King County Dems Legislative Action Newsletter
King County Dems Legislative Action Newsletter has good info about bills moving and dying in the state legislature
The State Constitution and other reasons to oppose charter schools
On the topic of education, the Washington State Constitution is a highly progressive document. ARTICLE IX EDUCATION says: SECTION 1 PREAMBLE. It is the paramount duty of the state to make ample provision for the education of all children residing within its borders, without distinction or preference on account of race, color, caste, or sex….
US Rep. Adam Smith's Town Hall in Bellevue
Rep. Adam Smith spoke Thursday evening at Bellevue City Hall to an audience of about 25 people which included Bellevue Mayor Conrad Lee, City Council member Claudia Balducci, and State Representative Marcie Maxwell. The small turnout was rather surprising, but it had the beneficial effect that it was easy to ask questions. Rep. Smith spoke…
50 doctors for single payer urge Supreme Court to strike down individual mandate
In an unusual alliance between progressives and conservatives, 50 doctors for single payer urge Supreme Court to strike down individual mandate “In a brief filed with the Court, the 50 doctors and two nonprofit groups said that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate is unconstitutional.”
Occupy Activists From Across US And Abroad Converge in Olympia
Link: Occupy Activists From Across US And Abroad Converge in Olympia
A wedge divides progressives and women in Washington State
Washington State Senator Steve Hobbs is a founding member of the Road Kill Caucus of centrists Democrats. The Road Kill Democrats are known for often voting with Republicans on fiscal and labor issues. Hobbs recently voted against the Washington Investment Trust (state bank) that progressives had been passionately promoting. Despite his role in the Road…
Occupy the Black Bloc Presence
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Occupy-the-Black-Bloc-Pres-by-Kirk-Oakes-120219-206.html “What I’m disillusioned with is what I perceive to be a relatively small group of people in disagreement with the Occupy Wall Street message, who would catalyze incidents that lead to overt violence, injury and ultimately death, and then leave the scene. Their sole stated purpose is to nullify the effectiveness of the actions…
Referendum 74: Same-sex Marriage
Referendum 74 may be on the ballot in November, provided enough signatures are gathered. “This bill would redefine marriage to allow same-sex couples to marry, modify existing domestic-partnership laws, allow clergy to refuse to solemnize or recognize marriages and religious organizations to refuse to accommodate marriage celebrations.” See Approve Referendum 74.
Bruce Springsteen: "What was done to our country was wrong and unpatriotic and un-American and nobody has been held to account."
“I have spent my life judging the distance between American reality and the American dream,” Springsteen told the conference, where the album was aired for the first time. It was written, he claimed, not just out of fury but out of patriotism, a patriotism traduced. “What was done to our country was wrong and unpatriotic…