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Articles Opportunities,
Petitions and Feedback How Would You Spend
$3 Trillion instead of Iraq? Commentaries from Our Members Ray McBain Responds to
Reparations Commentary Liberals and Democrats Links to the
Beef Obama Reports
on Campaign Financing & Advertising* Obama
Campaign and Others Get Out the Vote* Questions
for Barack Obama and John McCain* Cindy
Sheehan Notes Violation of Our Constitution State and Local Links to the
Beef Our Washington
State’s Budget Process Ron Sims Is
Doing an Excellent Job Nation and World
Links to the Beef Bye Bye
Oil. Bye Bye Our Lifestyle.* Bye Bye
Water. Bye Bye Fertilizer. Bye Bye Food.* Is
Speculation Affecting Oil Prices? New Strategy
for Fighting Floods. If Business’s
Bottom Line Was Service 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 ·
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 More
on Conservative opposition to our American Dream Washington
State’s 4 Major Needs ·
Federal Funding for Health and Education ·
A Progressive Income
Tax ·
Public Campaign
Financing ·
Replacing Republican Legislators Quote of the Week The unexamined life is not worth living. Socrates (469-399
BC) More Socrates quotes.
Calendar of Events
Friday, June 27 at 7 PM at Gibson Hall
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Saturday, June 28 at 10 AM at Commencement
Bay Coffee and Café (
Tuesday, July 1 at 6:30 at
July 5, 6, 11, 12, 13, 18, 19 and 20
at
Tuesday, July 15 at 6:30 at Holy
Family Catholic Church (
Thursday, July 17 at noon at WaMu
Theater at Qwest Field (
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about this unique company, which offers a 50% discount for organizations
that promote social justice and environmental stewardship.
Opportunities, Petitions and Feedback
Opportunities
Try
MoveOn’s new game: What’s the difference between President Bush and Senator
John McCain?
Wellstone Action provides
organizing tools online.
Take
a quiz concerning how green is your vacation.
Petitions and
Donations
Tell our government to increase
auto mileage requirements.
Tell
your senators to oppose legislation which would delay global warming responses.
Tell
our presidential candidates to oppose use of cluster bombs.
Tell
G-8 leaders to act for peace in Darfur.
Sign
a petition to support marriage equality for all.
Sign a petition to support the
Employee Free Choice Act.
Tell the
Bush administration to continue prohibition of fire arms in our national parks.
Feedback
Is anybody signing
the petitions, or am I wasting my time?
Commentaries
From Our Members
Ray McBain Responds to Reparations Commentary
You Stated, “If we knew that reparations would be required, it is likely that we would not have committed these transgressions.” It should be “If the leadership of our country knew that reparations would be required, it is far less likely that we would have committed these transgressions.”
The point is that “we” includes all the people of
this country, whereas in fact the so-called leadership makes the decisions to
go to war without consulting the rest of us. Propagandizing occurs, but not
informed consent. Only the war against Hitler et al was popular with and
approved by the rest of us. And in that case, the “leadership” was reluctant to
enter the war, joined the war only after (1) supplying vital war-related raw
materials to Japan and Germany (private enterprise did this, with the tacit
approval of the “leadership”) and after (2) waiting over two years (March 1939
to December 1941) to enter the war.
Liberals and Democrats
Obama Campaign Reports on Campaign Financing and
Advertising
Excerpted from an email
from Obama’s campaign
Since we announced our decision not to accept taxpayer
funds for the general election, tens of thousands of people like you have come
forward to declare their independence from a broken system.
This decision frees us to build a movement of millions of
people giving whatever they can afford to a campaign that is truly reforming
the way our political process works. It
also frees us to take our campaign for change to parts of the country where
Democratic presidential candidates haven't spent too much time in the past.
Our first television ad of the general election season
goes on the air today. Sure, we're on
the air in places like
I have mixed reactions to Barack Obama’s decision
to use private instead of public financing.
I have strongly supported eliminating private financing of campaigns due
to the corruption that results. I find
it difficult to believe that candidates can ignore the requests of people who
contribute large sums of money to their campaigns or other causes.
I am glad that Barack Obama has refused to take
money from lobbyists. I think he should
also refuse money delivered by bundlers.
I don’t believe his large numbers of small contributors pose any
temptation for him to serve private interests instead of public interests. Involving over a million people in his
campaign as volunteers and contributors is a good thing.
I believe it is very important that Barack Obama
win and having more money raised through private contributions will help. The real test of my principles is what would
I think if the situation was reversed.
What if John McCain was raising more money though huge numbers of small
contributors and Obama wasn’t? I don’t
believe that with his campaign, John McCain could do so. But if his campaign was different and he did
so, I think my opinion would be the same as it is with Obama now. I would say it is OK for him to forego public
financing. My opposition is to
contributors who make large contributions, especially those who are fronted by
lobbyists. Dave Thomas
The Obama Campaign and
Others Are Getting Out the Vote
Of the 180 million potential
As reported last week, The Obama campaign has
trained 3600 additional grass roots organizers and sent them to 17 contested
states. Using micro-targeting
information, they are identifying likely Democratic voters, registering those
who aren’t registered and preparing to get them to vote in November. To varying extents, this activity is
occurring in all 50 states. For more.
Project Vote (working with ACORN) conducts
canvassing in low-income urban neighborhoods.
It registered more than 1 million voters in the last 2 election cycles
and has set a goal of 1.2 million for this one. Rock the Vote which focuses upon registering
young people, has stimulated them to download 600,000 registration forms, with
perhaps 2 million possible. Other
efforts are directed toward Hispanic and African American voters. For more.
Questions for Barack Obama and John McCain
·
What is necessary to correct such situations as
·
Our largely unregulated financial industries, which have grown to 20% of
our economy, have caused repeated bubbles and collapses, including the S &
L, Enron, dot.com and housing mortgage ones.
What should we do to prevent
these cycles of private excess and public bail out?
·
With the global peak in oil and gas production and increasing demand,
oil and gas prices will continue to increase, rendering our current wasteful consumptive suburban lifestyle untenable.
In the short run and maybe even in the
longer run, conservation and implementation of alternative energy sources will
not prevent large cost increases in goods made from oil and gas,
transportation, and transported goods, diverting money that is now spent upon
other goods and services. What should be
done to mitigate or ease the adjustments that must be made?
·
With global warming, failing aquifers, and increased farming
(fertilizer, tractor, pumping, etc.) costs, our food shortages will cause increased food costs and starvation among
poor people. How should our
Cindy Sheehan Notes Violation of Our
Constitution
Among
the things that have been murdered in George's quest to be the emperor of a
vast
The First Amendment has been obliterated with "free speech" zones;
the arrests of thousands of activists trying to express their freedom of
speech; the destruction of the "freedom of the press" clause began
during the Reagan years and it's untimely demise was hastened during the
Clinton regime; the US technically has no state religion, but Christianity has
been informally shoved down our throats with the Emperor getting revelations
from his demented God that tells him to go on crusades against Muslim
countries.
"Torture memos" written by law professors; torture camps; and extreme
rendition slaughtered the 8th Amendment that prohibits "cruel and
unusual" punishment. The Military Commission and Patriot Acts dealt the
deathblows to the 8th Amendment.
When Congress gave Emperor George the power to invade sovereign countries
without a declaration of war from Congress---the Emperor's loyal and obedient
servants destroyed two clauses of the Constitution: the Supremacy Clause (Art.
VI, Clause 2) which states the treaties are the "Supreme" law of the
land and the enumerated power of Congress to "declare war" (Art. I,
Section 8).
Art. II, Section 4 of the Constitution gives Congress the power to remove a
criminal administration, but the Queen of the Imperial rubber stamp arm of the
empire, Nancy Pelosi, took that clause "Off the table." When I hear
that phrase, I envision a long table with lords and ladies pigging out on a
banquet while the peasants starve because justice is not on that table and
economic equality is out of the question.
Now, with the new law granting immunity to telecom companies and granting the
federal government wide discretionary powers in spying on our communications
(which has become far simpler in this electronic day and age), the Imperial
rubber stamp arm of the federal government has brutally murdered another of our
precious rights: the 4th Amendment which states: "The right of the people to be secure in their
persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and
seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable
cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place
to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."
The centuries old right of habeas corpus which protected us from arbitrary
state action through unlawful detention was also destroyed, so the
Even though the 4th Amendment was 217 years old, it died a violent and untimely
death. Cindy Sheehan
Here’s the Beef
Newsweek
poll shows Obama ahead 15%, similar to lead of Democrats (55%) over Republicans
(36%).
Another
poll verifies the Newsweek poll. For
more. But Gallup poll shows candidates
are tied.
Obama
goes ahead in race against McCain, but is also compromising his liberal
positions. For more.
See
more pessimistic polls concerning Barack Obama’s lead. Another
poll based state assessment.
Close
race in New Hampshire between Barack Obama and John McCain?
Could
Barack Obama win Georgia, with the Libertarians taking votes from John McCain?
1.3
million strong Sierra Club and the United Steel Workers jointly endorse Barack
Obama.
AFL-CIO
endorses Barack Obama. But can they
deliver the votes of their members?
Barack
Obama’s speech to the Conference of Mayors (video).
Barack
Obama talks to volunteers (video).
Barack Obama talks about
women’s right to choose on CNN (video).
Will
Barack Obama promote patriotism as service to America and Americans?
Compare
Barack Obama’s and John McCain’s views concerning global peacekeeping.
Another
call for Barack Obama to choose Al Gore as vice president.
Learn about the
history of our vice presidents, with them given increasing responsibilities.
Barack
Obama’s volunteers are canvassing, using micro-targeting data.
Democrats.com is supporting Liberal
Democrats against Bush Democrats.
First
we get a lot of Democratic members of congress. Then replace conservatives
among them. More.
MoveOn
is closing it’s big contributions 527 to rely on small contributions PAC.
Will
Conservative ‘Swift Boat’ groups obtain enough funding to play an important
role?
Conservatives
are fractured and their differences can’t be mended.
Darcy
Burn opposes retroactive immunity for law breaking phone companies.
Washington
State Democrats run offensive ad opposing Dino Rossi.
State and
Local
Puget Sound 2030 and 2050?
Global oil and natural gas production are peaking
and beginning a steady decrease. Demand
is continuing to increase. Prices are
steadily increasing, even at an increasing pace. Quite possibly, gasoline will cost 10 to 20
dollars per gallon by 2020 and 30 to 40 dollars or more by 2050, with similar
increases in the cost of natural gas. In
addition, global warming may produce less snowpack in our mountains, reducing
our hydropower production.
The invention and implementation of alternative
energy technologies may be slow to develop, with little effect within the next
20 to 40 years. Our wasteful habits may
inhibit our conservation efforts.
Our transportation (driving, flying and shipping)
costs will greatly increase. At the
gasoline prices cited above, commuting from Snoqualmie Ridge,
As we seek housing closer to jobs, housing prices
in
Spending more on transportation and housing
(including increased costs of natural gas and electricity for heating), we will
have less money for the retail purchases with which we have stuffed our
homes. Increasing trucking costs will
increase the costs of consumer goods.
Increased shipping costs will increase the cost of imported consumer
goods. Declining retail sales will
reduce the number of retail employees.
Increased trucking and flying costs will reduce the demands for trucks
and planes, harming the sales of PACCAR and Boeing, causing job
reductions.
If global warming reduces our water available for
irrigation, our
Many of us may find being forced to give up our
house, automobile and consumer centered lifestyle wrenching. Or we may adapt to involuntary simplicity and
find it as rewarding as our spending time at our vacation homes. We may find ourselves gardening to save food
costs. With less living space, we may
discard stuff. We may learn various do-it-yourself
skills to recycle used stuff and maintain the lifespan of our stuff. Depending upon our perspective, we may face a
long struggle or a long vacation. People
weren’t so unhappy in the 1940s before our consumer lifestyle really took
off. Why do we have to become unhappy
now. Like recovering from years of
excessive drinking, we may find that we can do fine, with occasional regrets
about our past.
This commentary is based upon the information
offered by this week’s recommended books, but does
not agree with all that they offer.
James Kunstler posits that under the strains of being forced to change
our lifestyles, our competition for scarce resources will increase, our
political systems will be unable to find solutions, and great civil disorder
will occur. I believe we will have many
political struggles over land management, infrastructure investment and other
policies. They will be more intense than
they are now. Our political system may
bend and change. But I don’t foresee
rampant civil unrest.
We may be slow to adapt, but I believe we will
adapt somehow to whatever we face. Our
adaptation won’t be optimal, but I believe it will be sufficient to forestall
civil disorder. As with our 1930s
depression and World War II, we will take a beating, but afterward look back
with some nostalgia for the ways we responded.
As usual, I welcome your comments.
Do you think I am too pessimistic, too optimistic, or both?
Our
Excerpts from Washington State’s
Budget Process
The
Biennial Budget Cycle
OFM Issues Budget
Instructions
Ongoing Agency Strategic Planning
May 2008 Office of Financial Management Issues Budget Instruction
August 2008 Agencies Submit Budget Requests
Fall 2008 Office of Financial Management
Review and Governor’s Decisions
December 2008 Governor Proposes Budget to Legislature
January 2009 Legislature
Convenes (2nd Monday of January)
April/May 2009 Legislature Passes Budget
May/June 2009 Governor Signs Budget
July 1, 2009 Biennial Budget Takes Effect
Ongoing Performance Measure
Tracking
Roles and
Responsibilities in the Budget Process
State agencies are responsible for developing budget estimates and submitting budget
proposals to the Governor. Once the budget is enacted by the Legislature,
agencies implement approved policies and programs within the budgetary limits
imposed by legislation. Under
The Governor recommends a budget to the
Legislature consistent with executive policy priorities. Appropriation bills,
like other legislation, are subject to gubernatorial veto authority and may be
rejected in part or in their entirety within a defined number of days after
legislative passage. After a budget is enacted, the Governor’s general
administrative duties include monitoring agency expenditures and helping to
achieve legislative policy directives.
The Office of Financial Management (OFM)
coordinates the submittal of agency budget requests and prepares the Governor’s
budget recommendation to the Legislature. Budget staff from OFM work closely
with state agencies to explain and justify planned expenditures. Analysts
evaluate all budget requests for consistency with executive policy priorities
and to ensure that proposed expenditures match fiscal constraints. OFM is also
responsible for maintaining the state’s central accounting system and
developing certain population and demographic forecasts.
Through appropriations bills, the Washington
State Legislature mandates the amount of money each state agency can spend
and, in varying degrees of detail, directs agencies where and how to spend it.
The House and Senate employ staff analysts to help
review and evaluate the state budget, and to prepare appropriation bills. As
with other legislation, if the two houses cannot agree on a budget or revenue
proposal to implement the budget, a conference committee of legislative
representatives may be convened to reconcile the differences.
The Economic and Revenue Forecast Council is
composed of representatives from both the legislative and executive branches.
Each fiscal quarter, the Council adopts an official forecast of General
Fund-State (GF-S) revenues for the current and (at some point) the ensuing
biennia. These forecasts, together with any reserves left over from previous biennia,
determine the financial resources available to support estimated expenditures.
The Caseload Forecast Council was created by
the 1997 Legislature and began operations in the 1997-99 Biennium. The Council
consists of two members appointed by the Governor and four appointed by the
legislative political caucuses. The Council prepares official caseload
forecasts for state entitlement programs, including public schools, long-term
care, medical assistance, foster care, adoption support, adult and juvenile
offender institutions, and others.
The State Expenditure Limit Committee,
consisting of legislators and representatives of the Governor and Attorney
General, was established in 2000 to determine the state General Fund
expenditure limit created by Initiative 601.
Budget Development Approach
In general,
For the 2003-05 Biennium budget proposal,
More information on the Priorities of Government is
available on our
Website.
Budget and Accounting Structure
State government is organized into 124 agencies,
boards, and commissions representing a wide range of services. While many state
agencies report directly to the Governor, others are managed by statewide
elected officials or independent boards appointed by the Governor. Most
agencies receive their expenditure authority from legislative appropriations
that impose a legal limit on operating and capital expenditures. Appropriations
are authorized for a single account, although individual agencies frequently
receive appropriations from more than one account.
A few agencies are "nonappropriated,"
meaning that they operate from an account that is legally exempt from
appropriation. Expenditures by these agencies are usually monitored through a
biennial allotment plan. There is no dollar limit as long as expenditures
remain within available revenues and are consistent with the statutory purpose
of the agency.
The state’s budget and accounting system includes
more than 400 discrete accounts, which operate much like individual bank
accounts with specific sources of revenue. The largest single account is the
state General Fund. State collections of retail sales, business, property, and
other taxes are deposited into this account. Expenditures from the state
General Fund can be made for any authorized state activity subject to
legislative appropriation limits.
Other accounts are less flexible. Certain revenues
(for example, the motor vehicle fuel tax or hunting license fees) are deposited
into accounts that can only be spent for the purpose established in state law.
In budget terms, these are referred to as "dedicated accounts."
Budget
Drivers
In addition to new policies adopted by the
Governor, Legislature, or federal government, the state budget can also be
significantly influenced by demographic and economic factors. Differences in
these "budget drivers" affect the cost of services or the number of
persons requiring services. An example of the demographic connection appears in
K-12 education, where expenditures for the state’s constitutionally mandated
responsibilities for basic education are closely tied to the number of
school-age children in the state. Higher-than-average inflationary costs – such
as those for medical expenses – also affect expenditures in the state budget.
Spending
Limits in the State Budget
Major
Provisions of Initiative 601 (initially enacted in 1993, statute modified in
2005):
Fiscal Growth Factors
and General Fund-State Expenditure Limit
·
Establishes a
"fiscal growth factor" based on a ten-year average growth in personal
income.
·
Mandates an
annual expenditure limit on the aggregate of the General Fund-State and six
related accounts (Public Safety and Education Account, Equal Justice Account,
Water Quality Account, Violence Reduction and Drug Enforcement Account, Student
Achievement Account, and Health Services Account) to be calculated by the State
Expenditure Limit Committee each November, based on the fiscal growth factors
applied to previous year’s limit.
·
Requires the
Governor’s budget to be consistent with the expenditure limit, and restricts
annual expenditures from General Fund-State and related accounts to the limit.
·
Allows
temporary expenditures above the limit after declaration of an emergency and a
2/3 vote of the Legislature for a law signed by the Governor.
·
The
Emergency Reserve Account, created by Initiative 601, is repealed as of July 1,
2008, and replaced by theBudget Stabilization Account. Any fund balance
remaining in the Emergency Reserve Fund is transferred to the Budget Stabilization
Account.
Taxes and Fees
·
Requires
a majority vote of the Legislature to raise state revenues or make a
revenue-neutral tax shift. (2005 legislation)
·
Additionally
requires voter approval if the state revenue measure results in expenditures
above the expenditure limit.
·
Limits state
fee increases to the fiscal growth factor unless legislative approval is
received.
The Debt
Limit
There are
two debt limits imposed on the state’s ability to borrow funds to finance
government programs in the capital budget: the constitutional limit of 9
percent of general state revenues; and a more restrictive statutory limit of 7
percent of general state revenues. The state cannot sell general obligation
bonds if the debt service from that sale will cause total debt service to
exceed 7 percent of the average of general state revenues for the preceding
three fiscal years.
The size of bonded capital
programs affordable under the debt limit can change depending on:
·
The
amount of new projects in the capital budget,
·
Changes
in revenue forecasts that increase or decrease state revenues,
·
Changes
in the structure of borrowing (e.g., length of term on bonds), and/or
·
Changes in the interest rates at which bonds are sold.
The Budget Stabilization Account
ESSJR 8206,
“Rainy Day Fund,” passed by the voters in November 2007, established the Budget
Stabilization Account (BSA), so known as the Rainy Day Fund.
al
·
1%
of general state revenues must be transferred annually to the BSA.
·
3/5
vote required to appropriate from BSA.
·
Exceptions
(constitutional majority vote):
°
Employment
growth < 1%
°
State
of emergency due to catastrophic event.
·
Takes
effect July 1, 2008 (FY 09).
Ron Sims Is Doing an Excellent Job
Contrary to a commentary
which criticizes County Executive Ron Sims, I am impressed by Ron Sims’
performance. I agreed very much with his
opposition to the bloated wasteful ineffective Proposition 1 initiative that
was easily defeated last fall. Ron Sims
also has an excellent environmental and budgetary management record. For more. I was also impressed that in his race for
governor several years ago, he proposed a badly needed income tax. He sure doesn’t pander.
I don’t know enough
about King County Councilman Larry Phillips (who plans to run against Ron Sims)
to comment, beyond supporting his legislation for
Here’s the Beef
See who’s filing to run for Washington state and federal
offices.
Concern
is being expressed about expensive property taxes.
State
money is available for planning for Chehalis river basin flood Control.
Bush administration
asked for 58 million less, but house ads 24 million back for Hanford cleanup.
Our
insurers are greatly increasing their rates, with permission from state
regulator.
Wow! Look at all of our state government boards
and commissions with governor appointed members.
Affluent
Bellevue has many unmet human needs – housing, health, seniors, immigrants,
veterans.
Some
earmarks benefit local public projects.
Nation
and World
Bye Bye Oil. Bye Bye Lifestyle
This
commentary is based upon this week’s recommended books. Global oil and natural gas production are
peaking and beginning a steady decrease.
Demand is continuing to increase.
Oil prices are steadily increasing, even at an increasing pace. This is becoming most obvious as we face
steeply increasing prices at the gas pump.
We are beginning to change to more fuel efficient cars. But as gasoline prices continue to increase,
we will have to greatly curtail our driving.
With
insufficient public transit, many of us will have to move nearer to our jobs
and shopping. Our urban areas will
become more populated and our suburban areas less populated. Our urban housing will become more
expensive. Home heating costs will
increase. Many of us will be pushed to
living in smaller homes, with more occupants per home. For
more.
Food prices will increase.
Increased transportation costs will increase the prices of other
consumer goods. With less money left
over after paying for our housing, auto and food, we will spend less on
increasingly expensive consumer goods.
With smaller housing space, we will have less room to put them
anyway. We will get rid of much stuff,
more carefully maintain what we keep, and recycle stuff to save money.
Our
economy will continue to suffer from stagflation. Increased costs resulting from more expensive
energy. Reduced employment due to reduced
consumer demand due to consumer dollars going to foreign oil producers. Many industries will suffer, although a few
may benefit. While increased shipping
costs will reduce competition from foreign manufacturers, but manufacturing is
energy intensive and our demand for manufactured goods will decrease. Much depends upon how quickly we can regulate
our financial bubble to divert resources to infrastructure investment to reduce
our costs, increase our productivity and create jobs.
On
top of our present indebtedness, our exposure to bankruptcy from uninsured
illness costs and divorce, we will experience financial strains from the
imposed change in our lifestyles. Especially
those of us who most attempt to maintain our present consumption. Many of us will suffer a grievous fall in our
incomes and standard of living.
Even
after our forced changes to a less wasteful, less consumption oriented
lifestyle, we will still fare far better than most people in less
industrialized countries. Having little
now, they will have less. Unfortunately,
we may be so concerned with our own misfortunes that we have little left over
for them.
But
we can learn from the Europeans who have never succumbed to urban sprawl and
have maintained their public transit. We
have much to do to catch up to them. But
we still have resources to do it if we act quickly.
For
a more specific view of these trends, read our commentary of
Puget Sound’s future.
Bye Bye Water. Bye Bye Fertilizer. Bye Bye Food
Our green revolution has depended upon increased
irrigation and fertilization. In much of
the world, usable water is becoming more scarce. Aquifers are being depleted. Global warming is reducing the formation of
snowpacks which form the source of rivers.
The price of fertilizer is increasing due to increasing prices of
natural gas from which it is made. The
result is decreasing farm production.
Global warming is causing droughts and floods,
rendering farmlands unsuitable for growing crops. Some food cropland is being
degraded by poor farming practices. Some
food cropland is being converted to residential, commercial, manufacturing and
transportation uses. Some is being
converted to fuel cropland. Some foods
are being diverted from human to animal consumption. All of these factors are reducing the amount
of food that is produced and available for human consumption.
The increased competition for food is producing
winners and losers. The losers are
mostly poor people in poor countries. As
malnutrition renders them vulnerable to disease, they die quietly. As the numbers of dying increase, their
deaths become more accepted as simply inevitable. For the rest of us, life goes on as usual,
with only the discomfort of higher food prices, which leaves us with less for
other consumption.
Three Crises.
Wasted Years.
As noted by our recommended
books, we are facing three crises simultaneously.
1.
Global oil and natural gas production is peaking while demand is
increasing, sending oil prices rapidly up and causing stagflation among nations
which must import oil, including especially our
2.
Our unregulated financial services industries (which has bubbled to 20%
of our economy) is collapsing. Most of
us don’t realize that even as our government debt has soared, our private
(corporate and household) debt has risen much more. We are now dependent upon foreign lenders who
can withdraw their loans, causing the collapse of our dollar and forcing our
Federal Reserve to increase interest rates, further depressing our economy.
3.
Global warming is beginning to clobber the world and us with increased
draught, floods, storms, insect infestations and other threats to our food
production, health and property.
Since the Reagan presidency began, we have wasted
28 years doing virtually nothing to conserve energy or find alternative sources
to oil and natural gas. At least, since
the
Even with an Obama presidency and Democratic
control of our congress, there is no guarantee that effective actions will be
taken to deal with these crises.
Obstacles include both public consumer habits including addiction to big
houses, cars and lots of stuff. And
opposition from lobbyists for campaign contributing corporations which benefit
from our consumption. Perhaps the most
important issue of 2009 and beyond will be whether our officials can defy
lobbyists and refuse to pander to public opinion, attempting to shape it if
possible and defying it if necessary.
Can Liberal realists sufficiently support those legislators who attempt
to respond constructively to these crises?
Notice that in our
Is Speculation Affecting Oil Prices?
George Soros (who should know better than I) says
that oil prices are in a bubble due to speculation. So do others.
But based on the recommended books, I believe
that oil production has peaked. With
demand for oil climbing, prices must increase.
For more. For more. The increases that we are experiencing are
consistent with that. Suppose that
speculation has pushed them higher than they would otherwise be, say by 30%, so
that oil should be at $100 per barrel instead of $130. Even if speculation decreased, oil would soon
increase to $130 a barrel. I believe
there is little if any bubble to be popped.
Many events can affect the production of oil,
enough to crease prospects of a short term shortage. Thus the volatility of the price. That won’t change either.
Paul Krugman and others believe that as happened in
the 1980s, higher prices will stimulate conservation (increased fuel
efficiency), production of additional oil and production of alternative energy
products. Any combination of these would
by lowering demand or increasing supply result in lower prices. Conservatives, including John McCain argue
that the market will produce solutions. But
the recommended books suggest that this won’t happen. Most effective in the short run would be
conservation, but even with increased prices, Americans and others will resist
giving up their driving and other consumption which utilizes so much oil.
I believe we are going to experience a major
stagflation, aggravated by our present public and private indebtedness. Our responses will be too slow to stop significant
global warming.
New Strategy for Fighting Floods.
Notice that as we build higher levies on the
Suppose that along the river, areas are identified
to be allowed to flood when river levels rise to a certain point. Flood gates would be opened to allow water to
escape the main channel. The areas to be
flooded would be ones where the least expensive damage would occur. When such an area is flooded, the farmers and
others whose crops and buildings are destroyed would be paid for the
destruction. The cost of these payments
would be less than the cost of the damage which would occur downstream if the
water wasn’t released.
Thus some use could be made of the floodplain
during years when no floods occurred. A
more extreme alternative is to simply ban the placing of financial assets in
the flood plain, perhaps putting them under public ownership. For more.
If Business’s Bottom Line Was Service
Since Adam Smith’s day and
before, entrepreneurs have been motivated by greed, sometimes regulated, but
often not. Early
Various regulatory
restraints were imposed during the Theodore Roosevelt,
The result is that both
our government, our businesses and ourselves are deeply in debt. Our businesses are more greedy than ever,
praying on consumers instead of serving them.
A familiar example is credit card issuers, which tempt us to accept
their cards, use them and then exceed their limits or pay them late, resulting
in large profitable fees. Similarly
banks make out like bandits when we mismanage our account to bounce checks.
Imagine that business’s
bottom line was really service, to consumers, workers, suppliers, our general
public and environment. Imagine that
quality and improving products were their special mission. Imagine that instead of maximizing costs
through merging into monopolies, promoting unnecessary brand identification,
fraudulent advertising and other strategies, they attempted to lower their
prices to leave only profits appropriate to paying their capital, labor, social
heritage and product and market development costs. Imagine that they took responsibility for
paying for their externalities (negative impacts on others) instead of avoiding
these costs, leaving them to the public to pay.
This vision was presented in 1887 by Edward Bellamy in his Looking Backward, a must read for every
Liberal.
Imagine that
agro-business’s bottom line was to provide everyone with quality healthy food
at reasonable prices, while providing sufficient incomes to farmers and other
labor and protecting our land, water and air resources. Imagine that our energy industries’ bottom
line was to provide everyone with sufficient energy, while preserving scarce
resources and avoiding pollution, including the emission of global warming
gases. Imagine that they discouraged
wasteful energy consumption, constantly seeking ways to conserve and recycle
energy.
Imagine that our media
industries’ bottom line was informing and entertaining us in ways that
stimulated healthy and civically responsible values and knowledge. Imagine that our telecom and computing
industries’ bottom line was to enable all of us to have inexpensive quality
communications and computing capabilities, appropriate to our needs. Instead of milking a monopoly on operating
software to create enormous profits, imagine Microsoft attempted to maximum
worldwide usage and ownership of software.
Instead of continually promoting obsolescence of adequate products,
suppose a variety of software was made available for long periods of time,
appropriate to various people’s needs.
Here’s the Beef
Our commercial
media have a pro-business bias. Does
this surprise anyone?
Commercial
media allow oil lobbyists but not oil resource experts to discuss high energy
prices.
Could
conservative dominance of radio talk shows come to an end?
Slurs against women
are more common than slurs against African Americans.
Learn what
working women say they need.
Global warming causes extreme
weather, like Midwest flooding and hurricanes.
A
historic victory for restoring the Everglades.
Watch Environmental Defense Fund
videos about alternative energy sources.
Saudi
Arabia says it will increase oil production 2% from 9.7 to 9.9 million barrels
a day. So what?
More drilling for oil in U.S. would
scarcely add to world supply, and scarcely affect prices.
Home
prices continue to fall. Our
trade deficit is soaring, thanks to costs of imported oil.
State
governments, with $48 billion shortfall, will cut spending, further depressing
our economy. More.
Health
care. How much do we pay? Where does it go?
New Hampshire activists defeat
water bottler’s plans to privatize water.
Corporate
Accountability International opposes corporate abuses of our public.
Drug industry spent
$168 million on lobbying in 2007, up 32% from 2006.
Huge military
industrial cost overruns, unaccounted spending and waste continue. For more.
Politicians love
unnecessary weapons. To bad we don’t
have lobbyists for safety net spending.
Learn which companies (including
Boeing) obtain the most of our ‘defense?’ dollars and how much.
Learn about the activities of Peace
Partnership International.
Washington
policy makers are preparing for a new attempt to obtain universal health care.
Mayors
unanimously support single payer health insurance, as do 91 congress members.
Tom Daschle proposes a
Public Health Board to regulate health care systems.
Bush
administration continues to deny information to congress. For
more.
If
we won’t prosecute Bush administration officials for war crimes (torture),
other nations may.
What’s to stop the Bush
administration or Israel from bombing Iran?
For
more. For more. For more.
Israeli
war exercises practice bombing Iran.
Do you want oil prices to really soar?
For more.
Top
anti-war priority should be stopping permanent military bases in Iraq.
After a 5 year
decline, the number of refugees world wide has increased to 37 million.
Our Liberal Spirit
What is Your Life About?
When
I ask people in various countries, “What is your life about?”, I get very
different answers. In
I
am astonished at how few of us have really thought deeply about our lives. About what it is to be human. About our human situation. About our possibilities. What our alternative responses might be. Even those of us who have thought about some
aspects of these questions, have often great holes in our thinking. Questions that we have never raised or tried
to answer. Decisions that never occurred
to us and were never made.
Take
just one question which would seem to be quite important in its effects upon
us. What impression to we produce in
others? Many of us, perhaps a majority,
don’t know. We don’t realize what others
most appreciate about us. And what they
most dislike? We just blindly proceed
with long time habitual responses.
More
generally, what have we decided our life is about? At the end of our lives, how would we
evaluate how we had lived? How much of
our living was based upon conscious explicit choices? How much have we gone through life unconscious
of issues that might be raised, alternatives considered, and intentional acts
that could be performed.
I
don’t intend to suggest that our lives should be over-engineered, with every
moment spent frantically trying to do or be something. We certainly need to relax, to smell the
flowers, to be open to new insights. But
under-engineering our lives may be a larger temptation for many of us than
over-engineering. This commentary has
been intended to raise questions, instead of answering them. Life is so complex and differs in so many
details among us that no simple choice of questions and answers is
possible. Perhaps that is why God didn’t
give us each a detailed operating manual for our lives. We have to create our own operating manual
though our living. Dave Thomas
Recommended Books –
See our list of books for
liberals
Richard Heinberg, 2003, The Party’s Over, Oil, War and the Fate of
Industrial Societies
James
Howard Kunstler, 2005, The Long
Emergency, Surviving the End of Oil, Climate Change, and Other Converging
Catastrophes of the Twenty First Century
Paul
Roberts, 2005, The End of Oil, On the
Edge of a Perilous
Kevin Phillips, 2008, Bad Money, Reckless Finance, Failed Politics
and the Global Crisis of American Capitalism
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Debt Elimination
Counseling, Seminars and Workshops – price negotiable – Sherry Brandt
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Home Repair- prices vary, depending
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Home Repair and
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Housekeeper, price negotiable –
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Life Support Therapies,
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Private Piano Lessons (students must have a
piano), afternoons - Anna Khosrowian (378-7938), price negotiable
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Psychotherapist, accepts insurance
- Sandy Mathews (462-7889, www.sandramathews.com)
About
In October, 2005, we founded our Lake Hills
Liberals as an experimental demonstration of creating neighborhoods where
liberals thrive and multiply and maximizing our vote for Liberal
candidates. In January, 2006, we began
our newsletter.
During our
first year, we focused upon Lake Hills neighborhood development, experimenting
with a variety of activities and events.
To elect Liberals, we canvassed our 12 precincts to increase the number
of identified likely Democratic voters from 33% to 90% and stimulated them to
vote, which assisted election of our 2006 Democratic candidates. We recruited
30% (500) of them. We encouraged house
parties to allow neighbors to meet each other to be able to prevent crime, to
assist each other in a disaster, and to protect and assist our children. We created our website. We began a monthly discussion group, called
the Lake Hills Liberal Salon.
During our
second year, we recruited many members from throughout our
As we
begin our third year, we continue our past activities, especially electing Liberals,
canvassing Lake Hills, promoting house parties, educating and enabling
cooperation among Liberals, and promoting Public Campaign Financing. Our new political priority is promoting a fair
To get our free services, including our newsletter,
our ‘Proud Liberal, Time for a Change’ yard signs or ‘Proud Liberal’ bumper
stickers, volunteer or make a donation, contact
Our weekly newsletter is currently distributed to 2300 members by email each Friday. Submit your news to Editor Dave Thomas.
We are
seeking reporter-reviewer-editors with knowledge of particular political groups
and issues. We have asked
the following experts to help us.
·
African Americans –
·
Blogs –
·
Campaign Finance –
·
Democratic Party –
·
Drug Policy –
·
Education – Dennis Gerlitz, John Stokes
·
Environment –
·
Gays and Lesbians – Jack Greenlaw
·
Green Party – Trey Smith
·
Health Care –
·
Hispanics – needed
·
Immigration - Grosvenor Anschell
·
Housing and Poverty –
·
Labor Unions –
·
Law and Justice –
·
State Legislation –
·
Veterans –
·
Women’s Issues –
Additional Resources
See our website at www.PugetSoundLiberals.org, with our basic training about
being Liberal, our archive of all past newsletters, resources for liberals,
tools for Democratic legislative district organizations and more.
To learn about particular issues, further your interests and meet
colleagues, visit websites of advocacy and
caring organizations. Also
see our list of helpful websites. Craig’s List Seattle
For
news about NW sustainability, visit Sightline
Daily. We recommend the Pacific NW Portal for
displaying many blogs through which Northwest Liberals exchange their knowledge
and opinions. See also Lefty Blogs. We recommend you go to Washblog to find blogs containing
information and opinions about
Learn about our State Democratic Party. About 2008 Caucuses and Elections. Contact your national and state officials. Report Card on your congress member For many Congressional Report Cards.