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State’s 4 Major Needs ·
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Replacing
Republican Legislators Quote of the Week By three
methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest;
Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is
the bitterest. Confucius (551
BC - 479 BC) Imitation is
the sincerest of flattery. Charles
Caleb Colton (1780 - 1832)
Calendar of Events
Saturday, September 13 at 1 PM to 3 PM at Molly
Moon’s Homemade Ice Cream (
Saturday, September 13 at 7 PM at Teamsters Hall
(14675 Interurban Avenue, Tukwila) – Meet
Congresswoman Barbara Lee, Co-Chair of Western States Obama Campaign,
Co-Chair of Progressive Caucus and First Vice Chair of the Congressional Black
Caucus. Lee was the only one to vote
against President Bush’s original request for congressional authorization for
use of force to go to war.
Tuesday, September 16 at 8 PM at Comedy Underground
(
Friday, September 19 at 7 PM at Olympic View Church
(
Saturday, September 20 – Visit your
neighbors to speak for ending the Iraq War.
Saturday, September 20 at 5 PM at Westin Hotel (
Wednesday, September 24 at 7:30 AM at
Thursday, September 25 at 7 PM at
Sammamish Public Library (825 – 228th Avenue NE, Sammamish) – Issues
in American Democracy Discussion Group with speaker
Friday, September 26 at 5 PM at
Friday, September 26 at 7 PM at Gibson
Hall (105 Newport Way, Issaquah) – American Democracy Movie Night featuring
“Recount” with Kevin Spacey and Laura Dern, about 2000 presidential Florida
election recount, hosted by 5th Legislative District Democrats.
Saturday, September 27 at 5 PM (Social), 6:30 PM
(Dinner and Program) at South Seattle Community Center Jerry Brockey Center
(6000 – 16th Avenue SW, Seattle) – Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility Annual Dinner, with
keynote speaker former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark. $75. To register or for more information.
Saturday, September 27 at 5:30 PM at Carrie
Bogner’s home (
Saturday, October 11 at 9:30 AM – 3:30 PM at
Opportunities, Petitions and Feedback
Communication with Our
Members and Feedback
See how we have
stimulated the creation of a Minnesota newsletter.
Opportunities
See What the Iraq Occupation has cost us to this minute.
How
Would You Spend $3 Trillion instead of Iraq?
Whatever your state, you can
register to vote here.
Try
MoveOn’s new game: What’s the difference between President Bush and Senator
John McCain?
Wellstone Action provides
organizing tools online.
Wellstone
Action canvassing instructions
See Paul Loeb’s organizing
tools: one, two, three.
Sign up for Democracy for
America Night School featuring George Lakoff.
Visit Project Vote Smart for
information on candidates.
Use Care2 tools for start a group,
petition, post a news story or write a blog.
Get your free Obama/Biden sticker.
Learn about School of the Americas, where
US teaches torture methods to foreign military.
Sign up for a free download of Mike
Moore’s movie, “Slacker Uprising”
Get a
real life. Study basic theoretical
physics with the rappers.
Petitions and
Donations
Sign the International
Peace Day petition.
Tell
President Bush to demand U.N. hold Sudan’s leader accountable for Darfur.
Tell
our Secretary of the Interior to protect our Endangered Species Act.
Tell
our congress members that energy legislation must protect our lands, water and
health.
Sign Working America
petition for universal health care.
Commentaries
From Our Members
Sally Kinney on
Published by
My eye was caught by the
photo accompanying “Downtown parks are rangers’ turf [Local News, Sept.
3]. Two women with white hair, one in a
rain jacket and the other with a plastic sheet around her, are asking two
rangers for help in finding shelter.
Ranger Mo Hecht said, “A
lot of people want us to shuffle them out of the parks, but there’s really no
place to shuffle them to.”
It sounds like the park
rangers have a much more realistic view of the plight of homeless people than
the city does. The city maintains that
there is enough shelter for everyone, but the rangers know that’s not true –
and so do those poor women asking for help.
Why is the city of
PLEASE,
PLEASE, PLEASE get the Obama campaign to take the gloves off.
It’s hard for
me to donate more money to Obama’s campaign if his campaign isn’t going to
fight back against Republican smears, lies and B.S. The McCain campaign needs
to be called on its poor behavior and the electorate needs to be informed.
Jack Smith on John McCain’s Chutzpah
CHUTZPAH
- I may not spell it right, but in law school we had the following quasi
legal definition. Chutzpah occurs when a child kills their mom and pop and then
pleads to the court for mercy because he/she is an orphan.
John McCain
and the republicans have stretched the definition into the political Sphere so
that now it includes when a political party screws up our nation very badly for
eight years and then selects a candidate who both supports the previous
administration completely and maintains that he will correct all of the
mistakes that have occurred during the previous eight years. Jack Smith
Randall Winn on Earmarks for
If McCain REALLY wants to halt earmarks, let's see
if he asks Palin to use her line-item veto to delete the items in the
Jane Cameron on Our Debt
to Community Organizers
On Wednesday night at the Republican National
Convention, Vice-Presidential Candidate Sarah Palin, her voice dripping
with sarcasm, said "I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a
"community organizer," except that you have actual
responsibilities."
Community Organizing is a proud American tradition.
I was deeply offended by her tone and her lack of understanding of our proud
history.
The suffragettes who earned Sarah (and me) the
right to vote were community organizers. They were ridiculed, beaten and
jailed. I am deeply grateful to them for their sacrifices.
The feminists who earned Sarah the right to play
basketball in high school were community organizers. I went to high school
before Title IX passed, and I wasn't allowed to participate in most sports.
Fortunately, my daughters didn't have to face those barriers. Sports have been
a central, enriching part of their lives.
The feminists who agitated to improve job
opportunities for women were community organizers. As a result of the ban on
gender-based employment discrimination included in Title VII of the 1964 Civil
Rights Act, I have been able to have an exciting and well-paid career in a
field where women used to be few and far between.
The civil rights workers were community organizers.
Because of them I can live in a country where all citizens can drink from
public drinking fountains, exercise their right to vote, and take advantage of
educational and employment opportunities previously denied to so many. As a
Euro-American, I am deeply grateful to those who sacrificed so much to enrich
the lives of all of us. I love the multi-ethnic nature of our great nation. I
am not just proud of it, but really proud of it.
The abolitionists who fought against slavery, the
workers on the under-ground railroad guiding slaves to freedom, and the union
organizers who did so much to improve the lives of working Americans -- these
were all community organizers.
Finally, we owe the very existence of our country
to a dedicated group of community organizers, more commonly known as our
"Founding Fathers." Jane Cameron
Linde Knighton on Need for Ranked Choice Election
Well, here we are with Sam Reed's favorite primary
in play. According to his office, everyone loves it. Well, I don't. I live in
the 43rd legislative district, in which there are two state legislative seats
up for election. However, there are only two candidates in one race and the
other ran unopposed. This district is solidly Democratic, but that doesn't make
the primary democratic. Only one candidate ran against Frank Chopp, and was the
"Prefers GOP Party". Kim Verde–a totally unqualified novice...well,
she WAS a downhill skier.
Where are the idea candidates? You know, the ones from 3rd parties that the two
big candidates, "Borrow" the platforms from so they will look good?
The third party candidates did not want to run in a race where they could not
get past the primary, Only three made it statewide, and only in legislative
races with just one opponent. Just one of those was in
In the early days of our state, candidates from the Progressive Party or the
Farm/Labor Party had a realistic chance of getting on the general election
ballot in
The "top two" primary was sold to the public as a way to increase
voter choice. Now we know, in the election that matters, there really is no choice.
We voters have been swindled. We would have been much better off with no
primary and a ranked choice voting system like the one to be used for local
offices in
What can we do? Vote for Jason Osgood for Secretary of State, and get someone
in as Secretary of State who doesn't believe his own propaganda. Push for
Ranked Choice Voting statewide–we taxpayers could save 1.5 million dollars a
year by skipping the Primary, and combining it with the final election. Linde
Knighton
Ranked Choice voting is also referred to as instant run-off voting.
Liberals and Democrats
Sarah Palin: a Female Ronald Reagan
John McCain couldn’t choose Ronald Reagan as his
Republican vice presidential candidate.
Ronald Reagan is dead. But Sarah
Palin may be the next best choice. Like
Reagan, she has been a western governor. She enjoys the outdoors. She is a happy warrior, although more
vindictive. She is similarly Conservative. In keeping with our times, her Christian
Conservatism is more overt. And she is a
woman, who has successfully juggled her family and career roles. I disagree completely with both Reagan’s and
Palin’s political views. But I think I
would enjoy each of them as a neighbor and a friend.
Choosing her as a vice presidential candidate may
have been a stroke of genius. For
more. Unless something more than
political calculation and deception is revealed, she will make the McCain
presidential bid much more competitive. I
still believe that our Obama-Biden campaign is going to overcome anti-black
racism and Sarah Palin’s charisma. Due
to Obama’s superior netroots-grassroots organization and money.
But with Sarah Palin, the race will be closer. All Obama supporters should be highly
motivated to find extra votes for our candidates. The easiest way is on your own, visit ten or
more of your neighbors, find out if they are disgusted with Republicans. If they are, remind them (when the ballots
arrive) to vote.
Conservative
Celebrities Are Alright
Sarah
Palin is now a celebrity. Remember
how recently the McCain campaign was lampooning Barack Obama for being a celebrity. We have been nervous about anything happening
to President Bush which would make Dick Cheney president. If John McCain and Sarah Palin were elected,
we could be nervous about anything happening to him. The result would be President Palin, an combative
anti-environmental Christian Conservative with market fundamentalist views of
our economy and no experience dealing with most national domestic issues,
especially foreign policy. What would
President Palin do, in concert with a Democratically controlled congress,
different than what President Bush has been doing since 2007? Obstructing our American Dream.
Whining
about Our Media’s Sexist Liberal Bias
Our media and bloggers have probed Barack Obama’s
life in great detail since he won the
McCain-Palin’s Schizophrenic Campaign
John McCain must convince Conservatives that he
supports President Bush’s policies. He
must convince everyone else that he is a maverick who supports change. A difficult task. But McCain has as many lives as a cat. By choosing Sarah Palin as his Vice
Presidential candidate, McCain has now arranged a division of labor. As
Palin did during his convention speech, she will emphasize that they are consistent Conservatives. And attack the Democrats
as Liberals. For more. As McCain did during his convention speech,
he will emphasize that they are
mavericks for change.
Mavericks
for Change
John McCain has been a
McCain doesn’t indicate that he would change Bush’s
Conservative policies which he has supported or does now. For more. John McCain only indicates that he and Sarah
Palin are mavericks for changing the
incompetent and corrupt practices of
The large majority of our voters want change. Why
should we support change by Johnny-Come-Lately when we can support Obama, who
originated the call for change? Why
should we elect a fox to guard our henhouse?
Why should we think McCain would be less corrupt than Obama, when unlike
Obama, McCain has staffed his campaign with lobbyists? Why should we think that McCain would be more
competent than Obama, when Obama has such a long record of successes, including
his campaign against long odds to win the Democratic presidential
nomination? Why should voters believe
that McCain wouldn’t bring us a third term of President Bush’s policies and
practices? Of obstructing Democrats’
attempts to restore our American Dream.
From the beginning of his presidential campaign,
Barack Obama has been emphasizing the urgent need for realistic hope-based
change. Hillary Clinton and John McCain
emphasized experience. Obama countered
that judgment is more important than experience. Both Clinton and more recently McCain began
emphasizing change. If imitation is the
sincerest form of flattery, Obama should
be flattered.
Some Public
Service O.K. Community Organizing Not
O.K.
Republicans lampooned change, before they embraced
it. Conservatives have long lampooned
government servants: “I’m here to help you.
I am from the government.” But
now, Our Republicans say they like service.
Service which puts others before one’s own interests. Apparently military service is okay. Serving as a legislator is okay, as long as
one only has altruistic motives.
Republicans have promoted private service. Remember the thousand points of life. Faith based initiatives. Now they are lampooning community
organizers. For
more. It is not okay to assist
people with less power to organize to obtain more power. To help people to help themselves. An example. Maybe that’s class warfare. Maybe it’s only okay to provide charitable
care.
Obama and Congressional Democrats Prepare for
2009
Unlike most Democratic presidential candidates since
John Kennedy, Barack Obama has melded his campaign with the Democratic Party’s
campaign. He is forming bonds not only
with voters. Also with present and
potential Democratic members of congress.
He is laying the groundwork for getting legislation through congress
after he is elected. Obama
has established communications with house speaker Nancy Pelosi. Obama’s
team has begun working with top congressional Democrats to create an agenda for
2009 legislative action.
They intend to begin with some easy-to-pass measures
to obtain quick victories and build confidence.
These could include bills which were recently passed but vetoed by
President Bush, such as expansion of children’s health coverage paid for by
increased tobacco taxes and extension of tax credits for renewable energy
sources financed by repeal of tax breaks for oil companies. They will then focus upon such priorities as
creating jobs, rebuilding infrastructure, weaning our nation off oil, reducing
troop levels in
More contentious issues such as immigration,
universal health care and education might be delayed. Improving our economy will likely take
precedence over balancing our budget.
Note that President’s
Here’s the Beef
How to respond if questioned
about a disaster (video). Quite
Humorous.
Sarah Palin learns foreign
policy. (humorous video)
The John McCain truth
squad reports. (5 short videos)
15 of the 20 most corrupt members of
congress are Republicans. See who they
are.
Seattle PI
questions that McCain can produce change when he agrees so much with President
Bush.
Sarah
Palin’s record on environment is abysmal.
Karl
Rove was against big town mayors before he was for small town mayors.
Bill
O’Reilly was against teenage pregnancy before he didn’t care.
Dick
Morris wasn’t worried about sexist attacks on Hillary Clinton, but is about
Sarah Palin.
Pat
Buchanan says John McCain will make Dick Cheney look like Gandhi (video).
Watch Fox TV attack Barack
Obama (video).
Besides disastrous
storms, lots of events could occur to affect our presidential race.
Barack
Obama and Joe Biden are both civil libertarians who have taught constitutional
law.
John McCain has persistently opposed
regulation of financial agencies now being bailed out.
Will our automobile
companies be bailed out next?
Will
our federal government also bail out state unemployment trust funds?
Will our federal
government also provide more funds for local rapid transit?
Our next President
better be a bail out specialist.
Obama’s
votes and policies are better for small towns than McCain’s.
Endorsements
for General Election Candidates
Lake Hills Votes
More Democratic than 48th LD
The
The voter turnout in Lake Hills
was at least 38.1% (the percentage of registered voters who voted in the
In Lake Hills, incumbent
Democratic Representative
For the 8th
Congressional and the Governor races, I couldn’t easily summarize the data for
the 48th Legislative District as a whole without adding the numbers
for about 180 precincts. In Lake Hills, Democratic
In Lake Hills, incumbent
Democratic Governor Christine Gregoire received 60.0% of the votes that were
cast for either her or her rival Democratic Dino Rossi. In the state as a whole, she received 51.0%
of the votes cast for one of the two.
I would like to think that the
larger voter turn out (by 3.2%) and the higher percentage of votes for
Democratic candidates (6.0%, 4.5%, 10.9%, and 9.0% were due to the fact that we
have extensively canvassed Lake Hills, distributed literature to them and share
our data with our Democratic candidates so that they could reach them by
visitation, mail or phone. But it may be
the stronger Democratic votes are due to other unknown factors.
I also figured the results for
three other state races. For Secretary
of State, Democratic Jason Osgood did 2.3% points better in Lake Hills (37.6%)
than state wide (35.3%). Remember that
these figures ignore votes for other candidates than the top two. John Ladenburg did 1.1% points worse in Lake
Hills (41.8%) than state wide (43.0%).
Peter Goldmark did 6.2% points better in Lake Hills (55.1%) than state
wide (48.9%).
Working Families Tax Credit
This
is compounded, when our federal government, with similarly insufficiently
progressive taxes, doesn’t receive enough revenue to fund services they should
provide. For example,
In
response to the unfairness of our tax system, Conservatives such as Tim Eyman
and our Republicans have attempted to lower taxes. But their measures would lower taxes not only
on the over-taxed, but also on the under-taxed. The result is not a fairer tax system. The result is also less revenue.
Liberals
have worked for a measure to reduce the taxes paid by our lower income
families, through a tax credit called the Working Families
Tax Credit. For more. For more. The measure
was passed in 2008, but not funded.
Reduced state revenues in 2009 may preclude funding it. If the tax credit is funded, it would make
our tax system more fair. But it would
also use revenue which couldn’t be used for other purposes such as health and
education. Some families might obtain
some more income, but others might lose daycare and early education for their
children.
The
Working Families Tax Credit is not as Liberal as it might appear if we only
look at the credit and not the reduced revenue for other purposes. A Liberal solution requires substituting a
progressive income tax for some of our regressive sales and property taxes at a
level which provides sufficient revenue to provide our infrastructure and
safety net.
In
Puget Sound Energy wants a merger with the Macquarie Group, an international banking and investment firm, in a deal that would leave PSE as a privately-held company - and pay millions in fees and bonuses to executives and financiers. News story here. Simultaneously, PSE is asking for a nearly 10% rate increase to ratepayers.
The merger proposal needs approval by the State
Utilities and Transportation Commission, whose staff public counsel has
recommended against the takeover. Lawmakers and public officials have been
mostly silent on the deal so far, perhaps worried about campaign support. For
years the company has spread campaign contributions like candy to local
candidates and around
Public financing of campaigns eliminates even
the appearance of influence-peddling.
Inadequate Response to Illness Caused Violence
We have repeatedly experienced killings by people known to be violent. Some because they are mentally ill. For more. Some who have been stalking former companions. Some who have a history of abuse of spouses, children or others. Even more people are killed by drunk drivers, many of whom have been arrested before for drunk driving. It should be much easier to force these people into rehabilitation or incarceration and keep them there until they are clearly safe. Such people should be professionally evaluated. Their past records should be considered in sentencing them.
Most of these people are mentally ill or
addicted. Their incarceration should be
rehabilitative instead of punitive. But
it should be clearly oriented to protecting their potential victims. Although the ill may resist incarceration,
they may often be better off than if they are freed to continue their self
destructive anti-social behavior. It is
time for our legislators to act.
Here’s the
Beef
See who’s filing to run for Washington state and federal offices.
Scheduled
6 debates between Democratic Governor Christine Gregoire and Republican Dino
Rossi.
Can
the Republicans gain seats in our legislature?
Should our voters
be able to impose supermajority requirements on our legislature’s actions?
Reduced
driving is reducing State and Federal highway construction funds.
Learn why Bellevue teachers are striking.
New
laws are proposed to protect seniors from abuse.
Nation
and World
Bush Administration Restores Military Slavery
Last Friday, Bill Moyers
hosted a program concerning the negative consequences of sending our
National Guard troops abroad to their families, their employers and to their
state’s ability to respond to disasters.
Since our Civil War, it has been
illegal to own slaves to pick cotton.
But our military at various times has enslaved men to travel abroad to
kill people. In 1973, the draft ended and the
‘Backdoor draft’ is a term used to suggest the US Military
is already effectively conducting a military draft through Stop-Loss, IRR
(Individual Ready Reserve) activation and reserve activation. (Stop-Loss is a
US Military directive to extend the enlistments of military personnel deemed
critical to unit cohesiveness.) But such extensions and activations are covered
in contracts that service members sign upon enlistment. The only surprise is that
in this War on Terror the military has actually used these provisions.
I believe it should be illegal to send our National Guard
troops to fight abroad, especially in the absence of a congressionally declared
war. If our administration wants to
fight a war abroad, it should pay enough to attract the troops that are
necessary. I also believe that we should
quickly authorize and enable a democratically reformed United Nations to
respond to abusive governments, so that our
Fannie May and Freddie Mac Are Largest Bailouts Ever
Mortgage Giants Rescue Plan: Cost Unknown
When will it stop? First, unscrupulous lenders and real estate
brokers, driven by fat fees, take advantage of subprime loan rates. But now,
hundreds of thousands of families are being forced out of their homes when the
ARMs re-adjust. Meanwhile, the big boys at the top have raked in unconscionable
compensation: Daniel H Mudd, President and CEO, Fannie Mae: $19.2 million.
Richard F. Syron, Chairman and CEO, Freddie Mac: $19.8 million. And now, the federal Treasury (meaning:
taxpayers) will foot the cost of the bailout. Again. Remember the Lincoln
Savings fiasco?
Government should not be for sale to business interests, greedily wanting a lucrative deal! But with private financing of election campaigns, public policy is up for auction. Through "artful" lobbying and campaign contributions, the special interests get what they want, and ordinary Americans pay the bill. It costs us in prices higher than necessary - for gas, groceries, school tuition and health care - and in misplaced national priorities, favoring Wall Street and Pentagon contractors instead of the security found in healthy families, well-educated and earning living wages.
We don't have to
take this! But it won't change so long as Congressional campaigns are privately
financed. That's why we have to speak up and urge action on bills in Congress:
the Fair Elections Now Act (Senate Bill1285) and the Clean Money, Clean
Elections Act (House Bill 1614). Keep up
the pressure! Contact
Senators Cantwell and Murray, and your member of Congress, until they
agree to co-sponsor these bills in Congress and work for enactment.
During this past year, sub-prime
losses have increased from $100 billion ($330 per American) to $500 billion
($1650 per American). The eventual total
losses may be twice that much. Our
deflation is becoming more and more similar to Japan’s
deflation during the past 20 years.
For
more. Any business which we may have
to bail out to protect the economy should be regulated so it doesn’t get in
trouble, requiring a bailout. For
more. As
The Misguided Media Hype over Anti-Immigrant Legislation: Despite much media hype,
the supposed wave of anti-immigrant politics has amounted to a few punitive
laws in a handful of states, even as most states have quietly been moving
forward with positive, integrative approaches to new immigrants in their
communities.
The Failed Use of Immigration as a “Wedge” Issue: The current hype around
anti-immigrant policies is, unfortunately, about electoral
politics. The media largely fell for the tactics of political
opportunists who hoped to use the issue of immigration as a “wedge” issue, much
as they have used gay marriage and other social issues to undermine progressive
coalitions and support rightwing politicians during elections. Yet the
result has largely been political failure for rightwing politicians trying to
play the anti-immigrant political card.
The Success of Positive Immigration Policy: Many states, including those
where most immigrants live, now provide in-state tuition (so-called DREAM Acts)
for undocumented immigrants going to public universities. Others are
promoting policies to integrate immigrants through English language instruction
and assistance in navigating the citizenship process. A number of states
are providing health insurance to undocumented children. And instead
of trying to punish immigrant workers, states are increasingly working with
native and immigrant workers to crack down on bad employers who are violating
minimum wage, safety and workers compensation laws.
Highlighting
A few key findings:
·
Integrative
policies are far more pervasive than punitive policies, with the later having
been enacted only in a small minority of state populations.
·
Only 11% of
undocumented immigrants live in states that have enacted comprehensive punitive
policies, while a significant majority of undocumented immigrants live in
states with positive integrative or somewhat integrative policies.
·
Only 16% of
undocumented immigrants live in states that have enacted sanctions against
private sector employers. On the other hand, over 50% of undocumented
immigrants live in states that provide in-state tuition for undocumented
immigrant children.
·
Nearly the
same majority of undocumented immigrants live in states that are promoting “New
Americans” policies to better educate new immigrants and nearly a majority also
live in states that have recently enacted new penalties for wage law violations
in order to raise wages for all workers, native and immigrant alike.
Click here to read the full
report online. Click here
to download a PDF copy of the report.
For a comprehensive list of PSN resources on immigration, visit our State Immigration Project
page. For any questions relating to
the report or the State immigration project, email PSN's Policy Director Nathan Newman or our
Immigration and Workers' Rights Policy Specialist, Caroline
Fan.
Here’s the Beef
Except for professionals,
wages are falling for all workers.
Many people,
who have health insurance, don’t have access to health care.
More people are supporting
universal health care: Doctors, Business people, Republicans.
Our U.S. has 761
military bases abroad & wants more. Would we be better off if they were
U.N. bases.
Our Liberal Spirit
Imitation or Invention?
Imitation
is usually much cheaper than invention.
Invention requires much effort, energy and time to define the problem,
understand possible solutions, experiment with the more likely ones, understand
the results of the experiments, proceed from small experiments to larger scale
production and more. Invention is risky. It may not succeed, or succeed in a timely
manner.
Necessity
may motivate invention. But if copying
will suffice, invention becomes unnecessary.
Since invention requires researching present efforts anyway, one may
find a solution that can be copied. Most
of what we do is copied. Even when we
invent, our invention is often being simultaneously invented elsewhere. Simply because the knowledge base exists to
enable invention.
In
evolution and invention, bursts of creativity are followed by
standardization. A new environment
triggers evolution of lots of new organisms.
Then a few of these out-compete the others. When the car was first invented, many widely
varying types emerged. But within a few
years, the survivors had many features in common. When something works, competitors copy
it. Their competing products converge.
We
have recently seen this occur in our presidential race. Various candidates experimented with
emphasizing experience, change and judgment.
Change won. All the candidates
converged to emphasize change, although different types of change.
What
about our personal behaviors? Does it
make sense to invent a new way to lose weight?
Or quit some habit? Or does it
make sense to examine the practices of people who have lost weight or quit the
habit. Identify practices that have
worked for some people. Experiment with
them, until hopefully some practices are found that work. Practices that work for some people won’t
work for others. So it is essential to
keep experimenting until success is achieved.
Since
copying is much cheaper than invention, development can be stimulated by
removing barriers to copying.
Profit-seeking people and corporations seek to restrict copying of
inventions that they have made or acquired rights to. To the extent that they are successful, the
spread and use of inventions is inhibited.
Microsoft says it wants computing on every desktop. But its control and pricing indicates that
its higher priority is its own profits.
Favoring
individual, family, community, national and world development, I believe in
quickly making inventions quickly accessible to everyone. With limited protection, inventors would be
forced to keep inventing to keep ahead or at least abreast of the
competition. I have enjoyed watching
Recommended Books –
See our list of books for
liberals
Howard Friel and Richard
Falk, 2004, The Record of the Paper, How
the New York Times Misreports US Foreign Policy
As this book describes,
The New York Times is biased, but not primarily in a Liberal or Conservative
direction. Its primary bias is toward
not bringing uncomfortable or unpopular news to its readers, unless the news is
already obvious. It doesn’t want to
upset them, so they will quit attending to its advertisements. In line with this, the New York Times ignores the truth that the
But the NYT has not only
ignored our constitutional violations.
Accepting administration claims that other countries are threatening us,
the NYT has supported these constitutional violations. This analysis of NYT reporting applies also
to the Washington Post and most other major newspapers, and the rest of our
commercial media. The result is a
Conservative bias which treats our
Free Member Advertising
Hire Our Lake Hills Neighbors
Barbara Rader of Black Widow Web Development created our
Puget Sound Liberals Website, to which I can easily add, modify and remove
files. Learn more
about this unique company, which offers a 50% discount for organizations
that promote social justice and environmental stewardship.
·
Auto Repair, price varies depending
on job (but always fair), Jaime Speicher (AAS Auto Repair Technician)
(425-746-2353)
·
Babysitting for infants (occasional evenings
and weekends) - $5 per hour-
·
Data Entry- $10 per 12 font, double spaced page-
·
Debt Elimination
Counseling, Seminars and Workshops – price negotiable – Sherry Brandt
(206-356-8034, somerev2@comcast.net)
·
Home Repair- prices vary, depending
on job-
·
Home Repair and
Remodeling,
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Housekeeper, price negotiable –
·
Life Support Therapies,
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Private Piano Lessons (students must have a
piano), afternoons - Anna Khosrowian (378-7938), price negotiable
·
Psychotherapist, accepts insurance
- Sandy Mathews (462-7889, www.sandramathews.com)
