After plagued by a rash of early season fires, Northern California is now threatened with mudslides. Might have to replace the nickname "Golden State" with "Satan's Drive- by."

Honestly, I never thought I would feel sorry for the chairman of the Federal Reserve or the Secretary of the Treasury. By all accounts, Bernanke and Paulson are generally thoughtful people, and they have been dealt a clean up job that is impossible. We are now facing payback time for a decade of radical financial market deregulation, the unwillingness of the Fed to regulate predatory lending, the ability of Enron and its cousins to buy changes in rules at the SEC and the CFTC via former Republican Senator Phil Gramm. Literally billions of dollars of income and profit have been gained through such moves, almost entirely going to the top 1% of the income chart. That money is gone. And now we are all going to pay. Buckle your seat belts and make sure your money is FDIC insured - there is more bad news to come.

CREDO and Working Assets have had a strong commitment to making it easy for our members to make a difference in the world for over 20 years. For the last few election cycles, we've placed a special emphasis on supporting civic engagement and electoral participation, with voter registration being a big piece of our efforts. We're proud that Rock the Vote and over 1100 other organizations, campaigns, blogs, and individuals are using our online voter registration technology to power their drives to register members, constituents, and friends.

Hitting one million applications this early puts us more than 50% ahead of the online voter registration traffic during the 2004 election cycle. Clearly, interest in this year's election is extremely high. At the current rate, we're set to power the largest voter registration drive in history in the months leading up to the election.

Onward to November 4!

Arresting him will no doubt provoke a violent reaction. Not arresting him will demonstrate the continuing helplessness of more powerful countries in preventing genocide (or, for that matter, election theft in Zimbabwe, or an illegal invasion of Iraq!).

Russia and China have vigorously opposed either tough sanctions or prosecution, arguing that such actions jeapordize the peace process. The peace process was taken off life support months ago, giving lie to any interest by Russia or China in addressing the ongoing genocide.

Some have reported that Omar Hassan al-Bashir may be planning a trip to the UN in September. Stay tuned.

First, Obama abandoned his pledge to filibuster retroactive telecom immunity. Mr. Bush signed his expanded wiretapping bill this week, particularly thanking Steny Hoyer and Jay Rockefeller, leading Democrats, for arranging the cave in which was then supported by Obama.

Then, suicide bombings by the Taliban and misguided bombings by U.S. forces in Afghanistan combined to kill hundreds as that poor country finally started to draw a bit of media attention and the Pentagon said it has no more troops to send.

Finally, this afternoon, the Republican-dominated U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C. overturned the one promising air pollution regulation that ever came out of the Bush Administration - one which would reduce pollution from utilities, including the really damaging chemical mercury.

Time to go home, have a Dr. Pepper, and keep fighting next week.

With the situation in Zimbabwe set to worsen, and aside from the political turmoil, here are a couple of shocking statistics on that country, provided by Mercy Corps, one of the groups we supported last year.

• Half the population of Zimbabwe is threatened by hunger.
• 1 in 4 of that country's citizens is HIV positive.

Even more disturbing, Amnesty International, a 2008 ballot group, recently reported that in early June the government of Zimbabwe banned field operations by humanitarian aid organizations, restrictions that will expose millions more to hunger (full report here).

So George and his buddies at the G8 summit have agreed to seek UN sanctions against the government of Zimbabwe, but have yet to explain exactly how this will help the humanitarian disaster waiting to happen. Answers on a postcard to the U.N. please, they could do with the help.

It is a tragedy that over 40 million Americans don't have access to affordable health care. In an election year it is more important than ever that we demand real reform for health care. Health Care for America NOW is working toward a bold new solution that would give Americans real choices and a guarantee of quality coverage we can afford: keep a current private insurance plan, pick a new private insurance plan, or join a public health insurance plan. The ambitious but achievable goal is to institute this plan in 2009.

Next week we will deliver petitions on this crucial issue to 22 governors, but need your help to make a big impact. If you live in a coastal state, click on your state below and sign the petition. Thanks to everyone that has already voiced their opinion on this issue. Your help will ensure that we stop our addiction to oil and come up with real solutions to solve our energy problems while protecting the environment.

Alaska, Alabama, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, Mississippi, North Carolina, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, Washington

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal vetoed a bill that would have raised state legislators' salaries from $16,800 to $35,500. Which would be good money. If Gerald Ford were still President.

After the Supreme Court reaffirmed US citizens' right to possess firearms, Dick Cheney celebrated by pulling a handgun from his desk drawer and shooting two pigeons and a reporter.

But rest assured that drilling off the coast of Florida or renewing the solar tax credit will not help. The first is a dumb idea that does not help and the second is a great idea that does not help.

This point is well illustrated by two of this week's big Supreme Court decisions - yesterday's gift of $2 billion to Exxon and today's decision declaring, for the first time, that the 2nd Amendment gives individuals the right to bear arms. Neither decision would have happened without the changes in the court in recent years. Elections matter and they matter for decades due to court appointments.

The DC city council contested that the ban was needed to help keep violence and murder rates down. But the measure was challenged by a security guard, Dick Heller. He argued that if he was allowed to have a handgun at work, he also had a constitutional right to have one at home.

The ruling is expected to have far reaching effects on gun laws across the US.
Working Assets/CREDO has long supported the work of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, one of the groups featured on our 2008 donations ballot. In a statement Paul Helmke, Executive Director, reiterates "Our fight to enact sensible gun laws will be undiminished by the Supreme Court's decision in the Heller case." Read his full statement here.

The last word goes to Eddie Izzard, British comedian:

"And the National Rifle Association says that, "Guns don't kill people, people do," but I think the gun helps, you know? I think it helps. I just think just standing there going, "Bang!" That's not going to kill too many people, is it? You'd have to be really dodgy on the heart to have that..."

McCain's plan would be a disaster for the environment, a boon for the oil companies, and won't have any affect whatsoever on gas prices. We need real energy policies that protect the environment and consumers. Governor Schwarzenegger has stood strong saying no drilling off California coasts, but he needs to know Californians support him. Nearly 6,000 CREDO members have signed our petition to Governor Schwarzenegger to stop any plan for offshore oil drilling. Join us and say no to McCain's oil disaster. Click here to sign the petition.