Inland Empire Progressive

Aww Spring, out with the old and in with new. Well for San Bernardino that out with old sometimes means abandoned mattresses, mattress boxes, couches, and sofas. My street (Pumalo St) is a favorite dumping ground because it's relatively isolated. Because of our highly mobile population (renters are like 49% of the population), this can happen.  I has an idea to start a mattress recycling biz, because I think we have a market for it. In the meantime, San Bernardino residents (including those in unincorporated areas, Highland, Rialto, Redlands, and Colton) our city is not a dumping ground, no matter what you might think. Thank You.

Imagine what it take to leave you country to move to a foriegn land because the opportunities there are so much greater than your home. On a local level, I think about it all the time. San Bernardino is not the safest city, public meeting places (third spaces) are few and far between, there are not that many job prospects for a person of any skill set. Yet, I choose to stay here because I want to fight make this city a better place. It would be hard for me to leave Now imagine again what it takes for someone from Jalisco, Juarez, or even Mexico City to pick up, travel to the border, pay a coyote (someone who smuggles a person across the border), and risk being abandoned or killed in the process. It is a great sacrifice. The person might be the sole bread winner in the household. And when they get here the propects aren't that great, but they are greatful because they can send money back home to feed their extended families. In addition, they do jobs that most Americans will ...

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...

This reminds me of Final Fanaty 3. I would love to play this game!! Caution: Animated Adult Situations.

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...

Grand Terrace is the smallest community in the 31st Congressional District. I canvassed the apartment complex there once during the former 63rd State Assembly race and know one of the recently council members. As with most other areas, their was a steep Conservative spike in voter registration followed by steep declines until the online wave pick it registration again.     

Loma Linda is small city defined by the VA Hospital, Loma Linda University, its healthy eating habits, and a large proportion of 7th Day Adventist Community. I don't know much about its partisan politics except that it usually votes Republican.  However, a Democratic candidate for Congress, Justin Kim, came from the city so maybe the winds of change are beginning to pick up.

The city of  Rancho Cucamonga is seeking to continue making itself a player at the local, state, and national levels. It is the 3rd largest Democratic city following San Bernardino and Fontana respectively. Many political leaders from the Republican side of the isle, from soon to be GOPer party chairman  Jim Brulte to former Senate Leader Bob Dutton have come from this city.  I would also imagine that Rancho Cucagmonga would be the place where San Bernardino County GOP Chairman Asm. Curt Hagman would begin the so-called comeback for the Republicans in San Bernardino County.  The Democrats have an establish political club, the Inland Valley Democrats whose President Erick Jimenez is working to make Dems a political force there.  By looking at the registration, it seems possible that he can. 

Redlands, I think, is the most activist city in the whole county. I think this not just because of their high median income, but also because many highly educated people live there. However, this city can sometimes come off as elitist and snobbish, which is a downside to the overall friendly atmosphere. The North-Side is heavily working class and make up the majority of Democratic votes. I'm real surprised the Conservative wave of '10 didn't make as much of a dent as I thought it would.