Puget Sound Liberals Weekly Newsletter #212
Enhancing Freedom, Opportunity and Cooperation in
Through informing and networking Liberals and Liberal Organizations.
Our vision is hundreds of thousands of well-informed
Our Website Our Editor To Unsubscribe Table of
Contents * Featured Articles Calendars of Events Communication with Our Members Obama
Should Call the Conservatives’ Bluffs Opportunities Petitions Commentaries from Our Members Liberals and Democrats Links to the Beef Evaluating Obama’s State of Union Proposals** Evaluating Obama’s 2011 Budget Proposal** Liberal Bloggers Support Reconciliation Strategy State and Local Links
to the Beef 2011 Budget’s Impacts On Washington state Two Candidates Oppose Republican Dave Reichert* Susan Sheary: Democrats Oppose Both Roaches Nation and World Links to the Beef Featured Advocacy Group: National Partnership for Women
and Families Europe and China Provide Alternative Governance* Our Liberal Spirit Optimism Stimulates Use of Freedoms and Opportunities* 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 The essence of optimism is
that it takes no account of the present, but it is a source of inspiration,
of vitality and hope where others have resigned. Dietrich Bonhoeffer
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
Obama Should Call the
Conservatives’ Bluffs
I hope you are reading our newsletter
enough to realize that we need to change our recent Borrow, Consume and Speculate mindset and practice to an Earn, Conserve and Invest mindset and
practice, similar to that we had for about 25 years following World War
II. Except this time, it should be
publically regulated instead of created by a coalition of big oligopolies and
their unions.
I hope you also realize that by dropping
the ball on attacking and regulating Wall Street speculation by large financial
companies and on raising the money and cutting waste to reduce our federal
deficit, the Obama Administration has provided Conservatives the opportunity of
favoring Wall Street over Main Street and of being fiscally irresponsible. The Obama Administration must call the
Conservative’s bluff, since they are the ones that favor Wall Street and the
ones who have been extremely fiscally irresponsible.
Opportunities
Useful
Websites: contacts, maps, community organizing tools, and more.
Obtain
a free ‘Corporations Are Not People’ bumper sticker.
Petitions
Tell CBS to not
present a Super Bowl advertisement that advocates against women’s pro-choice.
Tell
Senate Banking Committee chair Chris Dodd to pass strong bank regulatory
reforms.
Tell
senators on the Senate Banking Committee to support a strong consumer
protection agency.
Tell
EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson to decrease the sulfur gas limits for coal power
plants.
Tell
your senator to vote against loan guarantees for nuclear power plants.
Tell
the Forest Service to reject exploratory drilling in Wyoming's critical Grizzly
habitat.
Tell
the congress to spend less on the military.
Commentaries
From Our Members
Liberals
and Democrats
Evaluating Obama’s
State of Union Proposals
I have rearranged the order of the proposals that
President Obama included in his State of Our Union Address to better reflect
his priorities. And numbered them to
better refer to them.
The first four proposals (numbered 1- 4) are oriented to
regulating Wall Street speculation by large financial firms and restricting the
use of lobbyists backed by campaign contributions. These proposals are crucial to establishing
that the Obama Administration is not putting Wall Street before Main
Street. If Conservatives support these reforms,
they can be easily implemented. If
Conservatives oppose these reforms, they can be accused of putting Wall Street
before Main Street.
The next nine proposals (numbered 5 - 13) are oriented to
assisting Main Street by stimulating job creation, including provision of
credit for appropriate investment and consumption, investment in our
infrastructure and energy conservation and increased non-carbon-based energies,
and measures to restrain export of our jobs, while promoting export of our
products. Conservatives are likely to
oppose these proposals, which reveals their opposition to assisting Main
Street, in spite of their pretense of supporting Main Street.
The next three proposals (numbered 14 - 16) are oriented
to assisting Main Street by reducing the cost of education and promoting
education to qualify Americans for our globally competitive job market. Proposal 17 orients to assisting Main Street
by creating green jobs and reducing our dependence upon foreign oil.
Proposal 18 orients toward being fiscally
responsible. Unfortunately it doesn’t
emphasize raising taxes on our higher income people who have contributed to and
benefited so much from our speculative bubble.
Nor does it emphasize eliminating wasteful military and other
spending. His proposal for a three year
spending freeze on non-security discretionary spending is misdirected to reduce
some needed spending instead of wasteful spending. His proposal for a Bipartisan Fiscal
Commission would likely result in the same misdirection. By not proposing more fiscally responsible
measures, President Obama continues to allow Conservatives to pretend to be
more fiscally responsible. This is the
major failure of Obama’s proposals.
Proposals 19 and 20 indicate support for immigration and
GLBT reform. If implemented, they should
stimulate Hispanics and GLBT rights supporters to support Democrats this
fall. I don’t understand why President
Obama never refers to labor and supporting unionization which will both assist
Main Street and stimulate labor to support Democrats this fall. Supporting unionization reform would seem to
be as valuable as supporting immigration and GLBT reform.
The last three proposals (numbered 21 - 23) refer to
protecting Americans from terrorist attacks.
Also included in the State of the Union address was a
plea to enact health care reform with no specifics concerning how. Hopefully this will soon occur in one way or
another and result in securing support from the many voters who will benefit.
In summary,
President Obama has sided with Main Street against Wall Street and apparently
received a favorable public response.
Unfortunately, he hasn’t proposed sufficient fiscally responsible
measures to take this issue away from hypocritical Conservative criticism.
Deputy Chief of Staff Mona Sutphen presented the
following summary of President Obama’s proposals.
1.
The President called on the Senate to pass
a financial reform package. “A strong, healthy financial
market makes it possible for businesses to access credit and create new jobs.
It channels the savings of families into investments that raise incomes.
But that can only happen if we guard against the same recklessness that nearly
brought down our entire economy.” Essential reforms include measures
to protect consumers and investors from financial abuse; close loopholes, raise
standards, and create accountability for supervision of major financial firms;
restrict the size and scope of financial institutions to reign in excesses and
protect taxpayers and address the ‘too big to fail’ problem; and establish
comprehensive supervision of financial markets.
2.
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.
3.
Changing the way we do business. “To
close that credibility gap we have to take action on both ends of Pennsylvania
Avenue to end the outsized influence of lobbyists; to do our work openly; to
give our people the government they deserve.” The President has called
for additional new lobbyist reforms, including enhanced disclosure of lobbyist
contacts, strict campaign contribution limits by lobbyists, and a single
earmark database, so American taxpayers find out what earmarks are being
requested, and where their money is going.
4.
Countering Citizens United. “I
don't think American elections should be bankrolled by America's most powerful
interests, or worse, by foreign entities.” Last week’s Supreme Court Citizen’s
United decision opens the floodgates to special interests and foreign
countries and companies bankrolling national campaigns. The
President called for bipartisan support for legislation that will remedy the
Supreme Court’s unprecedented and troubling decision.
5.
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.
6.
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.
7.
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.
8.
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.
9.
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.
10.
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.
11.
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.
12.
The President is establishing a National
Equal Pay Enforcement Task Force. “We're going to
crack down on violations of equal pay laws -– so that women get equal pay for
an equal day's work.” To make sure we uphold our nation’s core
commitment to equality of opportunity, the Obama Administration is implementing
an Equal Pay initiative to improve compliance, public education, and
enforcement of equal pay laws. The Task Force will ensure that the
agencies with responsibility for equal pay enforcement are coordinating efforts
and limiting potential gaps in enforcement. The Administration also
continues to support the Paycheck Fairness Act, and is increasing funding for
the agencies enforcing equal pay laws and other key civil rights
statutes.
13.
The President stands by military
families. “Tonight, all of our men and women in uniform...have to
know that they have our respect, our gratitude, our full support.” The
President’s 2011 budget announces significant new investments, totaling more
than $8 billion, and protections for our nation’s military families, including
increased military pay and housing allowances, increased funding for family
support programs, expanded availability of affordable, high-quality child care,
the renovation or replacement of schools, and expanded and improved care for
wounded, ill and injured service members.
14.
The President is making investments to
ensure that the middle class benefits from this economic recovery. “(T)he
price of college tuition is just one of the burdens facing the middle
class. That's why last year I asked Vice President Biden to chair a task
force on middle-class families.” The President has
outlined immediate steps to reduce the strain on family budgets and help middle
class families manage their child and elder care responsibilities, save for
retirement and pay for college. He will double the child tax credit this
year, make it easier to save for retirement with automatic IRAs for workers
without access to existing retirement plans, provide larger tax credits
to match retirement savings for millions of additional workers, and provide new
safeguards to protect retirement savings.
15.
The President will continue his push to
invest in the skills and education of our people. “This
year, we have broken through the stalemate between left and right by launching
a national competition to improve our schools. And the idea here is
simple: instead of rewarding failure, we only reward success... In
this country, the success of our children cannot depend more on where they live
than on their potential.” The Obama Administration supports a new
vision for increasing student achievement, delivering opportunity, and
supporting excellence in America’s public schools. The President’s 2011
budget supports a new framework for the Elementary and Secondary Education Act
that will foster innovation, reward excellence, and promote reform in our
schools, as well as invests an additional $1.35 billion to continue the
historic Race to the Top program to open it up to districts in order to spur
innovation and additional progress. At the same time, the Administration
is moving to consolidate ineffective policies and practices. The
President’s Budget eliminates six programs and consolidates 38 others into 11
new programs that emphasize using competition to allocate funds, giving communities
more choices around activities, and using rigorous evidence to fund what works.
16.
The President is committed to making
college affordable for all Americans. “(I)n this economy, a high
school diploma no longer guarantees a good job.” To increase college
access and completion, the Administration will make student loans more
affordable by limiting a borrower’s payments to 10 percent of his/her income
and forgives remaining debt after 20 years – 10 years for public service
works. We will also make permanent the American Opportunity Tax
Credit. The President urges the Senate to pass the American Graduation
Initiative, which invests more than $10 billion over the next decade in
reforming our nation’s community colleges, promoting college completion, and
moving toward the President’s goal of having the highest proportion of college
graduates in the world by 2020. The President is also asking colleges and
universities to do their share to make college affordable for all Americans
cutting their own costs.
17.
A vision for a clean energy economy. “…to
create more of these clean energy jobs, we need more production, more
efficiency, and more incentives.” We will build on the historic $80
billion investment made through the Recovery Act. The President’s vision
includes investments in important technologies to diversity our energy sources
and reduce our dependence on foreign oil, including: the renewal of our
nation’s nuclear energy industry after a 30-year hiatus, cutting edge biofuel
and clean coal technologies, and additional offshore oil and gas
drilling. To fully transition to a clean energy economy and create
millions of new American jobs, we must pass comprehensive energy and climate
legislation to promote energy independence and address climate change.
18.
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 Commission to 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.
19.
Immigration reform. “And we
should continue the work of fixing our broken immigration system - to secure
our borders and enforce our laws, and ensure that everyone who plays by the
rules can contribute to our economy and enrich our nation.” The
President is pleased Congress is taking steps forward on immigration reform
that includes effective border security measures with a path for legalization
for those who are willing to pay taxes and abide by the law. He is
committed to confronting this problem in practical, effective ways, using the
current tools at our disposal while we work with Congress to enact
comprehensive reform.
20.
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.”
21.
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.
22.
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.
23.
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.
Evaluating Obama’s 2011 Budget
Proposal
The Obama
Administration’s failure to clearly favor Main Street over Wall Street and to
promote fiscal responsibility has allowed Republicans to hypocritically accuse
Obama of favoring Wall Street and of fiscal irresponsibility. In President Obama’s State of the Union
Speech, he made some proposals for regulating Wall Street, although they could
have been stronger. He also made a
number of proposals to assist the creation of Main Street jobs.
The Obama
Administration’s 2011 Budget Proposal offers the opportunity to promote fiscal
responsibility by increasing taxes on Wall Street and other high income people
and eliminating wasteful spending to obtain enough money to pay for job
stimulus, health care and other reform measures. To understand the 2011 Budget proposal, I
read President
Obama’s commentary about it, Peter
Orszag’s commentary. the commentary
about stimulating more jobs and the commentary
about restoring fiscal responsibility.
I also scanned the
whole budget and studied the parts relating to military,
agriculture,
justice
and labor
spending. Read also a Liberal commentary on the
budget.
I have
difficulty understanding the budgets. But
I believe that they do not promote fiscal responsibility nearly as much as they
should.
·
One good thing in the budget the
ending of the $36 billion subsidies for oil, gas and other polluting companies. But it should not include promotion of
nuclear power, off-shore oil drilling and bio-fuels. Another subsidy which should be eliminated is
the $3000 profit that equipment makers obtain for each power chair that they
sell.
·
The three year freeze on
discretionary spending is misdirected unless it includes military
spending. I believe there are many military spending
items that should be reduced (including the number of foreign bases and the
design, development and production cold war oriented technology. Yet this is not indicated. The money that could be saved would produce
far more jobs if directed to infrastructure and green energy programs. The
House Appropriations Committee will look for cuts in military department
programs.
·
The proposed bipartisan fiscal
commission is wrongly oriented to cutting entitlements instead of increasing
revenue or cutting waste. Another way of
increasing revenue is to tax
junk food which contributes to our obesity, health problems and costs.
·
The last portion of the agriculture
budget indicates reforming farm payments and crop insurance, but I fail to see
what money is saved. Perhaps the savings
are appropriately reoriented to increased job creating conservation measures.
·
The labor spending indicates more
money will be spent for a variety of measures to protect worker rights and
assist workers to become better trained.
Read an AFL-CIO
blog. But I fail to see money for
better enforcement of laws protecting worker rights to unionize. Nor do I see such money in the justice
department spending. But Labor
Secretary Hilda Solis supports the Employee Free Choice Act. I also believe that the budget should not
support 401(k)s which consist putting retirement savings into stock
speculation, instead of into added Social Security benefits.
·
In addition, the tax cuts for Wall
Street and other high income Americans are allowed to lapse in 2010, but they
should have been rescinded much earlier.
·
The budget should include a stock
transaction tax of 2.5% which is a tax on speculators with little effect on
real investors. This would produce a
significant amount of money that could be used to offset spending which
produces Main Street jobs and reduces Main Street health care and other expenses. The proposed tax for large financial
companies should also be increased to perhaps 20% instead of the proposed 5%.
In summary, I
believe that the 2011 Budget could have included some tax increases and many
spending reductions that would have reduced our 2011 deficit without reducing
spending to create jobs.
Liberal Bloggers Support Reconciliation Strategy for
Health Care Reform
I enjoyed a
cartoon in which President Obama was told on the one year anniversary of his
presidency that they were thinking of baking him a cake. But the Republicans said “No” and the
Democrats couldn’t agree on a recipe.
Various Liberal
bloggers (Jonathan
Cohn, E.J.
Dionne, Jr., Paul Krugman,
Harold
Meyerson and Paul
Starr who address passing health care reform argue that Democrats will
be blamed for proposing a government run health care reform bill even if it
fails, without allowing the public to experience the benefits of even the
flawed senate reform bill. They argue
that health reform must be passed and that the most feasible way is to
simultaneously have the house pass the senate bill and have both pass a
reconciliation bill. The reconciliation
bill can be passed and sent to President Obama who wouldn’t sign it until he
receives the senate bill. He would then
sign both. These bloggers have pointed
out that even the senate bill has many positive features. And that both the Social Security and the
Medicare bill had serious flaws when first passed. The Social Security bill didn’t apply to farm
labor which largely consisted of blacks.
The Medicare bill unduly rewarded various providers. Peter Hart comments that Republicans
used reconciliation 19 times, yet they consider it illegitimate if
Democrats use it. Quiet negotiations may
produce a reconciliation
bill by the end of this week.
I understand
that of the 218 house members necessary to support the senate bill and
reconciliation, 118 have agreed. Negotiations
to obtain more are proceeding privately as they should. We can expect to have health care reform if
and as soon as negotiations succeed to obtain 218 votes. Democratic
senators also appear to support reconciliation. This will allow a shift of attention to
creating Main Street jobs.
A larger number
of Liberal bloggers (including the ones cited above and Froma
Harrop, Sebastian
Mallaby, Frank
Rich, Robert
Scheer (for
more.) and James
Witcover comment that President Obama must attack and regulate Wall Street
while focusing upon creating jobs for Main Street. Small
business owners support regulating Wall Street.
But few of the
Liberal bloggers address the issue of fiscal accountability, recommending that
President Obama raise money and cut waste to pay for his economic and health
care reforms. I agree with a commentary
entitled ‘Common Sense On Budgets’.
Here’s the Beef
Sara
van Gelder says President Obama must implement ‘Change we can believe in.’
President
Obama has revitalized three regulatory agencies (EPA, OSHA and SEC).
Conservatives
say we should cut spending, but don’t specify what spending.
Military
pork should be included in spending freeze.
Fiscal responsibility
requires many more reductions in military spending.
Passing
a health care reform bill under reconciliation is possible, but not necessarily
quick.
Passing
Senate and Reconciliation health reform bill can occur simultaneously.
Gallup
poll finds only 5 states are solidly red and they are small states.
State
and Local
2011 Budget’s Impacts on Washington state
For Washington state, the President’s Budget means
lower taxes, better teachers and classrooms, and important investments in our
roads, highways, and airports. It means more ways for our students to
afford college. The Budget means expanded support for the families of our
service members. The President’s plan offers important support for states
as they face very difficult choices, expanding resources for Medicaid and law
enforcement. Most importantly, the Budget lays a new foundation of
economic growth and job creation for Washington and the nation. For more.
Two Candidates Oppose Republican Dave Reichert
Susan DelBene
Qualifications
Susan
DelBene resembles Darcy Burner who twice failed to defeat Republican 8th
Congressional District Representative Dave Reichert. Susan DelBene also worked for Microsoft. Like Darcy Burner, she has no previous
political experience and even failed to vote in most elections. While Darcy Burner was an effective fund
raiser, Susan Delbene has the money to fund her own campaign to the extent
necessary. For more.
New Ideas
Susan DelBene
says she is running to bring new ideas to the creation of
financial opportunities for Americans. When presented with a choice to invest in
America and Washington State again, Congressman Dave Reichert said no. It was
the wrong thing to do for the country, and wrong for our area -- he said no to
investing in transportation, no to extending unemployment benefits and
providing health insurance to Washington workers. He said no to investing in
Washington schools and no to new clean energy development in Washington.
·
Susan DelBene believes
that we need to invest in our state, in our workers, and in our education
system to create opportunities again. She
also indicates her ideas on various other issues.
·
She says that because she was a
Microsoft executive, she knows how to
regulate banks and car companies and really put together a solid economic
package.
·
She also says she
will listen to 8th Congressional District people to obtain their
ideas.
Various
Democratic Party leaders (Gov. Chris Gregoire, Congressmen Jay Inslee, Rick
Larsen, Jim McDermott and Adam Smith) endorsed Susan Delbene, apparently assuming
that no better candidate would appear.
Tom Cramer
Values
Tom
Cramer is running to enable Main Street people to have financial security and
prosperity. He believes that all Americans should have access to
quality employment, health, education, income, retirement and environmental benefits. He believes that enabling such access should
be done in a fiscally responsible way.
Fiscal Responsibility
Tom
Cramer notes that Conservative Republican Dave Reichert has hypocritically
cited fiscal responsibility as a reason for opposing the stimulus-recovery
package, even though Dave Reichert supported the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy,
the Medicare Prescription Drug Bill and the Iraq War without paying for
them. The result was that a projected $5
trillion reduction in federal budget debt turned into a $7 trillion increase in
federal budget debt with several trillion more deficits projected if economic
recovery was not stimulated. Dave
Reichert has thus supported policies which cost us more than $12 trillion. He opposes paygo policies which would fund
future proposals without adding to our federal Debt.
Job Creation
In the name of small
government, Conservative Republican Dave Reichert opposes creating jobs by
adequately funding our infrastructure which increases our economic efficiency
and our safety net which increases our personal financial security. If Dave and his Conservative Republican
colleagues defeat stimulus-recovery measures, our unemployment will continue
and get worse.
Consumer, Worker and Voter Protection
On almost every issue,
Conservative Republican Dave Reichert sides with corporate abusers and their
campaign contribution backed lobbyists against the protection of workers and
consumers. He voted against increasing
the number of safety regulations for mining operations. He voted against
establishing safety standards for combustible dusts.
Dave Reichert opposes
creating an effective consumer protection agency to stop credit card, payday
loan and other abuses, saying that we should allow present processes which
obviously haven’t worked to continue. He
voted against regulating derivatives and other Wall Street speculative
activities which have caused our economic bubble and its collapse. He voted against allowing judges to modify
fraudulent mortgage contracts. He voted against the Lily Ledbetter Pay Act
which would allow collection of back pay in cases of wage discrimination.
Dave Reichert voted
against establishing an office of congressional ethics within the House of
Representatives. He voted against
requiring paper ballots as a backup in case of voting machine fraud. He voted against a bill which penalizes tax
cheating.
Health
As people have lost
jobs, they have lost their employer paid health insurance. Our private health care insurers reject
people with pre-existing illnesses and find excuses to refuse to pay the bills
of many of the people they insure. The
result is many people are forced to go without health insurance, become sicker
and eventually use expensive emergency room services too late to save their
lives. Yet Conservative Republican Dave Reichert has consistently voted
against any health care reforms which would provide more people coverage and
reduce costs. He voted against
extending the State Children’s Health Insurance Plan (SCHIP)
Conservative Republican
Dave Reichert says he is against government provided health care coverage, but
hypocritically does not come out against Medicare or Veterans health care. And he himself uses government provided
health care coverage. Conservative
Republican Dave Reichert has repeatedly voted for restrictions upon a woman’s
right to have an abortion.
Education
Our education system
is failing to adequately educate many young people to prepare them to compete
for good jobs which will give them sufficient income to support a family. Yet
Conservative Republican Dave Reichert has voted against measures to adequately
fund education and reduce the costs of attending college. He voted against government student loans in
favor of only allowing private banks to offer more expensive student loans from
which they made a profit without taking any risk. He voted against extending educational
benefits available to veterans.
Environment
Our environment is
suffering from many assaults, including increases in global warming. Yet
Conservative Republican Dave Reichert has long denied that global warming is
occurring and that anything must be done to limit it. He supports using the last of our oil and
creating more nuclear power plants, even in the absence of safe disposal of
nuclear wastes. He voted against
renewable energy credits.
Conservative Republican Dave Reichert voted against
strengthening the Endangered Species Law.
He has supported some locally popular environmental projects, knowing
that his Republican colleagues will stop them.
In Summary
Tom Cramer says he will provide leadership toward
stimulating our recovery and providing personal and financial security to our
people, in contrast to the Conservative Republican Dave Reichert’s opposition
to reforms necessary to our prosperous recovery.
Qualifications
·
Tom Cramer has long been
politically active.
·
He has voted in all
elections.
·
His education includes both
political policy and political strategy.
·
He has run for congress
before, but failed to defeat a strong Republican incumbent.
·
He established DAPAC to
assist the election of progressive candidates.
Following his advice, 16 were elected.
·
Through DAPC, he has a large
donor base.
·
He particularly emphasizes
grass roots canvassing.
·
Known as Fighting Tom Cramer, he also emphasizes putting Dave Reichert on
the defensive concerning his Conservative Republican actions.
Susan Sheary: Democratic Candidates Oppose Both
Roaches
The 31st District has some interesting races for the
legislature this year and they need our support. Raymond Bunk is set to
run for open seat (Dan Roach will resign from the House) and Ron Weigelt is
taking on newly-GOP-banned Senator Pam Roach. They are gearing up and are
ready to face the challenges of 2010. We're there to support the cause of
turning the 31st into a Democratic District.
Please see the Calendar of Events for our 31st LD Democrats’ initial event of the year. Thank you,
Susan Sheary, King County Democratic Central
Committee Chair
Here’s the Beef
Environmental
groups urge state legislature to increase tax on polluters.
John
Burbank: Some tax exemptions should be eliminated.
Marilyn
Watkins: More tax exemptions that should be eliminated.
Marilyn
Watkins presents an action plan to create jobs and boost our economy.
Oregon
raises taxes on high income people and corporations to maintain state services.
The economies of states that
progressively raise taxes do better.
Hanford
radioactive waste cleanup needs to proceed rapidly.
Increased
urban population density is necessary to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Green retrofits of deteriorated
houses may be financially feasible.
Millions
are being spent for green retrofits.
Four
wind farms have been approved for Kittitas County.
Nation
and World
Featured Advocacy Group
-----------------National Partnership for Women and
Families -------------------
National Partnership for Women and Families
(NPWF) promotes
fairness in the workplace, reproductive health and rights, access to quality
affordable health care, and policies that help women and men meet the dual
demands of work and family. When women do better, families do better, and our nation
prospers.
And for nearly four decades, NPWF has
been changing the world in ways that make life better for women and families. From outlawing sexual harassment to
prohibiting pregnancy discrimination to giving workers the right to family and
medical leave, NPWF has fought for every major policy advance that has helped
women and families. NPWF will continue fighting
for a nation where pay is fair, workplaces family-friendly, health care safe
and affordable, opportunity equal, and discrimination a thing of the past.
For women and their families, we need a health
care system that provides affordable choices, comprehensive coverage
including the full range of reproductive health services, and access to health
professionals who deliver the highest quality care.
It’s time for our nation to show that it values a balance between work
and families obligations. Other
nations get it. Workers in 145 countries around the world have paid sick days. But not in the United States. We also have the dubious distinction of
joining Papua New Guinea, Swaziland, and Liberia as the only countries in the
world that don’t offer paid leave to new mothers.
Every woman should have access to the full range of reproductive health
information and services, including contraceptive services and supplies,
sexuality education, and abortion services.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Europe and China Provide Alternative Governance
If political and economic control of our U.S. by corporate interests is
maintained or even increases, we will suffer a series or economic and social
catastrophes which will weaken us compared to European, Chinese and other
countries that are not controlled by corporate interests. These other countries may be the main
contributors to our world’s future political and economic structures.
While we can not be pleased at our decline in global influence, we can
be glad that other countries are pursuing a more humane course. Their success and influence may eventually
allow us to escape our control by corporate interests. Sometimes we need help from others when we
cannot help ourselves.
Here’s the Beef
In the absence of
health care reform, free clinics are providing uninsured an entry to health
care.
Union
members have larger wages and benefits than non-union members.
Progressive taxes are fair
taxes.
Large
financial companies depend upon government support.
An
old law could limit corporate abuse.
Other countries have
quickly accepted GLBT into their military without problems.
Our
military has adopted a new strategy which focuses upon our present wars instead
of the Cold War.
The
House Appropriations Committee will look for cuts in military department
programs.
Our
Liberal Spirit
Optimism Stimulates Use of Freedoms and Opportunities
People do not need to be pessimists
or optimists. We could just wait to see
what happens. But we often want to
prepare to either protect ourselves from threats or take advantage of
opportunities. So we make pessimistic or
optimistic assumptions. However, our
assumptions are often less based on any evidence than upon our
personalities.
Some of us are usually
pessimists, who have an underlying view that God or fate seldom allows us to
realize our dreams, so we shouldn’t waste our time and disappoint ourselves by
trying. Others of us are usually
optimists, who have an underlying view that through hard and smart effort we
can often realize our dreams. Or
optimists may realize that they will often fail, but value the excitement of
trying and are willing to deal with getting scrunched.
The result is that pessimists
are often right. They may avoid wasted
effort and disappointment. But they fail
to realize dreams that are possible.
Optimists are often wrong, but end up making better use of their freedoms
and opportunities, have the excitement of the pursuit instead of whining about
their fate, and may learn to deal with
failure so that they can move on to deal with new freedoms and opportunities.
Recommended Books – See our list of books for liberals
Robyn Meridith, 2007, The Elephant and the Dragon. The Rise of India and China and What It Means
for All of Us.
Minqi Li, 2008, The Rise of China and the Demise of the Capitalist World Economy
Robyn Meridith’s book views
the China’s and India’s economic growth as mainly helpful to the United States
and the world, without the threats that Conservatives have imagined. Instead of commenting on how to control their
growth, she comments on what the United States must do to remain
competitive. Robyn Meridith fails to
realize that India’s
economic growth may be unsustainable.
Minqi Li’s book is heavily influenced by his personal experiences and ideology. I believe that any decline in capitalism will not result from Chinese economic development, but from the disastrous results of speculative capitalism’s increasing control of our U.S. political and economic system. See my commentary above.