Enhancing Freedom, Opportunity and
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Through informing and networking
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Our vision is 100,000’s well-informed
Liberals and Democrats
Should We
Create an Email List?
To receive Senator Patty
Murray’s weekly newsletter.
How to Spend a
Billion Dollars
American Public
Approves Democratic Congressional Leadership
Thompson
Gains, Democrats Lead 2008 Race, Poll Finds
National and World News
Fifteen New Ideas from the Center
for American Progress
Howard Dean on Iraq and the
Bully-in-Chief
Democratic Senators on cutting
off Bush's funds: Just say "Yea"
David Broder wants Democrats to
Compromise on Iraq
Most Americans Support Diplomacy
with Syria and Iraq
Most
Americans See Recession in the Next 12 Months
An Army of Christian Right Lawyers Is
Waging War on the Constitution
New Drive to Pass the Equal Rights
Amendment
War On Terror Leaves Us More
Vulnerable
Wal-Mart and Target Spy on Their
Employees
State and Local News
Endless
Studies Take Their Tolls
The
Pro-Democracy Wildfire in America’s States
Legislative District Democrats
Support Impeachment
Impeachment
Rally on April 19th
Lake Hills Newsletter
– Vigiling to Bring Our Troops Home Alive
Upcoming Events
Saturday, April 14 at 2 PM at
Wednesday, April 25 at 7 PM at
the
Friday, April 27 at 6:30 PM
at
Saturday April 28 at 10 AM at
Tuesday,
May 1 at 5:30 PM at Seattle Sheraton Hotel ( ) – Reception with John Edwards. Reception donation - $500, Silver Sponsor -
$1000, Gold Sponsor - $2000. Dinner
only – $150. For more information and
donor instructions, call Suone Cotner at 206-464-1011 or email scotner@wstla.org
Liberals and Democrats
What Do You Think?
Our last poll was conducted in January, 2006, resulting in twenty
activities, including the initiation of this newsletter. Now please respond to indicate your ideas
about this newsletter and our
1. Do you read, scan or ignore
most of our newsletters?
2. What do you like best about
our newsletter? What least? How should it be improved?
3. Do you use our website as a
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If you think your liberal friends would benefit from receiving our
newsletter, please send me (DavThom@att.net) their name, email address and area of
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favor, since no other source of information provides such comprehensive
information about basic national, state and local issues and events of
particular concern to Liberals in
Should We Create an Email
List?
An email list allows members to
send an email which goes to all list members.
Through replying to comments or questions, members can carry on
conversations. This differs from a list
serve (like this newsletter) in which all messages go from one source to
everyone, and recipients can only reply to our editor. It differs from a blog, in being private (limited
to only list members). Only those who join the email list would receive the
discussion emails. An email list is easy
to create and requires minimal monitoring.
Would you like us to create an email list so that those of you who join it
can ask questions and receive answers from each other and carry on discussions,
including discussions of the contents of our newsletter?
.
Civil Primary Races Please
Both Republican and Democratic candidates have avoided attacking each
other, with misleading information.
Let’s hope this continues throughout the primary competition.
How to Spend a Billion Dollars
For the 2008 cycle, the presidential candidates are expected to raise and
spend a billion dollars in pursuit of the White House, and -- based on the
recent numbers -- well more than half of that money will be spent by Democrats.
While that number screams of the need to reform our system of elections,
it also shows an unmatched opportunity to change the game in a more fundamental
way. For more.
Republicans Divided
This isn't just speculation
- a Diageo/Hotline
poll (PDF) released this week finds that, for 30% of voters, opposition to the
American Public Approves Democratic Congressional Leadership
As the Democratic-led Congress approaches the 100-day mark, pluralities of Americans approve of the way that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid are handling their leadership roles. However, the public gives Democrats mixed reviews for delivering on their campaign promises and for their policies and proposals. Slightly more disapprove of the Democrats' policies than approve (42% disapprove vs. 37% approve). For more.
Thompson Gains, Democrats Lead 2008 Race, Poll Finds
By
Heidi Przybyla
April 12 (Bloomberg) --
Former Senator Fred Thompson, who has yet to announce his candidacy, is ahead
of a slumping John McCain, and Barack Obama is closing in on Hillary Clinton,
according to the latest Bloomberg/Los Angeles Times poll of Americans' 2008
presidential preferences.
The
In head-to-head
general-election match-ups, the poll shows Obama, an
By Paul Krugman,
DISPLAYING ABSTRACT - Paul Krugman Op-Ed column says personality cult
Republican Party once built around Pres Bush has given way to nostalgia for
Ronald Reagan; holds that Bush is what Reagan would have been given the
opportunity; recalls dire state of federal government during Reagan
administration, saying it, like Bush's, was run by movement conservatives who
built their careers by serving wealthy individuals, corporate interests and
religious right; says Reagan's misgovernment never went as far as Bush's,
perhaps because Reagan never controlled both houses of Congress and never had
nation's post-9/11 push to give his administration whatever it wanted in name
of fighting terrorism.
Krugman says, “But what this tells us is that Bush,
not Reagan, is the true representative of modern conservatism is all
about. And it’s the movement, not just
one man who failed.”
National and World
After passing 6 mainstream
liberal bills with bi-partisan support during the first 100 hours of this
session, the house has passed other legislation, including providing funds with
restrictions for our Iraq War. Both the
house and senate are conducting a series of investigations. Without these investigations, the
ill-treatment of our wounded
Giving Democrats control of
congress has made an enormous difference.
But our mainstream press and pundits are giving little attention to
Democratic legislative accomplishments, preferring to report imagined fictional
stumbles and conflicts.
Fifteen New Ideas from the Center
for American Progress
The pages that follow lay out 15 new ideas from Center for American
Progress experts for tackling
Offering
• Create
a Fair and Simple Tax Code
• Extend
Learning Time
• Improve
Teacher Quality
• Increase
College Opportunity and Completion
• Reduce
Debt Burdens by Fighting Abusive Lending
• Strengthen
Pensions: Universal 401(k)
Promoting a Just and Secure World: Use
• Use
Integrated Power
• Strengthen
the All-Volunteer Army
• Grow
the World’s Energy Future
• Invest
in Global Equity
Building Strong Communities: Reawaken
• Provide
Universal Health Coverage
• Use
Health Care to Strengthen the U.S. Auto Industry
• Provide
Comprehensive Worker Adjustment Assistance
Creating Open and Fair Government: Reform government so that it is of, by,
and for the people: open, effective, and committed to the common good.
• Bring
Government Decisionmaking into the Information Age
• Impose
New Rules to Curb Abuses of Congressional Power
Download All 15 New Ideas (PDF)
[The ideas seek to realize our liberal values and the American Dream, but
they are new only as a particular collection of priorities.
Howard Dean on
In his weekly
radio address today, President Bush continued his attempt to deflect
attention away from his catastrophic mismanagement of the Iraq War by claiming
that bills aimed at ending the war are nothing more than "political
statements" which endanger our troops. In turn, DNC Chair Howard Dean gave
the Democrats' weekly radio address (full text and audio here).
He made clear that efforts to end this war are not about politics,
but about people: the people who serve, the people who are dying, the
people who love them, and the people of the United States who are demanding an
end to this debacle: For more.
Democratic Senators on cutting off Bush's funds:
Just say "Yea"
But David Broder Wants
a Compromise
From today's op-ed
by David Broder, in his latest dream of kumbaya-like bipartisanship, are his
thoughts on the supplemental spending bill for
In the continuing battle between the Democratic Congress
and the Bush administration over policy in
And so he wants the administration and leaders from the House and Senate to sit
down together and work out their differences. But as always, Broder
defines bipartisanship and compromise as Democrats caving to Republicans.
It escapes him that to compromise means to settle differences through mutual
concessions. Broder suggests that: For more and 125 comments.
Most Americans Support Diplomacy with
Most
American Expect a Recession in the Next 12 Months
April 11 (Bloomberg) -- Most Americans expect a recession within a year
and disapprove of President George W. Bush's handling of the economy even
though the unemployment rate is at a five-year low, a new Bloomberg/Los Angeles
Times poll found.
Six in 10 who were surveyed predicted a recession, similar to the 64
percent who anticipated the economy would contract in a December 2000 poll by
the Los Angeles Times three months before the last decline. In the current
survey, 71 percent of those earning less than $40,000 said they expect a
recession compared with about half for those making more than $100,000. For More. [A
recession will help the Democrats win in 2008.].
An Army of Christian Right Lawyers Is Waging War
on the Constitution
New Drive Afoot to Pass Equal Rights Amendment
By Juliet Eilperin,
Federal and state lawmakers have launched a new drive to pass the Equal Rights Amendment, reviving a feminist goal that faltered a quarter-century ago when the measure did not gain the approval of three-quarters of the state legislatures.
The amendment, which came three states short of enactment in 1982, has been introduced in five state legislatures since January. Yesterday, House and Senate Democrats reintroduced the measure under a new name -- the Women's Equality Amendment -- and vowed to bring it to a vote in both chambers by the end of the session. For More and Bloggers’ Comments.
War
on Terror Leaves Us More Vulnerable
The Seattle P-I reports that the
FBI has manned the war on terror by reducing the number of agents chasing
identity thieves, con artists, hate mongers and other white-collar
criminals. For more.
Wal-Mart
and Target Spy on Their Employees
We've always known that Wal-Mart is as big, in financial terms, as many sizable nations. It may even have begun to believe that is one, complete with its own laws, security agency, and espionage system. But the illusion of state power is not confined to Wal-Mart. For more.
Letter from our
Member David James
Hi Dave, Thank you for keeping everybody
informed and updated on issues and events.
I greatly appreciate it. In spite
of my work schedule, I manage to get some in reading in the evenings. May I make a suggestion for "Suggested
Reading" in the next newsletter?
"The Bonus Army" by Paul Dickson
and Thomas B. Allen (New York: Walker & Company) explains in detail about
how, in the depths of the Great Depression in 1932, some 45,000 WW1 veterans
converged on Washington D.C. to demand the bonus that was promised them for
their wartime service.
While these vets were all virtually nonviolent,
government officials feared violence after the Senate defeated the bonus bill,
and MacArthur led tanks through the streets to evict the bonus marchers. (Yes, this is the same General MacArthur of
WW2 fame.) The book details the
struggles of ordinary men who dared to fight injustice, and as a result,
eventually the GI Bill of Rights was passed before the Second World War ended.
Liberals realized that those who fight to
defend our country need to be taken care after coming back home. This GI Bill is largely responsible in
creating
Local and State
What Our Legislature is Doing
Our Legislative Process
As our 2007 legislative session nears its end by April 22nd, sponsors and supporters of bills not yet approved by both houses nervously anticipate that their bills may be suddenly removed from consideration by powerful committee chairs, regardless of support that has been expressed during earlier committee hearings. It is difficult to understand and evaluate what legislation will be passed or not passed and why.
Proposed bills had to first be approved by the appropriate committees in their house of origin. They then must be approved by the appropriate committees in the other house. Finally they must be approved by votes in both houses. Very few bills are voted down. Most fail because the various committee chairs or the leaders of the two houses never allow votes concerning them. These two leaders are particularly powerful, because they also select the committee chairs.
We can identify what challenges must be met. When their public hearings are held, we can often identify what bills are popular. We have virtually no knowledge of how the powerful and wealthy private interests are influencing the legislative process, through secretive discussions with legislators. Nor do we know what affects the decisions of the chairs of the committees and two houses. For more.
Evaluating our Democratically
Dominated Legislative Session
In several weeks when our legislative session has ended, our Democratic legislators will rush to inform us of their individual and collective accomplishments. Republican legislators will criticize these accomplishments for spending too much money or impinging upon their conservative family and other values. We will attempt to offer a more independent evaluation.
But what criteria should we use? Both parties have extolled our caucus system for allowing grassroots members to create platforms. Even though our legislators seldom refer to these platforms, we can ask to what extent they fulfilled them. We can ask to what extent they passed legislation with public support expressed in committee hearings. We can evaluate the extent to which the bills that passed serve public interests, assist our disadvantaged people, and served the private interests of our rich and powerful.
We can ask to what extent they address basic blocks which inhibit our ability to provide quality health, education, transportation and other needed services. We can also ask the extent to which our state is adopting best practices which have been implemented in other states. After all, one of the virtues of having a 50 state federalist system is said to be that we can benefit from the various experiences.
In our April 20th newsletter, we will discuss these various criteria further. Our April 27th newsletter will attempt to apply these criteria to the accomplishments of this legislative session.
Looking ahead, the big hurdles
this week is Friday’s 5 p.m. deadline for passing bills out of the opposite
chamber from where they began. Several controversial bills remain alive in the
House and Senate.
At the top of the list in the
House is a measure legalizing domestic partnerships in order to give same-sex
couples some end-of-life medical rights enjoyed by married couples. The House
also has a bill to delay certain math and science graduation requirements for
high school students that could be voted on today, said House Education
chairman Dave Quall, D-Mount Vernon.
There also are votes to be taken
on medically accurate sex education, climate change, paid family leave and
banning cell phone use while driving a car. Those likely will not take place
until Tuesday, when a House rule takes effect to limit debate by each lawmaker
to three minutes.
The Senate has its own thorny
problems. The first is bill supporters need to find 33 votes for a
constitutional amendment allowing school levies to pass on a 50 percent vote.
The House passed the bill easily, and voters would have to ratify it in
November.
The two chambers also have to
agree on the budgets and major changes to health insurance programs that are
meant to expand access, reduce costs and improve quality of care. For more.
David Ammons,
The Associated Press, April 8, 2007
It's the
Lawmakers think it
typically makes for better legislation - and it's good political cover,
dragging all sides into the same room and letting them wrestle together a
solution that all can live with. Gov. Chris Gregoire, the state's Negotiator in
Chief, is particularly fond of this lawyerly approach to making problems go
away. Sometimes, of course, it's a substitute for taking tough votes, or simply
a way to postpone the inevitable angst until another day - or after the next
election. Sometimes a study is a consolation prize for a lawmaker who couldn't
muster the votes to pass his or her bill into law. For More.
The Washington State Senate Ways and Means Committee held a hearing yesterday on
two income tax proposals. Rumor had it that it was a token hearing and that
they had no intent of doing anything. That's unfortunate.
When you think about ways you can raise revenue to fund state services like
education, health care, environmental protection and transportation, the income
tax is the fairest way. If you are not making any money, you pay no tax. Pretty
simple. For more.
As Washington and Wall Street elites happily try to choke the life out of democracy, states are fighting back on three fronts
On the most basic expression of democracy - access to the vote - Iowa just became the 8th state to legalize Election Day Registration. And thanks to the coalition of legislators and advocacy groups like Demos and the Progressive States Network, the other states are aggressively moving in the same direction. In all, 74 percent of eligible voters participated in states with election day registration, compared to only 60% in non-EDR states.
On
another very basic issue - the concept of "one person, one vote" -
states are moving forward with major reforms. Specifically, Maryland and Hawaii took key steps
toward creating a national popular vote for president - a system that would
scrap the anti-democratic electoral college that essentially writes entire
states out of presidential elections. Under the proposal being pushed by National Popular Vote, Fair Vote and the Progressive
States Network, states' electoral votes would automatically be
awarded to the winner of the national popular vote regardless of the state's
individual vote. The system, which would create a national popular election, would
take effect only if states representing a majority of the nation's 538
electoral votes approved such legislation. Big surprise - Beltway elites are
against the idea, with the dean of the
Finally,
various states such as Washington,
Legislative District Democrats Support Impeachment
Democrats
in the 1st LD, 32nd LD, 34th LD 36th LD, 37th LD, 43rd LD, 44th LD
and 45th LD and King County have endorsed SJM 8016. There are now 9 states with impeachment
legislation, and at least 3 in process, totaling almost one quarter of our
states. Submitted by
Impeachment Rally on
April 19th
Recommended Books
On April 6, we reviewed four books which address poverty in
Jeffrey D. Sachs, 2005, The End of Poverty, Economic Possibilities
for Our Time
Lake Hills Liberals Newsletter
Lake Hills in
Enhancing Freedom,
Bring Our Troops Home
During this past 5 weeks, some of us have been vigiling
for peace, including members of Lake Hills Liberals, MoveOn, Eastside
Reconciliation for Peace and Eastside Liberals for John Edwards. Several times
a week, 2 to 4 of us hold signs at a 4-way stoplight one mile south of the main
Microsoft campus. On a stake, each 12" x 17" sign says `Bring Our
Troops Home Alive'. Below signs carried by his supporters is a 4" x
12" sign which says `John Edwards'.
We stand there from 4:30 to 5:30 PM. About 500 cars
pass by slowly as they wait their turn at the intersection. About one out of
five indicate their approval by waving, thumbs up, flashing their lights or
honking, About the same proportion are talking on cell phones. Contact
Events Calendar
Every Thursday 7-8:30 PM in
Crossroads Mall near the large chess board at table with red checkerboard
patterned tablecloth – Conversation Café
–. Participants (mostly Lake Hills
Liberals) use a discussion format with each participant addressing an issue in
turn with listeners respecting what they say.
A great way to learn different understandings and opinions, while presenting
and modifying your own.
Every first Wednesday at 7 PM
at
Every third Tuesday at 7:00
at Lake Hills Clubhouse next to Lake Hills Library – Lake Hills Neighborhood Association
Every third Wednesday at 7 PM
at
Every third Wednesday at 7 PM
at St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church (
Every third Thusday at 7 PM
at
Every fourth Friday at 6:30
PM at
Activities and Services
Our Neighborhood Enhancement Interests and
Activities include: block parties;
welcoming new neighbors; cooperation among home owners and apartment tenants; environmental
enhancement (recycling exchange), crime prevention, disaster response, school and
youth services, military concerns, family financial security, and elder support
task groups; and free advertisements for members.
Our Political Actions include: displaying yard signs and bumper stickers, letters-to-editors
and government officials, campaign support for liberal candidates, canvassing
to identify liberal voters and stimulate them to vote, and encouraging
formation of liberal groups in other neighborhoods. Our newsletter stimulates networking of
liberals throughout our
Our Personal Enhancement Efforts include: educat