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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!

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"One of the reasons that we were competitive in the governor's election is due to our grassroots hard work and the siphoning off of  traditional Democrat votes in King and Pierce Counties." -- Rose Strong, member of the Advisory Board of the King County Republican Party. (1)  See below the fold for a report of my phone conversation with Ms. Strong and further background on her specialty of "aggressively" confronting illegal voter activities in minority areas -- on the theory that this is where such activity usually occurs.

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Who's watching the regular "cleanups" of the  Washington State Voter Registration Database (VRDB)?  Who is monitoring the way that new voter registrations are handled? Washington is fundamentally a good-government state. But we are in a time where, nationally and on a state level, tremendous pressure is being exerted at every level of our system to win elections by discouraging, challenging, and disenfranchising voters who are likely to vote Democratic. From the perjurious voter challenges by Republican Lori Sotelo in 2005 to Lying voter-suppression Robo-calls on the eve of elections, to this year's firing of Attorney General John McKay by the Bush administration for the failure to prosecute the phantom of individual voter fraud -- and more -- we have ample evidence that the Republican Party is using all means possible to shove Democratic votes and voters out of the voting game.  We won't know how much they're succeeding in this goal unless we institute comprehensive citizen oversight.  

I recently received an email from a Democrat concerned that maintenance of Washington's Voter Registration Database (VRDB) may be resulting in voter disenfranchisement. I called the Secretary of State's office (SOS) and spoke with Pam Floyd, Assistant Director of Elections, who gave me a general overview of that office's practices and referred me to Brenda Galarza, the public records official for the SOS, for more in-depth information. I followed through on that with a public records request (2). Since January of 2006, about 350,000 voter registrations have been removed from the VRDB.  It appears that about 175,000 of these were since January of this year. (3) There's an awful lot of room in all that database purging and in all those counties for unfair influence and practices to creep in. And the VRDB is not the only place where voting rights are endangered in our state. These are the rights of voters of all political persuasions. Disproportionately, they are the rights of Democrats and of poor and minority voters.

Another protest march that I could not resist - this time the focus was demanding better healthcare for Iraq War Vets - it ended at the VA hospital.

The Seattle Times printed a decent report on the event: Protesters seek better health care for veterans
I'll quote that, along with my own observations and photos.

Veterans of the Iraq war marched at the head of a protest on Beacon Hill Saturday calling for an end to the war and full funding of veterans' health-care needs.
About 200 protesters chanted, "Fund the wounded, not the war!" as they walked along South Columbian Way...The demonstration, supported by the union that represents local VA workers, drew veterans from several earlier wars. The march placed stronger emphasis on veterans' issues than did previous local protests.

Continued:

Awe, give it a rest, Arthur!

Well ... I'm just sayin, "Be Afraid. Be very afraid ..."

"Can't possibly happen.
Your kind are alarmists, Arthur. This isn't Seven Days in May or Red Dawn with American troops replacing invaders.
Imagination is out of control old timer.
Got your food supply and bunker built yet, Arthur?
Bought yourself a gun yet?
Taught your wife to shoot at things and people?
Turned your herding dog into Cujo, poisoned your cat's claws with cat-scratch fever and re-trained your attack parakeet?"
... Oh, and if what you're suggesting actually happens, we'll be fleeing out of King County hell-bent-for leather for refuge in Pacific County. How about your house, Arthur? You wouldn't shoot first and ask questions later .... would you?"

Read entire article at Information Clearing House

The Threat Of Martial Law Is Real