Washblog

*BREAKING NEWS*

According to posts running at Fuse, Washington and Horsesass.org Dino Rossi has been caught with his hand in the BIAW cookie jar. With information obtained from attorney Knoll Lowney, both Fuse and HorsesAss are running stories that claim Dino may be directly involved with soliciting funds from the BIAW illegal campaign fund.

"When MBA leadership met next on May 21, 2007 at a "Chair Officers Meeting," the discussion turned to BIAW's pending request for campaign funds. While discussing the request, all three of the MBA's top officers reported that they had received calls from Dino Rossi. The one call for which additional detail is provided clearly confirms that Rossi called to support a MBA contribution to the BIAW's governor's race war chest. The minutes leave no question that Dino Rossi spoke to this officer about whether and when MBA would give to the BIAW's governor campaign fund..."

If proven to be true, Rossi would be in violation of several PDC rules including improper coordination between his campaign and a private PAC.

This is a breaking story so stay tuned...

Peace,
Chad (The Left) Shue

[Frontpaged. AR]

Of course by writing those words, I probably superstitiously guarantee that it won't happen today. I'm okay with that - really okay. Ideally, let me be as wrong as possible. And the really more important, more devastating, thing about a deflationary crisis is that it keeps coming in wave after wave.

From a mass psychological point of view, these crises are an "unmooring" of people from their assumptions - and folks get a little weird. We have to expect a lot of anger, panic, worry, even a weird feeling of elation. If anyone was in the New York area in '87, you know what I mean about the elation. Things get so unbelievable it's almost freeing.

Anyway, what I'm talking about - or around, really, because I don't want to talk about it - is what may happen in the next couple days. Without a bailout package, there is no controlling events. It is all up to a panicky world financial community. The venerable British newspaper The Times has maybe the best and most direct description of the situation that I have read, although I don't agree with all the conclusions by any means. It's a little optimistic in terms of the political situation - maybe more than a little - and it's unsurprisingly more than a little pro-business - unsurprising given that it is a center-right paper. For some reason, that makes it more poignant to me. Update [2008-9-30 14:14:11 by dlaw]:...oh jeez...see below...and, no I am not particularly comforted by the big move up in our stock market. But it does give smart people an opportunity to raise cash.  

[FP by Kathryn] Finally, a victory for progressives.  The bailout bill failed in the House today.

Today was a great victory for progressives everywhere.  Kucinich, Inslee, Conyers and many other Dems all stood up and said a big loud NO! to a bill that many Americans did not want to pass.  A bill we now know was flawed.

Even as Nancy "Impeachment is off the table" Pelosi, Steny "Let 'em wiretap us" Hoyer and other Dems wanted to ram this bill down the American publics throats, Republicans, scared that the few "compromises" in the bill meant socialism and Progressives, aware that what the bill actually did was put a huge burden on the middle class to enrich the elite, came together put a stop to the fraud that was the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008.

Kucinich and Co. literally saved America's ass today.

As a follow up to my previous post on the Green Everett Renewable Energy Fair on October 4th;

On Saturday, October 4th, Democracy for Snohomish County will play host to a Green Film Festival (including a Children's Film Festival) at the 3rd Annual Renewable Energy Fair at the Snohomish County PUD.
The line-up of films follows below the fold:

In London immediately after the 2004 election, the headline read something like "How can American People Be So Stupid?"

Republicans don't care why, they just hope for a repeat performance

Cartoonist is Mike Lukovich.

I am not a crypto-Republican. It's just that, to paraphrase Kennedy: "Ich bien ein Bailouter!"

We are all Bailouters now.

I want a mortgage insurance approach. The House Republicans want a mortgage insurance approach. I want that mortgage insurance to be paid for with government money and backed by the government. The House Republicans want that mortgage insurance to be paid for with Magic Beans and backed by Mother Goose. It's a distinction with the usual difference between workable public policy and Republicanism - a basis in reality. For that reason, it presents a conundrum - the same one Senator Obama faced in the debates last night...

With the recent economic crisis the door to domestic issues was opened during the first presidential debate and with this came health care.  The answers were predictable, but showed a clear difference between McCain and Obama.  

THIS .... is the party of Dino Rossi, Luke Esser and the BIAW.

Pay attention to why the "GOP party" under whose banner [with a judge's permission] Rossi is running is the last party you want tampering with government finances and budgeting:

cartoon found at about.com:political humor

[Front paged: NM. Read story and comments at Brad Blog.]

The Democratic candidate for Secretary of State in Washington state has released what he says will be the first of a series of campaign spots, satirizing the well-known "Mac v. PC" commercials, to highlight the differences between touch-screen voting machines and paper ballots.

[Front paged: NM]

That's what a friend wrote me, asking what I thought of the combination of slight alarmism and extreme annoyance that led to the decision. Now, with the GOVERNMENT SEIZING Washington Mutual we all see that this enormous financial institution, which has been claiming all along that it is sound and positioned to survive for the long term, has been nothing but a den of lies and fraud.

Update [2008-9-26 16:47:22 by dlaw]: According the TheStreet.Com:

Washington Mutual and its regulator, the Office of Thrift Supervision, were able to keep the thrift's $16.7 billion run on deposits off the front pages for nearly two weeks

So, this is how straight the banks and the government are being with the American people. I have to say I approved of the idea of taking deposits out of Washington Mutual. We have a lot of good credit unions in this state and there is just no reason to do business with dishonest banks while this Administration makes outrageous demands on America to save them. Hundreds of people are going to lose their jobs in our state - maybe thousands - when JPM-Chase takes over the parts of Washington Mutual it has deigned to acquire. Why shouldn't we, as Progressives, try to limit that number? Why shouldn't Progressives do business with local credit unions providing jobs right here in Washington? Why shouldn't Progressives use the member-ownership of credit unions to keep our financial system honest and focused on community?

[Front paged: NM. Not enough primary care providers in Washington state? Who knew?
Also check out The Country Doc Report.]

Let's say for the sake of argument that either Obama or McCain are elected and as luck would have it Congress decides to pass whatever health care reforms they had in mind and let's go once step further and say that it works.  Let's say that 95% of the country has health insurance of some form or another. Then what?

Cross posted here

Breaking news from The Hill:

McCain suspending campaign, wants to delay debate

"Republican presidential candidate John McCain said Wednesday he is suspending his campaign, and he is asking Democratic rival Barack Obama to join him in trying to postpone Friday night's debate so that both candidates and both parties can focus on a solution to the Wall Street crisis."

While McSame would like us to believe that he is concerned about resolving the financial mess HIS party has gotten Wall Street in to, I can't help but believe that he is frantically looking for a way to put as much distance between himself and this mess as possible before he has to face the American public (especially on a stage next to Barack Obama).

Even if you are not as skeptical as I am about McSame's self-serving motives, you have to ask what kind of leadership example is this that he is not able to concentrate on more than one issue at a time. I mean, there have been presidential campaigns and elections held during times of economic depression, times of war (both on American soil and abroad) and during times of domestic turmoil such as the time following the assasinations of Martin Luther King Jr. And Bobby Kennedy.

Having studied our statewide voter registration database, I have some concerns, which I'll detail below the fold. Meanwhile...

Verify Your Registation

Please take a moment to verify your voter registration. The deadline for new registrations is October 4th. While you're at it, encourage your friends, families and neighbors to do the same.

WashBlog has a banner ad with helpful links (in the left margin). Thanks Noemie! For all of Washington State, check online here. King County Elections has their own website. If you're not registered, or need to update your address, you can register online here.

[Update] Phone Numbers

I've received reports of intermittent problems with the web sites. If you have any problems whatsoever, please use the phone.

King County Elections 206-296-VOTE(8683)

Here is a full list of phone numbers for county auditors

We're zooming ever faster into a momentous event horizon --  with such things as the stability of the global climate and economic system and the survival of US democracy at stake.  

National legislators are on the verge of a bailout that's an unprecedented opportunity to reclaim some economic stability, accountability, and democracy.  Or maybe we're finally gunna hand the public sphere over to the robber barons.  Here's the Backbone Campaign's suggested response to legislators on the bailout -- very succinct.  To call your legislators, dial the congressional switchboard: 202-224-3121.  If ever you were tempted to make such a call, now would be a good time. Other contact options appear below.

It's also less than 2 weeks away from the deadline to register to vote in Washington.  The Secretary of State's office has purged hundreds of thousands of voter registrations from the rolls in the last few years.  There are bound to be some clerical errors.  Now may be the time to check that you're not one of them.  Below the fold are links to register to vote, identify and contact national and state districts and legislators.  There's also a link to contact the local Democratic organization in each state legislative district (to find out how you can help to get out the vote in your community).

On Friday, October 3rd and Saturday, October 4th Everett and Snohomish County will be "living green." At least that is the hope of the Sustainable Development Task Force of Snohomish County and Green Everett as they host "Greening Snohomish County, 2008" and the third annual "Renewable Living Fair & Solar and Green Home Tour 2008" at the Snohomish County PUD Building (2320 California St) in Everett.

On Friday, nationally acclaimed community organizer and author Jim Diers will be the keynote speaker at a day-long "Greening Snohomish County" conference that will include break-out sessions on such topics as "Remodeling Green", "Greening your Garden", and "Sustainable Communities." Cost for the event is $25.

Saturday will be a day for exhibitors, speakers, and a "Green Film Festival" as Green Everett hopes to repeat the success of their 2007 Renewable Living Fair & Solar and Green Home Tour. Keynoting the event this year will be Charlie Stephens who will speak on "Peak Oil - What Communities Can Do to Reinvent our Future." Cost for this event is any of the following: Canned Food Donation, Old Cell Phone, $5 (No one will be turned away)

For a complete listing of activities, exhibitors, sponsors, and more....please go to Sustainable Everett dot com.