Puget Sound Liberals Weekly Newsletter

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is trying to block President Obama from appointing one of the best consumer watchdogs in the nation to lead the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) created by Congress to rein in Wall Street.

As chair of the bailout oversight panel, Elizabeth Warren held Wall Street executives' feet to the fire and proved time and time again that she was not afraid to speak out. It's a good sign that the bankers are afraid of Elizabeth Warren. But we can't let them sabotage her appointment.

I just joined the campaign to tell President Obama that we want Elizabeth Warren to police Wall Street. I hope you will click on this link below to learn more and take action. I also am calling the White House and sending a email. Thank you, Amelia Kroeger

Reuben Powell: The Tea Party Should Reject Their Racist Members

Greetings. Earlier this week the NAACP called on the Tea Party to reject the racism that exists within its own ranks. Tea Party activists responded saying that racism isn't a part of their movement. But then yesterday one of their biggest leaders, Mark Williams, the public face of the Tea Party Express, attacked the NAACP calling it a "racist" organization and that "they make more money off of race than any slave trader, ever." He went on to write a blog post implying that Black people don't like to work or think for themselves, that Black people depend on welfare, and that they want to benefit from White peoples' tax dollars in order to have a widescreen TV in every room.

I've joined ColorOfChange.org's effort to hold the Tea Party's leadership accountable. If they want to have any credibility on race, they need to kick Mark Williams out of their movement. If they refuse, it will make it clearer than ever that Tea Party leaders accept and rely on racism as an integral part of their approach to politics. The first step is to ask the question. Please join me in challenging Tea Party leaders to reject Williams' statements and remove him from his position at Tea Party Express, and ask your friends and family to do the same. It takes just a moment:

Since its inception the Tea Party has been a haven for closet racist. They seek to hide their true purpose with lies about Obama’s place of birth and a variety of euphemistic code words and clichés that mask their real agenda. That agenda is to undermine the success of the nation’s first Black president. Their tactics include allegations of fascism, socialism, communism, abuse of our constitution and even pursuit of a racist agenda. The comments by Mark Williams laid bare what the Tea Party is all about. Hopefully, this will be visible to the world and, in particular, American voters. Please join me in rejecting what the Tea Party is all about. Reuben Powell

Liberals and Democrats

Three weeks ago, I noted that I couldn’t find any evidence that our Obama Administration had continued the Vice President Gore’s effort to make government more customer-friendly and efficient. Immediately and ever since, our Obama Administration has been publicizing its SAVE award.

Job Creation

Unemployment and declining house prices have increased housing foreclosures to more than 10 times the historical rate of 100,000 per year. The present high number of foreclosures is the highest ever. More than 7.3 million home mortgages are now delinquent. In spite of their 401(k) plans, most workers have virtually no savings securely protected for retirement.

Detroit’s TechTown is successfully giving new businesses the support they need to succeed.

President Obama publicizes an example of our stimulus-recovery package creating green jobs.

President Obama needs to speak directly and repeatedly on where we are, explaining the reality that while the recovery act did stop the freefall and generated millions of jobs, the crisis was far worse than predicted. He should be calling for more action to create jobs. Raise the ante with a bold package of measures -- including:

· Direct public hiring

· Aid to states and localities

· Use the money paid back by the banks to give small business access to lower interest loans

· Call for a an infrastructure bank to mobilize private capital to rebuild America

· Shelve the free trade agreements and challenge China and Germany, stating flatly that the US will not allow a return to the old global imbalances

· Call on states and localities to pass and enforce domestic content legislation to ensure that taxpayers dollars create jobs here rather than abroad

· Push the elements in the energy bill that generate jobs -- from retrofitting public buildings to permanent tax credits for renewable energy sources

· Push passage of jobs creating transport and infrastructure appropriations.

The conservative noise machine already argues that the president, having run up record deficits with a failed stimulus program, now wants more of the same. Virtually all of these measures will be opposed -- as everything else has been -- by Republicans. Little of it will survive the inevitable Republican filibuster in the Senate.

Why propose what is unlikely to pass? Because these measures are needed, and at least will clearly define the choice for this fall. Why propose measures that will increase the deficit that people are said to be freaked out about? Because the majority of Americans, if forced to choose, make the right choice - for focus on jobs over deficits. So pose the choice between a White House and Democratic Congress still pushing for action on jobs, and an opposition focused on deficits and wedded to the policies that drove us off of the cliff. For more.

Small businesses want a $30 billion federal lending fund, but obtain no support from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other associations that pretend to represent small businesses. These associations are more concerned with attacking any of President Obama’s proposals.

President Obama attacks Republicans for refusing to extend unemployment benefits while they seek to extend much more expensive tax breaks for the rich.

Health Care

Some hospitals are simply assigning a mentor to monitor patients after they leave a hospital. Some hospitals continue to provide coordinated care after a patient goes home. 25 health care centers have been created which are organized around diseases or organ systems instead of medical treatment specialties.

Ten attempts to lower health care costs and improve patient care:

1. Make health a community effort

2. Develop a healthy workforce

3. Coordinate care through family doctors

4. Use insurance to manage chronic disease

5. Get patients to take their medicine

6. Let well-informed patients decide

7. Discuss options near the end of life

8. Stop infections in hospitals

9. Apologize to the patient for mistakes

10. Crack down on fraud and abuse

Private health insurers seek to eliminate requirement that they pay 80% of their premiums to cover patient claims.

House bill to provide a public health care option is introduced with 121 co-sponsors.

Public support for health care reform is steadily increasing, now at 50% compared to 35% opposed.

Regulating Wall Street

Read about the history of negotiations to pass the financial regulatory reform bill. President Obama praises its passage. Americans are mostly unfamiliar with the financial regulatory reform bill. They are skeptical that it will make a difference. But compared it other issues, it is unlikely to be a major issue in our fall elections. Read President Obama’s commentary upon the financial regulatory reform bill. In President Obama’s Saturday address, he contrasted his attempts to improve our economy with Republican attempts to return to the President Bush strategies which destroyed our economy.

Passage of the financial regulatory reform bill, leaves 5 unfinished reforms necessary to stop the next bubble and its collapse.

We should move our money from mega-banks to small local banks and credit unions.

Having successfully promoted the inclusion of the Consumer Protection Bureau in the financial reform bill, Elizabeth Warren should be appointed to chair it. For more. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner should be replaced by Joe Stiglitz or someone else who is clearly opposed to Wall Street speculation.

Fiscal Responsibility

58% of American voters favor letting Bush tax cuts on wealthy expire with 31% favoring also letting tax cuts on the less wealthy expire.

Bush Deficits

Conservatives don’t care about deficits. They care about helping the rich at the expense of the poor. For more. For more. Voters are skeptical of Democrats; but not supportive of Republicans. Our Military Department can’t account for $8.7 billion it was supposed to use for Iraqi reconstruction.

Wealthy people are under taxed compared to everyone else. Wealthy people don’t invest in jobs. Their unearned wealth should be taxed to provide revenue for job creation. Labor organizer says tax rates on wealthy should be increased. Senator Bernie Sanders also wants to raise taxes on the wealthy. President Obama and Democratic leaders have failed to emphasize reducing financial inequality as the basic necessity underlying health care, financial regulation and other reforms. Three steps to reduce our deficits.

A .25% financial speculation tax favored by an increasing number of nations would produce an estimated $177 billion per year. For more. For more.

President Obama Should Call Conservatives’ Bluff Concerning Wealth Taxes

Conservatives keep saying we can’t spend money to stimulate Main Street jobs because we have a federal debt of $13 trillion. What they don’t say is that tax cuts for our highest income people were a major contributor to that debt. Conservatives think it is alright to create enormous debt in order to increase the income of our highest income people. But they think it isn’t alright to create a much smaller debt to increase jobs and income of our middle and lower income people. Conservatives don’t care about deficits. They care about helping the rich at the expense of the poor.

Conservatives suggest that cutting taxes on our wealthiest people will enable them to invest to create jobs. But that did not occur as a result of President Bush’s tax cuts. The amount of job creation was the worst it has been following any recession. In spite of what Conservative’s predicted, when President raised income taxes on high income people in 1993, jobs increased rapidly. History shows us that there is a positive correlation between high taxes on the wealthy and job creation.

In addition taxes on the wealthy are fair. They are taxes on their unearned income. Without taxes on people with high incomes and large estates, they don’t pay to maintain and enhance the social and physical infrastructure that previous generations have created to enable these wealthy people to obtain their wealth. Just as they must pay for capital, labor, equipment and supplies that enable their wealth, they must pay for social and physical infrastructure.

President Obama and Democratic Congressmembers should have raised taxes on the wealthy when he took office 18 months ago, to:

Make taxes fair

raise money to lower deficits resulting from the Bush economic collapse

Produce money for job stimulation

Inhibit Wall Street speculation

They should do still do so as quickly as possible. Read my proposals, which can be passed under reconciliation procedures. When the Conservatives attack tax increases for the wealthy, a strong counterattack should be made accusing them of siding with Wall Street speculators and other rich people against Main Street Americans and against fiscal responsibility. Any Democrat who refuses to support these tax increases is being inconsistently Liberal. Dave Thomas

Scared Democrats Give Conservatives another Win

Scared Liberals repeatedly respond to unfounded Conservative attacks on Liberal organizations and individuals by rejecting the Liberal organizations and individuals that are being attacked:

· The recent rapid firing of Shirley Sherrod is just the latest example. Based upon misleading excerpts from a speech by Shirley Sherrod to the NAACP, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack rapidly fired her. Having been informed of Tom Vilsack’s decision, President Obama didn’t object. President Obama is thus complicit in Tom Vilsack’s decision. President Obama’s repeated attempts to compromise with Conservatives reveals his fears of their opposition.

Although a later publicizing of her entire speech which showed the opposite of the excerpts led Tom Vilsack to apologize and offer her back her job, his initial reaction is consistent with previous rejections by Liberal leaders of Liberal groups that have been unfairly attacked by Conservatives. For more.

· MoveOn has strongly supported Liberal Democrats. In 2007, MoveOn placed an ad that satirically referred to General David Petraeas as General Betray Us for having supported Bush’s Iraq War policies. Conservatives attacked MoveOn and our Senate passed an amendment that strongly attacked MoveOn for running the ad with 49 Republicans and 22 Democrats voting in favor of the amendment.

· ACORN has successfully registered millions of voters, often likely Liberal voters, drawing the ire of Conservatives. Based upon a single incident in which some ACORN members made some damaging statements in response to Conservative entrapment tactics, our Congress with the support of many Democrats voted without an investigation to eliminate federal funding of ACORN’s registration activities. For more. For more. For more.

In all three of these cases, Democrats joined Republicans in censoring Liberal organizations or individuals, based upon misleading information provided by Conservatives. For more. Democrats should instead promote legislation which would censor hate mongers such as Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Bill O’Reilly, Ann Coulter and Michelle Bachman. I can’t imagine that Republicans would vote for such legislation, revealing that they find such hate mongering acceptable.

Americans desire bi-partisanship. But Americans prefer politicians who respond to attacks compared to politicians who don’t. By fighting back on such issues as MoveOn’s ad, ACORN’s record of honest voter registration and Shirley Sherrod’s absence of racism, Democrats would benefit. This does not mean that Democrats should defend wrongs committed by their allies; but this was not the case in these examples.

The commercial media pundits have reacted to Shirley Sherrod’s firing as though it was all about race. But as the commentary above reveals, it was all about fearful Liberals being intimidated by Conservative charges (which happened this time to refer to racism), no matter how untruthful. If Shirley Sherrod had been white and falsely accused by Conservatives of supporting family farmers in violation of the law, Tom Vilsack would have summarily fired her.

Several books criticize Liberals for being afraid to challenge untrue Conservative attacks:

Mark Halperin and John Harris, 2006, The Way to Win. Taking the White House in 2008

Glenn Hurowitz, 2007, Fear and Courage in the Democratic Party

Laura Flanders, 2007, Blue Grit. True Democrats Take Back Politics from the Politicians

Adam Schrager and Rob Witwer, 2010, The Blueprint. How the Democrats Won Colorado

These books not only challenge Democrats to defend themselves. They challenge Democrats to attack Republicans much as Republicans have attacked Democrats, to force Republicans instead of Democrats into a defensive mode.

Time for a Change

After a year and a half, it may be time for President Obama to make some cabinet changes:

· I believe that tax cheat Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner should be replaced, because he never met President Obama’s professed ethical standards; but more importantly because Timothy Geithner has consistently supported Wall Street speculators against Main Street job seekers. I would suggest Joseph Stiglitz as a replacement.

· Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack should also be replaced, due to his ties to abusive corporations, his failure to regulate deep sea oil drilling and his atrocious treatment of Shirley Sherrod. Unfortunately Tom Vilsack’s firing of Shirley Sherrod diverted media attention from the passage of the financial regulatory reform bill.

· I am impressed by the other cabinet members that President Obama has appointed, although I wish that Labor Secretary Hilda Solis would propose to greatly increase the penalties and enforcement against companies and their employees who use illegal methods to oppose labor unions. Since they would raise federal revenue, they could be passed using reconciliation procedures.

Organizing for America

Organizing for America Is top down which doesn’t provide criticism of Conservative Democrats. As such, it hasn’t influenced the passage of health care and financial regulatory reforms. If it had been left independent of the Democratic Party, it could have been a strong force for change ‘we can believe in’. For more.

Will Democrats Keep their Congressional Majority?

I agree with Williams Rivers Pitt’s belief that this fall’s elections will result in Democrats keeping their congressional majority. If not, I will also be even more disgusted with our voter’s short attention span. They will certainly deserve the continuation of our unemployment crisis which will occur.

Note that:

· 71 percent blame the Bush for the 'balky economy,' while 27 percent blame Obama.

· 53 percent favor Obama over Bush (33 percent).

· 55 percent favor Obama over Sarah Palin (34 percent) in a hypothetical 2012 presidential campaign."

Mike Lux says progressives need a narrative that "keeps hope alive": "We need to do better at keeping hope alive, as Jesse Jackson used to say. I know this may not seem like it is related very much to a discussion about how much we should be arguing about whether Obama is a progressive or not, but it seems to me that a lot of the Obama arguments are weighted with a sense of hopelessness and a level of cynicism that makes hope impossible. Now just to be clear before people start attacking me as being an apologist for Obama: I don't believe Obama is a strong progressive, I have been disappointed in a great many things he has done, and I think his political strategy so far has mostly sucked. But I also believe what I was taught in my first organizing workshop (by Saul Alinsky's Industrial Areas Foundation) 35 years ago: the only way you can organize people and win victories is if people have hope. Thinking that all is lost, that all Democrats suck, that Obama will each and every time screw us, that the forces of corporations and the right will win every single battle, or that none of the things we do win matter, is not conducive to winning anything important that matters in real people's lives, or getting people to take action."

Here’s the Beef

Antonin Scalia (age 73) and Arthur Kennedy (age 74) are the oldest Conservative Supreme Court Justices.

Arkansas Democratic Senator Blanch Lincoln supports drastically cutting the estate tax, a prime example of fiscal irresponsibility.

Read a list of the 10 most crooked congressional candidates, including Dino Rossi.

Tea Party extremists hide from the press.

Richard Wolff proposes a Socialist strategy for creating jobs with greater worker influence.

401(k) plans should be replaced with a guaranteed retirement plan. For more.

Like our Bush Administration, our Obama Administration protects pharmaceuticals from needs of AIDS victims.

Like our Bush Administration, our Obama Administration funds abstinence only sex education.

Congress passes bill reducing sentencing discrepancy between crack and cocaine powder.

Organized labor is mounting a coordinated attempt to unionize hotel workers.

Liberal activists are organizing to elect consistently Liberal candidates.

EPA regulation of greenhouse gas emissions may enable passage of a cap and trade bill next year.

State and Local

How do Washington State’s taxes stack up?

Washington is one of seven states that currently has no personal income tax. But our state is more of an outlier than even that number would suggest — because of those seven states, six have an alternative source of revenue that Washington lacks.

Alaska, Texas and Wyoming collect taxes on oil and minerals. Nevada taxes gambling, and Florida tourism. South Dakota applies sales tax to a broad range of services. But Washington, for all its abundant resources, doesn’t have huge mineral or gas reserves, white sand beaches, or a sprawling collection of desert casinos and hotels – and most services are exempt from sales tax here.

Click to enlarge

As Governor Gregoire attempts to engage voters in ”transforming Washington’s budget“, it’s also worthwhile to note that in comparison to the other 49 states:

· Washington’s state and local taxes are below average, and funding for K-12, higher education and health care is slipping.

· Washington soaks the poor like no other state — that is to say, our low-income residents pay a higher effective tax rate (over 17%, compared to 2.3% for the state’s wealthiest residents) than in any other state.

· As shown in the chart above, Washington State draws a higher than average percentage of revenue from sales, business, and property taxes. (No surprise, really — after all, education, transportation, health care and public safety aren’t free, so without an income tax, our other taxes have to take up the slack.)

But if passed by voters, Initiative 1098 would take steps to remedy all of these imbalances. The measure would eliminate business taxes for 80% of Washington’s businesses (and reduce taxes for another 12%); cut the state portion of the property tax by 20% for residential and commercial property alike; and tax income over $200,000 (single-filer) or $400,000 (joint filer). I-1098 isn’t going to be a cure-all for our fiscal and economic woes — there are many pieces to that puzzle. But it would be a step in the right direction for Washington State. Learn more about I-1098 here.

Bill Gates Sr.: Tell Your Friends to Support I-1098

Dear Dave. I have some very good news. Late yesterday afternoon the Secretary of State's office confirmed what we already knew: I-1098 will be on the November ballot. It is clear that the people of Washington are ready for real tax reform. 384,382 of them signed the petition to make our tax system fairer.

Thank you for everything you have done. I have had the pleasure to meet many of the volunteers that worked on 1098, and I have to say I was continually impressed with the dedication and passion that I saw from Washingtonians who are ready for change. Our State has been penalized by an unfair and inadequate tax system for years. Initiative 1098 will change that.

We currently rank 46th out of the 50 states in the the amount of our economy we invest in education, and we rank dead last -- 50th out of the 50 states -- in the basic fairness of our tax code. Middle class families in Washington State pay four times the tax rate of the very wealthy, while our reliance on the B&O tax penalizes small businesses that are struggling in the current economic downturn. That is scandalous. And it is wrong.

When 1098 passes we will reduce taxes on middle class families, eliminate the B&O tax on small businesses, boost our economy and make our tax code more fair. I know there is broad public support for this initiative and with your help I know we will win in November.

Washington is only one of seven states without some form of income tax and our opponents are already mobilizing to try and keep it that way. We can't let them win. The stakes are too high.

The very future of Washington hangs in the balance. Will we let our education system continue to deteriorate? Will we kick thousands of our most vulnerable citizens off the Basic Health Plan? Will we let Washington continue to be the most regressively taxed state in the country?

Or will we have the courage to lower taxes on small businesses, lower property taxes on working and middle class families and create a limited income tax on the very wealthy -- the top three percent of households -- that will generate $1 billion per year in revenue dedicated to funding education and health care?

I think the right answer is commonsense. Won't you join me and tell all your friends to support 1098 as well? Please click below to send them a message about 1098 and how important it is to Washington's future: Tell your friends about Initiative 1098. Thank you, William Gates Sr.

David Spring: Support Me against Opponents of I-1098

Dear Friends. Let me begin with the good news. Since beginning my campaign to restore school funding more than two years ago, I have talked to thousands of voters in East King County about our school funding crisis. I have worked hard to create political support for Initiative 1098 – a Millionaires Income tax - and get it on the fall ballot. Last week, the Secretary of State announced that Initiative 1098 has in fact qualified. So this Fall, - for the first time in more than 30 years – the citizens of Washington State will have an opportunity to vote for a FAIR tax system!

1098 has 6 key benefits. First, it saves the jobs of more than 10,000 teachers. Second, it restores health care for 40,000 poor and disabled residents. Third, it lowers the State property tax by 20%. Fourth, it eliminates the B & O tax for over 80% of all small businesses. Fifth, it puts $2 billion dollars each year back into our State’s economy - creating jobs for more than 100,000 families! But the final benefit is the most important one. 1098 will finally give us a fair national average tax structure. Equally important, 1098 will not harm billionaires as they can deduct their State taxes from their federal taxes. So it is really a $2 billion dollar per year transfer from the federal tax roles to our State tax roles.

Two years ago, when I first began advocating for a millionaires income tax, as a way to create both fair school funding and a fair tax system, everyone I talked with told me it would be impossible to ever get on the ballot. So we have come a long way in the past two years, and with your help and support, this Fall we will make it a reality.

Now for the bad news. Both of my opponents in the upcoming primary have publicly spoken against Initiative 1098 – while neither of them has offered any serious solution of their own. Even worse, interest groups with strong corporate ties are so afraid of me winning that they have sent huge checks to my Democratic challenger in an effort to prevent me from making it past the primary. In the last few months, he has received several large contributions from out-of-state corporate donors. How wealthy donors and major corporations gain influence in Olympia is by financing the campaigns of their corporate friends. Corporate “buying” of elections is the primary reason school funding in our State is at an all-time low, while corporate tax breaks are at record highs.

I have spent two years battling this corporate corruption. But I really need your help in order to carry on the cause. In the coming August primary, only the two candidates receiving the most votes will advance to the general election. Both of my opponents are certain to send out tens of thousands of full color mailers in the coming weeks in an effort to buy their way past the primary. If they succeed, the only voices the voters will get to hear in the general election will be the voices of wealthy corporate candidates opposed to 1098 – casting the fate of 1098 itself in doubt.

Until now, I have not asked for donations, partly because I felt they were not needed, and partly because I know most of you are as hard pressed as I am to make ends meet in these difficult economic times. However, the stakes are high this primary season, and the contest in the 5^th legislative district may be one of the most important in State history. With the jobs of 10,000 teachers and the future of one million children at stake, it is important that I have the opportunity to continue to voice their interests.

There are at least 10,000 Democrats in the 5^th legislative district who are likely to vote in the primary. In light of the large sums of money being amassed by my opponents, I need your help to reach out to these voters. Every dollar you donate will pay for one flyer, and--let’s hope--will get one more vote and save the job of one more teacher. The primary ballots will be mailed out on July 28^th. So anything you send before then will help us get our message out to the voters as they receive their ballots.

You can donate by sending a check to “Spring for House,” P.O. Box 57, North Bend, WA 98045, or by donating on-line at “springforhouse.com.” Eight hundred dollars is the maximum donation allowable for the primary, but a donation of any amount will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you, in advance, for your support. If I am elected, you have my pledge that I will continue my efforts to restore school funding and protect the future of one million children in our State who are counting on us to give them a good education.

Sincerely, David Spring, M. Ed., Democratic Candidate for the Washington State Legislature, LD 5, Position 2. Director, Fair School Funding Coalition

Submit Your Ideas for Our State Budget

Go online to submit your best ideas and/or vote yay or nay on others’ proposals. According to the site, the best ideas will “bubble to the top”. In order for that to happen, people are going to need access to information so they can make informed decisions. Here are a few resources you might find useful:

· How limiting tax exemptions could save taxpayers $15 billion. (Here’s a 2008 list of tax exemptions from the Washington Department of Revenue.)

· How a state level windfall profits tax could generate over $600 million annually, with proceeds invested to incubate production and use of renewable energy, retrofit schools for greater energy efficiency, shift student bus transportation to biodiesel fuel, and reduce taxes.

· How expanding the sales tax base to cover services could provide up to $784 million in additional state revenue and $293 million to local governments.

Also:

· The Citizen’s Guide to the Washington State Budget should be required reading for these discussions — it includes an easy-to-understand overview of where the money comes from and how it is spent.

· The Washington State Tax Structure Study is a valuable resource for understanding the state’s tax structure.

· The Transforming Washington’s Budget website itself includes some budget visualization tools like these — and lots more good info.

Here’s the Beef

BP is funding Tim Eyman.

Dino Rossi wants to repeal both the health care reform and the financial regulatory reform bills.

Nation and World

Featured Advocacy Group

------------------------------ People for the American Way -------------------------

People For the American Way is dedicated to making the promise of America real for every American: Equality. Freedom of speech. Freedom of religion. The right to seek justice in a court of law. The right to cast a vote that counts. The American Way.

Its vision is a vibrantly diverse democratic society in which everyone is treated equally under the law, given the freedom and opportunity to pursue their dreams, and encouraged to participate in our nation’s civic and political life. Our America respects diversity, nurtures creativity and combats hatred and bigotry.

It believes a society that reflects these constitutional principles and progressive values is worth fighting for, and takes seriously our responsibility to cultivate new generations of leaders and activists who will sustain these values for the life of this nation.

Its operational mission is to:

· Promote the American Way and defend it from attack

· Build and nurture communities of support for our values

· Equip those communities to promote progressive policies, elect progressive candidates, and hold public officials accountable.

1. Because People For the American Way believes in opportunity and the freedom to learn, it works to preserve public education in America, the great engine of opportunity for America’s next generation. It works to:

· defend the public schools against an ongoing assault on their very existence.

· promote moral and civic American values to America’s students.

· encourage respect for learning.

· defend the freedom to learn.

· ensure equal access to quality education for all Americans.

· ensure access for all Americans to economic opportunity and justice.

2. Because People For the American Way believes in freedom of conscience, it works to:

· defend Americans’ right to worship as they choose free from government interference

· defend freedom of expression

· defend Americans’ freedom to make their own decisions about matters of conscious

· promote appreciation for freedom of expression

· defend against censorship in all its forms, whatever the medium of expression

· protect religion from government intrusion

· defend freedom of worship

· create a community in which Americans of different faith traditions and of none are respected, welcomed and treated equally

· protect the right of people to make personal health decisions free from government intrusion.

3. Because People For the American Way believes in the principle of democratic participation and the democratic process, it works to:

· foster citizen involvement in the community and in government

· protect and preserve the constitutional principles that built the nation

· lower barriers to citizen participation

· foster civic participation, particularly among our youth

· encourage civic activism

· promote accountability for our political leaders

· foster open and honest dialogue about the important issues facing the country.

4. Because People For the American Way believes in the value of community, it works to:

· promote pluralism and diversity

· promote tolerance and respect from and for all segments of the American community

· promote respect for diversity, particularly among our youth

· combat hatred and intolerance

· promote respect for the family

· promote personal responsibility

· support policies to redress the impact of past and current discrimination

5. Because People For the American Way believes in fairness and justice, it works to:

· preserve political, civic and economic opportunity, as well as civil and constitutional liberties for all our citizens

· oppose discrimination on the basis of faith, gender, national origin, race, or sexual orientation

· encourage the appointment of men and women who share these commitments to the judicial branch of government

· defend reproductive freedom

· preserve an independent judiciary that respects individual liberty and ensures due process of law for all Americans

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

People for the American Way and Public Citizen promote constitutional amendment to undue the Citizens United Supreme Court Decision.

Who Arranged Fraudulent Mortgages?

We can’t recoup the money that realtors and others received for arranging fraudulent mortgages, due to the expensive lawsuits that would be required. But we can expose these people. Our government or a non-government organization should create a database of foreclosed mortgages which shows the county and city where they occurred, the persons who received the mortgages, the persons who arranged them, the loan officers who approved them and the appraisers who appraised the houses.

Some of these mortgages were foreclosed because qualified people lost their jobs or incurred medical expenses not covered by insurance. But those who arranged and approved a comparatively high number of mortgages that were later foreclosed may be suspected of having acted fraudulently. People who are now seeking mortgages could identify such people and be wary of dealing with them.

A Huge Often Outsourced Intelligence System Resulted from Responses to 9/11

The top-secret world the government created in response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, has become so large, so unwieldy and so secretive that no one knows how much money it costs, how many people it employs, how many programs exist within it or exactly how many agencies do the same work." Among the findings: An estimated 854,000 people hold top-secret security clearances. More than 1,200 government organizations and nearly 2,000 private companies work on programs related to counterterrorism, homeland security and intelligence in 10,000 locations. For more.

Why not list the most important 20 agencies involved, ordered in terms of their value. Then starting with the most important, list its benefits, then the added benefits of the 2^nd, then the 3^rd, etc. Then examine the other agencies, eliminating any that don’t add benefits to those already included. Then with a much reduced list, see if some of the remaining agencies can be combined to reduce the list further and make intelligent gathering more seamless.

Here’s the Beef

14 examples of systematic racism in our justice system.

Obama Administration seeks to violate the fourth constitutional amendment against unreasonable searches and seizures.

Arizona employers use threat of outing undocumented workers to steal their wages.

Another case of police brutality.

Gay couples are better parents than Conservative heterosexual couples.

The slight changes in the worker to beneficiary ratio will not destroy Social Security’s capacity to pay benefits.

Some cities contain businesses which are increasing exports, providing an example for other cities.

American corporations use transfer-pricing to avoid taxes, thus paying less than corporations in almost all other developed countries.

Corporations are using pesticides and causing pollution which are killing people.

Himalayan glaciers are retreating, producing less water for billions of people. For more on retreating glaciers globally.

Water and sanitation should be human rights.

While supporting fossil fuel produced electricity, our government fails to consistently support alternative energies.

Nine years ago, Netanyahu boasted that he deceived President Clinton to destroy the Oslo peace process.

Israel harasses media that show dissent against Israeli occupation policies. For more.

Israel treats sex between Jews and Arabs as a crime. For more.

Our Liberal Spirit

How Should We Use New Found Freedoms?

The financial regulatory reform bill passed. Oil is no longer leaking from the BP oil well. Elena Kagan has been confirmed by the Senate Judiciary Committee and will certainly be confirmed by the Senate as Supreme Court Justice. This frees the Obama Administration to decide which challenges to address next. Unfortunately, the scared Whitehouse Administration quickly fell into a Conservative trap concerning Department of Agriculture employee Shirley Sherrod. Without checking the truth of a Conservative accusation, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack forced her to resign, only to have to apologize and offer Shirley Sherrod her job back, after learning that the Conservative accusation was completely false. This both interrupted the Obama Administration’s attempt to take credit for the financial regulator reform bill. It also delayed President Obama’s freedom to choose what challenges to address next.

President Obama continues to avoid addressing the issues of most concern to his major supporters (labor, Hispanics and young people) during his election campaign.

· He could use reconciliation procedures to greatly increase penalties and enforcement against companies and their employees that use illegal means to oppose unionization. But he hasn’t.

· He could make an attempt to pass immigration reform. It would probably fail, but would still impress Hispanic voters.

· If he would use reconciliation procedures to raise federal revenues by taxing our wealthy, he could use some of these revenues to hire young people, as President Roosevelt did with his CCC and WPA programs.

He shows no sign of doing any of these. If key supporters don’t turn out this fall to vote for Democratic congressional candidates, much of the blame may be placed upon President Obama’s omissions.

When freedoms and opportunities become available, one should use them instead of letting previous inhibitions keep one from using them.

Recommended Books – See our list of books for liberals

John Judis and Ruy Teixeira, 2002, The Emerging Democratic Majority

Published in 2002 before President Bush’s election to a second term in 2004, this book predicted that a Democratic Majority would emerge (although when was not specified). Democrats did gain congressional seats in 2006 and took control of the presidency, house and senate in 2008. They based their prediction on the growing number of Democratic supporters: professionals, working women, blacks, Asian Americans and Hispanics. In opposition to Conservative Republicans, these groups support civil rights, regulated free enterprise, safety nets.

Unfortunately, our Obama Administration has neglected major concerns of these groups. It has not:

· increased taxes on the wealthy to fund job creation.

· pushed for strong regulations upon Wall Street speculators and other corporate abusers

· pushed for unionization or immigration reform

The result may be that Democratic supporters may not be motivated to vote this fall, thus delaying the emergence of a durable long term Democratic majority.