After three sleepless nights, Uncle Sam goes to see his psychiatrist. On the couch, he tells the Doctor, “I spend all my money on wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Libya. I have no money left to spend on highways, social-security, hospitals, schools and libraries at home.” “My Pentagon budget is growing exponentially, year after…

Two headlines in today’s Seattle Times tell an important story about Boeing: Boeing will refurbish flight-test 747-8s in Texas Boeing: S.C. work won’t stop despite NLRB complaint Yet in the 2008 biennium alone, tax breaks for Boeing cost the state $195 million (reference) in return for taxbreaks meant to keep jobs in Washington State. According…

I got word through the Olympia grapevine that Bix, Father William Bichsel, is being moved to Tennessee now to face prosecution for one of his earlier peace actions. Bix is one of the Plowshares defendants who are being jailed for their peace action against the nuclear weapons stored at Bangor. Here’s a short message from…

There’s a straightforward way for our state legislators to work around Eyman’s I-1053, an initiative that conflicts with several provisions of the state constitution. Will they pursue it? On Feb 29, 2008,  Senate Bill 6931 was brought before the Washington State Senate for a vote.  SB 6931 would have imposed a 42¢ per liter surcharge on the sale of…

[Note: For later news on this topic, see: State Republicans fined for violating reporting requirements in 2010 elections.] In October, 2010 a formal complaint was filed with the Washington State Public Disclosure Commission against the Washington State chapter of Americans for Prosperity, the Koch brothers-funded organization that has promoted the Tea Party and that has…

MyNorthwest.com is reporting that Eyman honored for Washington initiative activism SEATTLE (AP) – Initiative activist Tim Eyman won a $20,000 award from the Sam Adams Alliance. The group calls him a modern day Sam Adams for his commitment to cutting the size of government in Washington state. The Seattle Times reports the “Sammies” awards were…

Here are two online tools that help you evaluate the performance of your state legislators: Washington Conservation Voters legislative scorecard Washington Labor Council Legislative Voting Records. Each tool shows ratings for House and Senate members, with the Labor Council having a year-by-year analysis. Anyone know of other scorecards? [Yes, Brian Gunn pointed me to Legislative…

Friends and fellow Democrats, Our house is on fire. The fate of one million children is in that burning house. Our public schools are on in danger of collapse.  In 2008, we were 47th in the nation in school funding. Since then, billions more have been cut. The fire is growing worse every day and…

From TPM In addition to acknowledging that seniors, disabled and elderly people would be hit with much higher out-of-pocket health care costs, the CBO finds that by the end of the 10-year budget window, public debt will actually be higher than it would be if the GOP just did nothing. Under the so-called “extended baseline…