Washington Liberals

Hurray for the Republicans! They saved us from defeat by defeating themselves. Now President Obama holds all the cards. He should just hold onto them. What about the fiscal cliff? Indeed, what about it? It is a fiction of rhetoric, foisted on the American people by Wall Street and inside-the-beltway elites. Sort of like the…

I’m reading Top Secret America: The Rise of the New American Security State, by Dana Priest and William R. Arkin. The book catalogs the mind-boggling number of secret and semi-secret government agencies and programs that have proliferated since the 9/11 attacks.  (“Code names linked companies and agencies and activities, and the number of locations doubled…

The petition below is urgent.  Please sign and pass it along to your LD mailing list.  Send the signed petition to chair@waprogressives.org the caucus so that it can be forwarded to our congressional delegation. In Solidarity,  Judith Shattuck, Chair, Washington State Progressive Caucus We, the undersigned elected and appointed PCOs in Washington State support and affirm…

In the waning months of 2011 after the police systematically cleared out Occupy Wall Street encampments across the US and Canada, it was obvious to many activists that the foreclosure crisis and the economic system that engendered it should be the prime target of our attention. Several Occupy Seattle members met in the early months…

I have been engaged in an ongoing edit war concerning the Wikipedia article on Chuck Hagel, whose name is being mentioned as a possible nominee for Secretary of Defense.  Hagel is coming under criticism from Republicans and neocons who are unhappy with Hagel’s statements such as “[t]he Defense Department, I think in many ways, has…

Regarding the rash of gun violence that continues to cause this country so much sorrow and pain, when all is said and done only one thing remains to be said and one thing remains to be done: we must speak out about mental illness and how we can help those in need of treatment and…

Cenk Uygur of the Young Turks says, in Obama Will Ride to the Rescue … for Republicans: The Republicans have put themselves in a holy mess with this Plan B debacle. They now have less than zero leverage. They are a national laughingstock. A majority of the country now thinks they are “too extreme.” They…

“Chris died because of craven, irresponsible politicians and the NRA. They talk about gun rights but what about Chris’ right to live? When will this insanity stop?” — Richard Martinez, father of 20 year old victim Chris Martinez. “If you go back, you can see Wayne LaPierre, who runs the NRA, testifying in front of…

Outgoing Governor Gregoire has proposed two budgets, as described in the video Inside Olympia by TVW. By law the governor is required to submit a balanced budget. The first budget, an all cuts “Book One Budget,” raises no revenue but makes significant cuts to state programs, namely to: Gregoire’s second budget raises revenue from an…