Join Democrats Work and the San Francisco Young Democrats at the San Francisco Food Bank on Saturday, April 12th from 12:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Our work will mean that thousands of pounds of food will be distributed at meal and pantry programs throughout the city.

Be sure to wear your Democrats Work t-shirts!

Sustainable Mini-Farming Workshop, Willits, California.
February 29-March 2

The weekend workshop will consist of lectures, discussion, and demonstration on soil preparation, sustainable soil fertility, fertilization, compost, compost crops, efficient resource use, crops for full nutrition, and crops for income. Contact: Margo Royer-Miller, Ecology Action, margoroyer-miller@growbiointensive.org, (707) 459-0150.

Howard Dean put it this way: "You have the power!"

His brother, Jim Dean, now head of Democracy for America, put it this way: "We have to take ownership of the process."

Since the highly flawed 2000 election, progressives have slowly, ever so slowly been waking up to the need for taking ownership of the political process. At first, in all honesty, we were pretty lame at it at first. As recently as 2005 I saw the progressive grassroots, at least in NYC, largely unable to get its act together in any effective way. But by 2006 we started to see real results from what began in 2000.

The extreme right wing of the Republican Party took some 30 years to take nearly complete control of our political system. They did it by patiently and doggedly focusing on every elected position, no matter how low, in every state. They did it by repeating their agenda, their talking points over and over until people started absorbing it without even realizing it. They did it by taking over the media, station by station, newspaper by newspaper. They did it by focusing on LOCAL politics.

Progressives had lost that connection with local politics. But they have been rediscovering it. And that has led to a wave of new organizations that are revitalizing grassroots politics and reconnecting Democrats with their local community, a connection that should never have been lost.

Democracy for America, Wellstone Action, Blue Tiger Democrats, and Progressive Majority are, each in their own way, probably the most effective of these new organizations. Each has its own focus, its own strategy, and collectively they are making a real impact.

A short time ago I predicted California will go for Hillary Clinton, though perhaps narrowly enough that the delegate split will be pretty close. Well, developments may prove me wrong. Obama has an increasing shot at California.

With California a statistical dead heat between Obama and Hillary, three endorsements could put Obama over to victory. The Los Angeles Times, La Opinion...and now Maria Shriver (the Governor's wife) all have endorsed Barak Obama. Shriver's endorsement comes unexpectedly when she showed up at a rally at UCLA.

I have been putting my money on Hillary even as I endorsed Obama. The recent wave of endorsements all over the nation means I consider it now even odds. There is no longer a front runner. Obama has caught up. Tuesday will tell whether Hillary's more traditional, and, I assure you, very effective ground game will pull it off or Obama's momentum and ever expanding coalition will win. Either way, this is what making history looks like.

I have said it once and I am going to say it again : The people a candidate attracts matters. It matters if a candidate is willing to look the other way at their supporters' willingness to pick up the slack and run the dirty politics for them. And such is the vibe that I have gotten from the Clintons' supporters way before Hillary announced her candidacy. They want the dynasty. They want the twofer. By all means necessary.

So it's no wonder there's this coming from the Clinton side of the political aisle :

"That's when I caught on," said Coghlan. He realized then that he was being push-polled. That malicious political virus that is designed not to elicit answers but to spread positive information about one candidate and negative information about all others under the guise of an honest poll had arrived in Southern California within days of the important election.

It could become an issue in the closing hours of the campaign.

Someone who obviously favors Hillary Clinton is paying an unidentified company to spread this material phone call by phone call among independent voters, who can, according to California party rules, opt to vote in the Democratic but not the Republican primary on Feb. 5, when nearly two dozen states will choose a large chunk of the delegates to t

2008 ACEEE Summer Study on Energy Efficiency in Buildings
"Scaling Up: Building Tomorrow's Solutions"

August 17–22, 2008 • Asilomar Conference Center • Pacific Grove, California

Conference Co-Chairs:

Michael Baechler, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Rich Brown, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

The 2008 ACEEE Summer Study is the 14th biennial ACEEE conference on Energy Efficiency in Buildings and will be held August 17–22, 2008. A diverse group of energy efficiency professionals from around the world will gather at this pre-eminent meeting to discuss the technological basis for, and practical implementation of, reducing energy use in buildings. Presentations and discussions will relate to the theme, "Scaling Up: Building Tomorrow's Solutions." What started out at the Summer Study nearly three decades ago as a fringe activity is now mainstream: energy efficiency in buildings. Energy efficiency now represents our best hope to avoid the worst consequences of global warming and energy resource depletion. But to achieve this potential, the energy efficiency "engine" has to be greatly expanded. New programs, technologies, and financing sources need to be developed. A new generation of energy efficiency practitioners, researchers, and policymakers needs to be trained and deployed to solve the problems we face. Do you have ideas about how to make this happen? Come share your ideas and engage in dialogue about these issues at the 2008 Summer Study. Exchange ideas with some of the leading thinkers, visionaries, and luminaries in the field while experiencing the magnificent natural setting that is Asilomar.

Joy, Jacob and I travelled to California in December to visit my family. Even after 10 years in NYC, I still miss living in California. I am so much more relaxed and happy in California. Sure, NYC is more exciting and it is far easier to get around without a car in NYC, which I greatly appreciate. But Los Angeles is still my favorite city to live in, with the possible exception of Kyoto which was WONDERFUL to live in as well.

Got a lot to blog about that trip, including some restaurant reviews. But first I want to blog about car rentals. Joy and I don't own a car, but we rent whenever we need a car. Whenever we can, we rent a green alternative kind of car. Which means slowly we are gaining personal experience with several kinds of car rentals in Los Angeles...and many options are available elsewhere.

We are willing to spend somewhat extra for a green car, particularly since you save money on gas. But sometimes the difference in cost is too much, so we just rent a regular car with good gas milage. But I always feel better when we can rent an actual green car.

This last trip we rented a biodiesel through a company based in Hawaii that specializes in biodiesal Volkswagen rentals. The company is called bio-beetle. We rented a Jetta, not the eponymous bio-Beetle. Jacob loved calling our car "The Bio-Jetta," and would greet it every time we got in, "Hi Bio-Jetta!"

Joy and I are taking a surprise trip to California to visit my family. My mother is getting on in years and has been ailing a bit. She's recovering, but I figure I should make sure she and my son have plenty of chances to interact. My son already has a special place for "Grandma" and I want to encourage that. Hopefully they have years to establish a bond, but they won't if we don't visit when we have the chance.

So, California is on my mind and, inevitably with me, where we plan on eating is on my mind. Which may lead to a few restaurant reviews...

Tito's Tacos
11222 Washington Pl
Culver City, CA 90230
(cross st. Sepulveda)

Cheap, delicious Mexican fast food.

When I first took my wife to meet my family in Los Angeles (her first time in California ever...for the record, everyone I have shown around Los Angeles likes it...) I explained there were certain things I just HAD to do, certain places I HAD to eat. Among them was an early trip to Tito's Tacos. This is a place that is on the way from the airport if you are heading into the bulk of the city, so it was high the list for first stop off the plane. She seemed a bit unclear why a stop at a random taco stand was a MUST for visting Los Angeles, but she took my word for it.

The second time she visited Los Angeles, I hadn't even mentioned what we should or shouldn't do. Our goal was organizing our wedding and all other considerations were pushed aside in my mind. As we got to our rental car and started the engines, Joy turned to me and said, "Tito's Tacos, right?" It had become HER first MUST do in Los Angeles. All it had taken was that first introduction and she was as hooked as I had been from years of addiction.

Out in California the Republicans are DESPERATELY trying to split California's electoral college votes because they KNOW they are unlikely to be winning many elections in the near future if the election is fair. Of course they aren't willing to do it the fair way which would be to reform the system across the country. But fairness is not what they care about. Greed is all they care about.

This initiative was started by a Missouri Republican (so it isn't even a home grown California initiative) who had previously been fined by a court for ass-biting. Makes you wonder about Republicans when California Republicans follow an ass-biter from Missouri. But it seems that they are having big problems convincing people to sign their petitions because Californians have woken up to the fact that this initiative would make California irrelavent in Presidential elections. So they have been trying to con people into signing their petitions by hiding it behind a petition to provide funding for children with cancer. Once they get someone signing the cancer initiative, they try to slip in the election stealing initiative.

And yet they STILL can't get enough signatures. They have missed the filing deadline for the signatures. But they don't care...they think they can keep gathering signatures and file late and get away with it.