The state in the current biennium budget period gave out 176 tax breaks for B&O taxes totaling some $7.5 billion while collecting only $6.5 billion in revenue. The exemptions were 54% of the potential tax base. When an exemption is given it means that a tax shift occurs so the responsibility falls on someone else….
Bush oversaw forty-eight drone strikes in Pakistan during his two terms. Since 2009, Obama as authorized more than three hundred. In Mazetti’s telling, CIA leaders repeatedly pushed Obama for more expansive authority to used armed drones. They got their way in almost every instance. … Munter soon discovered that, under President Obama, “it was what…
Feds Ramp Up Crackdowns On Medical Marijuana Dispensaries “In several West Coast cities, federal officials are initiating a new round of crackdowns against dispensaries that are seemingly complying with state medical marijuana law. In Seattle, 11 dispensaries received shutdown warnings. In San Francisco, almost half of the city’s small number of state-licensed dispensaries received similar…
If you listen to right-wing AM talk radio, or visit conservative websites, you’ll be subject to relentless propaganda about how government is inefficient and doesn’t produce anything of value. Conservatives just love to hate government. And they love to talk about “freedom” and “liberty.” Of course, the anti-government propaganda is nonsense. Thanks to government we…
Republicans and their conservative Democratic allies trashed the economy and bankrupted federal and state governments via reckless deregulation, tax cuts for the rich, outsourcing, union bashing, corruption, privatization, and fraudulent, mismanaged wars. Now they’re in the process of destroying the social safety net and public education. Charter schools are conservatives’ most powerful weapon for destroying…
Norm Conrad of MoveOn reports: May 10th is the 127th “anniversary” of the Supreme Court case used as precedent for the absurd notion that corporations are entitled to the birthrights of actual human beings. In co-operation with Move to Amend, we will be displacing a really big banner on the N 50th St overpass on…
The LA Times is reporting that, despite the overwhelming majority of the public who support tightening gun laws, the failure of Congress to pass gun control in the wake of Sandy Hook may, paradoxically help Republicans in future elections, because gun right supporters are more passionate about the issue. “Those who said they felt “very…
Hosted by noted journalist Sarah Jaffe, a leading writer and commentator on social movements and low-wage work, “On the Edge” is a chance to hear real stories from the lives of poverty-wage workers who are rising up from the edge of our economy to bring their experiences squarely to the center of public debate about…
Saturday I canvassed in Bellevue with Fuse Washington, the King County Democrats, and the Win/Win Network to educate people in the 48th LD about Rodney Tom. King County Dems Chair Karl de Jong was at the event. The web page for the event, on the website of the 48th LDÂ Democrats, says: Many of his…
Whereas a key source of funding for King County METRO Transit will expire in mid-2014, resulting in a 17% loss of service hours, and Snohomish County has already cut all Sunday transit service; and Whereas new transit funding will take almost a year to put in place; and Whereas for many people in King, Pierce…