NEW Free Forum PETER SCHRAG – California Fights Back:The Golden State in the Age of Trump

Written on February 23rd, 2018

PETER SCHRAG, longtime editor of The Sacramento Bee, makes the case that “no party, no lobby, no organization has been as formidable an adversary to the Washington of Donald Trump, Paul Ryan, and Mitch McConnell as California has. None has both the will and the heft that California brings to this fight. None has been as determined.” And he reminds us that California has come a long way since 1994 and Prop 187.

Free Forum Q&A – TERRY TAMMINEN, frmr Secy Cal EPA CRACKING the CARBON CODE Sustainable Profits in the New Economy

Written on September 4th, 2013
Tamminen-cracking  

 

Aired 09/02/12

When I first met TERRY TAMMINEN, he was living on a houseboat in the Marina and filling a position he’d founded as the first Santa Monica Baykeeper. No too long before that, he had been running a pool services company. And not too long after, he was Secretary of the California EPA.

Tamminen has reinvented himself successfully in several very different worlds — business, government, non-profit, foundation, from the grassroots to the halls of power. All of this for a long time now to achieve a sound and healthy relationship between society and the environment. He pursues that consistent vision with whatever works.

We’ll talk about the ideas in his book, CRACKING THE CARBON CODE: The Key to Sustainable Profits in the New Economy – which is very much a plan of action for companies who figure out that reducing carbon emissions reduces waste and is therefore good for the bottom line. He’ll tell stories of companies that have made or saved money by cutting carbon.

How has he been able to move things forward through politics and government in an era when so little seems to get done? Bottom line, are we moving fast enough? If not, how do we integrate all these different players to accelerate movement in the right direction?

http://seventhgenerationadvisors.org

Q&A w/ DOUG FINE, Author of TOO HIGH TO FAIL: Cannabis and the New Green Economic Revolution

Written on June 25th, 2013
2hiFine  

 Aired: 06/23/13

This week, in the second of a two-part series (Part One with CARL HART, author of HIGH PRICE: A Neuroscientist’s Journey of Self-Discovery that Challenges Everything You Know about Drugs and Society) I’m joined by DOUG FINE to talk about the accelerating movement to change the rules on marijuana. According to Fine, as the economy continues to limp along for most Americans and California cities declare bankruptcy, one action — the legalization of marijuana — would save government billions per year while raising huge sums in taxes. According to TIME, the legal medicinal cannabis economy already generates $200 million annually in taxable proceeds from a mere five hundred thousand registered medical users in just sixteen states. 51% of Americans support full legalization (cannabis regulated for adults like alcohol), and 80% support medicinal cannabis legalization.

Fine’s book, TOO HIGH TO FAIL: Cannabis and the New Green Economic Revolution, is just out in paperback. In a postscript added to the new edition, Fine writes,” On November 6, 2012, Colorado and Washington voters ended the Drug War. That is to say, voters in both states overwhelmingly legalized adult social use of cannabis (Colorado’s new law, vitally, also allows industrial cannabis cultivation). It is no stretch to say that the Berlin Wall of the Drug War fell.” We’ll talk about how quickly the landscape is changing and look ahead to the era of legal marijuana.

www.dougfine.com

Q&A: RICK JACOBS, Courage Campaign 14 orgs’ progressive advice for CA propositions

Written on November 6th, 2012

 

Aired 11/04/12

The final day to vote in this year’s elections is Tuesday November 6th. Last week I talked with Tom Hayden. Despite failures and frustrations, Tom believes the BARACK OBAMA accomplished more than he gets credit for and that his re-election is critical to many of the issues progressives care about.

YES 30 !!!!

NO 32 !!!!
————————————————————————-

No 31

No 33

Yes 34

Mixed 35

Yes 36

Yes 37

Yes 39

Yes 40

http://www.couragecampaign.org/

ALSO: November 2005 with 1972 Democratic presidential candidate GEORGE McGOVERN, who passed away two weeks ago today. As a 24 year old, I worked on his national staff. In fact, I moved to Los Angeles for the first time to run the campaign in what was then the 52nd Assembly district, the most conservative Democratic district in the state at the time.

I recorded the interview with McGovern on the occasion of the release of ONE BRIGHT, SHINING MOMENT: The Forgotten Summer of George McGovern, a documentary on the 1972 campaign I highly recommend you watch on DVD.

http://aworldthatjustmightwork.com/2012/10/special-replay-george-mcgovern-2/

Q&A: Connie Rice – author, Power Concedes Nothing

Written on April 3rd, 2012

 

Aired 04/01/12

Too often problems are not solved, solutions are not found or implemented, and money, lives and moments of opportunity are wasted.

CONNIE RICE has taken on school and bus systems, Death Row, the states of Mississippi and California, and the LAPD – and won. Not just in court but also on the streets and in prisons, where she has spearheaded campaigns to reduce gang violence. She has long been dedicated, in her words, to finishing what Martin Luther King Jr started, and she pursues that aim with a focused passion, intelligence, and commitment.

Too often we oppose each other rather than looking for every opportunity to align to solve a problem. Rice sues a model of law enforcement that dominated Los Angeles for decades. In response, the model begins to shift. She then works with — and finally — within LA Law Enforcement. The model shifts some more. Such movement calls for the right sequence of opposition and cooperation, the strategic use of the tools available, and the ability of both sides to shift from litigation to collaboration.

http://advancementproject.org

http://powerconcedesnothing.com