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Table of Contents * featured articles Commentaries from Our Members Deb Eddy:
Public Campaign Financing for Local Offices John
Stokes: Approve Simple Majority Donald A.
Smith: Hold Bush and Cheney Accountable * Liberals and Democrats Are Women
More Liberal than Men? State and Local
Links Election
Results. What they suggest * Nation and World
Links What Is Causing
Our Financial Insecurity? Worker
Layoffs Are a Drain of Social Capital Our
Liberal Spirit Our Political Priorities ·
Fair Clean 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 ·
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 Quote of the Week There can be
no real individual freedom in the presence of economic insecurity.
Friday,
November 9, 2007 at 4 PM at Town Hall (1119 Eighth Avenue, Seattle) – FCC Public Hearing on Media (Concentration)
Ownership Rules. For more.
Friday,
November 9-11 at
Friday,
November 9 at 6 PM at Washington State Convention Center, Seattle – Heroes in Our Own Backyard, a
Washington Environmental celebration. Tickets $100. For more.
Tuesday,
November 13 at 5:30 at Lake Hills Club House (
Wednesday,
November 14 at 7 PM at
Saturday,
November 17 at 7:30 PM at Kane Hall, UW campus,
Friday,
November 30, at 6:30 PM at
Wednesday,
November 30 at 7 PM at King County Library Administration Building (
Calculate your
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Ask your
congress persons to support energy legislation which addresses global warming
Sierra Club asks
you to ask your mayor to ask Congress to support a Clean Energy Bill
Sign a
NDRC petition to BLM to keep Western Artic Reserve lands closed to oil and gas
leasing.
National
Organization of Women asks you to ask your senators to support Fair Pay for
Women
Ask your Senators to
oppose nomination of Michael Mukasey as Attorney General. See Why.
Ask your
congressman to support Darfur humanitarian and peacekeeping funding
Commentaries From Our
Members
Email from 48th LD Representative
Deb Eddy
I've been thinking about
the quantity, quality of our civic engagement and method of choosing elected
officials for many years. IMHO: There are several reasons for the
poor quality of our government, at present, including campaign financing by
special interests, consolidated media ownership and the gerrymandering of
districts to advantage incumbents.
Although I do NOT believe
that public financing, in and of itself, will solve our problems, I
WILL support the effort to permit public financing for cities/counties'
elections.
Marketing savvy and
fundraising expertise are now required skills for would-be public
officials. While these are important attributes in other aspects of
American life, I do not believe that they necessarily correlate with good
public policy judgment nor an ability to deal with public challenges.
Public financing would encourage, I think, candidates to focus on the
ISSUES involved in a campaign ... and not on whether they can raise enough
money to send more shiny mailers than the other guy. And since special
interests who now fund campaigns will effectively prevent this reform from
occurring at the state or federal level, it doesn't seem to be asking too much
to give cities and counties an opportunity to try this out. Deb Eddy
Email from Ronna Weltman
College Corps is a program where volunteers help students at
Letter from John Stokes published in
Good marks on average
As
a parent, community member and homeowner, I know the value of good schools. I
also know the value of our democracy. The fact that something as basic and
important as our school levies can be defeated by a 40.01 percent minority of
voters is not healthy for our schools or for our democracy.
Please
vote to Approve EHJR 4204 Simple Majority for Schools for the sake of both.
OK,
you say, our school levies always pass, why should it matter to us? Aside from
the principle of majority rule, which is fundamental to American government, we
belong to a larger community, and every child in this great state deserves the
same opportunity as our kids. Failure of a levy in another district affects us
and hurts kids and their chances for a good education and a productive life.
So
please take a moment to mark the approve box Nov. 5 for EHJR 4204 for
all children. Think of the future, and vote Approve 4204 for schools now. John
Stokes
Guest
column by Donald A. Smith published in
Thousands of anti-war protesters marched in
But staying in
In short, the Bush administration has made a huge mess while
ignoring the real terrorists responsible for 9/11 and failing to address the
Palestinian-Israeli conflict or the high demand for oil that are the root
causes for the war and for terrorism.
If members of Congress can't end this war, we beg them to hold its
architects accountable, by investigative hearings leading to censure or (better
yet) impeachment.
Some people argue that pursing accountability would be a
distraction from the real things that matter. But Congress is not accomplishing
much anyway. Until Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney are stifled, things will
continue to be bad -- and will get a lot worse if Bush attacks
Some people say the populace has no patience for drawn-out
hearings. But according to a recent Reuters/Zogby poll, Bush's approval ratings
are 24 percent; polls this summer by American Research Group indicate 45
percent of Americans favor impeaching Bush, with 54 percent favoring impeaching
Cheney. One of the reasons Congress' approval ratings are even lower than
Bush's is that Congress hasn't stood up to the administration. Many Democrats
would love to see Bush and Cheney in jail but believe pursuing impeachment is
useless; we beg to differ.
In contrast to Bill Clinton, whose "crime" involved
lying about sex, the Bush administration is responsible for: a disastrous war
based on falsehoods; the deaths of hundreds of thousands of civilians and
nearly 4,000 U.S. soldiers; the displacement of several million Iraqis; promotion
of torture and rendition; illegal wiretapping; signing statements that thwart
the will of Congress; revealing the name of a CIA agent; politicizing the
Justice Department; denial of fair trial at Guantanamo; suppression of
inconvenient evidence; obsessive secrecy; and gross incompetence and corruption
in the management of federal agencies, the Hurricane Katrina disaster, the war
and veterans' care.
Impeachment by the House is a real possibility. Even if the Senate
is unable to convict, hearings would embarrass and weaken the administration.
Most of all, hearings would reveal the truth, re-establish the rule of law and
demonstrate that Americans defend their Constitution.
We have an obligation -- to the world, to justice and to posterity
-- to at least try to hold Bush and Cheney accountable.
What high crimes are more odious than promoting torture and
misleading the country into a disastrous, mismanaged war based on lies? Please,
Liberals and Democrats
Are Women More Liberal than Men?
The 19th amendment to our constitution
was ratified in 1920 to grant women the right to vote. Women began to vote, often voting as did
their husbands. In recent
years, more women are voting than men and women are voting differently.
Since 1964 women have comprised a majority of the
eligible electorate, but it was not until 1980 that the percentage of eligible
women who actually voted surpassed the percentage of qualified men casting
ballots. Women are 52% of our population, 54% of
registered voters and between 55 and 56% of those who vote.
Since
1980, a gender gap has occurred with women more than men supporting
Democratic candidates. In 2006, a higher
proportion of women than men voted for Democratic Senators and Representatives,
were responsible for electing at least 3 Democratic senators, which resulted in
Democrats taking control of the senate. For
more about 2006 voting patterns.
Here’s the Beef
Women,
especially less educated lower income women, strongly support Hillary Clinton
Hillary
Clinton’s support among liberals is increasing
Hillary
Clinton’s Policy Positions
State and
Local
Election Results