Washington Liberals

A cluster of bills introduced into the Washington State House and Senate would raise revenue for vital human needs by eliminating tax exemptions.  The main obstacle to eliminating exemptions is Tim Eyman’s (unconstitutional) I-1053 and its 2/3 super-majority requirement on legislative votes to raise revenue. The House bills, HB-2078, HB-2087, and HB-2102,  overlap.  HB-2078 would…

July 9th, there will be a one day Seattle conference for grass roots activists, public policy junkies, politicians, and other liberally minded individuals. The event, which will be held in Pioneer Square, will feature keynote speaker Ujjal Dosanjh. Mr. Dosanjh currently represents Vancouver-South in Parliament, is a former premier and attorney general of British Columbia,…

Still being edited, but wanted to share in current format:

Vermont Governor Shumlin was on Diane Rehm on April 27 talking about the universal health care system bill he is going to sign into law. Cato Institute sent a talking head to spew disinformation on behalf of health care capitalism and insurance CEO salaries. To understand these folks you really have to watch Thank You…

I think this covers the situation pretty well: Questions?

Mary at The Left Coaster is right about the methane hydrate feedback loop. Mary posted about that on Tuesday, April 26th if you are searching back. I have been talking about methane release from thawing permafrost and icesheet melting for several years.   The release of methane is a deadly tipping point that we are…

How progressive should a group like Washington Liberals be?  If it’s too progressive — too anti-war, too hard on centrist Dems, too uncompromising, and too open to certain controversial views (such as Palestinian grievances) — then it risks alienating potential allies.  On the other hand, if it’s too conventional, fearful and meek, it’ll betray progressive…

In a nation and state where we operate under the rules of democracy, the blame for our budget woes belongs to “we the people”. Not “them”, “us”. We have to take the credit and the responsibility for the situation, and we have to be accountable to fix it. Everyone has their role in creating the…

After about an hour searching around for information in the record about the people’s budget, I found the following: http://www.opencongress.org/bill/112-hc34/amendments Amendment number 3 to H CON RES 34 was introduced by Mr. Grijalva (D-AZ-07) at 9:41AM on April 15, 2011.  The House used a total of 30 minutes to debate the amendment, which was the People’s…

How can we meet basic community needs during difficult (if not desperate) economic and political times? This was the question addressed at a meeting of Inspire Seattle on Saturday night, at the home of David and Shamah Gamrath in West Seattle. During the first hour or so, people networked and ate the pot-lucked food. (It…