Washblog

Social Security Works--Washington Pledge

Social Security is the only dependable source of income for retired Americans and supports millions of families through its disability and survivors programs. Every working person pays into it and earns benefits. For 75 years, Social Security has been America's most trusted institution. It is frugally administered and soundly finance~ to continue providing a foundation of economic security for future generations.

In the interests of my constituents - the men, women and children who are Social Security's current and future beneficiaries,
pledge to:

~ defend the integrity of Social Security against efforts to reduce its benefits or weaken its protections;

~ support responsible efforts to strengthen Social Security benefits;
~ oppose any and all efforts to reduce the federal deficit by failing to fully honor obligations to the Social Security Trust Fund, built by the payroll contributions of working Americans.

Signed_______
Date_______

Notes from first WA State chapter meeting below

If we needed a reminder, this week's rulings striking down Section 3 of DOMA demonstrate the importance of having fair minded justices on the bench.

By a 5-4 vote the Supreme Court of the State of Washington ruled in 2006 in Andersen v. King County that the state's Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) was constitutional.  Two of the five justices in the majority, James Johnson and Richard Sanders, agreed with the judgment but apparently felt that the majority opinion wasn't homophobic enough; Johnson wrote a separate opinion laden with raw anti-gay animus, and Sanders co-signed it.  Here is a line from their opinion -- they chose to put scare quotes around the word marriage when referring to same-sex marriage.

Gratuitously venomous, Johnson & Sanders likened marriage equality to polygamy and used terms like "professed homosexuals".  They referred to the Goodridge marriage equality decision in Massachusetts as a "notorious exception" that "has not yet been reversed."  They insultingly referred to the married gay and lesbian plaintiffs as "individuals...who claim they were married in other states", and to equality advocates as "special interests loudly advocating the latest political correctness."  They referred to their colleague Justice Mary Fairhurst, who wrote a dissenting opinion, as "paranoid" to suggest that laws like DOMA are passed out of anti-gay animus.

The homophobic incumbents are up for reelection. Let's replace them with fair-minded and impartial Stan Rumbaugh and Charlie Wiggins!

Vote Stan Rumbaugh for Position 1! Facebook - Web page

Vote Charlie Wiggins for Position 6! Facebook - Web page

Stan Rumbaugh is challenging Johnson; Charlie Wiggins is challenging Sanders.  Stan Rumbaugh and Charlie Wiggins are both credible candidates who have been endorsed by Equal Rights Washington among a host of others.  Josh Friedes, Executive Director of Equal Rights Washington, shared these comments with me:

Today's ruling striking down Section 3 of DOMA demonstrates the importance of having fair minded justices on the bench.

Stan Rumbaugh has a demonstrated record of impartiality and a deep commitment to upholding the civil rights of all Washingtonians.  Rumbaugh's law partner, Terry Barnett, represented a man named Frank Vasquez whose partner of 28 years died without a will in 1995.  The deceased partner's sisters claimed that they were entitled to all of the assets, including the home where the couple had lived.  Rumbaugh's law firm doggedly pursued the case pro bono (without accepting payment) for six years and in 2001 they won the first significant victory ever for gay rights in the Washington Supreme Court.  Ultimately, Rumbaugh and his partners paid out of their own pockets to settle the case with the sisters and make sure that Frank Vasquez could stay in his house.  

Charlie Wiggins has demonstrated a true interest in learning about the challenges faced by Washington's minority communities.  Unlike Justice Sanders who Charlie Wiggins is challenging, we believe that Charlie Wiggins would approach any case involving LGBT matters without the anti-LGBT animus that Sanders has demonstrated in his opinions.  While we are not 100% comfortable with previous statements Wiggins has made, he like most human beings of good conscience has demonstrated an ability to evolve his thinking when presented with compelling facts.  Sanders, by contrast, has written in his judicial opinions what can only charitably viewed as homophobic.

Very important: Because Stan Rumbaugh is the only challenger for Position 1, the race will be won or lost in the August 17, 2010 primary.  Please help get the word out about Stan Rumbaugh, join Stan Rumbaugh on Facebook and consider making a donation to the Equal Rights Washington Political Action Committee.  The top priority of ERW PAC is electing fair and impartial judges and pro-equality legislators.

With the death of Senator Byrd, there will be tremendous focus on Senator Cantwell's principled, intelligent position against the present financial regulation bill - a position she shares with Senator Feingold, but also with the Party of No.

The present bill is sleazy and fairly dastardly, but I'm so discouraged by the Dems that I think maybe she should change her position - much as I admire her for taking it.

My gut tells me "no". I'm sure that Cantwell's giving in for exactly the reasons she will be encouraged to give in was part of Wall Street's playbook the whole time. It's just hard to accept that somehow the Dems were able to manufacture a loss from a bill that was the easiest win in the recent history of major legislation. It seems insane to give in to Wall Street right now, rather than hanging the Republicans with this bill's failure. I don't know. What do you think?

The National Organization for Marriage (NOM) and their associates Protect Marriage Washington (PMW) have lost big-time in Washington state.  First they lost at the ballot box, now they've lost in the Supreme Court of the United States:

In November, 2009 over 53% of the electorate voted to approve Referendum 71, making Washington the first state in the nation to recognize LGBT families and ratify a domestic partnership law at the polls.  PMW was the organization trying to use a referendum vote to overturn the law.

Not satisfied, they continued to litigate.  Last week, in an 8-1 ruling in Doe v. Reed, the U.S. Supreme Court confirmed the constitutionality of Washington's Public Records Act, which considers referenda and initiative petitions to be public records.  The Court was clear that public disclosure requirements are an important means of making sure measures are not put on the ballot by fraudulent means or mistake, saying:

Public disclosure thus helps ensure that the only signatures counted are those that should be, and that the only referenda placed on the ballot are those that garner enough valid signatures. Public disclosure also promotes transparency and accountability in the electoral process to an extent other measures cannot. In light of the foregoing, we reject plaintiffs' argument and conclude that public disclosure of referendum petitions in general is substantially related to the important interest of preserving the integrity of the electoral process.

The Court also reaffirmed the principle that nobody has the right to legislate in secret.  This includes voters who act as citizen-legislators when they sign a referendum petition.  As Justice Scalia stated in his concurring opinion:

Plaintiffs point to no precedent from the Court holding that legislating is protected by the First Amendment.  Nor do they identify historical evidence demonstrating that "the freedom of speech" the First Amendment codified encompassed a right to legislate without public disclosure.  This should come as no surprise; the exercise of lawmaking power in the United States has traditionally been public.

Anne Levinson, Chair of Washington Families Standing Together (WAFST) put the significance of this ruling into perspective for LGBT people.  WAFST led the successful Approve Referendum 71 campaign and is a respondent in Doe v. Reed.

This 8- 1 ruling by the highest court in the land is a significant defeat for those who have sought to enshrine discrimination into law at the ballot box. Nowhere is the integrity and transparency of elections more important than where the ballot box is being used in an attempt to take away fundamental rights. Nowhere is it more important for the public to know that attempts to affect the lives of their fellow citizens by promoting ballot measures are free from fraud and error. Perhaps no other group has witnessed its rights put up for public vote more than LGBT Americans. Social conservatives have used ballot measures in state after state, over more than 30 years, to keep LGBT Americans from being able to adopt children, to marry and even to be protected from discrimination in housing and employment.

We have already seen some impressive efforts in this campaign season to do a bit of résumé padding, particularly as it regards things military; so far Illinois' Mark Kirk has managed to turn himself into a kind of camouflage Austin Powers, while Connecticut's Richard Blumenthal's trying to catch up with some "Vietnam" service of his own that no one else in the theater of operations exactly knew about.

But now, in the race for Alabama Governor, we may have seen something that takes us to a whole new level of "inflation": the Republican candidate is running an ad that not only suggests that he served in Vietnam...it seems to imply that he actually died there, and has now come back to save the State.

Which is some serious irony indeed, considering that the candidate is actually a medical doctor.

And with that, let me introduce you to the either living...or undead...Dr. Robert J. Bentley.

The leaders of Bankistan "dodged a bullet" yesterday, as Democratic "lawmakers" decided on a "fig leaf" instead of anything approaching financial reform.

Remember the evils of "too big to fail"? Not evil any more, apparently. Remember the dangers of a huge, unregulated financial derivatives market? No longer dangerous, it seems. Remember how shocking it was that banks were gambling with the capital underlying the world's financial system with their proprietary trading, in-house hedge funds and all that rank speculation? Not shocking any more. Now everything is okay.

I can't wait to see what the Democrats do with oil drilling regulation, but don't be surprised if you see large, metal structures being constructed in the middle of Lake Union.

Brighton, Colorado (FNS)--Attorneys from the Republican Study Group (RSG) descended upon the 17th Judicial District courtroom of Judge John T Bryan today to present an amicus brief and associated oral arguments in order to prevent a settlement in a lawsuit related to an automobile accident in this Colorado city.

The intervening attorneys claim the settlement reached between the two parties to the accident is a "shakedown" because the plaintiff had not yet exhausted all possible legal remedies when the agreement was finalized, and because the agreement was executed in the presence of the plaintiff's brother, a well-known local attorney.

They hope Judge Bryan will decline to approve the settlement in today's hearing, and that he will order the parties to move forward to trial.

"What we have is government transferring property from one party, an admittedly unattractive one, to others, not based on preexisting laws but on decisions by one man, a car czar", said Crush Mimbaugh, attorney for the RSG, "and we are here today to protect all Americans from this legally sanctioned rape of an innocent driver."

Something is very wrong with this picture.  Michael Scott Brumback is the democratic candidate for Washington state Legislature in legislative district 14.  The seat is currently held by the pro-equality republican Rep. Norm Johnson (R-Yakima).  This is what the Yakima Herald reported from an interview with Brumback on the day he filed:

Along with his fiscal views, Brumback is socially conservative on the gay marriage issue.

"I'd say no, absolutely," he said.

He also said he probably would have voted against last year's expansion of state rights for same-sex domestic partners. That's been a key issue already in the race; Strobel has criticized Johnson's vote in favor of the expansion. That stance could put Brumback at odds with much of the state Legislature, which pending this fall's elections remains under Democratic control.

He seems fine with that.

Demand That the Fiscal Commission Keep Social Security and Medicare Intact
Public Meeting & Public Feedback

http://www.fiscalcommission.gov/

The National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform will hold a public hearing in the afternoon on June 30th in Washington, D.C., wherein the chairmen and commissioners will hear ideas from members of the public. If you or your organization would like an opportunity to be a part of this public forum, please send an email to commission@fc.eop.gov with the information below, and we will contact you as the date approaches.

1. Name
   
2. Will you be representing an organization?
   
3. If so, what organization will you be representing?
   
4. Email Address
   
5. Phone Number
   
6. Zip Code
   
7. Any additional information

Unfortunately, due to time and space constraints, we are not able to accommodate everyone. However, anyone can submit comments, ideas, and suggestions at anytime via email by contacting commission@fc.eop.gov.  All comments received, including attachments and other supporting materials, are part of the public record.

Email comments to commission@fc.eop.gov
http://www.fiscalcommission.gov/

Honestly, I am absolutely sick of commercial air travel these days. Just dealing with security is bad enough, but then there's the airlines, and...hey, all you really need to know here is that there has to be a pretty good reason for me to fly cross-country.

Well, I had one Saturday night, which is how I came to be in the Colonnade Room of the Fairmount Hotel, Washington DC with about 250 of my closest friends, in a classic shawl-collar tuxedo, attending one of the most exclusive "passing of the torch" ceremonies in recent Washington memory.

And when it was all over, Douglas Feith was a happy man.

It's part two of our "Netroots Nation Goes To Vegas Piano Bar Extravaganza", and in keeping with tradition that means we are again taking a story request.

This time we won't be talking about energy security or "climate security"; instead, we'll discuss retirement security, keeping your money for yourself instead of paying it out in "mystery fees", and how one of the "usual suspects" is at it again.

And if all that wasn't enough...we also have pie.

In a tragic and disappointing development, Congressmen Jay Inslee and Rick Larsen have decided to join 43 of their fellow members of the always-tragic, always-disappointing "New Democrat Coalition" in opposing financial reform for Wall Street.

What's a "swaps desk"? Think: "AIG Financial Products" (AIG FP). Remember them? Sure you do. You know, the small division of AIG that sent the world's largest, global insurance company crashing into bankruptcy and nearly brought down the entire financial system? That's right, those guys. If you were tasked with reforming insurance companies would you let them all keep their own versions of AIG FP? No, I thought not.

Senator Cantwell - whom I've criticized MANY times before - is absolutely right in her multiple efforts to reform the financial derivatives industry, and Inslee and Larsen are wrong. So before these worthy Representatives from our state of Washington throw their reputations away on the efforts of a bunch of "New Democrats" and other House members - many of whom just happen to be from the great state of New York (Capital of Bankistan) - let's try and persuade them not to.  

Netroots Nation will be in Las Vegas in just a few weeks; with that in mind we are going to play "piano bar" and fulfill a couple of requests, one today and one tomorrow, from folks who would like to bring a couple of things to your attention.

Today's topic: climate change.

As you know, there is a lot of legislation floating around Capitol Hill that would begin to use some sort of market-based mechanism to reduce the amount of carbon we emit.

None of it will move unless it moves through the Senate, and today, that's what we'll be talking about.

Matter of fact, they will be too.

It is by now obvious that even after we stop the gentle trickle of oil that's currently expressing itself into the Gulf of Mexico (thank you so much, BP) we are not going to be able to get that oil out of the water for some considerable length of time--and if you think it could take years, I wouldn't bet against you.

While BP is the legally responsible party, out on the water it will be up to the Coast Guard to manage the Federal response, and to determine that BP is running things in a way that gets the work done not only correctly and safely, but, in a world of limited resources, efficiently.

Which brings us to the obvious question: can the Coast Guard manage such a complex undertaking?

While we hope they can, you need to know that the Coast Guard has been trying to manage the replacement of their fleet of ships and aircraft for about a decade now...and the results have been so stunningly bad that you and I are now the proud owners of a small flotilla of ships that can never be used, because if they go to sea, they might literally break into pieces.

It's an awful story, and before we're done you'll understand why Deepwater was already an ugly word around Headquarters, years before that oil rig blew up.

Dear The United Kingdom,

I just wanted to take a minute to say hello and to see how things have been for you lately, and to maybe bring you up to date on a bit of news from here.

Well, right off the bat, we hear you have a new Conservative Prime Minister and that his Party and Nick Clegg and the Lib Dems are in partnership, which I'm sure will be interesting; you probably heard that us Colonials are again having Tea Parties, which has also been very interesting.

I have a Godson who's getting married this September, so we're all talking about that, and I hear Graham Norton was even better than last year at hosting Eurovision, despite the fact that it's...frankly, it's Eurovision.

Oh, yeah...we also had a bit of an oil spill recently that you may have heard about--and hoo, boy; you should see how the Company that spilled the oil has been acting.