Liberal/Progressive/Populist Thoughts from way outside the Beltway...
We'll tell you how it looks from out here in the Other Washington...
And rain on the conservatives parade.
our group had the chance to sit down with Lois and ask her about her run for Whatcom County Executive. Lois is running to bring "clean water, clean air and clean government" to Whatcom County. she has worked all of her life to protect and restore our county's natural environment. in 2003 she recieved ReSources first Lifetime Achievement Award. it was a pleasure to spend time with Lois and hear how she plans to provide leadership for Whatcom County.
i had the opportunity to attend and video a wonderful offering by the local League of Women Voters. what a fine job everybody did of presenting this issue. Craig Mayberry did a fine job of addressing the arguments most often heard. Craig showed up at our booth at Pioneer Days with materials on Clean Campaigns.....thanks Craig.
and thanks the Harriet Spanel for the excellent historical perspective....
and then Ken Mann speaks dynamically...and reminds us he is in fact 37 yrs old....followed by Stan Snapp's comments and enthusiastic support..
FERNDALE — Plans to rebuild Ferndale’s Boys and Girls Club, which was destroyed by fire New Year’s Eve, got a $250,000 boost Thursday.
The BP Foundation donated $250,000 to the Boys and Girls Clubs of Whatcom County, which just launched a $4.5 million capital campaign to rebuild the Ferndale club and fund smaller capital projects at the county’s five other clubs. ...
...The club also received two state grants earlier this year totaling more than $1 million from the Community, Trade and Economic Development Department.
Thursday’s grant was presented during a ceremony with Gov. Chris Gregoire.
A Kansas military cemetery has run out of space after the burial of another casualty of the Iraq war, officials said on Thursday.
"We are full," said Alison Kohler, spokeswoman for the Fort Riley U.S. Army post, home of the 1st Infantry Division.
U.S. Sens. Sam Brownback and Pat Roberts, both Kansas Republicans, on Thursday sent a letter to William Tuerk, the under secretary for memorial affairs at the Department of Veterans Affairs, urging for full funding for a new cemetery for Fort Riley. ...(full article)
It's a tragic situation when Republican Senator's only response to Bush's failed military adventure is to propose opening new cemeteries.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Democratic presidential candidate Bill Richardson on Wednesday called for the U.S. to end the war in Iraq, arguing that the troops exacerbate the sectarian violence and the billions spent could be used for health care and other needs.
"We're a nation that spends $5.5 billion in cancer research - that's two weeks of the Iraq war," Richardson told The Associated Press. "It shows the misguided priorities."
"We are being bled dry by an invasion that is costing us $500 billion so far - $500 billion," he said, stressing the cost. "And it's detracting from American security objectives in dealing with terrorism, with nuclear proliferation, with energy independence." ...(more)
finally after nothing since April there is a new post from Riverbend....... last i knew they had decided to leave Iraq so i had really wondered what had happened. it is hard to imagine what leaving ones home under these circumstances could be like. i am glad to hear that they are safe. the way it looks from here is that we will continue with our insane, inhumane and criminal policies for the forseeable future. the only thing that changes are the slogans "Return on success" which they reinvent every so often to give the appearance of something new happening. so horrible what is being done in our name.......
Baghdad Burning ... I'll meet you 'round the bend my friend, where hearts can heal and souls can mend... Thursday, September 06, 2007 Leaving Home... ...........The Syrian border was almost equally packed, but the environment was more relaxed. People were getting out of their cars and stretching. Some of them recognized each other and waved or shared woeful stories or comments through the windows of the cars. Most importantly, we were all equal. Sunnis and Shia, Arabs and Kurds… we were all equal in front of the Syrian border personnel.
We were all refugees- rich or poor. And refugees all look the same- there’s a unique expression you’ll find on their faces- relief, mixed with sorrow, tinged with apprehension. The faces almost all look the same.
The first minutes after passing the border were overwhelming. Overwhelming relief and overwhelming sadness…
How is it that only a stretch of several kilometers and maybe twenty minutes, so firmly segregates life from death? How is it that a border no one can see or touch stands between car bombs, militias, death squads and… peace, safety? It’s difficult to believe- even now. I sit here and write this and wonder why I can’t hear the explosions.
I wonder at how the windows don’t rattle as the planes pass overhead. I’m trying to rid myself of the expectation that armed people in black will break through the door and into our lives. I’m trying to let my eyes grow accustomed to streets free of road blocks, hummers and pictures of Muqtada and the rest…
How is it that all of this lies a short car ride away? full post
So if freedom isn’t free, is it just another word for nothing left to lose? I sure am glad the country is being guided by the wisdom of cocktail napkins.
But I wondered; If "Freedom isn't Free" then does that mean "succeeding isn't success"?
It's almost impossible to miss that the Whitehouse is attempting to repackage failure. No one who retains the power of critical thinking can possibly miss that the goal posts has moved, again.
In what NBC's Brian Williams said was George W. Bush's eighth speech on the Iraq war since he began it, the president finally talked about reducing American troop strength in that country. In a 24-minute address from the Oval Office that aired live last night on all the major networks, Bush said a total of 5,700 troops should be home by Christmas and, watching this on television, one could almost hear a nation shout hurray.
Katie Couric of CBS News called the speech a "state-of-the-war report," but Chris Matthews, looking more dignified than usual on MSNBC, compared Bush to Lucy in the "Peanuts" comic strip as drawn by the late Charles Schulz. Every autumn Lucy swore to Charlie Brown that she wouldn't pull the football away when he tried to kick it, and every year Charlie Brown fell for it and landed on his posterior. Matthews said Bush had been dealing in "false promises and false arguments again and again and again." ...
The Whitehouse is still a 'fact free zone'. Will their new slogan be "successing the course"?
In speeches, the president now stresses a more ambiguous goal for the U.S. in Iraq: 'success.' By Doyle McManus, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer September 14, 2007
WASHINGTON -- -- For more than four years since the invasion of Iraq, President Bush most often has defined his objective there with a single, stirring word: "Victory.""Victory in Iraq is vital for the United States of America," he told cadets at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in May.
"Victory in this struggle will require more patience, more courage and more sacrifice," he warned National Guardsmen in West Virginia in July.
But this week, the word "victory" disappeared from the president's lexicon. It was replaced by a slightly more ambiguous goal: "Success." ...
So the stubborn blundering continues. I thought it was cute, the way Bush invited Congress to cooperate by doing it his way. Bush will be "staying the course" but he'll no longer be saying "stay the course".
Bush and company have no idea how to resolve the mess they have made of Iraq. At this point, their only goal is to run out the clock and leave the mess for the next Administration to deal with.
The Center for American Progress sets the facts straight in advance of President Bush's speech to the nation September 13, 2007 on the troop surge policy in Iraq. The surge will end in 2008, not because it has been effective, but because the Army lacks sufficient troops and faces a military readiness crisis.
After the regular monthly meeting of the Whatcom County Democrats, as small contingent of camera ready Democrats decided to announce the newly passed motion reaffirming the, October 2006, Out of Iraq resolution
General Petraeus has a very limited area of concern - the US military in Iraq. With three words, he confirmed yesterday that his responsibility isn't to worry about the world outside of Iraq, or our global commitments, or the overall war on terror. This is not a knock on General Petraeus. It is the duty of the commander in chief to listen to those whose job it is to worry about such things. It's clear by following the course laid out for Iraq, the President is ignoring those people, and hiding behind General Petraeus to justify his failure as commander in chief. (Source: VoteVets)
this is a great newer format for bringing integrity and honest journalism to a truth starved public.........check it out
here's a piece by Mike Papantonio Mike Papantonio of of GoLeft TV and Air America's Ring of Fire talks with Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center about the rise of the "San Diego Minutemen" - a racist, anti-immigrant hate group.
oh and we need rapid rural high speed internet "electrification" just like back when our leaders had great wisdom on electricity for all.....
oh and speaking of rural electrification this piece blew me away......so much hope in this time.
The Local Republicans theme for this years election seems to be victimhood. One local republican activist who's running for Bellingham city council has started the rumor that his yard signs are being stolen. The buzz among the local GOP is that Democrats are uncivil because they displayed a few buttons with unvarnished sentiments about the war and national politics. But it's a little hard to take it seriously when a Republican activist/candidate who's under indictment for threatening sheriff's deputies tells you your buttons are "a little harsh".
Oh Geez! After eight years of daily lies, slander and hate filled rants directed at President Bill Clinton, his wife, his daughter and even his cat, in a monumental contortion of situational ethics, the Republicans scraped off those "My President is Charlton Heston" bumper stickers and became great respecters of 'the office of the President'.
The boldfaced lies and character assassination of Democrats that spews out of 'conservative' talkradio doesn't seem to bother them in the slightest, that's what they call entertainment.
I suppose those 'conservative' Republican activists don't really have much left other than rumor-mongering and whining about the little stuff since the fundamental corruption and hypocrisy of their grand conservative agenda was exposed and their credibility collapsed just like the I-35 bridge.
i had the pleasure of attending a dinner put on by our local Democratic Women's Club in honor of Karen in april. here are a few moments captured on video.....
This video is from TPMtv. Josh Marshall explains what to watch for in the coming week as Bush and his minions try to lie there way out of the failure of the 'surge'.
Yes, Bush used our troops in Iraq for another shameless photo-op and then flew away, leaving them to suffer for his incompetence. But Bush's grovelling sycophants advisers aren't going to tell him anything he doesn't want to hear.
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush's senior advisers on Iraq have recommended he stand by his current war strategy, and he is unlikely to order more than a symbolic cut in troops before the end of the year, administration officials told The Associated Press Tuesday.
The recommendations from the military commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, and U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker come despite independent government findings Tuesday that Baghdad has not met most of the political, military and economic markers set by Congress. ...(more)
"Troop Reduction?" Do they really mean it this time?
LA Times: "On a surprise visit to Iraq, [Bush] says that if security successes continue, a partial pullout might be possible."
We've heard this one before.
There's a definite surge in bullshit coming from the Republicans and it's got the extra stink of desperation about it.
They're claiming improved conditions in al Anbar province is proof that the surge in Baghdad is a success. But violence in Baghdad is unchanged, unless you're Bush's pet General and you stop counting deaths due to car bombs.
Another Republican lying point is that we can't leave Iraq because the Iranians would take over. I suppose that makes sense to people who know absolutely nothing, but to anyone with any brains it obvious that the Iraqi's would fight against being occupied by Persians just as hard as they're fighting against be occupied by Americans.
And the lowest and saddest argument oozing from the Republicans is that we have to support the troops by staying in Iraq. As if it was the troops who set the policy. It's the most dishonest part of the Republican propaganda pitch. The military doesn't decide what the mission is, Bush and his Republican cronies do. It's really disgusting to see the President and his chickenhawk buddies hiding behind the troops.
and this........... Confronting the Triple Crisis--Climate Change, Peak Oil, Global Resource Depletion Start:September 14, 2007 - 7:00pm Location:George Washington University, Lisner Auditorium, Washington DC
Powering down for the future. Toward an international movement for systemic change: new economies of sustainability, equity, sufficiency and peace. 50 speakers, 20 workshops Speakers include: Vandana Shiva, Bill McKibben, Michael Klare, Martin Khor, Richard Heinberg, Winona LaDuke, David Korten, John Cavanagh, Jerry Mander, Maude Barlow, Tony Clarke, Wolfgang Sachs, Sara Larrain, Meenakshi Raman, Ross Belbspan, Q'Orianka Kilcher, Frances Moore Lappe, Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, Helena Norberg-Hodge, Daphne Wysham, Victor Menotti, Atossa Soltani, David Suzuki, Simon Retallack, Heremy Leggett and 30 more from around the world.
Sponsored by The International Forum on Globalization, The Institute for Policy Studies, and The Global Project on Economic Transitions.
Today is the official day to honor labor... (labor, as in, people who work for a living). But of course our vacation Prez-e-dink is out of the country; just goes to show his disdain and disrespect for ordinary Americans.
There's a great post by Sara (aka Mrs. Robinson) over at Orcinus.
And here's a couple of great little videos... you can sing along, if you like.
A Bellingham Herald newspaper published Sept. 5, 1907, the day after a town-wide riot against East Indians, showed some of the hundreds of immigrants who were stiff-armed into jail by the mob.
The Herald has a nice 'multimedia' presentation HERE
The Bellingham Herald article is the first in a two parter. It says Mondays installment will cover: # The riot’s aftermath in Bellingham and across the country. # How the movement parallels events today. # Whatcom County’s Sikh community asks for a permanent reminder of the riot.
The Herald's Editorial stance hasn't been friendly to the Minutemen border vigilante's. It will be interesting to see what parallels the Herald is will to talk about.
World Peace Forum Society
Governor Gregoire also met members of the new Northwest Washington 
