Puget Sound Liberals Weekly Newsletter #97

Enhancing Freedom, Opportunity and Cooperation in Puget Sound and Beyond

Through informing and networking Liberals and Liberal Organizations.

 

Our vision is hundreds of thousands of well-informed Puget Sound Liberals working together.

 

November 23, 2007

 

 

 

 

 

Our Website                                                                            Our  Editor   

 

                        Table of Contents   * featured articles

 

Puget Sound Liberals

About Puget Sound Liberals

Opportunities and Petitions

 

Commentaries from Our Members

 

 

Liberals and Democrats

Meet Fuse, a New Liberal Washington Advocacy Group*

Meet the Evergreen Conference, a Conservative Group*

John Edwards and Dino Rossi

Presidential Front Runners

 

State and Local  Links to the Beef

Immigrants: To Drive or Not to Drive*

Providing Affordable Housing Near Jobs*

 

Nation and World  Links to the Beef

Your House or Your Memories*

Nuclear Power Is Not the Answer

 

Our Liberal Spirit

Our American Dream Is Liberal

Civic Conversations Are Vital

 

Recommended Books

 

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 Independence

·       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

Our problems are man made, therefore they may be solved by man.  President John F. Kennedy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Friday, November 30, at 6:30 PM at Rick Hegdahl’s home (104 - 165th Avenue NE) – Lake Hills Liberals Salon, including Light Buffet and presentation and discussion led by Bob Gunovick concerning American Torture.  Bring beverage, fruit, cheese, crackers, etc.

 

Wednesday, November 30 at 7 PM at King County Library Administration Building (960 Newport Way, Issaquah) – Issues in Democracy Movie Night featuring ‘When I Came Home’ about our homeless veterans.

 

Opportunities and Petitions

 

Order Democracy in America ‘Precinct Organizing’ and other Night School Training videos

 

Order You Decide/Usted Decide, NARAL’s bilingual English-Spanish resource guide for accessing reproductive health care and safe abortion services across Washington State.

 

Vote for your favorite MoveOn/Center for American Progress TV ad to portray our Liberal values

 

Join Working America in alliance with labor union members

 

Help nearly 700 striking Appalachian Regional Healthcare nurses

 

Email your Congress persons to support Clean Energy Bill (Natural Resources Defense Council petition)

 

Include Darfur victims in your Thanksgiving

 

 

Commentaries From Our Members

 

 

Liberals and Democrats

 

Meet a New Washington Liberal Advocacy Group: Fuse

 

Fuse is a state-based online advocacy group working to provide a cutting edge online organizing and communications hub for Washington State.  Fuse is focused primarily on securing major advances in progressive public policy for Washington State.  Fuse is bringing people like you together to make our state more progressive. Fuse offers busy but concerned people fast, easy and fun ways to get involved, make your voice and values heard and make a difference. 

 

Compare that with our mission to enhance freedom, opportunity and cooperation in Puget Sound and beyond through networking Liberals and Liberal Organizations.  Our newsletter and website educates and informs Liberals.  We attempt to assist Liberals to communicate, associate, and cooperate.  Fuse’s website enables Liberals to post profiles, meet other Liberals, organize events and groups, post to blogs, and perform other political actions.

 

Fuse’s core values are freedom, opportunity, security and responsibility.

·       We are resolved to safeguard our individual freedoms. For two centuries, America has been defined by its commitment to freedom. We must fervently guard our constitutional and human rights and keep government out of our private lives.

·       We will strive to guarantee equal opportunity for all. America's historic success has come by providing all citizens, not just the privileged few, with the opportunity for a better life. We must vigorously protect civil rights and oppose all forms of discrimination, create a society where hard work is rewarded and ensure that all Americans have equal access to the American Dream.

·       We are determined to protect our security. To make us truly secure, America must not only stop domestic criminals and foreign invaders, it must also promote our health and welfare. While continuing to protect lives and property, we must strengthen programs that protect our environment, insure the sick and vulnerable and safeguard the food we eat and products we use.

·       We take responsibility for the well-being of our communities, our state, and our nation by working for policies that extend freedom, opportunity and security to all.

 

Compare these with our Liberal Values.  Their #2 is our #1.  Their #1 is our #2.  Their #4 is the compassionate part of our #3.  Their #3 is a specification of our #1 and #3.

 

Fuse stands for:

·       Affordable, high-quality, health care for all.

·       Building an education system that is the best in the world.

·       A cleaner, safer environment.

·       Better wages, benefits and working conditions for working Americans.

·       The protection of civil rights and elimination of discrimination.

·       Real security for the most vulnerable Americans.

·       The protection of civil liberties, including include freedom of speech, religion, association and assembly.

·       The protection of privacy, including reproductive freedom.

·       A criminal justice system that focuses on security instead of retribution.

·       Fiscal responsibility.

·       A secure peace, using global engagement and cooperative international relations rather than war to fight against terrorism and other threats to our national security.

·       Democracy -- an open government that provides equal access to power.

 

Compare these with our priorities listed on the first page of each newsletter.  They are virtually identical.  Our Puget Sound Liberals and Fuse obviously have the same mission.  We will seek to coordinate our activities with theirs.  We encourage all of our members to join Fuse.

 

Meet the Evergreen Conference

 

The Conservative Evergreen Conference defines its values:  We all know that conservative solutions to the problems facing Washington state are the right solutions, that will increase our happiness, prosperity, and security in a manner consistent with our fundamental principles of individual liberty, personal responsibility, limited government, and free markets.”

 

Their sponsors include: Vito Chiechi, Dick Derham - Washington Conservative Union,