Hannah-Beth Jackson

Recent Actions

• Favorited Tax Cuts Are Theft on Speak Out California Weblog
• Posted Arnold and the Tea-bagger Movement to Speak Out California Weblog
  I always enjoy observing and participating in discussions with my friend and former colleague, the wonderful Sheila Kuehl. She is brilliant, observant, funny, wise and has outstanding politics. She has written an excellent piece that appeared in Monday's LA...
• Posted Earth to California Voters: We have created a train wreck! to Speak Out California Weblog
  The latest poll shows that Arnold Schwarzenegger now holds the embarassing distinction of having the same 22% favorability rate as Gray Davis had when Davis became the first Governor in modern-day California to be recalled by an angry electorate. Of course the public is angry...
• Posted No Rest for the Weary Electorate to Speak Out California Weblog
  While California takes the summer off, the wealthy use their extraordinary wealth to undermine the state's future. While grills all over California are still smoldering under the weight of July 4th hot dogs, burgers and maybe a veggie-burger or two,...
• Posted Help Speak Out California Build The Megaphone to Speak Out California Weblog
  Dear Friends; If you love and believe in California as I do, and I know you do (!), then help us here at Speak Out California as we work to restore our state's luster and justify its reputation as "the state that invents...
• Posted How to stop the bleeding-- Bring back majority rule to Speak Out California Weblog
  With the University of California in free-fall and students responding with a passion not seen in years, the question cannot be ignored any further: What is it going to take to generate more revenue for the State of California so...
• Posted $11B In More Bonds--Is There A Better Way To Solve Our Water Wars? to Speak Out California Weblog
  Here at Speak Out California, we're trying to bring some clarity and varying perspectives to the water wars that have been the hallmark of California politics since statehood. With the fight for precious water resources dividing the state along geographic...
• Posted Throwing Women Under the Bus: Health Care Reform? -NOT! to Speak Out California Weblog
    This past week, America's women were, yet again, thrown under the bus. Make no mistake about it; this health care bill eradicates years of effort, blood and lives lost by brave physicians and health care providers, to take this nation back to the dark...
• Commented on PCL: Water package brings subsidies, not solutions
  This is a quagmire of major proportions. The legislative members from Southern California all signed onto this, including unequivocal environmental protectors while members to the North and some of the major environmental groups are blasting the bills as a sell-out...
• Commented on Wild, Wild Conservative Claims - Here We Go Again
  While there is no doubt that maintaining family farms today has become more and more challenging, one thing is clear: farmers can't and won't pick up their business and move. The land is going to stay where it is, so...
• Posted COTCE Parsky Commission: Even More Tax Breaks for the Wealthy to Speak Out California Weblog
  Just when you think you've seen it all, the Governor and his cronies pull another one on the people of California. While the economy created by the Bush "free-marketeers" has sent the country on an economic free-fall; while California sees...
• Posted Trying to Hide More Tax Breaks for the Wealthy to Speak Out California Weblog
  When Assembly Speaker Karen Bass announced she was going to create a special committee to consider reforming the tax structure in California, the Governor decided that he would beat her to the punch and announced, with his typical over-the-top braggadocio,...
• Posted The end of an era to Speak Out California Weblog
  With the passing of Senator Edward M. Kennedy this week, we have come to the official end of an extraordinary era and family legacy. There are still many of us left who cut our political teeth on the Kennedy's-- listening to the newly...
• Posted Tax reform needs sunshine to Speak Out California Weblog
  While most of the country, including California, is immersed in the highly controversial health care debate, we here in California are facing our own very significant debate on key reforms that will impact everyone in the State for years to...
• Posted Are the bullies winning? to Speak Out California Weblog
  In recent weeks, the public discourse in this country has moved from simple dishonesty to mob rule, exemplified by the threatening and hysterical frenzy created by the right-wing talk shows.  This extremely disturbing development has been orchestrated by former Congressman...
• Favorited Lost: One Moral Compass on Speak Out California Weblog
• Posted Lost: One Moral Compass to Speak Out California Weblog
  During my first term in the California Legislature back in 1998, I was reminded regularly that the state budget is a moral document, setting forth the priorities and values of its people. If what we are seeing today is such a set...
• Posted Yes, but how do they do it with a straight face? to Speak Out California Weblog
  The fact that the U.S. EPA refused to grant California a waiver so we can initiate our own air emissions standards is really no surprise to anyone who has watched this administration ignore science, our legal system, common sense and...
• Posted Will California's leader lead in 2008? to Speak Out California Weblog
  As the post-mortems continue to characterize the year just past and prognosticators speculate on what will be the year to come, it is clear that California is in for a bumpy ride over the next several months, if not years....
• Posted The 2008 Primary Election Voter Guide to Speak Out California Weblog
  Our 2008 voter guide is up. Click here for SOCA's analysis of the issues. Note - This voter guide has been updated since it first appeared. The February 5th California primary is upon us. Our top rated progressive one stop...
• Posted Jackie Goldberg's Initiative Picks for the Feb. 2008 ballot to Speak Out California Weblog
  Former State Assemblymember and Speak Out California Board member Jackie Goldberg provides her insights and suggestions on Prop. 91 and Prop. 92 in this blog entry. While it doesn't appear that too many knowledgeable people who have no direct interest...
• Posted Updating the February 2008 Voter Guide to Speak Out California Weblog
  Dear Readers: For the last three years, Speak Out California has been analyzing the key issues and initiatives Californians are asked to vote on during both regular and special election cycles. Last week we launched our fourth Voter Guide to...
• Posted Random Thoughts for a mid-December Day to Speak Out California Weblog
  With the holidays coming (and going) fast and furiously, there is little time for deep reflection. Holiday card lists needing to be updated, cards ordered, written and sent, presents to be purchased so that the economy can stay afloat (while...
• Posted The "Job Killer" Soundbite to Speak Out California Weblog
  During my tenure in the California legislature, I found it somewhat humorous that every bill calling for greater corporate accountability and responsibility to the health and well-being of the public or workers was called "a job killer"by the California Chamber...
• Posted Governor's Veto of The Dream Act limits the Future for Many to Speak Out California Weblog
  This week the US Senate refused to take up a measure entitled, The DREAM ACT, legislation that would have protected certain children of illegal immigrants from deportation and qualified young adults up to age 30 for permanent legal residency if...
• Posted Keeping Big Business happy at our children's expense to Speak Out California Weblog
  I remember as a youngster believing that the President and the government would protect us from harmful things---like gas fumes at the pump and toys that broke off and could hurt babies and little children. Of course, I was quite...
• Posted The ever-busted state budget to Speak Out California Weblog
  With the national economy set to go in the toilet (if Wall Street is a good indicator), the state of California once again faces a budget crisis in the billions of dollars. But this time we won't be hearing the...
• Posted Too often closing the barn door too late to Speak Out California Weblog
  Clearly human nature is want to ignore the obvious until it strikes us in the face, or in the ocean in the present case. Why we aren't willing to be sufficiently pro-active and take preventative measures in the face of...
• Posted An Initiative Process out-of-control to Speak Out California Weblog
  On a recent trip to Chicago, I had the interesting good fortune of getting into a cab driven by a long-standing Chicago cabbie, complete with real Chicago accent and all. It seems he had been driving a cab for over...
• Posted Speaker Pelosi on Being the First Woman Speaker to Speak Out California Weblog
  In celebration of the 87th anniversary of Women's Equality Day, Speak Out California did a series of blogs commemorating the occasion. We conclude that series with a contribution from the first female speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi,...