Had lunch today with Pat Keeble, among others, to make predictions about the upcoming election.  Pat asked us all for our email addresses because she has restarted the Contra Costa Insider as an online newsletter.

True local political junkies have missed Pat’s Insider – so I was glad to learn she’s on the web.  Here’s what her "About Us" page says:

"The Contra Costa Insider is produced by Pat Keeble & Friends, for the purpose of providing non-partisan political information to the residents and voters of Contra Costa County.

It is informational in nature and will not take stands on candidates or issues.

Pat was for many years political editor of the Lesher Newspapers, Inc., now the Contra Costa Newspapers, including the Contra Costa Times and its sister publications. After leaving the company, she and friends published a popular print edition of the Insider. Converting to an online edition will help us continue that tradition and provide information in a more timely manner.

We get our information largely from public sources. We will apply interpretation and knowledge to such information in hopes that voters and would-be voters will find it meaningful.

We welcome comments. However, there are only a few of us and we will not be able to answer most e-mails.

For now, at least, subscriptions to the Insider are free. Just click on the e-mail link below to be added to the subscription list. You will be notified and given a link whenever there are major changes to the site.

We hope you enjoy our efforts!"

Visit the Contra Costa Insider site and subscribe.  The subscription boxes are on the left margin and hard to find because they are faint and have "helpful" tips inside them – like Name and Email – just type over ’em and you’re good to go.

This week the political pundits in California will be pouring over the recently filed campaign finance committee reports (period ending June 30, 2005) to see if there are any surprising signs of strength or weakness to be found.

For those inclined to see what information is available on line visit the Secretary of State’s website – CalAccess .  The search box in the upper-right corner is very useful.  While the site lists all committees, it only provides on-line information for those committees that are large enough to fall under the on-line filing requirement.  Also note – today is the filing deadline so some committees that should have on-line information available don’t, as of yet.

What’s interesting so far?  Well, Contra Costa County Supervisor Mark DeSaulnier’s Assembly 2006 committee has reported raising $67,780 and spending $13,625 in the first half of 2005 leaving a balance of about $246,000.  His only announced opponent, Dr. Laura Canciamilla, entered the race recently and probably hasn’t raised enough ($50,000+) to trigger the on-line filing requirement.  On the other hand her husband Assemblyman Joe Canciamilla has two committees with a combined balance of just over $544,000.

Stephen L. Carter has written an op-ed worth reading in the July 3, 2005 New York Times entitled: Disorder in the Court.

He reminds us that the judiciary was designed to be independent.  He’s right.  The Founding Fathers wanted it to be one of the checks and balances in our new system of government.

Carter also points out the sorry history of confirmation hearings and how inappropriate the process has become.

"…The spectacle we have made of confirmation hearings reinforces the public notion that the justices exist to decide cases the way political movements want them to. Liberals think the right started it, and conservatives think the left started it, but the important question is not who started it but who is going to stop it."

Exactly!

James Fallows has written a must-read article in the July/August 2005 Atlantic Monthly titled: Countdown to a Meltdown – America’s coming economic crisis.  A look back from the election of 2016.  I’d link to the article but it requires a paid subscription.  From my perspective the article is worth the price of a subscription.  (Full disclosure – I read a hard copy purchased from the magazine aisle at Safeway.)

The article is scary and informative.  Fallows gives us a ton of information (and the footnotes to back it up) in the form of a strategy memo from a campaign manager to a third-party presidential candidate who is, given events, clearly expected to win and govern.  Fallows also manages to make very complicated economic, monetary and geo-political issues understandable.  Our failure to maintain our educational lead on the rest of the world, our reliance on foreign energy and our economic relationship with China all create a house of cards just waiting to be knocked over.  Throughout the "memo" we are reminded of the role both the Democratic and Republican parties have played in creating or ignoring the mess.  At the end I had two questions.  Where is this third-party?  Why wait until 2016?

Surfing the web I’ve found a post entitled "Principles of Civil Discourse" by Nathan Azinger on his blog – Pajama Jihad – (subtitled) Declaring a Holy War on Stupidity.

This is the only thing I’ve read on this blog so far but it struck me as something everyone should read and consider.  Why?  The success of representative democracy hinges on the ability of government to resolve disagreements in a fair and civil manner.  It must seek public participation and respond in a way that encourages, rather than discourages, future participation.  I’m not sure our current political climate – at any level – is doing a very good job of this right now.