Occupy Bellingham Oct 7 2011

I arrived a few minutes before 4pm and witnessed the crowd growing., I don't know what the total was...alot! People of all ages, old friends and many wondraful folks I have had the pleasure of spending time with in my travels. and, so exciting and inspiring, many young folks. I even had a young fella hug me and thank me for showing up,. Very cool! after receiving my Cowboy Boots calendar for 2012, thanks Six, and seeing all the folks in the street I'm gunna go with the hopesy changey thing. I will believe another world is possible.

Occupy Bellingham Oct 7 2011

occupytogether plans to be there till we get some change.

I stand with The American Dream Movement and wholeheartedly support the 10 most critical steps in their contract.

And if we are to reclaim our democracy we must END CORPORATE RULE. LEGALIZE DEMOCRACY. MOVE TO AMEND

MoveOn.org still rocks!

oh and if people still can't get it...thanks Digby for getting us in touch with Alan Grayson.

he gets it!!!!!

Tea Party Zombies

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Today I read a letter to the editor that was filled with hysterical, insane political clap-trap. It was written by one of those 'Tea Party patriots'. At first, I was baffled by how he could possibly believe such absurd and ridiculous lies about President Obama and the Democratic Party. But then I realized:

These Tea Party 'patriots' have been taken in by focus group tested, fear inducing, fabrications about President Obama and the Democratic Party. They have placed their trust in 'conservative'/Tea Party promoters who have abused that trust and, at the direction of their rightwing billionaire benefactors, deceived and misdirected their listeners.

Conservatisms is about resisting change and looking to the past for answers.

'Conservative' Tea Party promoters have taken the worst vices of our past, cronyism, corruption, bigotry, classism and rebranded them to be sold to the Tea Party as virtues. They have cherry picked bit and pieces from our past to paint a picture of a narrow-minded, selfish, self-centered American history.

To lure in their victims, these 'conservative'/Tea Party promoters pour out a never ending deluge of dire warning and conspiracy theories. That's because they trade in fear. They enthrall their listeners with stories of threats to everything they hold dear. They terrify them with tales of impending doom and having reduced their listeners to mindless terror, they then supply them with an enemy to fear and hate.

And the enemy they supply their terrified devotee's? Democrats, liberals, progressives, Obama! Never mind that what they say about these supposed enemies is pure fabrication, they have already frightened their listeners into unthinking submission. Whatever they say is taken as gospel and anything that contradicts that must not be considered. And that fearful, closed-mindedness is exactly what these 'conservative'/Tea Party promoters are aiming for.

These 'conservative'/Tea Party promoters don't want the kind of rational dialogue that is necessary to maintain a democracy. They want to tear down democracy and usher in a plutocracy, run by their rightwing billionaire benefactors.

Doug Ericksen Blows Smoke on Redistricting

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I read "Ericksen: Two Democratic redistricting proposals violate intent and spirit of state law, constitution" on the B'ham Herald's politics blog and I must say that Doug Ericksen has exceeded his usual level hypocrisy.

Off course Doug wants a nice Republican safe 42nd District but to claim that Commissioner Ceis & Foster's redistricting proposal are illegal is just ridiculous.

If you'll look at the compilation of maps below, you'll see that both of the Democrats proposals more or less divide the county by population density. Placing the urban/suburban western part of the county mostly in the 42nd LD with a small portion in the 40th and the rural east county in the 39th. That division certainly honors the concept of 'communities of interest' better than either of the Republican proposals.

Gorton's proposal simply chops out most of Bellingham. I can see no way in which the residents of Ferndale have more common interests with the residents of Nooksack, Everson and Sumas than they do with the residents of Bellingham.

Huffs proposal not only hacks up Bellingham, it also has the 39th LD snaking its way up the east side of lake Whatcom gouging out a narrow swath nearly to Everson.

Clearly, both Republican proposals are drawn along purely partisan lines, with no consideration for the various communities of interest within Whatcom County.

Who Killed Economic Growth?

Nicely done by Richard Heinberg and the amazing folks at Post Carbon Institute There is no planet b. The pyramid scheme is crumbling. And as I like to say, "how's the cancerous phase of unregulated crony capitalism working for you?" and as we move into the future I like the Tina Turner phrase.... how would you like it ....nice and easy or rough? We can do so much better for the generations to follow.

and I really liked his statement on arming oneself with weapons....

...........Which brings up an important question: Should you assume, and prepare for, a violent future? Ferfal, after recounting how crime has become rampant in his country since the currency crisis (to the point that virtually everyone has been victimized at one time or another), spends over 20 pages of his book advising what kinds of guns are best to acquire; he also discusses knives and other weapons, and how best to employ them. He even advises what to do in the aftermath of a gun battle (assuming you’re not injured, call the cops, but also call your lawyer, get the names of two or three witnesses, and take photos). This is tough reading for a vegetarian pacifist like me, though it’s hard to argue with someone who has been through what Ferfal has. Nevertheless, in the final analysis it’s really up to you to decide what kind of future is likely, what kind of future you want, and how to negotiate the discrepancies between the two. For me, guns are not part of the equation—I would prefer to spend my time building community. By preparing for a future in which everyone is armed and at each other’s throats, I would be helping to create such a future. No thanks. Draw your own conclusion, though.

full article worth reading!

And this is a very valuable investment of 30 minutes in understanding where we find ourselves. A "recovery" to a growth economy is not one of our options. Richard does a great review of our human history and offers some gems for our future that are not at peak. For this pessimist, who is always looking for the silver lining, he offers it.

Dear Thom

As I'm listening to Thom talking about taking over the Democratic party, I am aggravated because he is giving people misinformation that will lead to frustration if taken on face value. I am all about welcoming folks to the party and especially if they want to help!!!!! As I like to say, great ideas are a dime a dozen, what else you got?

since I have had no success communicating with Thom's online communication options, (my unmet challenge) I will just put this out here......

The correct term is PCO (precinct committee officer.) We are elected (or appointed by local chair in between) We don't even have to pay the $1 to file at the auditors office, we can do it for free online. As I like to say, "I didn’t know what a PCO was and now I is one." We are responsible for all the party leadership at the local level. We are not responsible for who makes it to the ballot. Depending on which state you live it it could be done at the caucus or in a primary election. In my state, Washington, the only candidate the “democrats” (anyone who shows up at caucus and says they are a democrat) pick is the presidential candidate. And then delegates go on to national for the final decision. Otherwise, other offices have fallen prey to top two in primary. (in an open primary state!!!!) I could go on and have.

Bottom line, for party organization I would advise folks to contact their local party.

DougE's science project

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Doug Ericksen says: "the county must create our own best available science (BAS) to fight back against state and federal regulations."

And here's just the guys to create it for DougE

tipping point ahead??

a very interesting conversation about where we find ourselves

thank you Thom Hartmann at Conversations With Great Minds

You go Alyce!!

Alyce reminds me of one of my favorite bumper sticker questions, "how's the cancerous phase of unregulated crony, casino capitalism working for you?" The greedy selfish with their teenage narcissism are large and in charge. They are putting their sociopath queen's philosophy proudly in the driver's seat. I remember, as a teenager, many year's ago, when I was telling my Aunt Muriel about the cool book I just read. She cautioned me to give it some thought. I will never forget that. I thought The Fountainhead was the coolest thing since diet pills. I took Alyces advice and watched the Frontline piece and have embedded it here.....thanks Alyce!

Debating
Wisconsin
EDITOR, The Tribune:
   Thank you to the hundred of you readers of the Tribune who responded with notes, e-mails, words, thumbs-up, hugs and letters to the editor following my March 2 column on Wisconsin and Washington state employees. Imagine my surprise the morning my in-box included a letter from Madison teacher Susan Stern, whom I had quoted as asking her first graders “Is this fair, or unfair?” (A relative had read The Lynden Tribune and sent a copy on to her.)
  As those of you who know me are aware, I haven’t stopped asking “Is this fair?” From 2001 to 2008, some 40,000 U.S. manufacturing plants closed and 600,000 jobs disappeared while favored corporations had record profits and executive pay. The top 1 percent earners earn more than the bottom 120 million. The actual taxes paid by top earners is the lowest in my long lifetime.
  But it was last week’s KGMI program “Moneytalk” by Bob Brinker that sent me to Google. Bob has helped me for 26 years while I lived in Iowa, Albuquerque and now Lynden to learn to manage our money conservatively and wisely. Bob hears people who save and invest for the long haul, but clearly we and he are getting tired of the way the laws are rigged against us. We knew that the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act in 1998 removed controls, but he told how the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000 has been disastrous to the American people. The act had been worked on by lobbyists throughout 2000, but it was smashed through in the confusion of the contested Bush-Gore vote count. This act deregulated derivatives so that traders need little reserves to back their risk-taking. This is a form of gambling, and in fact the act included the stipulation that no state could contest these actions by using its own gambling laws. As Brinker called it, this is casino capitalism. Since then, a few people have made vast fortunes. The rest of us lost homes or equity in them, jobs, retirement funds and respect from other nations that suffered from the meltdown in the U.S.A.
  I am no banker or economist, but I know that as citizens we need to figure out how and why we are allowing things to go so wrong. If you also wonder, Google the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000 and also the Frontline program, “The Warning,” an interview with Brooksley Born, who in 1998 foresaw the coming collapse. You will see many of the powerful people and forces that still control Washington, D.C., and Wall Street.
   After you check those things out (or if you are an economist or banker) and you want to call me, we’ll have coffee at Woods to talk about how we are affected and how we are going to pull back the veil from the power of lobbyists and their politicians as our country did early in the 20th century. We can’t keep giving our allegiance to the greedy few who cause so much confusion and pain to the good, practical people of our community.
Alyce Werkema
Lynden

the letter here at The Lynden Tribune but you must be logged in to link to it.

Watch the full episode. See more FRONTLINE.