Inland Empire Progressive

Now that the National Association of Realtors (NAR) has purchased the election for Rep. Gary Miller, what is next for the housing market here in the Inland Empire? My feeling is that we should contact NAR since Rep. Gary Miller will vote the way they tell them him to. The city of San Bernardino is being sold wholesale to investors, increasing blight and absentee slumlords from Orange and Los Angeles counties. Over half of the houses in San Bernardino are now renter occupied. How is this a recipe for local control? Rep. Gary Miller could care less, as long as the campaign contribution keep rolling in form the National Association of Realtors.

The Perspective of Rich and Poor Let the lowly brother glory in his exaltation, but the rich in his humiliation, because as the flower of the field he will pass away. For no sooner has the sun risen with a burning heat than it withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beautiful appearance perishes. So the rich man also will fade away in his pursuits. James 1: 9-11 You would think that being a ranking member of the Financial Services Committee, that he would use his subpoena power to have Wall Street hauled before the man to demand justice for the financial devistation. Or at the very least, light a fire under Attorney General Eric Holder's ass to be more aggressive in going after Wall Street crimes. But sadly, no. He defends Wall Street tooth and nail, while Main Street withers.

The problem with the 31st Congressional District is that there is no natural leadership. There is no candidate that really excites on the Democratic side. I mean look at Riverside's Rep. Mark Takano, a Proud Progressive. Now that's a person who inspires volunteers to fight the good fight. Why is San Bernarino County so late to the party all of the time? It would be nice to be first for once. Anyway, I guess we'll just have to settle. It's too bad Justin Kim is sitting this one out . It's no secret that Rep. Gary Miller's seat is a prime pickup opportunity for the Dems. The curious thing is that even though Mr. Miller knows he is a target, he hasn't shifted any of his policy positions to the left. He makes nice sounds, but no real movement.  I think a certain fatalism has taken hold of him, like the captain of the Titanic. He would rather go down with the sinking ship than vote with the Dems on anything. At least the Blue Curs (Dogs) side with Reps now a...

Rep. Gary Miller likes to go on and on about the full repeal of the Frank-Dodd act, but offers no substitute legislation to regulate Wall Street and hold them accountable. Like many of his Conservative allies, he probably believes it was all the regulator's fault by not being competent enough to understand what was going on. But what Conservatives fail to point out is the revolving door between regulators and Wall Street and that financial institution shop for the most lenient regulator. I think the reality is that Mr. Miller does not want to bite the hand that feeds him. Wall Street and the financial industry are big contributors to his campaign coffers and any sense of holding them accountable for misdeeds is thrown out the window. The most glaring fact is that to date, not one financial executive has been arrested our charged with fraud and sent to jail. You would think that someone would be held responsible for the Global Collaspe of the enconomy. It would seem as if legisl...

Just in case Congressman Gary Miller has not seen this viral video on income inequality in America, I wanted to bring it to his attention. The United States of America is on its way to becoming a Plutocray in which the elite and wealthy in country increasingly have massive influence over our election process. This erodes accountability in our system by placing the Plutocrats interest above those of an elected officials constituents and by shielding the Plutocrats from disclosure. In addition, income inequalty creating two tiers of justice in America. One for the elite and the other for the rest of us. Conservatives are sowing the seeds of civil unrest and eroding the sense of fairness in this country when no financial officials has been prosecuted for fraudlent actions. If an ordinary American were to defraud the American public, they would be subject to trial and imprisonment. However, if an financial institution or any of its employees committed fraudlent actions they would ju...

I pay attention to local government issues alot. If video was available for city commission meetings or neighborhood associations (which we should), I would probably watch them. As it happens, I was watching the March 5th school board meeting and stumbled upon this tidbit. The impact of Congressional Conservatives sequestration on the San Bernardino Unified School District (SBUSD) is estimated to impact low income students heavily.  To the tune of $4 Million Dollar cuts will happen to  Title I (Low achieveing students in high poverty areas), Title II (Teacher Quality), Special Ed., and Tech Ed. The shortfall will attempted to be covered by Unrestricted General Funds to support this project.  However, SBUSD is trying to balance its budget and had to issue layoff notices to 166 teachers so using Unrestricted General Funds might be limited.  This shows you the priorities of Congressman Gary Miller who has proven himself to be the defender of the elit...

For Rep. Gary Miller's vote on the fiscal cliff deal, a muted but sincere applause is necessary. The Senate saved the day by cutting a deal with Obama (with Mr. Biden as lead negotiator). Approximately 80+ House Republicans joined the overwhelmingly majority of House Democrats in voting to avoid the fiscal cliff, and Rep. Gary Miller was among them so it is well deserved. However, Mr. Miller was not happy. He authorized a press release that stated the administration has failed to outline a spending reduction plan and the standard boiler plate of out of control government spending. What he failed to outline to the folks in the 31st Congressional District is that constitutionally, all spending bills must originate in the House of Representatives. It seems to Conservatives, only the 2nd Amendment is constitutionally sacrosanct. In addition, he failed to mention that the Conservative solutions to our so called "spending" problem are politically unpopular. Yet, Mr. M...

  I don’t know how Rep. Gary Miller will handle poverty in the 31st Congressional District, but the outlook doesn’t bode well for folks in my city of San Bernardino. The standard approach is to cut taxes and loosen regulations to generate economic growth. But, San Bernardino has some of the lowest income folks in the Inland Empire.  I don’t see how cutting taxes and slashing social programs will do anything but create more violence for an already violent city. In addition, most of San Bernardino residents lack the job skills necessary to attract job creators. Cutting taxes and loosening regulations sounds good for well to do folks in Rancho Cucamonga and Redlands, but it is a disastrous policy for San Bernardino. My sense is that government needs to play a more active role in balancing the scales of equity when it comes to tax policy. Folks aren’t looking for a handout, they are looking for a hand up. Conservatives are looking to cut the hand off. Rep. Gary Miller’s stand...

Does Rep. Gary Miller think the 14th Amendment is a legal loophole? I think he does. Here is his stance on Immigration from his website: "Congress must continue efforts to strengthen enforcement along the southwest border, remove loopholes in current law that invites manipulation of our laws , and shut down the job magnet that encourages individuals to enter our country illegally." Here is the 14th Amendment: All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. Rep. Gary Miller’s euphemistic language on Immigration are just dog whistle politics to extremist conservatives  who consider persons born of undocumented immigrants “anchor babies”. This is why Rep. Gary Miller is dangerous for the 31st Congressional District. With Mexican immigrants making up more than a plurality of the district, Rep. Gary Miller’s policies will be anti-immigrant in nature and u...

Contributor Name Amount AMERICAN BANKERS ASSOCIATION $2,500 BANK OF AMERICA CORPORATION PAC $5,000 JPMORGAN CHASE & CO. FEDERAL PAC $4,000 THE GOLDMAN SACHS GROUP, INC. PAC $5,000 An overview of Rep. Gary Miller’s financial records has shown that some of the Too Big Too Fail (TBTF) Banks have backed him to the maximum extent possible. These banks have made it known that they oppose the weak Frank-Dodd regulator framework or any legislation that will will make the financial sector more stable and secure.  While Rep. Gary Miller supports minimal transparency requirements of Wall St. He will not have the TBTF banks submit to the rule of law. Why does Rep. Gary Miller supports strict financial discipline on backs of poor in the district while letting wealthy banksters do as they please? Yet, he and other Conservatives claim there is no class warfare going on. Please... I ask the residents of the 31st Congressional District this: How many banksters went to jail for...

While Rep. Gary Miller and Sen. Bob Dutton haven’t talked about it much, there have been events over the course of the last four years that have affected the gay community. From the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, to President Obama’s evolution on the issue, and the non-enforcement of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), the gay community has achieved more policy progress than either Immigration or Climate change. On the federal level and on the state level these two conservative candidates haven’t evolved in any way on the gay rights issue in a fundamental way. They still possess an early 20th Century mentality on the issue, even though their party has a caucus of gay conservatives (the Log Cabin Republicans). Most conservative gay candidates have to be closeted in order to run for any local office. Just look what happened to Bill Postmus here in the Inland Empire to find out what happens to gay conservatives in the Republican Party. No wonder so many of them vote Libertarian! As...

It's hard to believe that with less than 30 days until the election Rep. Gary Miller has yet to outline ANY housing policy in community gatherings or even on the Issues Page of his website. You have to understand that the congressman lives and breathes housing: A strong supporter of the MITD (Mortgage Interest Tax Deduction) with no caps for high income earners, he sits on the Insurance, Housing, and Community Opportunity Subcommittee, and hell, he even started a small business in the housing industry. He loves housing so much you would think he was Paul Bunyan!!! This is in addition to the National Association of Realtors and Mr. Miller's Wall Street allies having dumped $1M+ into his "re-election" campaign. Inland Empire residents have to ask: What gives? Here are some of the current options that have been floating around the past 4 years: 1) Eminent Domain (Govt. siezing loans and selling them to private investors.) 2) Bulk Buying (...

Progressive Democrats (myself included) are not happy about the choices they have in November. The prospects of living under Republican governance for the next two years is met with a glumness. MoveOn.org publishes a ballot guide asking local voters their ballot choices. As you can see from the statements below, that glumness is palpable. The most laughable statement is that he is the more moderate of the two candidates. I would say his recent comments against a pathway to citizens for Mexican immigrants beg to differ. Both Rep. Gary Miller and Sen. Bob Dutton are Conservative extremists in moderate clothing, twisting their principles to try and comform with a nonexistant moderation. Some of the top rated reasons for supporting Mr. Dutton are to vote against Gary Miller. There is much resignation in the ranks of Democrats that a plum seat has been lost in the short term. In 2014, wh...

  The simple math of 4 Dems and 2 Republicans placed the Dems in a statistical disadvantage from the beginning. Of the Dems 1 was a carpetbagger (Rita Ramirez-Dean) but being a female Latina and a strong advocate of education was sure to syphon some votes. Renea Wickman ran for the assembly in 2010 and lost, but wanted a bigger prize in the congressional race. I thought she was the clear frontrunner, but our fundraising was minimal and the candidate was not as inspiring as she was in 2010. Justin Kim was a surprise. He ran a very progressive and grassroots campaign which got the youth vote, Asians, and educated voters very excited. He also has a fundraising base in Loma Linda where he is from. I will most definitely be supporting him if he decides to run in 2014. Pete Aguilar was not ready for prime time. He has a donor base, but it is uncertain if they will return to the fold in 2014. In addition, as I inspected his background more and more I found he was a DINO that had ties...

With no Democrat in the race for the 31st Congressional District, it has been very quiet here in the Inland Empire. Besides a couple of endorsements, this race has been largely uneventful.  While all the Inland Empire candidates have the energy and stamina of a tortoise. Mr. Dutton has been pretty lethargic.  Maybe it’s all that hard work of being California Senate Minority leader that’s kept him from running a more spirited campaign. I don’t know, but what I do know is that candidates who don’t take their races seriously tend to lose. And lose big.

  Personal Arms Race 30 dead in San Bernardino. The Aurora, Colorado massacre. A congresswoman and several others shot dead. Gun rights groups have won, but with no solution to mitigate random acts of gun violence. No major legislation will be passed now or in the future. Politicians are scared and as the body count stacks up Americans will shrug with indifference. However, I think the blowback will come in the form of a personal arms escalation. It won’t be long before gangs will have enough armament to form small paramilitary groups. I fear they will supplant the rule of law. Violence is the force from which all force is derived.  I call on Rep. Miller and State Sen. Dutton to denounce gun violence and stem the flow of arms into gangs and other groups. San Bernardino’s poverty, lack of opportunity, and  low educational skills make it ripe for violence due to guns and gangs. We are not Rancho Cucamonga or Redlands. Gun violence here is real and will probably get w...

The financial crisis. The Libor scandal. Regulatory capture. When will Congress stand up to the banks? There have been no major arrests or serious congressional investigations into the wide spread corruption in the financial sector. Rep. Gary Miller can easily criticize the Treasury Secretary. However, can he bring himself to be critical of the banks. The banks play casino with our PERS, Social Security, and our 401Ks, privatizing the profits while socializing the losses. As a ranking member of the Financial Services Committee, Mr. Miller has sat idle while the world largest banks suck our investments dry. In fact he protects these entities as job creators. He calls for the full repeal of Frank-Dodd, while replacing it with nothing. Doing nothing is what got us into this mess in the first place, by allowing a culture of corruption to breed on Wall Street. We have a crisis of confidence in capitalism because the financial system itself is corrupt to the core. Banks have robbed us of...

Please remember that you are in a Democratic District and watch your mouth. Rep. Gary Miller must think Progressives aren’t paying attention. Rep. Gary Miller must think Progressives are stupid. Rep. Gary Miller must Progressives are useful idiots or some shit. Just check out his statement on the Affordable Care Act aka Obamacare. You say that “that health care decisions are best left in the hands of patients and their families”. Please stop repeating this lie. This legislation say nothing about health care decisions between doctors and their families. This is about reducing costs and the means to reducing those costs include expanding coverage for the healthy so people with pre-existing conditions and the sick can get adequate care. You come to the Inland Empire thinking that you can just flash so fucking cash and then we are bought by you? Get the fuck outta here. In addition, you don’t mention how this law will help poor and minority families who usually are the ones who b...

  Read:   Gary Miller vs. Pete Aguilar: Super PACs Of Realtors, Credit Union Spend Big In California Primary Election Los Angeles and Orange County developers versus Nevada banks. These are two are the so called front runners in the race for the 31st Congressional District of California. No, no the politicians running, they are just surrogates. Proxies in a battle over one thing…houses. One thing we can be sure of, is that if one of these men is elected the local control is lost and the destiny of the Inland Empire will be handed over to outsiders.

Rep. Gary Miller loves to tell folks what he will do in Washington, D.C. But what about here, specifically in the Inland Empire? Our region can be compared to Detroit and Nevada in terms of unemployment and foreclosure rates. Yet you hear nothing from Washington politicians about what to do about this housing crisis. But Rep. Gary Miller knows what he wants to do. Congressman Gary Miller will let Orange County and Los Angeles developers run amok in cities with high foreclosure rates. My city of San Bernardino will be carved up and given away to the outside interests of the Building Industry. His largest supporters are San Bernardino councilmen John Valdivia and John Roberts   Robert Jenkins. These councilmen could care less about local control, seeing as our police force of San Bernardino is consisted largely of folks from different cities and they were big supporters of Mr. Valdivia and Roberts Jenkins. Blight, Crime, and Poverty will all increase under Mr. Miller’s plan fo...