Nurses: Major protest against Schwarzenegger set for Tuesday

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - On the eve of a major protest against Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, representatives of the state's largest nurses union vowed to step up their demonstrations against the Republican governor and his "cynical agenda of brainwashing."

At a news conference Monday, Rose Ann DeMoro of the California Nurses Association predicted that at least 5,000 and possibly as many as 10,000 protesters would be on hand outside the Ritz-Carlton hotel in San Francisco on Tuesday night, where Schwarzenegger will be hosting a major fundraiser on behalf of four major government reform proposals he hopes to qualify for a special election next fall.

While the nurses and members of several public employee unions have been staging noisy protests against the Republican governor for months, DeMoro said she expected the San Francisco demonstration to be the largest yet.

"We will never be able to match the corporations in terms of money, but we have to show him that we object," DeMoro said. "The best way we can do that is to protest. The whole point of the protest is that he's fundraising, not governing."

http://www.sacbee.com/state_wire/story/12672007p-13525153c.html

that's the only thing that will get through to him.

I usually don't care for political ads or any ads for that matter, but these are just too good not to watch.

eom

ran for office on the promise to go to Sacramento to fight the special interests - we didn't know that the special interests meant the Nurses and Teachers whose first interest is your health and your children - but instead, Gov Schwarzenegger has called us Special Interests - what about the Big Drug Firms and Health Insurance companies that are the biggest contributors to you Mr. Schwarzenegger? Aren't those the special interests you promised to fight?

Anyway...that's the jist of the ads with nurses and teachers in them...very powerful...I gave some money to the CA Teachers Association to keep running them....

I'm also thinking of going to the city tonite and protesting with the teachers and nurses....Schwarzenegger is Bush-lite and he is just imposing the Bush agenda on California and destroying us....

A real "special interests" Bully.

ArnoldWatch Web Log: - Apr 04, 2005 - 12:15 PM
Chevron-Texaco's LNG-Gate
by: Jamie Court and Doug Heller
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Today's announcement of Chevron-Texaco's purchase of Unocal has a back story that could be the biggest scandal of the Schwarzenegger Administration yet. Back in July '04, some of Arnold's top brass were treated by Chevron-Texaco to an overseas trip -- it included luxury accommodations at the Four Seasons Hotel in Sydney, Australia -- to sell the gov's people on why Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) should be California's new source of electricity. Today's announced merger is mostly about Chevron-Texaco's desire to corner the market on LNG, of which Unocal controls significant supplies in the Far East. It's a $16 billion bet that California will open the door to coastal LNG terminals and make the long-term commitment to gas produced electricity.

What kind of insider information could that type of bet hinge on? Arnold's campaign committees have accepted $222,200 from Chevron-Texaco. Chevron-Texaco's former lobbyist, Patricia Clarey, is now Schwarzenegger's chief of staff. There's no energy company in the state that Arnold's Administration is closer to.

But if Chevron-Texaco corners the international market on LNG, it will be in the same position to withhold electricity supply and drive up electric prices that Enron and other energy firms like Reliant and Dynegy were in five years ago. (Don't forget Chevron owned about 27% of Dynegy when the market was manipulated last time.) And reporting by the Orange County Register last year showed that Chevron-Texaco shipped three tankers full of California gasoline out of state just as California drivers were paying record prices at the pump.

The state legislature and/or California Attorney General should immediately investigate all discussions between Arnold's Administration and Chevron-Texaco about LNG and the timing of those discussions. Bechtel Corporation, a top Republican donor, stands to benefit greatly from a new LNG market by building the coastal terminals needed for it, but the energy company that controls the LNG stands to profit the most. Chevron-Texaco's campaign cash, with the help of all-expense paid trips and a lobbyist in the gov's inner circle, should not be able to buy that company a new grip on California's electricity supply. If state officials drill a little they might just find "LNG-gate" not too far below the surface.

Read more at: http://ArnoldWatch.org

http://www.arnoldwatch.org/blogs/blogs_000680.php3

Arnold's 2nd largest donor is a predator -- not the imaginary motion picture creature, but the real-deal predatory lending beast. Americaquest Mortgage, which has given more than $1.2 million to Arnold's committees, is under investigation by 25 states for allegations of fraudulent lending practices. Yesterday's front page Los Angeles Times story details the impact of their predation on the financial security of borrowers and the systemic nature of the alleged fraud: "The three plaintiffs contend in court papers that Ameriquest had an 'art department' in a Tampa office where loan documents were altered. In interviews with The Times, they've shown stacks of what they say are internal Ameriquest files proving their allegations." ("Doubt Is Cast On Loan Papers," read the article at: http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/la-fi-ameriquest28mar28,1,627016.story )

Arnold's 2nd biggest sugar daddy is stealing from seniors and impoverished working people and the company's founder, Roland Arnall, was the co-chair of Arnold's recent gala fundraiser in Los Angeles. If Arnold missed this story, he ought to go back and give it a read. Then the gov should return Ameriquest's blood money. Whether or not he needs anyone else's money, Arnold certainly doesn't need cash from a societal predator.

this stuff in of all papers the San Francisco Chronicle. I sent a brief comment to that effect with these two stories to a chron writer today.

I love what these folks are doing and I hope it gives Arnold a real run for his money.