Ted Lieu

Congressman Ted Lieu (D-CA) is worth following on Twitter... even if you don't live in his Los Angeles area district (which stretches from Agoura Hills and Malibu in the north, through Santa Monica, Westwood, Venice and Beverly Hills and down to El Segundo, Manhattan Beach, Torrance, Redondo Beach and Rancho Palos Verdes in the south). He often follows live events unfolding and comments on them with an incredible depth of knowledge and wisdom (and humor) in real time, something few members of Congress are willing to do.

Last month we looked at Ted Lieu's valiant crusade to wake members of Congress up to the dangers inherent in the American participation in the savage Saudi onslaught against Yemen. War monger and military-industrial complex whore Ed Royce has it tightly bottled up in the Foreign Affairs Committee but 4 senators brought it up on the other side of the Capitol yesterday.

Change in Arctic sea ice from 1990 to 2015. You can see that almost all of the older ice, ice that persists across multiple years, is gone.

As we get closer to November, we've been spending more time warning readers about the consequences of electing Blue Dogs and New Dems-- the Republican wing of the Democratic Party-- to Congress.

I've never been to Yemen and, as much as I'd like to see the ancient mudbrick skyscrapers of Shibam in northwest Yemen and other sites in that off-the-beaten path country between Saudi Arabia and Sonalia, I'm more cognizant these days of how dangerous it is to travel to a place like that than I was when I was running around places like Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and Myanmar in my younger days.

When Digby, John and I were first getting to know Ted Lieu, back when he was still a state Senator, we asked him why he was willing to leave the young family he's so devoted to in L.A. and spend so much time in Washington, D.C. He told us it actually had a lot to do with his two sons-- a compulsion to help turn Congress towards solving the accelerating problems around Climate Change. And, sure enough, last month when Ted was named the freshmen Democrats MVP, his unrelenting work-- with members on both sides of the aisle-- for climate change was first and foremost in everyone's mind.

Lou and LieuThe vote in the House to approve the ability of doctors in VA hospitals in states that have legalized medical marijuana-- 41 and counting-- to prescribe it to patients is a tiny baby step along the road to legalization. There have been many baby steps in recent years. But 14 congressmembers have decided to go for a giant step. I'll explain in a moment. These are the Members:

Politically savvy Angelenos are excited that we don't have to always face east-- towards Jerry Nadler (D-NY), Justin Amash (R-MI) and Alan Grayson (D-FL)-- when we're looking for a champion of civil liberties. We have our own: Ted Lieu in the Pacific coast district that goes from up in Malibu, down through Santa Monica, Venice, El Segundo, Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, Redondo Beach and past Rancho Palos Verdes, AKA "Silicon Beach," a hub of technological entrepreneurship based on Southern California's traditional valuing of independent minds and its dominant small business ethos.

Californians voted-- 5,382,915 (55.6%) to 4,301,960 (44.4%)-- to legalize medical marijuana in a 1996 proposition written by an old friend and coworker of mine, Dennis Peron. Our state was the first to do so, although half the states in the union have followed suit, blue states like New York and Massachusetts, red states like Alaska and Arizona and purple states like Nevada and New Hampshire.