"I feel that the dormant goodwill in people needs to be stirred. People need to hear that it makes sense to behave decently, or to help others, to place common interests above their own, to respect the elementary rules of human existence. They want to be told about this publicly. They want to know that those 'at the top' are on their side. They feel strengthened, confirmed, hopeful. Goodwill longs to be strengthened and cultivated. For it to develop and have an impact it must hear that the world does not ridicule it...I try never to give people practical advice to deal with the evil around them, nor could I even if I wanted to -- and yet people want to hear that decency and courage make sense, that something must be risked in the struggle against dirty tricks. They want to know that they are not alone, forgotten, written off..."


Vaclev Havel
Chip Hanlon posted a serious kick in the pants regarding the Paycheck Protection Initiative over at Red County   http://www.redcounty.com/paycheck-protection-simply-cannot-fall-short/36622#comment-42214

I am throwing out this challenge to all Anaheim residents; Get off your duff and make a difference in this state! We have the chance to take our Government back from those who would take from us for their own special interests, by helping the grassroots efforts of the Citizen Power Campaign.

To all Anaheim candidates I ask: What are YOU doing to support this important work? If you oppose this Initiative, tell me why, so we can share that information with Anaheim's voters. Make it good.

This Initiative is essential to restoring the balance of access when Union leaders use Union members' money (often against their will) for issues the individual members oppose. This does not prevent Union members from speaking out on those issues they feel passionately about. It simply keeps the Unions from taking money without permission, and using it in ways outside the will of those members from which the money was taken.

The Paycheck Protection Initiative is the ultimate statement of American ideals, in that nobody, not the government, not the unions, nobody, should be able to take money from an American paycheck and use it to buy access to politicians for causes the "donors" do not agree to!

If you have ever complained about special interests having access to politicians, but you thought one person could not make a difference, here is your chance to do something!

If you want to be elected in the City of Anaheim, and there are many of you, share what YOU are doing to protect the voices of your Union constituents who have had their voices ussurped by those who are supposed to represent them.

You will find more information, and a chance to sign the petition, and make a donation to help pay for professional signature gatherers, at the website here http://www.unplugthepoliticalmachine.org/

You can also join Scott Baugh for a rally at the Slide Bar in Fullerton on Saturday, February 13th at 10 am. If you want to attend from Anaheim, contact me at Cynthia_Ward@sbcglobal.net and I will pack my greenhouse killer SUV with passengers.

I can tell you from my own interviews with local grassroots leaders: Anaheim is in a funny mood, a mood that matches much of the rest of the nation. Anaheim is tired of the same old political elite telling the citizenry what they have chosen to do to and with the everyday people of our hometown. There is an anger simmering beneath the surface, and we can either tap into it and make it work for us...or we can ignore it and maintain the status quo. The status quo will not longer be tolerated in Anaheim, that is a message I hear from leaders in the neighborhoods, that is a message I will make very clear as the election moves forward. To every candidate in Anaheim, I ask; Will you be part of the solution? Tell me about it.

To every reader that this might reach: Get off your butt and work toward a solution, download a petition, sign it, get members of your household to sign it. Take it to your bridge game, your neighborhood potluck, your workplace (if your employer allows). We keep screaming for cleaner politics, let's make it happen!