It's not incompetence, it's intention.

When all things are considered, all evidence examined and the history is written, I believe that we will reach this conclusion:

It's not incompetence, it's intention.

They're not apologizing for mistakes, they're celebrating their success.

Nobody reaches the top levels of this government if they are completely incapable of following a plan. Which means to me that Iraq, Katrina, Kyoto, 911, etc. were not the result of mistakes, they were the results of intentional policies.

George Bush and the Republican Party leadership didn't make the mistake of not planning for louting and the insurgency, they intentionally planned to create the social and political enviornment where these things happen. George Bush and the Republican Party leadership didn't make the mistake of being unaware of the Hurricane bearing down on New Orleans. They were fully aware, and had made plans to take advantage of the devastation. George Bush and the Republican Party leadership are not unaware of climate change and the results of carbon emissions, they are making plans to make sure that nothing slows global warming because they see it as a good thing. George Bush and the Republican Party leadership were not unaware that our enemies were making plans to strike inside the United States. They were fully aware, and fully capable of stopping it. They didn't even try. They didn't want to try.

It's up to the American People to decide what we want from our government. Do we want a Congress and Administration that intentionally plans to allow people to be hurt or killed, whether those people are within our country or in other countries. Or do we want a Congress and Administration that does everything it can to prevent such things?

The United States has enemies. Of course we do. Where's the debate in that? The question is why, and what we're doing to change that. There are two ways to stop someone from hurting you. You hurt them first and remove their capability, or you change their mind so that they no longer want to. There are two ways to change someone's mind. You can either make them unwilling to take the risk due to the potential costs to themselves and their families, or you can change things so that they don't want to hurt a friend. There will always be people who disagree with you. And there will always be people who will not listen to reason and will try to hurt us, and some will succeed in hurting us no matter what we do. Those people are criminals, and they need to be found, brought to trial, and potentially locked away from society. If they are killed while we try to bring them to justice, at least we tried. But to go after people with the intention of killing them is against our core values as a nation. Or at least it should be.

Participatory Politics

I'd been working haphazardly on Wikia, trying to figure out what to do with the system. Wikipedia has become an invaluable tool, and I put together a set of articles on the upcoming elections in Washington State that I'm rather proud of. But it wasn't big enough, and I couldn't put my finger on what was missing.

The concept is participatory politics.

Wiki systems had been around for a few years before Mr. Wales started Wikipedia as an add-on to a similar but more closed project that he had been working on in 2000-2001. According to his description, they got more content posted in the first 2 weeks that Wikipedia was online than they had in the previous two years of the project. So he scrapped the original project, moved everything into Wikipedia, and let it roll. With 1.3 Million articles just in the English version, there's no stopping it now. As far as I can tell, this is the most comprehensive summary of human knowledge ever created. And the participation is amazing. As of today, nearly 2 million people have registered for an account, and you don't technically need an account to make edits. Hit Recent Changes, and you'll see that most of the people are logged in, but IP addresses are there as well. Wikipedia is a global community project to collect information about our culture. That's participation.

So, how do we translate that into the realm of politics? Pete Ashdown, the Democratic candidate for US Senate against Orin Hatch launched his wiki site on September 1st, 2005, and I launched in to help as soon as I found it in December.

Then I saw the Open Letter to the Blogosphere by Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia and Wikia. July 4th, 2006. That's a date that will live in memory for a while. Again, I launched in, and there's no escaping now.

Campaigns Wikia is the beginning of something new. It's still small, but we're building a solid foundation. We want to pick up where Wikipedia leaves off when it comes to the discussion of issues and political candidates, and we want to focus our attention on finding a way to get people involved. Not just in campaigns, not just with candidates, but with the global community that exists already but isn't self-aware. It's that self-awareness that we're striving for.

Create an account, check out the Voter Guide and the Electoral Calendar. Do some research on something you see missing, and post it. dKosopedia is another place you can help. Issuepedia is along the same lines, but focused on Issues. More Perfect invites us to edit legislation, post ideas and even suggest changes to the US Constitution. MediaWiki, the software engine that drives these sites, is only one of many.

The blogosphere is up and running. What's next? The wikisphere.

Let's roll!

Shut it down

Dear Democrats in Congress,

I've had enough. I've watched enough news, watched enough death, watched enough incompetence, enough, enough, enough.

Shut it down. I mean Congress. I mean the US House and US Senate. Obstruct everything. Stop everything. No more floor debates, no more back-room deals, no more legislation, no more purse strings, no more purse.

The Bush administration is destroying this country and destroying this planet. And they're doing it on purpose. They wanted this war. They wanted the destruction in the Middle East. They want the Constitution to go away. They don't want Democracy in Iraq, they don't want it in the Middle East, and they don't want it in the US. They came into office looking to create an Empire out of a Democracy. They came into office with the intent to destroy this country. They are all traitors, but they're the ones in power.

Stop this administration. I'm going to make this call. One last attempt to work within the existing political system. You have the power to shut the Congress down. You can call the question, filibuster, etc., etc., do all the tricks using Roberts Rules, give speeches to the press, etc. You can do this. Texas Dems showed the way. I hear Toronto is really nice this time of year.

However, I'm guessing you won't. You won't get this message. You won't hear the call. Bush will let Israel continue to destroy Lebanon and Syria, and then we will be going into Iran. And 1 Billion people will declare war on the United States from all over the planet. We're not fighting countries anymore. We're not fighting an Axis of known powers. Bush is fighting against the people of the Middle East and those people are not going to take it anymore. And we're going to pay the price.

You probably won't hear this call. And you won't shut down the Congress. And in November, 65% of voters will vote for Democrats, but 16% of those people will be removed from the voting rolls. And we'll lose.

So say goodbye to your children. Say goodbye to your country, say goodbye to the planet. By not stopping Bush, we will have destroyed ourselves. It won't be immediate. It will take decades. But it will be unavoidable.

When/If Jesus returns, he will return to a world with an average temperature of 150 degrees F, and he will have to go through a thousand years of detox before they will let him return to Heaven because of the radiation fallout.

Stop this administration. Now.

Chad Lupkes
Seattle, Washington

Lemons wanting a Lexus

Gary Washburn has a good editorial in today's Seattle PI. He gives some history, including other teams around the country that have decided that they are too good for their communities, and have pulled up their roots and left town. And I really like his language. Does Seattle need a Lexus arena? Especially if the Seattle taxpayers will be paying for it, do we want a third sports venue?

I have some other questions as well. Questions I can't answer because I really am not interested in Sports except for their cultural value. I do think they're important, don't get me wrong. But I don't follow the teams, except to root for the home team when I hear good news or shake my head when I hear bad news.

How many of the players in the Sonics or Storm teams grew up in the Seattle area? What about the Mariners or Seahawks? Given how far afield we go to find players that can help the team win, can we really say that these are community teams? How many of these players come from the minor leagues? Where ARE the minor league Football or Basketball teams? I know we have the Everett Aquasocks for Baseball, and probably some others that might play every once in a while, but they get almost no promotion to the general community, at least not that I can see. Make these teams community based and open up their "clubs" to investment by people like me, and they'll get more support than they can possibly imagine.

About these players, how much money do they make per season? Talk about a Lexus, some of these players that the media crows about make hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts that guarentee that any child they have can pay for the most expensive colleges on the planet, along with the biggest house, whatever model of Lexus they want to drive, etc. These players are not average folk. They're the elite, and they seem to know it. Do I know them? No. I haven't seen one of them show up to any of the meetings that I attend while trying to make the world a better place. They might get my respect if they did.

Is #350 million dollars for teams that have consistently lost money a good price? That's what Clay Bennett and his cronies from Oklahoma City paid Howard Schultz and the "Baseball Club of Seattle" to take control of the team. Does Mr. Bennett care about Seattle? Does he love this city so much, or is he just making an investment above the heads of 99.99% of the people in this country? "We are very bullish on the NBA and its future." ([source]) They're impressed with the marketplace. They're approaching this as a business. Oh, and they want to give the fans value. Isn't that nice. I don't believe him.

They're demanding that the people of Seattle help pay for a new stadium. I'm still supporting I-91. If Mr. Bennett wants to approach this team like a business, I wonder if he could make something called a "profit" from ticket sales and marketing, and give Seattle something to really be proud of. Right now, we have a lemon that wants a Lexus.

Earthlink's broken connection with customer service.

My wife wrote this up to send to Earthlink:

I called Earthlink on 4/21/06 to sign up for the DSL/Local/Long distance package for $69.95 a month that was being advertised. The rep said that we would not have to change phone numbers to do this, which was one of our main concerns, then took me through all of the initial questions and we’d spent a good 15 minutes or so on the phone before she told me that this service wasn’t available at our location. She suggested I call back every day to check and see if it was.

After hanging up, I realized that no, I was trying to buy something from Earthlink, and if they wanted to sell it to me, they need to call ME when it was available, especially since I’d been getting email and hard-copy offers, and that would constitute false advertising. So I called Earthlink on 4/22/06, explained what had happened and that I wasn’t ready to call every day to check on something I was offered, and the rep said that what I’d been told was wrong. It was available in my area, it’s just that since I already had Earthlink DSL service, I needed to talk to a different part of the sales team to set it up. They also mentioned that the full 8 Megabit service was not available on our phone line, but that they could get the speed up to 6 if that was ok with us. It was, and we were told that upgrades would be made to the physical phone lines as time went by. We placed the order and were told we would be receiving our modem within 10 business days, and everything would start when we got the modem hooked up.

I called again on 5/9/06 to find out where the modem was and was told the service couldn’t be started because we had a local exchange freeze on our phone that had to be removed. I asked why we hadn’t been informed of this so we could get it done, and Karen explained that they were going to call, just hadn’t gotten to it before I called. (Doesn’t good customer service mean you call BEFORE promises are broken?)

I called Qwest and had the freeze removed, order # R54524479, to be done by 5:00 5/10/06, then called Earthlink and let them know. This new customer service rep said that the notes indicated that this had needed to be done before 5/6/06. Since it wasn’t, the order was cancelled. I asked why we hadn’t been called or informed of any of this and she said she didn’t know, but there were no notes indicating anyone had tried. But the order was cancelled anyway. She said I would have to place a new order. I sat on hold for over 10 minutes, waiting to go through the initial setup process for the third time, and finally hung up because I cannot take that kind of time while I’m at work.

I asked Chad to call and he said he was told that another order can’t even be started until the freeze is removed, which again is different from what I was told. So we had to call back the next day and the day after, and go through the process again whenever the freeze is taken off.

Chad called on the evening of 5/12/06, well after the change was removed, and started the reorder. He stopped when the rep said she would have assign us a new phone number, and… Chad interrupted her and said we were told we would not need a new number. She said we were told wrong and that she had to give us a new number. We told her no thank-you and cancelled the order.

On 5/15/06 Chad tried one more time, thinking that instead of a new telephone number for us, they could use the new phone number for the DSL connection and let us keep our current phone number. The rep he talked to said that this was indeed possible, but because Earthlink only leases the lines and doesn’t actually own them, we would have to call Qwest to have a second phone number set up, contact Earthlink with that new telephone number, and they would then create a new account for the new DSL and move our phone number over to the VOIP system. The process as described could take up to 10 days, during which time we would have neither DSL or a phone. This is unacceptable.

I am EXTREMELY disappointed with how all of this has been mishandled, and frankly am very worried about trusting Earthlink with my business. The first responsibility of any business is to provide the best customer service possible. Not having the right information available to every rep at every stage of the game caused the story to change constantly, and every step of the way there was a new complication that required us to jump through another hoop. As the customer, it seems very strange to have to jump through hoops to try and give a company our business. It should be the other way around. In such a competitive phone service market, efficient and competent customer service is the most influential aspect of a business that can convince people to continue to purchase products and services from that company. I hope that we will see an improvement in your customer service going forward.

10 things I would love to hear

I was asked last month to throw out 10 points that a candidate should use when trying to earn my support. Here's the list I came up with:

If elected, I will:

1. tell you the truth.

2. earn your trust.

3. work hard to make sure that when your great grandchildren turn on the lightswitch, it works.

4. work hard to make sure that our people have jobs that give them the life that they want to live.

5. create a way for people to take their sick children to the doctor whenever they need to.

6. make sure that people who have done their share of the work to build this country get to enjoy what they have built.

7. follow the law and uphold and protect the Constitution of the United States.

8. make sure that the voting process is fair, transparent, and open to all.

9. make the United States a strong nation again by putting forward this vision as an example for other nations to follow.

10. never give up.

Chad Lupkes
Seattle

Right to privacy

Amendment IV. --> The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrents shall issue, but upon probably cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

WHAT DO YOU MEAN THERE IS NO RIGHT TO PRIVACY IN THE US CONSTITUTION?!!!!

Amendment IX. --> The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

In other words, if the Constitution doesn’t say it, it doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist, and it does specifically say that the rights that are not specifically stated are RETAINED BY THE PEOPLE.

Let me put something else on the table:

Article III, Section 3. --> Treason against the United States shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort.

The Bush Administration has levied a war against the will of the people through the manipulation of intelligence and lying to the American People and Congress. They have adhered to Achmed Chalibi, a man suspected of working for Iran. They have given Aid to the Taliban and Al Qieda in the 1980’s to help them build up their arsenal in order to fight off the Soviet Union, and provided the very weapons to Iraq that we were looking for when we invaded.

Let us draw our own conclusions based on the evidence presented. My conclusion is that George W. Bush and Richard Cheney are traitors to the Constitution they swore to uphold.

The movies this summer

I saw Underworld: Evolution last night. Loved it. After all the debates about Cantwell and Wilson, it was nice to watch a movie where the enemy is identified and torn to shreds.

However, before the movie started there were about 5 different previews for the movies that will be coming out this summer. Every single one of them was a Horror movie. Not that much of a surprise, but these were over the top. And I mean completely designed to capitalize on the fear that is being pushed on us by our civil situation. And they were bad. Really bad.

Let me tell you one of the scariest movies that I remember. It was "Enemy of the State", about the exact NSA spying program that is underway in America right now. Go see it. No blood, no rising of the dead. Just ordinary people breaking the law and getting away with it from inside the US Government. And it's a fun movie to watch.

But this horror junk? I hope they all flop.

Replace or reform? I say reform.

Regardless of who is currently in charge of the infrastructure of the Democratic Party, the fact is that there exists a strong brand and a strong political infrastructure. I would be interested in reading about the collapse of the Federalist Party and the Whig party, but since the 1860 electoral victory of President Lincoln, no third party has ever entered the scene on a national scale and been successful. We came close in 1912, but it never had the long term committment necessary.

The effort to create the missing infrastructure has been started several times, and the movement is completely splintered on how to do it effectively so it has always failed. The last really successful effort in this area was the Black Panthers, under the guidence of Aaron Dixon. They got things done, but they did not engage in electoral politics. By thinking of a third party or replacement party effort, you are acknowledging that electoral politics needs our attention as much as issue-based politics. The current efforts of the Libertarians and Greens are bound to fail. They always have, and although the Libs have a national effort ongoing to get them engaged and successful in electoral challenges, I don't expect it to succeed. The Greens are divided among themselves worse than the Democrats are. And the 'Progressive Party' is made up of people who got sick of being silenced within the Dems and left to form their own party that they dream about being equal to the Vermont Progressive Party, which is current the most successful third party in existence in the US. Their main problem is that they are based in high density urban areas instead of rural areas which proved to be the successful breeding ground for the current Progs in VT and for the Farmer/Labor Party that exists in Minnesota as the leftovers of the original Farmer's Alliance, Populist movement and progressive movement of the late 1800's. I've been doing a LOT of reading about political parties and our history.

Most of the available party labels have been sequestered by others, but could be rehashed. Examples: Reform Party from '92 and '96, Independence Party is a possibility because that's what gave Jesse the Governor's mansion in Minnessota, the Eagle party is an effort on Wikicities to develop a platform that gets no attention or help. My vote for something new would be either Progressive Party or Independence Party. But then you get to the rules of the House and Senate. Unless the Democratic Party is completely wiped off the face of the map, which is not going to happen, any third party members that take a numerical majority away from the D's helps the R's keep control over the committee structure and what comes out for a vote. We are not a coalition-based pariliment. The rules of Congress are designed around a two party system, and neither of the two parties are open to changing those rules.

The local party organizations follow the same pattern. Anyone using a label other than their own is not only not welcome, but actively driven out. One of our local elected officials gets no time on our agenda because in 2000 he expressed support for Nader's right to run. The only way that we're going to be able to change that is by having progressive members of the E-board that show up to a Program Committee meeting and bring Peter up as a motion and vote down the people who want to keep him away from the microphone. The only other thing that we can do is provide him with a way to talk to the Progressive Caucus, which we have done and will continue to do.

So, the barriers to replacing the Dems from the outside have been tried and have yet to be successful. The barriers to reforming the Dems from the inside boil down to time and continuous pressure, which is ongoing.

Howard Dean looked at these choices in early 2005. And he jumped into the belly of the beast to do his best to reform from the inside. It's hurting him and those of us who followed his lead. But it's working, slowly. And the best way to prevent his corruption and the corruption of those who followed him is to continue to stand on our own principles and looking to the long term. Do we have the time available before the end to spend doing this? I don't know. But I honestly think it has a better chance of succeeding than the replacement scheme.

The problem is not Maria Cantwell. It's us.

It seems like there is not enough of an understanding of where people are getting their passion for changing things. I've said many times that I am not anti-Maria. I am upset at some of her votes, but I think she has done a great job. What I hear too often is that she has done a good enough job and should be reelected. To my mind, that's hogwash. Every election is a test of the vision of the party and the people who work towards the goal of creating a society they can live in. Every reelection is by definition an evaluation of the incumbent and a test to see of the incumbent deserves another term in office.

We hit the Hubbard Curve in December of 2005. I'm convinced of that. The glaciers are melting at an increasing rate. Pollution is killing people. Depleated Uranium is spreading around the globe from the Middle East. We are held in the grip of world wide terror by the people we call our leaders. And too many of us are lemmings headed towards the cliff. If we don't change course, the children that we are bringing into the world are going to die in the world we have created. We have to face up to that fact, and be ready for the changes it will require.

It's not enough that one out of every 10,000 people start riding their bicycles. We have to stop driving cars. It's not enough that we're planting some trees to replenish what we have cut down for profit. We have to stop clearing our forests. It's not enough that we allow the teaching of evolution in schools. Every girl needs a full understanding of all the methods of birth control available to her, and the right of a woman to make her own choices when and how to have children must not be regulated by any government. And I'm not talking about the US. I'm talking about the world. In the US, we have revolutions every two years on a national level. They're called elections. That kind of revolution is needed in every country on every continent, and it has to come with the price of a full education for all people everywhere on what our choices are and how to make those choices.

That is the kind of change that the Progressive Movement is demanding. We must stop moving towards that cliff, because it is all or nothing. We either all change course, or we all go over. It can either be a gradual change, or it can be a sudden change. But change must happen. There is no other choice if we want to survive as a country, as a society, and as a species.

Abortion

I hate this topic.

I hate the fact that Abortion procedures sometimes need to be done. I hate the fact that women are raped. I hate the fact that sometimes going through the birth process would kill the mother. And I hate the fact that we are having a political debate about such a sensitive and terrible subject. But what I hate keeps staring me in the face, and we have to deal with it.

Abortions are performed for lots of reasons, and every single one of them is a sad and terrible choice for the mother who is losing a child, a family that has to deal with the emotional fallout, and a society that has to deal with the legal battles. Every case is different and deserves it's own battle in the minds and hearts of the people directly involved. And when the choice is made in either direction, we should be there to support the woman so she can either prepare her life for a new child or deal with the result and get back to building the life that she chooses to lead.

Rapists deserve jail time. Lots of it. We don't want them in our society. But putting a future father in jail means that there will not be half the hands building the home that the child will be growing up in. If the health of society is more important, and I think in cases like this it is, then society must provide the resources that the father who is in jail cannot. Or, society must provide an 'out' for the woman who had no choice in the first place, and is trying to find a way to recover the life that she lost. Her own.

Doctors see death every day, even if they don't deal with it every day personally. Whether it is someone coming in who was recently diagnosed with cancer or a woman who is dealing with the terrible choice of ending a pregnancy, it is hard for our doctors to deal with. But the purpose that all doctors have is to preserve lives. Sometimes that means recognizing that a woman's life is something that can be saved while sacrificing another life. Those doctors try their best to leave the decisions up to the people whose lives are directly affected by them. And those doctors need our sympathy as much as the mother. Being hated for saving lives is the ultimate nightmare for any doctor. As a society, we must stop the hate.

Few, if any, of us are pro-abortion. It's a terrible thing. Killing another, at any stage of life, is something that we really need to think about. But we do kill. We kill our miners by not providing them with enough safety equipment. We kill ourselves by putting pollution into our atmosphere and water supply. We kill our enemies on the battlefield. We kill those who have killed others themselves. And we throw justifications everywhere to try and cover it up.

If we want to look at the big picture, if we want to really think globally about all of this, let me ask this question. How many more of us can we bring into the world before our environment is incapable of sustaining life? And by bringing child after child into a world with limited resources, are we not killing ourselves by not making plans to care for those children, and instead letting them deal with a harsh and cruel world without a strong foundation to stand on?

Abortion may be a terrible thing, and it is. But the alternatives are thousands of times worse.

Religious fundamentalism is nutz

Commenting on the Ed Shultz Show

Ask these stupid fundamentalists why the Jewish community in the Old Testament were celebrating Yule 2000 years before Christ was born?

The turning of the year, call it Christmas, Yule, Solstice, whatever, has been part of the human holiday season since we started keeing track of the agriculture seasons after the end of the last ice age, 10,000 years ago.

These idiots are putting a bad name to humanity, not just Christianity or any particular church. You're right, they're totally insecure in their own beliefs because they know they are LYING to everyone about what they believe.

These people should drink their own poison, and leave the rest of us alone.

Ideas on Social Security

What happened on the floor of the Senate today, 11/15/05? I know what Bush is proposing, and my counter proposal is for him to go jump in a lake.

Social Security means security for 90% of our seniors, and probably at least that percentage of our baby boomers. For many, it is or will be the only way that housing and food bills will be paid from our lower income demographics. That is the entire reason why Social Security exists in the first place.

Here are my proposals.

1. Eliminate the Cap. Right now, people earning more than $90,000 stop paying the Social Security tax for any amount over that cap. Don't raise it, don't jiggle it, ELIMINATE IT. If someone is earning $1 million, they should pay the same percentage.

2. Lock Box. Make the Social Security Trust Fund UNTOUCHABLE by any other agency. No more IOU's, no more borrowing from the surplus.

3. Adjustable tax rate. Depending on the balance in the Trust Fund, the percentage we pay in taxes may need to go up or down to be able to pay all the benefits that our seniors, disabled and dependent children need. Give the SSA the power to adjust the tax rate up or down to balance the funds INDEPENDENT OF CONGRESS or the administration.

4. The rate of return must equal the inflation rate. Right now I think we earn 1% on the money in that trust fund. If Inflation is 2.5%, we are losing 1.5%. Make it match the inflation rate, or we're digging the hole deeper.

5. Add a savings account on top of the regular FICA tax that is optional and saves money into a combination of Treasury and State municipal bonds. Give account holders the ability to manage those accounts directly if they choose, or select a pre-defined portfolio of bonds.

These changes in the way the system is designed would solve the 'crisis' once and for all. Anything else that tweaks the way calculations are done is simply a waste of time, and we will have to revisit the issue again and again, wasting more tax money doing the Republican Propaganda jig.

Message Rant

I just came back from the November 15th Organizing Kickoff that the DNC held tonight. The new mantra of "America can do better" isn't even getting out of the starting gate for me. I want to hear something more. I think America deserves more from our founding political party, the party of Thomas Jefferson.

The basic idea behind the conservative movement is that if I cannot afford to pay for a good or a service, whatever it is that I am looking at, I don't deserve that good or service. I don't deserve food unless I can pay for it. I don't deserve health care, retirement security, housing, education, etc.

I believe that Americans deserve more than what we are getting. We deserve retirement security. We deserve a good educational foundation. We deserve to be secure in our homes and private affairs. We deserve equal opportunities in the job market. We deserve a health care system that works for everyone. We deserve election systems that we can trust.

Our farmers deserve a chance to take care of their land and provide the food that we put on the table. Our children deserve a healthy and safe environment that shows them that they are cared for, loved and listened to. Our seniors deserve a chance to enjoy their time, and know that they are respected and loved. Our allies around the world deserve an America that stands for justice and equality, and lives up to that promise by actions, not words and rhetoric. Americans deserve a government that helps people when they are in trouble, and that is determined to build a strong financial, moral and legal foundation so that our people have the security to look forward into the future with hope instead of wasting time worrying or being afraid of what might happen.

Of course "America can do better". But that's a failed message right from the start because it doesn't define what American can do better AT. We have a long way to go, but we have to get the right message down, vetted and practiced.

America deserves better.

Thank You Ray!!!

Hi everyone,

I want to thank Ray for the last 18 months that he has been in the leadership of Democracy for Washington. We come a long way, baby! Don't go too far away, my friend, we're going to need your contacts and experience. But I fully appreciate the need to rebuild a personal foundation of family, work and life before reaching out to make a difference.

My hat is in the ring. I'm running for the position of Executive Director of Democracy for Washington. I've been contacting the DFA Linkup Hosts, and gotten some feedback on what they would like to see from DFW, and I'm looking forward to sharing that with everyone who can come on Saturday.

The biggest issue that people have pointed out is the lack of communication and cross-pollination of ideas between the Link-Ups around the state. Even groups as close as North Seattle DFA and Emerald City DFA have no way of knowing what we are doing less than 10 miles apart. We need to fix this, and we will.

We have a lot of other groups popping up around the state, trying to get people's attention while being focused on their own issues and goals. The Progressive Movement needs to find common ground and come together wherever possible. Right now we are as splintered as the Conservative talking heads accuse us of being. We need to fix this, and we will.

I'm going to see how we can coordinate with the Grassroots Democrats' Volunteer project and I want to revive the Democratic Volunteer Corps, a statewide group like DFA Corps and one of the original ideas that we came up with for DFW. We don't have a lot of visibility beyond the Linkups, so people who are not already clued in to what we are doing don't even know we are there. We need to fix that, and we will.

I'm going to introduce a new term. We have Mimes running our party, and running our government. They don't speak clearly about our values, and they put their hands against invisible walls that prevent them from reaching out to us in the grassroots. We need candidates and elected officials that are not afraid to be heard, and we need to show them that those walls don't exist and that we are the ones reaching out.

You all know me, but you don't know me that well. I need to fix that, and I will. I look forward to seeing you on Saturday if you plan to attend, otherwise I'm looking forward to working with you whether I win or lose. I didn't go away when Howard dropped out of the Presidential Primary; and neither did you. I didn't go away when John Kerry lost last November, and neither did you. I'm not going away now, and I hope neither will you. We have a lot of work to do between now and the '06 and '08 elections. Let's get it done, and let's get it done right so we don't have to do this again in another hundred years.

The Progressive Movement is the face at the base of the Democratic Party. For the last hundred years, we've been watching and waiting. We campaigned for Teddy Roosevelt in 1912. We fought for Suffrage. We voted for Franklin Roosevelt 4 times. We voted for JFK and LBJ, and we fought in the War on Poverty in pursuit of the Great Society. We stopped the Vietnam War. We stood by our African American brothers and sisters to grant them equality and civil rights. Some of us voted for Ross Perot in 1992 looking for someone who could balance the budget. Bill Clinton gave that to us in the 90's. Some of us voted for Nader in 2000 because we didn't like what we saw in the top two campaigns. This is the Progressive Movement that was engaged by Howard Dean and Dennis Kucinich in 2003. In 2004, we couldn't gain the clout within the Democratic Party in time to get the nomination.

We are the Progressive Wing of the Democratic Party. We've gotten a taste of making a difference in our Party and our Country. We're not going to quit, and we're not going to give up or get scared off. We're here to stay.

The Conservatives have been consciously fighting a war for the last 30 years. Against us. It's time we fought back. And we are.

Questions and comments welcome, as always. Here are some links to follow to learn more about me:

http://www.pcfw.org/chadlupkes.php

http://www.pcfw.org/declaration.php

http://www.seattlewebcrafters.com/chadlupkes/articles/soapbox.php


Chad Lupkes
Seattle, Washington

Progressives put the concerns of People and the Planet before Corporate Profits

Note to city: Give the people what they want

I am very frustrated about the future of the monorail in Seattle. It is cheaper per mile, more fun to ride, capable of going more places and just plain better than any of the other options that are being built with our tax dollars. The only problem with the monorail has been the lack of support from city, county and state elected officials, and the lack of competence within the leadership of the project, who all seem to have been appointed by the people who never supported the project to begin with.

I want the Green Line built. Mayor Greg Nickels is wrong to demand a fifth vote on the monorail; I do not support his re-election because of that and a number of other decisions he has made regarding construction and development in Seattle. He is putting the needs of the people behind the desires of developers and richer residents.

We don't need a new election for the monorail. There have been four elections, with each opposition campaign better and better funded throughout the years, and it has always passed. Seattleites want the monorail built. What the project needs is good leadership with the experience and drive to get the job done. With the new director, John Haley, we might have who we need to finish the project. Give us what we've wanted for 40+ years -- a monorail that actually goes places.

Chad Lupkes
Seattle

Talk about Backbone...

Text of Speech by President Hugo Chavez
at UN General Assembly
Thursday, September 15, 2005

Unofficial English translation by Néstor Sánchez
Edited by NY Transfer News

Your Excellencies, friends, good afternoon:

The original purpose of this meeting has been completely distorted. The
imposed center of debate has been a so-called reform process that
overshadows the most urgent issues, what the peoples of the world claim with
urgency: the adoption of measures that deal with the real problems that
block and sabotage the efforts made by our countries for real development
and life.

Five years after the Millennium Summit, the harsh reality is that the great
majority of estimated goals- which were very modest indeed- will not be met.

We pretended reducing by half the 842 million hungry people by the year
2015. At the current rate that goal will be achieved by the year 2215. Who
in this audience will be there to celebrate it? That is only if the human
race is able to survive the destruction that threats our natural
environment.

We had claimed the aspiration of achieving universal primary education by
the year 2015. At the current rate that goal will be reached after the year
2100. Let us prepare, then, to celebrate it.

Friends of the world, this takes us to a sad conclusion: The United Nations
has exhausted its model, and it is not all about reform. The 21st century
demands deep changes that will only be possible if a new organization is
founded. This UN does not work. We have to say it. It is the truth.

These transformations -- the ones Venezuela is referring to -- have,
according to us, two phases: The immediate phase and the aspiration phase, a
utopia. The first is framed by the agreements that were signed in the old
system. We do not run away from them. We even bring concrete proposals in
that model for the short term. But the dream of an ever-lasting world peace,
the dream of a world not [abased] by hunger, disease, illiteracy, extreme
necessity, needs -- apart from roots -- to spread its wings to fly. We need
to spread our wings and fly.

We are aware of a frightening neoliberal globalization, but there is also
the reality of an interconnected world that we have to face, not as a
problem but as a challenge. We could, on the basis of national realities,
exchange knowledge, integrate markets, interconnect, but at the same time we
must understand that there are problems that do not have a national
solution: radioactive clouds, world oil prices, diseases, warming of the
planet or the hole in the ozone layer. These are not domestic problems.

As we stride toward a new United Nations model that includes all of us when
they talk about the people, we are bringing four indispensable and urgent
reform proposals to this Assembly: The first: the expansion of the Security
Council in its permanent categories as well as the non permanent categories,
thus allowing new developed and developing countries as new permanent and
non permanent categories. The second: we need to assure the necessary
improvement of the work methodology in order to increase transparency, not
to diminish it. The third: we need to immediately suppress- we have said
this repeatedly in Venezuela for the past six years- the veto in the
decisions taken by the Security Council, that elitist trace is incompatible
with democracy, incompatible with the principles of equality and democracy.
And the fourth; we need to strengthen the role of the Secretary General;
his/her political functions regarding preventive diplomacy, that role must
be consolidated.

The seriousness of all problems calls for deep transformations. Mere reforms
are not enough to achieve all that we the peoples of the world are waiting
for. More than just reforms, we in Venezuela call for the foundation of a
new United Nations, or as the teacher of Simón Bolívar, Simón Rodríguez
said: "Either we invent or we err."

At the Porto Alegre World Social Forum last January different personalities
proposed that the United Nations move outside the United States if the [US]
repeated violations of international rule of law continue. Today we know
that there were never any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. The people of
the United States have always been very rigorous in demanding the truth from
their leaders; the people of the world demand the same thing. There were
never any weapons of mass destruction; however, Iraq was bombed, occupied
and it is still occupied. All this happened over the United Nations
[objections].

That is why we propose to this Assembly that the United Nations should leave
a country that does not respect the resolutions taken by this same Assembly.
Some proposals have pointed to Jerusalem as an international city, as an
alternative. The proposal can provide an answer to the current conflict
affecting Palestine. Nonetheless, it poses problems that could make it very
difficult to become a reality. That is why we are bringing a proposal made
by Simón Bolívar, the great Liberator of the South, in 1815. Bolívar
proposed then the creation of an international city that would host the idea
of unity.

We believe it is time to think about the creation of an international city
with its own sovereignty, with its own strength and morality to represent
all nations of the world. Such an international city has to balance five
centuries of unbalance. The headquarters of the United Nations must be in
the South.

Ladies and gentlemen, we are facing an unprecedented energy crisis in which
an unstoppable increase of energy is perilously reaching record highs, as
well as the incapacity of increase oil supply and the perspective of a
decline in the proven reserves of fuel worldwide. Oil is starting to become
exhausted.

For the year 2020 the daily demand for oil will be 120 million barrels. Such
demand, even without counting future increments- would consume in 20 years
what humanity has used up to now. This means that more carbon dioxide will
inevitably be increased, thus warming our planet even more.

Hurricane Katrina has been a painful example of the cost of ignoring such
realities. The warming of the oceans is the fundamental factor behind the
devastating increase in the strength of the hurricanes we have witnessed in
the last years. Let us use this occasion to send our deepest condolences to
the people of the United States. Those people are brothers and sisters of
all of us in the Americas and the rest of the world.

It is impractical and unethical to sacrifice the human race by appealing in
an insane manner to the validity of a socioeconomic model that has a
galloping destructive capacity. It would be suicidal to spread it and impose
it as an infallible remedy for the evils which are caused precisely by them.

Not too long ago, the President of the United States went to an Organization
of American States meeting to propose Latin America and the Caribbean to
increase market-oriented policies, open market policies -- that is
neoliberalism -- when it is precisely the fundamental cause of the great
evils and the great tragedies currently suffered by our people. The
neoliberal capitalism, the Washington Consensus. All this has generated is a
high degree of misery, inequality and infinite tragedy for all the peoples
on his continent.

What we need now more than ever, Mr. President, is a new international
order. Let us recall the United Nations General Assembly in its sixth
extraordinary session period in 1974, 31 years ago, where a new
International Economic Order action plan was adopted, as well as the States
Economic Rights and Duties Charter by an overwhelming majority, 120 votes
for the motion, 6 against and 10 abstentions.

This was the period when voting was possible at the United Nations. Now it
is impossible to vote. Now they approve documents such as this one which I
denounce on behalf of Venezuela as null, void and illegitimate. This
document was approved violating the current laws of the United Nations. This
document is invalid! This document should be discussed; the Venezuelan
government will make it public. We cannot accept an open and shameless
dictatorship in the United Nations. These matters should be discussed and
that is why I petition my colleagues, heads of states and heads of
governments, to discuss it.

I just came from a meeting with President Néstor Kirchner and well, I was
pulling this document out; this document was handed out five minutes before-
and only in English- to our delegation. This document was approved by a
dictatorial hammer which I am here denouncing as illegal, null, void and
illegitimate.

Hear this, Mr. President: if we accept this, we are indeed lost. Let us turn
off the lights, close all doors and windows! That would be unbelievable: us
accepting a dictatorship here in this hall.

Now more than ever- we were saying- we need to retake ideas that were left
on the road such as the proposal approved at this Assembly in 1974 regarding
a New International Economic Order. Article 2 of that text confirms the
right of states to nationalizing the property and natural resources that
belonged to foreign investors. It also proposed to create cartels of raw
material producers. In Resolution 3021, May, 1974, the Assembly expressed
its will to work with utmost urgency in the creation of a New International
Econimci Order based on- listen carefully, please- the equity, sovereign
equality, interdependence, common interest and cooperation among all states
regardless of their economic and social systems, correcting the inequalities
and repairing the injustices among developed and developing countries, thus
assuring present and future generations, peace, justice and a social and
economic development that grows at a sustainable rate.

The main goal of the New Economic International Order was to modify the old
economic order conceived at Bretton Woods.

We the people now claim- this is the case of Venezuela- a new international
economic order. But it is also urgent a new international political order.
Let us not permit that a few countries try to reinterpret the principles of
International Law in order to impose new doctrines such as pre-emptive
warfare. Oh do they threaten us with that pre-emptive war! And what about
the Responsibility to Protect doctrine, we need to ask ourselves. Who is
going to protect us? How are they going to protect us?

I believe one of the countries that require protection is precisely the
United States. That was shown painfully with the tragedy caused by Hurricane
Katrina; they do not have a government that protects them from the announced
nature disasters. If we are going to talk about protecting each other, these
are very dangerous concepts that shape imperialism, interventionism as they
try to legalize the violation of the national sovereignty. The full respect
towards the principles of International Law and the United Nations Charter
must be, Mr. President, the keystone for international relations in today's
world and the basis for the new order we are currently proposing.

It is urgent to fight, in an efficient manner, international terrorism.
Nonetheless, we must not use it as an excuse to launch unjustified military
aggressions which violate international law. Such has been the doctrine
following September 11. Only a true and close cooperation and the end of the
double standards that some countries of the North apply regarding terrorism,
could end this terrible calamity.

In just seven years of Bolivarian Revolution, the people of Venezuela can
claim important social and economic advances. One million four hundred and
six thousand Venezuelans learned to read and write. We are 25 million total.
And the country will -- in a few weeks -- be declared illiteracy-free
territory. And three million Venezuelans, who had always been excluded
because of poverty, are now [benefiting from] primary, secondary and higher
studies.

Seventeen million Venezuelans -- almost 70% of the population -- are
receiving, and for the first time, universal health care, including the
medicine, and in a few years, all Venezuelans will have free access to an
excellent health-care service. More than a million seven hundred tons of
food are channeled to over 12 million people at subsidized prices, almost
half the population. One million gets them completely free, as they are in a
transition period. More than 700 thousand new jobs have been created, thus
reducing unemployment by 9 points.

All of this amid internal and external aggressions, including a coup d'etat
and an oil industry shutdown organized by Washington. Regardless of the
conspiracies, the lies, spread by powerful media outlets, and the permanent
threat of the empire and its allies -- they even call for the assassination
of a president. The only country where a person is able to call for the
assassination of a head of state is the United States. Such was the case of
a Reverend called Pat Robertson, very close to the White House: He called
for my assassination and he is a free person. That is international
terrorism!

We will fight for Venezuela, for Latin American integration and the world.
We reaffirm our infinite faith in humankind. We are thirsty for peace and
justice in order to survive as species. Simón Bolívar, founding father of
our country and guide of our revolution, swore to never allow his hands to
be idle or his soul to rest until he had broken the shackles which bound us
to the empire. Now is the time to not allow our hands to be idle or our
souls to rest until we save humanity.

Looking "Way Ahead"

Dear Morning Edition,

I just heard the announcer say that NPR was looking “ahead, WAY ahead, to the 2006 Congressional Elections”. This really offends me. If NPR has been absorbed into the mentality that reality works on individual 2-year election cycles or even 5-year business cycles, then we are in deep trouble. The only way that we are going to develop the society that we want to have, in the world that we want to live in, is if we start understanding that looking way ahead means looking at least 7 GENERATIONS. Given that a generation is 22 years, I’m talking 154 years. And I’m serious.

What kind of a world are we going to have in 2159? How many Hurricanes per year are we going to see in the Atlantic? What will the average temperature be? How much Depleted Uranium will be in the environment?

And if this sounds ridiculous, think about the past. What decisions were being made in 1851 that we still deal with today? How about the Denny Party landing at Alki Point in Washington State? Don’t forget about the opening of the first YMCA in Boston. Or the founding of The New York Times and Reuters.

I do believe that NPR should look “WAY ahead”. I just have a different definition of just what that means. Yes, the next Congressional Elections are important. But we can’t lose sight of the big picture, which includes the need to decide whether we want Peace or Perpetual World War. Whether we want to successfully deal with the End of Oil, or whether we want to return to the technology and mentality of the Middle Ages. Whether we want to conquer the diseases that plague our world, or let those diseases kill millions of our brothers and sisters around the world. Whether we want to focus on how our ideologies make us different and incompatible, or whether we will focus on the fact that we are all on this closed environment on a single planet.

Anyway, that single phrase got my mind churning, and I thought I would sound off on why.

Re: Dividers, Not Uniters

Senator Kerry,

You fail to see the point. Karl Rove said what he said because he does not care what we think, nor does he think the American people care. George Bush will support Karl Rove. The Republican Party will support the administration, just as the Talking Heads support it. This is a distraction for the Senate, the House and the Media. Dodge the distraction, and get on message. Stop caring what they think or what they say, and start caring about America.

You're right, they are dividing America. We are more divided now than we were in 1862. But now there is no Mason-Dixon line. Now the divisions are drawn through cities and towns, down streets and down the centers of dinner tables where our families sit down to eat dinner. The Civil War may have ended in the 1860's, but the issues were never resolved. That's why the Southern Strategy works. America is already divided, and we are weak because of it. We were strong before September 11th, we were stronger immediately after that tragedy, but we are weaker now than we have ever been before. And it's not because Liberals don't support America, nor is it because Conservatives think they do. It's because one side will not listen to the other side. There is no American understanding. There is no moderate stance. Not anymore. With him or against him was the choice that he laid on the table. There is no other option.

The budget for Human services that just passed the House points out one thing. The Republicans may say that they love America, but they hate Americans who need their help. And that hate will either be their undoing, or will cause this entire country to self-destruct.

Please get on message. National Health Care, Responsible Energy Policy, Education for All. Protect our children, our elderly and support our veterans. Don't bother to debate their distractions, don't listen to their lies. They hate Americans, and they don't care. They prove that with every speech and every vote. George Bush does not care about America. Say that on the Senate Floor, and you'll get more support than you can possibly imagine. I might even start supporting you again. But only if you tell the truth and refuse to apologize for it.

Chad Lupkes
Seattle

Don't let NASA's budget be cut!

Dear Rep. McDermott,

I just recieved a note from the National Space Society saying that the House Appropriations Subcommittee has proposed a cut of $3.1 billion to the NASA budget for 2006. I would like to express my opinion on this cut and NASA in general.

I dispise what George W. Bush is doing to this country. With one exception over the last 5 years, I have disagreed with everything that he has said, and everything he has done. That one exception is his support for NASA and the US Space Program.

I believe that fully funding a responsible space program will help build a prosperous America in the near and far future. Looking beyond the age of oil, we must do everything we can to increase our resource base for energy and other possibilities, including eventual colonies in Earth orbit, on the Moon, Mars and beyond.

Please help me support our US Space Program by ensuring that NASA gets the funding that they need to fulfill their mission, and help our children and grandchildren have hope for a better tomorrow.