More Notes on the Fragility of Empire

“Were the Soviet Union to sink tomorrow under the waters of the ocean, the American military-industrial establishment would have to go on, substantially unchanged, until some other adversary could be invented. Anything else would be an unacceptable shock to the American economy.” — George F. Kennan (1904-2005) US advisor, diplomat, political analyst, and Pulitzer-prize winning…

Dinner with Dennis Kucinich

I was one of about a dozen King County Democrats that just had dinner with Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich at the Georgetown Liqour Company. This was not a fundraiser. I was hoping to learn more about Kucinich’s possible run for Congress in Washington. As it turns out, I don’t know anything that I didn’t already….

Report on Amy Goodman's speech at the Seattle Green Festival

Sunday afternoon I heard Amy Goodman and Dennis Kucinich speak at Seattle Green Festival. Both speakers received standing ovations. This article covers Amy Goodman’s speech. Here’s my photo of her during the book signing that followed the speech. Goodman spoke about her book “Breaking the Sound Barrier” — the power of independent journalism. I couldn’t…

Homeless encounter

On my way to and from my office in Seattle I pass a variety of homeless people and beggars. Some of them are regulars: I see them begging at the same spot nearly every day. But on Friday I saw a newcomer: a middle-aged black woman who was bent over a shopping cart that contained…

Bye Bye, Bybee

Bye Bye, Bybee Jay Bybee is the notorious author of the torture memo that the Bush Administration used to justify harsh treatment of prisoners. Here are new lyrics for the song Bye Bye, Birdie that Ann-Margret sang for the 1963 movie by the same name. Original lyrics New Lyrics (by Don Smith) Bye, bye, Birdie…

Why Abortion isn’t Murder

Anti-abortion activists like to call embryos “unborn children”, “innocent babies” or “developing human beings.” Their obvious aim is to shame people into believing that abortion is murder. But just repeating these phrases doesn’t change any facts and shouldn’t change any opinions. There are clear differences between early term embryos and late term fetuses. Specifically, a…

Koch-Blocked: a great video and an over-wrought essay

“Tired of the Koch Brothers buying our political system?” Koch Blocked An email went out promoting the above clever and powerful video. The email contained an essay, reproduced here, that calls the Koch Brothers and the Tea Party movement “Sociopathic fascists .” Repeatedly, they use terms “Corporate Fascist” and “Naziism.” The essay makes numerous valid…

Louder Than Words — a video about President Obama; notes on my LD

Louder Than Words — Roots Action’s video critical of President Obama The timing of this video is perfect. President Obama is back in full campaign-mode, and he’s a brilliant speaker and campaigner. But too often his actions belie his words. Yesterday at my local Democratic LD organization, there was a rather heated discussion about the…