Even Bush is sick of the Iraq fiasco...he has been mumbling about pulling out troops and about a "time horizon"...yes, "HORIZON," not a timeline, for the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq. Don't know about you, but I have never heard anyone talk about "time horizons" before. Makes me think of an event horizon around a black hole...which is an ominous comparison.

Remember, though, Bush's shifting to withdrawal is not by any choice of his. The Iraq government has told him in no uncertain terms that we have outlived our welcome and they do not want us there permanently.

So it started with the gas tax holiday...

He said the average consumer would save a "quarter and a nickel" a day, and only $28 in three months.

McCain told a town-hall audience in Denver: "I want to give the American consumer a little bit of relief just for the summer. Maybe they'll be able to buy an additional textbook for their children when they go back to school this fall."

link

$28? For a textbook? Would that my life were so easy.

The Librarian of Congress has chosen Kay Ryan of Marin County, California, to be the next US Poet Laureate.

From SFGate:

Ryan learned about the honor Monday, when she and her partner of 30 years, Carol Adair, arrived home from the Aspen Ideas Festival  ...

The next day was a busy one, because she and Adair were scheduled to be remarried, having married the first time in 2004 at City Hall in San Francisco. "We'll have to get the rings re-engraved with the new date," she said.

That's a great thing to wake up to after Wednesday's disappointment. A new Field Poll (not the one taken in May, but one performed just this past week, from July 8 to July 14) shows that the majority of Californians still oppose Proposition 8, to the tune of 51% against to 42% in favor.

That, friends and neighbors, is great news. To me, it says that the pendulum really is swinging the other way, and that the tide has finally turned. (Gotta love repeatable results!)

Come with me after the jump for a short discussion of the results.

Proposition 8, the hot-button measure to engrave a ban on same-sex marriage into the state constitution, is trailing by nine points, according to a new Field Poll.

More than two-thirds of GOP poll respondents (68 percent) said they would vote for the ban, while 63 percent of Democrats said they would vote "no."

Independents sided with the "no" side even more than Democrats (66 percent).

The Sacramento Bee
CapitolAlert

Taday's New York Times had a story about a hotelier whose donations to an anti-gay marriage campaign spurred a boycott by his gay clientele.

While the case raises some questions whee we need to tread carefully so we avoid charges of hypocrisy; on thorough examination, they are bogus claims and Doug Manchester, the innkeeper in question, is a crybaby.

Too often I read in the news a story about another medical marijuana office being raided by the FBI with all of the medicine being taken, along with the patient records.  While medicine can be replaced, the patient's privacy is priceless.   What is being done to protect these records?  What can be done to protect these records?  

I will be honest in that I am not aware of all of the laws that may apply.  But what I put below are just some suggestions on things that can be done to keep your office's records out of the reach of the feds.  I value privacy and I see these raids as an affront to that privacy.  

Well, I'd like to say that my husband and I are going into our second month of wedded bliss (tomorrow it will be a month!) without a care in the world. However, that would be a lie.

Today's California Supreme Court refusal to even hear the petition which gave very good and legal reasons to strip Proposition 8 off the ballot may be one of the reasons why we're both in a bit of a bad mood. Just perhaps.

Come with me after the fold to hear about the first month of our marriage, our honeymoon, and some tentative analysis of today's (misguided, in my opinion) decision by the California Supreme Court.

Unfortunately, it looks like  a majority vote on the legality of my marriage and thousands of others like it will be happening this November in California.

A post on the QueerLaw mailing list has just informed me that the California Supreme Court has issued a response to the motion requesting a stay in preventing Proposition 8 from appearing on the November 4, 2008 statewide ballot.

So much for making California competitive. The latest Field Poll, taken July 8-14, included 672 likely voters and has a margin of error of 3.9 percent.

No surprise that Obama's supporters express far more enthusiasm than McCain supporters. He also has 80% support from people who voted for Clinton in the primary.

So McCain wants to contest California? I won't say "bring it on." I will just thank him for trying to make the state competitive, and encourage him to vigorously pursue his efforts there.

Disclosure:  I've been with this campaign since the 2007 CDP convention.

Manuel Perez has a significant, double-digit lead over his Republican opponent and
is well-positioned to win back the seat for Democrats in California’s 80th Assembly

 That's the latest polling we have (Source: Heidi von Szeliski and Associates), and it looks good all over.

This has been a district made for Democrats to win since the last redistricting, and yet we've lost over and over.  But now California Democrats are heading into the general of a key battleground for our 2/3 majority fight with four major factors in our favor:  numbers, nominee, polling and ground game.  

Maps, polling, links galore over the flip.  

State senator, serial campaigner, carpetbagger, Conservative Icon, and now dedicated train hater Tom McClintock has emerged as the leading detractor of California's proposed high-speed train system.

This presents California progressives with a great opportunity- we have the opportunity to defeat McClintock not once, but twice, in 2008.

Sunday afternoon, we're driving home through the desert, heading back to the middle of Arizona where I live at a point along the base of a geological freak of nature: the southwestern end of the Colorado Plateau lift known as the Mogollon Rim.

Driving back home on Interstate 8. The cool breezes of San Diego shorelines replaced by humid monsoon season heat-waves. A few clusters of dark clouds dump dense sheets of rain on Mexico and the rest of the sky fills with clouds, high, non-threatening...

The people who cook lunches, clean classrooms, and provide medical care at the University of California live in poverty.  96% of the people who do these important, necessary jobs are eligible to receive public poverty assistance.  Many people working at the UC -- one of the world's most prestigious universities -- have to work two or even three jobs just to pay rent and put food on the table for their families.

I just got back from the picket line here at UC Santa Barbara, where I'm a teacher and graduate student.  The American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees Local 3299 (AFSCME), which represents the 8,500 people who cook, clean, and work in health clinics across the University, today began a five-day strike after more than a full year of demanding a better contract with fair wages .  There are about 100 or so workers and supporters at the main entrance to UCSB right now, demonstrating for a fair contract.  Spirits are high, because everyone knows that the University simply cannot work without them -- so they're going to win a fair contract.  It's just a matter of time.

Original Post at The Sanctuary.

I'm here in San Diego where Barack Obama just spoke at the annual National Council of La Raza (NCLR) conference.  NCLR flew out me here and provided with me accommodations at the luxurious San Diego Marriot Hotel & Marina.  I was given the opportunity after I helped publicize NCLR's latest We Can Stop the Hate video using Digg and StumbleUpon, among other new media tools. 

I should not even have to write this diary. However, I'm a little concerned that with the FISA issue and the appearance of Obama moving to the middle that this would encourage some to look at the Green Party Candidate (who was just officially nominated). In fact, I read a diary over at Talking Points where a couple of thoughts were put together in a bizarre way to support McKinney. Do not get swayed by anything McKinney says.

I don't think anyone would vote for her outside of the West Coast. But they may not know about her history as much as those in the South or the East Coast. Hopefully if you are reading this you are still supporting Barack, but this is just another reason to throw him a few more dollars.
I'm mostly supporting Senate and House candidates, but still keep in mind that we need to give directly to Barack as well.

As many are aware, the fires ravaging Northern California have affected the lives of thousands. Yesterday, Charlie Brown headed north to Oroville to help with relief efforts for fire victims and evacuees.

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July. Jacob saw his first real fireworks display and loved it at first. We were watching from the 12th floor of a building right on the waterfront, so it was spectacular. Unfortunately, he was coming down with a fever and by the end was pretty unhappy. He is fine again now.

This was a big week, both locally where my friend qualified for the ballot for NYC's Sept. 9th primary election, and nationally where Obama's surge continued even as the Democrats once again showed less spine than we would like them to. More below.