It's therapeutic for me cause I admit to advocacy-fatigue.
Particularly fatiguing is reading the thinking, values and partialities coming out of my LDS relatives in conservative Utah [...]
It's therapeutic for me cause I admit to advocacy-fatigue.
Particularly fatiguing is reading the thinking, values and partialities coming out of my LDS relatives in conservative Utah [...]
Instead, in an effort to remind you what this holiday can really stand for, we’ll meet some people who are thankful today for simply being free.
It’s a short story [...]
In a November 6th interview, Sky News Australia’s David Speers spent about 35 minutes with the CEO of NewsCorp, Rupert [...]
To make a long story short, our questioner wants to know why, on the one hand, despite the passage of the American Recovery [...]
Every couple of days or so I come to this site hoping to see something profound regarding progressive politics.
It's been really dry lately. Check out the dribble below this post and you will see what [...]
The announcement appeared to be even [...]
The Amendment, which is apparently intended to respond to conservative Democrats’ concerns that too many women were voting for the [...]
Voting “yes” on the Referendum would codify in law various protections for same-sex domestic partners, and it is similar to a measure that the citizens of Maine are also [...]
There has been a lot [...]
We have seen a Democratic Senator propose a policy that would put people in jail for not buying health insurance [...]
Hatred, anti-intellectualism, self-delusion, willful ignorance, authoritarianism, projection (playing the victim while terrorizing others), etc. -- the common element is mental illness, mental disease.
If we just understood these pathologies, or singular root cause pathology, we could somehow treat it.
Why stop there? All judicial election campaigns should also be publicly financed. [...]
As a result, our cars have evolved into “land yachts”, our trucks have become “monster trucks”, and the desire to drag our living spaces around with us has morphed into converted busses with rooms that pop [...]
As a Washingtonian, and a human, I want to apologize. We have done some horrible things. [...]
What are you gonna do? Do we follow the traditional Democratic Party legislative process of passing...something...at any cost, assuming the entire time that the Left and the [...]
Also, I've been contacted by Suzie Sheary, chair of the KC Dems. They have been very busy fighting for healthcare reform. So my criticism below isn't entirely fair. I've made a contribution to help fund their' [...]
Well Sequim, WA is on the map in the Olympic Peninsula of western Washington state.
And Sequim just put the [...]
Last week I watched Chris Matthews challenge the gun-toter in New England.
Got me to thinking. It seems that the slogan driving these folks with the big iron(s) on their hips is ...
"If you block me from using my First Amendment Right I will exercise my Second Amendment Right" [...]
Bringing a gun to a presidential visit is okay, but wearing a protest t-shirt is akin to terrorism and gets you arrested.
Bush was AWOL [...]
The local Republican Party published an article in the Pacific County Press in which they demand an apology from Brian Baird for his remarks about disrupted town meetings with " lynch-mob and brown shirt tactics."
Most who have read my writings over the years understand that I am for the most [...]
Democracy Now! Broadcast Exclusive: Declassified Docs Reveal Military Operative Spied on WA Peace Groups, Activist Friends Stunned
[www.democracynow.org]
Newly declassified documents reveal that an active member of Students for a Democratic Society and Port Militarization Resistance in Washington state was actually an informant for the US military. The [...]
So imagine how cool it would be if you could combine the two...and even better, do it in [...]
I would like to announce a major milestone for the Maps and History project of the Washington State Democratic Chairs Organization. Roger Crew, our Maps project lead, has completed his collection of precinct shape files for all 39 counties in the state of Washington. The maps are viewable [...]
We voted no on the baseball stadium as well. Maybe ignoring popular opinion and common sense is how [...]
At the current time it looks like R-71 will have enough signatures to get on the ballot. We need to make the fight about rights, not religion or the sanctity of marriage.
As of Friday, July 31, the Secretary of State's website confirms (click here for press release) [...]
Young, gifted and endowed with a funny name and a "calling" to public service. Maybe an antidote to a persistent case of cynicism that seems to be spreading on this esteemed forum?Late last year, I described Dorsol Plants' announcement of his upcoming candidacy to his Highland Park neighbors' [...]
[Front paged: NM]The Washington Secretary of State's office reports that the process of imaging the referendum petitions for the archives will conclude Wednesday. The Elections Division will next count the raw signatures and then begin the task of checking them against the voter records. "[I]t is likely" [...]
Our natural sense of our global place in the world is still way to much John Wayne.
Watch the five minute video.
Bacevich is a non-fiction author whose written good stuff. Kind of a Chomsky without the philosophical opinion or like Chalmers Johnson.
He's spot on' [...]
The conversation about the politics of the thing is already well underway, engulfing those who sought to remove funding for infectious disease control out of the “stimulus” bill.
We are lacking, however, an examination of [...]
The story that appears below the fold is authored by Gerald J. White, Jr., father of 3-Striker Gerald White III. Gerald was sentenced under 3-Strikes in 1996 for three robberies, one of them a Robbery 2, a crime that the state Sentencing Guidelines Commission recommended removing from the [...] Maybe it sometimes takes a [...]
Let's Shake it up for Single-Payer!
A bunch of us are staging a demonstration to let our Congressmembers know that we want single-payer healthcare.
Among the demonstrators are artist-activists Dina Lydia of Citizen Artiste and international bellydance star Delilah of Visionary Studios and her rose-clad minions.
This demonstration is sponsored' [...]
I promise I won’t be asking for your money, only for a couple of minutes [...]
The new law will allow for every person in the state who is otherwise qualified to vote -- and is not "Under the authority of the Department of Corrections" -- to have the right to [...]
Alternatively, it’s possible that you were unaware that “tea party” has recently [...]
They’re right there, lined up in front of their own giant names on the marquee: Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, [...]
Why has organized advocacy for more earned income for workers as a positive factor in economic recovery [...]
But lucky for us, our friends on the Right are here [...]
I am writing as a father of a soldier serving his third tour in Iraq, and an associate member of Veterans for Peace. I am a civil engineer with the US Coast Guard in Juneau, Alaska.
North Korea is once again poking at flanks of [...]
Washington State's House Ways & Means committee met on April 4, 2009 to review the fiscal impact of ESSB 5688, the Domestic Partnership Expansion Bill of 2009. By now, everyone knows that the bill will become law, so the hearing was short and sweetly sedate. The [...]
I am often prowling thrift shops looking for interesting things, and I came across a 1946 copy of “10,000 Jokes, Toasts, And Stories” (edited by [...]
Prior to the election along that road which has the most affluent houses on this little peninsula Lietta counted ten signs proclaiming the Republican Party in general and supporting Dino Rossi [...]
OLYMPIA - Gov. Chris Gregoire released the following statement today on the construction of new prisons:
"I recognize the tremendous" [...]
She goes on to say that' [...]
Why I want Peter to Run for Mayor of Seattle:
(forgive the longness, this will go to all my email lists)
He absolutely understands how Seattle needs to be as a part of this region, the state and the nation.
He [...]
war (profiteering), deficit spending, and deregulation make select people very richthe middle class was explicitly created, as social policy' [...]
The Mexican Drug Cartels, [...]
I was also very disturbed to learn that Election Trust's eVote, an Internet voting scheme, was used in this election. It's unbelievable. (hat tip to raincity calling)
(I'll' [...]
[Front paged: NM. Corrected title to read "Monkey" rather than "Money" flower -- having initially imagined this was a diary on new finance options to close the revenue gap...]Mimulus patulus Occurence & Habitat
Springs and seeps are unique habitats that occur where subterranean water [...]
I finally got a chance to watch the Washington Senate's March 10th debate on SB 5688, the Domestic Partnership Expansion Bill. My transcript is below the fold. Some interesting words spoken on all sides of the debate. I especially liked what Senator Franklin and Senator Brandland had [...]
Ask Ben Bernanke why deflations occur and how to fix them and he'll tell you this:
The sources of deflation are not a mystery. Deflation is in almost all cases a side effect of a collapse of aggregate demand--a drop in spending so severe that producers must cut' [...]
This post alleges that it'll harm farmer's markets by requiring the producers and vendors to register with the government.
I read the bill, but don't know enough to make head's or tails of it. Maybe a WashBlog [...]
Because going in was so incredibly irresponsible, we will have to leave without fulfilling our responsibility to the people of Iraq. It's very sad. We have no choice but to leave, in shame. From Bloomberg:
Kurds Seize Iraq Land Past Borders in Blow to U.S. Pullout Plan
...The Kurds [...]
It is our current misfortune in Washington to be stuck with K-12 school policy leaders who seem to' [...]
(FP after the comments have gotten way too interesting KTK)
NPR's Adam Davidson did an excellent report about the banking crisis which you should absolutely listen to. But perhaps for a public broadcasting reporter, suddenly getting dramatically increased access to the hallowed halls of Wall [...]
Administering TANF benefits and trying to enforce WorkFirst priorities driven by the Reflublican DRA mandates has proven to be a sad waste of time that robs bureaucrats like me who have better things to do.
... you [...]
Tim Burgess is out. That's the word on the street. So is anyone viable going to challenge the Seattle mayor? Anyone, anyone.... Bueller?
Please discuss...
[...]
Imagine that, even with tax increases, we have a reduced [...]
Thankfully it finally comes to an end. I have watched President Obama's speech this morning at Camp Lejune, bringing me to healing tears at many junctures of his speech.
I [...]
Ms. Kimberlie Struiksma has filed a ballot measure (Initiative Measure No. 1040) that would, among other things, "prohibit state use of public money or lands for anything" [...]
HB 1490/SB 5687 - Reducing greenhouse gas emissions through land use and transportation requirements.
I'm very concerned that we don't be entranced by arguments that use the 'idea' of Transit Oriented Development (TOD) and confabulate it with the need to have more low income housing with access to [...]
"Michael ... is our adopted son who is in the Monroe State Reformatory under the 3-Strikes law. He's 36. I delivered him to heroin addict parents who didn't pick him up or show him any love because of their addiction. At 7 months, he refused to eat, was limp, almost" [...]
Eleven - Army, Navy, Air Force (18 if counting Coast Guard). Military installations in Washington state listed below the fold in footnote.
Let's hear some candor from an Iraq veteran, Jon Soltz, of VetVoice [...]
Lately a number of my friends and family have been considering runs for public office – from political novices seeking local City Council seats to experienced politicians considering runs for Congress. In discussing these plans with the potential candidates and with others, the question I seem to hear [...]
STOP THE BAD BANK!!!
Forgive me for returning to my hyper-irritated ways for a moment. The Pacific Northwest is home to some of the nicest, most law-abiding people you'd care to meet and I have no desire to antogonize anyone with a screed now that all that Bush Administration anxiety' [...]
This week has been a busy one for two Social Justice issues. On Wednesday night was the Real Change-sponsored Question Inevitability Summit regarding the possibility of Seattle building a regional municipal jail. Then on early Friday morning the One Night Count sent volunteers throughout King County to count [...]
They’re significant productions unto themselves, and they set the stage for a full year’s worth of advertising as they migrate to the [...]
This session's Senate Bill 5292 would implement the 2001 recommendation of the Sentencing Guidelines Commission to remove Robbery 2, the crime discussed in this story, from the 3-Strikes list. The bill needs your support. See JUSTICE IS NO GAME"Am I a colossal Public Nuisance? Absolutely! I'" [...]
A few years ago Lietta and I attended a community meeting in which the victims of the Columbia Land Trust attempted to confront the CLT [...]
It involves freedom of speech, a friendly message to one of those crazy Republicans we all know—and it forced that crazy Republican to get up at three in the [...]
Arthur Ruger, fake consultant, leduc, Lietta Ruger
