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Cooperation and Leadership Conservatives oppose all of these Let’s
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Restore Our American Dream More on Conservative opposition to our
American Dream Washington State’s 5 Major Needs ·
Federal
Funding for Health and Education · Substitute
a Progressive Income Tax · Replacing
Conservative Legislators Quotes of the Week The
first quality that is needed is audacity. Success
is the child of audacity. If the
leader is filled with high ambition and if he pursues his aims with
audacity and strength of will, he will reach them in spite of all
obstacles. The
method of the enterprising is to plan with audacity and execute with vigor.
Winston Churchill (1874-1965
Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881)
Karl Von Clausewitz (1780-1831)
Christian Nestell Bovee (1820-1904)
Calendar of Events
Saturday, March 7 at 10 AM to 2 PM at Renton Carpenters Hall (
Saturday, March 7 at 6:30 PM at Jim Simpson’s home (5236 South Mayflower,
Saturday, March 7 at 7 PM at
Saturday, March 14 at 6 PM at Twist (
Saturday, March 14 at 6 PM at Seattle Center Fisher Pavilion – Futurewise Carnaval
Dinner and Fundraiser, including live and silent auctions. $85.
RSVP by March 6th.
Saturday, March 21 at 10 AM – 5 PM at
Friday, April 24 (3-9 PM); Saturday, April 25 (9 AM-6 PM); and Sunday,
April 26 (9 AM – 3:30 PM) at
Communication with Our Members
Last
week, I published 3 messages concerning our need for an income tax which I
received from an email list. One of the
authors emailed me to object to my publishing her privately distributed message
without her permission. She is
right. I apologize. In the future, I will obtain permission
before publishing such messages.
Opportunities
and Petitions
Useful
Websites: contacts, maps, community organizing tools, and more.
Access
to jillions of political cartoons.
Download
Sightline Institute’s climate policy primer ‘Cap and Trade 101’. About
Sightline.
Obtain Progressive
States Networks resources for improving many state government services.
Wounded Warrior
Handbook is a resource guide for returning veterans.
Petitions
Tell
President Obama to nationalize insolvent banks.
Tell
your congress members to prevent lobbyists from derailing health care reform.
Thank
Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid for asking Capitol Power Plant to stop burning
coal.
Sign
a petition for a coal-free future.
Tell
your congress members to support health care reform.
Tell
your congress members to support the Matthew Shepard Act to protect GLBT from
hate crimes.
Tell
your senators to protect planned parenthood.
Thank
President Obama for repealing President Bush’s anti-choice rule.
Tell
the Obama administration to halt oil drilling activities in the Artic Ocean.
Tell
the Obama administration to halt mountain top removal mining.
Tell
President Obama to pressure countries to stop selling arms to Sudan.
Commentaries
From Our Members
Linda Boyd: Prosecute Bush Administration
Officials
Friends, So far, the many criminals in
the Bush Administration have walked free, but their luck may be changing. Amazingly,
Speaker Nancy Pelosi is speaking in favor of prosecution rather than truth
commissions. See her interview
with Rachel Maddow.
Please help push Attorney General Eric
Holder to appoint a special prosecutor to prosecute Bush, Cheney and other Bush
Administration officials. We don't need another investigation, or a
special "truth commission," we need a special prosecutor to administer
justice and compel future governments to follow the law. Thank you for keeping the pressure on Eric
Holder and for working for justice the entire world needs now. Linda Boyd, Washington for Impeachment
George and Patricia Robertson Support Obama’s
Plan
Published by
We
like his plan. Let’s do it. George
and Patricia Robertson
Republicans are liars. All of the Senate Republicans who withheld their
votes from the stimulus package. How do I know this? Because they constantly whine about government
being too big, about spending too much, about taxes being too high (for them!).
Yet they promoted and passed the biggest boondoggle in
Ray McBain: Let’s Win Our Class Struggle. Restore Income to Working Class
Class
warfare, yell the Republicans. (You know how they HATE to have THEIR taxes
increased.) Well, I've got news for them. It's called the class struggle and
during the past 30 years, the wealthy have been winning it. It is TIME for the
tax codes to be revised in favor of the working class. You know, those people
who have to work for a living.
Some call them the middle class. But that moniker denigrates the working
poor, who also are part of the working class. Let's be honest and refer to the
working class.
Obama, keep on doing your thing. Keep on helping the working class to
rise above the morass they've sunk into. Your programs are, although not
perfect, so much better than those of the past 30 years. Keep up the good work!
And senators, keep on helping the current administration to continue making
gains that benefit the working class. Ray McBain
Dick Burkhart: No More Bailouts
If you are as fed up with these bank
bailouts as I am, let our Senators know (Cantwell: 202-224-3441,
To finance these bank losses, as well as Obama’s
long-delayed investments, raising income taxes on the wealthy is a good start. But
we need much more:
1.
tax excessive wealth itself
(national wealth has more than doubled since 1980 but almost all of this has
been siphoned off by the wealthy by one shady scheme or another)
2.
tax capital gains (unearned wealth)
more than income taxes (earned wealth)
3.
tax speculative financial transactions
and luxuries
4.
eliminate the income tax on the
lower middle class
Then replace Geithner and Summers by Stiglitz and
Krugman and ask them to help create a new global financial system which is fair
and just to all, including generations far into the future. Dick
Burkhart
Afghan
Quagmire Threatens the Success of the Obama Administration
Faced with a multitude of
serious crises from deteriorating infrastructure to climate change, to bloody
conflicts and the global economic upheaval, we all need this administration to
succeed. As parents and grandparents we
are concerned that our new administration may founder on the quicksand of a
bigger war in
In this context US military
planners propose adding another 30,000 American troops to the 33,000 already
there and arming militias as was done in
Are there alternatives? Many experts including some military leaders
in
Will the Taliban reassert
their control? Polls show that the
Taliban has very little support from the Afghan people who have experienced its
intolerant and brutal rule. Also at this
point it is not a cohesive entity.
Ultimately, it will be up to the Afghanis to choose their government.
Other concrete steps for
peace would include a program to divert opium from heroine to medical morphine. This would provide farmers with an
income. In addition the under funded
George McGovern-Bob Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition
Act could, with proper funding, provide school lunches for all the school kids
of Afghanistan. We could give aid for the rebuilding of the country through the
UN and Afghani organizations, which could put millions of people to work
allowing them to feed their families.
Instead most
Which way is more
promising? Military utopianism or hard
headed peace and prosperity building?
Finding ways to change course should be a high priority for the Obama
Administration. Indeed unless they find a way out of the quagmire, the
Afghanistan War will remain an insurmountable barrier to its success.
Thaddeus Spratlen and Mike Yarrow are retired
professors from
Ronna Weltman: Speak Out for Schools
Many of us were stopped by
the snows from marching on
John de Graaf: Workers Taking Less Vacation
Time
New Poll Shows
60% of Voters Support Paid Vacation Measure
A new poll of
Take Back Your Time,
“The problem is that people are stressed to the limit
because they work too much,” says John de Graaf, Executive Director of Take Back Your Time. “Vacations help
reduce stress and burnout in the workplace, increase worker productivity and
give families precious time together, yet half of
Health care professionals support de Graaf's argument.
"Vacations are good for your health,” says Dr. Stephen Bezruchka of the
University of Washington School of Public Health. “They reduce chronic stress
and depression and allow time for un-frenzied social contact with friends and
family as well as physical activity. They can actually help reduce health care
costs."
Dave Batker, an economist who currently runs the
non-profit Earth Economics, points out that “vacations are good for business
too. They increase worker productivity and morale. They give workers a reward
for dedicated work and that gratitude is returned in higher business
productivity.”
A new group calling itself the “Vacation Matters
Coalition” has formed to address
The coalition is researching ways to guarantee more
vacation time for Washingtonians, including a ballot initiative. “With so much
evidence that vacations are good for health and good for our economy,” says Take Back Your Time’s de Graaf, “we
decided to ask
In the new poll, respondents were asked: Would you support or oppose a measure
requiring 10, 12 or 15 paid vacation days each year for full-time employees and
pro-rated for part-timers? 26% of respondents said they would support 10
days of vacation. 7% supported 12 days of vacation. 28% supported a full 15
days of vacation. 40% would oppose any measure.
“We're excited
to get such a strong initial result,” adds Jessica Bonebright, a member of the
Puget Sound Chapter of the Coalition of Labor Union Women, which has endorsed
the proposed law. “We believe this new scientific sample of
“There is no
question that many people are just worried about having a job at all in times
like this, and may view paid vacations as a luxury,” de Graaf says. “But in fact, vacations are not a
luxury. They are proven stress
relievers, reduce the rate of heart attacks and depression, lower health care
costs, strengthen family bonds, and improve productivity. More vacation time will actually be a boost
to our economy. We all pay the price of overwork and stress. That’s why 137 countries in the world, and
all other industrial countries, require them by law.”
Ironically, de
Graaf points out, while not a single
Liberals
and Democrats
Obama Watch – Week 6
Also go to Whitehouse.gov.
President Obama’s Proposed Budget
President
Obama’s stimulus-investment package, calls for regulation and proposed budget
put an
end to the era of government being the problem instead of the solution. One of the best things about President
Obama’s proposed budget is its honesty,
so we can easily find out what it does and the truth of various claims
concerning it. Read the entire
budget and fact sheets. President
Obama’s honesty includes shining light on the costs of our wars. For more. For more. For more. For
more. For
more.
The
budget is also Liberal, distributing undeserved money from our wealthy to
our poorer people.
The budget includes major initiatives
concerning protecting our environment, health care and education. It will raise $2 trillion over ten years
through raising taxes on corporations and wealthy people. It
also rewards people who may become part of a long time Democratic majority. Early reports failed to mention repeal of
subsidies for oil companies; but they are there with other tax reforms. See
table S-6 of the budget summary tables.
For more. I am concerned that President Obama’s proposed budget
increases instead of decreases our military budget. For
more. Progressive
Democrats of America call for cutting military to fund health care and
non-carbon based energy. For more. For more. For
more. See what we could do with
the wasted military expenditures.
As he stood before Congress on
Tuesday night, President Obama had job approval percentages in the 60s. After
his speech, CBS News found that support for his economic plans increased from
63 percent to 80. For
more. For
more. For
more.
A Profile in Courage: President
Obama’s Weekly Saturday Address (text and video)
“Because it represents real and dramatic change, it
also represents a threat to the status quo in
“The system we have now might work for
the powerful and well-connected interests that have run
But President Obama
appears to have ruled out single-payer health coverage. For more.
Will Our 2 Senators and 6 Democratic
Congress Members Support President Obama?
Of
interest is whether our
When Will President Obama Deal with
Other Major Issues?
Unlike
numerous other Liberals, I have admired President Obama’s carefully pursuing an
agenda which enables him to continually build political support, then spending
his political capital on the most important issues. I have admired his willingness to compromise
just enough to pass necessary legislation.
I admire his openness about what he is doing, while recognizing that it
may not be useful for him to make public and alert his opponents concerning his
agenda.
But
I wish I knew when we will see action on various issues:
James Kunstler
Asks Whether Obama Will Lead Us to Change Our Consumption Mindset.
No
good, in fact, will come of a campaign to sustain the unsustainable, which is
exactly what the Obama program is starting to look like. In the folder marked
"unsustainable" you can file most of the artifacts, usufructs,
habits, and expectations of recent American life: suburban living, credit-card
spending, Happy Motoring, vacations in Las Vegas, college education for the
masses, and cheap food among them. All these things are over. The public may
suspect as much, but they can't admit it to themselves, and political
leadership has so far declined to speak the truth about it for them -- in
short, to form a useful consensus that will allow us to move forward effectively.
One of the sad paradoxes of politics is that democracies do not seem very good
at disciplining their citizens' behavior. The wish to please voters and the
influence of campaign money overwhelm even leaders with mature instincts.
AIG Receives $30 Billion More from Our
Government
This
brings the total amount that AIG has received to $180 billion, the same amount
that was received by our public in the first tax rebate. Being considered too big to fail, AIG may
receive billions more in the future. At
the least, AIG should be broken up so that the parts aren’t too big to
fail. For more. For more.
Republican Lies
Republicans are lying
about the impact of his proposals. For more. Commentator Frank Rich noted that if more
viewers had watched Republican Louisiana Governor Bobbie Jindal’s response,
President Obama’s favorability rating might have reached 100%. Republicans are holding a
conference of Conservative Kooks. For
more. The
Republicans are not only not reaching out, they are alienating long time
allies. No Republican
seems willing to censor Rush Limbaugh for wanting President Obama’s economic
initiatives to fail.
Republican
representatives cater to their Conservative constituents, dooming their
party’s chances of winning in the rest of the country. They seem to believe erroneously that most
people believe in crony capitalism, trickle-down (tax cuts for the rich)
economics and unregulated markets. Let’s
hope they continue proclaiming their delusions.
For
more. For
more. For more. For
more.
We
should have a contest. Who do you support
for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination: Sarah Palin or Bobby
Jindal? Or maybe Rush Limbaugh or Ann
Coulter? Other similar possibilities
come to mind, but no different ones who could be nominated. With opponents like these, President Obama
will be re-elected, even if he screws up big time.
Rebuilding
Next
week’s Obama Watch will include Obama’s White House Conference on Health Care
Reform.
Challenge Democrats Who Stray
Accountability Now Pac has been
formed to promote Liberal rivals in primaries to challenge incumbent Democrats
who vote Conservatively. Democrats who
are influenced by corporate lobbyists to vote against the public interest are
obvious targets. Supporting the Accountability Now PAC are Daily Kos,
MoveOn, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), ColorofChange.org,
Democracy for
23rd State
Passes National Popular Vote Bill
New Mexico is the 23rd
State to pass the National Popular Vote Bill. These states pledge to have all of their
electors vote for the presidential candidate who receives a majority of the
popular vote, once states with 50% of the electors have passed the bill. The result will be to bypass our present
electoral system in which a candidate can be elected even though his opponent
received more votes (such as George Bush in 2000).
Here’s the Beef
House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi supports criminal prosecution of Bush Administration
wrongdoers.
President Obama is taking
steps toward equality for GLBT.
Once
Minnesota Senator Al Franken is seated, the Employee Free Choice Act will pass.
Justice
Department will no longer raid legal medical marijuana dispensaries.
Many are lobbying
Washington for action on global warming.
12,000 young people
rallied in Washington D.C. for Global Warming Summit.
Obama’s budget
eliminates Yucca Mountain NV as nuclear storage site. So where can it be stored?
Liberal
groups are opposing President Obama’s Afghan troop buildup and leaving troops
in Iraq.
Accountability
Now will run candidates against Democrats who serve Corporate Lobbyists.
David
Brooks’ Moderate Manifesto is a
Conservative Manifesto which mis-describes Obama’s proposals.
Justice Department releases Bush Administration memos on how to break the law.
Status
report on public campaign financing.
State and Local
Did Dino Rossi Win?
Dino
Rossi lost his battle to become governor.
He may have won the war. The budget which our Democratically
controlled legislature and Democratic Governor Christine Gregoire is likely to
pass without increased taxes is likely to resemble what we could expect if
Republican Dino Rossi had become governor.
For
more. Such a Draconian budget may
draw the ire of our public. Their
cautious approach may threaten the numerical superiority which our Democrats
have so carefully achieved in our legislature.
Contrast
this cautious approach in our blue state, with the bold approach which
President Barack Obama’s administration and Democratic Congress is taking with
their budget and environmental, health care, education and other
initiatives. Presidents Franklin
Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson both told advocates to organize grassroots support
to force them to do what is right.
Similarly, our Democratic governor and legislators should take every
opportunity to tell the representatives of our educational associations and
public employee labor unions that they must organize grassroots support to
force tax reform.
Absent
an income tax which both brings in more revenue and lowers taxes for almost all
tax payers, our Democrats, educational associations, labor unions and most of
us will suffer. We must stop our wealthy
from ripping us off. Just as they must
pay for the labor, supplies and capital that they use to earn money, so they
must pay to maintain and enhance our infrastructure which make possible the
money they earn. An income tax may now
be unpopular. A Dino Rossi budget may be
just as unpopular. It’s time to risk
doing the right thing.
Excerpts from
Seattle PI editorial: “
“An
income tax would start to address both issues, especially if it were a
progressive one. Whether or not the total package was revenue neutral,
enactment of an income tax could be tied to reductions in other taxes,
especially the property and the B&O tax. The business tax cries out for
reform during a downturn, since it taxes firms whether or not they make money.
It's a huge disincentive to start a new business.”
“In
2002, a commission headed by Bill Gates Sr. recommended an income tax, noting
several different models. Recently, the Legislature and governor honored Gates
for his life of community involvement and generosity. They should truly honor his judgment and
expertise as a tax lawyer by -- finally -- doing something to start an income
tax.”
Seattle PI
Editorial Board Member Joe Copeland calls for Governor Gregoire to consider tax
increases. See
commentaries about need for a
Deb Eddy: Doesn’t Support Tax Increase
An
email from Deb Eddy
included: “While the $8 billion projected shortfall is a crisis, it’s also an
opportunity to re-evaluate how the state plans its income and expenses.
No doubt, we can find ways to run our state more efficiently. “
“Only after we
show you a budget that reflects the fiscal reality should we have discussions
about next steps, including new revenue.”
“There have been reports in the media that we are compiling a potential
tax package to put on the ballot. Some in the Senate are starting the
conversation from a position that assumes that an all-cuts budget is
unacceptable.
I’m not participating in the tax discussions, and I
don’t know who’s having them, but I can assure you that I will NOT vote to put
any tax package on the ballot if we have not done an adequate job of stretching
the dollars we have.” Deb Eddy, 48th LD
Representative
David West: Puget Sound Needs Quality Jobs
20%
of our households live below the poverty line, with 3/4ths of these headed by a
full time worker. Our
David
West’s commentary provides further evidence that we need to return from our
current Borrow, Consume and Speculate
mindset and practices to the Earn, Conserve
and Invest mindset and practices which prevailed following World War II, as
advocated frequently in this newsletter.
Economic
Our Economic
Opportunity Council’s policy brief: The
Environment, the Economy and Energy: Redirecting Windfalls for a Renewable
Energy future and a Sustainable Transportation Policy states:
“Some organizations in our society benefit from our
dependence on the petroleum-based economy, the increasing global and national
demand for oil, and the stagnation of production. Those are the major
multinational oil companies. While
There is a better way. We can steer our economy to become more dependent
upon renewable energy. We can develop a transportation system that emphasizes
convenience and efficiency. We have the resources at hand to do so, by redirecting windfalls from the oil industry
into investments for research and development and commercialization of the
renewable energy industry, and building a rational transportation system that
will get us from home to work quickly and efficiently.
A state level windfall profits tax could generate over $600 million annually.
Proceeds could be invested to incubate the production and use of renewable
energy, retrofit schools for greater energy efficiency, shift student bus
transportation to biodiesel fuel, and reduce business and occupation (B&O)
taxes across the board in recognition of the increasing cost for fuel borne by
business. A portion of the money could also be used to mitigate the toll that
increases in energy prices are taking on public services.
|
Jobs Created or Saved by Plan |
75,000 |
|
Families Receiving Making Work Pay Tax Credit |
2,450,000 |
|
Additional |
67,000 |
|
Children Receiving Child Tax Credit |
268,000 |
|
Taxpayers Protected by the AMT Patch |
348,000 |
Sources (Top to Bottom): White House;
White House; CBPP, 1/22/09; CBPP, 1/22/09; CRS, 2/4/09.
Congressman Dave Reichert: Stimulus Bill Will Help My
Constituents
Representative Dave Reichert (WA-08) -
"Reichert acknowledges that the stimulus bill will deliver tangible good
news to his constituents... ‘I feel a responsibility at this point to make this
still work.'" [
Senator Patty Murray: Report on Hate Crimes
Legislation
Thank
you for contacting me regarding hate crimes. You will be happy to know that we
agree on this important issue.
Despite
great gains in civil rights protection and equality throughout the last
century, many Americans still face discrimination, violence and even death
because of their identity or beliefs. Hate crimes threaten the safety and
security of Americans in every corner of our country. They dehumanize the
victims and terrorize their respective communities. They send a destructive
message that some Americans are second-class citizens who do not deserve the
same rights as the rest of us. Through intimidation, property destruction and
bodily harm, these insidious crimes erode the quality of life for Americans
nationwide.
To
combat this serious problem, I was proud to be an original cosponsor of S.1105,
the Local Law Enforcement Enhancement Act (LLEEA). This bill will provided
federal assistance to state and local law enforcement agencies to investigate
and prosecute violent hate crimes, especially crimes committed by offenders in
multiple states and in rural areas that often have difficulty covering law
enforcement expenses. It will also help train local law enforcement officers in
identifying, investigating, prosecuting and preventing hate crimes.
This
bill was recently included in the National Defense Authorization Act as an
amendment. The National Defense Authorization Act passed the Senate and will
need to be agreed to in conference with the House of Representatives.
Since
1992, the FBI has documented nearly 75,000 hate crimes. The most recent
available statistics indicate that in 2001, approximately 12,000 Americans were
victims of hate crimes. The LLEEA was supported by 22 state Attorneys General,
the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the National Sheriffs'
Association and over 175 other religious, law enforcement and civil rights
organizations.
Attacks
on Americans by other Americans are attacks on
Here’s the Beef
Governor
Gregoire creates website to $6.7 billion federal economic stimulus-investment
funds.
Washington
State Indians will receive $15 million for housing.
Tax
incentives are available to install solar panels.
Budget savings from reducing
incarceration.
Mount
Saint Helens National Monument should become Mount Saint Helens National Park.
New national group Change Congress works to
achieve public campaign financing.
Gates
Foundation should divest from hydrocarbon companies to stop global warming
disease.
To overcome
bigotry and intolerance, we should educate our community about Sikh religion.
Nation
and World
They Just Don’t Get It. We Need Less Borrowing. Less Consumption.
Read Daniel Gross’s brief explanation
of our bubbles and how to stop them.
We need to return to a Earn,
Conserve and Invest mindset and practice from our present Borrow, Consume and Speculate mindset
and practice. Daniel Gross gets it.
Our
commercial media (both print and electronic) don’t get it as might be expected
given that their revenues result from promoting consumption. Our financial pundits don’t get it as might
be expected given that their revenues result from borrowing, consumption and
speculation. Unfortunately, many of our politicians
also don’t get it.
Fortunately,
more of our
James Galbraith: More Credit Won’t Help If No
Borrowers Appear
K. Galbraith told the House
Financial Services Committee that
“The bank plan appears to turn on a metaphor.
Credit is "blocked" or "frozen." It must be made to
"flow again." Take a plunger to the toxic assets, a blowtorch to the
pipes, it's said, and credit will flow. This will make the recession
essentially normal, validating the baseline forecast. Add the stimulus to a
normalization of credit, and the crisis will end. That's the thinking, so far
as I can tell, of the Treasury department in this new administration.
But
common sense begins by noting that the metaphor is wrong. Credit is not a flow.
It is not something that can be forced downstream by clearing a pipe. Credit is
a contract. It requires a borrower as well as a lender, a customer as well as a
bank. The borrower must meet two conditions ... [creditworthiness and
willingness to borrow] ... The "credit-flow" metaphor implies that
people came flocking to the auto showrooms last November and were turned away
because there were no loans to be had. This is not true. What happened was that
people stopped coming in. And they stopped coming in because, suddenly, they
felt poor, uncertain and afraid.” For more.
Only Half of Projected Foreclosures Have Begun
According
to a chart on page 26 of the March 9th issue of Time Magazine, as
many foreclosure starts will occur during 2009-2012 as have occurred during
2004-2008. During 2004-2008, foreclosure
starts rose from 0.8 million to 2.3 million for a total of 6.3 million. During September 2008-2012, foreclosure
starts are projected to be 6.4 million.
Federal rescue actions may reduce the number of foreclosures that occur.
Lower unemployment rates would also
reduce the number of foreclosures.
17.3%
of homeowners are making monthly mortgage payments on houses which are worth
less than the amount of their mortgages.
1 in 7 of all homes, condos and apartments are now vacant, due to
foreclosures, unsold homes and people moving in with relatives and others to
save housing costs.
During
1999 to 2006, inflation adjusted home prices increased by 80%. Since then, they have decreased to eliminate
2/3rds of this gain. They now equal 27%
more than in 1999. To fall to the levels
which were typical before 1999, they need to fall 20% from their present
level. Since inflation adjusted median
incomes have been stable since 1999, houses would typically be as affordable as
the were then.
Move Freight from Trucks to Rail
Compared
to trucks, trains offer significant benefits for moving freight. Less energy consumption. Potentially less pollution. Less wear and tear on highways. Less highway congestion and fewer
accidents. For
more. For
more. For more.We should
be investing some of our infrastructure stimulus-investment funds to providing
more access to higher quality railroads.
We Need a National Food Safety Agency
Our
regulation of food safety is obviously deficient. Part of the problem is a division of
responsibility between the USDA which oversees meat, poultry and related
products and the FDA which oversees everything else. Part is ignoring of regulatory
responsibilities during the Bush administration. Part is the elimination of the White House
Food Safety Council. What we need is a
national food agency which would focus upon ensuring safety of all food
products and have the resources to do necessary inspections and enforcement. For
more.
Citizens for Global Solutions
Citizens for
Global Solutions has 7 goals for responsible United State Global Engagement
in 2009:
1.
Ratifying the United Nations Convention on the Law
of the Sea
2.
Working for an Effective International Criminal
Court
3.
Stepping up U.S. Involvement in Global Peacekeeping
4.
Promoting a World without Nuclear Weapons
5.
Promoting Equitable Policies on Climate Change
6.
Restoring Human Rights
7.
Championing a More Effective and Empowered United
Nations
Here’s the Beef
Ralph Nader says let’s
have Oscars for Activists.
It’s
no mystery why American families have little confidence in our economy.
Now that more middle class
people have become poor, the poor are getting more attention. For more.
If
it’s too big to fail, it’s too big to be private.
Our
zombie financial companies should be acquired, restructured and sold by our
government. More.
As values decline,
even those who can pay their mortgages are tempted not to.
President
Obama’s budget will offers benefits to children and their families.
Health
care reform will stimulate economy now and help deficit reduction later.
President
Obama is proposing lots of little steps toward major health care reform. For
more.
We need to regulate toxins
like Europeans do.
Supreme
Court rules that federal approval of medicines doesn’t remove consumer’s right
to sue.
Canadians love their single
payer health system and it costs their government much less than ours.
Shapleigh Maine
residents have banned companies from drawing or selling its water.
Legalizing and taxing
marijuana could help relieve California’s revenue crisis.
10,000 young people go
to our capitol to lobby for clean energy.
Court enables
lawmakers to require mining companies to post clean-up bonds.
We need to rethink
security. Terrorists may be minor
problems compared to climate and economy.
Companies
that defraud our military receive additional contracts.
If
the U.S. doesn’t begin to withdraw from Iraq, we may be forced to withdraw by
July 2010.
Global warming is
producing devastating drought in U.S. southwest. Bye bye vegetables.
Amazon river basin is
being denuded, which may significantly alter weather patterns.
Israel continues to
try to starve Gaza residents.
Jewish leaders
criticize Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for wanting to help Gaza recover.
Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton emphasizes necessity of a Palestinian state.
Israel boycott
movement is spreading.
Our
Liberal Spirit
Careful Audacity Works
I
suspect that we all have audacity. We
dream and pursue impossible dreams. We
do things which are likely to harm us, even if there is only an unlikely chance
that they will produce what we value highly.
We tell smartass jokes to people we don’t know well enough to judge how
they will react. Some of us enjoy
risk-taking. Others are more restrained.
I
enjoy risk-taking. This has frequently
gotten me in trouble. Because my
risk-taking was impetuous, committed without careful preparation and follow
through. I have gradually learned the
value of preparation and discipline.
Barack
Obama has great audacity and persistence.
He attended
President
Obama has usually succeeded with his risky undertakings because he carefully
assesses the situation (including opportunities, threats, resources and
opposition), creates strategies and tactics and implements them with great
discipline. Unlike many of us, he is
seldom impetuous concerning things of importance. He shows us that audacity need not imply lack
of caution, careful planning and discipline.
Recommended Books – See our list of books for liberals
Sherrod
Brown, 2004, Myths of Free Trade. Why
American Trade Policy Has Failed.
Sherrod Brown presents an
easily readable argument for regulating free trade to eliminate corporate
abuses which harm Americans and people around the world. Interestingly, he avoids the issue of our
agricultural subsidies, supported by agro-business interests in his state of
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