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This issue completes 2 years of
publication Table of Contents * featured articles Opportunities,
Petitions and Feedback Commentaries from Our Members Jack
Smith: Reid-Pelosi Strategy Too Passive* Lee
Thomas Jr.: Don’t Glorify War Marcee
Stone on Need for Public Campaign Financing Liberals and Democrats Links to
the Beef Building
a Liberal Political Infrastructure* Iowa and
New Hampshire Impacts* Unity08 May Run Presidential
Candidate State and Local Links to the
Beef Understanding
Our 2008 Washington State Legislature* Nation and World
Links to the Beef Global
Progress while Our United States Languishes* Our Liberal Spirit Dreaming
and Pursuing Our Dreams 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 Sometimes only action will
resolve the questions that theory can’t answer.
Calendar of Events
Friday, January 11 at 9:30
– 2:30 at Seattle Pacific University Gwinn Commons 3rd Floor (
Sunday, January 13 at 7:30
PM at
Thursday, January 17 at 12
Noon at NW Energy Coalition (
Monday, January 21 at
Franklin High School (3013 Mount Baker Boulevard South, Seattle) – Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration
with 9:30 AM Workshop, 11 AM Rally and 12 PM March. For more. [Strongly recommended for suburbanites who need to understand inner
city priorities. Dave Thomas]
Friday, January 25 at 6:30 PM at
Friday, January 25 at 7 PM
at King County Library Administration Building (960 Newport Way NW, Issaquah) –
5th Legislative District Movie Night Sicko, A film by Michael Moore on America’s failing health care
system
Saturday, February 9 at 10
AM at
Saturday, February 23-24
at IBEW Hall (
Saturday, March 22 at 10
AM at
Precinct Caucuses - Saturday February 9, 2008
Legislative District Conventions - Saturday April 5, 2008
County Conventions - Saturday April 19, 2008
Congressional District Conventions - Saturday May 17, 2008
Washington State Convention - June 14 & 15, 2008 - Spokane, Washington
Opportunities, Petitions and Feedback
Opportunities
Join
Working America in alliance with labor union members
Order Democracy
in America ‘Precinct Organizing’ and other Night School Training videos
Order Sightline’s
2007 Cascadia Scorecard. See other
research that they share with our politicians.
Order Lester Brown’s Plan
B, #3.0, Mobilizing to Save Civilization.
Petitions and
Donations
Join GoPetition to easily create your own
petitions. Great tool for advocacy groups.
Support
a Liberal challenger to a conservative Democratic Maryland congressman.
Feedback Needed
Concerning Our Website
Do you have any suggestions for
improving our newsletter. Issues and
sources which should receive more attention.
Please email me
your suggestions. Dave Thomas
Commentaries
From Our Members
Email from Jack Smith that Reid and Pelosi Should Have Been
More Confrontational
Dave, you
wrote, "But our congressional Democrats have had an impact. They have stopped Bush from implementing any
additional Conservative legislation.
Through investigations, they have publicized the politicizing of the
Justice Department, the poor quality of health care for veterans and other Bush
Administration failures. Their legislative
strategy is stimulating significant numbers of Republican members of congress
to retire instead of running in 2008.
We can never
be sure what would have happened if Democrats had been more
confrontational. But if we win big in
2008, we can give much credit to the Reid-Pelosi Strategy."
For what it
worth, I disagree with you completely.
As we have discussed, 2008 should be a giant win for the Democrats. One
would have to be pretty hard core to vote for Republicans who have been
complicit, at best, with the actions of the Bush Administration and their
actions. I would not give Reid-Pelosi an "attaboy" for the failure of
Congress to move forward on virtually anything on the Democratic agenda.
As
Progressives, we must be pushing elected Democrats to push forward
aggressively, not condoning failures based on the accomplishment of election
results that you and I believe almost assured absent failures in the present
Congress. I suggest you compare the positions of a real Progressive like Jim
McDermott with the positions offered by Russ Feingold with the actions of Harry
Reid. I suggest to you that we
Progressives must provide leadership in our efforts to take back this country,
not appease the inadequate leadership that fails to act for fear of making a
mistake.
I hope you
publish this letter to confirm that dissent is still allowed in the Progressive
community. Happy New Year, Jack Smith [I suspect that many, perhaps a majority, of
our members agree with Jack Smith. Dave
Thomas]
Letter from Lee Thomas, Jr. Published on Veterans
Day in the
There is no such thing
as a “good war.”
We saw all the hate
films about how the Japanese were animals and deserved to be killed. We stormed into
On August 6, 1945 I was
on a landing craft manpower parked off the coast of
On occupation duty, I
was in charge of payroll for the Japanese working on the base. I made friends. They are not animals. They are people. In the years since, I have made many Japanese
friends including a few who survived the atomic blasts. I have always been treated with
affection. Not once have I been subject
to blame for the tragedy.
Please do not glorify
war or those who fight in it. I have
killed God’s children. Lee Thomas, Jr. [My first cousin. Dave Thomas]
When I see a headline that says
"Campaign '08: Fix our system," the last thing I think of is
independent third parties. Gridlock is not because of partisanship but because
of who rules the parties and that would be the big contributors to the parties
and their campaigns. Alternative parties can still be used as mouthpieces for
the special interests. A party privately funded by a gazillionaire is not an
independent party.
We need to change the source of the
money and allow candidates of merit to compete with their new ideas, even
though they are not wealthy or well-connected. Public campaign funding will
level the playing field, doesn't invoke First Amendment issues and is working
now in seven states and two cities. Go to WashClean.org and check it out, then fix the system
or take the fix out of the system. Marcee Stone, President of the board,
Liberals and Democrats
Building a Liberal Political Infrastructure
Face to face and through email exchanges,