Washblog

The Daily Astorian has won the 2007 Dolly Connelly Award for excellence in environmental journalism for a series of articles on how global warming stands to impact the Pacific Northwest and its living creatures.

 

Established in 1998, the Connelly Award is given out annually by the association. It was established by Seattle P-I columnist Joel Connelly in memory of his mother, who worked as a freelance journalist and correspondent for Time-Life.

  I learned today in Salem, Oregon Statesman Journal publishing a Seattle AP report.  Hey, the Daily Astorian is our neck of the woods - out here in Bay Center, in Pacific County.  So I followed the link and found a fantastic resource in the collection of articles for this special report featured in the Daily Astorian.

An award wining special report as provided by a collaborating collection of 22 writers, seven photographers, seven editors, six page designers and two logo creators from The Daily Astorian.

In 2001, Tim Eyeman's Initiative 747 instituted a 1% annual cap on property tax levy increases.  In 2006, I-747 was declared unconstitutional in Washington State Superior Court for King County.  This decision was appealed and arguments were heard in Washington's Supreme Court this May.  In the meantime, Democratic legislators, including my Representative Pat Sullivan, have been introducing bills to reinstate this tax limit.  See David Goldstein's piece from March of this year: Please Don't Feed the Tim.

A 1% cap on property tax is, in fact, a tax cut -- as this is below the rate of inflation.  It has regressive impact in a state with already seriously regressive tax structure. It has serious negative impact on rural areas especially, which depend more on these funds.  It starves the funding for public services and infrastructure.*

Andrew Villenueve at Northwest Progressive Institute reports this morning that the state Supreme Court has upheld the Superior Court and I-747 is now officially dead.  Here's the article, which outlines the legal reasoning:   BREAKING: VICTORY! WA Supreme Court declares Eyman's I-747 unconstitutional

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*Corrected, 11/14. See story and discussion at Postman on Politics: Not everyone happy to see Dems back tax limit

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Why that Blond Lady on TV is Scared of Frivolous Lawsuits

By very apparent and logical definition, insurance companies cannot maximize profits unless they deny claims.

Most of us can help insurers stay in business by restricting ourselves to Tylenol, bandaids and cough syrup. Oh, and by paying our exorbitant monthly health premiums which of course we don't get to apply toward payments on Tylenol, bandaids and cough syrup.

We're not team players when we get so sick that T,b & cs are no longer sufficient and we need major medical care.

Now we've joined the economic terrorists looking to put our patriotic self-serving capitalist wart hogs out of business with ipmd's (improvised personal medical disasters).

So when that smart-looking but dumb-talking blonde  tells us that frivolous lawsuits are the problem, she's being stereotypical and joke-worthy (and I'm not trying to make jokes or belittle blondes in the usual manner.)

Reference Eric Haas via Common Dreams

More - but not too much more - beyond the fold

Photo-evangelicalright.com

Before I stumbled into this article, I was intensely pulling for the Rockies. But obviously the divinely appointed underdogs in the World Serious are the Boston Red Sox.

Now, the majority of my inner voices will be pushing me to cheer for Boston. I can't help myself.

The Rockies have taken baseball's equivalent of the endzone prayer by a touchdown-scorer to new levels.

"You look at some of the moves we made and didn't make," general manager Dan O'Dowd said in the only interview he has given on the subject, long before the Rockies' remarkable ascension over the past few weeks. "You look at some of the games we're winning. Those aren't just a coincidence. God has definitely had a hand in this."

Picked up the mail yesterday which included a letter from my local agent who writes my auto and homeowners insurance.

Although it is on a letter bearing his personal agency letterhead, he didn't write the letter and he didn't sign it. His insurance company wrote it and no doubt told him what to say and how to say it.

The Real Iraq War We Knew article at Washington Post today, Oct 16, 2007 - by 12 former Iraq veterans Army Captains.

extract;

This is Operation Iraqi Freedom and the reality we experienced. This is what we tried to communicate up the chain of command. This is either what did not get passed on to our civilian leadership or what our civilian leaders chose to ignore. While our generals pursue a strategy dependent on peace breaking out, the Iraqis prepare for their war -- and our servicemen and women, and their families, continue to suffer.

There is one way we might be able to succeed in Iraq. To continue an operation of this intensity and duration, we would have to abandon our volunteer military for compulsory service. Short of that, our best option is to leave Iraq immediately. A scaled withdrawal will not prevent a civil war, and it will spend more blood and treasure on a losing proposition.

America, it has been five years. It's time to make a choice.

Enough said - Dear God, I hope so..
  read more below the fold

This started out as a short piece until I let my emotions have free reign.

Reference Today's Aberdeen Daily World:
Baird faces his constituents in Raymond

I like the article cause obviously they couldn't find a picture of some handsomer guy and were afraid to put up a picture of Lietta as a mother/grandmother being uppity and rude to a U.S. Congressman.

Actually, being uppity and rude was not at all what Lietta said and did. Within minutes after she started her first question you could sense how most of the audience was sitting up and paying attention rather than attempting to shush her or insist that she keep quiet so others could speak.

Furthermore, Brian Baird -  as he answered most  questions - kept returning and making eye contact with Lietta while speaking. That is what usually happens when a speaker comes to understand what constitutes the most serious concern of the audience.

It's not surprising that even in rural Pacific County, Iraq and flub-a-dub Republican presidents and politicians are on everyone's mind. Out here in the boondocks some thought the audience would be more willing to talk about Spartina grass in the Willapa Bay or road construction on State Highway 6.  

Fat chance.

Cross posted to Willapa Magazine and Daily Kos

9-9-07 - Several hundred people contributed $100 or more to the Edwards campaign to hear him speak at the Seattle Westin. JRE did not disappoint.

For me it was a first impression. Edwards is a powerful speaker in person, appearing passionate, sincere, and comfortable.

He received a burst of applause after many of his statements, but this wasn't a pep rally. The mood was somber, even while applauding. What weighs heavily: our own government's continuing assault on reason, truth, peace, justice, civil liberties, science, and public health. We needed to hear Edwards address those issues, and he did.

Edwards' stump speech was about challenging giant corporations, righting injustices, and repairing the past 7 years' destruction.

"I will shut down Guantanamo my first day in office," he said. "Isn't it incredible a candidate for President of the U.S. has to make a point of declaring that he is against torture and detention without charges?"

 

Jim Anderson from decorabilia is live-blogging tonight's forum in Olympia featuring Brian Baird as he explains his recent change of heart on Iraq. Go here to read the live-blog and give him your comments (they're off here).

To make sense of the 22-year-old's death, the pair work to spread the message of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), the illness that, as much as the handgun, deprived their son of life.

The Iowa couple's ultimate goal is to see the Joshua Omvig Veteran Suicide Prevention Act get signed into law this year.

Lietta and I are members of a Google Group: Veterans and Military Families Caucus -

a caucus of the Washington State Democratic Committee, dedicated to keeping faith with the veterans of the United States and their families and supporting Democratic candidates who live up to this obligation.

We received the following News Release today.

Former Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan, who served in that influential role from 1987 to 2006:

"I am saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows: the Iraq war is largely about oil."

  link here.

Thank you Alan Greenspan for stating what was obvious and known in 2003, what my U.S. Army son-in-law said when he was deployed in Baghdad in 2003 - 2004.  Now, how about this country get busy reducing reliance on oil and doing something to actually reduce our carbon footprint.  

That is something we CAN do!  Every one of us, from any and all belief systems, maybe a bridge to reach across the divide after all.

(read more below the fold)

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Insurance industry $millions, with the help of people like Renton's Ray Peretti, may succeed in tricking WA's voters into repealing a major consumer protection law recently passed in WA despite intense industry opposition. In order to keep this law on the books, voters must APPROVE R-67 in the fall election.
[Also see Northwest Progressive Institute's story on this letter.]

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[Update 9/17/07: WA State Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler sends out an email letter urging approval of Referendum 67: WA Insurance Commissioner: Don't Believe the Hype: Yes on R-67!]

Ray L. Peretti is President of the National Association of Professional Insurance Agencies.  He neglected to mention that in a letter he sent to thousands of Washington voters last week urging us to overturn Washington's Insurance Fair Conduct Act.  He presented himself simply as a "long-time independent insurance agent" who was looking out for our best interests.  

Hooey.

Peretti's letter is paid for "Consumers Against Higher Insurance Rates" (CAHIR), an insurance industry front group that has funneled a recordbreaking $7.7 million into the effort to overturn the Insurance Fair Conduct Act that Washington's legislature passed last session.  Most of this money is from out-of-state.

The insurance lobby has accomplished the first part of its mission.  It succeeded in using its almost limitless resources to get the Insurance Fair Conduct Act put on the ballot for approval by voters in the form of Referendum 67.  If voters don't approve R-67, they'll be repealing the Insurance Fair Conduct Act.   See below the fold for more on R-67, a copy of Peretti's letter, the rebuttal to his letter that Sue Evans of Approve 67 provided to me, and a breakdown of contributors to the $7.7 million that insurance companies have skimmed from the premiums we pay in order to lie to us, flout our laws, and trick us into cheating ourselves.

Dear Rep. Brian Baird,

 How do you square your analysis after your recent trip to Iraq with Rep Jim Walsh, who also just returned from Iraq just this Monday, even with General Patraeus report yesterday and has this analysis:

"Before I went, I was not prepared to say it's time to start bringing our troops home," Walsh said. "I am prepared to say that now. It's time."

Walsh's announcement came as Gen. David Petraeus, the U.S. commander in Iraq, told House members that the troop "surge" has made progress.

But Walsh said he saw little evidence that much has changed in Iraq since he last visited four years ago. He said he hopes to meet with President Bush to convey his change of heart.

(from article 'Walsh says it's time to withdraw troops' by Erin Kelly, Washington correspondent)

sincerely,

Lietta Ruger,
military family in Pacific County, WA - 3rd Congressional District - WA
with 2 returning Iraq veterans, both from WA
one leaving next month for his second 15 month deployment in Iraq  

And I say that aroma stinks to high heaven, especially when it is used by an officer (in uniform, no less) at the Pentagon - one who may have a little something to do with influencing the orders of the rank and file troops! Today I am incensed at the news  of an 'Evangelical Pentagon' (also the CNN story yesterday has a video) with Officers at the Pentagon pronouncing and proselityzing their Evangelical beliefs - one Officer declaring 'we are the aroma of Jesus Christ'.  The deeper story is The Christian Embassy (they have a website but I'm not providing an easy promotional link) desire to claim the U.S. military as their own Christian soldiers waging a 'holy war' in accordance to their own biblical world views.  Officers in the Pentagon - this is not leadership, this is not a holy war, this is not your religious right to use your position to instill your beliefs down the ranks.

And because I'm incensed at practices coming out of the Pentagon, I'm even more incensed at Congress.    

(read more below the fold)  

Dwight Pelz, Chair of the Washington State Democratic Party, has announced that the State Democratic Central Committee passed a resolution to commit to supporting PUBLIC CAMPAIGN FUNDING. Text of Pelz' letter and WSDCC Resolution

He is urging Democrats to join Washington Public Campaigns, and asking Dem legislators to considering supporting such legislation. Wow! We are officially non-partisan, don't forget.

WPC board members popped a few champagne corks last night, I'm betting....Come to the Washclean Meetups and celebrate with us!