Puget Sound Liberals Weekly Newsletter #157
Enhancing Freedom, Opportunity and Cooperation in
Through informing and networking Liberals and Liberal
Organizations.
Our vision is hundreds of thousands of well-informed
Our Website Our Editor To Unsubscribe Table of
Contents * Featured
Articles Communication With Our Members Calendars of Events Opportunities and Petitions Commentaries from Our Members Donald A. Smith:
Why Abortion Isn’t Murder Luis Moscoso:Dialogue with Democratic Leaders Needed Liberals and Democrats Links to the Beef American Indians Are included in Inaugural Celebration
Obama’s Economic Plans Are a Down Payment* Barack Obama Will Re-Regulate U.S. Economy* Green Agenda for Barack Obama’s First 100 Days Obama’s Promises to Support Children and Families State and Local Links to the Beef Our State Government’s Budgetary Dilemma* NOW:
2009 Legislative Priorities WEC:
2009 Environmental Priorities Nation and World Links to the Beef SEIU Campaigns to Ensure Promises to Help Workers Economic Recovery Will Increase Our Dollar’s
Value Remember South African apartheid. Boycott Israel. Our Liberal Spirit Our Private and Public Selves* Our
Political Priorities ·
Fair Clean
Elections and Open Government ·
Fair Taxes and
Competent Spending ·
Investment for
Productivity ·
Quality
Health, Education, Jobs, Income ·
Environmental
Protection and Energy Independence ·
Security and
Equal Rights ·
Justice and
Peace Everywhere ·
International
Cooperation and Leadership Conservatives oppose all of these Let’s
End Our National Nightmare
Let’s
Restore Our American Dream More on Conservative opposition to our
American Dream Washington State’s 5 Major Needs ·
Federal
Funding for Health and Education · Substitute a Progressive Income Tax · Replacing
Republican Legislators Quote of the Week It’s a saying they have, that a man has a false heart in his mouth for
the world to see, another in his breast to show to his special friends and
his family, and the real one, the true one, the secret one, which is never
known to anyone except to himself alone, hidden only God knows where. Shogun
Communication with Our Members
Targeting Business Abuses
During 2007, our Puget Sound
Liberals championed public campaign
financing. During 2008, we
championed Washington State tax reform.
In 2009, we are identifying and
targeting business abuses. For more.
Calendar of Events
Friday,
January 16 at 7 PM at Traditions Café and World Folk (300 – 5th
Avenue, Olympia) – UN
Convention for the Elimination of all Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) Educational Forum ‘Why You Should Care About “The Women’s Treaty”’, sponsored by Thurston County National Organization
for Women, featuring Leanne Smith and Heidi Evans of Amnesty International.
Saturday, January 17 at Noon at Westlake Center on 4th
and Pine, Seattle – Protest Israeli War
Crimes in Gaza.
Monday, January 19 at St. John’s Episcopal Church (114
= 20th Avenue SE, Olympia) at 8:45 AM – People’s Summit for Economic Justice and at 11:30 AM – March on the Capitol, sponsored by our Statewide
Poverty Action Network.
Opportunities
and Petitions
Opportunities
Useful
Websites: contacts, maps, community organizing tools, and more.
Access
to jillions of political cartoons.
Download
Sightline Institute’s climate policy primer ‘Cap and Trade 101’. About
Sightline.
International version of ‘Stand by Me’ (video).
Learn
more about the Obama-Biden policy agenda and share your ideas.:
For updates from Obama-Biden Transition Project, including
video of Obama’s weekly address.
For news about Obama-Biden’s preparations to take office.
For news about Barack Obama’s
inauguration and ways to participate from home.
Ask Democratic national
committee Chair Tim Kaine about future of Democratic Party.
Obtain Progressive
States Networks resources for improving many state government services.
Petitions and Donations
Tell the Democratic
Congressional Campaign Committee about your ideas for change.
Sign MoveOn’s
petition to pass Obama’s economic stimulus recovery plan.
Tell
Barack Obama to close Guantanamo immediately.
Tell
Barack Obama to allow funding for organizations which assist abortions.
Tell
your congress members to support the Serve America Act, which supports
volunteers.
Tell your congress
members to support the Fair Pay Act of 2009.
Tell
your congress members to make green jobs a stimulus priority.
Commentaries
From Our Members
Luis
Moscoso: More Dialogue with Democratic Party Officials Is Needed
Published by Washblog
on January 6, 2009
The
debate that never was!?!
I attended the Candidates Forum at the
Thurston County Dems meeting last night hoping to see the two contenders for
Democratic Party Chair, Dwight Pelz and Mark Hintz, square off. But as you now
know, Dwight was a "no show" at this first debate. Paul Barendt stood
in for him. Though I was at the debate last night, I didn't see why Paul
spoke (somewhat) for Dwight. Paul acknowledged that it was Obama's groundswell
movement that gave us such an overwhelming victory in WA State. Paul also
allowed that Dwight and the State Party should be credited with
"handling" the massive turnout that Obama instigated.
When a question from the
audience asked what were the candidates' "vision" for the future of
the Party Paul understandably declined to answer for Dwight. So we don't really
know what the current Chair sees in the future for maintaining the
"Campaign for Change" legacy that Obama has bestowed on us.
It was disappointing
that so many Thurston County Dems, Mark Hintz and Paul Barendt weren't able to
have a dialogue with Chairman Pelz as he is seeking to lead the Party again. As
an Officer of the Party myself, I'm looking for dedicated leadership that will
inspire us to move forward together.
We must insist upon the
need for more open communication between grass/netroots, Party activists and,
of course, Party officials. It is the only way we're going to
"democratically" agree on policies and operational procedures to meet
the serious economic challenges we face in WA today.
When Democrats come
together for discussion, our leaders must be there to listen and then lead. Luis
Moscoso, Secretary, WA State Democrats
Liberals
and Democrats
American Indians Are included in Inaugural
Celebration
In keeping with its
commitment to hold inaugural events that celebrate our common values and
reflect the diversity and history of our great nation, President-elect Barack
Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden’s Inaugural Committee officially
extended an offer to the Crow Nation of Montana, the Oneida Nation Veterans,
the Suurimmanitchuat Eskimo Dance Group, and the United Tribes Technical
College to march in the 56th Inaugural Parade. Members of these American
Indian and Native Alaskan groups will join representatives from across the
country and our Armed Forces in the historic parade down Pennsylvania Avenue
following President-elect Obama’s swearing-in ceremony on the steps of the Capitol.
“I am honored to
invite these talented groups and individuals to participate in the Inaugural
Parade,” said President-elect Obama. “These organizations embody the best
of our nation’s history, diversity and commitment to service. Vice
President-elect Biden and I are proud to have them join us in the parade.”
Organizations
wishing to participate in the parade submitted an application to the Armed
Forces Inaugural Committee (AFIC), which then assisted the Presidential
Inaugural Committee in reviewing all of the groups’ applications. All
told, 1,382 organizations applied to participate, setting a new standard for
interest in marching in the parade.
The Crow Nation of
Montana, of which President-elect Obama is a member, will bring 24 paint horses
to the parade. The Oneida Nation Veterans Color Guard of Wisconsin had
the honor to host the Medal of Honor Association in 2007. The
Suurimmanitchuat Eskimo Dance Group is from Alaska.
United Tribes
Technical College, located in Bismarck, North Dakota, was chartered in 1969 by
the state of North Dakota and is operated by five tribes: Three Affiliated
Tribes of Fort Berthold, the Spirit Lake Tribe, the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate,
the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, and the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa
Indians. The contingent from United Tribes Technical College will include
employees and students who have served in the Armed Forces as well as singers
and dancers using traditional Indian hoop drums.
The Presidential
Inaugural Committee was assisted in its selection process by a group of
experienced military musicians, who utilized their expertise to help assess the
presentation skills of marching bands, musical acts and drill teams.
All participants in the Inaugural Parade are
responsible for paying for their own lodging and transportation to and from
Washington, D.C. The Committee has been working closely with area
governments and civic organizations to facilitate access to affordable
accommodations and would like to encourage citizens from across the country to
reach out and help the Crow Nation of Montana, the Oneida Nation Veterans, the
Suurimmanitchuat Eskimo Dance Group and United Tribes Technical College raise
the necessary resources to participate in this historic event.
Bye bye Bush
Like
Presidents Truman and Carter, Bush is leaving the presidency with terrible
unpopularity ratings. In spite of
domestic successes, Truman was done in by the Korean War. In spite of foreign policy successes, Carter
was done in by stagflation following several oil price shocks. But Bush’s foreign and domestic policies both
failed. He failed to prevent the 9/11
terrorist attacks, illegally invaded Iraq, hyped a war on terrorism which
violated our fundamental liberties, promoted crony capitalism which wrecked our
economy, and promoted Christian Conservative ideology to divide us. The best thing that he did was to discredit
market fundamentalism and wreck the Republican Party.
Many
Liberals deplored President’s Bush’s invasion of Iraq in 2003. All Liberals deplored his deception,
incompetence and corruption by 2005. Instead
of emphasizing the obvious, our Puget Sound Liberals have given less attention
to Bush’s failures than many other Liberal media have. I hope that we can quickly forget him as we
have his father. What is the point of
remembering our nightmares? We are
relieved that he is now finally leaving the presidency.
Instead
we are looking forward to President Barack Obama’s restoration of our American
Dream. Returning us from a Borrow, Consume and Speculate economy
to an Earn, Conserve and Invest
economy. The $800 billion economic
recovery and re-investment plan together with the remaining $350 billion of the
TARP funds will provide a down payment for public and private investments in
infrastructure; energy conservation; development and implementation of
non-carbon based energies; and improving our safety net of health, education,
jobs, earnings and retirement.
Additional investments will be made in following years, providing jobs
and improving the efficiency of our economy.
We
need enough credit for sensible investments and consumption; but not enough to
encourage excessive borrowing, consuming and speculation. For more.
We
are glad that Obama will move quickly to close Guantanamo, prohibit torture,
restrict invasions of our privacy and generally restore our civil rights. We are glad that he will proceed rapidly to
bring our troops out of Iraq. We expect
him to initiate many other positive actions, such as making our government more
open to public scrutiny, restoring science to policy making, and assisting Main
Street instead of Wall Street.
We
worry that Obama may not reduce our military and its budget enough, will not
sufficiently weaken corporate ability to corrupt our government and abuse us,
will compromise too much with private health insurers, will not quit supporting
Israeli colonization of Palestine, and will not provide leadership for
instituting the changes in our global governance that are needed to provide
international justice and peace and prevent international corporate abuse.
But
these require major battles, which we hope Barack Obama will engage in a timely
manner as his political influence allows.
We will remain optimistic, but vigilant as we support him in making the
basic changes that we need. Our duty is
to be change agents ourselves, pushing to change our society, our government,
our Democratic and other Liberal parties, and ourselves. Most difficult will be to wean ourselves of
our Borrow, Consume and Speculate
habits. Dave Thomas
An Update on Obama’s Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Plan
Economic Recovery and
Reinvestment Plan
It
was originally called an economic stimulus plan. Then relabeled an economic stimulus recovery
plan. Now it is called an economic recovery and reinvestment plan. Barack Obama tells us that it would preserve
or increase 3-4 million jobs (90% of them in the private sector) at a cost of
$800 billion, with more perhaps added by congress. The costs would be:
·
40% for tax cuts and income assistance oriented to our lower income
people
·
40% for infrastructure and green jobs
·
20% for support for state and local governments, suffering from declining
revenue
Obama
has designed his proposals to obtain maximum public and congressional
support. The tax cuts fulfill a campaign
promise that he made. Clinton reneged on
a similar promise in 1993. Targeted
toward lower income people, the extra incomes will be quickly spent. Unlike President Bush’s tax cuts. The various public investments will not only
provide jobs, but will improve the productivity of our economy. Obama has also expressed a willingness to use
good ideas from people of all political persuasions.
Some
have expressed concern that $800 million is not enough. Others think it is too much. Some favor the tax cuts. Others favor the Investment in infrastructure
and green jobs. State and local
government officials certainly favor assistance for their budgets. With something for everyone, it will be
difficult for anyone to oppose Obama’s plan, without being viewed as an
obstructionist. For
more.
Second half of the $700
billion TARP Bailout Will Be Redirected to Main Street
The
first $350 billion of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) mainly went to bailout crony capitalists,
arguing that they were to too big to fail.
These too-big-to-fail financial companies then used some of the money to
purchase other weaker financial companies.
Wouldn’t we be better off, if we divided them into smaller companies, so
we would not be faced with bailing out too-big-to-fail companies?
Confronted with intense skepticism on Capitol Hill over the $700 billion financial
rescue program, Treasury Secretary nominee Timothy F. Geithner and President-elect Barack Obama's economic team are urgently
overhauling the embattled initiative and broadening its scope well beyond Wall Street, sources familiar with the
discussions said. For
more.
Geithner has
been working night and day on the eighth floor of the transition team office in
downtown Washington with Lawrence H. Summers and other senior economic
advisers to hash out a new approach that would expand the program's aid to
municipalities, small businesses, homeowners and other consumers. With
lawmakers stewing over how Bush administration officials spent the first $350
billion, Geithner has little chance of winning congressional approval for the
second half without retooling the program, the sources added.
That challenge
is underscored by a report from a congressional oversight panel scheduled to be
released today that hammers the outgoing Treasury Department for its handling
of the financial rescue, including "what appear to be significant gaps in
Treasury's monitoring of the use of taxpayer money." The report, moreover,
faults the Treasury for failing to properly measure the success of the program
or establish an overall strategy and skewers the department for not using any
of the funds on foreclosure relief as Congress had directed. For
more.
A Catalyst for Future
Programs and Budgets
The
redirected $350 billion of the TARP money may join the $800 billion Economic
Recovery and Reinvestment to provide $1.15 trillion for Main Street financial
assistance and jobs. Much of this money
will also be a down payment for future expansion of infrastructure,
environmental, education, health and other programs which are deemed
successful. Much more than an immediate
stimulus, Obama is initiating a catalyst for future programs to fulfill his
many goals expressed during his campaign.
Barack
Obama Will Re-regulate U.S. Economy
It's no secret
Barack Obama plans to enact the biggest economic stimulus package in history
next month. What's less known is that
he plans to quickly follow it with a sweeping re-regulation of the U.S.
economy.
One of the leading ideas would combine the Securities and Exchange Commission
and the Commodities Futures Trading Commission into a super-regulator that
would be like another Federal Reserve as a cornerstone of the U.S. financial
system. This plan, still in draft forms,
is likely to include tough new rules for stock trading, banks and the broader
financial sector — as well as greater transparency for how government money is
spent cleaning up the entire system, according to Democrats familiar with the
plans.
Obama told CNBC’s John Harwood on Wednesday that he plans “a substantial
overhaul” with “better enforcement, better oversight, better disclosure,
increased transparency.” “Wall Street
has not worked, our regulatory system has not worked the way it's supposed to,”
Obama said. “We're going to have to look at this alphabet soup of agencies and
figure out how do we get them to work together more effectively. We've got to
stop splintering functions in such a way that capital in one form is treated
one way and capital in another form is treated another way, because these days
in global financial markets, they're all fungible.” For more.
Green Agenda for Barack Obama’s First 100 Days
Ceres President Mindy Lubber:
“In
his first 100 days, the new president must move quickly to pass a recovery
package that not only jumpstarts the economy, but also catalyzes a green and
sustainable future — one that creates new business opportunities, triggers new
jobs, and helps heal the environment.
We believe that investors, companies, and those who work for them are waiting for
the signals from Washington to begin this work. Those signals should come
quickly, and we recommend they include these specific steps:
·
Stimulate the economy
through investments in clean energy technology, energy efficiency, green-collar
jobs, and training.
·
Lay the groundwork for
legislation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent below 1990 levels
by 2020 and 80 percent by 2050.
·
Work with Congress to
end tax incentives and subsidies for high carbon-emitting technologies and
projects.
·
Enact mandates that 20
percent of the nation’s electricity come from renewable power by 2020 and at
least 30 percent by 2030.
·
Instruct the Securities
and Exchange Commission to require publicly traded companies to disclose the
risks and opportunities they face from climate change.
·
Institute financial
reforms to require honest accounting of the financial risks that companies and
investors face from climate change and other sustainability threats.
·
Direct the EPA to issue
California’s clean car waiver, allowing it and 18 other states to implement
stringent fuel efficiency standards.
·
Re-engage and provide
strong leadership in the international climate negotiation process.”
United States Climate
Action Partnership blueprint for legislative Action
Obama’s Promises to Support Children and
Families
Every Child
Matters, in partnership with other national children's organizations and
state and local groups, intends to work with the new Administration and the
incoming Congress to win new federal investments in children, youth and family
services. Prior to President Obama's first budget being unveiled, likely in
February 2009, ECM will approach his transition team and key appointees with
information about the unacceptable--and preventable--conditions in which
millions of children live. Federal investments have been lagging in child abuse
treatment and prevention, early education and child care, anti-poverty
programs, health care, youth learning and skill development, and many other
areas. Addressing such issues is central to healthy human growth and
development, a healthy economy, and a strong nation.
Candidate Obama proposed numerous initiatives to protect
children and strengthen families during the campaign. A partial listing of
these initiatives, distilled from his campaign website, includes:
Invest in Early Education and Care
·
$10
Billion to create Early Learning Challenge Grants
·
Quadruple
Early Head Start
·
Affordable
child care
Support Working Families and Reduce Child Poverty
Help American Families Stay Healthy
Strengthen Families at Home
No one expects that all of these items will be included
in the President's first budget--the gap in domestic spending has grown too
wide to close all at once. Nevertheless, candidate Obama properly emphasized
that America's future well-being is tied to the well-being of its children and
we are optimistic that he will propose a significant, if as yet unspecified,
down payment on closing the national "investment gap" in children and
youth.
Help us urge Obama to make spending on children and
families a priority in his budget, click here to send him a
message. For
more.
Here’s the Beef
At
least four Republican Senators won’t run in 2010, like rats leaving sinking
ship.
TARP was an
attempt to sustain our bubble. Instead,
we need to pop it.
Advocacy
groups use Barack Obama’s inauguration to promote their causes.
House
Judiciary Committee Democratic report promotes investigation of Bush’s misuse
of power.
President
Bush’s ideologically and politically motivated faith-based initiatives will be
rescinded.
Can
Barack Obama realize Liberal values and woo Conservatives by avoiding
Ideological statements?
Ten goals for
Barack Obama’s first term.
Ocean
Conservancy suggests Obama should strengthen ocean protections.
Obama
should support Kennedy-Hatch Bill to expand service opportunities. For
more.
Steps
Obama can take to convert our military economy to a peace economy.
Obama says
his plan will save or produce 4 million of 5 million jobs lost during our
recession.
A
new poll shows much public support for public investment.
Responses to
Conservative arguments against our Economic Stimulus Recovery Plan.
Obama’s
popularity will push congress to pass his proposed legislation.
Obama
shows flexibility, adds more money for alternative energy tax incentives to
recovery plan.
Should
Obama’s jobs stimulus include the arts, as the 1930s WPA program did?
Economic
recovery requires federal support for state government jobs.
Government
health care spending reduces private health care spending, allowing stimulus
spending.
Jobs created by our
economic recovery programs must pay fair incomes.
If
Obama’s plan doesn’t revive our economy, we can start a World War. It worked in the 1940s.
Bernie Sanders
asks, why should credit card companies get another 18 months to rip off
borrowers.
Conservatives are
preemptively lying about health care reform.
Passing
State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) will pave the way for
universal coverage.
Instead of
401(k)s, we need to be able to purchase supplemental social security payments.
State
and Local
Our State Government’s Budgetary Dilemma
Our projected state revenue
is $6 billion less than is necessary to fund the continuation of existing
services. Unless more revenue can be
found, existing services must be painfully reduced and funding is not available
for hoped for new services. Speaker
Frank Chopp says our budget is an expression of our values, which must invest
in our future and serve all of Washington.
One possible source of new
funding is assistance from our federal government. Some assistance is promised, but how much is
unknown. Or the extent to which federal
assistance will free up revenue for maintaining existing services and initiating
other desired ones. Hopefully there will
be enough to significantly ease our budgetary crunch. And the amount will be known in time for our
legislature to take it into account. For more.
Some federal assistance will
come this year, with more likely in following years. So we may be able to fund many services this
year and underfund them next year, in hopes of more federal funding.
Another possible source of
funding is to declare some services to be capital investments, instead of
operating costs. Such services need to
produce higher state revenue in the future, to pay back money which is
borrowed. Perhaps they should also be
one time services, instead of services which are provided every year.
A third possible source of
funding is to increase our taxes. If
done, this should also make our tax system fairer, through increasing the taxes
of our high income and wealthy people, who are now ripping us off, through not
paying to maintain the infrastructure that enables their wealth. I noted to Representative Ross Hunter (chair
of our house finance committee) that Barack Obama is justifying progressive
federal tax reform as providing tax reduction to 95% of tax payers. Ross Hunter noted that Barack Obama only
needs 60% support in our U.S. Senate, while support from over 66% of our voters
would be necessary to implement constitutional reforms necessary to supplement
a progressive income tax for some of our regressive sales, excise and property
taxes. Such support appears
impossible.
State
schools need full funding. Unless
new funding can be found through one of these three sources, our legislature
will drastically reduce existing services and be unable to offer new ones. Dave Thomas
National Organization for Women’s 2009 Legislative Priorities
Economic and Social Justice
Gender Equity
Health Care
Lesbian and Gay Rights
Reproductive Justice
Passage of legislation stating
that WA State will pursue only federal sexual health education funding that is
consistent with the Healthy Youth Act (i.e. medically and scientifically
accurate and not just abstinence only)
Violence Against Women
NOW supports legislation to
allow those who have been sexually assaulted by their landlord to break the
lease. This legislation would include
family members residing with the leaseholder,
Budget
Washington Environmental Council: 2009 Environmental Priorities
Cap and
Invest
By implementing real limits on global warming pollution, we can create new jobs
and stimulate the growth of a clean energy economy here in Washington State.
This effort implements the cap on climate pollution the Legislature adopted
last year. Emitters would pay for pollution permits, and the new revenue would
be invested to reduce fossil fuel dependence, create green jobs and spur new
clean-tech innovation, while providing assistance to moderate- and low-income
households struggling with high energy costs. Through state action, we can
reduce global warming pollution in a manner that benefits Washington’s economy,
protects Washington’s interests in the national climate policy debate, and
positions us for success in the new clean energy economy.
Efficiency First
Promoting energy efficient homes, businesses and public institutions will save
money, enhance energy security, and significantly reduce global-warming
pollution. Energy efficiency is the cheapest and most immediate way to reduce
greenhouse-gas emissions and will create thousands of good, family-wage jobs in
Washington. This bill will put “efficiency first” by promoting
super-efficient, low-energy-use buildings, providing incentives to maximize
energy efficiency, requiring energy use information on buildings offered for
sale or lease; and making our public buildings models of energy efficiency.
This policy will also help to ensure that low-income consumers can cope with
rising energy costs.
Transit-Oriented Communities
Washingtonians want to live in affordable, walkable and transit-oriented
communities. With population growth, we are facing increased traffic
congestion, diminished quality of life, and ever-increasing greenhouse gas
emissions. Transit-Oriented Communities would revise the state’s transportation
and land-use planning framework to assist local jurisdictions to plan for
growth in a sustainable and climate-friendly way. The bill will provide
incentives for cities and developers to create affordable, livable,
transit-oriented development, increasing transportation choices.
Invest in Clean Water
From Puget Sound to the Spokane River, clean water is Washington’s lifeblood
and our communities can’t thrive without it. This package of targeted
polluter-pays fees will protect the taxpaying public and ensure that polluters
take responsibility for the impacts of their actions. The effort will
raise new revenue to fund critical projects to save Puget Sound and restore
Washington’s rivers and lakes. By investing in storm water
infrastructure, toxics prevention and other programs, we create new jobs,
relieve financial pressure on local government, and promote new economic
stimulus. For
more.
Hello Seattle Waterfront
Elected leaders of Seattle,
King County and Washington State have apparently agreed upon a
solution for replacing our failing waterfront viaduct. For
more. For
more. A bored tunnel would replace
our viaduct for one mile in front of downtown Seattle, allowing two 50 miles
per hour traffic lanes in each direction. Washington State would fund the tunnel. Seattle would fund the surface
improvements. King County would fund
transit improvements.
Many construction and funding
details remain to be studied and decided.
The major advantage is that Seattle will recover its view of our Puget
Sound waterfront, while maintaining traffic flow through our downtown. Let hope we can now proceed expeditiously
toward implementing this solution.
Bye Bye Seattle P-I
I have been and am critical
of our commercial media. Wanting to
attract the largest number of readers and viewers to satisfy their advertisers,
they only provide dramatic news which won’t make their audiences uncomfortable. The result is superficial coverage, focused
upon accidents, disasters and disputes.
They don’t express any values and principles which guide their news
coverage, nor do they do the research necessary to fully inform people. Unlike our newsletter which provides coverage
of major political and economic issues, with supporting facts to enable a
fuller understanding.
It appears almost certain
that the Seattle PI will cease publication.
I will miss David Horsey’s cartoons and Joel Connelly’s commentaries;
but little else. In the absence of any
competition, the quality of the Seattle Times news coverage can be expected to
decline. We might be better off if both
papers ceased publication. That might
partially happen, with one or both publishing only on-line editions. For more.
I appreciate our public radio
and public television stations, CSPAN and TVW, which provide only limited
advertising and excellent principle based news commentary. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could have similar
public interest newspapers? Suppose we
had a newspaper with no advertizing available for a certain rate. Any subscriber who is willing to receive also
a completely separate section with
nothing but ads and advertizing flyers, would receive a reduced rate. If an endowment could be created, the rates
could be reduced.
I don’t know how much it
would cost to publish a quality newspaper.
Or how much it would cost without and with separate advertizing. Or how much endowment would be needed to
produce viable rates. Hopefully, someone
will research these ideas, find and implement a solution.
Here’s the Beef
Statewide
Poverty Action Network assesses Impact of Governor Gregoire’s budget.
Federal
aid for Medicaid will help state budgets more than aid for infrastructure
projects.
Patti
Murray proposes $6-7 billion stimulus money for Hanford cleanup.
Clark
County Public Utility proposes 24 projects totaling $110 million for stimulus
money.
Majority
Leader Lisa Brown and other Democratic senators propose stimulus package for
25,000 jobs.
House
speaker Frank Chopp comments on his 2009 Legislative priorities.
Three
state legislators introduce bill to decriminalize marijuana.
Development. Logging.
Climate Change. All three
contributed to Washington flooding.
Dirty
from soot, snow absorbs more heat, melts faster, leaving less water for summer
consumption.
Seattle
area loses jobs: A mixed blessing. Lower
revenues. Less traffic. Lower housing prices.
We need
stiffer penalties for domestic abusers.
Nation
and World
Monkey Bailout Scheme
Once
upon a time a man appeared in a village and announced to the villagers that he
would buy monkeys for $10 each. The
villagers, seeing that there were many monkeys around, went out to the forest and started catching them. The man bought thousands at $10 and, as
supply started to diminish, the villagers
stopped their effort.
He next
announced that he would now buy monkeys at $20 each. This
renewed the efforts of the villagers and they started
catching monkeys again. Soon the supply
diminished even further and people started going back to their farms. The offer increased to $25 each and the supply
of monkeys became so scarce it was an effort
to even find a monkey, let alone catch it!
The man
now announced that he would buy monkeys at $50 each! However, since he had to go to the city on some business, his
assistant would buy on his behalf. In the
absence of the man, the assistant told the villagers:
"Look at all these monkeys in the big cage that the man has already collected. I will sell them to you at $35 and when
the man returns from the city, you can sell
them to him for $50 each."
The
villagers rounded up all their savings and bought all the monkeys for 700 billion dollars. They
never saw the man or his assistant again, only lots and lots of monkeys! Does this remind you of any other bailout plans?
Corporations Aren’t People
Thom
Hartman’s 2002 book, Unequal Protection,
the Rise of Corporate Dominance and the Theft of Human Rights begins by
stating “This book is about the difference between humans and the corporations
we humans have created.” Unlike humans,
corporations can live forever, can amass enormous resources to protect
themselves and abuse others, and are often defined to have a much narrower sense
of responsibility. Corporations may
promote the welfare of their owners and managers at the expense of workers,
consumers, suppliers, our environment and others. Corporations may even put the interests of
managers before their owning stockholders.
Treating Corporations as People Gives
Them Enormous Power
Humans
are subject to abuse by powerful humans and organizations. In response, our constitution and bill of
rights provides us freedoms which protect us from such abuse. Giving corporations legal status as humans
grants them the same constitutional protections that humans have, including:
· Free speech and the ability to influence public
opinion and legislation (first amendment)
· Protection from searches, shielding their activities
from public scrutiny (fourth amendment)
Given their enormous resources, corporations then have
much more powerful speech and lobbying power than humans. Comparing America which treats corporations
as humans with Europe which does not treat corporations as humans, we see that
corporations in America have much more power to advertise and lobby, to form
public opinion and promote or obstruct legislation. This difference in the legal definition of
corporations is the primary reason that we have been less able to regulate corporate
activities. That we are subject to
massive and typically misleading advertising campaigns. That we have been unable to substitute public
services such as universal health care for private services such as private
health insurance.
Corporations Were Not Always Regarded as People
America
has not always granted corporations the same legal status as people. Our constitution doesn’t mention
corporations. Until 1886, corporations
were considered artificial creations of their owners and the state legislatures
that authorized them. Because they were
artificial legal entities, they were subject to control by our governments,
which were charged with protecting people from threats to their life, liberty
and pursuit of happiness.
Until
after our Civil War, corporations were viewed with suspicion and greatly
restricted.
·
Corporate
charters were granted for a specific period of time.
·
Their charters
were required to express specific purposes and could be revoked if they failed
to fulfill these purposes, or if they exceeded them.
·
They were
prohibited from amassing power through acquiring stock in other corporations or
acquiring real estate beyond what was necessary for their purposes.
·
They were
prohibited from making political contributions or charitable donations.
·
States could
regulate the prices which corporations charged for their services.
·
All of their records
were subject to review by the state attorney general or legislature.
·
Corporate
employees could not escape punishment by claiming they were just acting as
agents of the corporation.
Since 1886, Corporations Have Obtained
and Used Enormous Power
The
industrialization which accompanied and followed our Civil War produced a
proliferation of corporations. In 1886,
a Supreme Court reporter’s comment in the Santa Clara v. Southern Pacific
Railroad case indicated that corporations are legally people. This is the flimsy basis for the extension of
our civil rights to corporations. Given
what’s at stake, I don’t understand why this has not been legally and
successfully challenged.
Our
14th amendment to our constitution was designed to protect the
rights of freed slaves and their descendents.
But most lawsuits claiming 14th amendment rights to equal
legal treatment have been filed by corporations to restrict the ability of
government to regulate and tax them based upon their particular
characteristics.
Our Liberal Greatest Struggle: Eliminating
Legal Claims that Corporations Are People
Our
struggle to protect people from corporate abuse will not be won until we curb
the power of corporations to abuse people.
Curbing corporate power will ultimately require eliminating the legal
fiction that corporations are people.
This will almost certainly be the greatest struggle that Liberals will
have, since powerful corporations will use all of their resources to preserve
their power to abuse us as a major contributor to their profits. In an increasingly globalized world, our best
allies may be European and East Asian understandings that corporations are not
people.
SEIU Campaigns to Ensure Elected Officials Honor Promises to Help Workers
Service
Employees International Union (SEIU) President Andy Stern said, "After 25
years of market worshipping, deregulating, privatizing, trickle-down economics,
American workers have ended up working more, earning less; they've seen the
middle class erode and the gap between the rich and the rest of the population
grow larger every day.
"Winning
an election only provides an opportunity for change," Stern said and
promised that the campaign would be focused on "organizing, mobilizing and
getting the involvement of people in communities in every part of our
country."
The
union's agenda is both simple and substantive. The campaign -- described by
Stern as the largest legislative plan of any single organization in recent
history -- has three primary goals:
·
The
passage of a significant economic-recovery program, with infrastructure
investments and aid to states and municipalities whose revenues have been
decimated by the economic crunch.
·
Passage
of a universal health care bill that conforms to the broad
set of principles for reform SEIU laid out last year.
·
Passage
of the Employee Free Choice Act, a bill that would make it harder for employers
to intimidate -- or fire -- workers trying to organize a union.
All
of these initiatives echo calls heard from the broader progressive movement for
some time. For more. For more.
Economic Recovery Will Increase Our Dollar’s
Value
In June 2008, our
dollar reached an all time low compared to the euro. Since then, it has generally been
appreciating. If we respond more
strongly to our economic crisis than other countries, enough to produce a
better recovery, our dollar will continue to appreciate. This will discourage exports and encourage
imports, counter to our recovery. Our
recovery will also aid other country’s recovery. We can overcome this by developing innovative
technologies for which foreigners will pay high prices. For more.
Remember South African apartheid. Boycott Israel.
It's
time. Long past time. The best strategy to end the increasingly bloody
occupation of Palestine is for Israel to become the target of the kind of
global movement that put an end to apartheid in South Africa.
In
July 2005 a huge coalition of Palestinian groups laid out plans to do just
that. They called on "people of conscience all over the world to impose
broad boycotts and implement divestment initiatives against Israel similar to
those applied to South Africa in the apartheid era." The campaign Boycott,
Divestment and Sanctions -- BDS for short -- was born.
Every
day that Israel pounds Gaza brings more converts to the BDS cause, and talk of
cease-fires is doing little to slow the momentum. Support is even emerging
among Israeli Jews. In the midst of the assault roughly 500 Israelis, dozens of
them well-known artists and scholars, sent a letter to foreign ambassadors
stationed in Israel. It calls for "the adoption of immediate restrictive
measures and sanctions" and draws a clear parallel with the antiapartheid
struggle. "The boycott on South Africa was effective, but Israel is
handled with kid gloves.… This international backing must stop."
In addition to the above, Naomi Klein responds to four arguments
against boycotting Israel. For more. For more.
Just
as we once supported the Taliban, we also once supported Hamas.
Al Jazeera TV shows
Israeli invasion. Israel blocks American
Journalists.
Liberal
Jewish activists oppose Conservative groups like AIPAC which support Israeli
foreign policy.
Contrary to
commercial media, only 31% of Democratic voters support Israel’s invasion of
Gaza.
99% of house members
uncritically support Israel.
The weapons Israel is
using in Gaza are gifts from our United States.
Under Barack Obama,
the U.S. will talk to Hamas.
Here’s the Beef
China
is now the world’s third largest economy.
And one of least affected by global economic collapse.
Tax cuts have hurt our
economy, causing stagnation or if larger, a bubble and collapse.
Robert
Rubin has resigned from Citigroup, in disgrace for not avoiding bubble and
collapse.
New company logos reflect bad economy.
Globalization
stimulated our economic collapse. What
global reforms are needed?
Obama
should renegotiate NAFTA. Here’s why and
how.
Another
detail. Federal Aviation Authority
requires Obama’s attention.
Needed inexpensive fiscal
therapy.
Do
plunging retail sales indicate we are discontinuing our enormous over-consumption?
Now that more
middle class people are becoming poor, poverty receives more political
attention.
How
to create stimulus jobs for women, minorities, poor people and long term unemployed. For
more.
House
passes Paycheck Fairness Act. Senate and
President Obama may also approve it.
Former owners of
foreclosed homes should have 10 year right to rent them at fair market value.
By
a large majority, senate passes bill providing 2.2 million acres with
Wilderness protection.
New
homes are tending smaller.
Corn ethanol bad. Cellulosic ethanol good, but needs more
research to find economical method.
Illicit drugs
are here to stay. Can we learn to better
guide their use?
Closing Guantanamo is
easy. Free some. Find haven for some. Try some.
Our
Liberal Spirit
As infants, we express our desires immediately. We have no private selves. Only public selves. But as we learn that some expressions of our
desires produce negative reactions, we begin to censor our expression of these
desires. We begin to have private
selves, not shared with some people, or perhaps with any people. With more experience, we elaborate our
private selves. In hostile environments,
we may become quite secretive, carefully calculating our expression of our
desires and perhaps seldom expressing them.
We may even repress them so much that we become unaware of them. Being unconscious of our desires, our
attempts to realize them become inefficient and ineffective.
As adults, we all have several layers of private
selves, as expressed in Shogun. We have
some desires that we only share with our best friends. We have other envy, anger, lusts, greed, and
other desires which we share with no one.
Sometimes others may rightly or wrongly suspect that we have various
private desires, especially if we inadvertently refer to them. We have all been burned, when we have shared
some of our private desires with close friends, who then react negatively.
Would we be better off if all of our desires were
publicly expressed? Some of our desires
are compulsions which we would prefer to quit.
Is it better that these be repressed, or that they be publicly admitted
and perhaps acted upon? Are we more
likely to act upon them, if we repress them or if we admit to them? Would other unnecessarily punish us for
admitting to desires, which we are successfully not acting upon?
As in Shogun, the success of our various political and
other strategies often depends upon keeping them secret, so that others can not
so easily block them. We want to know
the secret political desires of our politicians. We speculate whether the politicians we
support really intend to follow through on their promises that we like. We speculate whether the politicians we
oppose really intend to follow through on proposals we dislike. The smart politician wants to reassure his
supporters, while giving little information to his opponents. To preserve her flexibility, she may want to
be vague about her priorities, revealing them only in time to implement
them. In a fast changing situation, the
politician may have desired what his priorities will be.
As supporters and opponents, we should be aware of our
political priorities, support the ones we prefer and attack the ones we
don’t. We can do this best if we have
some patience to see what priorities our officials seek to implement. But if we wait too much, we may find the
wrong priorities implemented before we have a chance to oppose them. Life isn’t simple. Dave Thomas
Recommended Books – See our list of books for liberals
James Clavell, 1975, Shogun
A long, but engrossing novel
of changing private and public strategies.
A welcome addition to Sun
Tzu, Machiavelli
and Clausewitz.
Free Member Advertising
Hire Our Lake Hills Neighbors
Barbara Rader of Black Widow Web Development created our
Puget Sound Liberals Website, to which I (not a technical geek) can easily add,
modify and remove files. Learn more about this unique company, which offers a 50% discount for organizations that
promote social justice and environmental stewardship. Dave Thomas
· Auto Repair, price varies depending on job (but always fair),
Jaime Speicher (AAS Auto Repair Technician) (425-746-2353)
· Babysitting for infants
(occasional evenings and weekends) - $5 per hour- Christy Pacheco- johnpacheco01@yahoo.com 425-653-3565
· Data Entry- $10 per 12
font, double spaced page- Christy Pacheco (425-653-3565 johnpacheco01@yahoo.com)
· Debt
Elimination Counseling, Seminars and
Workshops – price negotiable – Sherry Brandt (206-356-8034, somerev2@comcast.net)
· Home Repair- prices vary,
depending on job- John Pacheco 425-653-3565 johnpacheco01@yahoo.com)
· Home Repair
and Remodeling, Rick Hegdahl
(206-227-6280 vikingnw@comcast.net)
· Housekeeper, price negotiable – Laura Montano (641-5038 ambar_lau@hotmail.com)
· Life Support
Therapies, Astara Burlingame RN. (MD)
holistic care, acupuncture hypno therapy, biological medicines (206-370-0356)
· Private
Piano Lessons (students must have a
piano), afternoons - Anna Khosrowian (378-7938), price negotiable
· Psychotherapist, accepts insurance -
Sandy Mathews (462-7889, www.sandramathews.com)