Tom Hayden's Blog, page 4

What Paul Ryan Is Up To

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Paul Ryan will try to be the leading voice of the Republican Party in its attempt to defeat Hillary Clinton in 2016.

His demands on his Republican colleagues are relatively soft, not sharp. He spells out his agenda in a passage insisting on his right to be home with family. “I may not be on the road as often as previous speakers, but I pledge to make up for it with more time communicating our vision, our message.”

With his ideological roots in Ayn Rand and classic conservative philosophers, Ryan thinks of himself as an intellectual dedicated to a counter-revolution against the New Deal and every strand of modern progressive thought. He is a product of rigorous Catholic education. He has largely succeeded in achieving respect from the media and political class, partly because he separates himself from irrational extremism of the ‘Freedom Caucus’. His ability to negotiate a budget deal last year with Democratic Sen. Patty Murray reinforced his reputation for relative sanity.

Why The Dodgers Blew Their Chance

Most Dodger fans and sports writers should be unanimous in blaming Mark Walter, Guggenheim, and Andrew Friedman for the Dodgers having two stellar starters in Kershaw and Greinke but not investing in a top third starting pitcher to replace Hyun-Jin Ryu, like David Price or Cole Hamels.

Others might argue that a second bonehead decision was releasing Dee Gordon, but that’s for another discussion. But accountability starts at the top. Friedman and Guggenheim should admit they made a terrible, terrible mistake, and offer resignations or make amends. They definitely should not hang the blame on Don Mattingly And it’s not just Friedman’s over dependence on Big Data, it’about trying to save money by bringing on too many pitchers who weren’t up to series competition.

TOM HAYDEN Mr. Hayden was an MVP a the Dodgertown FantasyCamp in 1988 and played baseball until his recent stroke at age 75.

Liberal Win in Canada

President George W. Bush gave the world the Iraq War, environmental disasters, a stacked Supreme Court, and Prime Minister Stephen Harper for a decade. With the cutting of that umbilical cord, Canadians and progressive Americans should feel great relief, at least for the short term.

Big Steps for Environmental Justice

In a big step for the growing environmental justice movement, nearly a thousand residents of Boyle Heights, the heart of LA’s Mexican-American community, and Hunters Point, the African-American center of San Francisco, hundreds of residents flocked to displays of affordable zero-emission cars last week to an event sponsored by Environment California’s "Charge Ahead" campaign. There were only three white organizers among multitudes of people of color listening to State Senator Pro Tem Kevin de Leon extolling affordable clean energy vehicles, including models with directional voices in Spanish, It is de Leon who has taken up the cause of environmental justice more than anyone in Sacramento. His legislation mandates the expansion of the “Charge Ahead" program to communities of color. The events in the LA barrio and SF ghetto were unprecedented. 

Bring Home The Troops: Letter to the Editor

Published October 15, 2015 by the Washington Post

One option was unmentioned in the Oct. 13 front-page article “Afghan decision tests Obama,” about President Obama’s fading chance to bring the troops home. The president could use his available powers to demand a multipronged effort at ending ethnic and geographic partitions in the region. In Afghanistan, it’s still the Pashtun south and east vs. the Northern Alliance. In Iraq, it’s still the Shiites of the south against the Sunnis in the north and west. In Syria, it is the northeastern Alawites (Shiite) against the Sunni majority across the south.

Mr. Obama may be adopting the Nixon-Kissinger strategy of a “decent interval” between the withdrawal of U.S. forces and the final collapse of the Saigon regime. The Taliban is expanding its power base. The Islamic State has captured Sunni rage. The government in Kabul is a hapless Humpty Dumpty.

The article warned that Mr. Obama has “provoked nearly universal alarm” in the foreign policy establishment. But those are the people David Halberstam made infamous as “the best and the brightest.” They lost the Vietnam and Iraq wars.

Tom Hayden, Los Angeles, CA

Sullivan Canyon and Namvar Money

The LA Times has sadly ignored an important developer scandal over mansions in Sullivan Canyon during the past year. The story has been written by former Times reporter John Schwada at CityWatchLA and is the subject of several letters I have written to city and state officials as well as a lawsuit being prepared by Sullivan Canyon homeowners. 

Sullivan Mansion Developer Contributions

The LA Times has sadly ignored an important developer scandal over mansions in Sullivan Canyon during the past year. The story has been written by former Times reporter John Schwada at CityWatchLA and is the subject of several letters I have written to city and state officials as well as a lawsuit being prepared by Sullivan Canyon homeowners. 

Next Steps for the Divestment Movement?

350.Org and its offshoot, Fossil Free California, did an amazing organizing job pushing for California State Senator Kevin de Leon's historic coal divestment law, which passed both houses of the Legislature and was signed last week by Governor Jerry Brown. They did 42 district meetings in assembly and senate districts thought necessary to win the battle against King Coal. 

Hillary and Democrats Won The Debate

Presidential debates are based on the first impressions made in the opening 15 minutes. Then, unless a fight breaks out, the impression settles in as a consensus. Issues and character are very important, but the overall impression remains as the foremost criteria. 

Sullivan Canyon Scandal: Officials Tiptoe Around

Written by John Schwada

DEVELOPERS’ DUPLICITY-For almost exactly a year state and local officials have been dancing around the issue of what to do about startling whistleblower allegations that developers seeking permits to build two mega-mansions in LA’s pristine Sullivan Canyon had tried to bribe and intimidate state officials to get their way.