Washblog

My Two Cents on WA's Progressive Blogosphere

As always, great post Noemie.

There is so much here to respond to and I haven't fully synthesized everything that you talk about.  I'd just like to throw my two cents in for anyone doing serious thinking on where to take the Washington progressive blogosphere.  I think that as much as possible we need to focus on creating an online-offline bridge. 

I always fear that blogs and their readers, while an amazing resource for news and analysis, don't do enough to advocate for change in the "real world."  It's all well and good to be ridiculously well-informed about all these issues, but it's all for naught if we don't do anything with that knowledge. 

I know the little "calls to action" that I tend to put in my posts seem cheesy at times, but it is vitally important that as educated and politicized citizens we keep on our legislators about the issues that are important to us.  For instance handwritten letters were instrumental in getting Republican support to pass the patients bill of rights. 

With that in mind, the Family Leave coalition is looking for anyone who has had a compelling experience with Family Leave to share their stories.  Whether it be a story of how leave time allowed you to spend the last few weeks with a dying relative, or if you had problems getting leave from work, that sort of thing.  They are looking for people to testify to the Legislature as well as providing real examples for media outreach.  If you know anyone like this, have them contact the Family Leave coalition coordinator Marilyn Watkins of the Economic Opportunity Institute at Marilyn@eoionline.org or (206) 529-6370.  As an aside, the EOI is another example of a great progressive think-tank in Washington State.

And as a final aside, I'd like to thank Brian again for giving me the opportunity to join this great community.

PortDork

Washington's Progressive Blogosphere and the "Emerging Progressive Infrastructure"

We find ourselves in a time when democratic institutions are under coordinated siege -- and injustice and unreason are publicly celebrated as right in line with American values. In the words of Gara LaMarche of the Open Society Institute, these threats to open society call for "a serious and coordinated response."

I've been wondering about the role of progressive bloggers in that response in Washington State -- particularly in relation to that emerging phenomenon so engagingly known as the progressive infrastructure. The idea of a consciously devised architecture that is making a place not just for progressive policies, but also for progressivism as a whole, that is designed to help us transcend our current dynamic of continual reaction to assaults on sustainable society from the right, is attractive indeed. It does seem past time to get better grounded in some strategic meta-collaboration.

Looking at what has been happening in Washington State – with victories for the public good won against great odds -- and then continually challenged or even overturned over the past several decades – it's evident that, to the extent that we may be working at cross purposes, duplicating effort, or are not strategically communicating, progressive organizations are dissipating their energies and resources and failing to take the best advantage of natural connections and synergies.

Washington and the northwestern region have a rich network of organizations with progressive missions, some explicitly devoted to strengthening progressivism. For example, Institute for Washington's Future, founded in the early 1990s, is devoted to renewing the progressive movement in Washington and has produced important analysis and completed numerous projects, recently focusing on sustainable development in rural areas and bridging Washington's rural to urban divide. Despite our progressive resources, however, our state is considered to be missing key elements of the architecture of a coordinated movement. As far as I know, we don't have a multi-issue think tank with adequate funding, or organizations producing model legislation across the progressive spectrum, or devoted to progressive messaging

Drinking from a bottomless glass of kool-aid

The wingnuttery, reeling from fresh defeats at the ballot box, dumbfounded at the notion that voters actually would vote for their own self-interests, are once again going back to the well to come up with a 2006 version of their 'Contract on Washington' series of wedge issues. Here is a look at their ten point plan for more Republican regress in the coming year:

1. Restore the voter-approved state expenditure limit. AKA: Revert to failed policies that shrink government down to a size that it can be drowned in a bathtub.

2. Pass “Jessica’s Law Plus” to protect our children from sex offenders. AKA: Pander to voter's fears with a reactionary law that offers a panacea of security that really isn't there.

3. Allow consumers—not government—to choose the health coverage that is most affordable and best for their families. AKA: Continue to allow healthcare costs to spiral to a point that only 1% of Washingtonians can afford to go to a doctor.

4. Protect property rights and prevent government from taking property without compensation. AKA: Allow polluters to piss in the water we all drink from without retribution.

5. Allow citizens and their elected representatives, not the courts, to decide the definition of marriage. AKA: Discriminate and promote hate against people that love each other.

6. Make our neighborhoods safer through enhanced penalties for auto theft, identify theft and methamphetamine (AIM). AKA: Claim you're tough on crime by continuing to ignore poverty and the underlying reasons why desperate people resort to desperate measures to feed their families.

7. Eliminate the day use fee at state parks. AKA: Co-opt liberal ideals to look more 'mainstream'.

8. Eliminate D.O.E.’S “Use it or lose it” policy on water rights. AKA: Ensure that Washington's limited water sources are hoarded by the few, and not put to maximum beneficial use for all of Washington's citizens.

9. Repeal 2005 General Fund tax increases. AKA: Choke off any and all forms of investment that may provide essential public services, refer to voter pandering on issue #1.

10. All Auditors must be elected. AKA: Politicize government audits, target needed programs as inefficient and eliminate public education.

Bonus Issue #11. Force feed Washington Republicans more kool-aid, to avoid more hemorrhaging of their base.

A teachable moment for the GOP

I spent a lot of my Thanksgiving discussing and thinking about the incredibly irresponsible and reprehensible (thanks for that turn of phrase, Dick!) bogus voter registration challenges from the GOP and Lori Sotelo.  (I've created a page to track the story.  It's at my own website, as I can't add pages to Washblog)  It started to click in my mind that this is the leading edge of something larger, and the importance of showing the GOP that there are consequences for their actions.  In other words - they need to be taught.  It's a teachable moment, and we need to seize it.

Before you read on:  Sign the petition for Norm Maleng.  Then tell all your friends to do the same.

The Republican Party of today has apparently decided no laws apply to them.  They feel compelled to act on any and all urges, and are eager to pursue any means to ensure more and more power.  In Ohio and now here in King County, they have decided to try and win elections by challenging voter registrations in Democratic areas.  Lori Sotelo, in her eagerness to cheat voters of the franchise, has now been shown to be a liar, poor manager of volunteers, and bad person - willing to blame those volunteers for her poor decisions and perjurous actions.  What should become of her, and why is it important?

"You guys are pathetic! Pathetic!"

So says Rep. Marty Meehan (D-MA) in this article about yesterday's debacle ensuing from Jack Murtha's proposed amendment to begin withdrawal from Iraq. 

Murtha, a 37-year Marine veteran and considered the voice of the Pentagon brass on Capitol Hill, suggested that since our mission in Iraq has been accomplished (depose Saddam - check, start democracy - check, stop WMD production - check by default), and our troops are now nothing more than walking bullseyes and recruiting posters for insurgents, it's time to begin withdrawal from Iraq.  His amendment called for redeployment at the earliest "practicable date", establishing a quick-reaction force and Marine presence in the area, and pursuit of stability through diplomacy.  Of course, such measured approaches to withdrawal are anathema to the Republican mind, which reads all this as "cut and run".

Western Washington Needs the East - Part I

BetterDonkey.org asks the question on their blog about whether Western Washington needs Eastern Washington to stay blue. Well, forget the statistics, forget the us vs. them attitudes and start thinking about all the people in this state. Shoring up the blue color in Washington isn’t going to be easy. And it will take Eastern Washington to make it happen. But west side Democrats need to understand the east side voters.

The kids are alright

It is great to see our youth speaking out, speaking up, taking a stand. Bleak economic prospects and perpetual war will do that to a person, but these kids are surprisingly aware of the lies and deceptions that the Bush Administration used to invade Iraq.

"I'm just tired of what Bush is doing to this country," said Ryan Wisniewski, 15, from Ballard High School. "Tired of fighting a war we don't need to be fighting and spending money we don't need to be spending, killing troops we don't need to be killing."

"I'm doing this because I care about what's happening to this country. I care about the future," said 14-year-old Emma Staake, from Roosevelt High School. "People are dying every day. The war is stupid. It's just for money and power, and we've been lied to."

"I'm against the war. There was no point in doing it. Bush did it for oil and blinded us with weapons of mass destruction." said Montana Posse, 15, of Ballard High School.

"It's cool to just feel the solidarity and know there's a community of people who support each other." said Jeff Stein, 16, of Ingraham High School.

Smart kids, indeed.

Opportunity in Montana

Thanks to DavidNYC at Daliy Kos

First Burns and his co-conspirators cripple the economy, then take another drink of the Kool-Aid before vomiting a sanctimonious moralism.

Northwest Bloggers! Please give aid and comfort to the enemies of Conrad Burns (R Montana)!

Montana Bloggers!

What can we do to help?

Sen. Conrad Burns' off-the-cuff remarks have gotten him in trouble in the past.

He once called Arabs "rag heads," later apologizing for the comment. Another time, the Montana Republican commented on how challenging it is to live with so many blacks in Washington.

Now, two Northwest Airlines flight attendants say Burns offended them recently when he told one of the women she could stay at home and be a mother if she lost her job to outsourcing.

"He's still living in the '50s," said Karen McElvaney, who is raising two young children in Atlanta while working for Northwest. "If I could stay home, I certainly would love to stay with my kids."

Burns, who is up for re-election next year, said Tuesday morning he did not recall the conversation. He later said through a spokesman that he remembered speaking to the flight attendants but never told one she could stay home with her children.

McElvaney said she approached the lawmaker with her concerns about outsourcing during a Sept. 25 flight from Great Falls to Minneapolis. When McElvaney asked what she would do if she lost her job, Burns replied she could stay home and be a mother, she said.

McElvaney did not reply.

But Kari Johnke-Henzler, a flight attendant from Minneapolis, who listened to the exchange, said she told Burns what both she and McElvaney were thinking: "I am a mother. However, I need to support my family."

The two women, both longtime Northwest employees, said many families can no longer rely solely on a husband's income.

McElvaney repeated the story to another Northwest flight attendant, Jaime Drain, who has a penchant for writing letters to public officials.

"Before you sit in judgment and make such ignorant statements, you really should stop and remember that we don't all live in a Leave it to Beaver world," Drain wrote in a Sept. 28 letter to Burns. "Perhaps it's time for you, Senator Burns, to retire and stay home since it's obvious to me that you have absolutely no concept of what it's like to be a middle-class average working American living in the modern world."

"I know that the human being and the fish can coexist."

Critical Areas Ordinance Framing, via e-mail:

The Critical Areas Ordinance (CAO) has been successfully turned into a wedge issue by the right wing and land developers.

Unfortunately, the proponents of this ordinance have been ineffective in dealing with this criticism.  When discussing the CAO they have been using factual talking points without a central frame. Without a central idea expressing the intent and value of the CAO Ron Sims and all of the people who had a hand in crafting this ordinance are under heavy attack in this election cycle.

To make matters worse, by making this into wedge issue, the right wing is using the CAO to swing moderate voters into moderate Republicans.  Even solid democrats are having a hard time supporting this issue.

In an effort to help counter the negative effects of the Critical Ordinance and to attempt to help progressives support this ordinance Democracy for South King County has developed a frame that we believe will effectively promote the values of this ordinance.

Read the excellent job with CAO frames by the DSKC over the flip.....

PetroCollapse and Sustainability

This is a beautifully articulated response to the crises of our time. What this author describes, as well as many others, is how utterly dependent our lives are on a system that is in itself, unsustainable. There are all changes we can make in our own lives to make "the crash" a little lighter, but the real change needs to happen in our politics, our public consumption, and above all in our civility towards others. As Kunstler poetically notes, "we gave up on the common good, which means that we gave up on the future, and the people who will dwell in it."

Remarks by James Howard Kunstler
Author of The Long Emergency
PetroCollapse New York Conference
October 5, 2005

In the waning months of 2005, our failure to face the problems before us as a society is a wondrous thing to behold. Never before in American history have the public and its leaders shown such a lack of resolve, or even interest, in circumstances that will change forever how we live.

Even the greatest convulsion in our national experience, the Civil War, was preceded by years of talk, if not action. But in 2005 we barely have enough talk about what is happening to add up to a public conversation. We're too busy following Paris Hilton and Michael Jackson, or the NASCAR rankings, or the exploits of Donald Trump. We're immersed in a national personality freak show soap opera, with a side order of sports 24-7.