Ted Lieu

If you follow this blog, you may be aware that I stopped using drugs in 1969-- December 1, 1969, to be precise... in my VW van at the Ganda Singh Wala border crossing parking lot between Pakistan and India. Last year, suffering from the side effects of massive chemotherapy treatments, I reluctantly decided to try to cope with the pain and other side effects by using marijuana again, which my doctor approved of.

A couple years ago, when Blue America endorsed Ted Lieu for Congress, it wasn't because he was Asian-American any more than it was because he was a male or because he was in the Air Force Reserve. It was because he was the most progressive candidate in the race and because he had an eye-popping record of accomplishment in the state legislature as the most creative, effective and member dedicated to working families.

Some corrupt conservatives thought of a way to save some moneyI don't remember the last time I drank tap water in Los Angeles, which is probably because I never did.

Now he says he's not interested in running for president, not even to save his party-- not to mention his country-- from the monstrosity pictured just above. Thursday, with every bit of hype and brouhaha the Republican Party Establishment can still manage to muster, Ryan daddy-figure Mitt Romney kicked off a new phase in his reluctant candidate's sub-rosa campaign for the GOP nomination.

The Republicans gave their base a little smooch Friday by passing Bob Wittman's H.R, 2406, the Sportsmen’s Heritage and Recreation Enhancement (SHARE) Act. The first thing I noticed about the bill is that it passed 242-161 with all but 4 Republicans backing it and all the Democrats except 12, mostly Blue Dogs and New Dems, voting NO.

Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA)-by Dorothy ReikDebtor’s prisons may be outlawed but don’t tell that to the 450,000 or so poor people sitting in jail right now because they are too poor to pay their bail, not because they have been found guilty of anything. They might as well be in a debtor’s prison-- there’s very little difference. They are there because they can’t pay.

Herr Trumpf, tweeting away on his iPhone6, is advocating a boycott of Apple because the company refuses to buckle under to the American National Security State and create a "back-door" so that Apple customers-- including Herr Trumpf-- can be spied on.

Yesterday Ryan passed his silly defund Planned Parenthood/repeal Obamacare bill and tried to make a big fuss with a seething right-wing base who already knows he sold them down the river. Not just Ryan, the whole GOP caucus was in on the charade. It passed 240-181 and there were only 3 Republicans present who didn't vote for it.

Have you read any of Dan Levitin's books? Most people who have heard of him know him for his groundbreaking first book, This Is Your Brain On Music, which sold over a million copies and spent 18 months on the New York Times bestseller list.

This week, L.A. area Congressman Ted Lieu organized 45 other Members of Congress to sign identical letters to the CEOs of ExxonMobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, British Petroleum, Shell and Peabody Energy, which they sent off yesterday. (At the link above you can see who signed the letter-- and who didn't.) Lieu's letter comes right to the point: