I just heard my favorite congressperson, Peter DeFazio of Oregon, on with Randi Rhodes say that:

(1) credit unions are doing just fine (they’re owned by their members, and are an atypical corporate creature); and

(2) businesses are turning to credit unions after being denied credit by their commercial banks; and

(3) those commercial banks are refusing their customers - even those with good credit - because of pressure from the FDIC. And this pressure is not due to bank solvency.

This means, once again, that BushCo is manipulating the system for political gain and propagandizing the populace with their DOOM! DOOM! DOOM! rhetoric.

BushCo wants a credit crunch in order to get Congress to go along with its fat cat handout.

There is no crisis except in top-2% land, where profits are threatened and the elite oligarchs are so used to the short-term, high-return payout that they idea of buy-and-hold seems like a life sentence.

And they’re willing to throw the stock market down the toilet and risk runs on banks - like WaMu last week - to truly destabilize the banking system with real bank failures.

Bush, Cheney, Paulson and their cohorts across the financial services sector are murderous vultures, trying to pick the country clean before Bush rides into the sunset and a Democratic president can come in and try to restore some honor and decency and fundamental fairness to the U.S. government.

Don’t give in.

Not. One. Inch.

Post from: Democracy for Vancouver

when we argued about inequities among we four siblings, “Few things in life are fair.”

But we, as individual citizens, are taking on the debt of at least four major institutions (Bear Stearns, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and A.I.G.), because we are told these companies are too big to allow to fail.

Well, we, as individuals, have more than $790 billion in credit card debt while also struggling with re-set mortgages and home equity lines of credit, but we are being allowed to fail: to drown in debt, lose our homes, go into bankruptcy.

But ours is a largely consumer-based economy, and without consumers, the economy withers. We as a group are too large to allow to fail, too.

So while we’re bailing out financial behemoths for their fiscal stupidity (and allowing their CEOs to float lightly to the ground on golden parachutes), why not bail out the U.S. consumer, too?

The Great Depression lasted for 10 years - from 1929 through WWII. In order to cut that time in half, we should immediately cap all credit card rates in the U.S. at 10%.

In addition, credit card interest should be deductible from personal federal income taxes for five years.

This, in addition to smart energy policy that spurs investment in green technologies and high-mileage vehicles, would insure that the U.S. consumer is not crushed by the collapse of the housing bubble and usurious credit card rates, while avoiding the complete collapse of the consumer economy.

This won’t help me at all: we are lucky enough to be indebted only to our car, our home and our student loans.

But if the U.S. economy - and thus the world’s - is to be kept out of a major recession that borders on another Great Depression, U.S. consumers must be at the center of any plan. And yes, I do believe the top 2% - who will ride out the recession just fine, thank you very much - should be the ones to pay for it. After all, it is our consumption that has allowed them to amass such wealth in the first place.

A one-time tax credit or stimulus check won’t work this time.

I’ll be sending a more concise version of this to Patty Murray, Maria Cantwell and Brian Baird. Please email your representatives and tell them your ideas for keeping us all above water.

Post from: Democracy for Vancouver

2 Comments

• At September 21, 2008, me wrote:

  Stop the bailout!

  We can't let this happen before our eyes.

  "...authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.

  Why are we considering giving almost a trillion blank check to Paulson, a Bush apointee and former ceo of Goldman Sachs, the only bank not tanking now because of insider info.

  "Privatize profit, socialize loss"? Sinclair Lewis' prediction might be coming true: "Facism will come to American wrapped in the flag and carrying a bible".

  The reason they have to "act quickly" is so they can pull the wool over our eyes quickly before we can do anything about it.

  Not to mention:

  "The size of the proposed buyout is staggering and would likely hamper the ability of the next president to pursue new domestic programs without major tax increases."

  if this thing goes through, no oversight and bye bye health care. Its basically Bush's way of controlling the economy beyond his time. Permanently. Thank heavens Obama has already come out against it.

  For the non-local:

  Senators:

  http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

  Representatives:

  https://forms.house.gov/wyr/welcome.shtml

  ref:

  http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/52835.html

• At September 28, 2008, Tom Sharples wrote:

  Thought this latest press release from the Delavar campaign might be of interest:

  Republican Candidate Delavar Urges Baird to Vote No on Bailout

  (Washougal, WA) – Republican congressional candidate Michael Delavar calls for Brian Baird (D—WA) to vote against the proposed bailout. "We should let normal and ultimately healthy market readjustments happen without putting the taxpayer on the hook for the ill-advised policies and failed practices of Congress, the Federal Reserve, and the lending institutions themselves." said Delavar.

  "Instead of focusing the national discussion on the rights of the US government to impose restrictions on banks that use the proposed bailout funds, we should instead be focusing on the more pressing question: Do we really want to add nearly ten percent more to the national debt in one week?"

  "Moreover, the great majority of the underlying mortgages are serviceable and will continue to function for the next private institution that owns the mortgage. The main issue is whether the US government has either the authority or the wisdom to go into the mortgage business. From my reading of the rulebook of Congress (the Constitution), they most certainly do not have the authority."

  "Before Congress decides to indebt Americans to the tune of over $2000 per person, perhaps they should wait to see if Americans—who are typically very generous—would be willing to voluntarily write $2000 checks to these institutions. If the people do not wish to further burden themselves voluntarily with this debt, there is no reason that Congress should do it for them."

  Michael Delavar is the Republican candidate for Congress in Washington State's Third Congressional District. His website is www.delavarforcongress.com.

You weren’t using that 4th Amendment, were you?

Because Obama and a bunch of other cowardly Dems just sold us out for a little telecom cash and a kited check from the MSM that will bounce somewhere around October 1.

Final vote: 69-28. So, a hearty FUCK YOU to Alexander (R-TN), Allard (R-CO), Barrasso (R-WY), Baucus (D-MT), Bayh (D-IN), Bennett (R-UT), Bond (R-MO),
Brownback (R-KS), Bunning (R-KY), Burr (R-NC), Carper (D-DE), Casey (D-PA), Chambliss (R-GA), Coburn (R-OK), Cochran (R-MS), Coleman (R-MN), Collins (R-ME), Conrad (D-ND), Corker (R-TN), Cornyn (R-TX), Craig (R-ID), Crapo (R-ID), DeMint (R-SC), Dole (R-NC), Domenici (R-NM), Ensign (R-NV), Enzi (R-WY), Feinstein (D-CA), Graham (R-SC), Grassley (R-IA), Gregg (R-NH), Hagel (R-NE), Hatch (R-UT), Hutchison (R-TX), Inhofe (R-OK), Inouye (D-HI), Isakson (R-GA), Johnson (D-SD), Kohl (D-WI), Kyl (R-AZ), Landrieu (D-LA), Lieberman (ID-CT), Lincoln (D-AR), Lugar (R-IN), Martinez (R-FL), McCaskill (D-MO), McConnell (R-KY), Mikulski (D-MD), Murkowski (R-AK), Nelson (D-FL), Nelson (D-NE), Obama (D-IL), Pryor (D-AR), Roberts (R-KS), Rockefeller (D-WV), Salazar (D-CO), Shelby (R-AL), Smith (R-OR), Snowe (R-ME), Specter (R-PA), Stevens (R-AK), Sununu (R-NH), Thune (R-SD), Vitter (R-LA), Voinovich (R-OH), Warner (R-VA), Webb (D-VA), Whitehouse (D-RI), and Wicker (R-MS).

And hat’s off to Big Pussy John McCain, who didn’t even bother to show up.

And, though saying NO to this obscenity should have been as easy as saying no to a shit sandwich, thank you to all those who stood up for the Constitution: Akaka (D-HI), Biden (D-DE), Bingaman (D-NM), Boxer (D-CA), Brown (D-OH), Byrd (D-WV), Cantwell (D-WA), Cardin (D-MD), Clinton (D-NY), Dodd (D-CT), Dorgan (D-ND), Durbin (D-IL), Feingold (D-WI), Harkin (D-IA), Kerry (D-MA), Klobuchar (D-MN), Lautenberg (D-NJ), Leahy (D-VT), Levin (D-MI), Menendez (D-NJ), Murray (D-WA), Reed (D-RI), Reid (D-NV), Sanders (I-VT), Schumer (D-NY), Stabenow (D-MI), Tester (D-MT), and Wyden (D-OR).

So, only slightly more than one quarter of the U.S. Senate thinks you and I have a right to be free from unwarranted government spying. That privacy is an inherent right.

There is something very diseased at the heart of this country. We are a bunch of fucking pussies, scared of each other and our own shadows. Willing to give up anything so long as we don’t have to think, don’t have to learn, don’t have to worry about anything but whether the TiVO is working and how I’m going to pay for that new Scarlet LCD TV if I’m paying $70 twice a week to fill up my F-150.

I will vote for Barack Obama, but he will not get one more dime from me. I will hold no bakesales. I will do no canvassing.

All of my resources will go to Strange Bedfellows to hold accountable those responsible for today’s evisceration of the 4th Amendment - Democrats and Republicans alike.

If you would like to join me in supporting a massive pushback against this criminal coverup and extension of Dick Cheney’s wet dream of a corporate surveillance state, Glenn Greenwald points the way forward:

[T]he campaign we have been conducting is intended to be only the first step — not the last — in taking a stand against the endless erosion of core constitutional protections… We have created a new organization, Accountability Now, to conduct the ongoing battle to target and remove from power those who enable these abuses; to force these issues into our political discourse; and to prevent the Washington Establishment from continuing to trample on basic constitutional protections with impunity.
…
To initiate and fund our new campaign, we have teamed with the individual who was behind the innovative and extraordinarily successful Ron Paul “money bombs” … to plan an “Accountability Money Bomb” for August 8. That is the day in 1974 when Richard Nixon was forced to resign from office for his lawbreaking and surveillance abuses. That day illustrates how far we have fallen in this country in less than 35 years, as we now not only permit rampant presidential lawbreaking and a limitless surveillance state, but have a bipartisan political class that endorses it and even retroactively protects the lawbreakers.

To participate in the money bomb and support our new organization, you can pledge to donate here — or by clicking on the logo above. On August 8, those who pledged will make their actual donations in whatever amount they choose, and the results will then be announced.

This type of ideologically diverse coalition devoted to the preservation of basic constitutional protections and the rule of law … can be a new and powerful force. Those who are responsible for these erosions need to be undermined and the nature of the debate over these issues needs to be changed. A successful start and the support of as many people as possible is vital to launching this effort the right way — in a way that will enable its presence to be heard and felt in the Beltway precincts that need to hear and feel it.

Because this should be a day of mourning, I won’t post any more today.

Post from: Democracy for Vancouver

2 Comments

• At July 9, 2008, bushtool wrote:

  Just another example of how party politics and entrenched politicians are not responsive to the voters at all. The only way, short of a bloody revolution, for real change to occur is to vote these scum puppies out of office.

  Because of the self-centeredness and small mindedness of the electorate in our country, this legislation will not even be noticed by most voters.

  They will only stand up and do something when a big mac costs $50 and it costs $1000 to fill up their Suburbans. Then we will get real change and not before, unfortunately.

• At July 10, 2008, me wrote:

  The ACLU is going to take some action too. Support them if you can.

  http://action.firedoglake.com/page/s/fisaad

They just shot down Dodd’s amendment stripping immunity from the FISA bill, 66-32.

Fuck.

The vote on the whole bill is still to come, so if you haven’t called yet, please do so now. Phone numbers are in the post right under this one.

First Draft’s Crack Van has all the latest.

Post from: Democracy for Vancouver

Call or email your Senators on FISA. Now. The vote is tomorrow.

I live in Washington and work in Oregon. I called Senators Cantwell, Murray, Smith and Wyden, and Harry Reid, Barack Obama, and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee for good measure.

If you’re shy, here’s what I said:

I’m calling to ask Sen. ___ to vote NO on the FISA bill. There is no need for telecom immunity and the bill does not protect my 4th Amendment rights. I expect Sen. ___ to protect them by voting NO.

Even if you’re shy, calling is better than emailing. But emailing is better than nothing.

ALABAMA:
Jeff Sessions (202) 224-4124
Richard Shelby (202) 224-5744

ALASKA:
Murkowski (202) 224-6665
Stevens (202) 224-3004

ARIZONA:
Kyl (202) 224-4521
McCain (202) 224-2235

ARKANSAS:
Pryor (202) 224-2353
Lincoln (202)224-4843

CALIFORNIA:
Feinstein (202) 224-3841
Boxer (202) 224-3553

COLORADO:
Salazar (202) 224-5852
Allard (202) 224-5941

CONNECTICUT:
Dodd (202) 224-2823
Lieberman (202) 224-4041

DELAWARE:
Carper (202) 224-2441
Biden (202) 224-5042

FLORIDA:
Nelson (202) 224-5274
Martinez (202) 224-3041

GEORGIA:
Chambliss (202) 224-3521
Isakson (202) 224-3643

HAWAII:
Inouye (202) 224-3934
Akaka (202) 224-6361

IDAHO:
Craig (202) 224-2752
Crapo (202) 224-6142

ILLINOIS:
Obama (202) 224-2854

If mailbox is full for Obama, try alternate numbers:
(312) 886-3506
(217) 492-5089
(618) 997-2402
(309) 736-1217

Durbin (202) 224-2152

INDIANA:
Bayh (202) 224-5623
Lugar (202) 224-4814

IOWA:
Grassley (202) 224-3744
Harkin (202) 224-3254

KANSAS:
Brownback (202) 224-6521
Roberts (202) 224-4774

KENTUCKY:
Bunning (202) 224-4343
McConnell (202) 224-2541

LOUISIANA:
Landrieu (202)224-5824
Vitter (202) 224-2541

MAINE:
Snowe (202) 224-5344
Collins (202) 224-2523

MARYLAND:
Mikulski (202) 224-4654
Cardin (202) 224-4524

MASSACHUSETTS:
Kennedy (202) 224-4543
Kerry (202) 224-2742

MICHIGAN:
Stabenow (202) 224-4822
Levin (202) 224-6221

MINNESOTA:
Coleman (202) 224-5641
Klobuchar (202) 224-3244

MISSISSIPPI:
Cochran (202) 224-5054
Wicker (202) 224-6253

MISSOURI:
McCaskill (202) 224-6154
Bond (202) 224-5721

MONTANA:
Baucus (202) 224-2651
Tester (202) 224-2644

NEBRASKA:
Nelson (202) 224-6551
Hagel (202) 224-4224

NEVADA:
Reid (202) 224-3542
Ensign (202) 224-6244

NEW HAMPSHIRE:
Sununu (202) 224-2841
Gregg (202) 224-3324

NEW JERSEY:
Lautenberg (202) 224-3224
Menendez (202) 224-4744

NEW MEXICO:
Bingaman (202) 224-5521
Domenichi (202) 224-6621

NEW YORK:
Clinton (202) 224-4451
Schumer (202) 224-6542

NORTH CAROLINA:
Dole (202) 224-6342
Burr (202) 224-3154

NORTH DAKOTA:
Conrad (202) 224-2043
Dorgan (202) 224-2551

OHIO:
Brown (202) 224-2315
Voinovich (202) 224-3353

OKLAHOMA:
Coburn (202) 224-5754
Inhofe (202) 224-4721

OREGON:
Smith (202) 224-3753
Wyden (202) 224-5244

PENNSYLVANIA:
Specter (202) 224-4254
Casey (202) 224-6324

RHODE ISLAND:
Reed (202) 224-4642
Whitehouse (202) 224-2921

SOUTH CAROLINA:
Graham (202) 224-5972
DeMint (202) 224-6121

SOUTH DAKOTA:
Johnson (202) 224-5842
Thune (202) 224-2321

TENNESSEE:
Alexander (202) 224-4944
Corker (202) 224-3344

TEXAS:
Hutchison (202) 224-5922
Cornyn (202) 224-2934

UTAH:
Hatch (202) 224-5251
Bennett (202) 224-5444

VERMONT:
Leahy (202) 224-4242
Sanders (202) 224-5141

VIRGINIA:
Webb (202) 224-4024
Warner (202) 224-2023

WASHINGTON:
Cantwell (202) 224-3441
Murray (202) 224-2621

WEST VIRGINIA:
Byrd (202) 224-3954
Rockefeller (202) 224-6472

WISCONSIN:
Kohl (202) 224-5653
Feingold (202) 224-5323

WYOMING:
Barrasso (202) 224-6441
Enzi (202) 224-3424

Post from: Democracy for Vancouver

Go out and buy a car this year and save $600 on your taxes. That is the message being touted by Senator Cantwell and Representative Baird

Income tax forms

Here are a few facts our residents were not reminded about the sales tax break being “sold” by our politicians. According to the Tax Foundation, only 37% of Washingtonians were able to itemize on their 2005 tax returns thereby getting any tax benefit at all. (Being able to itemize is corrected to adjust for inflation every year so this statistic is not likely to change much from year to year).

For those of you in the high end of the income strata, you lose too! These taxes are added back (unlike real estate taxes) for purposes of the alternative minimum tax computation and itemized deductions are also phased out (limited) above certain income levels.

So the bottom line is the deduction for the majority of people not only doesn’t represent a $600 savings if you buy a new car this year, it doesn’t help them at all.

So why are our representatives spending time touting this at our local car dealer? Could it be because it is easier than dealing with the issues of the day that really matter?

Post from: Democracy for Vancouver

2 Comments

• At November 19, 2007, Pat Campbell wrote:

  Part of the situation is that the standard deduction has been raised to the point it does not make sense for some of us to itemize.

  I know once I went from and emphasis on charitable giving to paying off debt, the standard deduction worked better. The prospect of saving a little may not be worth the effort.

• At November 19, 2007, bushtool wrote:

  Just don't understand why, with all the important issues out there that deserve attention, our leaders think it's at all important to remind people to buy cars so that they (37% or less of them) can use Uncle Sam to help defray the cost of the vehicles.

  Meanwhile we (by we I mean our government) spend ourselves into oblivion with a seemingly endless occupation of a foreign country and fail to regulate, one iota, the mortgage lending industry causing a multitude of fiscal problems and uncertainty, just to name a couple of REAL problems our elected representatives just might want to address.

  These people remind me of Caligula "who fiddled while Rome burned".

Thanks to Marion Ward for pointing out this video:

Post from: Democracy for Vancouver

Dear Compatriots,

Congress is on break for the 4th of July holiday. I'd like to suggest that you make yourself aware of any public engagements your congressman has scheduled while at home and attend these meetings. When the Q&A comes up, be ready with a video camera running and ask them point blank: what's your excuse for not co-sponsoring H.Res. 333 ?

Democrats.com is paying $100 for each "no excuse" video asking a Democrat in the House why he has not co-sponsored H.Res. 333 and recording their response on video: http://www.democrats.com/youtube-your-rep

Here's what you need to know to ask tough follow-up questions: http://www.impeachcheney.org

Have fun, and keep up the pressure!

Impeachment is nearly at the tipping point. And, pass this message on.

In Solidarity,

Judith Shattuck

Great Idea!

From Evergreen Politics:

"So, where do you stand, representatives (Baird)? Senators (Murray, Cantwell)??? With the Constitution? Or with the criminal presidency? You cannot have it both ways."

Post from: Democracy for Vancouver

Sirotablog informs us that:

How many self-described “free” trade lawmakers in Congress can the drug industry make head to the floor of the Senate and bare their corporate protectionist corruption for all to see? Based on a key vote yesterday, the answer appears to be somewhere in the neighborhood of 49 (including 14 Democrats) - well over what’s necessary to control the federal government.

That’s right, as the Associated Press reports, “In a triumph for the pharmaceutical industry, the Senate killed a drive to allow consumers to buy prescription drugs from abroad at a significant savings from domestic prices.” The legislation to allow imports of FDA-approved medicines from other industrialized nations (a practice used by other industrialized nations themselves) was sponsored by North Dakota Sen. Byron Dorgan (D) and has long been supported by the vast majority of the American public in opinion polls. Yet right there on the floor of the U.S. Senate yesterday afternoon, 49 senators voted through a poison pill amendment, invalidating Dorgan’s legislation and protecting drug industry profiteering. The sheer disregard for the truth and for consistency when it came to both the policy and politics of this vote was, in a word, stunning.

Checking the roll call, both Cantwell and Murray voted along with 12 other Democrats in favor of the pharmaceutical industry’s amendment.

If you’re as outraged as I am that that both our senators have gone along with the Money Party on this one, give them a call.

Cantwell: 202-224-3441
Murray: 202-224-2621

Post from: Democracy for Vancouver

Please support our efforts to end the illegal occupation of Iraq by attending a vigil in support of the Declaration of Peace action each Thursday at 4:30 PM across the street from the Fort Vancouver Library. We will be writing notes and postcards to Senators Murray, Cantwell and Representative Baird that will be delivered to them personally. We will also be sign waving to our community in support of the proposals put forth in the Declaration of Peace. Please come out and show Vancouver that the majority of us have had it with the Occupation of Iraq.

uncle_sam80x.jpg

The Declaration of Peace is a nationwide campaign to establish by September 21, 2006 a concrete and rapid plan for peace in Iraq, including:

* a prompt timetable for withdrawal of troops and closure of bases
* a peace process for security, reconstruction, and reconciliation
* and the shift of funding for war to meeting human needs.

If this plan for peace is not created and activated by Congress by September 21, the International Day of Peace, Declaration signers across the U.S. will engage in nonviolent action in Washington, D.C. and in communities throughout the nation. Click here for a color brochure (PDF). Black and white version.

This action is endorsed by the Progressive Democrats of America and Vancouver for Peace (and many others).
To sign the Declaration and for more information, click here.

Update: The following letter was hand delivered to each representatives’ Vancouver offices on August 21, 2006 (letters are basically all the same).

Cantwell Declaration of Peace letter

Post from: Democracy for Vancouver

2 Comments

• At September 15, 2006, whodat wrote:

  Gee, I didn't know Iraq, Vancouver WAS "occupied!" Get those occupiers out of Vancouver right now!

• At September 15, 2006, bushtool wrote:

  Vancouver is occupied by me and many others .

  The Iraq occupation is also occupying the thoughts of many of us in Vancouver .

  Out now :!:

Received the following email from the Vancouver for Peace group today. I am asking you (everyone reading this) to reach into your hearts (and pocketbooks) and support with your time and money the efforts of Vancouver for Peace. This group has, more than any local group, been working tirelessly for going on four years now to get our elected officials to support ending the illegal and immoral occupation of Iraq. Please help fund their latest ad set to run in Sunday’s Columbian (see below). Please also come out to the all day Peace Camp across the street from the FT. Vancouver Library next Thursday anytime from 11 am until 7 pm to show that you too are helping to end our illegal and immoral occupation of Iraq. We will have music, speakers, pizza, vigils and other surprises. We hope (but unfortunately are not holding our breath) that OUR representatives will also visit Camp Peace and sign onto the Declaration of Peace.

We have become increasingly frustrated with our elected officials in Washington D.C. because of their silence in not speaking out or sponsoring any legislation to end the occupation of Iraq.

Many of us have met repeatedly with staff members but we have never been successful in meeting directly with the Senators or with Representative Baird despite numerous attempts to do so. We have taken petitions and written letters and postcards. Meanwhile, there have been over 20,000 U.S. troops killed or physically injured and more than 100,000 Iraqi deaths.. For what ?

September 21 is an International Day of Peace, designated by the United Nations. It is also the date that peace-makers throughout the nation are calling on Senators and Representatives to sign on to the Declaration of Peace, withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq.

Vancouver for Peace intends to run 1/4 page ad in the Columbian addressed to Senators Murray and Cantwell and to Representative Baird, asking them to sign on to the Declaration of Peace. The ad will run on Sunday, September 17th.

The cost of the ad is $1,100! Can you help defray some of this cost ? Donations in any amount are welcome. If you can help, time is of the essence. Checks can be mailed to: Vancouver for Peace, 4303 NE 14th Ave, Vancouver, WA 98663. Please put “Ad” on the memo line.

Columbian Ad running in Sunday’s Columbian Clark county section:

Murray, Cantwell, Baird:

LISTEN TO US !

We, the people of Vancouver for Peace, from the start, opposed attacking and occupying Iraq, because this horrific “war” was founded on ignorance, lies, and greed. Ill-equipped American soldiers have suffered. Innocent Iraqi men, women, and children have suffered. We’ve worked hard in every reasonable way to make our convictions known to you, but you and Congress have not responded, to end the deaths and destruction.

Now we find ourselves in the majority. Most Americans, most soldiers, most Iraqis, most citizens of the world, want military occupation of Iraq to end, and to end now. Continued military occupation hurts Iraqi people and infrastructure, endangers our troops, drains our economy, further ruins our already damaged reputation, destabilizes the region, and increases terrorism.

Out. Out now, except to rebuild Iraq. We ask that you sign the Declaration of Peace and act on legislation to end the occupation, immediately. Represent us and what we stand for — security and peace, based on Justice. We invite you, our congress-people, to visit Vancouver Peace Camp, Mill Plain at Ft Vancouver Way, September 21, 11am-7pm. Work with us, for Peace. The same wrong road, leads to the same wrong place. We know a different road. Follow it with us.

declarationofpeace.org

Paid For By Vancouver For Peace

Important PS: Mike Ellison, one of the founders of Vancouver for Peace, recently suffered a mild heart attack. Mike was the recipient of a heart transplant around 15 years ago and it seems that the heart was all used up. On Sept 13th, Mike received the miracle of another heart transplant and has been doing well. You may correspond with Mike at the same address as that for Columbian Ad contibutions above. Mike is one of the special people in my llife. I wish him all the best and to get better so he can continue to make the world better.

Post from: Democracy for Vancouver

Our Senator is moving closer to us!

Base Hit
Senator Maria Cantwell Has Finally Found an Antiwar Message, but What Is She Saying… Exactly?

BY JOSH FEIT

On Saturday, August 19, at a Maria Cantwell rally just outside Vancouver, Washington, the U.S. Democratic senator scored the biggest cheers of the afternoon with her new and improved position on the war. “Changing the agenda means changing the course in Iraq,” Senator Cantwell said, to a burst of applause. “The president says we can stay there for as long as it takes. I disagree. I say, ‘Let’s make sure… we start to bring our troops home at the end of this year.’”

What a difference the looming approach of Labor Day—the official start of the campaign season—makes.

The last time I covered a Cantwell event—a pep rally last May organized to rev up party activists on their way to doorbell for Cantwell in Ballard—Cantwell didn’t even show up. Democratic U.S. Senator Russ Feingold, the antiwar icon from Wisconsin, spoke in her place.

Cantwell’s absence from her own rally and Feingold’s presence as a surrogate were whopping metaphors: Cantwell couldn’t have fired up the crowd herself. Just a few weeks earlier, state Democratic Party Chair Dwight Pelz had publicly acknowledged to the Seattle Times that “a lot of activists are not signing up to work on her campaign,” due to Cantwell’s stance on the war. And Seattle Democrats probably wished they were doorbelling for Feingold anyway, who had just been crowned the new Howard Dean for his defiant amendment requiring U.S. forces to leave Iraq by the end of 2006. When Feingold told the crowd that doorbelling was why he carried Wisconsin in 2004, a Ballard Democrat standing behind me called out: “That’s because you stand for something.”

To the chagrin of many Democrats, Cantwell voted for the war in 2002. And four years later, she was refusing to renounce that vote. “No, I don’t think [my vote for the war] was a mistake,” she told the AP in January. And no, she wouldn’t support Feingold’s proposal to pull the troops out, she told a group of activists who staged a sit-in at her office in late April. And no, she couldn’t consider withdrawal until U.S. forces had stabilized Iraq, she told the press after activists capsized her appearance at Garfield High School in April with antiwar chants. She would only go as far as to say 2006 must be a “Year of Transition” in Iraq.

In a June 2 guest editorial in the Seattle Times, Wallingford Reverend Rich Gamble wrote, “There is a great deal of disappointment with the senator from what should be her base of support, because her position on Iraq has been and remains indistinguishable from George Bush’s.” An antiwar candidate named Mark Wilson was challenging Cantwell in the Democratic primary, campaigning against “this illegal war.”

Maybe pro-war Senator Joe Lieberman’s recent loss in Connecticut’s Democratic primary spooked Cantwell, but she’s definitely changed course. In late July, she hired Wilson (at $8,000 a month), and last week she said: “If I knew then everything that I know today, I would have voted no. The Congress must use the power of the purse to hold the Bush administration accountable for more progress toward beginning to bring our troops home this year.”

Cantwell began moving away from her 2002 war vote in late June 2006 when she sided with 38 other senators for Democratic Senator Carl Levin’s unsuccessful amendment to the new defense budget. “The current open-ended commitment of United States forces in Iraq is unsustainable,” the Levin amendment states, and voting for it won Cantwell some badly needed antiwar credibility. She’s been paraphrasing the amendment every chance she gets (her quote above, for example) to fend off the charge that she’s a stay-the-course lackey for Bush. (And just in time: A new Elway Research poll found that 50 percent of Washington voters want the U.S. to withdraw, while just 40 percent agreed with Cantwell’s original mantra, that the U.S. should leave only after Iraqis can keep the peace.)

Judging from the reaction she got from the Democratic faithful at the rally outside Vancouver, Cantwell’s new rap is a hit with the Democratic base. But is the Levin amendment anything more than cover for Cantwell—an amendment that doesn’t actually mandate anything and allows politicians like Cantwell to justify whatever spin on the war is expedient?
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The place was crowded with “hardcore Democrats,” as one vibrant 70-year-old woman enjoying the hubbub last Saturday, described herself. Two rows of red picnic tables, five tables deep, were set up near a stone fireplace inside a large wooden picnic shelter at Horseshoe Lake Park, 20 minutes north of Vancouver, in a logging town called Woodland.

While the 18th District bears very little resemblance to the People’s Republic of Ballard, antiwar sentiment runs deep here. “We shouldn’t be there in the first place,” Ed Barnes, a round man in a brown-checkered shirt, said, looking up from his ice cream. “We went to war on false info, and Bush is still giving us false info.”

Jan Truttman, the hardcore Dem sitting at one of the picnic tables, liked Cantwell’s new, improved position on Iraq. “I think it’s appealing that [Cantwell] can now admit that she made a mistake,” Truttman said. Robert McVay and Matt Gilchrist, both Young Democrats at the UW, agreed with their liberal elders. “You heard what [Cantwell] said,” Gilchrist says. “She wants the troops out now. She said if she had known then what she knows now…”

(Cantwell’s opponent, ex-Safeco CEO Mike McGavick said the same thing about knowing what we know today. However, he doesn’t support a unanimously approved amendment Cantwell recently cosponsored with Senator Joseph Biden to ban permanent military bases in Iraq.)

It’s not just the folks in Woodland who are willing to follow Cantwell’s metamorphosis.

Citing Cantwell’s support for the Levin amendment, formerly frustrated Democratic State Party Chair Pelz now says, “Democrats agree with Cantwell that the U.S. Senate needs to pressure Bush to change his strategy.”

And Democratic activist blogger Andrew Villeneuve wrote on the Northwest Progressive Institute site last week: “Cantwell’s position on Iraq has improved from being murky and unknown to clear [and] sharp. We applaud Cantwell for… making it crystal clear that she does not agree with the way the Bush administration is (mis)managing our incursion into Iraq.”

After Cantwell’s speech, I got a chance to ask her about her new stance on the war. Didn’t her call for a timeline contradict her previous position, i.e., that there needed to be stability on the ground before U.S. troops started to withdraw? What if Iraq “transitions” into civil war, rather than stability? Doesn’t the Levin amendment put the cart before the horse?

Walking with her entourage to the parking lot on her way to her next event, Cantwell said: “No, the Levin amendment says that 2006 has to be a year in which the security operations have to transfer to Iraq. That’s the first step. I want to make sure that we’re not slipping by all of a sudden, looking up halfway through the year and saying, ‘Oh, well, we don’t really have those troops trained. Moving toward that goal of getting the security force to take over is of utmost importance.”

Actually, the Levin amendment wouldn’t have mandated that “2006 has to be a year” for anything. Here’s what the Levin amendment says: “The president should expedite the transition of U.S. forces in Iraq to a limited presence and mission of training Iraqi security forces.”

Here’s what the Levin amendment does: nothing. It doesn’t spell out a plan for getting Iraqi forces up to speed. It doesn’t set a timeline for withdrawal. The Levin amendment’s only concrete dictate, that “the president should… submit to Congress a plan by the end of 2006 with estimated dates for the continued phased redeployment… from Iraq…” is neutered not only by the words “should” and “estimated,” but by the concluding line: “with the understanding that unexpected contingencies may arise.”

Senator Levin’s own press release stated: “The amendment… doesn’t establish a timetable for redeployment and it does not call for a precipitous withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq.”

Indeed, neither does Cantwell. But Democrats don’t care about subtleties these days—they just want to win. A few days after she wowed the crowd in Woodland, Cantwell spoke at another Democratic fundraiser—this time back in Ballard, at the packed Tractor Tavern, on August 21st. She spoke about Iraq at length, saying it was time to change course and bring out troops home. She drew sustained applause.recommended

Post from: Democracy for Vancouver

We are FINALLY seeing a little movement from Senator Cantwell on the illegal occupation of Iraq. This does not sound like she has “no regrets” anymore. Funny how the voters on the East coast are able to shake things up all the way over on the Left coast’¦ Still would like to see a statement from her that we need to get out regardless of whether the Iraqis can control the insurgency since WE ARE THE CAUSE OF THE INSURGENCY. And what is her solution if the Iraqis DON’T “take over responsibility for their own security this year” or in the next 100 years? From Senator Cantwell’s Blog:

Today the campaign released the following statement:

“If the Congress knew then, what we know today, even the Republican leadership would not have brought it to a vote.

“If the Bush Administration had done the hard work of building an international coalition to really contain Saddam, there would have been no vote.

“If I knew then everything that I know today and the Republican leadership still brought it up for a vote, I would have voted no.

“While mistakes were made in the way Bush took us to war, the Republican led Congress has not done its job of providing aggressive oversight of the Iraq war. In the days ahead, the Congress must use the power of the purse to hold the Bush Administration accountable for more progress towards beginning to bring our troops home this year.

“We will always make sure our troops have everything they need to do their jobs well, but we will look at other cost cutting measures.

“I am for changing the course in Iraq, my opponent is for staying the course. I oppose permanent bases in Iraq, my opponent does not share that belief. We do have different views of where to go next in Iraq.

“The Iraqis must take over responsibility for their own security this year.”

Post from: Democracy for Vancouver