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Through informing and networking Liberals and
Liberal Organizations.
Our vision is hundreds of
thousands of well-informed
June 15, 2007
Calendar
of Events Friday,
June 15 at 7 PM at June 15: Inlaws & Outlaws starts an
exclusive two-week run at the Uptown
Theatre at the foot of Queen Anne. An excellent portrayal of gay couples Tuesday, June 19 at 7 PM at Traditions Fair Trade Café
( Wednesday, June 20 at 7 PM at UW Kane Hall 130, Wednesday, June 20 at 7:30 PM at Neuwaukcum Grange
(28402 – 180th Ave SE, Auburn) – Farmland Preservation and Farmer Support by 31st LD
Democratic Club preceded by social hour at 6 PM. Local produce for snacks. Friday, June 22 at 6:30 PM at Sunday, June 24 at 1 - 5 PM at Pigott Auditorium, Tuesday,
June 26 at 7 PM at University Heights Center Room 110 ( Table
of Contents ** featured
articles Commentaries from Our Members Liberals and Democrats Liberal Rights & Duties, Competence & Compassion
** Republicans Illegally Disqualified Democratic Voters Nation and World Many Public and Private Global Warming Actions ** Campaign for a U.N. Parliamentary Assembly Other Countries No Longer Need Western Loans Is Japan Losing Out to China and Korea? Our United States is Number
One. Yuk! Calm Down. America’s
Threats are Not So Great Ignorant Arrogant Television Pundits State and Local Four Environmental Legislative Victories ** Washington
Disproportionately Imprisons Blacks Community Development Far Away and Here ** Mobile Phones, a Major Development Resource Do Washington Voters Support Campaign Reform? Our Liberal Spirit Recommended Books Recommended Films Vigiling to Bring Our
Troops Home Alive Quote of the Week I’ve
seen the truth and it doesn’t make sense
Our
Political Priorities · Fair Elections and Open Government · Fair Taxes and Competent Spending · Investment for Productivity · Quality Health, Education, Jobs, Income and Retirement
· Environmental Protection and Energy · Personal Security and Equal Rights · International Cooperation and Leadership Conservatives oppose all of these. Recommendations ·
Darcy Burner for ·
Keith Scully for King County Prosecutor ·
Alec
Fisken for ·
Both Gael Tarleton and Jack Block,
Jr. for Port Commission against their incumbent
opponent ·
Dana Stober for ·
Keri Andrews for ·
Brian Conlin for
Advocacy
Groups and Candidates
Sample Organization or Candidate Notice
Available
free to any organization or candidate who stimulate many of their members to
become politically informed through joining our
Do Good Organization or
Candidate: Our vision is doing good. To realize our vision, our mission is
helping all. Our major programs are
increasing awareness, organizing and acting. Present activities include protesting
evil, proclaiming good and helping people.
We invite you to the following events: Leader Dunking Fundraiser,
Planning session. Picketing. For more information and to join us,
visit our website: www.DoMuchGood.org.
Commentaries From
Our Members
From Our
Member
See this: http://www.dailykosnet/archives/000001.html. Rick
From Our
Dave:
One more item for your newsletter on ways the conservatives have undermined our
security. By running up massive debt and allowing such a large portion of that
debt to be purchased by foreign governments – such as China – the conservatives
have weakened our ability to defend against anti-progressive trade policies or
object to ill treatment of foreign workers and illegal dumping of cheap goods
on our shores lest we offend the bond holders and cause them to seek other
investments like Euro bonds.
This
policy has put the economic fate of our nation in the hands of competitors (and
if you listen to the neocons potential enemies) with potentially devastating
consequences for our national well being. Just imagine the price we would all
have to pay if the Chinese gov’t decided to not roll over their
This
very threat is the historical reason most countries imposed currency controls
on their money – so some foreign power could not amass a huge amount of
currency and then wreck havoc on their economy – back in the days when currency
was gold backed this was especially critical – hence the reason we are still
asked to declare if we have more than $10,000 in US currency whenever we enter
the country.
From Our Member Dave James: Who Is Soft on Crime?
Hi Dave, hope you're doing well. Over the years, we've all heard conservatives
rant that we Liberals are "soft on crime".... So why are some conservatives, such as
Rumsfeld and John Bolton, saying that Scooter Libby should be pardoned by
President Bush? As we've all heard,
Libby was recently convicted of obstruction of justice, and for revealing the
indentity of CIA agent Valerie Plame.
This was no petty crime. Instead,
this act put Ms. Plame and probably other agents in harms way, and damaged our
national security. Not to mention that
this greatly demoralized all other CIA agents.
They seem to think that the laws apply to only some people. So who's really soft on crime? Just my observation. Dave James
From Our Member
I was outraged to learn that many
Democrats who claim to be pro-choice and pro-family planning intend to stand
idly by as the House Appropriations Committee prepares to approve another
increase in funding for abstinence-only sex education. These programs have proved ineffective time
and time again, yet members of Congress continue to waste taxpayer money on
them instead of directing the money to where it is direly needed: to fund Title
X family planning services.
House Democrats need to demonstrate real
leadership – they must reject the status quo of mindlessly rubber-stamping Bush’s
abstinence-only agenda and make a long overdue commitment to increase funding
for Title X clinics that are the only resource for family planning for millions
of low-income Americans.
Liberals and
Democrats
Liberal Rights and Duties
When we canvass our Lake Hills neighborhood to
recruit members to our Lake Hills Liberals, we first introduce ourselves as
neighbors and indicate we are organizing a liberals group. If they show an interest, we then state our
values which define us as liberals.
1. All members of our American community should have the same
freedoms and opportunities.
2. We each have the responsibility to protect the freedoms and
opportunities of all other Americans.
3. We and our government should be competent and compassionate,
using
our freedoms and opportunities wisely to care for ourselves to the best of our
abilities and
helping those with fewer freedoms and
opportunities than the rest of us.
4.
Our
People quickly agree with our 1st value
and with our 4th value. They
react with a bit of surprise to our 2nd value, but quickly
agree. Concerning our 3rd
value, they respond quickly to agree with both, but often appear surprised that
competence is included as a liberal value.
This commentary concerns our first three values.
More tedious reading that Gary Hart’s easy-to-read The Courage of Our Convictions, A Manifesto
for Democrats which is included in our reading list, his Restoration of the Republic addresses
our 1st two liberal values, especially the 2nd. Hart notes that ‘democracy’ primarily
concerns our first value while ‘republicanism’ primarily concerns our 2nd
value. He examines in detail Thomas
Jefferson’s formulation late in his life of local republicanism based upon the
thoughts of Aristotle, Montesquieu and Locke.
For our rights to freedom and opportunity to persist,
we must have the duty to protect them.
We should note that Conservatives oppose our 1st
value by restricting equality to people like themselves while defining others
as 2nd class who deserve fewer freedoms and opportunities. New Conservatives particularly oppose our 2nd
value. Through unconstitutionally
enhancing presidential powers to violate our bill of rights, imposing unfunded
mandates on our local and state governments and privatization, they have denied
our duties to protect our freedoms and opportunities at national, state and
local levels. Private schools, escape to
gated suburban neighborhoods and diverting our National Guard first responders
to serve in far-away wars are severe violations of duties to protect everyone’s
freedoms and opportunities. Remember
that John F. Kennedy said, “Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.”
A note on changing education: I reviewed a series of
elementary school readers from the 1830’s to the 1880’s. Over time, they changed from classical Greek
and Roman readings to English readings to American readings. They also changed from readings which
emphasized civic virtues to ones which simply provided entertainment. The civic virtues basically indicated that
our wealthier people should be more compassionate and our poorer people should
have more discipline – messages which relate directly to our 3rd
value. For a great sociological analysis
of our more recent Dick and Jane readers and their misleading portrayal of
their times, read Carole Kismaric, 1996, Growing Up with Dick and Jane:
Learning and Living the American Dream.
We liberals are
known for our compassion, but less for our valuing competence. Conservatives have sometimes successfully
painted our compassion as rewarding incompetence. But it is a bum rap. A major goal of liberal programs is to enable
less competent children and adults to become more competent. Liberals have never argued for rewarding
incompetence. During World War II,
Democrats investigated incompetence relating to our military expenditures,
something Republicans have certainly not done regarding Iraq War
expenditures. Al Gore made a major
effort to reduce wasteful spending, resulting in elimination and reduction of
various programs. Numerous other
examples could be cited.
Republicans Illegally Disqualified Democratic
Voters
Add ‘caging’ to the set of illegal tactics that
Republicans have used to reduce the number of Democratic votes. They sent ‘Do not forward’ mail to likely Democratic
voters. If it was returned because the
resident was away at school, in the military service or some other reason, the
residents were removed from the voter rolls.
For more.
New
Private-Public
Coalitions Promote Global Warming Action
In the face of the Bush administration’s intransigence, our Supreme
Court, business interests and our states and cities are all moving to counter
global warming. In April, our Supreme
Court sided with a coalition of members of congress, states, corporate leaders
and environmental groups to rule that the federal government has the authority
to regulate global warming pollution from cars and trucks. This
ruling affirms that carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases are air
pollutants and our Environmental Protection Agency should exercise its
authority to reduce them. However, the
Bush administration is expected to delay action, until a new administration
assumes power in 2008.
More than two dozen states
have adopted climate plans. Five
western states and nine northeastern ones have proposed cap and trade
programs. Three west coast and eight
northeastern states have passed laws to cap global warming pollution from
vehicles, although these laws require permission from the Environmental
Protection Agency which the Bush administration is delaying. Eight coal plants
in
Twelve
of our largest corporations have joined environmental groups to urge
Congress to pass a market-based cap on global warming pollution. Even the
Many other private and public conservation initiatives are underway,
including stricter limits on ships and diesel trains, utilizing high mileage
vehicles, reducing household energy consumption, reducing toxic waste
pollution, replacing paper with web-based information delivery, and more. Hurricane Katrina and Al Gore have been major
factors to increase public and political concern with global warming (among
Liberals and Democrats, but not most Conservatives and Republicans). Two leading organizations are Environmental
Defense and Earthjustice,
the latter with a Seattle
Office.
Campaign for a United Nations
Parliamentary Assembly
Between 21 April and 12 May 2007 the Campaign for the
Establishment of a UN Parliamentary Assembly (UNPA) was launched at press
conferences and public events in ten countries. 30 Members of Parliament and various
representatives of civil society have participated to present the UNPA proposal
and the Campaign's appeal. For more.
The campaign's appeal for a Parliamentary Assembly at the
U.N. until today has been signed by 397 members of parliament, 57
non-governmental networks and organizations and 628 individuals from 101
countries. To endorse it.
Other Countries No Longer
Dependent upon Western Capital
As the cost of
borrowing in capital markets has fallen, the World Bank, the International Bank
for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the Inter-American Development
Bank (IDB) are finding less need for their loans. In addition, private loans are preferred
because lenders only care about ability to repay, not about how the money is
spent. Venezuela’s president Hugo Chavez
wants to replace Latin American loans from the domineering World Bank with
loans from a Banco del Sur (Bank of the South) to be funded and operated by of
Latin America.
In
Is
While