Puget Sound Liberals Weekly Newsletter #213
Enhancing Freedom, Opportunity and Cooperation in
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Contents * Featured Articles Calendars of Events Communication with Our Members Dave Thomas’ new email
address: dav.thom@comcast.net Opportunities Petitions Commentaries from Our Members Tom Cramer: Reichert Votes Against Fiscal Responsibility* Richard Curtis: I Am Running to Replace Patty Murray Marcee Stone: I Am Running for State Legislator Rich Austin: Corporatist Party Remains in Power* Liberals and Democrats Links to the Beef Many PAYGO Offsets Exist to Reduce Federal Deficits** Cubans Are Teaching American Primary Care Doctors Tea Party Conservatives: What Next? State and Local Links
to the Beef Quickly Tell Our Legislators to Support Public Campaign
Financing for Supreme Court Justices* Nation and World Links to the Beef Featured Advocacy Group: Public Citizen Our Liberal Spirit Should We Always Tell the Truth? Our
Political Priorities ·
Fair Clean
Elections and Open Government ·
Fair Taxes and
Competent Spending ·
Investment for
Productivity ·
Quality
Health, Education, Jobs, Income ·
Environmental
Protection and Energy Independence ·
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 5 Major Needs · Federal Funding for Health and Education · Substituting
a Progressive Income Tax · Replacing
Conservative Legislators Quote of the Week Always tell the truth unless something sounds
better. Alaskan Truth
Calendar of Events
Saturday, February 20 at 5:30 PM - 7:30 (Family
Session), 8:00 - 10:00 and 10:30 - 12:30
AM at West Seattle Bowl (4505 39th Avenue, SW, Seattle) - Human Rights Campaign food and bowling. Cost:
$35. To register.
Saturday,
February 27 at 7 - 10 PM at Lakeland Hills Community Center (5801 Lakeland
Hills Way SE, Auburn) - Progressives on the Plateau celebration and
political discussion hosted by 31st LD Democrats. $25
single. $40 couple. To register.
Communication
with Our Members
New Email Address
I now have a new email address: dav.thom@comcast.net. I will no longer receive any emails sent to
the previous att address. Please change
my email address in your address book.
Dave Thomas
Opportunities
Useful
Websites: contacts, maps, community organizing tools, and more.
Obtain
a free ‘Corporations Are Not People’ bumper sticker.
Petitions
Tell your
congress members to extend unemployment benefits.
Tell
EPA administrator Lisa Jackson to better protect us from smog.
Tell
your congress members to support strengthening the Toxic Substances Control
Act.
Tell
your senators to pass student loan reform.
Tell
your congress members to pass a constitutional amendment to protect citizen
voting rights.
Commentaries
From Our Members
Tom Cramer: Dave Reichert Votes against Fiscal Responsibility
Call
me Fighting Tom Cramer. I fight for the
people and policies that help Main Street and middle income Americans. The people of our 8th
Congressional District will better off if I replace fiscally irresponsible
Conservative Republican Dave Reichert.
Support my candidacy.
By
voting against PAYGO, Conservative Republican Dave Reichert once again
displayed his fiscal irresponsibility. Passed
with mostly Democratic support, PAYGO requires that any tax decrease or
spending increase which might increase our deficit be offset by a tax increase
or spending decrease.
When
President Bush and Republican Congress members controlled our government, PAYGO
was eliminated with the result that our federal debt increased by $12 trillion
with $3 trillion more to come due to the collapse of our housing-credit
bubble. Dave Reichert has expressed his
support for the fiscally irresponsible tax cuts, off budget wars and Medicare
Prescription drug measure which caused this enormously increased debt. Then he voted against President Obama’s
stimulus-recovery package, even though the Federal debt will be less with it
than would happen without it.
I
strongly favor PAYGO and believe there are many taxes which affect Wall Street
and other high income people that can be imposed and wasteful spending that can
be eliminated, to provide the funds for assisting the creation of jobs for Main
Street and middle class Americans. Tom Cramer
Dave Thomas: Note the following:
In her big
speech at the right-wing "tea party convention," Palin had the gall
to blame President Obama and Democrats in Congress for the mess that her party
created in the first place. Well, here are the facts:
Republicans must have very short memories. Maybe Palin forgot about the
exploding deficits, skyrocketing unemployment and collapsing financial system
George Bush left in his wake as he left town. Don't let Sarah Palin turn back
the clock to failed Bush policies. The
same can be said for Dave Reichert.
-----
Two
candidates who support ‘New Politics’ are running, Marcee Stone for State
Legislator and Richard Curtis for congressional Senator in opposition to Patti
Murray. They will both vote for Main
Street and fiscal responsibility instead of supporting ‘Old Politics’ by voting
against these in order to receive funds from Wall Street campaign
contributors. I hope other ‘New
Politics’ candidates will run against our present ‘Old Politics’ Democratic
Congressmen and our present ‘Old Politics’ Democratic state legislators. Dave Thomas
Richard Curtis: I Am Running to Replace Patty
Murray
On
January 10, 2010 a group of long time activists from inside and outside the
Democratic, Green, and Progressive Parties united to form a broad coalition.
This coalition, composed of Democrats and Republicans, individual
activists, and third-party supporters, has united to support an
independent candidate for the US Senate seat currently held by Patty Murray.
This campaign will serve as a protest movement against the corporate-owned
political system currently in the hands of the Democrats and Republicans. We
invite all interested persons and groups to join the coalition.
Patty Murray came in her tennis shoes…send her out
with our boot! The Government is not working! Well, perhaps it is
working for a very wealthy few, but most definitely not for most people,
and this is the core problem today. We all know this and can see the activity
around the country expressing outrage. This is the 2010 issue and we
intend to make this campaign a resolution on the two party system. The
“Tea Party Movement” of late is a good example of this frustration, but
they have been confused and diverted by corporate interests into thinking
that limiting or even eliminating government altogether is the
solution. However, we Progressives know the real solution is working
within the system to make it work for all. To allow corporatists to continue to
dominate government (let alone to abandon all social power to them) only means government
will continue to serve corporate interests instead of those of the people, with
ever-deteriorating consequences.
To
focus attention, the Committee to Draft Dr. Richard Curtis for Senate has
selected an outstanding candidate to run for the US Senate and bring attention
to the goal of fixing government, instead of just blaming it (or worse,
pretending it is fine).
Dr.
Richard Curtis, PhD, a philosophy professor with expertise in religion and politics and a
long time political activist, is considering taking up the charge for the
coalition and representing it as we seek to either unseat the incumbent, or to
force her, and those old-style two-party thinkers who tolerate the status quo,
to actually fight for the interests of the American people instead of
multi-national corporations.
Given
the national significance of this effort, individual endorsements from
prominent intellectuals and activists are already arriving. To date
these include: Dr. Michael Parenti (Author
and Political Scientist), Cynthia McKinney (former Democratic
Congresswoman and Green Presidential Candidate), Cindy Sheehan (anti-war
activist), and Dr. Robert M. Bowman, Lt. Col., USAF, ret. (former
Director of Advanced Space Programs Development for the U.S. Air Force).
Marcee Stone: I Am Running for State Legislator
I am
seeking the position of 34th District State Representative. The current 34th District State Senator, Joe
McDermott, will seek the 8th District King County Council seat in November,
2010. Current State Representative Sharon Nelson will seek the Senate Seat.
That means Nelson's State Representative position will be open.
I have filed documents with the State Public Disclosure Commission indicating that
I will collect funds to run for the State Representative Position. I have signed a campaign pledge not to take
money from corporations or Political Action Committees, and to conduct a fair
campaign. View the pledge here. I grew up in the 34th District and
raised my family here as well. I am presently the State Committeewoman for the
34th District Democrats Marcee Stone
Rich Austin: Corporatist Party Remains in Power
With respect to “Evaluating
Obama’s 2011 Budget Proposal” which appeared in last week’s newsletter:
While I agree that the 2011 Budget Proposal leaves
much to be desired, the history of events that got us to where we are today
needs to be exposed to the light of day.
(As a “teaser” point of consideration before moving on, whatever
measures are taken to right the ship of state will nonetheless hold this truth
to be self-evident; the top 15 percentile will have entered the economic crisis
wealthy and will emerge wealthy. Only
the working class will have suffered.)
The seeds that led to economic disaster were planted
when Obama was seventeen years of age.
Reagan was elected and a compliant Congress began steering us onto the
rocks. Deregulation became king! “Big government” was demonized! Reagan found plenty of allies on both sides
of the aisle.
Fast-forward to the 90’s. Money from “large donors” representing
corporate interests began cascading down on Congress, and
increasingly-compliant lawmakers stuck out their nets and snared some hefty
catches.
·
NAFTA, WTO, et al are great for
corporations but disastrous for workers.
They passed with overwhelming bipartisan support.
·
In 1999, the Glass-Steagall
regulations enacted when FDR was president were repealed by a huge bipartisan
vote. Banks and other financial
institutions were thus set free to do their dirty work.
·
Jumping to 2000-2008, bipartisan
votes approved Bush’s tax cuts for the rich.
Congress thus robbed our nation of over one trillion dollars in
revenue.
·
War got a nearly 100% bipartisan
vote. Today, the number of people employed by criminal war-profiteers in
Iraq and Afghanistan is higher than the number of troops deployed to that
region!
And Congress now needs purse seiners to capture their
bounty. In the last election cycle $5.3
billion were sent on federal elections. What access or results did your $100
donation buy you?
Obama’s budget proposal will not correct the
injustices that we the people allowed Congress to commit over the past 30
years. We must not allow Obama to be scapegoated
for three decades of Congressional corruption.
Later this year elections will be held.
New faces may be voted into office. Control of Congress may switch. If, however, the post-Reagan years provide a
hint of what lies ahead, after all the dust clears the Corporatist Party will
remain in power.
Shame on us for allowing our government to be
hi-jacked! Eisenhower warned of a
military-industrial complex taking over.
We ignored his words, and now it has grown into a military-industrial-banking-medical profits-big oil complex. Shame
on us! Rich Austin
Liberals
and Democrats
Jobs Legislation
While Republicans voted against the stimulus-recovery
package and claim it doesn’t create jobs, they also beg
for the funds to create jobs in their districts.
Following his state of the union address, President
Obama reiterated some of his proposals oriented toward assisting Main Street
Americans and maintaining fiscal responsibility as follows:
·
The President will
fight to recover the money American taxpayers spent to bailout the banks. “To recover the rest, I've proposed a fee on the biggest
banks. Now, I know Wall Street isn't keen on this idea. But if these
firms can afford to hand out big bonuses again, they can afford a modest fee to
pay back the taxpayers who rescued them in their time of need.”
The President has proposed the Financial Crisis Responsibility Fee,
which will require the largest and most highly leveraged Wall Street firms to
pay back taxpayers and provide a deterrent against excessive leverage for the
largest firms. The conservative estimate for the cost of TARP in the
budget is $117 billion, but the Treasury Department expects it to be much less
and the fee will be in place for a minimum of ten years or however long it
takes to recoup every last penny to the American taxpayer.
·
The President
recognizes that Small Businesses will be key to our nation’s economic recovery. “I'm proposing that we take $30 billion of the money Wall
Street banks have repaid and use it to help community banks give small
businesses the credit they need to stay afloat. I'm also proposing a new small
business tax credit – one that will go to over one million small businesses who
hire new workers or raise wages.” To get small businesses growing
again, and growing our economy, the President has proposed a range of
provisions that include tax incentives to spur investment; expanded access to
capital and growth opportunities to create jobs; and increased support for
entrepreneurship to foster innovation. He is proposing an employment tax
credit for small businesses to encourage hiring, eliminating capital gains
taxes on small business investments, extending enhanced small business
expensing, and transferring $30 billion in resources from TARP to a new program
to help community and smaller banks give small businesses the credit they
need. The President and members of his Administration will announce
additional details in the coming weeks.
·
The President
reiterates his support for continued investment in our nation’s
infrastructure. “Tomorrow, I'll
visit Tampa, Florida, where workers will soon break ground on a new high-speed
railroad funded by the Recovery Act. There are projects like that all across
this country that will create jobs and help move our nation's goods, services,
and information.” Through the
Recovery Act, we made the largest investment in our nation’s infrastructure
since President Eisenhower called for the creation of our national highway
system over half a century ago. In his speech, the President announced
funding to make a down-payment on a new nationwide high-speed rail system
being built in-part with ARRA dollars.
·
Tax breaks to keep
jobs at home. “(I)t’s time to
finally slash the tax breaks for companies that ship our jobs overseas, and
give those tax breaks to companies that create jobs right here in the United
States of America.” The President has called for an end for tax breaks for companies that
ship our jobs overseas to help fund tax cuts – like making the R & E credit
permanent – that reward companies for investing and creating jobs in the United
States.
·
The President also
called on the Senate to pass a jobs bill that he can sign. “The House has passed a jobs bill…. As the first order of
business this year, I urge the Senate to do the same, and I know they will.
People are out of work. They are hurting. They need our
help. And I want a jobs bill on my desk without delay.” The bold
and difficult steps the President took to stabilize the financial system have
reduced the cost of TARP by more than $200 billion, providing additional
resources for job creation and for deficit reduction. In December, the
President outlined a package of targeted measures to help further stimulate
private sector hiring, including measures to facilitate small business growth,
green jobs and infrastructure. The House has passed strong legislation -
it is time for the Senate to do the same.
·
We must invest in
American ingenuity and innovation. “We need to encourage American innovation.” The Obama
Innovation Agenda will get us closer to the President’s long-term goal of
increasing combined private and public R&D investment to three percent of
GDP. The Obama 2011 budget will move us closer to restoring America to
first in the world in college completion; and invest in the next generation of
scientists so we will not lag behind countries like China in science and
engineering graduates. More details will be announced in the coming
weeks.
·
We need to export
more of our goods around the world. “We will double our exports over the next five years, an increase that
will support two million jobs in America.” To meet this goal, we’re launching a National Export Initiative
that will help farmers and small businesses increase their exports and expand
their markets. Details will be announced in the coming weeks, but the NEI
includes the creation of the President’s Export Promotion Cabinet and an
enhancement of funding for key export promotion programs. We will work to
shape a Doha trade agreement that opens markets and will continue to work with
key allies like South Korea, Panama, and Colombia on trade agreements that
provide real benefits to our workers. The President and members
of his Administration will announce additional details in the coming
week.
·
The President
remains committed to helping Americans stay in their homes and help their homes
retain their value. “… we’re working to
lift the value of a family’s single largest investment – their home.” Last
year, we took steps allowing millions of Americans to take out new loans and
save an average of $1,500 per family on mortgage payments. This year, we
will step up programs that encourage re-financing so that homeowners can move
into more affordable and sustainable mortgages. In addition to the
changes proposed last week to ensure sound risk management, the FHA is
continuing to evaluate its mortgage insurance underwriting standards and its
measures to help distressed and underwater borrowers through other FHA
initiatives going forward. In order to ensure American families
receive the same consideration American corporations do, the Obama
Administration remains supportive of efforts to allow bankruptcy proceedings to
renegotiate all debts, including home mortgages.
·
As Americans are
getting their budgets in order, the President is getting the nation’s financial
house in order. “Like any
cash-strapped family, we will work within a budget to invest in what we need
and sacrifice what we don’t.” The President has announced the three year, non-security discretionary
spending freeze, and also called for a bipartisan Fiscal Commissionto
identify policies to improve the fiscal situation in the medium term and to
achieve fiscal sustainability over the long run. The President and
members of his Administration will announce additional details in the coming
weeks.
·
The President’s
focus on national security includes rooting out terrorists where they
hide. “Since the day I took office,
we have renewed our focus on the terrorists who threaten our nation.” In
the last year, hundreds of Al Qaeda’s fighters and affiliates have been
captured or killed – far more than in 2008.
·
The President’s
commitment to Non-Proliferation results. “Even as we prosecute two wars, we're also confronting perhaps the
greatest danger to the American people - the threat of nuclear weapons.” The United States and Russia are completing negotiations on the
farthest-reaching arms control treaty in nearly twenty years. He
will also host a Nuclear Security Summit in April, which will bring forty-four
nations together behind a clear goal: to secure all loose nuclear materials
around the world in four years, so that they never fall into the hands of
terrorists.
·
The President is
launching a bioterror and pandemic threat initiative. “We are launching a new initiative that will give us the capacity to
respond faster and more effectively to bioterrorism or an infectious
disease - a plan that will counter threats at home and strengthen public
health abroad.” The President
called to action key U.S. Government leaders to re-design our medical
countermeasure enterprise to protect Americans from bioterror or infectious
health threats. We will pursue a business model that leverages market
forces and reduces risk to attract pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry
collaboration with the U.S. Government.
·
The President announced
that he will work this year to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” “I will work with Congress and the military to finally repeal the law
that denies gay Americans the right to serve the country they love because of
who they are.”
In his weekly
address, President Obama called for a series of measures to help small
businesses thrive.
On Thursday, Congressional Democrats pledged to enact
a package of measures to spur job growth while taking steps to tackle the
burgeoning federal budget deficit. "Our
No. 1 emphasis is going to be on creating jobs," Senate Majority Leader
Harry Reid said as he unveiled a set of proposals he hopes to pass in coming
weeks. This has presented Republicans
with a dilemma. They don’t want to
cooperate with Democrats. But they also
don’t want to vote against job creation measures, some
of which they have promoted.
At the same time, the House on Thursday passed by a
233-187 margin a PAYGO bill that would require legislation to detail how most
proposed spending programs or tax cuts would be offset by tax increases or
spending cuts elsewhere. That bill now goes to the White House for the
president's signature. For
more. Most Republicans voted against
PAYGO.
Congressional Democrats are thus favoring Main Street
jobs and also fiscal responsibility, while Congressional Republicans are
opposing Main Street jobs and fiscal responsibility.
Move Your Money Campaign
A new campaign
called Move Your Money aims to
tackle the frustrations with the Wall Street banks, and the politicians
they've bought off, head on. The campaign is based on a simple idea: Americans
ought to move their money from the big banks -- that took billions in taxpayer
money and continue to foist outrageous interest rates even as they cut lending
-- to local financial institutions that actually are a part of their
communities. Move the money back home.
In the first 48
hours of the campaign, which launched days before the New Year, over 100,000
people responded with inquiries on how to move their money and credit to the
nation's 7,600 community banks and 8,000 credit unions.
Channeling anger for change
The action campaign isn't the first to base itself on widespread anger toward
the largest banks in the country. In April last year, that anger was channeled
into A New Way
Forward (ANWF). The group organized protests across the country that
sought to break up the "zombie" banks.
The worst of the bad guys, nearly everyone agrees, are the so-called Big Six:
JP Morgan/Chase, Citi, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley and Goldman
Sachs. Experts believe the first four alone hold at least 40 percent of our nation's deposits and half of all
bank assets.
But despite ANWF's nationwide rallies -- which remained relatively small,
though attended by voters of all political stripes -- breaking up the banks has
never been on the legislative table. That may be one reason why Move Your Money
has garnered so much excitement. It does not seek to force people on the Hill
or in the White House, many of whom are indebted to banking interests, to act. Instead, Move Your Money calls for direct
action by regular people who are irate at the overly cautious pace of financial
reform.
"Our money has been used to make the system worse -- what if we
used it to make the system better?" wrote Arianna Huffington and Rob
Johnson -- she of the Huffington Post, he of the Roosevelt Institute --
in their campaign introduction. They framed Move Your Money as a New Year's resolution for all
(most) Americans who feel abandoned by their massive, bailed-out banks. For
more.
Just as we can
individually try to reduce our green house gas imprint by conserving energy, we
can individually try to reduce our Wall Street speculation imprint by moving
our money from Wall Street and from stocks to our small banks. The advantage of these individual actions is
that they don’t depend upon our government borrowing to provide funds for
making appropriate loans. Dave Thomas
Many PAYGO Offsets Exist to Reduce Federal
Deficits
Our federal government, since the turn of the century, has squandered
hundreds of billions of borrowed dollars on tax cuts for the wealthy and
militarized solutions to global problems. It has given massive bailouts to the
Wall Street investment firms that created the current economic crisis. The following seven proposals would only
affect the Wall Street and other wealthy people who have unjustly benefited so
much and would raise over $450 billion a year and over $3 trillion over the
next five years: Conservatives falsely
argue that high income people create jobs.
They don’t. They use their money
to consume luxury products (often produced abroad) and to speculate.
1.
Tax financial
transactions: $100 billion per year.
2.
Charge large
Financial Corporations a Financial
Crisis Responsibility Fee to raise $117 billion. Dean Baker has suggested the fee could be 4 times
as large as proposed by President Obama.
For more.
3. Repeal tax breaks for households with annual incomes
over $250,000: $43 billion per year.
4. Eliminate the tax preference for capital gains and
dividends: $80 billion per year.
5. Levy a progressive estate tax on large fortunes:
$40-60 billion per year.
6. Establish a new higher tax rate on extremely high
incomes: $60-70 billion
7. End overseas tax havens: $100 billion per year.
8. Eliminate subsidies for excessive executive
compensation: $18 billion per year.
Taxing financial transactions is the most important
one because it would both produce revenue
and reduce speculation. If 90% of
stockholders quit, the stock market would still perform its function of
enabling investors to cash out their gains.
Note that during the 25 years following World War II, very few Americans
owned stocks as the stock market performed its necessary function.
In
addition, the following tax breaks could be eliminated, without causing nearly
as many job losses as the money saved could be used to create.
Estimated
Cost
Tax break 2010
2010-14
Employer-provided health benefits $155
billion $924 billion
Home mortgage interest deduction $108
billion $646 billion
401(k) plans $53
billion $343 billion
Charitable donations deduction $47 billion $274
billion
State and local tax deduction $30 billion $268
billion
Capital gains exclusion on home sales $30 billion $235
billion
Source: White House Office of Management and Budget
With
these many possibilities, it would be easy to offset much spending to create
jobs, to leave very little federal deficit.
Additional offsets can be obtained by eliminating military, agriculture
and other spending which serves no useful purpose. One example is to eliminate the huge profits
that medical equipment makers are making by selling motorized wheel
chairs. It is thus possible to stimulate
creation of Main Street jobs while maintaining fiscal responsibility. For
more. For
more.
Health Care Reform
26%
of American workers are working as temps, part-timers, free lancers, or
independent contractors. Of these 61%
have no employer sponsored health insurance.
This amounts to 16% of all American workers and accounts for the many of
American workers without health insurance.
In addition, many workers who have employer sponsored health insurance
are paying more, receiving less coverage and finding that their coverage is not
honored by their private health insurer.
For more.
President
Obama has proposed a
meeting with both Democratic and Republican leaders to discuss health
reform, based upon separating facts from political commentary. Appearing at
a press conference, President Obama discussed the meeting with Republicans
and the making of interim appointments of officials put on hold by Republicans. Republicans indicate they won’t discuss
health care reform unless
Democrats forsake their health reform bills. Democrats won’t do this. Democrats view a meeting with Republicans as an
opportunity to inform the public of features of their bills that the public
will approve.
2/3rds
of Americans want health care reform.
Washington state congressman Jay
Inslee has argued that Democratic congress members must pass the senate
bill and both houses pass a reconciliation bill, so that voters experience the
benefits of even the flawed result.
California’s
limits
on medical malpractice claims have not resulted in lower increases in
private health insurance, as Republicans claim would happen.
Michelle
Obama has created a ‘Let’s
Move’ Campaign to reduce obesity, especially among children through
promoting healthy nutrition and exercise.
You can sign up for campaign updates.
Cubans Are Teaching American Primary Care Doctors
Cuba began educating American medical students after
members of the Congressional Black Caucus met with Fidel Castro in 2000.
Congressman Bennie Thompson of Mississippi told Castro about areas in his
district that suffer from extreme doctor shortages. The Cuban president
responded by promising scholarships for 500 Americans to attend medical school
in Cuba, under the umbrella of the Latin America School of Medicine. To
qualify, the students would have to show aptitude and a commitment to work in
underserved communities in the United States. Since then, 34 have graduated,
and more than 160 are currently enrolled.
The Bay Area, it turns out, is something of a hub for
the Cuba school of thought, where Cuba-trained students, unencumbered by the
massive debt that plagues grads from US medical schools, have the luxury to do
the kind of medicine that Cuba instructs — family medicine. The island's
medical schools focus on nutrition and other preventative approaches. Cuba also
is well known for its focus on the "social determinants of health."
The Cuban experience also may provide important
lessons for our current health-care crisis. With a fifth of our per capita GDP,
Cuba has health statistics comparable to those of industrialized nations. In
the shabby, eroding, and commodity-deprived neighborhoods of Old Havana, Cubans
also enjoy a better doctor-patient ratio than Americans: 59 doctors per 10,000
people compared to 26 for us.
Cuban life expectancy also matches that of the United
States, its infant mortality rate is lower, and the island's HIV/AIDS
transmission is among the lowest worldwide. Cuba's aggressive health-care
delivery system also costs much less — around $200 per capita annually,
compared to our $7,000. And it provides timely and primary care for every
citizen — near universal accessibility. To the Cuban government, health care is
a right.
This fact highlights a gap in the health-care reform
initiative proposed by Congress and President Obama. Those currently without
insurance, who will receive coverage with the bill, will feel the lack of
family practitioners as basic care continues to be undervalued in favor of more
profitable types of medicine.
At a White House forum early last year, the president
spelled out the problem bluntly: "We're not producing enough primary-care
physicians," he said, pointing to a daunting chain of obstacles. "The
costs of medical education are so high that people feel that they've got to
specialize." For
more.
Tea Party Conservatives: What Next?
Tea
Party Conservatives may lose their Conservative influence. Some of them may realize that Democrats more
than Republicans favor Main Street Americans over Wall Street speculators and more
than Republicans support fiscal responsibility.
For example, Democrats have just approved PAYGO which requires finding
new revenues or cutting spending elsewhere to offset new stimulus-recovery
spending measures. Others primarily want
to support Republicans, even using the Tea Party convention to raise
money. These differences are negatively
affecting cooperation among the two factions.
For
more.
Rahm Emanuel
Rahm Emanuel
should be replaced. He has represented
‘Old Politics’ at its worst. His
approach is to elect any Democrats, regardless of whether they will act to
serve Main Street instead of Wall Street.
His comments upon health care reform have been harmful. For
more.
John Murtha
Democratic
Congressman John Murtha has been a prime example of an ‘Old Politics’
Democrat. In order to assist his
election, he used many earmarks to support wasteful expenditures. For
more. Washington State Democratic
Congressman Norm
Dicks will replace John Murtha as chair of the Appropriations Defense
Subcommittee. Unfortunately, Norm Dicks
record of wasteful earmarks is similar to that of John Murtha.
Here’s the Beef
Ready
to go infrastructure projects can quickly create many jobs.
2011
Budget includes Earned Income Tax Credit increases.
Health
care reform is necessary to protect Medicaid.
Robert
Reich says President Obama’s success depends upon his dealing with three
issues.
President
Obama’s inner circle doesn’t promote change we can believe in.
Elizabeth Warren
comments that Wall Street needs to quit betraying Main Street.
Should Michael Moore run
for president in 2012? Would he
produce change you can believe in?
State and
Local
Funding Education
As has
been obvious, a Washington Supreme Court judge finally ruled that Washington is
failing our constitutional mandate to fund basic education. Citing our states revenue collapse as they
have done is not a valid excuse for our legislators to violate this
constitutional mandate. To comply with
our constitution, our legislature must fund basic education first and then make
decisions concerning funding or not funding other government services. For
more.
Quickly Tell Our Legislators to Support
Public Campaign Financing for Supreme Court
Justices
WashClean
friends, You DID IT! What a great
grassroots lobbying effort. The Senate
Ways & Means Committee approved our Supreme Court Fair Elections
bill - SB 5912 - and sent it on to the Senate Rules Committee, with a "Do
Pass" recommendation. Wahoo! - our Supreme
Court Fair Elections bill is still moving! - but there's more to do.
Many thanks are due to our bill
sponsors and supporters in the Senate: bill sponsor Sen. Eric Oemig,
co-sponsors Sens. Joe McDermott, Craig Pridemore, and Jeanne Kohl-Welles - all
of whom serve on the Ways & Means Committee. Also, to Committee Chair
Sen. Margarita Prentice, for adding it to the agenda for action, and to
Vice-Chair Sen. Rodney Tom, who has promised to support the bill all the way to
the Governor's desk! Actually, 14 Committee members signed as voting for
the bill: Prentice, Fraser, Tom, Fairley, Hobbs, Keiser, Kline,
Kohl-Welles, McDermott, Murray, Oemig, Pridemore, Regala, and Rockefeller. Click here for SB
5912 ill tracking information - including the latest Senate Bill Report
(once it's posted - as amended and approved by the Ways & Means Committee).
NEXT, we must get the bill approved by the
Senate Rules Committee, and onto the Senate floor for a vote - by Tuesday, February
16th, at 5 PM. That's the deadline set by the Session
Cutoff Calendar, for bills to be approved in the "house of origin" -
otherwise they're dead for the session.
See
2010 Session Cutoff Calendar, click
here. DON'T LET UP. We
must continue the citizen grassroots lobbying! Contact members of
the Senate Rules Committee to ask them to approve the bill for consideration (vote) on the
full Senate floor.
SENATE RULES COMMITTEE MEMBERS
www.leg.wa.gov/Senate/Committees/RULE/Pages/default.aspx
* denotes
co-sponsor of SB 5912
Brad Owen (D), Chair, ltgov@leg.wa.gov 360-786-7700
Rosa Franklin (D-27th) Vice Chair, franklin.rosa@leg.wa.gov
360-786-7656
Mike Hewitt (R-16th), Ranking Minority Member, hewitt.mike@leg.wa.gov
360-786-7630
Lisa Brown (D-3rd), brown.lisa@leg.wa.gov
360-786-7604
Tracey Eide (D-30th), eide.tracey@leg.wa.gov
360-786-7658
Karen Fraser (D-22nd), fraser.karen@leg.wa.gov
360-786-7642
* Mary Margaret Haugen (D-10th), haugen.marymargaret@leg.wa.gov
360-786-7618
Claudia Kauffman (D-47th), kauffman.claudia@leg.wa.gov
360-786-7692
Karen Keiser (D-33rd), keiser.karen@leg.wa.gov
360-786-7664
Curtis King (R-14th), king.curtis@leg.wa.gov
360-786-7626
* Jeanne Kohl-Welles (D-36th), kohl-welles.jeanne@leg.wa.gov
360-786-7670
Chris Marr (D-6th), marr.chris@leg.wa.gov
360-786-7610
Ed Murray (D-43rd), murray,edward@leg.wa.gov 360-786-7628
Linda Evans Parlette (R-12th), parlette.linda@leg.wa.gov
360-786-7622
* Craig Pridemore (D-49th), pridemore.craig@leg.wa.gov
360-786-7696
Debbie Regala (D-27th), regala.debbie@leg.wa.gov 360-786-7652
Mark Schoesler (R-9th), schoesler.mark@leg.wa.gov
360-786-7620
Val Stevens (R-39th), stevens.val@leg.wa.gov
360-786-7676
Joseph Zarelli (R-18th), zarelli.joseph@leg.wa.gov 360-786-7634
LEGISLATIVE HOTLINE: 1-800-562-6000 - to leave messages for
any legislators.
Quick action in the Rules Committee - A.S.A.P. - is preferred.
Why? Because as it gets close to cutoff day (Tuesday, Feb. 16th), there
is a flurry of last minute activity with pressure to approve essential budget
bills in time - and some less-important bills simply get pushed aside in the
final frenzy. We don't want that to happen to us. Think getting in line early, for a
movie or concert. You're more likely to get a seat!
HOUSE REPORT: The
House Ways & Means Committee did not consider the bill in their
final meeting today. We were told there was insufficient support
among the House W&M Committee members - at least, for now.
But Rep. Marko Liias, House sponsor of HB 1738, the companion bill -
has continued to advocate, as has Rep. Sam Hunt, who chairs the State
Government and Tribal Affairs Committee. And, we have several indications
that Speaker Frank Chopp supports the bill and wants it to pass.
But we can still walk on one leg! - one bill - hooray
for the Senate.
Also, Senate progress of the bill helps to create support in the House in
coming weeks - especially if the Senate will pass the bill by next Tuesday and
send it to the House for concurrence. That's because House members will
know the Senate has already approved the bill (if they do), and so House
members won't be "out on a limb" in approving the bill in their own
chamber. (FYI - The bill will need to "travel" the same route
in the House - through committees, then on to Rules, then to the House floor -
in order to become law.) Overall, we are
proving the axiom: Never
underestimate the people, united!
Truly - it has been your citizen
activism, your calls and letters, that has convinced the legislature to act so
far - to protect the integrity of the state's top court, through a program of
public financing for Supreme Court campaigns! We will not tolerate
justice for sale - especially in light of the recent U.S. Supreme Court
decision, which may open the floodgates of corporate special interest cash,
seeking to influence election outcomes.
Thanks for all
you do! Craig Salins, Executive Director, Washington Public Campaigns
Keep us going! Please make a contribution!
You can use a debit or credit card to contribute at our website at www.washclean.org/donate.htm. Or, send a contribution to: Washington Public
Campaigns, PO Box 70452, Seattle WA 98127-0452.
For a tax-deductible contribution, write your check to: WPC Education
Fund.
Here’s the Beef
States
must choose between revenue increases and cuts in services.
Nation
and World
New
Afghan strategy may be paying off. It
consists of
·
Locating and
attacking al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders
·
Co-opting Taliban
followers who are motivated more by money than ideology
·
Assisting village
building to allow villages to have sustainable economies and security from
outside interference
Although our Obama Administration won’t admit to
nation building, it is committed to village building which requires financial
advice and assistance to local villages.
Crucial is that the assistance is relevant to local needs and is not
provided by high priced Americans whose expertise may be irrelevant.
As a result of the new strategy, the top U.S.
commander in Afghanistan General Stanley McChrystal, whose gloomy assessment of
the war last summer prompted the Obama administration to boost troop levels,
said Thursday conditions are no longer deteriorating and predicted further
improvements this year. For
more. For
more.
The major question to be
decided by Iraq’s upcoming election is whether non-sectarian parties or sectarian
parties will be in control. With
non-sectarian parties, much of the sectarian strife and support of al-Qaeda can
be avoided, making it safer for American troops to withdraw, leaving policing
to Iraqi troops.
It is thus wrong to allow
Shiite candidates to run while barring Sunni candidates. Both should be allowed to run, with the hope
that voters will approve non-sectarian candidates instead. For
more.
Featured Advocacy Group
----------------------------------- Public Citizen --------------------------------------
Public
Citizen fights for:
·
Openness and democratic accountability in government
·
The right of consumers to seek redress in the courts
·
Clean, safe and sustainable energy sources
·
Social and economic justice in trade policies
·
Strong health, safety and environmental protections
·
Safe, effective and affordable prescription drugs and
health care.
Ralph Nader founded
Public Citizen in 1971. Since then, it
has accomplished many reforms.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here’s the Beef
Our
fast trains may benefit from Chinese rail technology, a reversal of usual
technology transfers. Note that we are also benefiting from Cuban primary health care
provider training.
Our
military is providing emergency contraception to women.
Law
enforcement agencies support policing marijuana use because they profit from
it.
Through
17 personal actions, Americans can significantly lower greenhouse gas
emissions.
Portable
solar power panels enable recharging cell phones.
Our
Liberal Spirit
Should We Always Tell the Truth?
As we know, Conservatives
often intentionally lie. For example,
they have portrayed themselves as favoring Main Street although they actually
favor Wall Street. They have also portrayed
themselves as favoring fiscal responsibility although they have actually been
extremely irresponsible. President Obama
and other Liberals have allowed Conservatives to get away with their lies by
not sufficiently attacking and regulating Wall Street and by not sufficiently
acted fiscally responsibly.
Note that when Democrats
recently reinstituted PAYGO as part of the bill to increase our government’s
debt level, Conservatives voted against PAYGO, thereby exposing themselves as
fiscally irresponsible.
Should Liberals lie as
Conservatives have so often done effectively, perhaps claiming to be more
opposed to Wall Street and more fiscally responsible than they have been? I believe that for us to lie is to begin down
a slippery slope to letting our lie substitute for acting such that our claims
are not lies.
More generally, when we
haven’t done enough to use our freedoms and opportunities, we should do more
instead of lying that we have done enough.
By doing more, we expose the lies of Conservatives who will oppose what
we are doing. Dave Thomas
Recommended Books – See our list of books for liberals
Lewis Maltby,
2009, Can They Do That? Retaking Our Fundamental Rights in the
Workplace.
Lewis Maltby’s book reveals
that corporations are presently granted more civil rights than are granted to
people. While our bill of rights
protects various rights from violation by our governments, it does not protect
workers from violation of these rights by their employers. Thus employers can and often do fire workers
for expressing their opinions, their associations and information (such as DNA)
which should be considered private. I
found this book particularly shocking, especially the realization that people
need even low paying jobs so much that they can be forced to accept such
violation of what should be their rights.