Urgent! Call our Senators about the 2013 Defense Authorization bill

Last Friday I met with our Senators Washington DC staff via video-conference as a member of a delegation of  faith, union and NGO leaders.  Our goal was to convey to our Senators a desire to sustain Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and all safety net programs and make cuts to the military budget.  This request was met with a positive…

Ring in the New Year with Northwest rabble-rousers!

Monday, December 31, 8:30pm A Rebellious New Years Eve Celebration: Sweep the Globe Clean in 2013! Make the scene at the red-hot spot for activist movers and shakers!·         Sumptuous Northern Italian Feast (menu below) ·         Dancing ·         A Riotous Year-in-Review ·         Party favors ·         No-host bar with cocktails and champagne New Freeway Hall, 5018 Rainier…

Breaking news: Obama will cut Social Security, largely spare the Pentagon, and retain many Bush era tax cuts

The New York Times is reporting that President Obama will cut Social Security, largely spare the Pentagon, and retain many Bush tax cuts: a grand betrayal.  President Delivers a New Offer on the Fiscal Crisis to Boehner. The plan would cut $122 billion by “adopting a new measure of inflation that slows the growth of…

Seattle Scoping Hearing, Rally, March, After Party, and Press

Backbone participated in five of the seven coal train scoping hearings across the state, bringing imagery, helping promote, and generally providing strong visual and messaging support to the effort to defeat this insane/foolish/greedy/ridiculous proposal in the court of public opinion.. These photos are from our effort at the final hearing in Seattle. It has been…

Education reform will require new revenue – here are a few ideas

Given the decision of the Washington State Supreme Court in the McCleary case, which highlighted Washington’s failure to adequately fund education, the new legislature and Governor will soon be looking for new revenue to meet the state’s financial obligation to basic education. Educational reforms alone will require at least $1 billion in new public revenue in the 2013-15…

Norm Goldman: "let's move people away from over-the-air radio"

Julia Chase and others have started a petition to keep progressive radio on the air in the Pacific Northwest.  See The attack on progressive radio in the Pacific Northwest. They contacted progressive talk host Norman Goldman, who responded as follows (and who asked that his words be shared with others): What i would like to…